[speaker001:] The Queen visits Cyprus and walks into a row over executions thirty years ago. And the motorist who changed a wheel in the fast lane of the M Six. Amid growing speculation that the treasury wants another billion pounds cut from Britain's defence budget, ministers get a stark warning against inflicting grave damage on the effectiveness and morale of the armed forces. The warning came from the all party, defence select committee, whose Conservative chairman said the country's defence capability had already been pared to the bone. The fears were repeated by Conservative back benchers in the Commons this afternoon when the defence secretary announced a number of measures, including the scrapping of a new nuclear missile for the R A F, the selling of of Rosyth and Devonport dockyards and a new role for the reserve forces. Mr Rifkind was opening a two day defence debate which Labour said was being rushed through before cuts in next months budget. Labour's defence spokesman David Clark said, any reductions should be justified on defence criteria, not on a passing whim of the treasury.
[David Schuckman:] Defence workers turned out in force at Westminster, a reminder to the government that if its determination to curb spending means cutting the defence budget, jobs as well as the armed forces will suffer. These royal ordnance workers know that much depends on an ammunition order currently frozen by the treasury. Inside the Commons, the defence secretary Malcolm Rifkind wouldn't be drawn on his battle with the treasury. Only making this coded appeal for the armed forces not to be left too stretched over too many tasks.
[Malcolm Rifkind:] The white paper that was published some months ago indicates I think, very clearly, the kind of commitments that we have and the way in which we are meeting those commitments. Clearly any deliberation of future policy has to look and look very responsibly and comprehensively er both at the question of the commitments that our armed forces have er and the best way in which we can carry out those commitments. These are matters on which it is quite proper that there should be an ongoing er debate.
[David Schuckman:] But the opposition accused Mr Rifkind of rushing today's defence debate because everything hinged on the public spending settlement to be announced next month.
[David:] The truth is they're rushing through the debate because they know that in the budget the next month, the chancellor will announce further defence cuts. And I emphasize, it'll be the chancellor, it will be the chancellor making the announcements and not the defence secretary.
[David Schuckman:] In his battle with the treasury, Mr Rifkind won valuable backing. A report on the Royal Navy by the Commons defence committee gave a dire warning of the impact of the cuts already under way, let alone those that my be in prospect. The MP said the fleet is too small to defend Britain's sea lanes in war. A potentially fatal threat to the country's long term security. Even as they gathered their evidence the defence committee members knew they had no power, only the hope of influence. So their intention is to warn fellow MPs and the public of the dangers of cutting the armed forces too far.
[Nicholas:] I hope that people will sit up and take notice of it. Defence isn't always at the top of the political agenda and in periods of long time peace as we have now enjoyed, people tend to forget the dangers are still genuine and still there.
[David Schuckman:] And what message do you hope to carry to the treasury by this report?
[Nicholas:] Hands off our defences.
[David Schuckman:] Mr Rifkind, seen here in Bosnia, needs that support to resist a treasury threat to cut another billion pounds off the defence budget. In each of the next three years. Defence committee members believe the government must decide on a foreign policy first.
[John Menzies:] Our investigation reveals that we're continuing to ask the armed forces to meet a series of commitments and all the time we're reducing the resources available to them to meet these commitments. I don't think that makes any kind of sense. We must get a balance between commitments and resources, and we'll only get that when we have a full scale review of Britain's defence obligations, both present and future.
[David Schuckman:] One decision was clear today, the R A F will not now be buying a new nuclear missile. This French system was one contender for a weapon that would have cost two billion pounds. A rare defence decision not to be controversial. David Shukman, B B C News, Westminster.
[Moira Stewart:] Announcing the plan to sell off the Rosyth and Devonport dockyards, Mr Rifkind said that privatization would benefit the Navy, the taxpayers and the yards themselves. But union officials say they're worried that the sell off will lead to more job losses. The decision to sell off the yards come nearly four months after Devonport won a contract to refit Trident submarines against competition from Rosyth.
[Iain Carson:] For two years, Rosyth and Devonport dockyards fought a bitter battle to land a five billion pound contract to refit Britain's Trident submarines. Devonport won but Rosyth was promised surface ship refitment contracts as a consolation. Since then, both yards which are run by private firms under contract, have announced hundreds of redundancies. Devonport workers thought today's announcement is bound to add to the uncertainty over their future.
[speaker009:] Yeah we had five hundred er a couple of days back and I would think there's probably another five hundred or so to go.
[speaker001:] With this shock news as well there's going to be a lot more redundancies which has got to be bad for Plymouth and the economy of Plymouth as well.
