Browse content similar to 14/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Australia. More about the weather where you are on-line. | :00:00. | :00:15. | |
Hello and welcome to Midlands Today. The headlines tonight: Increasing | :00:16. | :00:19. | |
calls to scrap the controversial Channel 4 series Benefits Street set | :00:20. | :00:22. | |
in Birmingham We'll be finding out from a Channel 4 executive if he | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
regrets screening the programme. We believe this is damaging to those | :00:26. | :00:27. | |
involved. Also tonight: a Birmingham MP says a | :00:28. | :00:31. | |
terror suspect told his family he was going to Syria to fight with | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
Al`Qaeda`backed rebels. His mother phoned me up when he first left last | :00:38. | :00:44. | |
year, very distraught. She wanted to know what we could do to bring him | :00:45. | :00:46. | |
back. Signs of recovery in manufacturing ` | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
a multi`million`pound investment at a major steel supplier. | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
I'm at the LG Arena in Birmingham were 6000 children are getting ready | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
to perform as part of the world's largest school choir. | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
And it seems our weather just can't make up its mind ` today was cold | :01:04. | :01:06. | |
and frosty, tomorrow is looking rather different. Find out why | :01:07. | :01:08. | |
later. Good evening. More than 450 | :01:09. | :01:22. | |
complaints have been received by the television regulator OFCOM about the | :01:23. | :01:24. | |
controversial Channel 4 documentary Benefits Street which is filmed in | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
Birmingham. Five million people tuned in to watch last night's | :01:30. | :01:32. | |
second episode featuring the residents of James Turner Street in | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
Winson Green. But a coalition of leading charities wants the series | :01:39. | :01:41. | |
scrapped, claiming it paints a false picture. They believe it's causing | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
distress to millions of welfare claimants. Kevin Reide reports. | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
At nine o'clock last night, more TV viewers had their eyes on a tiny | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
corner of Birmingham than any other programme as episode two of Benefits | :01:56. | :02:03. | |
Street was screened. The gritty documentary focuses on the lives of | :02:04. | :02:06. | |
those in James Turner Street in the city's Winson Green area. Well, as I | :02:07. | :02:09. | |
speak, the second episode of Benefits Street is on air and, as | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
you can see, in the street itself it's very quiet. Earlier, we did | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
speak to some of the residents who'd appeared in the first episode but, | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
given their experiences, they said they didn't want to go on camera | :02:21. | :02:23. | |
again. Last night, the programme focused on tensions between locals | :02:24. | :02:29. | |
and Romanian migrants. They come over here, take thousands of pounds | :02:30. | :02:41. | |
and move on to another house. TRANSLATION: | :02:42. | :02:46. | |
The documentary's certainly polarising opinions with protests at | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
the offices of the film company which made it, and some charities | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
want it scrapped. The duty of a broadcaster like Channel 4 is to | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
help promote informed debate, to show a mirror to the nation and | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
instead what they seem to have done is picked on some extreme examples, | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
and potentially misrepresented them, and not shown what is the | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
reality for the vast majority of people. But others believe it's | :03:14. | :03:16. | |
lifting the lid on many serious issues in society. I think now that | :03:17. | :03:24. | |
we are 40% of the way and we can see it is becoming a brilliant programme | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
in terms of putting people 's consciousness. Not just on an | :03:29. | :03:34. | |
individual level but on a city level and a national level. Meanwhile, | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
back at James Turner Street, and sightseers had come to see what all | :03:38. | :03:43. | |
the fuss was about. We were thinking there would be things on the road, | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
kids running around, like, horrible. It's completely different. It looks | :03:50. | :03:59. | |
reasonable. It was my idea for him to come here to show him that all | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
the areas are interlinked and just because you're from a road that | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
doesn't look as attractive as the houses in Sutton Coldfield doesn't | :04:08. | :04:10. | |
mean you can't grow. But at least one character from the series is | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
smiling. Smoggy appeared last week as entrepreneurial so`called 50p man | :04:14. | :04:16. | |
` he's now been given three job offers. Somebody was offering me a | :04:17. | :04:22. | |
job to sell food, the Way foundations for buildings and | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
another weird kind of job. If nothing else happens, I'll see what | :04:30. | :04:31. | |
