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BBC sounds, music, radio podcasts. I'misa Costello and on Wednesday the twenty fourth of June, these are the main news stories from Radio four The damning report finds hundreds of mothers and babies suffered serious injury or died because of systemic failures in maternity care at an NHS trust in Nottingham This report is about what happens when leadership fails, when governance fails, and the voices of women are systematically dismissed. Families react with anger and call for a public inquiry If you harmed or killed a child or mother in any other walk of life, there would be people held to account and people would be in jail. It's officially the hottest June day ever recorded in the UK with a provisional high of thirty six point one Celsius gosport in Hampshire. More than a thousand schools are shot and hundreds of trains are cancelled teachers are telling us to drink more water so we're hydrated and to w and cream. It's been a nightmare. It's so hot. so hot on the East Midlands train, they turned off the air conditioning. It was nasty. And it could get hotter still as the Mess offffice extends its red warning The education Secretary, Bridget Phipson, confronts the consonservative leader Kemmy Badenoch about her language at PMQs A preliminary report on last week's rail crash near Bedford finds one of the trains passed through a red signal moments before the collision And the Tartan army descends on Miami, as Scotland prepare to take on five time World Cup winners Brazil. The largest maternity inquiry in the history of the NHS has concluded that more than five hundred mothers and babies suffered avoidable harm or died at the Nottingham University Hospital's NHS Tust because of systemic failings and a toxic The independent review was led by the senior midwife, Donna Ocenden, who spoke to more than two thousand five hundred families and eight hundred members of staff. The BBC health correspondent Dominic Hughes was listening as Donna Ocendon delivered her report In her clear, calm voice, Donna Ocendon delivered a devastating critique of the terrible failures in compassion and care that have blighted the lives of hundreds of families in Nottingham. The numbers are shocking. A total of two hundred sixty babies who were harmed or died as a result of failings in care Six mothers also died, and there were one hundred and sixteen instances of women suffering potentially avoidable harm At the centre of this review are those families who found a moment that should have been full of joy instead turn to tragedy and loss Dononna Ocndon acknowledged the role the families had played in making the review happen And what did it cost them? Their experiences occurred over more than a decade and yet the themes that run through those experiences, a failure to listen, a failure to investigate, a failure to learn are hauntingly consistent From twenty twelve to twenty twenty five, year after year, baby after baby. mother after mother, family after family. The review lays out what went wrong with chilling clarity Women and families were not listened to, leading to missed opportunities to prevent harm. A toxic workplace culture prevented staff from speaking up. Staffing pressures meant services were in crisis mode, and over a period of years, there were repeated failures by senior managers to act on a series of reviews and warning signs clelearly told them what was going so badly wrong. This report is about what happens when leadership fails when governance fails When a culture develops in which bullying is tolerated, concerns are suppressed. Inidents are downgraded and the voices of women particularly the most vulnerable women are systematically dismissed The failures are not limited to the trust. The review also says regulators let families down. The Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Human Tissue Authority and the Care Quality Commission. There was an acknowledgement that some tried to raise concerns about failures only to be ignored or bullied And the review lays bare that the failures were deep rooted, systemic and sustained over many years. This is a report about a system that failed and It is a report about what it costs when systems fail. It costs lives, it costs futures, and it costs families everything Dononna Ocenden has already promised she will spend the next two years holding the Nottingham Trust to account to ensure it implements all the changes she says are still needed Finally, she paid tribute to the families, always at the centre of her review, praising their courage, dignity and determination in the face of the devastating consequences that continue to mark their lives, and said their voices must now become the catalyst for urgent lasting national change The report has been welcomed by many of the families who were affected by what happened at the trust Kim Erton's son Teddy died at Nottingham City Hospital in twenty twenty when he was a day old because of failings by healthcare professionals. She says real change is impossible without a public inquiry Together, we have been instrumental in exposing the largest maternity scandal in NHS history It should never have fallen to us to uncover the truth and force action The responsibility for protecting patients belongs to the trust leaders. regulators and the government And what happens next lies firmly with them Sarah Hawkins worked as a physiotherapist at the trust and lost her daughter Harriet in twenty sixteen She says unless something changes, women and babies will keep on dying It's very clear that all of the regulators have let us down. It's not just Notingham. We are in contact with people from Ledsown to