[Iain Carson:] But managers of D M L, the Devonport management firm, were optimistic about the future.
[Nicholas Witchell:] There would be a short handover period, er it would have to be administered, but from where we sit, we're going to actually submit a bid that sees off the competition.
[Iain Carson:] Local unions were less enthusiastic about how workers would be affected.
[David Schuckman:] This is really scraping the bottom of the barrel, selling off the defence related industries of our country and I don't believe the people of this country will be prepared to put up with that.
[Iain Carson:] Once both yards are in the private sector, the danger for Rosyth is that Devonport bolstered by its secure base-load of Trident contracts, will be able to undercut the Scottish yard for surface work too.
[Malcolm Rifkind:] There has always been the issue of, Is there actually enough Royal Navy refit work to keep two dockyards in full employment? Erm do we need two full dockyards? Now from an economic point of view, you probably don't.
[Iain Carson:] For some years the naval dockyards have been operating in a limbo land. Halfway between the public and the private sectors. But there's no clear idea of what they will be worth or how many private sector bidders there will be. Meanwhile for the workers there's added uncertainty about their future. Iain Carson, B B C News.
[Nicholas Witchell:] The Queen has arrived in Cyprus for the commonwealth conference, to a row over a series of executions thirty years ago. Her visit has revived memories of the island's bloody struggle for independence. Cypriot nationalists say the Queen should have stopped the executions of nine guerilla fighters arrested during the fight for independence.
[David:] The Queen flew into Lanacka Airport and was met by the Greek Cypriot President, Mr Clarides. She will be here for a week and her visit is already shrouded in controversy. Over the past week, small groups of protestors have highlighted the hanging by the British of nine Eoka members during the fifties. They claim the Queen refused to intervene, and as a consequence, she must be denied the keys to the cities of Nicosia and Limassol. The demonstrations have been small, but memories of British rule here are still vivid. In Nicosia's Eoka museum, pictures of British troops when they tried to fight off the separatists. These Eoka guns were used to kill more than fifty British soldiers before the Republic of Cyprus was formed. Today, this Greek Cypriot author is in the eleventh day of a hunger strike. He's calling for more street demonstrations when the Queen arrives in Nicosia tomorrow. But more importantly for the Republic of Cyprus, shaped by the late Archbishop Makarios, the conference will concentrate minds on the division of the island.
[Nicholas:] It is a recognition that er the Republic of Cyprus is clearly one entity despite the attempt made by the Turkish Cypriot side to declare a separate state. It is a recognition of the legitimacy of the Republic of Cyprus.
[David:] The president of North Cyprus, Rauf Denktash, said the conference locations was a bad idea.
[John Menzies:] Well I do say that er this is merely an encouragement of the Greek Cypriot side, to continue in its er policy of to be the government of Cyprus at our expense. They should not have done it.
[David:] This evening attention centres upon the hotel in the U N buffer zone which divides Nicosia. Where there was to be a meeting between the two presidents and Douglas Hurd. The Greek Cypriots got wind of an idea by Mr Hurd to meet Rauf Denktash on his own and they say that would be an unfriendly act. Greek Cypriot anti-terrorist squads meanwhile concentrated their minds on rehearsing for any hostile threat to security here. As the hullabaloo over the Queen and the conference continues. Michael Macmillan, B B C News, Cyprus.
[Moira Stewart:] Health officials in Gateshead are contacting more than seven hundred women after discovering that the doctor who carried out cervical smear tests on them had not used the correct procedure. The Gateshead Family Health Service's Authority says it's known about the situation since May nineteen ninety two. But the doctor's stopped carrying out smear tests only a week ago. Seven hundred and forty four women, patients at this surgery in Gateshead are being recalled for new smear tests. Four have yet to be traced. Their G P Felix Lusman had been using a faulty technique for the past five years. Gateshead Family Health Service's Authority admitted it had known what was going on for more than a year, but action was taken only after a patient contacted them.
[Iain Carson:] We to say was aware of the practice in May of nineteen ninety two but I am not clear er as to what took place at that stage because we haven't as yet looked into that.
[Moira Stewart:] Doctors carrying out a smear test, should use an instrument called a speculum to open the vagina to ensure that they can see the cervix when taking a sample with a specially shaped spatula. But Dr Lusman failed to use a speculum.
[speaker009:] In this case Dr Lusman did not do that and he took the sample by using his finger and a spatula, in what you might call a blind manner, and doing it by feeling. So the sample may not have been complete er and once the sample was taken, one could have lost some of the material.
