28 January 2014 Last updated at 08:29

Article written by Nick Triggle Health correspondent

• More from Nick

Are your medical records in danger?

 

Householders across England have started receiving leaflets about a new NHS scheme called Care.data.

The likelihood is most people will simply cast the documents in the bin along with the take-away menus and double-glazing offers.

But to some the data-sharing project represents an attack on privacy and confidentiality. Should we be concerned?

Care.data, when it is ready in the early summer, will effectively be an anonymised medical database which will include details of every NHS patient - unless you opt out.

NHS England, which has commissioned the Health and Social Care Information Centre to run the project, argues the system will make medical advances easier by allowing researchers to investigate drug side effects and enable greater monitoring of performance in the health system.

To date, the NHS has provided access to anonymised records, but that has been solely limited to what happens in hospitals.

As a result, there has been virtually no information about the care given by GPs and elsewhere in the community or the sort of drugs patients have been given before they reach hospital.

For those who rely on this information, it is said to be like looking at a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing.

For example, cancer survival in England has tended to lag behind other western countries. That could be down to late diagnosis, poor GP referral practices or inadequate treatment - but no-one really knows.

Having information about this joined-up patient journey could provide the answer.

Uneasiness

So far, so good?

Yes, but there is a controversial element.

At the moment, the database will only be open to NHS bodies.

But there is a proposal - to be discussed at a meeting in March - that will allow it to be made available to non-NHS groups, such as drug companies.

The fear is that as the information contains so much data it will in theory be possible to identify some patients.

And as some drug companies also have health insurance arms, it is easy to understand why this could be a problem with fears being raised about increased premiums and targeted marketing.

There are laws strictly prohibiting trawling data to join up the dots.

However, there is still uneasiness about the issue.

To date, both the British Medical Association and Royal College of GPs have remained largely supportive.

But that does not mean there is not some concern within the medical community.

A recent survey of 400 doctors by the GP magazine Pulse found nearly half were unhappy about the plans.

This is because GPs will be handing over the raw data, which includes NHS numbers, date of births, postcodes, genders and ethnicities.

They will then have to leave it up to the Health and Social Care Information Centre to link it up with the hospital side before anonymising it.

This is the first time such records have been released like this from the safety of a GP surgery.

'Illegal and unconstitutional'

MPs have also started showing an interest.

An early day motion has been tabled by Roger Godsiff, the Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green. He has suggested there should be "no faith" in the official guarantees of anonymity.

So what should the public do?

NHS England's chief data officer Dr Geriant Lewis believes the fears are unfounded.

"If you believed everything you read about this, you would think the NHS was either about to give away everyone's confidential data free of charge or flog it to the highest bidder.

"Needless to say, we are doing no such thing: to do so would be unethical, illegal and unconstitutional."

But he adds people do have a choice, pointing out the leaflet arriving on the doormat contains information about the project and the and the options open to patients - including how to opt out.

Just don't throw it away.

27 January 2014 Last updated at 10:46

World War One's financial crisis - parallels with 2008

By Hugh Pym Chief economics correspondent, BBC News

People queue at the Bank of England in July 1914, to change notes into gold

Queues in the City, banks raising cash in a hurry from the authorities and a rush to obtain gold - sounds like September and October 2008?

No, this was late July and early August 1914. Even before a shot had been fired by a British soldier, markets were gripped by fears of the consequences of war.

It is a story which in the 100 years since the outbreak of World War One has not been widely chronicled.

Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn, now Lord, King said at the height of the 2008 banking crisis that it was the worst since August 1914.

An expert on economic history, King liked to point out that there was nothing comparable in the 1930s which many saw as the obvious parallel to the financial implosion triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Markets wake up

King believed there were clear similarities between 2008 and 1914 - a flight to safe assets, a drying up of liquidity and market interest rates soaring.

In the final days of July 1914, financial markets woke up to the alarming reality that a European war was inevitable.

Queues built up at the Bank of England, as investors scrambled to change their paper money for gold (with sterling on the gold standard, the Bank was obliged to provide convertibility for the currency, though the government quickly opted to suspend the link to gold).

Commercial banks rushed to convert their bonds and bills into cash or use them as collateral for loans from the Bank.

The Bank of England's official rate for lending operations soared from 3% to 10% in a matter of days. On Friday, 31 July, the stock exchange closed and commercial banks shut their doors for a week.

Bank closures were desperate measures which, however dire the situation might have seemed, never happened during the crisis of 2008. War was declared on Tuesday, 4 August, but by this stage the City had in effect already closed for business.

Exchange crashes and bank runs

Prof Richard Roberts, of King's College London, and author of Saving the City - the Great Financial Crisis of 1914, argues that the events of July and August were as bad as the City of London has ever seen, either before or since.

"In the week before Britain went to war all the London financial markets collapsed," he says.

"It was the most serious systemic financial crisis that has ever overtaken Britain - or indeed the world. There were something like 50 countries which had stock exchange crashes and runs on banks."

The response of the authorities was similar to the dramatic intervention 94 years later. There was an unprecedented lifeline for the markets and Prof Roberts estimates the overall support for the financial system in 1914 was larger as a share of national income than what was deployed in 2008.

