only a fraction of the cosmos. the rest was dark, unseen. now we can detect gravitational waves, we will be able to look deeper into space and further back in time than ever before, perhaps all the way to the big bang. we end the year with a brand—new perspective of the universe, one that will usher in new discoveries for decades to come. hello. this is breakfast, with louise minchin. too many young carers are going "under the radar" and don't get the support they need. a study by the children's commissioner for england says four out of five young people don't get the help they should from local authority social services. good morning.

it's tuesday the 27th of december. also this morning: some voters in england will have to show photographic id before casting their vote as part of efforts to reduce electoral fraud. his private life was very much public knowledge, but details of george michael's quiet generosity begin to surface after his death on christmas day. good morning. in sport: chelsea extend their winning run to 12 games as they go seven points clear at the top of the premier league. and carol has the weather. good morning. it is a cold and frosty start to the day, but for most of us, it will be dry with hazy sunshine, except in the north and west, where they will be a bit more clout at times and spots of rain. more details in 15 minutes —— cloud. good morning. first, our main story.

the children's commissioner for england says the vast majority of young carers receive no support from local authority social services. anne longfield says four out of five are "going under the radar". the local government association said funding cuts meant councils were being forced to make difficult decisions. helena lee reports. this is daniel, one of thousands of young carers in england. he's ten and lives with his mum, florella, who has a brain tumour. daniel is her main carer at home. when he's not at school, he helps around the house, but he constantly worries about his mum when he isn't there. i started becoming more responsible and i started doing the cleaning. started doing cooking better. i started paying more attention to what my mum was doing. then, because i wasn't around, i was always worried about how she was. today's report by the children's commissioner found of the 160,000 young carers in england, just over 128,000 children aged 5—17 may not be known to local authorities. and councils identified 160 young

carers in england who are under the age of five. this is often systematic support for vulnerable family members who may have mental illness or physical disabilities. they need to be able to flourish at school, they need to be able to enjoy childhood and grow up, whilst they're still offering the familial support that you would expect. the local government association says funding cuts to children's services means councils have been forced to make difficult decisions about what support they are able to provide. but it says all young carers should receive an assessment to find out if they need help. helena lee, bbc news. coming up before 7:30, i'll be talking to children's commissioner anne longfield, and to a teenage girl who looks after her mum.

england's chief nursing officer has urged the nhs to invest more in caring for people at home. jane cummings says money is being wasted on keeping elderly patients in hospital unnecessarily. she says reform is needed to make sure people don't get caught between different parts of the system. some voters in england will have to show photo id before being allowed to cast their ballots, as part of a new trial. it's one of a number of efforts being introduced to tackle electoral fraud. 0ur political correspondent tom bateman is in our london newsroom. tom, why has the government decided this change is needed? who will it affect? good morning. this began a couple of years ago when the mayor of tower hamlets in east london was kicked out of office because a court found he was guilty of voting fraud. there were

allegations and concerns about voters being bullied and intimidated into voting a certain way. the government as the former security secretary eric pickles to this issue, and he came up with several recommendations, such as showing id when they go into the polling both. he was worried about the post of rights and opportunities for people to fill those in four other people, and forfraud to fill those in four other people, and for fraud to take place there —— polling booth. the government says it will trial voters in england at the local elections in 2018 having to show some sort of idea. this will only happen in a few areas, and it might be things like passport or driving licence, or perhaps a bus pass or driving licence, or perhaps a bus pass 01’ even a driving licence, or perhaps a bus pass or even a bankcard. something like that. the government said it is determined to try to crack down on this. there are people in the labour party who say, this is not really as big an issue as the government is making out. it is potentially trying

to rig the system to help people very conservative. they say in much bigger issue is how we registered to vote. they worried that lots of people have fallen off the voter register and in their view it is particularly labour voters. i think this debate will go on. thank you. details are emerging of george michael's charity work, as tributes continue to pour in since his death on christmas day. for years the singer had donated money to organisations, and worked undercover at a homeless shelter. nick quraishi reports. he was a huge personality, whose life played out in the headlines. but behind this onstage persona, details of george michael's charitable donations are now emerging. he had volunteered to work in a homeless shelter, provided it was kept quiet. he paid for a game show contestant to have ivf treatment. and gave sport relief £50,000 when david walliams swam the english channel in 2006. children, cancer patients and many other charities also received donations.

