royal return — the princess of wales makes her first public appearance since being diagnosed with cancer. it's arise, sir alan! alan bates — the man who campaigned to expose britain's post office scandal — receives a knighthood — joining dozens of famous names in the king's birthday honours. kevin campbell, the former striker for arsenal and everton, has died at the age of 5a after a short illness. both clubs have reacted to the news, paying tribute to him. and at the euros, italy beats albania 2 —1, while spain makes an emphatic start, beating croatia 3—0. let's get more on the general elections here in the uk. let's take a quick look at what's making the headlines in some of the first editions of the sunday papers. we start with the observer,

which leads on a warning about the national health service. the nuffield trust says both of britain's main political parties will leave the nhs with lower spending increases. the health think—tank analysed figures from the labour and conservative manifestos and it says the nhs will struggle to make ends meet whoever wins the election. staying with the observer, and the paper reports that the number of children attending private schools in england has risen, despite labour's intention to add vat to school fees. according to the department of education, as ofjanuary this year, the number of pupils in private schools had gone up to more than 593,000. turning to the sunday telegraph, which has been hearing from former government minister, robertjenrick. he says he shares the frustrations of traditional tory voters who might want to back nigel farage�*s reform uk but he says the country is facing the prospect of what he describes as a labour dictatorship. the sunday times has an interview with rishi sunak.

the prime minister has been talking about his hindu faith, which gives him strength to deal with the rigours of an election campaign. but for the tabloids, there's only really one story in town — the first official appearance of the princess of wales after her cancer diagnosis. as the mail on sunday puts it, it's lovely to see you too, kate. some it's lovely to see you too, kate. wonderful pictures the some wonderful pictures of her in the new papers, looking very smiley indeed. with me is our political correspondent damian grammaticas. i'm very intrigued, as is everyone i am sure by the national health service and the numbers are rounded. this article in the observer suggests that it really doesn't matter who is voting in, they will not be able to make a dent in the funding gapfor not be able to make a dent in the funding gap for the national health service. , ., , funding gap for the national health service. , . , , service. yes, and this is interesting _ service. yes, and this is interesting because - service. yes, and this is interesting because this i service. yes, and this is l interesting because this is service. yes, and this is - interesting because this is a subject which the main parties are

not really addressing in this election. they are talking about the health service, obviously, saying it is a priority, saying they are going to protect funding for that into the future but what they are not saying, this article is wanting to highlight, is that those projections still mean very tough times ahead. now, if you step back, what we've got is the two big parties, the conservatives and labour who have been locked in this argument around taxes but what they want to argue about is keeping taxes down, conservatives say they will cut tax and labour say they will not raise taxes, they will only do some very specific things. what that is not addressing is a sort of the other side of the argument, and there are opinion polls that suggest there is quite a lot of support out there actually from investing in public services and actually it could be

relatively well received to say you raise money to put into public services. the greens are saying that, the liberal democrats are saying that, not the two main parties, and a nuffield trust, they are specialists and focus on the health service, they are projecting that things are still going to be pretty tough. the difficulty with the big parties, that they are locking themselves into, that is the future which is going to make it hard to raise the funding that it is suggested is needed. find hard to raise the funding that it is suggested is needed.— hard to raise the funding that it is suggested is needed. and there are very specific — suggested is needed. and there are very specific metrics _ suggested is needed. and there are very specific metrics on _ suggested is needed. and there are very specific metrics on whether - very specific metrics on whether things are improving, waiting list and so on, it is not something that can be debated, it is fairly clear, isn't it? , ., ., isn't it? yes, labour, part of their lan isn't it? yes, labour, part of their [an is isn't it? yes, labour, part of their plan is to — isn't it? yes, labour, part of their plan is to bring — isn't it? yes, labour, part of their plan is to bring down _ isn't it? yes, labour, part of their plan is to bring down waiting - isn't it? yes, labour, part of their plan is to bring down waiting list, j plan is to bring down waiting list, to invest money in the nhs, to reduce that, the 18 week wait, down to the target level over the coming

years with 40,000 appointments a week, they are talking about all of this, but that is one specific thing. the difficulty here is when you look at this and you look at some of the other discussions around this, the issues around, yes, you can put some money in but what about the pay for thejunior can put some money in but what about the pay for the junior doctors? can put some money in but what about the pay for thejunior doctors? what about the transforming, the investment needed to transform hospitals? the capital investments? there are all sorts of problems that are huge and need to be addressed. 0k, are huge and need to be addressed. ok, let's move to another article here which also comes back to numbers. this is about private schools, and there has been a big debate about this, hasn't there? as to what would happen if labour removed this vat free situation that the private schools have. would children flood back into state schools? , ,.,

