05/07/2011 South East Today


05/07/2011

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Welcome to South East Today, I'm Polly Evans. And I'm Rob Smith.

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Tonight's top stories. Cold-blooded, brutal and callous -

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the man who murdered a kent woman for the life insurance is jailed

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for at least 30 years. Parents who campaigned to keep

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their school open two years ago say they are furious Medway is now

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planning to build a new school because of a surge in pupil numbers.

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It just makes us furious. We just want answers, or why close a

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perfectly good school? Also tonight...

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As adoption rates fall sharply, Kent County Council brings in

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former Barnado's chief Martin Narey for advice.

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We import more than half the food we buy - a Kent MP calls for the UK

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to grow its own. And find out why this phone-box is

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the centre of attention in one Kent Good evening. A man who murdered

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his wife in a faked car crash and then went on to try and kill his

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second wife in the same way has been jailed for at least 30 years.

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Malcolm Webster killed Claire Morris, from Upchurch near Rainham,

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in 1993. He then tried to kill again in New

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Zealand in 1999, looking to claim almost a million pounds in life

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insurance. The judge described his crimes as cold-blooded, brutal and

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She married for love, he married for money. Little did Claire Morris

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nor, the man she was prepared to devote her life to would murder her.

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Today, he was sentenced to 30 years behind bars.

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I am pleased, not just for myself, but for my family and any other

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person involved with Malcolm Webster, but also for society as a

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whole. Despite his mild-mannered appearance, you are dealing with a

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dangerous and wicked man. If he was still at large in society, he would

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be a danger to many women. Despite the sentencing, Malcolm

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Webster continues to torment her family, the headstone, which he

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owns, at Reading, to my beloved wife, and he refuses to change it.

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As a last resort, clear's family have said that they will try and a

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resume her body and bring it back home.

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Clare Morris was murdered 17 years ago in a car-crash staged by

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Malcolm Webster. It was originally treated as an accident. Five years

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later, he tried to kill his second wife in New Zealand. Last month, he

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was found guilty of clear's murder and of his second wife.

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The man is as wicked as it is possible to be. He faked emotions,

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he faked dry add their wedding, -- he fate of joy at their wedding,

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desolation at the funeral. In sentencing Malcolm Webster,

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In sentencing Malcolm Webster, As Malcolm Webster begins at 30

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years' sentence, clear's brother hopes to launch a foundation in his

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sister's main to offer support to other bereaved families. -- in his

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Less than a year ago, Medway Council closed a local primary

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school against the wishes of parents. Now it has emerged the

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council will have to create a new council will have to create a new

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school because of shortage of places. Medway currently has 263

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empty primary school places. But the number of children of

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primary school age is predicted to rise by 10 % by 2016, because of an

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increase in the birth rate and more families moving into the area. This

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is expected to lead to a shortfall of places of more than 17% in

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Chatham, and up to 10% in Rochester and Gillingham within three years.

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Rebecca Barry has the latest in our Chasing Places series.

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The last year has been full of ups and downs for Diana and her

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children, forced to move to a new school after midweek council did

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David to close their local primary. -- Medway council decided to close

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their local primary. The council said there was a surplus of places,

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but now a report highlighting a Phaedrus shortage of places in

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Medway has infuriated pedant. -- a future shortage.

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The hear the council is now proposing to build new schools, it

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makes us furious. We want answers, quite close a perfectly good Ysgol

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y Berwyn and he did not listen to all the argument in the first place.

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-- quite close a perfectly good school?

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This report suggests things could get worse.

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The report predicts that within three years demand will outstrip

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supply, and Chatham, Rochester and Gillingham will need at least one

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new school. Just two years ago, campaigners

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went to Whitehall. Now those campaigners want answers. We want a

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full investigation into their conduct into a house they carry out

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investigations. If we do not investigate this

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further, they will railroad through other theories bad ideas and we

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will be back trying to correct the mistakes.

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mistakes. In a statement, Medway council

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The proposals will now go out for consultation until September.

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Families like Diane and her children will just be hoping the

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year ahead is less per Bint -- turbulent.

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Joining us now is Peter Read from Kent Independent Education Advice.

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Thank you for joining us. On the face of it, this looks like clumsy

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maths from Medway council. On the face of it, it does. Parents

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will always be concerned, as communities are damaged when

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schools closed. The bottom line is, the Government puts pressure on

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local authorities to close schools with supplies spaces. The school

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that closed had a declining numbers, therefore teachers were forced to

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leave and the school would have gone into a spiral of decline.

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Could it they not have looked ahead at the Trent when this happened?