The Bank of England opened up every tap to allow liquidity to spread around the City. It bought up financial assets held by banks which had plunged in value because of fears of default by institutions in France, Germany and Italy. The government agreed to provide taxpayer guarantees against any losses incurred by the Bank.

'A state of funk'

The debates in Parliament and in the City in 1914 bore an uncanny resemblance to those held in the aftermath of the bailouts of RBS and Lloyds/HBOS.

The concern about stigma being attached to those banks which went to the Bank of England to get access to emergency credit lines was voiced in 1914. Accusations that banks bailed out by the authorities were not lending to the wider economy were also heard.

The Bank of England has opened up its archives for World War One

In his book City of London: The History, David Kynaston quotes disapproval of the bankers in Downing Street. The Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, described the City's leaders as being in "a state of funk like old women chattering over tea cups in a cathedral town".

The words were a little different, but the sentiments the same, when Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling gave their verdicts on the bank chiefs in 2008.

One hundred years on, the Bank of England has opened up its archives for 1914 for public viewing. A fascinating episode in economic history is set out in the ledgers kept in the vaults.

The authorities' massive intervention propped up the financial system and kept it afloat as Britain went to war. Financial history would repeat itself more than nine decades on but without the bloodshed.

Perhaps Mervyn King and his colleagues consulted the archives to see how their predecessors dealt with the banking crisis of 1914.

Find out more from Hugh Pym on how close WW1 came to bankrupting Britain.

Horsemeat in food 'three years earlier'

28 January 2014 Last updated at 10:33

Horsemeat found in food 'three years' before scandal

By Carl Johnston File on 4

The scandal has inspired a stricter food testing regime across Europe

Thousands of tonnes of horsemeat probably entered the food chain in the three years before last year's food crisis, according to a frontbench Labour MP.

Mary Creagh, who was shadow environment secretary at the time of the scandal, says she has evidence which proves criminals substituted beef for horsemeat on a massive scale.

The discovery of horsemeat in processed beef products sold by a number of UK supermarket chains last year resulted in a series of product recalls.

"The number of horses slaughtered in Britain has halved over the past year - so what that tells you is probably 50% of the horses that were being slaughtered in 2010, 2011 and 2012 were destined for some sort of criminal meat trade," Ms Creagh told BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme.

The official government figures show that in 2009, there were 5,100 horses slaughtered. In 2010 there were 8,854, in 2011 there were 9,011 and in 2012 there were 9,405.

That figure, for the 11 months of 2013 following the crisis, fell by more than half to 4,505.

"There are [now] much stricter checks in abattoirs and the paperwork is being checked a lot more carefully. Veterinary inspectors are alive to the potential for horses to have more than one microchip in their neck and it is no longer in the interest of would-be criminals to take the risk of getting caught," said Ms Creagh, now shadow transport secretary.

Abandoned horses

She added that the number of slaughterhouses approved to kill horses in the UK had also fallen, from seven in January 2013 to a current total of four.

"The anecdotal evidence from animal welfare charities is that there was a huge increase in the number of abandoned horses, there was a huge increase in horse passport fraud and there was a huge increase in horse slaughter."

There was a glut of unwanted horses after the 2008 financial crisis, with people no longer able to afford to keep a horse.

"They were horses that may have been treated with bute [a drug given to horses], had fresh chips put in their heads and new passports written for them - so they were being cleaned... and then taken to slaughter.

"Not all of those horses I think were exported, some of them may have stayed in the UK. I am in no doubt that they were entering the food chain and being passed off as beef," Ms Creagh said.

The National Audit Office has already criticised the government, suggesting it should have picked up on "warning signs" as long ago as 2010.

In its investigation into the crisis published in October 2013 the NAO pointed to economic recession putting pressure on household bills and leaving the way open for food fraudsters to introduce horsemeat into the food chain.

Sian Jones, the audit manager responsible for the report, told File on 4:

"The price of beef on our shelves was staying the same. The price of horsemeat wholesale was going down... horsemeat looks and tastes an awful lot like beef so it's an ideal candidate for adulteration. We felt on reflection that these were signs that intelligence should have picked up on - and didn't."

'Know the loopholes'

In a statement, the Food Standards Agency said:

"[Our] role is to ensure consumers are protected and our focus is on working with the food industry and local authorities to make sure this happens. For example, we are working with our local authority partners to do more authenticity testing and we have increased funding to support them in this work to £2.2m.

"We asked Prof Pat Troop to review the FSA's response to the horsemeat incident and we are working on her recommendations to improve our intelligence gathering, review the way we respond to incidents and look again at our powers."

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson declined File on 4's request for an interview.

Fraud inspectors check seafood products at a market near Paris

In her first interview as head of the European Union's Food Fraud Network, which was set up in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, Carmen Garau told the BBC the unit is already investigating 40 cases of beef being substituted for horsemeat.

"It has become apparent that this... can happen more and more in future because fraud has become technologically advanced, they know the legislation and they know the loopholes in the legislation.

"They know how to bypass and how to avoid controls in some cases, so we do need to organise ourselves to address that sort of phenomenon."

Ms Garau says the EU Food Fraud Network, which has members from each of the 28 member states plus Iceland, Switzerland and Norway, is currently investigating 20 different types of food fraud.

These include species substitution in fish, water being injected into frozen seafood to increase its weight and the substitution of honey for sugar syrup.