Plymouth. It is widespread And my main frustration is that if you harmed or killed child or mother in any other walk of life. There would be people held to account and people would be in jail But for our maternity services throughout England, there is no accountability it. The government has announced that anyone responsible for failures would be compelled to give evidence to investigations into poor maternity care The Health Secretary James Murray also told MPs that he was considering holding a public inquiry and no options were off the table. He says he was shocked when he heard about how families had been treated I felt totally numb after hearing from them about the depth of their pain and how that pain is living with them their whole lives. What I feel I need to do and we need to do as a government, is stand by those families and say we will make sure you get the accountability you need, that you will get the change you need so that we can make sure in the future women do not get ignored when maternity services are failing them. Our Social Affairs correspondent, Michael Buchanan was one of the journalists families turned to when they felt the hospital wasn't listening to their concerns In twenty eighteen, more than fifty staff from the Queens Medical Center in Nottingham wrote to their bosses warning of a maternity crisis. The letter said that if the problems weren't addressed, mistakes would be inevitable. And here we are The leadership of the Nottingham University Hospital's NHS Trust took no meaningful action, that in action helps explain why so much harm has been allowed to exist in the NHS This is the fourth review into maternity care in England in a little over a decade, but repeatedly, the hundreds of recommendations that have been made have not been implemented. Sustained improvements have therefore not occurred which is why many of the Nottingham families and others want a public inquiry While some midwives have been struck off for their mistakes, no executives at any thrust have been held to account for the cultural and leadership failures that allowed the poor practices to continue Many have been allowed to retire or in some cases help to find jobs elsewhere Ministers say this time they will act. And that the Nottingam review, coupled with a report coming from Baroness Amos next week, will lead to safer maternatic care after so many previous broken promises Many families are now awaiting action. Today has been the hottest June day on record in the UK with a provisional high of thirty six point one Celsius in Gosport in Hampshire The Met Office has extended its red warning for extreme heat to last until midnight tomorrow and to take in coastal areas of southern England. More amber warnings are in place until Saturday night. The heat is putting more pressure on Britain's energy systems, according to the grid operator, Niso It's issued a rare summer supply warning, calling for power plants to provide extra electricity Our weather presenter, Sarah Keith Lucas sent this report from the Met Office headquarters in Exeter It's the third day in a run of six days with extreme heat warnings in force across parts of England and Wales. It's been the UK's hottest June day on record, with those records going back fifty years I've spent the day at the Met Office where chief meteorologist Will Lang describes what's behind this spell of really intense and sustained heat. It's all down to the persistent high pressure conditions we've seen across much of the UK, but also Western Europe as well And the winds are light in high pressure, the air iss really not moving around very much, but it is descending slightly and that causes the air to compress and that makes it heat up. Climate scientists here at the Met offffice say that these types of heat waves are going to become more frequent, more intense and will last for longer So although this is only the second time a red extxtreme heat warning has been issued, it's likely they're going to become more common in the future More than a thousand schools across England and Wales have shut or closed early and rail services have faced severe delays and cancellations. Our correspondent Helena Wilkinson reports From early this morning, commuters struggled with the already uncomfortable heat under the blazing sun. Train services were impacted. passengers faced cancellations and delays and were warned not to travel to, from or within the red weather zone unless absolutely necessary. It's been a nightmare so hot. So on the East Midlands train they turned off the air conditioning because the water was leaking through. So there was no air conditioning in the carriages. so yeah it was nasty. So the trains were all delayed. It wasn't all bad. The train was actually really well air conditioned, shouldould have gone for a longer trip. While I was checking my phone just to see if there was delays, everything said severe deays Many schools have been without pupils today. In England and Wales, more than a thousand were shut or closed early because of the extreme heat Others stayed open and found ways to cope with the heat pupils are from a school in Newark on Trent. We're not really allowed to play football or basketball because it's too hot Our teachers are telling us to drink more water so we're hydrated and to worars and hot and wear. S cream. They're telling us not to play sports a lot because we could feel sick there are lessons which are one of the most important parts of the day. Some people have been able to work from home today, but for others, working outside has been unavoidable, including for these construction workers in London. Horrible It's not very nice, there's no shade, you've got no lit up. Yeah