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They could indeed, and I am sure they would have done, but the fact

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remains, for 2011, there are eight schools that have more than half of

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the place is empty. Medway council has to manage this somehow. The new

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places, from as far as I can make out, from a very detailed plan, are

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in very different places. Children were not going to Ridge Meadow

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Primary School in sufficient numbers. They were going to a new

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school in Chatham, where there is a housing development. Presumably

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this will cost them more money. Could this keeps happening?

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The Government has said that local authorities should not spend money

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on new schools. What they are planning to do, and their

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organisation plan set out a lot of detail, the Government has said it

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new schools will have to be academies, funded by Government and

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not the local authority. In a moment...

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Synchronised scooters - a group of pensioners from Sussex hits the big

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The Governments childcare advisor has been at Kent County Council

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today to help solve the problem of sharply falling adoption numbers.

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Martin Narey, a former head of the Prison Service and of children's

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charity Barnardo's, hopes to cut red tape and significantly increase

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adoption rates in the county. The number of adoptions in Kent has

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fallen significantly in recent years, down from 91 adoptions four

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years ago to 57 over the past year. To solve the problem, Mr Narey says

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adoption rates need to double over three years.

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A Allison Burrows adopted her first child when she lived in

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Hertfordshire ten years ago. She said the process took four years,

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and she and her husband found it interesting.

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I was frustrated, angry at times, let down, felt that they were

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trying to find fault in everything that you did, to find a reason not

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to let you be an adoptive parent. She thought adopting a second

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trialled would be easier - not so. Last year, Allison claims that Kent

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County Council told her that, because she has four dogs and the

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limit is three, she would probably be ineligible. You have to look at

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the situation. But they said this limit that was

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not based on any kind of measure, just a limited?

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There could have been there four lap dogs.

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The delays experienced like those like Alison cause damage, and it is

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felt it is the children who suffer. It has a long-term in packed on

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those children, and also on the foster carers who have to parent

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for them. It is for this reason that Kent

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County Council has hired an adoption Tsar to advise them.

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I think it is good to bring someone in from roadside to do things a

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little difficult -- differently. What about the three dogs ruled?

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That sound unusual to me. I want to unpicked these stories to make sure

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they are not just tick box culture. This lady, as she said has already

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provided a loving home for another child, we should take up her offer

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with will go open arms. There are over 1,400 children in

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care in Kent, with just over 57 adopted in the last year.

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Residents near Lydd Airport who are opposed to its expansion have been

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given their first chance to speak at a public inquiry into the plans.

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The inquiry, which began in February, is considering whether

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the economic benefits of a larger airport on the Romney Marsh would

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outweigh the impact it would have on wildlife.

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The RNLI have expressed their disappointment and frustration

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following a two-hour search after a distress call. They received a

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distress call yesterday afternoon reporting a large Spanish yacht in

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difficulty of the coast of Eastbourne, but the Kohl has now

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been traced to a Spanish student in the town.

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Armed robbers have threatened as security guards with a shotgun.

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CCTV pictures that showed them threatening security guards, and

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took suspect's attempted to rob a safe with a crowbar.

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A Sussex man says the actions of a pilot whose light aircraft crashed

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into a playing field near Shoreham airport saved his family's life.

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The 63-year-old pilot was killed when his plane hit the ground after

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a mid-air collision yesterday. Sara This is the wreckage of a crash

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which took one life, but incredibly not more. Former British Airways

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pilot Alan Weal died when his light aircraft came down, but managed to

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steer it away from houses and avoid a family in a playing field.

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All I could see was the play at -- the plane coming down towards us. I

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screamed at the wife to grab the kids and run. He then banged left

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and crashed within 20 metres. He is our to save year.

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The crash happened after two smaller planes collided in mid-air.

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The second was also badly damaged, having lost part of a line, the

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propeller and its gearbox. The two pilots on board managed to land at

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a nearby airfield and were left uninjured.

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They managed to keep control of the aircraft and glided back onto the

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runway when it was 30 disabled. I think they displayed exceptional

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piloting skills. -- pretty disabled. With the wreckage strewn over a

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wide area, the road to Brighton was closed while on investigation began.

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Alan Weal's family said in a statement today that he loved

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airplanes and built his own after retiring. They added that his fine

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expedience added -- helped to avert a tragedy even greater than the one

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Our top story tonight... Malcolm Webster, who murdered

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Claire Morris from Upchurch in a faked car crash in 1993 and then

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went on to try and kill his second wife in New Zealand, has been

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jailed for at least 30 years. The judge today described his crimes as

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Also in tonight's programme - singing in a box, how villagers

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trying to save their phone booth came up with a novel way to keep it

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as an attraction. And it has been a warm, dry and

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bright day today, but it is all change tonight, are rain on the way.

