Shadowing Practice: 121026 BBC London, Evening News - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Tonight on BBC London, the multi -billion pound super sewer is making the Thames cleaner.
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A new report says a year since it opened, there's a big drop in the amount of sewage released.
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But what more can be done to clean up London's water network?
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Also on the programme, an MP causes a row in Luton after saying parts of the town are a no -go zone for white people,
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a claim strongly denied by locals.
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Contact me and I'm going to take you myself to the no zone area
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and show him this is not a no zone.
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Campaigners calling for a ban of so -called floating bus stops in London bring their fight to Downing Street.
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Plus...
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Hey, what's up?
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How's it going?
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I'm Sam Ryder.
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Stay tuned to find out how we're getting ready to play
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our second stint of Jesus Christ Superstar here at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
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Peace.
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Good evening and welcome to the programme.
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It cost £5 billion to build and more than eight years to complete, but it seems the investment into London's super sewer has paid off.
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The Thames Tideway Tunnel, as it's officially called, runs from Acton in West London to Abbey Mills in the east
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and has been designed to reduce the amount of raw sewage that flows into the River Thames.
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And a new report by Thames Water has found the health
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of the river has improved significantly in the first year of its operation.
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Victoria Cook reports.
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This was the view inside London's super sewer before it was switched on.
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In the last year, this tunnel has diverted 84 tonnes of litter, wet wipes and sanitary items away from the Thames.
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It's the same weight as seven double decker buses.
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It's great news for the tidal Thames area but could there be a super sewer part two further upstream?
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You imagine the scale of the infrastructure here, we can't just build a tunnel this big up in the Cotswolds.
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So what we're doing up there is we're increasing capacity of work
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so that actually we can be sure that they can treat now for now
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and way into the future and ensure
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that actually we reduce discharges across all of our network not just in the tidal Thames.
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For the millions who live near this stretch of the water
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it is good news though Thames Water says the sewer has reduced sewage overflows by 86 percent
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that also means a reduction in the health risks associated with it
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but is the tunnel future proof for our changing climate and potentially more flooding in London?
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The tunnel was built for resilience and for the future of London.
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It's got a 120 year design life but it's also had climate change built into it as well.
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So where we're standing today as you can see is a lot higher than the surrounding areas
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and that's been looking at what is the future flood defence lines we think will be coming for London.
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So resilience was absolutely a core part of the design.
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Today a key milestone in the sewer's journey.
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The builders have handed the keys to Thames Water and it's now theirs to operate.
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It's a good moment then to reflect on what more needs to be done to protect the river from sewage.
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This is an extraordinary and amazing start
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but this is not the end of the picture for a healthy river
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or healthy river system a healthy catchment of rivers
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and there's a whole range of pieces of work that that will and need to continue.
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We also want to see more of an investment not just in the hard infrastructure
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if you like the engineering the pipes and the concrete
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and the sewage treatment works
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and pouring chemicals we also want to see more investment in nature -based solutions to tackle some of these problems.
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Although not everyone agrees on how to keep the Thames clean, many do agree that the super sewer is of huge benefit and a feat of engineering.
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This area here is one of the legacies of the project.
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This is Baseljet Embankment.
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It's all been built on top of the Thames and it's been built on top of the super sewer.
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Now just underneath where we're standing here is a huge void
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and this can collect up all the waste essentially
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and stop it from getting into the water
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and it seems to be working well thames water says it's
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aiming for over 90 of sewage overflows to be prevented in
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the tidal thames in the coming year the question now is
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can this level of success be replicated elsewhere along the river
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victoria cook bbc london lots more to come tonight including From PE teacher to World Cup winner,
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we meet the footballer who's home after beating Spain in the Transplant World Cup.
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The head of the Metropolitan Police has told the BBC that in 40 years of policing, he has never seen so much strain on the criminal justice system.
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The Met is launching a recruitment drive over the next 18 months.
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But the commissioner, Mark Rowley, says building trust in communities is challenging when the whole system is facing a big rise in cases.
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He said the Met alone is now charging 7 ,000 alleged offenders a month, when two years ago it was around 4 ,000 a month.
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We've got sharper dealing with criminals in a system that's overloaded.
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I'm really worried about the state of justice system around the country and sort of just London's data is illustrative.