"After the horsemeat crisis, we realised that one of the main problems in enforcing food legislation across Europe and tackling food fraud across Europe was the fact that member states were not using to the full the instruments and the tools for administrative co-operation across borders.

They have to co-operate with each other when the violation of food law is intentional, is cross border, and is economically motivated," she said.

File on 4's investigation into food fraud is on BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 on Tuesday, January 28.

28 January 2014 Last updated at 12:20

Five interpretations of the new Doctor Who costume

Magazine Monitor A collection of cultural artefacts

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Peter Capaldi's Doctor Who outfit has been unveiled. What messages does it convey about the Time Lord's 12th incarnation, asks Jon Kelly.

1. No messing about. The bow-tie-and-tweed-wearing Matt Smith looked like he'd just won a trolley dash in a fashionable east London thrift store. With his "geek chic" Converse trainers and skinny ties, David Tennant could have played bass with The Strokes. By contrast, Capaldi's scarf-less, accessory-free Doctor is no dandy - one for the purists, perhaps. It's "cool, subtle, not giving too much away", says Who fan and novelist Jenny Colgan. "Simple, stark, and back to basics," is how the actor himself puts it - and this is a man who once wrote to the Radio Times aged 15 to proclaim his Who fandom, so he should know.

Here's two we dressed earlier...

2. One step beyond. The Crombie overcoat and Dr Martens boots suggest the Gallifreyan has come straight from the front row of a 1979 ska gig. "It does have that whole Madness thing to it," says fashion expert and former Queer Eye For The Straight Guy presenter Julian Bennett. Surely, too, the coat is an attempt to upstage Sherlock's much-admired Belstaff number.

3. All grown up. Capaldi is a full 29 years older than Smith was when he assumed the role, and his costume's monochrome hues and classic tailoring are more typical sartorial choices of the more mature gentleman. In recent years, the dark suit and buttoned-up white shirt combo has been espoused by two individuals in their autumnal years, namely David Lynch and Charles Saatchi.

David Lynch (l) and Charles Saatchi: sartorial role models?

4. Behind the sofa. James White of Empire magazine suggests the look betrays the influence of Jon Pertwee's more action-orientated, vaguely gothic third Doctor, "with all the Hammer Horror overtones that suggests". The series took a darker turn under Pertwee's reign - those of a nervous disposition might be advised to start covering their eyes with their fingers now.

Jon Pertwee as the third doctor

5. Cutting a dash. The flash of red from the lining of his coat hints that this Doctor still has an extravagant streak. According to Stuart Heritage of the Guardian, the look is suggestive of "a slightly flamboyant best man cutting shapes at a wedding reception". Bennett is less impressed: "It looks like a man having a midlife crisis and trying to relive his youth." Surely he could just jump in the Tardis?

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VIDEO: Dave Lee Travis: Allegations 'nonsense'

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Dave Lee Travis denies forcing himself on women

28 January 2014 Last updated at 13:55 GMT

The former DJ Dave Lee Travis has denied forcing himself on women, and said that allegations against him are "nonsense".

He told Southwark Crown Court he was subject to female attention while hosting roadshows as a BBC DJ in the 1980s and had fallen into temptation "once or twice".

June Kelly reports.

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Large offshore wind farm opens near Barrow in Furness

28 January 2014 Last updated at 09:59 GMT

A large offshore wind farm near Barrow in Furness is to be switched on, creating enough electricity for almost 300,000 homes.

Britain generates more energy from offshore wind than the rest of the world put together.

Rob Broomby reports.

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Three steps to build a wind farm

VIDEO: Ex-president on trial in glass case

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Egypt: Morsi trial begins amid tight security

28 January 2014 Last updated at 13:17 GMT

A new trial of the former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, has begun in Cairo.

He is charged with organising a mass prison break during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, as well as murdering police officers during the breakout.

Mr Morsi and other defendants in the case are appearing in a sound-proofed glass box during the trial. He will only be permitted to address the court after raising his hand.

The BBC's Sally Nabil, who is outside the courtroom, said security around the court is tight.

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Egypt ex-President Morsi defiant at jailbreak trial

Morsi defiant at jailbreak trial

28 January 2014 Last updated at 14:37

Egypt ex-President Morsi defiant at jailbreak trial

The BBC's Sally Nabil, who is at courtroom in Cairo, said Mr Morsi was inside a sound-proof glass case to stop him disrupting proceedings

Continue reading the main story

Egypt's former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi has struck a defiant tone at the beginning of his trial over his escape from prison in 2011.

Mr Morsi started shouting: "I am the president of the republic, how can I be kept in a dump for weeks?"

Egypt's first freely elected president was deposed by the military in July 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

He is now facing four separate criminal trials on various charges.

Mr Morsi and other defendants in the case are appearing in a sound-proofed glass box during the trial. He will only be permitted to address the court after raising his hand.

At one point, journalists were given the chance to hear what was going on in the glass cage, the BBC's Abdel Bassir Hassan reports from the courtroom.

The defendants started shouting: "Down with military rule" and the judge cut off the sound.

Later, Mr Morsi began shouting that he was still the legitimate president and demanded: "Who are you, who are you?"

The defendants also made the four-finger "Rabaa" protest sign, referring to the clearing of the pro-Morsi Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp in August.

Today is the third anniversary of the jailbreak at the centre of the case, during which police officers were killed.