children flood back into state schools? , , , ., schools? yes, so this is the... that is the sort — schools? yes, so this is the... that is the sort of _ schools? yes, so this is the... that is the sort of attack, _ schools? yes, so this is the... that is the sort of attack, labour - schools? yes, so this is the... that is the sort of attack, labour saying | is the sort of attack, labour saying they will make private schools pay vat, so parents would face that hike in their fees, the argument coming from quite a number of private schools is that that could well make things, could well price parents out, therefore students would go back to state schools, but pressure on state schools, private schools closing, but here we see the observer saying i think it is to schools recently, two recent private schools recently, two recent private school closures blamed on labour policy but it says the data shows that 12 new schools actually opened up that 12 new schools actually opened up in that same period, and so they are casting doubt on this, but we did see keir starmer question about it this week in the one—on—one sessions that were on sky news, a parent with a child at private school saying, are you going to harm

my aspirations for my children, putting vat on the fees would price me out. i putting vat on the fees would price me out. , , me out. i feel we will spend three weeks talk _ me out. i feel we will spend three weeks talk about _ me out. i feel we will spend three weeks talk about lumber - me out. i feel we will spend three weeks talk about lumber is, - me out. i feel we will spend three weeks talk about lumber is, let'sl weeks talk about lumber is, let's talk about these lovely pictures of the princess of wales, pretty good? yes, most of the papers actually featuring, as you would imagine, that much more prominently, then the argument we have seen. we have heard for a couple of weeks, three weeks of the election, are we going to keep hearing? yes. and the smiling pictures, this first public appearance, the mail says, it is lovely to see you too, kate, they are delighted to see her back. but we do know in a statement she released yesterday, she said there are good days and bad days and there is still quite a long way to go through her treatment. but i think on this occasion, the first time she has been seen in public, celebrate on front page. find has been seen in public, celebrate on front page-— has been seen in public, celebrate on front page. and she has made it clear we cannot _

on front page. and she has made it clear we cannot necessarily - on front page. and she has made it clear we cannot necessarily expect | clear we cannot necessarily expect to see her too much in the immediate term, but very beatable picture, certainly. david, thank you very much. let's get more on the general elections here in the uk. as we've been hearing, we're at the halfway point in the general election campaign, with three weeks until the next government is formed. we heard from rishi sunak and labour leader keir starmer earlier this hour. the liberal democrats, meanwhile, are calling for a boost to frontline policing in a bid to tackle car crime. our correspondent, jenny hill sent us this update from the lib dem bus. the lib dems have had a rather damp afternoon in the surrey countryside, ed davey enjoying a game of rounders with some of his supporters. as i say, it was rather rainy, we have been treated to the full range of the british summer. ed davey proved, as if we needed proof, that politics is indeed a very competitive sport. if he is worried about what's been happening with reform and its position in the polls, he is certainly not showing it although i'm quite sure his aides behind—the—scenes are keeping

a close eye. we asked him what he made of reform and where it sits in the opinion polls, it is polling ahead of the lib dems, though that doesn't necessarily translate into votes. he said to us, it is not something to worry about. we don't share reform or mr farage's values, and appeared to be very unconcerned, making the point that in his view the lib dems is the only party offering real political change, and therefore a potential home for any voter who might be disillusioned with the current political system. in terms of crime and policing which, as you mentioned, is what the lib dems were keen to focus on today, mr davey is calling, interestingly, for the scrapping of police and crime commissioners. these are the elected officials who are supposed to ensure the smooth running of local police forces, setting their budgets, hiring and firing chief constables and so on. it's interesting because the lib

dems were actually in government with the conservatives in that coalition when they introduced police and crime commissioners. now they say they want to scrap them. mr davey says by scrapping them he could raise some £117 million over the course of a parliament. that money, the lib dems believe, would be better channelled into front—line policing. that's been the focus of today. i did also want to give you an update on mr davey�*s knees. earlier in the week his team had him out and about tackling a pretty tough assault course, leopard crawling under tunnels and so on. we had a bit of a look at his knees today as he was bouncing around on a trampoline and i can attest to the fact he had some pretty nasty looking scabs on his knees. both nevertheless, as perhaps we have come to expect from mr davey, still a smile on his face regardless. staying in the uk, alan bates — who led the campaign forjustice for victims of the post office it scandal — has been given a knighthood in the king's birthday honours.