[Moira Stewart:] Although the risks to patients are small, not surprisingly, some visiting Dr Lusman's surgery were anxious.
[speaker001:] I'm quite shocked. They're professional people I mean they don't really explain to you what they're doing. Even though it sh they should.
[Moira Stewart:] This is the latest in a series of clinical errors which have bedeviled the national screening programme. Last month more than a thousand women in Birmingham were recalled after a nurse was said to be using the wrong type of spatula. Earlier in the year, laboratory errors at a hospital in Greenock led to twenty thousand women being recalled. Officials in charge of the Cervical Screening Programme say women should not be deterred from having tests although they couldn't rule out more mistakes.
[Nicholas Witchell:] We will see maybe some more of these. We'll kee got to keep on getting it in proportion that ninety nine percent of them have been done right and that's as to the seven hundred tests in out of four point five billion, is very small numbers indeed so the vast majority of women can be reassured.
[Moira Stewart:] Health officials in Gateshead are now investigating why firm action wasn't taken earlier. To prevent a G P in their area disregarding national guidelines with the result that hundreds of women now face the distress of further testing. Fergus Walsh, B B C News.
[Nicholas Witchell:] British Rail's Network Southeast which covers many of the most heavily used routes in England, has announced fare increases from January averaging six percent. Some fares in Scotland are also going up by six percent. The rises are between three and four times the rate of inflation. Rail passenger groups say they're disgraceful. Fares in other regions are due to go up in May.
[David Schuckman:] Network Southeast carries passengers three hundred and ninety million passengers a year, more than half the total for the whole of B R. So although off peak increases have been pegged at four percent, today's announcement affects huge numbers of commuters. It'll hit travellers as far apart as Exeter, Peterborough and King's Lynn. On some lines season tickets will go up by eight percent. The cost of an annual season ticket between Cambridge and London, rises from two thousand three hundred and forty to two thousand five hundred and twenty eight pounds. Between London and Brighton, the cost goes up from two thousand on hundred and seventy six to two thousand three hundred and eight. B R says such rises were inevitable given the present state of its finances.
[Malcolm Rifkind:] We've got a two hundred and thirty million pound gap to make up and just to put this into some sort of context, the fares will give us slightly less than fifty million. So most of our effort is actually going into reducing our costs.
[David:] We're dismayed that Network Southeast is seeking to put up season ticket fares by up to four times the rate of inflation on some lines. That just cannot be justified er by the quality of service being provided.
[David Schuckman:] The fare increases would have been bigger but for the governments last minute intervention. Even so, faced with a possible back bench rebellion over privatization of railways, the latest increases are embarrassing.
[Nicholas:] The Prime Minister and every member of the government wants to hold fare increases down to reasonable levels and I'm pleased that er at six percent average, that's a reasonable contribution by the travelling passenger on British Rail and London Transport to the enormous investment sums that are required.
[David Schuckman:] Next April B R will be split into twenty five separate businesses and lose control of tracks and signalling. But however it's divided, the financial dilemma will remain. Christopher Wain, B B C News.
[Moira Stewart:] West Midlands police have formally cautioned a motorist for stopping his car in the fast lane of the M Six to change a tyre. When the police arrived to rescue the driver, who'd parked on a blind bend of the motorway, he'd explained that he hadn't wanted to risk ruining his tyre by driving the extra distance to the hard shoulder. The entire incident was captured by police video cameras as Liz Munroe reports.
[John Menzies:] The motorist had been travelling Northbound on the M Six near the Walsall and Wolverhampton turnoff. He decided to change his flat tyre in the fast lane on one of the busiest stretches of motorway in Europe. As dozens of cars swerved to avoid him, some just narrowly missed colliding with other vehicles. The scene was captured on police cameras and watched in disbelief by officers at a nearby control room.
[Moira Stewart:] Motorways are dangerous enough place at the best of times. To actually stop on the hard shoulder is very dangerous. But to do it in lane three, to get out and change a tyre is beyond belief. That particular stretch of the motorway is in is very very busy, where he stopped was just round a fairly blind right hand bend and traffic was approaching that at their normal lane three speed, and they were faced with a stationery vehicle.
[John Menzies:] A police car finally arrived at the scene and officers spoke to the motorist. he told them he'd stopped in the fast lane instead of moving to the hard shoulder because he didn't want to ruin his tyre by driving on after a puncture. The police had to revers their patrol car down lane three to try and warn other motorists of the danger. A policeman then had to bring the traffic in all three lanes to a standstill while the motorist and his passenger crossed to safety. The police simply cautioned the man, but they say that with so many vehicles having had to break and swerve, it's a miracle there wasn't a serious accident. Liz Munroe, B B C News, Birmingham.