Some children outside the trial had boots placed on their heads to show support for the army

Mr Morsi has previously said local residents freed the inmates.

Also on Tuesday, the interior ministry said that a ministry official, named in local media as Gen Mohammed Saeed, was shot dead in Cairo on his way to work.

Elsewhere in the capital, a policeman guarding a church was killed and another wounded by unidentified gunmen,

The shootings come amid a string of militant attacks on security services in recent days, and hours after Egypt's top military body gave its backing for army chief Field Marshal Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to run for president.

No supporters

Mr Morsi was taken to the court in Cairo by helicopter from a prison in Alexandria, Mena news agency reports.

Tight security was in evidence around the Police Academy in Cairo hosting the trial, with armoured vehicles, police officers and military helicopters all visible, the BBC's Sally Nabil reports from outside the building.

Supporters of Field Marshal Sisi have gathered outside the building, but no pro-Morsi supporters have appeared.

Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist organisation and authorities have punished any public showing of support for it.

Clashes between Brotherhood supporters and security forces were reported in the Ramses area of central Cairo.

Another 130 people are also facing charges in the prison break trial, but many of the defendants are currently on the run.

Mr Morsi stands accused of organising a mass breakout from the Wadi al-Natrun prison during the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, as well as the murder of prison officers.

When he first appeared in court in November in a separate trial, Mr Morsi chanted slogans against the current government and the court. He also refused to recognise the court's legitimacy or put on the required prison uniform.

In that trial, he and 14 other figures from the Muslim Brotherhood face charges of inciting the killing of protesters in clashes outside the presidential palace in December 2012, while Mr Morsi was in office.

Mr Morsi's supporters say he and other senior Brotherhood leaders are the victims of politically motivated prosecutions.

Winter weather claims 'reach £426m'

28 January 2014 Last updated at 13:06

Storms and flooding: Insurance claims reach £426m, says ABI

Tidal surges, flooding and high winds have all led to claims

Insurance claims following storms and flooding over Christmas and New Year have hit £426m, with more expected, an insurers' group said.

Insurance companies have received 174,000 claims for damage to homes, cars and businesses amid bad weather between 23 December and 8 January.

The floods are still a serious problem and claims continue to arrive.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said the cost was expected to grow as a result.

"Insurers are playing a crucial role in helping customers affected by the storms and floods recover," said Aidan Kerr, the ABI's assistant director.

"Together with loss adjusters, insurers reacted quickly to help flood victims get through Christmas. Insurers will continue to work closely with customers to ensure the repair process is completed as soon as possible.

"This was a traumatic event for those affected, and shows the importance of having adequate property insurance. The insurance industry is fully prepared to deal with the damage caused by bad weather like this."

The overall cost of storms and floods will be much higher than the insurers' bills. Councils have already said they would need to spend £400m repairing roads, in addition to the bill for patching up council buildings and providing emergency help.

However, the costs are dwarfed by the great storm of October 1987 which cost insurance companies £2bn in today's money. The floods in the summer of 2007 cost more than £3bn.

The St Jude's storm in October cost insurance companies £130m.

VIDEO: Plane flipped upside down in storm

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Cessna flipped upside down in storm

27 January 2014 Last updated at 15:15 GMT

An aeroplane was flipped upside down in a weekend storm which left a trail of damage.

The Cessna 172 had been weighted down at Acton near Sudbury in Suffolk but the violent storm lifted it up and turned it over, badly damaging the propeller and tail and buckling the fuselage.

When an elephant walked on the frozen River Thames

28 January 2014 Last updated at 00:43

Frost fair: When an elephant walked on the frozen River Thames

By Tom de Castella BBC News Magazine

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It is 200 years ago since the last "frost fair" - an impromptu festival on a frozen Thames, complete with dancing, skittles and temporary pubs. Could such hedonism be repeated today?

Londoners stood on the Thames eating gingerbread and sipping gin. The party on the frozen river had begun on 1 February and would carry on for another four days.

The ice was thick enough to support printing presses churning out souvenirs. Oxen were roasted in front of roaring fires, drink was liberally taken and dances were held. An elephant was marched across the river alongside Blackfriars Bridge.

It was February 1814. George III was on the throne, Lord Liverpool was prime minister and the Napoleonic wars would soon be won.

People didn't know it then but this "frost fair" - a cross between a Christmas market, circus and illegal rave - would be the last. In the 200 years that have elapsed since, the Thames has never frozen solid enough for such hedonism to be repeated.

But between 1309 and 1814, the Thames froze at least 23 times and on five of these occasions -1683-4, 1716, 1739-40, 1789 and 1814 - the ice was thick enough to hold a fair.

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A zoomable version of this map is available on the desktop site

Bull-baiting, ox-roasting, football - explore the 1684 frost fair by clicking on the image and zooming in (not on mobile)

A bicentennial exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands gives a vivid picture of what this extremely rare event must have been like.

"It was almost like a city on ice," says Georgina Young, the museum's senior curator.

The fair came about through necessity. London was the pre-eminent port in the world. But without a navigable Thames many livelihoods were at risk.

When the river froze, the watermen, who transported people along the Thames, and the lightermen, who moved goods, lost their ability to earn. They followed the tradition of their forbears and organised a frost fair, charging traders and punters for access to the ice.