the former sub—postmaster fought for years to clear the names of hundreds of branch managers wrongly convicted of fraud. he insisted the honour wasn'tjust for him but for everyone who'd supported his cause. tracey emin, who rose to fame in the �*90s, when her artwork of an unmade bed was nominated for the turner prize, has become a dame. there are also damehoods for the actor imelda staunton and the handbag designer anya hindmarch. the cyclist mark cavendish has been awarded a knighthood, along with the composerjohn rutter. our business correspondent emma simpson has spoken to alan bates, and a warning, this report contains some flashing images. alan bates, congratulations. thank you. what was your reaction when you found out? it was all a bit of a surprise. it was a bit out of the blue. and, also, the time it was given.

i think i received it on the lunchtime of the first day of paula vennells being at the enquiry, had a look at my emails and it was there. i thought "this is weird." is this a wind—up? yeah. to me the things are just say no. but there are a lot of people who want me to have something and i think the paperwork said they wanted to know by end of that day whether i was prepared to accept it. so it was all a bit of a rush, but a very pleasant surprise all the same. what does this knighthood mean for you? well, i think it's another string to my bow to try and drive the rest of the campaign home for the group. we've got to get the funding for everybody, and that's been my priority now for some time. and if it helps there, then great. that's wonderful.

you turned down an obe, didn't you? why? i turned down an obe at that time because i felt it was inappropriate. i mean, paula vennells was holding the cbe for her services to post office and i felt it would have been such an insult to the group to accept something like that. and a lot of people applauded me for doing that at that time. the last time we sat down and had a chat like this, the tv drama was about to air and you spoke about how you hoped it would have an impact. it did that, didn't it? it's been an incredible six months. it certainly woke the nation up to what had been going on. paula vennells has got the cbe. you're joking! we are fighting a war against an enemy owned by the british government, while we're just skint little

people. they've been really supportive and they've shown it in so many ways. i get hundreds of e—mails from all over the country and letters and cards and all sorts there and, i mean, i think it's also great for individuals in the group, because it's explained what happened to them and what they've been through. i haven't got that money and i don't know where it's gone! but you're not finished, though, are you? no, it's not finished by a long way. we've still got to obtain monies for the groups in there, got to make sure they're resolved at the end of the day. i mean, that's still causing a big problem. it's still tied up in bureaucracy and we can't seem to get through it, no matter what we do. you still haven't got your compensation sorted, have you? no, no. my compensation's not resolved yet either. as well as fighting everyone else's battle, i'm still fighting

mine as well. i mean, ijust don't know. there is always the potential that we may finish up back in court if that's what it takes to resolve it, at the end of the day. i was going to say, what's the next step? the next step definitely for us is to return to the courts again. and this time, i think we can raise the funding, i think the nation will support us if we have to go ahead with another case. have you ever thought ofjust giving up, letting it go? i could never do that. notjust for my own sake, but i couldn't do it for everyone else's sake. we've all seen the horror stories, or all heard the horror stories of people, and there are so many, and i keep hearing from so many more these days who are coming out of the woodwork and stories that have never been told. i mean, they are absolutely — it's diabolical what has happened to people. it's very, very sad. you've spent, i think, more than 20 years now devoting all your time

to this campaign, to fight for justice. what's been the high point? was it that high court victory? i think thejudgements were certainly a big turning point. and it's a comment i often take is that i think at that point, we broke post office's control of the narrative, which they'd had for many, many years and which they used to do all sorts of things — to influence mps, to influence the media and all the rest of it, but those judgements certainly broke that and that enabled us then to move forward. what's been the hardest bit of it all? it's been such a long road for you. i think the hardest thing would have been to put it down. i mean, you just couldn't put something like this down. and, in fairness, it's always been one day after the next and you never know what the following day's going to bring, but it normally brings another victim to light,

and so if you needed encouragement to carry on, it's there. this is the best unpaid job i've ever had. it's certainly the longest! but, erm... have you had a day off? i'm looking forward to a day off. there's a rumour i'm having a holiday shortly, so i'm looking forward to that. how are you going to celebrate? i don't know. probably a cup of tea, slice of cake, the usual way. steady! he laughs. the former arsenal and everton striker kevin campbell has died at the age of 54 after a short illness. he scored 148 goals across spells with eight clubs during his illustrious career. meghan owen gave us reaction to his death from outside arsenal's stadium. i'v e i've been speaking to fans outside the stadium today who say they are

