[Anna Ford:] twenty six forms which police had to fill in to prosecute a thief. And are too many babies being born by caesarian? [music] British Coal has asked the National Union of Mineworkers to discuss further pit closures. The plan set out in a letter to the union is being seen as a sign that all thirty one pits earmarked for closure last year, will now shut. In the Commons, the Energy Minister Tim Eggar said the government was prepared to go on funding the current redundancy terms available to miners until April next year. Labour's Robin Cook said the miners had been betrayed. It was just over a year ago that British Coal announced the closure of thirty one of Britain's deep mines. Five months later the government gave twelve of the pits a reprieve after an unprecedented outcry from the public and M Ps. But today British Coal said the closure review procedure was being reintroduced after its suspension last year.
[John Sergeant:] Feelings ran high but it wasn't like the drama of last year when the government were forced into a humiliating review of their pit closure programme. Michael Heseltine let his deputy Tim Eggar put the case that the government had tried to encourage the market for domestic coal. The opposition condemned ministers for a cynical exercise which they knew would fail.
[Robin Cook:] If any other government in Europe had such efficient pits and such large coal reserves, they would be safeguarding that national resource, not shutting them down. It is not the miners who should face the sack, but the ministers who have betrayed them and betrayed Britain's coal industry.
[Malcolm (rifkind?):] The government is now washing its hands of the industry as it hands it over to a rigged market which will leave very few pits in Britain and the destruction of an asset which the British people asked the government to save and which the government said they were going to save.
[John Sergeant:] Mr Eggar insisted that the government had poured enormous sums into the industry.
[Tim Eggar?:] Twenty billion pounds since nineteen seventy nine. That means one million pounds for every miner now working in the coal mining industry. And the honourable gentleman has the nerve to say that we have rigged the market against coal.
[John Sergeant:] The Energy Minister denied that the government had broken promises.
[Tim Eggar?:] The government made its position absolutely clear in the white paper. We said there was no guarantee of additional markets. We accepted the recommendation of the select committee that a subsidy would be made available. We have made that subsidy available.
[John Sergeant:] On which pits might close, that, he said, was a matter for British Coal. But some of the Tories who successfully rebelled last year, showed their disappointment. And one of them complained that the government were prepared.
[Nicholas:] To allow this country to import coal into the United Kingdom putting people out of work when in fact we have some of the finest and most competitive deep mine coal in the world to offer for sale.
[John Sergeant:] Last year, MPs were shocked to be told that thirty thousand miners would lose their jobs and half the country's pits would close. Much of the anguish that produced is still present. But there's now a more fatalistic mood. Everyone accepts that pits will close but there seems little chance of the government being deflected by another rebellion among Tory M Ps. John Sergeant, B B C News, Westminster.
[Jenny:] There's been predictable anger in the mining industry to today'news. Many workers said they'd expected another round of closures despite the earlier announcement of a reprieve for some of the collieries. And N U M officials have accused the government of misleading the public into believing the pits would be saved.
[Stephen Evans:] Calverton Colliery in Nottinghamshire is one pit under threat. The law says that British Coal has to go through a procedure of consultation before it can close pits. After today's announcement, the miners there now expect that to be done.
[speaker009:] It's been on the cards for so long I think everyone's had enough. Let's just get it over with I think most people are thinking.
[speaker010:] It's expected. We know it's been coming. It's just been a matter of time.
[Anna Ford:] Well I'm forty three, I don't see what future I've got. I mean if I retrain you know, there's a thousand people for the same job, it's just looking very bleak.
[Stephen Evans:] Miners at Bilsthorpe watched the announcement on television. The pit's threatened. After the tragedy there, they're also concerned about safety over the decision to repeal a law limiting miners' hours.
[John Sergeant:] Safety does come cost and and here in Notts that we've had a safety policy. It's been now some eighteen month, two years. But it does cost er the corporation. I don't think that er smaller operators when er safety becomes deregulated will be able to afford er that cost.