he's saying. Just over a fortnight ago, few knew of James Turner | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
Street. Now, life there is fast becoming the talk of not just the | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
town, but the nation. More than 30,000 people have now | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
signed a petition calling for Benefits Street to be scrapped. | :04:45. | :04:47. | |
We'll be hearing from Channel 4 in a moment, but first we're joined from | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
Leeds by Arshad Mahmood, who started the online petition in protest at | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
the show's content. Good evening, Mr Mahmood, what's upset you so much | :04:56. | :05:03. | |
about Benefits Street? The programme has found a tiny minority of people | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
living in James Turner Street and the backlash has caused everybody to | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
paint a picture that that is how the majority of benefit claimants left. | :05:16. | :05:25. | |
Helpful and informative to see how difficult life can be for some | :05:26. | :05:34. | |
people. It shows a tiny minority. But some newspapers are trying to | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
use it as evidence of how benefit claimants live. But it is wrong, | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
they don't. You think it betrays a false picture? Yes. Why do you feel | :05:44. | :05:55. | |
so strongly about it? I am from not far from Winson Green and we were | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
brought up on benefits. My brother is a successful solicitor and a | :06:01. | :06:08. | |
councillor. We are not living like that. Hardly likely they will scrap | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
it so is there any point in pursuing the campaign? There is because at | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
the moment the whole nation seems to have painted a picture of benefit | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
claimants that this is how they live. And the government are using | :06:27. | :06:37. | |
it to try to justify welfare cuts. Earlier I spoke to the head of | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
factual at Channel 4, Ralph Lee, in our London studio. Had he considered | :06:41. | :06:46. | |
scrapping the show? I don't think there are any serious grounds to | :06:47. | :06:50. | |
call for the programme to be pulled and people should be careful before | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
they call for censorship of documentaries. The leaders of the | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
campaign to remove the documentary have set themselves that what | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
inspired their campaign was not the programme but some of the reaction | :07:03. | :07:05. | |
on Twitter, Facebook and social media. I would encourage people to | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
judge the programme itself and not reaction. Why did you call it | :07:12. | :07:18. | |
Benefits Street? We didn't want to do abroad rector of the benefits | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
system but examine a part of Britain with dependency on benefits is at a | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
very high concentration. James Turner Street has a lot of people on | :07:31. | :07:34. | |
benefits and it sits in an area where unemployment has been a | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
long`term problem. The hopes for them to get out of benefits are | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
actually relatively hard. Don't you think you're making an exhibition | :07:44. | :07:46. | |
out of unfortunate people? I absolutely refute that. If you look | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
at the reviews of last night's programme, they say that this | :07:53. | :08:04. | |
programme does not mark the poor `` make fun of the poor. Do you think | :08:05. | :08:12. | |
it is a fair picture? It is a fair picture of James Turner Street in | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
the time we filmed there. Resilient in the face of hardships that it | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
faces. That was one of the key reasons we chose it. Not because of | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
the high dependency on benefits but because the community pulls | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
together. Residents support one another. They feel they have been | :08:30. | :08:36. | |
manipulated. A few devices have suggested that but not all. | :08:37. | :08:47. | |
Residents had the option whether to be in the documentary or not. This | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
is a fair documentary portrait of that street. Any regrets question | :08:51. | :09:07. | |
Coming up later in the programme: can this simple exercise help tackle | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
depression without drugs? An intriguing NHS trial in the Black | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
Country. An MP says a terror suspect told his | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
family in Birmingham that he was going to Syria to fight with | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
Al`Qaeda`backed rebels. Khalid Mahmood, who is MP for Perry Barr, | :09:25. | :09:27. | |
was asked to help by the man's family. Here's Ben Godfrey. | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
At a high security police station in the West Midlands, two men from | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