you see it's baking. Yeah Where's work to be done? I'm really looking forward to getting back into the shade and getting in an ice cold bath. I've got some ice in the freezers at home so I will be putting in the ice in the bath and I'll be jumping in it The extreme heat even disrupted play at the Wimbledon qualifiers. It's the oralkganise system and I don't know if it's the whole site, but I don't know I think play is suspended everywhere. Oh here we go. Let's listen to the announcement. Can we hear that? Shall we listen to this Well even that's gone down. That's unbelievable, is it? The red warnings in parts of England and Wales are due to continue until just before midnight on Thursday. With little respite ahead, amber heat warnings are in place until Saturday People have been urged to drink plenty of water, keep out of the sun, and avoid exercise during the hottest times of the day Temperatures have hit thirty three point three Celsius in parts of Wales, making it the country's hottest day of the year so far. Transport for Wales has cancelled services across the country, and the Welsh government has called the extreme temperature a heat emergency France has seen its hottest day since records began in nineteen forty seven as the heat wave moves eastwards across Western Europe. Tens of thousands of homes in Western France are without power and more than half of the country is under a red heat alert. Our Paris correspondent Huscofield reports The National Weather Service says the heat wave is now more severe in duration and intensity than France's two thousand three heat wave, which is reckoned to have killed some fifteen thousand people. Since then there have been major changes made, notably the provision of cold spaces in care homes whichich means the number of dead today fortunately bears no comparison, but still, services are under strain Electricity transformers have burned out, leading to power cuts in Brittany and the South In the southwest there are no trains in the afternoon because of overheating. Thousands of schools are once again shut Opposition parties are accusing the goovernment of failing to prepare sufficiently for these extremely hot spells which are now becoming so frequent. The populist of Marin Le Pen is calling for a subsidised mass rollout of air conditioning, and even the Green Party, normally opposed to air conditioning is saying that such is the urgency now in schools and hospitals, it has to be part of the response The MT Oice has warned of health risks for the whole population, not just the vulnerable. Our medical editor Fergus Walsh looks at the effects of heat on the body Extreme heat conditions can undermine the body's ability to maintain a stable core temperature Getting too hot and dehydrated can quickly lead to heat exhaustion. Signs include heavy sweating Pale, clammy skin nausea and dizziness Dr. Lynn Thomas, medical director of Stt John Ambulance, has this advice for helping someone who looks like they're unwell. So first of all, remove them from the heat. So put them in the shade, take off their excess clothing. If you can spray them with water, cool water and then fan them, that's great. elevate it the legs to increase the blood pressure. and if they're conscious, please give them something to drink, water is the best thing The real danger is that heat exhaustion can progress to heat stroke, which is a medical emergency and can be life threatening. Signs include a very high temperature hot skin which is not sweating Confusion, fast breathing, a rapid heart rate, or loss of consciousness. Even the fittest can succumb to heat stroke. But the most vulnerable are the elderly, babies and young children, or those who are pregnant or have a heart or lung condition Our climate editor, Justin Roet has been traveling to Gosport in Hampshire where the record was broken He has this analysis of what makes this heat wave different I was on Nikki Campbell's five live phone in this morning and lots of callers were skeptical about whether these tumbling temperature records really mean anything Caller after caller said the same thing We've always had hot days, they said. We've always had heat waves. You're making a fuss about nothing And they're right up to a point We have always had heat waves. We know the weather conditions that make them happen High pressure brings clear skies and light wind so the heat can really build But those same weather patterns are now happening differentiffere world You'll have seen the standard graph scientists use. It shows global average temperatures since the pre industrial era. For much of that time, the line was pretty stable From the nineteen seventies, it began to rise steeply. Global temperatures are now about one point four degrees Celsius higher than they were in the pre industrial era. And because the whole range of temperatures has shifted upwards What used to be extreme heat is now significantly more likely which is why heat waves are hotter than they used to be And also why they tend to last longer and happen more frequently. Think about it In a world without climate change, new global temperature records would be rare. But the last eleven years, for example, are the warmest ever recorded. So yes This is weather But it is weather in a warming world You're listening to the six o'clock newews on BBC Radio four, the main news so far The biggest maternity inquiry in the history of the NHS finds hundreds of mothers and babies suffered serious injury or died because of systemic failures at the Nottingham University Hospital's Trust The Met Office says the June temperature record has been broken with a provisional high of thirty six point one Celsius still to come