[Stephen Evans:] British Coal put no numbers on Collieries to be closed. Authoritative sources say about fifteen pits are now threatened. With Nottinghamshire first in line. The corporation hopes miners will take the redundancy and not go through the lengthy procedure. It says the money is generous. Unions call it closure by stealth, they feel tricked.
[Robin Cook:] They were simply buying time, came out with a white paper that meant absolutely nothing and now we see the full effects of it. We're about to lose our coal industry and er we're about to lose it because of the incompetent blind dogma er of this present government.
[Malcolm (rifkind?):] If I say that er the the reduction the industry is facing is about fifty percent. Currently we've about thirty operating collieries. Erm I think the the the scale of that reduction is entirely er predictable. And in fact er we said that at the time the white paper was published.
[Stephen Evans:] It is the home straight to privatization. The smaller British Coal is, the more attractive it is to buyers. But there's a city of London view that not much will be bought. Contracts to buy coal aren't there.
[Tim Eggar?:] Until such contacts are in place, deep mined output would not be attractive to the private industry and would not be saleable.
[Stephen Evans:] British Coal and the government's problem would be if the men don't volunteer. If they don't accept closures soon. That will leave the corporation with too many collieries on its hands and that would put privatization into doubt. Stephen Evans, B B C News, at British Coal Headquarters.
[Anna Ford:] Thousands of pensioners travelled to Westminster today to protest against the government's plans to impose V A T on domestic fuel. At a rally they heard the Labour leader John Smith repeat his criticism of the government having a fatal addiction to V A T. Several Conservative MPs have stepped up the pressure on senior ministers to reverse the plans.
[Nicholas:] As coachloads of pensioners arrived at Westminster from around the country on a suitably chilly day to protest about what might happen to their heating bills when V A T's introduced. Their message to the government was blunt and straightforward.
[Jenny:] Well I think it's disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
[Stephen Evans:] We either freeze to death or starve to death.
[speaker009:] They don't care about anybody. Their pockets are lined, that's all I've got to say.
[Nicholas:] Around five thousand converged on the Commons to lobby their MPs and the Labour leader sought to step up the pressure on wavering conservatives at a pensioners' rally.
[speaker010:] If John Major and Kenneth Clarke think that they can ignore the anger and the distress of millions of pensioners, they're making an enormous mistake.
[Nicholas:] And one of the six Tory MPs who signed a critical Commons motion today on V A T on fuel, came to the rally to deliver this warning to the government.
[Anna Ford:] That I no longer believe that the government has a majority for this measure.
[Nicholas:] Aware of the risks of losing this argument, a confidential briefing document from central office was today sent to Tory MPs with advice on how to answer the crunch question, Haven't you broken all your promises? Not at all, say the government and anyway help's at hand.
[John Sergeant:] Oh I accept there is obviously concern and I will try and meet that when I introduce a package of measures at the end of November in the normal uprating statement to help those on lowest incomes who are affected by this.
[Nicholas:] There's no doubt there's widespread concern among Conservative MPs about the imposition of V A T on heating and fuel and rallies like this will only serve to heighten it. But equally there's no evidence that the number of would-be rebels is increasing and that would seem to suggest that unpopular though this measure might be, there's little prospect of the government being defeated on it. John Sople, B B C News, Westminster.
[Jenny:] An increase in high street sales has given some unexpected good news on the strength of the economy. Sales rose by a half of one percent last month, that was double August's increase and more than experts had predicted. The city welcomed the figures and the one hundred share index rose by twenty seven points.
[Robin Cook:] Despite other signs of weakness in the economy, today's official sales figures suggest activity in the shops remains brisk. September saw strong increases in sales of clothing footwear and household goods. Retailers at the Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock in Essex are seeing their best business for many months.
[Malcolm (rifkind?):] We've been averaging over a quarter of a million customers a week and an indicative of this is that recently in the last week, we've just opened an additional three thousand car parking spaces to take our grand total up to twelve thousand spaces. So we're having a very successful year I'm pleased to say.
[Robin Cook:] But while retailers are optimistic, at the motor show in London this morning, Britain's car makers were still expressing concern about industries prospects. Recession abroad has hit exports hard and though business at home has been improving slowly since the start of the year, confidence remains weak.