Birmingham are still being questioned over alleged terror | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
offences in Syria. We're told they're both 21 and from Handsworth. | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
They travelled to Syria in May last year and were arrested at Heathrow | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
Airport yesterday afternoon. Today, this Birmingham MP says one of the | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
men is called Ali, a university drop`out. And he told me he spoke to | :09:54. | :10:04. | |
his mother after he left the UK. Very distraught, wanted to know what | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
we could do to bring him back. Unfortunately, there is very little | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
to bring them back once they have gone across and he had left a note | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
saying he was going off to join an Al`Qaeda group. Now he is back and | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
at least I suppose she is relieved he is back. This afternoon, | :10:23. | :10:31. | |
Parliament was warned that the number of UK jihadists going to | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
Syria is around 360. There is a permissive environment in Syria | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
which allows groups and organisations to repopulate the | :10:41. | :10:48. | |
network in an international fashion. The BBC's been told Ali and the | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
second man attended this mosque in Small Heath but, today, a spokesman | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
said they weren't aware of the men. At Birmingham Central Mosque, imams | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
are warning young worshippers of the dangers of extremism. We are poor | :11:00. | :11:08. | |
all types `` we are against all types of such things. The two men | :11:09. | :11:13. | |
remain in custody this evening. The West Midlands Counter`terrorism Unit | :11:14. | :11:16. | |
can hold them until tomorrow afternoon. Then they must decide | :11:17. | :11:20. | |
whether to charge them, release them or apply for a five`day extension | :11:21. | :11:29. | |
for further questioning. A former West Midlands Police | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
officer has been jailed for leaking confidential information to a | :11:33. | :11:35. | |
convicted drug dealer. Daniel Watts was sacked from the force for gross | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
misconduct after admitting passing on intelligence to Stephen Hunt, who | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
was on trial for supplying drugs. Watts was jailed for 28 months after | :11:42. | :11:45. | |
pleading guilty to misconduct in public office. | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
A report has found some A patients at Good Hope Hospital in Sutton | :11:51. | :11:53. | |
Coldfield have been waiting on trolleys in corridors and been | :11:54. | :11:55. | |
ignored by staff, despite calling out for help. The Care Quality | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
Commission says the hospital's casualty department needs to improve | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
to ensure safety. However, the report also says staff are caring | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
and patients are generally getting effective care. | :12:07. | :12:15. | |
There's more evidence of a recovery in manufacturing, with the opening | :12:16. | :12:18. | |
today of a new Indian`owned multi`million`pound facility at one | :12:19. | :12:20. | |
of the region's biggest steel suppliers. The steel industry was | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
hit hard during the recession. But demand is starting to recover as our | :12:24. | :12:26. | |
business correspondent Peter Plisner's been finding out. | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
Shaping the future for the steel industry. It's a sector that's been | :12:31. | :12:34. | |
on its knees but finally there's signs of recovery and that's now | :12:35. | :12:36. | |
translating into investment and jobs. Around ?15 million has been | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
invested in the Wednesfield processing plant. Its rather | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
aptly`named managing director Paul Steele admits that until now life | :12:46. | :12:53. | |
hasn't been easy. The market remains well below historical levels but I | :12:54. | :12:59. | |
think after five years of difficult times we are finally seeing how key | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
customers and markets showing signs of recovery. But nevertheless demand | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
for steel remains 25% below where it was before the recession. It's | :13:09. | :13:11. | |
predicted that this year there'll be growth of between 3`5% and most | :13:12. | :13:14. | |
experts agreed that it'll be at least 2020 before things have fully | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
recovered. Here they provide steel to a variety of different | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
industries. This new equipment is making body panels for Jaguar Land | :13:23. | :13:31. | |
Rover, which is also owned by Tata. One sector picking up fast as | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
construction. Here, they make parts for JCBs. Kevin Faulkner has been | :13:36. | :13:43. | |
here 15 years. For him, the latest investment means more job security. | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
It makes you feel a bit more comfortable. A bit more optimistic | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
for the future. For the man in charge of the Black Country Local | :13:53. | :13:54. | |