[Nicholas Witchell:] The time is six seventeen and still to come, the pop singer George Michael goes to court to try to get out of his recording contract. He says it's too restrictive. Plus, hundreds of jobs to go as Euro Disney's troubles continue.
[Moira Stewart:] One of Britain's most successful pop singers, George Michael, has asked a High Court Judge to declare his recording contract null and void. He says the contract with Sony music is too restrictive and the company takes too much of the profits. Even if he loses the case, the singer has said he'll never record for Sony again.
[Iain Carson:] This case if George Michael wins, could transform the music industry by increasing the independence of artists. He claims the great record company he signed to as a teenager has become part of a giant electronics corporation. And though his contract has been renegotiated, he wants it declared void and unenforceable. [music] Contracts like George Michael's can last a professional lifetime, the artist gets the security he craves early in his career but hands over the copyright and much profit from his recordings. He's had a series of clashes with Sony, which his counsel says was unhappy when he wished to play down his sex symbol image, and didn't put its back behind promoting recent albums.
[speaker009:] It's gone to it's got to a stage where he made that statement which he very very much means, he will never ever give them another album of his to market worldwide.
[Iain Carson:] But that could mean that he never sings again if he loses this case.
[speaker009:] His attitude is so be it.
[Iain Carson:] Central to the singer's case is what his Q C Mark Cramm calls the unreasonable duration of the contract. Which has now run for five years and could continue for another twelve to fifteen years, until he's supplied the remaining six albums. But Sony is expected to argue that this contract has moral and legal force, was freely negotiated and is of a type common in the industry. George Michael's counsel told the court that Sony has made worldwide profits of over fifty two million pounds from the singer's recordings, whereas Mr Michael has made profits of over seven million pounds. An imbalance of seven to one. But he said that this case is not about money but about the contract which effectively it's argued is a restraint of trade. The court heard of royalties that vary widely between countries and of a Sony deduction for packaging in excess of the actual cost. But the big record companies say they need elaborate long term contracts to invest in new talent. These could be threatened.
[speaker001:] If George wins, erm a lot of artists are gonna be looking at their contracts and erm those that are signed on similar terms will no doubt want to er er renegotiate.
[Iain Carson:] George Michael will be giving evidence and the case could last till Christmas. Wesley Kerr, B B C News, the High Court.
[Nicholas Witchell:] Britain's so called special relationship with the United States has come under strain after President Clinton claimed that Britain had let America down by not backing its policies over Bosnia. He made his c his remarks in an interview with the Washington Post. Today, Baroness Thatcher, who formed a close relationship with President Reagan while in office, said any breakdown in the relationship must be mended. Lady Thatcher wasn't making the point but others were. When she was Prime Minister, relations with the United States and in particular he personal contacts with President Reagan, were far more special than they are now. And as she took part in the publicity drive for her memoirs, she stressed the importance of close ties with Washington.
[David Schuckman:] Whatever is wrong now between the Americans and Europe and especially Britain, it must be mended. The Anglo-American lati relationship has done more for the defence and future of freedom than any other alliance in the world.
[Nicholas Witchell:] Soon after President Clinton took over, after talks with John Major, he claimed a continuation of the special relationship with Britain was not in doubt. But serious trouble erupted when his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, tried to get Europe's approval for lifting the Bosnian arms embargo. Britain and France refused to back the plan and in the Washington Post at the weekend, President Clinton complained, the French and British felt it far more important to avoid lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia, than to save the country. John Major told me, he wasn't sure he could sustain his government is he agreed to American policy. Warren Christopher was even more dismissive. Western Europe, he said, is no longer the dominant area of the world.
[Malcolm Rifkind:] It's no secret that we had disagreements with the British and the French on how we should best approach the issue of Bosnia. We had one position, the British and French had another. Er in August er at er at NATO we managed to resolve those and get a a combined position.
[Nicholas Witchell:] The foreign office were also keen to stress that this was old news. Officials insisted relations with Washington were now excellent. But a former official who had been Lady Thatcher's senior advisor, warned of the dangers of America turning aside from Europe.
[David:] In the future, we've got to keep the United Stated engaged in the world. It's got to go on playing a world role. It'll be the more willing to do so if Britain is alongside it. Of course not on the same scale, but there helping, supporting.