[Tim Eggar?:] There doesn't seem to be a consistent upward pattern er traffic that comes into a dealers showrooms to buy cars can be up one week, it can be down the next. So there's no consistent upward trend but overall we have seen an uplift since the beginning of this year.
[Robin Cook:] Consumer spending has been driving the economy out of recession this year, but the recovery is patchy and the Chancellor will scrutinise the last detail of every economic statistic in the next month, before he decides whether he can risk raising taxes on November the Thirtieth. Gerry Baker B B C News.
[Anna Ford:] The Home Secretary Michael Howard has announced measures to cut down on the amount of police paperwork and put more officers back onto the streets. He said the plans could free more than two thousand officers for front-line duties in England and Wales.
[Nicholas:] For police forces struggling to cope with record levels of crime, arresting people and locking them up is only half the battle. At some police stations, when a suspect is in custody, his name may be written down on different pieces of paper on sixteen separate occasions. About half the tie the police spend investigating crime, is taken up with form filling and bureaucracy. An officer dealing with a straightforward case of theft has to complete at least twenty documents as well as laboriously transcribe tapes of interviews. It's the bane of many officers' lives.
[Jenny:] I didn't join the er the police service to to be a pen pusher or a paper or a form filler. Erm many of my officers erm indeed all of them are of the same mind. Er the very fact that we're at our desks er for more than seventy percent of our time filling these forms in er prevents us from moving on to the next prisoner and going out and arresting more people for crime.
[Nicholas:] The consultants called in by the Home Office identify computers and information technology generally as the best way of saving time. Civilians should also handle more of the paperwork. All of the recommendations have been accepted by a Home Secretary who's staked his reputation on making an impact on crime.
[Stephen Evans:] The consultant's have put forward proposals which they believe could halve the amount of police time spent on these administrative tasks and which could put the equivalent of up to two thousand three hundred police officers back on the streets.
[Nicholas:] The consultants noted that substantial efficiencies could be made if the Crown Prosecution Service which oversees cases going to court, didn't need so much paperwork. For the police, it's one of the fundamental issues.
[speaker009:] There's too much paperwork involved in getting fairly simple cases before the court er er there is too much paperwork because of the demands the system makes of us. We need to address those demands with the other parts of the system and do it together.
[Nicholas:] While welcoming the prospect of more officers on the front line against crime, the police are concerned the proposals will have to be funded from existing budgets. Neil Bennet, B B C News.
[Jenny:] In the United States, the Attorney General has said that unless the American television industry substantially reduces violent programming over the next year, the government may have to intervene. The warning follows a string of incidents including one in which a five years old child burned down the family home, killing his sister, after watching cartoon characters playing with fire.
[speaker010:] It might seem idiotic but a scene from a recently released Hollywood film about American football, the programme, depicts young players testing their bravery by lying in the middle of a busy road as the traffic drives by. After watching the film, one eighteen year old in Pennsylvania was killed and a friend critically injured repeating the stunt. In Long island, New York, another teenage boy was critically injured trying the same thing.
[Anna Ford:] The kids just don't seem to know the difference between movies and and what's real.
[speaker010:] In a recent episode of a Music Television cartoon called Beavis and Butthead, the characters play with fire. One five year old in Ohio who watched the cartoon but who was also left alone with matches, burned down the family home, killing his two year old sister. The U S Attorney General Janet Reno, warned of government action if American television does not reduce violent programming.
[John Sergeant:] In only a half a century, television bought violence has become a central theme to the life of our young people. As central as homework and playgrounds.
[Robin Cook:] We're selling soap through television, we're selling cars through television and we're selling violence. The British standards if you compare them, much more rigorous.
[speaker010:] America was a violent society decades before the invention of television or films but some in Congress say the most powerful media in popular culture have a responsibility at least not to make things worse. Gavin Estler, B B C News, Washington.