last night, tributes came from those closest to him. george michael's partner, fadi fawaz, said he'd neverforget this christmas, having found him dead, peacefully in bed, first thing in the morning. his former long—term partner kenny goss paid tribute to an extremely kind and generous man, saying he loved him very, very much. at his home in goring—on—thames in 0xfordshire, friends came to remember their icon. there were emotional scenes at another of his houses, highgate in london, from people struggling to come to terms with his death from suspected heart failure. i know that 2016 has been a bad year, and it is very sad for a lot of artists, but it was george michael that got me, that was. i think we grew up with him, was the main thing. george michael's career spanned nearly four decades, and these fans will make sure his music lives on. nick quraishi, bbc news.

russian media is reporting that the black box flight recorder has been recovered from the military plane that crashed into the black sea on sunday. 92 people were on board. 11 bodies have been found so far. 3000 people are involved in the search operation, including 200 divers. liz smith, the actor best known for playing nana in the sitcom the royle family, has died at the age of 95. a spokesperson for her family announced she passed away on christmas eve. peter ruddick has been looking back at her life. what is she? she's a vegetarian, nana. 0hhh! could you have some wafer thin ham? could she have wafer thin ham, barbara? no! 0hhh. from dotty nana norma speakman in the royle family to the eccentric baker letitia cropley in the vicar of dibley, liz smith carved out a niche playing scatty

but hilarious older ladies. it's chocolate spread! chocolate? yeah, yeah. you promise? yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah. all right, i will. very...unusual taste. well, i put in a little something extra as well. she had been through a tough childhood, and an even tougher early career as a single mother of two with a series of part—time jobs. it was only when she was nearly 50 that she got her breakthrough after being offered a theatre role by mike leigh. it was like a wonderful realisation that at last i was being given a chance. it had come, it had come at last. she may have started late, but she made up for lost time with award—winning roles in tv and film, resulting in her being awarded the mbe in 2009. but it will be as nana,

the queen of sheba, for which she will be most remembered. the actor liz smith, who has died at the age of 95. only about half of the families in britain own their homes, according to new analysis by the resolution foundation. 0fficial housing statistics point to a much higherfigure, but the foundation believes the number of people living in privately rented accommodation has been underestimated. a number of roads remain closed in scotland after the disruption caused by storm conor. wind speeds in excess of 90 miles an hour were recorded on the island of shetland on boxing day while large parts of the north experienced heavy snowfall. the scottish transport minister has been chairing extra meetings of the government's resilience team to deal with the situation. a group of conservationists say that the world's fastest land animal, the cheetah,

is rapidly heading for extinction. the zoological society of london says cheetah numbers in the world are falling because of human encroachment onto their habitat. they say it's "crunch time" for the cats, with only an estimated 7000 left in africa and just 50 in iran. beautiful animals. let's ta ke let's take you back to our main story. the death of george michael dominates the front pages of today's papers. that is the front page of the telegraph, a lovely photograph of him. norma corby commenting that it was his inner conflict that made him so was his inner conflict that made him so compelling —— neil mccormick. you we re so compelling —— neil mccormick. you were someone so compelling —— neil mccormick. you were someone special, george, in the sun. the daily mail talking about him on the front page of the mirror,

the words of his partner as well. the news follows the deaths of other influential music stars in 2016, including david bowie and prince. here's a look back at what's been a sad year for the world of music. # the bestselling show # the bestselling show #is # the bestselling show # is the life on mars #. breaking news, sad news, that the singer david bowie has died. prince's home and recording studio is awash with tears and tributes as fa ns is awash with tears and tributes as fans of all generations come to pay their respects to a musical genius. # you look like you are having fun # you look like you are having fun # watch out, here i come # watch out, here i come # you spin me right round, baby, like a record, baby, right round #.