[Nicholas Witchell:] The government takes the view that President Clinton was simply addressing domestic critics of his foreign policy and that his complaints shouldn't set the alarm bells ringing. But the incident has drawn attention to the fact that since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Europe with Britain as America's main ally can no longer expect to be guaranteed a place at the centre of United States foreign policy. John Sergeant, B B C News, Westminster.
[Moira Stewart:] Euro Disney is cutting nine hundred and fifty jobs from its workforce of eleven thousand. The company says that most of the losses will be in administrative and management positions, not among workers in the companies Paris theme park. It's the latest setback for Euro Disney which has been losing money since it opened eighteen months ago.
[Nicholas:] The Disney hasn't quite worked this side of the Atlantic. Ever since Europe's largest theme park opened eighteen months ago, it's been cursed by financial problems. At the start they had over fourteen thousand people working in the park, after today's announcement, they'll have just over ten thousand. And then there's the problem that visitors to Euro Disney are bypassing the shops. Preferring to spend their time on the attractions. Unlike in America where much of the revenue comes from spending on merchandise and in restaurants. And there were cultural miscalculations too. This Summer Disney finally relented and allowed alcohol to be sold after they realized that the French were not interested in eating if there was no drink on offer. As the French franc went up, so did the cost of visiting Euro Disney. And then came Europe's worst recession since the war. The park has tried to repair the damage by cutting prices at the gates and in the hotels but visitors still complain it's too expensive.
[John Menzies:] I think er when you go to the hotels it's overpriced. The hotels are very expensive.
[Moira Stewart:] I think it's er I think for the Summer not for the Winter.
[Iain Carson:] Here it's very cold [LAUGHTER].
[Nicholas:] And the empty car parks are a testimony to that. It can only get worse as the long Winter stretches ahead. On a freezing October Monday like this, the visitors aren't exactly flocking through the gates. Disney had considered closing the park during the Winter months but instead they're offering a whole package of cut price deals. It may not be enough to save them. Kirsty Lang, B B C News, Euro Disney.
[Nicholas Witchell:] At least three people have been killed and two critically injured in a shooting incident at the American military base at Fort Knox. A civilian gunman is reported to have gone on the rampage at the base in Kentucky which houses the nation's gold repository. The gunman is still believed to be at large, police have sealed off the area and are checking all cars.
[Moira Stewart:] A new type of television service that allows the viewer to select videos on demand is causing friction between cable television companies and British Telecom. The cable companies fear huge competition from the system and the hundreds of new uses for the domestic television sets that are being developed. Our media correspondent Nick Hyam reports.
[speaker009:] It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but soon you'll be able to order up concert tickets while watching television using your set just like a computer.
[speaker001:] To see if there are any tickets available, you click on the arena.
[speaker009:] It's called interactive television. Huge amounts of information can now be compressed digitally and sent in both directions along television cables. So you can play along with a television quiz show using a handset like this, or shop from home. Already cable television companies have installed their telephones in place of British Telecom's in more than two hundred thousand homes. Telephone, television and computer technology are converging and high tech companies are scrambling for a slice of the action. B T's developed a system for sending television pictures down telephone wires. It hopes to use it to run a video on demand service. You ring up, order a film and it's played down to your television set almost immediately. But B T has yet to prove it works in practice.
[speaker001:] I think a lot of people are getting too excited about a technology which is which has been dreamed up by people who wish it would happen rather than prove it can happen.
[speaker009:] At their annual trade show today, cable companies expressed alarm at the prospect of competition from B T. There's a government ban on the phone company sending television pictures over its network but the regulators believe the ban doesn't cover video on demand. The government's quite happy with that.
[Nicholas Witchell:] I think it would be very foolish of er of the government to stop that kind of er innovation, that kind of er er research going forward without knowing what the end results are going to be.
[speaker009:] Meanwhile cable companies are pressing ahead to develop their own black boxes which will turn the humble television into a computerized communications centre. Nobody knows quite what services the public can be persuaded to buy or how big the market may be, but nobody neither the cable companies nor British Telecom, wants to be left out. Nick Hyam, B B C News, at the European Cable Convention in London.
[Nicholas Witchell:] And the main news again. The defence secretary has announced further cuts to Britain's armed forces, including the cancellation of a nuclear missile system for the R A F. The decisions came as MPs warned that cuts the treasury are said to be seeking, would leave Britain unable to defend itself. Health officials in Gateshead have revealed another blunder involving cervical smear tests. And the Queen has arrived in Cyprus to a row over executions that took place thirty years ago. The next national news is the Nine O'clock News but from Moira Stewart and from me, good evening. [recording ends]