The Times of 2 February 1814 reported that "in some parts the ice was several feet thick, while in others it was dangerous to venture upon". The action was focused between London Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge in the heart of the city.

In early February, the ice broke up and the fun was over

The newspaper was not aware of any deaths but recorded that "many who ventured too far towards Blackfriars-bridge were partially immersed in the water by the ice giving way. Two coopers were with difficulty saved."

Activities were various. An illustration from 1684 shows figures "throwing at cocks", hunting a fox, bull-baiting, sledging and nine-pin bowling.

But by 1814 food and drink seemed to be the main draw. The highlight was the roast ox. Food historian Ivan Day, who has tried to replicate the revellers' cooking techniques, says it would take over 24 hours to roast the animal in front of a fire. A single animal could have fed 800 people. Mutton was also served - both in slices and in mince pies.

Tea, coffee and hot chocolate were on sale. But alcohol permeated the occasion. Ginger bread vendors sold cups of gin. A particularly strong gin was called Old Tom - records describe it as "incredibly ardent".

There was Purl - a mix of gin and wormwood wine, similar to vermouth. It was drunk hot and "you'd get absolutely wrecked on it", Day says. There was also a "very spiky" beer called Mum infused with spices similar to a winter ale. The tents - made out of sails and propped up with oars - were called "fuddling tents" for the ruinous effect of the strong liquor.

A carnival on water

The temporary pubs - like modern day pop-ups - had interesting names. In 1814, one was called The City of Moscow to reflect the freezing conditions. "It was very boisterous," Day says. "It was fun, very drunken and there was a lot of cheating people out of money going on."

The raucous crowd and basic food made it a far cry from today's market a little down the river at Borough. "This was no Michelin star Heston Blumenthal-style food, it was all very simple," Day says. Women would walk round with baskets of hot apples on their heads covered by a cloth to keep them warm. Often the families cooking were the same butchers who had been doing it in previous centuries. "One family butcher doing it in 17th Century keeps on popping up. The same families seem to be cooking the ox."

Nowadays the police would be everywhere at such a festival, checking the ice for cracks and keeping an eye out for drugs. In 1814 there was no police force. It was up to the watermen to keep order and break up fights.

But could such an event be repeated?

The Thames has frozen since. In the winter of 1962-63 - known as the Big Freeze - a man was spotted cycling on the Thames near Windsor Bridge. But it was only parts of the Thames further upriver and for short periods, certainly not long enough to turn the capital's river into a mixture of circus and rave.

It was colder in those days. The frost fairs took place during the Little Ice Age, roughly between 1350-1850.

George Adamson, historical climatologist at King's College London, says that 1814 was the third coldest January since 1659, when the Central England Temperature records began. The reason was low sun spot activity and the North Atlantic Oscillation sucking in weather from Siberia, he says.

Probably no longer edible

For some, the novelty appeared to have worn off quickly

The average temperature for January 1814 was -2.9C. Today the world is gradually warming. The recent cold January of 2010 averaged 1.4C.

But even more important than climate now is the architecture of the Thames. A new London Bridge was built in 1831 with fewer arches, allowing more water from the sea to pass up river unencumbered. Saltier water means a lower freezing point. And the construction of the Embankment later in the 19th Century narrowed the Thames making it flow faster, another factor making freezing less likely.

"I'd be surprised if it froze again to the extent where we'd be able to allow large numbers of people on the Thames," says Adamson.

But it's not impossible. It's hard to imagine how Londoners and the authorities would respond to a frozen Thames today. Would health and safety rules permit a party? Would the Mayor of London attempt a photo-op on skates? And it's almost inevitable that hipsters would relocate their pop-up eateries from Hackney to the ice.

Use the zoomable illustration at the top of the page to explore the frost fair of 1684 (not on mobiles)

Young believes Londoners today would react in a remarkably similar way to those of 1814. "When you think about the deep snow in London, people do congregate, explore it and go sledging. So I imagine if the Thames froze again people would get onto the ice." Presumably, watched over by the requisite number of officers in high-vis jackets.

Frozen Thames: Frost Fair 1814, a free display, opens at the Museum of London Docklands, from Wednesday 29 January to Sunday 30 March 2014

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VIDEO: The secret world of London's Mail Rail

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Mail Rail: The hidden trains under London's streets

28 January 2014 Last updated at 00:03 GMT

The Post Office Railway, otherwise known as Mail Rail, is a 6.5 mile (10.5 km) train system deep under London's streets.

Once used to shuttle post between sorting offices, the tunnels and mainly driverless trains have been out of service for more than 10 years.

But the network has been maintained throughout this time, and now the British Postal Museum & Archive is planning to open part of the network to the public.

BBC News went for an exclusive peek around.

Video Journalist: Dan Curtis; Camera: Luke Finn

Stop/Start is a series of video features for the BBC News website which follows both new trends that are beginning and old traditions that are coming to an end.

Read more

Mail Rail: What is it like on the 'secret' Tube?

Do children make good entrepreneurs?

28 January 2014 Last updated at 00:02

Do children make successful entrepreneurs?

By Alison Gee BBC World Service

Leanna Archer started mixing ingredients for her haircare products at home, aged eight

Continue reading the main story

If you think kids do nothing but play computer games and watch TV, think again.

Some, as young as eight, have started their own businesses and are already on the road to commercial success.