give its tone of the most influential singer songwriters of all time, leonard cohen, who has died at the age of 92 —— tribute to one of the most influential. # hallelujah... #. # hallelujah... #. # down, down, did the end down # down, down, did the end down # down, down, get down, deep end down #. george michael, one of the biggest stars of his generation, has died at the age of 53. # i need someone to hold me, but i will wait for something more # because i have to have faith # because i have to have faith # i have to have faith # i have to have faith # because i have to have faith, faith, faith # i have to have faith, hope, faith #. so what legacy will george michael and other stars leave behind? sid griffin is a musician, songwriter and author and joins us

from our london newsroom. let's talk about george michael first. he death really seems to have quite an impact on people. first. he death really seems to have quite an impact on peoplem first. he death really seems to have quite an impact on people. it does, but i think it is because he has a greater cultural impact than just a singer—songwriter. 0n greater cultural impact than just a singer—songwriter. on many of his obituaries, he has sold millions of records, but not everybody has a cultural impact to match their musical impact. george michael did. he represented something greater than just he represented something greater thanjust being he represented something greater than just being a he represented something greater thanjust being a pop he represented something greater than just being a pop star who sold a lot of records. he represented something that the gay and lesbian community and something to left—wing politics, because he was an arch anti— thatcherite. he was suspicious of new labour. he wrote songs making light of his own situation and songs for the downtrodden. he neverforgot the dance beat and the musical hooks, but he meant something more than just selling a lot of records. i think that is why george michael

has been such a painful loss these last 36 hours. absolutely. so many of his songs are memorable for many different reasons, because he made an extraordinary comeback. he did, george michael was on the cusp of them even greater comeback, he claimed to have a new solo album in the works 97% done and i'm sure we will hear it in one form or another over the next 18 months or something, it wouldn't be the final product he wanted. the loss of george michael, you've heard the story, i'm sure all of britain has, he gave £15,000 to a woman who wa nted he gave £15,000 to a woman who wanted ivf treatment, £5,000 to a woman weeping in a cafe about her debts and couldn't get on top of her finances, he worked in a soup kitchen of a homeless shelter. this is an extraordinary man even by pop star standards. lots of pop stars have a problem with drink, drugs and fame, it goes with the territory,

the public eye brings that public pressure onto your private life but george michael, the way he dealt with it openly and the way he led his life and he was an open book, he may not have liked it but i thought he dealt with it very well. it is just absurd that he has... he's only 53, so young! i wish there were more p0p 53, so young! i wish there were more pop stars we could talk about that worked in homeless shelters!m pop stars we could talk about that worked in homeless shelters! it does seem to have been quite a year, with david bowie, leonard cohen, prince, just to name a few. what do you make of it? louise, let me do this really quickly. rick parfitt from status quo and george michael, david bowie, glenn frey the eagles, by clarke from nashville in austin, texas, belfast own‘s kennedy, ralph sta nley, belfast own‘s kennedy, ralph stanley, the red army plane crash yesterday and the ensemble, george martin, pete burns, a tribe called

quest, leonard cohen, and the great merle haggard of country and western fame. it has been a ghastly yearfor fa ns fame. it has been a ghastly yearfor fans of pop music. those are pretty darn big names. let's hope next year isa darn big names. let's hope next year is a bit better. i don't see how it can be any worse! thank you for your time this morning. carol is talking about cold temperatures this morning? good morning. a cold and frosty start if you haven't yet ventured out, temperatures got two —5 last night at bournemouth airport but widely across england and wales in particular they are below freezing. mostly dry, high pressure in charge of our weather, a bit more of a squeeze for the north in the isobars, breezy so not as much of a problem with frost and fog. some fog possible this morning in england and wales and if it forms it will lift readily, leaving us with a cold start but also a sunny one. the

temperatures by 9am, no great shakes. sunshine in east anglia, the midlands into wales, more cloud at times in northern england, northern ireland and scotland but nonetheless, some of us will see some sunny nonetheless, some of us will see some sunny spells and we have showers in the north and west of scotla nd showers in the north and west of scotland first thing. those showers will continue for a time yet but eventually they will fade and it will dry eventually they will fade and it willdry up in eventually they will fade and it will dry up in the north and west of scotla nd will dry up in the north and west of scotland and here too we will see sunshine. more cloud coming in during the day and the sunshine will turn that bit hazy. temperature wise, no great shakes, six, seven, maybe eight or nine at best. as we head through the evening and overnight, quickly we see a return to frost and fog, the fog will form more widely than last night. high pressure keeping things fairly static, look at the isobars, so widely spaced in england and wales. not much of a breeze to move the fog along. early tomorrow morning there