Enterprise Partnership, the latest investment is further evidence that | :13:55. | :14:01. | |
manufacturing is doing well. It is excellent for all sectors and the | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
fact that we in the West Midlands are seen as the place to be for | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
those sectors is good news for the areas. Steel goes into most products | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
made in the Midlands and investment here could ultimately mean growth | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
and jobs elsewhere in the region. Our top story tonight: Increasing | :14:21. | :14:23. | |
calls to scrap the controversial Channel 4 series Benefits Street set | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
in Birmingham. Rebecca's standing by with the | :14:28. | :14:29. | |
latest weather forecast to come shortly. | :14:30. | :14:32. | |
Also in tonight's programme: Villa seek new firepower after going down | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
at home to League`leaders Arsenal. And in the FA Cup, it's Bournemouth | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
versus Burton tonight, but why are supporters of the South Coast club | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
paying for rival fans to get to the game? | :14:45. | :14:52. | |
Patients with depression or psychosis are benefiting from a | :14:53. | :14:55. | |
therapy called emotional freedom technique. It involves tapping with | :14:56. | :15:01. | |
fingers on acupuncture pressure points whilst giving a positive | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
message. Early results are encouraging. Here's our health | :15:06. | :15:12. | |
correspondent, Michele Paduano. The anxiety I am feeling. | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
Tony Stewart is a specialist in public health, but he became | :15:18. | :15:20. | |
interested in tapping and persuaded doctors in Sandwell to pilot the | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
technique. He found all but one of his 36 patients got better. What we | :15:25. | :15:32. | |
found was that, on average, at the start, people were showing as | :15:33. | :15:38. | |
clinical cases and at the end, on average, they were showing as normal | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
on a range of things. Patients like Mark Willetts, a classical guitarist | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
who has suffered with anxiety and depression for years. It was even | :15:46. | :15:54. | |
affecting his ability to perform. Anyone suffering with stress or | :15:55. | :15:57. | |
depression can be a difficult person to be around and maybe slightly | :15:58. | :16:03. | |
unpredictable to be around and as a result of lightening my mood, | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
headlines the mood in the entire house. I felt a tremendous benefit. | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
Doctors in Sandwell who sanctioned the research have developed the | :16:12. | :16:13. | |
scheme training another 20 therapists. I was very cynical. But | :16:14. | :16:24. | |
he proved me wrong. I don't understand how tapping your | :16:25. | :16:26. | |
acupuncture lines can make you feel calm and better but it seems to work | :16:27. | :16:33. | |
for patients, some of them very ill patients. As well as acupuncture, it | :16:34. | :16:36. | |
seems to work through positive thinking and perhaps mild hypnosis. | :16:37. | :16:43. | |
I think it felt more like hypnosis, really, than anything else. Quite a | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
strange feeling but it was relaxing. This process is quite easy to teach | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
people and it is also very effective. It seems to work on | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
patients who have as few as five sessions. With demand for mental | :16:59. | :17:01. | |
health services increasing and finances tight, it could strike a | :17:02. | :17:10. | |
chord with those who pay for care. Dan's here with tonight's sport. And | :17:11. | :17:13. | |
two of our Premier League clubs have been wheeling and dealing today. | :17:14. | :17:17. | |
Yes, Stoke City have signed the Sweden under`21 striker John | :17:18. | :17:20. | |
Guidetti on loan from Manchester City. They've also agreed a | :17:21. | :17:23. | |
permanent deal with Stephen Ireland, who'd been on loan from Aston Villa. | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
And this afternoon, the Wigan striker Grant Holt is all set to | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
join Villa until the end of the season. Ian Winter reports. | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
Grant Holt will be 33 in April. But's he's always scored goals for | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
fun. As Villa fans know only too well. And Paul Lambert, his former | :17:40. | :17:42. | |
manager at Norwich, believes he's just the man they need to boost a | :17:43. | :17:46. | |
Villa attack that's now scored just eight goals in 11 Premier League | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
games at Villa Park this season. Last night, Villa suffered an early | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
setback when Nathan Baker was stretchered off, suffering from | :17:54. | :18:03. | |
concussion. He took a blow to the side of his head and everyone knows | :18:04. | :18:06. | |
when you have concussion it is dangerous. That rocked as a little | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
bit. With Villa forced to reshuffle their defence, Arsenal took full | :18:11. | :18:12. | |
advantage. They scored twice inside in a minute to leave the home | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