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In London, we've got nearly 500 cases listed for trial in 2030.
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If you're a victim of crime, say, the good news is the police have caught the offender is going on trial, the bad news is, that hanging over that period of time,
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particularly if that's a very personal, intrusive offence like a stalking, harassment, domestic violence, rape, that's incredibly, incredibly difficult for victims.
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Well, you can hear the full interview with Sir Mark Rowley on the PM programme on BBC Radio 4 and, of course, on BBC Sounds.
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Now, a former housing director who oversaw the refurbishment of Grenfell
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Tower is no longer working with a London council who recruited her after the fire.
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Laura Johnson had been employed by Barnet Homes, who managed social housing on behalf of Barnet Council.
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Miss Johnson led the housing department at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea at the time of the Grenfell Tower fire,
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which claimed the lives of 72 people back in June 2017.
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Well, Aisha Bucks joins me in the studio.
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First of all, Aisha, remind us who Laura Johnson actually is.
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Well, Victoria, Laura Johnson was the head of housing at the Royal Borough of Kensington
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and Chelsea at the time of the fire.
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She oversaw the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.
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And during the public inquiry, she gave evidence regarding decisions made about costs and materials used on the tower.
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The inquiry found failings among many organisations, including RBKC.
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Now, she left the council shortly after the devastating fire, which claimed 72 lives.
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But she was subsequently hired a few years later by Barnett Homes.
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Now, they manage social housing on behalf of Barnett Council.
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When this came to light, there was huge outcry from a bereaved and survivors group called Grenfell United.
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And we approached Barnett Homes at that time.
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They told us that it was a robust recruitment process, that she was well qualified, had the right references and experiences.
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They have now said that she is no longer employed at Barnet Homes.
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There was pressure put on them by the local MP and the trade union within the council that represents council employees.
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Earlier I spoke to the MP for Kensington and asked for his reaction.
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I think if you look at the Grenfell Tower inquiry you'll see the criticism around how the building was managed.
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You know, why weren't the fire doors installed properly?
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Why was the contract for cladding changed
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and the costs reduced you know this was a systematic failure
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but at the heart of it was Kensington
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and Chelsea's management of this building so to have an individual
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that was senior in the organisation potentially in a very similar
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job for social housing in another part of London seemed to me completely wrong
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so I'm glad that they've come to this decision to make sure she's no longer in that role
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so actually do we know what happens next well last month Victoria the Met Police referred 54 individuals
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and 20 companies to the CPS in relation to their investigation into the fire.
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The CPS will now review all that evidence and make charging decisions, we've been told, before the 10th anniversary next year.
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Now, we approached Ms Johnson for comment through her former employer, Barnett Holmes.
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They said they have obligations of confidentiality around employees, and it would be inappropriate for them to comment further
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but during the public inquiry um miss johnson was asked was
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there anything she would have liked to have done differently to
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which she replied
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if only we'd had more due diligence in relation to the
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cladding she said you would never want anything of this type
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of thing to happen she said of course i look back
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and think what could i have done different to make sure this didn't happen.
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Okay Ayesha, thanks very much indeed.
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I look now at some of the day's other stories.
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The new MP for Hoban and St Pancras has taken her seat in Parliament for the first time.
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Labour's Sargal Abdiwali was elected in last week's by -election, which was triggered by the resignation of the former Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer.
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The Met has launched a new recruitment campaign calling on Londoners
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from all backgrounds to step forward to sign up to become
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police constables the force said last year saw the most inclusive
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intake of recruits in its history world war ii a normandy veteran henry rice has died at the age of 100.
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rice from surrey was a signalman aboard hms eastway as part
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of the normandy landings he received the legend honor from the french government
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and had called for schools to teach children more about the Normandy landings.
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And a traffic -free scheme to pedestrianise more of central London has been delayed.
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Westminster City Council and the Crown Estate plans to close Regent Street and St James's, the road south of Piccadilly Circus,
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to vehicles to enlarge the pedestrian space at Piccadilly Circus.
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Campaigners have called for so -called floating bus stops to be banned.
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In London, the design has the bus stop separated from the pavement by a bicycle lane.
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The idea is that bikes can keep moving safely when buses stop to let off passengers.