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Join me later for the details. If you have a story you think we

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If you have a story you think we should be covering on south-east

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today, we would love to hear from The UK must produce more of its own

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food if consumers are not to be faced with massive hikes in their

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household bills. Kent MP Laura Sandys says that Britain must cut

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back on its dependency of international markets. Ten years

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ago, the UK imported more than 30 million tonnes of food. Last year,

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that figure had risen to more than 34 million tonnes, so we now import

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more than half of the food we buy. The concern is that it could make

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us vulnerable to global crisis in the markets. But farmers here in

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the south east believe the UK market is well placed to cope with

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demand. The industry is well set to meet

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the challenges of the future. The a will always be a variety of large

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and small producers. -- there will always be. As an injured -- as an

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industry, we are well set to produce for the future.

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There is no doubt there is pressure on food production worldwide. The

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demand for globally produced food is expected to increase by 40 % in

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the next decade. A report by the UN shows that almost one-third of the

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food bought in the UK end up thrown away. In the longer term, a lower

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supply can keep up with demand, but food prices are expected to rise by

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another 30 % by 2035. Farmers believe this is a good reason to

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have more intensive farming methods. Tippett naturally produced.

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I produce a lot of my own food in my own garden, and genetically-

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modified products don't rear their head in that setting.

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I think there are more people in the world that could do with more

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food. But it helped to produce more, we should do it.

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The MP for South Thanet Laura Sandys joins me live from

:17:28.:17:38.
:17:38.:17:45.

She said that weak need to rethink we -- the way we produce our food.

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From my perspective, I am concerned about food price rises for my

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constituents. We have experienced for 0.9 % inflation this year, and

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:18:05.:18:12.

we need to put in measures to address domestic supply. -- 4.9 %.

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I will be discussing food production on breakfast tomorrow

:18:16.:18:26.
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Of all the unusual places to hold a music concert, this has to be one

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of the most bizarre - and indeed acoustically challenged. It is a

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phone box in the village of Egerton near Ashford.

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When their old-fashioned phone box was going to be removed, the people

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there wanted to save it, so they bought it for a pound from BT, and

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now they are on a mission to make use of it whenever they can. Ria

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Chatterjee joins us live from the phone box now. Ria, it looks like

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quite a squeeze? It is just your average sized

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flower box, but it is slowly becoming the artistic hub of this

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village. It cost just �1 Mac, and the

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villagers decided they wanted to make use of it. It had a wedding

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dress for the Royal Wedding, now they are in the midst of their

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music festival and it is being used as a venue.

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It is probably the smallest place we have performed, but we have just

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come back from a canal boat tour. That felt pretty similar to this, I

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think. Also earlier this year we did a

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tour of 10 Tabernacle trenches. A few of those did not hold more

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people. -- Tabernacle churches. Why did you decide to use this as

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an artistic the news. BT took the telephone box of way,

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so we thought, by Noddy use it as an arts venue? It is a beautiful

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object and the village wanted to keep it. -- why not use it as an

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arts venue? We have had a visiting artists and things happening in the

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box. What have you been doing?

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We had a bride in there for the Royal Wedding, we are having solo

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gigs all this week for the music festival, and then we are going to

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invite artists to come and do all sorts of...

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Brilliant. BT's say that in the last year, they had it, but

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hopefully it will have a more exciting life from now on.

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On to a bit of sport now. Tiger Woods will not be challenging

:20:54.:20:57.

for his 15th major title at next week's Open Golf Championship in

:20:57.:20:59.

Sandwich. The 35-year-old, who finished two shots off the lead

:20:59.:21:03.

when the Open was last held at Royal St Georges in 2003, hasn't

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recovered from a leg injury which has he picked up in May and will

:21:06.:21:12.

not be playing. -- which he picked up in me.

:21:12.:21:17.

In football, Gillingham have made their seventh signing of the summer.

:21:17.:21:20.

Peterborough midfielder Charlie Lee, who spent a month on loan with the

:21:20.:21:23.

Gills last year and helped the club launch a mid-season revival, has

:21:23.:21:30.

agreed a three year deal at the Perhaps as a set of wheels they

:21:30.:21:33.

lack the instant glamour of a Ferrari or a Porsche. But don't let

:21:33.:21:36.

the leisurely pace of a mobility scooter fool you, because in the

:21:36.:21:39.

right hands they can still pull off some pretty nifty moves. In fact, a

:21:39.:21:42.

group of pensioners from Whitehawk in Brighton have polished their

:21:42.:21:44.

syncronised scootering skills to such a degree they are actually

:21:44.:21:52.

featuring in a national ad campaign. Reversing into position to run

:21:52.:22:01.

through their figure of eight. 1, 2, 3, fade away but might be the

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bright and pensioners set off, not letting stroke, paralysis, and knee

:22:06.:22:11.

replacement or arthritis stand in their way.