[Anna Ford:] The time is six fifteen and still to come, should alleged rape victims be granted anonymity? We talk to one victim who says all sides should be named when cases come to court. And can Celtic raise their game in Europe and see off the bad old days? [music]
[Jenny:] Tens of thousands of women are being given caesarian operations to deliver their babies even when it's unnecessary according to the National Childbirth Trust. The number of caesareans has almost trebled in the past twenty years. As i and is continuing to increase. The Trust says the fear of possible litigation after complicated births may encourage some doctors to perform the operations.
[Malcolm (rifkind?):] Have you been stealing your father's socks? Look. Ee [LAUGHTER]
[Tim Eggar?:] Caroline Spears says she was given no option but to have a caesarian section when her daughter Freya was born eighteen months ago. Freya was facing the wrong way in the womb but her mother says she wasn't allowed even to try for a natural birth. She's expecting her second child in three weeks and is determined this time to have the baby at home.
[Malcolm (rifkind?):] I wasn't presented with the full facts. I wasn't able to make a choice based upon being fully informed. Erm and I feel that for no good reason I was forced to go through a major surgery. Which took a long time to recover from. I still feel I've been deprived of a natural birth.
[Tim Eggar?:] The National Childbirth Trust believes at most one in thirteen births needs to be a caesarian but the present rate is one in eight. Although in some hospitals it's as high as one in five.
[Nicholas:] If you don't do a caesar when it's needed, then of course you can end up with a baby that's damaged. But equally if you do a caesar that isn't needed, you end up with a mother who feels traumatized, and isn't able to really relate to her baby as she wants to.
[Tim Eggar?:] Campaigners blame the rise on what they regard as an increasingly remote institutionalized approach to childbirth. Forty percent of consultants questioned said fear of being sued was a key factor. But for some women it's the preferred option. Diana Hambleton had an emergency caesarian with her first baby, her second caesarian was booked in advance.
[Jenny:] Being that I'd had one before and I was alright about it, I feel fine. Just a bit of stomach I feel like being kicked in the stomach by a like a horse but that's about it.
[Tim Eggar?:] The Royal College of Obstetricians says accurate figures on the number of caesareans are difficult to find. But it believes the numbers are levelling off. And campaigners are out of date.
[Stephen Evans:] Oh they're talking about the obstetrics of the nineteen eighties not the nineteen nineties. The thing has gone through a tidal change and we know pay attention to the views of women themselves.
[Tim Eggar?:] Both the Royal College and childbirth groups agree that consultant obstetricians should spend more time in the labour ward helping junior staff. Campaigners fear, unless action is take, the number of caesareans could rise to American levels, where one in four babies is born this way. Fergus Walsh, B B C News, at the Royal College of Obstetricians.
[Anna Ford:] The Health and Safety Executive says there may be a link between some cases of childhood leukaemia and the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria. It's been claimed that children whose fathers worked there were genetically damaged by radiation. But the H S E says the cluster of leukaemia cases is confined mainly to the nearby village of Seascale and to children whose fathers began working at the plant before nineteen sixty five. It says a combination of factors may be responsible. British Nuclear Fuels denies the plant caused any leukaemia.
[Jenny:] At Carlisle Crown Court an arms dealer Stephen Shepkey has been jailed for life after being found guilty of aiding and abetting the murder of an accountant, David Wilson. Mr Wilson was shot be two gunmen at his Lancashire home last year. The jury failed to reach a verdict on a charge of conspiracy to murder.
[speaker009:] Businessman David Wilson was murdered in the garage of his home at Chorley in Lancashire. Police described it as a gangland style execution. Mr Wilson, a forty seven year old accountant, was shot through the head twice after his family had been tied up and held captive. What emerged in the Crown Court trial at Carlisle, held under extraordinary security, was the story of a twenty six million pound international fraud, involving the sale of non-existent cigarettes to various buyers. The plan then was to scuttle the ship supposedly carrying the cigarettes, thus destroying any evidence and collecting on the insurance. The court heard that the man behind the fraud was an American going by the name of Hector Portillo. He's currently in New York facing extradition moves. When David Wilson realized what was going on, he began talking to Scotland Yard. Portillo it's alleged then arranged for someone to, Blow the hell out of Mr Wilson. Stephen Shepkey, an art restorer and professed gun dealer, was the man who helped organize the shooting of David Wilson. He faxed details of the location of the Wilson home back to the United States. But tonight at the end of the eleven day trial, the two gunmen were still at large. Mike Mckay, B B C News, Carlisle.