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But organisations that represent blind people say the designs aren't safe.
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Transport for London says the likelihood of being injured by a cyclist at a bypass is very low.
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Gem O 'Reilly has more.
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They were installed to allow bicycles to travel between the pavement and bus stop to allow for cleaner air.
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But many disabled people have told BBC London they've resulted in injuries and a loss in their independence.
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It feels as if I'm being designed out of my home area, which really feels very discriminatory.
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I'm going to carry on fighting against it and I will still go out, but I'm not going to be able to go out where I want to go out.
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Andrew is not alone.
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Hundreds of disabled campaigners are backing a petition calling on the Prime Minister to remove floating bus stops.
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And many of them have told BBC London they just aren't accessible.
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I don't think that we can solve an environmental problem by creating an accessibility problem.
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We would all like the air to be cleaner and we will understand the need for active travel.
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However, this shouldn't come at the cost of people being scared to even make their journey.
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This is an injustice that should be stopped.
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Sarah has been campaigning about this for years, filming the issues disabled people face at floating bus stops.
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And today she's gathered people from Manchester, York, Essex, Exeter and London to tell MPs their stories.
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People are going out less.
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They're not using the buses so it's having a real serious life -changing consequences for people
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because the bus is the big connector in London not everywhere's got a tube
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and blind people can't cycle they can't obviously drive
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so the bus is that lifeline and
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that lifeline is being robbed from them the Department of Transport has said
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that they support accessibility in travel for all and
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that they've put a stall to further floating bus stops from November last year However,
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groups that we've spoken to today say that they've still got floating bus stops popping up in new areas around them.
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As for the Mayor of London and TfL, they've said they support accessibility for all and the current guidance that the government has set.
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He has to stop it.
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The guidance is not right.
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It's not working.
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And it never will work because you're not going to get blind people to see anymore.
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You're not going to get them to hear anymore.
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And this behavioural change of cyclists on the floating bus stop design, we fundamentally don't think that's going to change.
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Those we've spoken to have made it clear it's not a disabled versus cyclist campaign.
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It's a campaign about basic human rights.
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And for Adam and the other campaigners, they want the doors of accessibility to open, not close.
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Jem O 'Reilly, BBC Look East.
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Arao has broken out in Luton after a local MP said there are no -go zones where white people won't go.
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Blake Stevenson, who represents the neighbouring constituency of Mid -Bedfordshire, was speaking during a fringe event at last week's Conservative Party conference.
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The leader of Luton's council says the comments are not supported by facts and are simply unacceptable.
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Ben Schofield reports.
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This is a yes zone.
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Luton is a yes zone.
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Luton is not a no zone area.
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In Luton, news of the neighbouring MPs' comments had travelled quickly.
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I will call out to him, contact me, and I'm going to take you myself to the northern area and show him this is not a northern zone.
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MALCOLM BRABANT, Luton is super diverse.
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55 percent of its population are non -white British.
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Blake Stephenson said mass migration had been an absolute disaster.
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There are parts of that town, unfortunately, and the police will tell you this.
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I mean, it can be a very dangerous place.
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There are parts where white people won't go.
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They're like no -go zones.
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We can move on from it, but it requires deep levels of integration and we need to break apart these, I don't mean this in some, this is where it gets icky,
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but we need to make sure we don't have ghettos where there are no -go zones for anybody.
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It's an absurd notion to me that this is a no -go area
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because obviously I live here as a quite clearly white person.
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At St Andrew's Church, Reverend Luke Larner is a Christian minister in a minority white parish.
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I think they're really quite dangerous comments.
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Now, don't get me wrong, we have problems in Luton.
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We have a lot of deprivation, we have crime.
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But I think the way that those comments were framed as no -go areas for white people, I believe with the exact words,
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to racialise the problem in that way, is incredibly divisive.
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The key issue in towns like Luton is not migration, it's actually investment.
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Left -wing journalist Taj Ali grew up in the town.
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He recognises its problems
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but says it's not being talked about fairly you can go
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into a predominantly white working class community in the north east of england in merseyside in essex
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and you could see similar problems around substance abuse crime poverty
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and all the rest of it
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when it comes to those communities we talk about class
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when it comes to this community we talk about race and
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that for me is a problem edfordshire's chief constable has told us
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that across the county they don't have a single street
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that is a no -go area for policing all the public
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and according to police recorded crime data the crime rate here in Luton was lower than it was in Ipswich,
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Stevenage or Northampton last year.