Scientists find sperm whales have regional accents The Conservative partarty says its leader Kemmy Badenoock will not apologize for her language after she repeatedly attacked members of the government during Prime Minister's questions. As Badenoock said Labour MPs were cheering on Sakir Starmer despite there being four hundred knives stuck in his back She also called the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, a spiteful class warrior. Here's our political correspondent, Jack Femway In the first PMQs since Sakir Starmer announced his resignation, Kemy Badenoch suggested that many labour MPs were traitors and deserters She accused the Chancellor Rachel Reeves of killing jobs, the energy seecretary Ed Milliband of killing industry, and had this to say about the education seecretary Bridget Phipson. She taxed private schools to pay for more teachers But the number of teachers has gone down. It turns out appointing a spiteful class warrior as education secreary was a disaster The common speaker, Sir Lindseay Hoyle called for a little bit more decorum and respect, though it's not clear which precise words upset him Sakir Stara defended his education secretary and said she knew personally how important education was for poor children. She knows exactly what it means to grow up in poverty She was once reluctant to tell her story, I know her story. It's an incredible story of social mobility and success. I am so proud that she is sitting there and so should everybody in this country who cares about social mobility. Mr Badenock and Ms Phillipson then had a heated exchange in the moments after PMQs and have since traded barbs on social media Theory leader accused the education seecretary of destroying lives, and Bridgete Phillipson said Kemmy Badenock had lost her head Ased if she would apologize, a spokesman for Ms Badenoock said abbsolutely not The BBC understands Baroness Moone and her husband, Doug Barran are being sued in an attempt to recover some of the millions of pounds owed to the government by a collapsed company linked to the couple PPE Med Pro, which was run by Mr Barran, was put into administration last year after a court ruled that it had breached a contract to supply sterile gowns during the pandemic Here's our business reporter, Ben Kink PPEMed Pro was set up in twenty twenty to supply medical equipment during the COVID nineteen pandemic and won its first contract after Baroness Moon recommended it to the government Last year, a court ruled that it had breached a contract and ordered it to pay the Department of Health and Social Care one hundred twenty two million pounds plus interest But it wasn't clear how the government would get its money back PPE MedPro had less than one million pounds and was put into liquidation Now, liquidators are pursuing six individuals, including Baroness Moon and her husband and five companies, in what the BBC understands is an attempt to recover some of the government's money Baron S Mo and Mr. Barrman were not directors of PPE Med Pro and initially denied any connection with it In twenty twenty three, Mr. Byran admitted in a BBC interview that he was the ultimate beneficial owner The administrators declined to comment Baroness Mona Mr. Barrerman did not respond to requests for comment An initial investigation has found that a train which crashed into another stationary train near Bedford on Friday has passed a red signal shortly before the collision. The driver, sixty year old Sean Burton, was killed in the crash. fifty three people remain in hospital eight in critical condition O from our transport correspondent, Kasey Austin The crash happened at about quarter past five on Friday evening, two and a half miles south of Bedford Station. two East Midlands railway trains were involved, both travelling to London St. Pancras. Specialist investigators said the train travelling from Nottingham stopped unexpectedly because of a fault with warning system equipment Their initial analysis suggests the signal behind it was changed to red, but another train travelling from Corby kept going. It's not yet clear what warnings the driver received about that signal or how he responded. The Corby train was travelling at around seventy six miles per hour Brakes were applied nine seconds before the collision, but it was still travelling at about forty nine miles per hour when it struck the Nottingham Service. The investigation continues Two more officers at Charing Cross Police Station in London have been fired following secret filming by BBC Panorama. PC Kivva Gould Ryan and PC Fernando Santos D Santos were dismissed without notice for glorifying the use of force against detainees The misconduct hearing found the officers had breached standards of professional behaviour Ten officers from the station have now been dismissed. An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct continues The Bishop of Northampton has been charged with two counts of child rape David Oakley is one of the most senior members of the Catholic Church in England to be accused of sexual offences and was once seen as a frontrunner to lead the institution nationally. Our religion editor Alie McBull reports. Staffordshire pololice say the Bishop of Northampton has been charged with two counts of rape against a girl under sixteen for offences that are alleged to have taken place in the years of two thousand and two thousand one. David Oakley, who's been a priest for more than forty five years served several parishes in the Archdiocese of Birmingham before being made Bishop of Northampton in twenty twenty. At one point, the seventy year old was seen as a favourite to become the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. But