supporters stunned. It was a double blow for Villa against a team on its | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
way back to the top of the Premier League. Mid`way through the second | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
half, Villa made a vital change. Andi Weimann came on and Christian | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
Benteke came good to capitalise on a fine cross by Matt Lowton to score | :18:28. | :18:34. | |
his first goal since September. I'm very happy tonight to score again | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
but a bit disappointed for the result. The second half definitely | :18:40. | :18:49. | |
was much better. It was a great header. That will give him a big | :18:50. | :18:58. | |
lift to score a goal. If we keep playing like the second half, it was | :18:59. | :19:01. | |
really pleasing. Despite Villa's late revival, they couldn't force a | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
draw and next they're off to Liverpool on Saturday, hoping that | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
Grant Holt will add some extra firepower to their attack. | :19:08. | :19:18. | |
What about in the FA Cup? Kidderminster Harriers and Burton | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
Albion will both be aiming for big upsets in the FA Cup this evening. | :19:22. | :19:31. | |
Non`League Kidderminster travel to Peterborough while Burton are away | :19:32. | :19:34. | |
to Bournemouth. It's a long trek but, thanks to the Bournemouth fans, | :19:35. | :19:37. | |
Burton supporters are travelling for free. | :19:38. | :19:39. | |
All aboard the Bournemouth express. And the best bit about these coaches | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
is that they're free. It's down to the generosity of Bournemouth fans | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
who felt for the Burton fans who'd travelled to Dean Court for the | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
original tie only for it to be postponed due to a waterlogged | :19:50. | :19:52. | |
pitch. It's unbelievable, really. It gives me a chance to finally come | :19:53. | :19:55. | |
here. It has renewed people's faith in football and fans. The spirit in | :19:56. | :20:00. | |
football is not totally dead. Absolutely fantastic. Generosity is | :20:01. | :20:07. | |
second to none. It almost seems impolite for Burton to go and win | :20:08. | :20:14. | |
tonight. Two divisions separate them but just 34 places in the Football | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
League. There has been a change of manager since their original time. | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
The new man's main task is to get them back on track but the FA Cup is | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
an added bonus. And that man is Andy Thorn. He's been in the job less | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
than a week following the departure of Steve Burr. Harriers drew 0`0 | :20:32. | :20:34. | |
with League One Peterborough in the first leg. Kidderminster are two | :20:35. | :20:37. | |
divisions and 54 league places below Peterborough but are undaunted. `` | :20:38. | :20:44. | |
46 league places. We are trying to get something from the game, albeit | :20:45. | :20:50. | |
from a team to divisions above us. We are confident. Premier League | :20:51. | :20:53. | |
teams await in round four so there's incentive for Kidderminster and | :20:54. | :20:56. | |
Burton ` but their fans seem quite happy already. | :20:57. | :21:07. | |
We also have warming in city against Bristol Rovers. `` earning. | :21:08. | :21:21. | |
Thousands of children are being given the chance to sing in front of | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
huge audiences. The Young Voices tour features 120,000 schoolchildren | :21:26. | :21:28. | |
between the ages of seven and 13. At the LG Arena at the NEC near | :21:29. | :21:31. | |
Birmingham, no fewer than 24,000 children will take part in a series | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
of live concerts. And tonight there'll be 6000 singing in the | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
largest school choir in the world. It's all due to start in a few | :21:39. | :21:41. | |
minutes and Ben Sidwell's there. Everyone ready, Ben? | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
Ready and very excited. I have been to a lot of concerts but never wear | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
the number of performance almost all numbers those watching. That's what | :21:51. | :21:59. | |
makes Young Voices so unique. Forget the voice of an angel, at the LG | :22:00. | :22:12. | |
Arena it was more like 6000 of them. Schoolchildren from across the | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
Midlands and even further afield gathered together for what is likely | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
to be the biggest concert of their lives. I feel really excited and | :22:21. | :22:28. | |
quite nervous. I want to enjoy it. I'm really excited but nervous, too. | :22:29. | :22:35. | |
To make today possible, individual schools have been rehearsing for | :22:36. | :22:42. | |
months. This school are taking part in Young Voices for the very first | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
time. The thing that surprised me was that there were children who | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
were petrified to stand up and say one line in assembly and now the | :22:54. | :22:56. | |
fact that they will sing their hearts out, and just the confidence | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
they have built is fantastic. It is fun because it is a big experience | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