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There is nowhere in Luton where any section of the population cannot go.
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So it was inaccurate, scaremongering and inflammatory.
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What we heard from Blake was about stirring up hate and division.
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There's no place for that, particularly in this very, very volatile climate.
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In a statement, Mr Stevenson said he was responding to a concerned Luton resident.
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He added, any place where less than two -thirds of people were born in this country will clearly have challenges with integration.
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That's not a criticism of any community, he added.
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That is on all of us to do more to ensure deeper levels of integration to bring our towns
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and our country together.
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His comments might have been unwelcome, but several groups are now inviting Mr Stevenson to visit the town he's put under the spotlight.
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Ben Schofield, BBC London, in Luton.
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Lots more to come tonight, including...
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Hi, I'm Tyrone Huntley.
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Hear how I went from a front -of -house usher to playing Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar at Theatre Royal Droulet.
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Next, he's spent his life defying the odds. And now,
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Johnny Bayamongu can add World Cup winner to his list of personal triumphs johnny is a kidney transplant recipient
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and was part of the england squad
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that beat spain 5 -1 in the recent transplant world cup
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the pe teacher was born with a rare abdominal condition
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which meant age 16 he needed a new kidney wendy hurrell has been to marshgate primary to meet him
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so you got to try get as many as we can
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three two one go go go go tigers are coming tigers are coming Jonny is 22 years old
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and a popular PE teacher at Marshgate Primary School in Richmond.
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Macaroni cheese!
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Everybody!
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First one, sit down in front of me.
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He's also a world champion after England won the Men's Transplant World Cup,
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a football competition created for athletes who have received an organ donation.
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It was January time I thought, I'll never play football again.
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And will I even be bed bound for my life or other stuff that comes with being ill and kidney failure.
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And yeah, to have the transplant is honestly a gift.
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Everyone on the team has been near to like death's door in a way.
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And then now to be all playing football and being back to what we love to do.
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24, 25.
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Well done, super.
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He got a kidney through the UK Living Kidney Sharing Scheme when his mum donated hers and was supported by Hammersmith Hospital.
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Johnny was born with a rare condition called Prune Belly Syndrome.
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My mum was literally told, pretty much expect your son to be born dead.
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Even after I lived the first few months saying, yeah, he'll be lucky to make it two years old free.
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And like, the more I was living, I was hitting closer to that target
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so as you can imagine for my parents it was a
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traumatic experience thinking you're raising a child for a year managed to survive those tough times
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and missing a lot of school what i know for some people would be great
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but when you're that ill and stuff it's no fun
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so yeah you're a fighter aren't you yeah i try to
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are you a fighter on the pitch as well there was a couple blue cards standing out in the tournament, but I think it's poor refereeing.
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Transplant football is coming home.
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England, the champions of the 2026 Transplant Football World Cup.
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Well, in the final, they beat Spain 5 -1.
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Lifting that trophy, how did it feel?
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Oh, lifting that trophy is an unbelievable feeling.
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Like it's one of those moments where you really not even just look back at those last minutes of the game, you look back at your whole life and how it kind of led up to that point.
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So it's obviously grateful and I was so excited,
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but it's also an emotional experience thinking like that's kind of peak and you've done that whole journey to get to there.
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So I think for the whole team it was an amazing experience.
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Wendy Hurrell, BBC London.
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Huge congratulations.
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Look at some of the stories online.
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The copycat police car has been seized after being spotted driving illegally in Reading.
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It's been taken off the road.
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Music retailer HMV is to close its Oxford Street store three years after it reopened.
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It's blamed escalating rent.
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An actor, Sacha Baron Cohen, a .k .a.
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Ali G, is to star in a new West End play by Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino.
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You can find all that and more on the BBC News website and the app.
275
Now, it's one of the West End's most famous and long -running musicals.
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And now, the latest reboot of Jesus Christ Superstar is set to start a new run at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
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Sam Ryder, who shot to fame after coming second at Eurovision four years ago, resumes the title role in the rock opera,
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which follows the events of the last days of the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of Judas.