Four young people explain how they became entrepreneurs at an early age.

Leanna Archer - haircare queen

Leanna Archer from New York started selling home-made hair products when she was eight. Today her company, Leanna's Inc, has gross annual sales of about $500,000 (£300,000).

Her first product was based on a recipe from her Haitian great-grandmother. "So many people I knew wanted to use the same products that I was using in my hair and it sparked an idea in my mind to market the product," she says.

Archer uses natural ingredients in her growing range of products

Archer gave some free samples to people she knew. "After they used it and they liked it, they came to me and said, 'You know what, I have $20 (£12) - how much of that product will that get me?' And that's where the idea to start the business actually came from."

She started mixing the ingredients in the basement of her home on her own - now there are eight people involved and they are hoping to expand out of the basement this year.

One of her biggest challenges was to be taken seriously. "But as I got older, people started to realise that this was not just a phase - it was something that I was working and developing and I was the driving force behind it."

Archer is now 18 and is studying political science at university. She wants other youngsters to know that "everything seems impossible until it's done, so if you find something that you're passionate about - pursue it".

Anshul Samar - chemistry genius

Anshul Samar was 12 years old when he came up with an idea to make learning chemistry fun. Over the next two years the Californian schoolboy worked on his card game, Elementeo, which brings the elements of the periodic table to life.

It went on sale when he was 14 - he made 5,000 games to start with which sold out. Since then he has produced an updated second version and has developed an Elementeo app.

"Even from the beginning I always wanted to take this to become something big," he says.

"You're never too young to take your idea and make it into something cool," says Samar

Samar had a rare lung disease when he was 13, but he didn't let this stand in his way: "While I was in bed and I missed a lot of school, that was actually the time in which I developed a lot of Elementeo."

As a child he felt he had nothing to lose: "Even if something does mess up, you still have your skateboard in the garage and school to go to the next day - things just kind of keep going."

Samar had a lot of support from his community. "There was a group that gave me a small $500 (£300) grant... that was really the inspiration that got me started - someone from outside said, 'Hey even if you're just a kid we believe in your passion and we believe in your idea.'"

Samar is now at Stanford University. "School is my first priority and always has been - with things like Elementeo they're just a lot of fun and the fun and learning tend to balance themselves out."

Ludwick Marishane - cleaning up

When South African Ludwick Marishane (left) was 17, he came up with the idea of DryBath - a gel to replace soap and water.

He has spent the past six years developing the product and has raised funds through business competitions. The gel is now on sale and Marishane and has won awards along the way.

"You have to think about people who use the bucket bathing method - this is the way I stayed clean and this how almost half the world stays clean," he says.

"The water [in the bucket] gets extremely soapy, therefore it becomes really tough for you to rinse the soap off. You have to kneel - it's a really undignified way of staying clean."

He says DryBath changes all that - you put the gel on your body and rub it off with your hands. "If you're really dirty - you've got mud, dust etc on your skin, you can wipe it off with a damp cloth and you're clean."

When it came to getting feedback for his ideas, his father helped him to develop a thick skin. "Whenever I tried to do something, he was the one who provided me with the most critical feedback."

"I learned from a very young age not to take feedback to heart, especially if it was negative - just to take it for what it is and work and improve on it," he says.

Ilwad Elman - social entrepreneur

Ilwad Elman was born in Somalia but spent her childhood in Canada - her family moved there after her father was assassinated when she was three.

When she was 19 she decided to return to Mogadishu. "There were only about four districts that were controlled by the government - the rest was taken over by al-Shabab at that time so the crossfire and the front lines were literally in my backyard," she says.

She became a social entrepreneur working with her mother to set up Sister Somalia - an organisation that provides counselling, medical services, education and business starter kits to women who have survived sexual violence.

She has helped 1,600 women set up their own businesses including shops, courier firms and food import companies. She has also helped former combatants to start afresh.

"It was really difficult for some people to see a young person in a position to lead… I even at times had people walk out of meetings just because they couldn't handle the idea of a young person trying to convey these messages to them," says Elman.

"There is life beyond the bullets… people are very entrepreneurial, people are very motivated and there is opportunity for change," she says.

The entrepreneurs featured spoke to Newshour on the BBC World Service.

28 January 2014 Last updated at 01:10

The Fab Four and other famous faces - snapped by Harry Benson

He persuaded the Reagans to dance, got the Beatles to have a pillow fight, and sat in the back of a car photographing Jack Nicholson pulling faces. In a career spanning more than half a century, Harry Benson has snapped many famous figures.

Now, to celebrate 50 years of his work, the Glasgow-born photographer is showcasing nearly 100 of his images at Mallett in central London. From the US civil rights era, to Hollywood stars on show, take a look with him at some of the photos.

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To see the enhanced content on this page, you need to have JavaScript enabled and Adobe Flash installed.

Harry Benson's work will be exhibited at Mallett in central London from 4-15 February 2014.

All images subject to copyright. Click bottom right for image information.

Music by Dolly Parton, the Beatles, Frank Sinatra, James Brown and KPM Music.

Slideshow production by Paul Kerley. Publication 28 January 2014.