[Anna Ford:] There've been demands today for the names of alleged rape victims to be published if the accused is acquitted. It follows yesterday's acquittal of a former student Austin Donnellan who was accused off raping a friend. Women's rights groups say fewer women would report rape and even fewer cases would come to trial if anonymity was not guaranteed.
[speaker010:] Muriel Harvey was raped on her way back from midnight mass in Ludlow last Christmas. The former magistrate chose to go public. She says the women in the Donnellan case should have been named as should all alleged rape victims when their case comes to court.
[Anna Ford:] A woman should not fear coming forward. She should be prepared to come and stand on her own two feet and say, er this happened to me, I've survived it, I'm proud that I have survived it. People will show great sympathy, I can tell everybody that.
[speaker010:] The nineteen seventy six sexual offences act conferred anonymity on both victim and defendant in rape cases. But a law review committee later said rape defendants were getting preferential treatment. And since nineteen eighty eight it's been permitted to name the alleged rapist. Angus Dougal is appealing against his three year sentence for attempted rape. His solicitor Duncan Mcnabb believes the accuser should remain anonymous but the accused should only be named if found guilty.
[John Sergeant:] There is a risk of a blemish being left er on the name of er a c er of a defendant of a rape case even when he is acquitted. There is a strong argument er for us to revert back to the previous legal state of affairs in which the anonymity was preserved both of the complainant and of the defendant.
[speaker010:] It's widely agreed that anonymity has made women more willing to report rapes. Many lawyers and women's rights campaigners say it must stay.
[Robin Cook:] For it to be known that a woman is a victim of a rape attack, would really stigmatize her. It can put pressure on her family, on her children, er put pressure on her at work in her job situation and she could be under a lot of harassment.
[speaker010:] For Austin Donnellan, yesterday's acquittal should end the matter. But his case has raised new questions in the continuing debate about how the courts and the media should deal with rape. Wesley Kerr, B B C News.
[Jenny:] The government has suffered another defeat in the House of Lords, over its plans to privatize British Rail. A rebel Tory amendment tightening the rules governing the B R pension fund was passed by twenty nine votes. Labour say they believe it's unlikely the decision will be overturned in the Commons.
[Anna Ford:] Aid agencies are warning of a severe shortage of food in Central Bosnia and with Winter approaching, an estimated one and a half million people there are now dependant on aid. Many are becoming increasingly desperate and turning their frustration on humanitarian organizations, which they say are not doing enough to help them. Yesterday police used teargas to break up protestors blocking aid lorries near Zenesa. Earlier today near women and children robbed another aid convoy.
[Malcolm (rifkind?):] The women begin to gather at first light. From here they can see convoys coming half a mile away. When a Dutch convoy appears in the distance, they move in blocking its path and demanding food. The convoy turns and heads back to the warehouse at Zenesa. The women are unrepentant. We're starving, they say. The U N H C R operations room puts all further convoys on hold. A few hundred demonstrators have halted an aid effort on which one and a half million depend.
[speaker010:] Er last information I've got, still crowd of people blocking the road.
[Malcolm (rifkind?):] But not for long. The Bosnian police descend and apply the force which increasingly here is needed to secure delivery. First rifle rounds then tear gas. And only now can the convoy pass. The people of Zenesa are selling anything they can to survive. Enver says he's down to his last kilo of flour, otherwise his cupboard's empty. He doesn't know how he'll feed his nine year old son Annis. I'm so desperate I'm even having to sell my clothes, he says. Aid workers say Central Bosnia, cut off for the first time this Winter by the war between Croats and Muslims, is facing a humanitarian catastrophe. The U N H C R says the aid effort it needs will be ten times greater than that mounted for Sarajevo last year. Alan Little, B B C News, Central Bosnia. Senior members of Germany's ruling Christian Democrat party, are meeting to endorse Chancellor Kohl's choice of candidate for the next president. There's been mounting criticism of Chancellor Kohl's nomination of Stephan Heitmann, a conservative from East Germany, because of his views on the Holocaust, foreigners and the role of women in society.