just gutted to lose such a cool member of the arsenal family, and it was with arsenal that kevin grew up. he made his way through the youth clubs, through the youth squads, and he ended winning the league aged 21 years old before taking three cups in three seasons. now, in a statement on x, arsenal said kevin was adored by everyone at the club and all of us are thinking of his friends and family at this difficult time. that is a message echoed by ian wright, the other half of the famous striking duo for the gunners. now, kevin also went on to play for a number of other clubs, and in 1999, he scored some pretty key goals which saved everton from relegation, he is talking at the time. , , , , ., ' time. the pressure is no different to anybody _ time. the pressure is no different to anybody else. _ time. the pressure is no different to anybody else, really, - time. the pressure is no different to anybody else, really, and - time. the pressure is no different to anybody else, really, and it - time. the pressure is no different to anybody else, really, and it is. to anybody else, really, and it is work. _ to anybody else, really, and it is work. it— to anybody else, really, and it is work. it is— to anybody else, really, and it is work, it is what i do, and i am glad for the _ work, it is what i do, and i am glad

for the pressure.— work, it is what i do, and i am glad for the pressure. well, everton also released a statement _ for the pressure. well, everton also released a statement on _ for the pressure. well, everton also released a statement on x - for the pressure. well, everton also released a statement on x paying i released a statement on x paying tribute, saying notjust a true goodison park hero, an icon of the english game, but an incredible person as well, as anyone who ever met him will know. tony adams also wrote on x, super kev, a goal machine, a giant of a man with an even bigger heart. but it wasn't just football that kevin was famous for, he campaigned against racism after suffering abuse himself when he played in turkey, and after hanging up his football boots, he also became a pretty successful football pundit as well. so, there have been tributes pouring out from around the world, and it is clear just how much super kev as he was nicknamed will be missed. and the football world is also mourning millwall�*s 26——year—old goal—keeper matija sarkic who has died suddenly at his flat in montenegro. hejoined the championship club

from wolves last august and made 33 appearances last season. millwall said they were "completely devastated" by the news. there are no further details at present. earlier, i spoke to the sports broadcaster, jonty sargeant, who was friends with him. we were actually due to be filming features for the football club and, in the end, we just ended up talking rubbish. and he was more interested in my life and what i did for a living, and we became friends just off the back of that. and that was who he was as a person. he was infectious, so happy. you will never, ever find a person who would say a bad word about matija. you would spend time with him at the training ground and he would always have a smile on his face. he was so proud of everything that he had achieved. he was so proud to represent his nation. he actually made me book my holiday to montenegro this summer, we were only talking last week about the best places that i should go and all these recommendations, people to see. so just absolutely gutted. i can't put it into any more words.

you wouldn't spend a bad moment in matija's company. he was always laughing, always funny, always humorous, always kind and inquisitive. like i say, he was always interested in what other people had to say. he wouldn't necessarily fit the mould of a normalfootballer. i know footballers can occasionally get bad reputations and be given a bad name, but matija was the best of them. turning to the euros now and last night was a sobering night for scotland, as they suffered a bruising 5—1 defeat to hosts germany in the opening match of the tournament. meanwhile, spain have beaten croatia 3 nil in their group b game. and italy have beaten albania 2—1, though albania scored the fastest goal in european championship history, just 23 seconds into the game. over the next month, 24 nations will battle for the title, with tens of thousands of fans cheering their teams on. earlier i discussed what we can expect from the tournament with european

footballer broadcaster, mina rzouki and the italian football pundit, nicky bandini. hoping for a cinderella story. if i'm really honest, i'm hoping that we're going to see teams that we wouldn't have thought can do something special, and also obviously brilliant goals. if you're watching spain against croatia, we've just looked at so many different ones and it's really beautiful to watch teams that can actually come onto the pitch and show you why they are favourites to win this entire competition. but i am an italy supporter, so i'm mostly looking forward to them. and they are playing albania a little later on. absolutely they are. and unfortunately, we don't actually know what to expect from the defending champions. we obviously know that they won the euro 20, 21, 20, and they were brilliant, underrated then, but they showed us

the beauty of the game. they had a brilliant qualifiers, reached the tournament and won that as well. but this time around we've got so many newcomers, a lot of absences due to injuries. we have a new manager who's been in his job less than a year, so we don't actually know what to expect from italy. they're either going to be absolutely brilliant or a little bit disappointing. and i'm hoping it's the former rather than the latter. nicky, what is your take on what's going to happen over the coming few weeks that we should watch out for? there's a lot i think what's very promising, actually, is just how many calls we've seen already were only two and a half games in this tournament, and that's already been very good. what do you what do you make of that? i'm so sorry. i couldn't hear that. i mean, i was surprised. you know, just before i came on air, i was looking at the spain croatia match, and it was 1—0. and then suddenly we were. spain was three, three, nil up. it's been an astonishing start to this tournament. i was just about to say last euro cycle, i think groups a and b had fewer goals in total in the entire