Related:

Harry Benson - biography at Mallett

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How photographs told the story of the Vietnam War

Only in England: Photographs from a bygone era

Wildlife wonders - creatures up close

VIDEO: Migrant workers paid £40 a day

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Migrant workers paid below minimum wage

28 January 2014 Last updated at 13:14 GMT

A BBC investigation has exposed migrant workers being paid well below the minimum wage.

Secret recording in London and Birmingham has uncovered workers being paid as little as £40 a day.

The government says it aims to drive such practices off the streets.

Gareth Furby has this special report.

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London's Romanian and Bulgarian labour market exposed

VIDEO: Folk singer and activist Seeger dies

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Pete Seeger, US folk singer, dies aged 94

28 January 2014 Last updated at 07:43 GMT

The veteran American folk singer and activist Pete Seeger has died aged 94.

He spent seven decades performing and demonstrating - working with the US civil rights movement, environmental groups, and most recently taking part in the Occupy Wall Street protests.

Nick Higham looks back at his life.

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Pete Seeger: US folk singer and activist dies aged 94

VIDEO: Shark victim 'stitched up own leg'

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Shark attack victim James Grant 'stitched up own leg'

28 January 2014 Last updated at 10:31 GMT

A doctor from New Zealand has stitched up his own leg after fighting off a shark.

James Grant was spear fishing off the South Coast on Saturday when he was attacked by what he thinks was a sevengill shark.

He told the BBC's Geeta Guru-Murthy that after he had had treatment, he went to the pub with friends.

Bhutto's son urges war on militants

28 January 2014 Last updated at 12:12

Bhutto son urges Pakistan military action on Taliban

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari: "I think we have exhausted the option of talks"

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The son of the assassinated former prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, has called on the country's authorities to take military action against militant groups.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said politicians must "wake up" to the threat posed by armed groups such as the Taliban.

His comments in a BBC interview come as the government holds urgent talks over how to tackle mounting violence.

Mr Bhutto, 25, said he was considering standing in elections due in 2018.

'Battlefield'

Speaking exclusively to the BBC, he said Pakistan had exhausted the option of talks with militants and that military action was now needed.

"Dialogue is always an option but we have to have a position of strength," he said. "How do you talk from a position of strength? You have to beat them on the battlefield. They're fighting us.

"It's not only confined to North Waziristan. They are attacking us in Karachi... We would like to eradicate the Taliban from Pakistan."

The BBC's Lyse Doucet, who conducted the interview, says most political parties including his own had agreed to pursue talks and that launching military action would be a risky option for the government, and for Mr Bhutto.

He was speaking in the run-up to the launch of the Sindh Festival on 1 February, a cultural event in his home province regarded as his first initiative to put his own personal stamp on his engagement with Pakistan.

It comes as Pakistan's National Assembly is meeting to discuss the country's response to a series of recent militant attacks, including one on an army convoy earlier this month.

The assembly's session on Monday ended without decision amid differences over whether or not to talk to the Taliban, which the government is in favour of.

Mr Bhutto told the BBC he thought the assassination of his mother in 2007 would "wake the country up" - but that politicians had wasted the consensus built up by his family, partly by believing that the United States should fight the Taliban for them.

He told the BBC he wanted to take on more responsibility in his Pakistan People's Party, which was badly defeated in last year's elections after five years in power.

"I never saw myself as being in politics," he said.

"Now I think it is time for me or there is the opportunity for me to start taking on more responsibility. But I will be focused more on party politics and working with every level of the party - I don't want to parachute my self in from the top. I want to work with the grassroots, with every level of the party across the country and my aim is the 2018 election."

Benazir Bhutto with her son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and daughter Asifa in 1998

Correspondents say the recent escalation in violence is renewing concerns about the country's strategy for dealing with militancy.

At least 13 people were killed in a suicide bombing near Pakistan's army HQ in the city of Rawalpindi on 20 January. It came a day after 20 soldiers were killed when a bomb blast struck an army convoy in the north-west.

Last week Pakistani military aircraft bombed suspected Taliban positions in North Waziristan, following a wave of attacks against security forces.

During Mr Bhutto's party's term in office, while his father was president, the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups grew in strength, despite limited military action undertaken in some parts of the north-west.

Concern as Malala book launch halted

28 January 2014 Last updated at 11:12

Malala Yousafzai: Concern as Peshawar book launch cancelled

Malala Yousafzai was 14 years old when she was shot in the head by the Taliban

An event in north-west Pakistan to launch activist Malala Yousafzai's memoir was cancelled after pressure from local officials, organisers say.

Tuesday's book launch in Peshawar could not go ahead after "direct intervention by the provincial government", Dr Khadim Hussain told BBC Urdu.

Police and provincial officials said it was halted over security concerns.

But Imran Khan, whose PTI party runs the province, said he was at a loss to understand the decision.

On Tuesday morning the former cricketer tweeted: "am at a loss 2 understand why Malala's book launch stopped in Peshawar. PTI believes in freedom of speech/debate, not censorship of ideas".

Mr Khan's PTI party heads the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of which Peshawar is the capital.

Political pressure?

Malala Yousafzai was 14 years old when she was shot in the head by the Taliban in the north-western Swat valley in October 2012 because of her campaign to promote girls' education.

She and her family now live in the British city of Birmingham where she has been receiving treatment. She was not expected to attend the launch.

Malala has described the memoir, I am Malala, as her own story - and that of millions of others denied the chance to go to school.