[Tim Eggar?:] Some German women are up in arms, No thank you, they say to going back to the role of mothers and home builders. These women in Dresden think that could happen if an arch-conservative takes over as Germany's head of state. That man is Stephan Heitmann, he's a little known politician from Eastern Germany. But Chancellor Kohl has hand picked him to be president despite bitter opposition including some in his own party.
[Nicholas:] He's talking about er er that there're too many foreigners in our country. That gives water to the mills of the right wing radicals and the Neo Fascists party in Germany and they right wing radicals have already voiced their support.
[Tim Eggar?:] Stephan Heitmann has stirred up a storm of protest for suggesting the Germans should draw a line under history including the Holocaust. Mr Heitmann says clearly Germany's special role because of war guilt must end and after unification, the Germans should take a new view of their Nazi past. Extreme right wing parties applaud Mr Heitmann's views and some fear that could fuel the alarming spate of attacks on foreigners. An arson attack by neo- nazis has destroyed one Holocaust memorial and Jews worry about the Germans forgetting the lessons of the past.
[Jenny:] Fifty years after er the end of second world war, it's too early to speak that this history shouldn't have any more influence on German politics.
[Tim Eggar?:] The polls show most Germans don't want Stephan Heitmann as president and there's still stiff opposition within his own party, but Chancellor Kohl here in his own office is now meeting with other party leaders to put the final touches to the final nomination of Stephan Heitmann as president of Germany. William Horsley, B B C News, Bonn.
[Anna Ford:] With four more British soccer sides battling it out in Europe tonight, one club in particular will be trying to recapture its past glories. Celtic are going through one of their worst times since winning the European cup in nineteen sixty seven. In debt and in the middle of a takeover battle, they're also looking for a new manager.
[Stephen Evans:] Celtic fans arriving at Park Head Stadium this evening are hoping for a European victory over their Portuguese guests in the manner of past glories. Celtic's defeat of Inter Milan in nineteen sixty seven brought the European cup to Britain for the first time. Their success attracted a worldwide following as the Lisbon Lions and their successors dominated Scottish football for more than a decade. In their centenary year of nineteen eight eight they won the league and cup double, but since then honours have been in short supply. And in a city where football demands tribal loyalties, that simply isn't good enough.
[speaker009:] I've been a Celtic supporter for thirty five years, I've seen the good days and we're in the bad days. Er now we're miles and miles behind Rangers, on the Park and off the Park.
[speaker010:] The club's still fundamentally wrong. It's not been run in the right manner at all. The guys running the club don't really know what they're doing.
[Stephen Evans:] While their old firm rivals Rangers, have set new standards of footballing and business excellence, Celtic have been starved of success, amassing debts of almost five million pounds. The recent departure of manager Liam Brady has also brought to a head a bitter boardroom battle which threatens to tear the club apart. Rebel shareholders want to wrest control from a handful of family dynasties who've traditionally been in charge.
[Anna Ford:] The road that they have created I think is having a damaging effect on the team and is making it more difficult for us to get the results.
[Stephen Evans:] Victory over sporting Lisbon and a successful signing of Lou McCarie as new manager, will give the Celtic directors breathing space to iron out their difficulties. But there are those who wonder whether Celtic will ever again be the force they once were in British and European football. Andrew Castle, B B C News, Park Head.
[Anna Ford:] And tonight's main news again. British Coal says it's re-opening its pit review programme. It means all thirty one pits earmarked for closure last year, may now shut after all. Thousands of pensioners have protested in London over the government's plans for V A T on domestic fuel. And there are new measures to cut down police paperwork and put more officers on the streets. The next national news is the Nine O'clock News but from Jenny and from me, good evening. [recording ends]