he was arrested last autumn following an allegation made to police and subsequently stepped back from public ministry In a short statement today, the Catholic Church said it understood that charges against David Oakley would be very distressing for all concerned The UN's nuclear watchdog has said inspections of Iran's nuclear sites will take place following the memorandum of understanding that was signed by Donald Trump and the Iranian president last week. No timetable has been set. Our diplomatic correspondent, Caroline Hawley reports Iran's nuclear facilities were battered in not one but two wars. extxtensive damage was done, but it's the fate of a stockpile of highly enriched uranium closer weapons grade that most concerns the U.S and the international community. The material which Donald Trump calls nuclear dust is currently lying under rubble and the UN wants access Iran and the US. agreed last week that it would be diluted under the supervision of the IAEA, though no time frrame was given Its head, Rapfael Grosssi, said there was a war of words taking place between the two sides. Tings have yet to be worked out, but he made clear that the Iranian authorities would have to submit to inspections This is going to happen. f course if they want to Bank. with the agreement if they don't want is another matter. Iran also agreed last week to allow commercial shipping to start moving through the Strait of Hormuz, where thousands of sailors have been trapped for nearly four months The UN says it's now begun evacuating them. The head of the International Maritime Organization told the BBC that most of the six hundred stranded vessels would be out within a few weeks but it's likely to take a lot longer for trade along that route to return to how it was before the war. In cricket, England's returning captain Ben Stokes says he's apologized to his teammates after missing their last test match. He and Fas Pola Gus Atkinson were dropped from the second test against New Zealand after breaking a midnight curfew because they were at a London nightclub England, led by a standing captain, suffered a two hundred and fifty three run thrashing in the second test. Speaking for the first time since the incident, Stokes said he was sorry for the impact of his actions was someone who's You know, you've got the responsibility of being a leader within a group it's all fine and well, everything being fine and dandy when it's all going well, but know you need to take responsibility for things as well. And if that is you who needs to take that responsibility, then you need to be big enough and man enough to be able to take that upon your shoulders and look everyone in your eye who' affected and apologise how you need to apologise and that's something that I did Scotland are hoping to make football history tonight at the World Cup when they play Brazil in Florida. They could progress to the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time ever. But it could be tough. Brazil have won the World Cup five times. BBC Scotland's sports news correspondent Chris McLaughlin orts from Miami When Scotland qualified for this World Cup and were drawn in group C, this was always the most mouthwatering prospect. the final group match against Brazil in Miami all the glamour, all the colour and simply put biggest match in the history of Scottish football A win or a draw in Scotland will qualify for the group stages for the first time ever And just like they did in Boston for the first two games The Scotland fans have taken over Miami Bringing the party wherever they go also desperate for the journey to continue There is potentially another route to progression for Scotland. The three points they picked up in that win over Haiti could be enough in this expanded tournament The permutations change by the hour But avoiding a heavy defeat to the mighty Brazil tonight would certainly help Scientists have detected different dialects in sperm whales on separate sides of the Mediterranean. The pattern of clicks is used to form social structures and help the animals to cooperate. Eve Coleman has more. Sperm wheel communication has long been the subject of scientific interest. Their clicks are one of the most powerful sounds on the planet, reaching two hundred and thirty six decibels in water louder than a jet engine. But new research suggests that the rhythmic The pattern of these clicks known as the dialect actually varies between sperm whales on different sides of the Mediterranean. A team of scientists used underwater microphones near Greece and Spain to record groups of sperm whales between two thousand three and twenty twenty one Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the scientists said Wales in the Western Basin favored three regularly spaced clicks, followed by a longer pause than another click, while those in the East tended to use a faster version of this sequence Crucially, one group of sperm whales will only associate with another if they share the same dialect and hence belong to the same vocal clan. One researcher said it was similar to how humans might be more comfortable striking up a conversation with someone who sounds like them The headlines again. The author of the largest report into maternity Failings in NHS history has promised grieving families that she'll spend the next two years holding people to account for the losses they've suffered Dononna Ocon says more than one hundred and fifty babies and six mothers may have survived if they received better care at Nottingham University Hospital's NHS Trust. The UK has experienced its hottest June day on record with a provisional high of thirty six point one Celsius in Hampshire