:22:11.:22:16.

Last week, they were filming an advertisement up in London.

:22:16.:22:20.

It is not easy growing old, millions live in poverty and

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isolation. But it soon picks up speed.

:22:25.:22:30.

And if we fast-forward through the first 45 seconds come up we reached

:22:30.:22:35.

the bit we are really interested in - just after the rowing boat.

:22:35.:22:45.
:22:45.:22:49.

There they go! They call themselves the red cards.

:22:49.:22:56.

-- red tarts. No attention to detail is spared, look at the ball

:22:56.:23:01.

faster flames. What is the inspiration for this?

:23:01.:23:07.

Showing life is worth living. You do not even have to have a mobility

:23:07.:23:11.

it so good for. If he can get about, do not sit inside thinking you

:23:11.:23:21.
:23:21.:23:26.

They are brilliant fun to work with, never a dull moment. They were

:23:26.:23:30.

doing this on Saturday at the local festival, and we were never quite

:23:30.:23:35.

sure what would happen next on some of these. It is good, it keeps you

:23:35.:23:39.

on your toes. You sense there is a little work to

:23:39.:23:44.

go before the wind Britain's Got Talent...

:23:44.:23:48.

And you said to go left! At you went right!

:23:48.:23:52.

I went left! But they won't let anything stand

:23:52.:23:58.

in their way. Where do they go from here?

:23:58.:24:03.

I may have been going for one year has so far, they have had three

:24:03.:24:08.

digs raising money for charity. The paper picked up on it, aged UK, we

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picked up on it, so I think they are enjoying the attention. If you

:24:14.:24:18.

have a party coming up, perhaps they could turn up. At the moment,

:24:18.:24:26.

I did like them to do a rain dance and try to shift some of this rain.

:24:26.:24:32.

I have a fact about at mobility skidders - they can get up to a

:24:32.:24:37.

speed of 10 mph. That is a lot of fact.

:24:37.:24:47.
:24:47.:24:48.

Let's get some weather. It has Ms, we are seeing some heavy rain

:24:48.:24:52.

spreading east winds. It clears for the air early hours of tomorrow

:24:52.:24:56.

morning and leaves behind sunshine and heavier showers. We have

:24:56.:25:04.

blustery south-westerly winds, a cooler field for the day.

:25:04.:25:09.

Temperatures were rarely above average for the time of here, but

:25:09.:25:15.

26 Celsius. We can see cloud feeding in from the West earlier

:25:15.:25:21.

today, all of us will be affected at some point through the early

:25:21.:25:28.

part of to date. It clears in the early hours of tomorrow morning,

:25:28.:25:34.

leaving scattered showers, perhaps some with thunder and heal.

:25:34.:25:38.

Temperatures not too bad, stay in double figures for us all, not

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dropping much below 13 Celsius. Tomorrow, a scattering of showers,

:25:46.:25:52.

some heavy, and in the afternoon increasingly dry and bright. South-

:25:52.:26:02.

westerly winds feeling blustery. Gusts of wind are up to 26 mph.

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Eyes of 19 Celsius, but under the scattered showers the wind-chill

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factor will feel cooler than the numbers suggest. As we move through

:26:13.:26:17.

tomorrow night, another weather system spreads eastwards, but by

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the end of the night there will be a scattering of showers.

:26:21.:26:25.

Temperatures staying in double figures come are similar to today

:26:25.:26:35.

eight, lows around 13 Celsius. -- similar to tonight. For Saturday

:26:35.:26:40.

come increasingly dry, temperatures nothing like what we have seen

:26:40.:26:45.

today, overnight lows staying mainly in double figures, and by

:26:45.:26:54.

the weekend we should see more Tonight's top stories...

:26:54.:27:00.

Press allegations have surfaced in the News Of The World phone hacking

:27:00.:27:06.

scandal as police confirmed they contacted schoolgirls Holly Wells

:27:06.:27:11.

and Jessica Chapman, following yesterday's revelation the paper

:27:11.:27:20.

hacked into Milly Dowler's phone. A man who murdered his wife has

:27:20.:27:25.

been jailed for at least 30 years, Malcolm Webster, who killed Clare

:27:25.:27:31.

Morris was sentenced today. And it has emerged that Medway

:27:31.:27:35.

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