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We sent Anna O 'Neill to meet him, and just a word of warning that this story does contain flashing images.
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It's a 2 ,000 -year -old story with a twist.
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Jesus Christ's superstar tells the tale of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem through the eyes of Judas.
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Jesus is a role its protagonist Sam Ryder takes extremely seriously.
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We're trying to tell a story that a lot of people think they know, right, and have preconceived notions of.
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Surely I've exceeded expectations.
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As someone who does have a part of my life that's where faith is important,
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but there's tons of things I didn't know that have been so crucial to bring into the role.
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Tyrone Huntley first played Judas in 2016.
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Now he brings an older, wiser Judas to the stage.
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Things have changed politically in the past 10 years
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and relationships with friends and family and all that kind of stuff
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and every time I revisit the role I bring in new experiences that I've lived.
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He started at this same theatre in a very different role.
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I actually used to work here 15 years ago, I worked here front of house as an usher so I know the front of house really,
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really well, Shrek was on at the time, Shrek the musical.
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Here we are.
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Making his West End debut is TV and movie star Matt Bomer, who is relishing the chance to get his teeth into the part of King Herod.
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In this production, he's a kind of ornery,
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fussy, temperamental, older star who's sort of been dusted off and brought out to see who this Jesus is,
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who he's heard so much about.
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Although he's only in the capital for a few weeks, as he's one of a number of guest actors playing the role,
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he's enjoying being an honorary londoner to actually experience the life of london
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and ride the tube and you know walk the streets
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and at all hours whenever you're out and about
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and uh just get to experience this sort of tone of
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the city has been really great has anyone recognized you on the tube yeah
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but everyone's so classy about it so classy about it i've facetimed with people's parents
307
but no one's like um no one's like uh it doesn't ever feel uncomfortable.
308
It's all been really classy.
309
Desmonda Catherbell is believed to be the first Indonesian actress on the West End stage
310
and has the pandemic to thank for bringing her to London.
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I got into Royal Academy of Music, got full scholarship and I was like, wow, I have to go.
312
Exactly.
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And it just kind of like opened the door for me.
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Andrew Lloyd Webber owns the Theatre Royal and has given it a £60 million makeover, but this is the first time one of his musicals has played here.
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For Sam, it's a dream come true.
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To get the opportunity to actually stand on that stage with this amazing company that's so encouraging and kind,
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I count my lucky stars, mate.
318
It's brilliant.
319
Anna O 'Neill, BBC London.
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It's nice to hear Londoners described as classy, isn't it?
321
It's been a bit drizzly today.
322
Let's see what the weather has got in store for us all.
323
Here's David Brain.
324
Thanks very much.
325
Good evening.
326
We've had quite a grey day across the capital today.
327
A little bit of rain here and there as well.
328
And not much is going to change overnight tonight.
329
So after this wonderful sunrise, first thing this morning, we've had a lot of cloud today.
330
And that cloud is thick enough for further spots of light rain and drizzle both overnight tonight and at first tomorrow morning.
331
But the good news is things do improve by the afternoon.
332
There's a weather front coming through around lunchtime.
333
Once it goes through, despite the fact temperatures may not change a huge amount, it will feel somewhat fresher because the air is less humid.
334
And that fronts out here to the west of Ireland, that long line of cloud that's moving through Ireland overnight tonight
335
into Western Britain during the small hours of the morning
336
and getting to us probably around midday or just after and bringing with it some outbreaks of rain.
337
And behind that, whilst there might be a few showers, there's a lot of dry weather for the rest of the day tomorrow and also on Wednesday.
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So this evening and tonight, the cloud will come and go, and it is thick enough in places for a few spots of light rain and drizzle.
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It's quite a mild night, minimum temperatures of 16 or 17 degrees, and then we'll see some outbreaks of rain moving through after lunch.
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A lot of clear sky, blue sky, better visibility, temperatures up to about 20 or 21 degrees, so we're still in the relatively mild air,
341
but at least we'll get some sunshine to look forward to in the second half of the day.
342
Now, the outlook does bring us some changes.
343
First of all, on Wednesday, we could have some mist and fog first thing in the day.