group stage than we've seen in two and a half games so far at this tournament. i don't know exactly what that speaks to yet. it's probably a bit soon to give you a sweeping answer, but there's been a lot of talk in the last year about the number of games footballers are playing at the highest level, about perhaps too many games and tiredness coming into this tournament. i do wonder if that's a factor, if you're seeing tired legs, perhaps stretching out defences, but to give a more optimistic take on it and certainly this spain team. this 16 —year—old already in the one half of football we've seen him has become the youngest player ever to provide an assist at the euros. we've seen some fantastic young talent really showing up and showing off already this tournament. so perhaps what i'm most excited for is some of that young talent taking this opportunity at this stage to show what they can do. and obviously i must raise the subject. england playing tomorrow and i've seen predictions that some third of a million fans are going to turn up. that's a record number, isn't it, mina?

yeah, absolutely. and i think that a large portion of them believe and i think most of us believe that england are favourites to win this tournament. looking at the players that they have available to them, whether it's phil foden orjude bellingham, we've got stars all around in this england team. i think this is going to be a potentially interesting match as well, because as for england, we think that they can definitely score goals. i think defence is where we're a little bit more vulnerable. i think looking at them, do they have the defence that can keep out the best of the attacks? so that's something that we're going to have to see going forward. but i think if you look at the just at least on paper in terms of squads, you look at germany, you look at spain, you look at england and you look at portugal as favourites for this tournament and of course, france. and it's going to be which one of them can really score the goals, try to to defend resolutely. but for england and the fans, i think this time around everyone is hoping that it's coming home. and nicky, what's fascinating is the tactical discussions that go on and of course, managers will be will be

driving those discussions. they're very detailed, aren't they? oh, yes. there's lots of managers who i think we're all interested to see at this tournament. and certainly i know that both mina and i have some extra folks in italian football. there's a lot of italian managers in this tournament who were all interested in. the italy manager of course, luciano spalletti has only been in hisjob for ten months and was parachuted in halfway through the qualifying campaign, which is an extraordinary situation. saturday brought sundry downpours. for scotland and northern ireland, we will see cloud and outbreaks of rain sinking southwards. on the earlier satellite picture from saturday, you can see clumps of cloud, or rotating around the centre of an area of low pressure, this low still with us for sunday but loosening its grip a little bit so

the winds will be easing, specially down towards the south, some showery rain first thing for some central and eastern parts of england, that should clear, then we will see some spells of sunshine, a scattering of showers but not as many as we had during the first half of the weekend. conversely for scotland and northern ireland, the cloud will sink its weight south was with some outbreaks of showery rain. quite breezy across the western side of scotland. lighterwinds breezy across the western side of scotland. lighter winds down towards the south. temperature —wise, 13, 14 degrees in the north of scotland, 19 or 20 in parts of south wales in southern england. as we had three sunday night, we will see this band of increasingly light and patchy rain thinking into northern england, parts of north wales, a lot of cloud filtering into western scotland are northern ireland, that will hold the temperatures up, leven agrees that in belfast, little bit chillier when we see any lengthy clear spells. the best of the sunshine across wales and the midlands and the south of england, the channel islands could see one or two showers and we will

see one or two showers and we will see some showers breaking out once again through the day. always with a fair amount of cloud across the western side of scotland and northern ireland. temperatures north to south, that he did 21 degrees so not far off the average for the time of year. some showers popping elsewhere. 21 degrees stand towards the south of the uk. this ridge of high pressure will try to settle things down through the middle part of the week, still uncertainty about how long it will hold on. frontal system trying to push on from the south, this one trying to push him from the west, either or both of those could bring some return to later in the week. some tentative signs that things could turn if that warmer later next weekend.

live from washington — this is bbc news. israel says eight of its soldiers were killed in an explosion during an operation

in gaza's southern city rafah. world leaders gather in switzerland with ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky to discuss how to bring peace to the country. the princess of wales makes her first official appearance since being diagnosed with cancer at the king's official birthday. hello, i'm carl nasman. we start in the middle east, where the israeli army says eight of its soldiers have been killed in a blast during what it called "operational activity" in the city of rafah in southern gaza. it identified one captain and said the names of the others would be released later. israeli forces have been attacking rafah for weeks — saying hamas's last remaining battalions are based there. meanwhile, the hamas—run health ministry in gaza said 30 palestinians have been killed by israeli forces in the past 24 hours. and in tel aviv on saturday evening, thousands gathered demanding a deal