The book launch had been organised by Peshawar University's Area Study Centre in collaboration with the Bacha Khan Education Trust (BKET), a non-profit education network set up by the secular Pashtun ANP party, and a civil society NGO called Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO).

Dr Hussain of BKET said that police had informed organisers they could not provide security for the programme. But he added that political pressure had also been put on the university administration to suspend the event.

"Two ministers of the KP government put pressure on the university administration to call off the programme. Some important state functionaries also made telephone calls to senior professors of the Area Study Centre," he told BBC Urdu.

Peshawar's police chief Ijaz Khan told the BBC that the book launch was stopped "due to security concerns".

He added that the centre had not provided any information to the police about the programme, which meant that arranging security in such a short time was not possible.

"Also, the university administration itself had voiced some reservations over Area Study Centre's plans for the book launch, after which permission for the programme was withheld," he said.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shah Farman told the AFP news agency that the local government had indeed halted the ceremony.

"It is true that we stopped them and there were many reasons for that."

'Clear way forward' for schools

28 January 2014 Last updated at 15:57

Estyn schools report: Minister promises 'clear way forward'

The government says it is working to boost key skills in schools

First Minister Carwyn Jones has told AMs ministers are offering education in Wales a "clear way forward" after a lack of leadership and accountability.

School inspectors have said the quality of teaching needs to improve if overall school standards are to rise.

Estyn's annual report raises concerns about the "variable" quality of teaching and standards generally, especially in secondary schools.

Conservatives called it an "indictment" of Labour's "failure" on education.

The Welsh government said it was continuing to work on key areas such as teaching, literacy and numeracy.

"Fewer than half of secondary schools are good or better [compared to the previous year] and the proportion that is unsatisfactory has increased from one in seven to one in four," the Estyn report said.

"One in seven is excellent. Over two-thirds of secondary schools will be monitored in 'follow-up' visits."

Ann Keane, the chief inspector of schools, told BBC Wales that other countries were improving at a faster pace and standards in Wales were not yet showing "an upward trend".

"There is a correlation between high standards and two factors; strong leadership and high standards in the core subject departments," she said.

"We need to pay more attention on how to help teachers move forwards.

"There is a curriculum review going on now and we're going to have new GCSEs in numeracy and language.

"Teachers need to be involved in preparation for these changes."

The report said standards in primary schools were similar to last year.

"Seven in 10 primary schools inspected in 2012-2013 are good and around one in four is adequate. Although only one is unsatisfactory, very few are excellent," it said.

"Around a half of the primary schools inspected will be monitored in 'follow-up' visits."

Pressed on the report by all three opposition party leaders in the Senedd, Mr Jones conceded "it's true to say it's not the sort of report that we would all want to see".

Mr Jones told AMs there were elements of the Estyn report that "we can take some heart from", including the literacy and numeracy framework.

"What I think has not been there, as it should have been, is accountability," he said.

"That accountability has been strengthened and, for example, the school improvement plans will help that."

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood asked him to explain "what has gone wrong with education in this country".

Mr Jones said the Welsh government was now offering education a "clear way forward", conceding that there had been a "blurring of the lines of accountability, in terms of leadership in schools [and] in terms of leadership in local education authorities".

Ms Wood told the first minister he appeared "not to take any responsibility for the failings in education to date" and accused him of failing to provide schools with "adequate national leadership".

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said Estyn's verdict on schools in Wales was a "damning indictment of 14 years of Labour failure in education".

"The number of excellent schools remain in a small minority and two thirds of secondary schools and half of primary schools are in need of follow-up inspections," he said.

Mr Davies urged the first minster to apologise for "Labour's lack of delivery in education, that is amplified by this report today from Estyn".

Earlier, Welsh Liberal Democrat education spokesman Aled Roberts, called it "sombre reading".

"The report highlights what a difference good teachers and sound leadership can make to a school, but also points out that there are not enough opportunities for heads or senior leaders to receive the training they need to improve their leadership skills and this is something I will be taking up with the minister," he said.

The Welsh government said it was determined to "put the right policies and initiatives in place to create an education system that truly delivers for our young people".

A spokesperson said: "We've been honest and up-front about the challenges facing our education system and it's clear from this report that we must continue to work together to improve key areas such as teaching, assessment and literacy and numeracy.

"Building an excellent education system, which is the ambition of everyone in the sector, will take time but we are not complacent and we are making progress.

"We know there is a lot of good practice across Wales and, as last year's GCSE results showed, we are closing the gap with England when it comes to performance."

Owen Hathway, Wales policy officer at NUT Cymru, said there were concerns that there was not enough time or resources to give experienced teachers further training.

"That obviously has a long-term impact on the ability of the profession to keep pace with the changes brought in by the Welsh government but also in developing their professional skills as an ongoing practice," he said.

"There isn't enough time allocated to allow teachers to go on courses to have training for policies and initiatives that are brought in to get to grips with those in addition to existing workloads.

"Of course we do know that peer-to-peer support within schools and across schools is one of the vital drivers in performance, and unfortunately I think schools feel as if there's a sense of a DIY-approach to training.

"Unless they find the money and time themselves to do it, it doesn't get done."

Does your child go to school in Wales? What are your views on the education system? Have you moved or considered moving your child to a different school because you felt standards were lacking? Get in touch using the comments form below.