to go somewhere where most children might not go. We have got to learn | :23:08. | :23:19. | |
new songs and some were quite hard. Back back at the LG Arena there is a | :23:20. | :23:32. | |
famous face to lend a hand. It is the most incredible thing I have | :23:33. | :23:38. | |
seen. They were singing so sweetly. It is the nicest sound ever. | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
Performance fine tuned, tonight they will do it for real in front of | :23:44. | :23:46. | |
thousands and thousands of incredibly proud parents. Let's meet | :23:47. | :23:54. | |
the man who makes it all possible. The managing director of Young | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
Voices. There are 6000 children here tonight. They have been practising | :24:00. | :24:05. | |
for over four months. They are pretty excited about tonight. There | :24:06. | :24:15. | |
are people from everywhere around. It must be a logistical nightmare. | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
We have been doing it for years but it is challenging. We worked for 11 | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
months of the year to make sure everything is slick. What do the | :24:27. | :24:33. | |
children actually get out of it? It is an amazing opportunity to sing in | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
an arena like this to all their mums and dads and to sing such diverse | :24:40. | :24:48. | |
music and with all the artists who will be on stage, it gives them a | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
sense of confidence and belief. 6000 tonight but another 6000 different | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
children tomorrow. Yes, and 24,000 in total. It is a pretty big deal. | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
If you think the children are excited, you should see the parents. | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
It will be a great night for the next four nights. | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
Time for the weather now, and another nippy one today, Rebecca? It | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
was certainly chilly, and rather slippery under foot. On that note, I | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
want to take you back to this time last year ` we had snowfall across | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
the West Midlands ` the first significant snowfall of the year. | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
It's not looking like that here at the moment although we did have a | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
dusting of snow in Hednesford last night. And temperatures dropped down | :25:40. | :25:42. | |
to below freezing overnight and we saw the first widespread frost of | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
the year. Sue Chadwick sent in this picture of the frost patterns on her | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
car. But it's all change tonight. No need to scrape those windscreens | :25:53. | :25:55. | |
tomorrow. As this band of rain moves through, behind it we're drawing in | :25:56. | :26:03. | |
milder air. So no frost to come tonight. Instead it's looking rather | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
wet. Many place already experiencing that rain, and there will be some | :26:11. | :26:14. | |
heavy bursts in there too. As we move through to tomorrow morning it | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
will start to break up a little and ease. But temperatures not falling | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
much lower than we've seen during the day today. But it'll be a misty | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
and murky start to tomorrow, some showers remaining. Plenty of drizzle | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
around, and generally a dull, damp day. Winds will be a little stronger | :26:35. | :26:41. | |
than today ` a breezy day ` but despite that, with the milder air | :26:42. | :26:44. | |
over us ` temperatures up into double figures ` possibly even | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
scraping a 12 in places. Then we have another band of showers moving | :26:49. | :26:52. | |
through tomorrow night ` again some could be rather heavy and lively. | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
But they'll move through quite quickly and once they clear away | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
things will turning a little clearer, and cooler again. | :27:02. | :27:03. | |
Temperatures still staying above freezing though. But as we head | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
through towards the latter part of the week low pressure is dominating, | :27:08. | :27:10. | |
with a pattern of sunshine and showers on the way for Thursday and | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
Friday. Some of those will be sharp. And it's generally staying unsettled | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
as we make our way towards the weekend., but despite all that it is | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
managing to stay on the mild side. Tonight's headlines from the BBC: | :27:23. | :27:29. | |
The Coronation Street star William Roache goes on trial for rape ` the | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
court hears how he took advantage of his fame. | :27:34. | :27:35. | |
There've been increasing calls to scrap the controversial Channel 4 | :27:36. | :27:37. | |
series Benefits Street set in Birmingham. | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
That was the Midlands Today. I'll be back with an update at ten o'clock, | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
plus the night's football results. Have a good evening. Bye for now. | :27:45. | :27:46. |