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Sunshine in the morning, then more cloud as we go into the afternoon, with a few showers coming out of that cloud.
345
And we're still in the warm air, so 19 or 20, the top temperature.
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But from Thursday, Friday and into the weekend, bit of a drop in the temperatures, another batch of rain early in the day on Friday.
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But as we go into the weekend, And our temperature's coming back down to near normal for the time of year at 15 or 16.
348
Bye for now.
349
Good for the gardens, I suppose.
350
OK, well, just one main headline to tell you about this evening.
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The Prime Minister has told the Commons the UK needs to be open to a closer relationship with the EU.
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Andy Burnham said a better relationship with Brussels could help secure a number of trade deals.
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That's about it from me.
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I'll be here later with our 10 .30 programme.
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In the meantime, do head to our website to find out how TFL is tackling hate crime through VR experiences.
356
That's bbc .co .uk slash London.
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But for now, from all of us here, whatever you're doing, do enjoy your evening.
358
Bye for now.
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How Gross Was the Past, Really?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B23
35 sentences
Viewing a Flat in London: What's the Catch?
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “121026 BBC London, Evening News”. This video has 357 sentences and 4644 words to shadow. The speech runs for 27:36. The speaker talks at a natural 168 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| float verb | /fləʊt/ | To be supported by a fluid of greater density (than the object). |
| transplant verb | /tɹænzˈplænt/ | To uproot (a growing plant), and plant it in another place. |
| sewer noun | /ˈsuɚ/ | A pipe or channel, or system of pipes or channels, used to remove human waste and to provide drainage. |
| cloud noun | /ˈklaʊ̯d/ | A visible mass of water droplets suspended in the air. |
| sewage noun | /ˈsu.ɪd͡ʒ/ | A suspension of water and solid waste, transported by sewers to be disposed of or processed. |
| tunnel noun | /ˈtʌn(ə)l/ | An underground or underwater passage. |
| kidney noun | /ˈkɪdni/ | An organ in the body that filters the blood, producing urine. |
| inquiry noun | /ɪnˈkwaɪ(ə)ɹi/ | The act of inquiring; a seeking of information by asking questions; interrogation; a question or questioning. |
| superstar noun | /ˈsuː.pəˌstɑː/ | Someone who has accumulated a vast amount of fame; a high-level celebrity. |
| classy adjective | /ˈklɑːsi/ | Elegant, highly stylish or fashionable. |
| disable verb | /dɪsˈeɪbəl/ | To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling. |
| accessibility noun | /əkˌsɛs.əˈbɪl.ə.ti/ | The quality of being accessible, or of admitting approach; receptiveness. |
| incredibly adverb | /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/ | In an incredible manner; not to be believed. |
| organisation noun | /ˈɔː.ɡə.naɪˌzeɪ.ʃən/ | Non-Oxford British English and Australian standard spelling of organization. |
| tube noun | /tuːb/ | Anything that is hollow and cylindrical in shape. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. |
| break apart verb | To dismantle something into its base components. |
| clean up verb | To make an area or a thing clean; to pick up a mess; to tidy. |
| come back verb | To return to a place. |
| come through verb | To come into a room or other space through a door or passageway. |
| do up verb | To fasten (a piece of clothing, etc.); to tighten (a nut etc.) |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- You know, why weren't the fire doors installed properly?
- You're not going to get them to hear anymore.
- I think they're really quite dangerous comments.
- That's about it from me.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | that's been looking · has been campaigning |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has paid · has been designed · has found |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | can be done · has been designed · was switched |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | election, which was · someone who does |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 71 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we're, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thick /θɪk/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, theirs /ðɛɚz/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: organisation /ˈɔː.ɡə.naɪˌzeɪ.ʃən/, integration /ˌɪn.tɪˈɡɹeɪ.ʃən/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, relation /ɹɪˈleɪʃ(ə)n/, sunshine /ˈsʌnʃaɪn/
- Long words — get the stress right: inquiry /ɪnˈkwaɪ(ə)ɹi/, accessibility /əkˌsɛs.əˈbɪl.ə.ti/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, organisation /ˈɔː.ɡə.naɪˌzeɪ.ʃən/, integration /ˌɪn.tɪˈɡɹeɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like float, transplant, sewer.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.