will be dense fog potentially leading to destruction, if you're travelling tomorrow there that in mind and keep in touch with your bbc local radio station or the travel pages online on the bbc where you will find the latest. it will be slow to clear, someone to clear at all, some will lift into low cloud. if you're stuck in an area without fault, temperatures will struggle to get above freezing but it will brighten up in the west, south—west, wales, a grey day in western scotla nd wales, a grey day in western scotland —— with that fog. a weather front in the north—west will bring more persistent rain. 0n front in the north—west will bring more persistent rain. on thursday, windy especially in the north, not to the extent some have already seen. to the extent some have already seen. the weather in edinburgh, belfast, cardiff and london, the capital cities, fairly cloudy and temperatures again nothing to write home about. we might get 11 on friday in belfast but the trend is onto the weekend, turning colder and the wind will turn to more of a

northerly and some in the northern half of the country could see some wintryness in our weather as well. lucky i got my gloves for christmas then, carol! very handy. thanks for keeping us company. see you in about an hour. for many of us, it's the time of year to either be sat around the dinner table or in front of the television. but with a rise in streaming services, gone are the days of the whole country watching the same programme at the same time. breakfast‘s sean farrington has been looking at the boom in on—demand. we've been gorging this christmas, notjust on food but on data. this year the average household has consumed over 130 gigabytes of data each month, the equivalent to more than 200 episodes of planet earth, the iplayer‘s most popular programme of the year. the way we get that data into our households is through broadband and the faster the connection the more likely we are to download our favourite programmes.

the better the connection, 30 or a0 megabits a second, the more likely we are then to use online video like sky tv, amazon prime, bbc iplayer or netflix. i watch netflix and youtube. i use minecraft. i want to binge. i want to start at the beginning, watch it all night. i watch iplayer on the computer and sometimes on my mum's phone and dads phone. in the evening i will sit here and watch netflix with my husband. i will do something on my phone and my daughter will be upstairs with her laptop and occasionally, not every night at all, and occasionally the youngest will be in this bed with this best babysitter, the ipad, and he mayjust watch a bit of youtube to settle him down for the night. although there has been a big improvement on 2015, the regulator, 0fcom,

says that large parts of the uk are still not able to get a decent broadband connection. 0ver1 million homes not able to download fast and offer a modern family's needs. broadband is so important now to families, particularly younger families, where every body wants to be online at once doing their own thing. it is now is important to them as electricity and decent running water. the problem is that there are still frowned a thousand homes cannot stream one video will own two or three videos. it is important because the availability of faster broadband has meant we're taking more control of what we watch and more particularly when it suits us. the number crunchers at the bbc‘s iplayer think they'll see traffic on their website increased by 36% around the christmas period. when it's christmas time you watch more together. because there's nothing else to do. i don't mean that. you're around each other more. you don't go to school, you have no homework. as we enter 2017 we noticed that the kids and family space

is underserviced at the moment so we will invest heavily does not patronise young audiences. on average we watch over four hours of television a day. mostly through the familiar tv channels. still lots of room for growth for the likes of amazon and netflix with a particular challenge for 2017, can they get the whole family together in the same room to watch something online? throughout england, there are around 160,000 children who care for a close family member. but the children's commissioner anne longfield says that the overwhelming number of these do so without any help from their local council. shejoins me now, along with 16—year—old leah, who cares for her mum when dad jonathan is working away. good morning, thank you forjoining us. good morning, thank you forjoining us. leah, we will start with you, as a young carer yourself, i know you help with your mum and your younger

brothers and sisters as well, what does it involve? it can involve the cleaning, the cooking, the washing, minding the children so my mum can have a bit of a break. and that's it. that's an awful lot to be doing. how old are you? 16. presumably you're studying for your gcses? yeah. how do you fit that in with all your other duties? it depends on what i'm doing, when my dad is working, i help my mum, when i come home from school i carry on helping her and home from school i carry on helping herandi home from school i carry on helping herand i do home from school i carry on helping her and i do my homework around 7:30pm when everyone has gone to bed. how does that compare to your friends who don't have caring responsibilities, presumably they have a different light? yeah. i don't think they give them the medication, they don't look after children —— different life. your household chores they do but you

don't do it as much as i would do. do you feel the heavyweight of responsibility, how do you feel about doing it? it can be a bit stressful at times but i don't really mind because i know it's helping my mum at the end of the day. jonathan, she's doing an amazing job? she certainly is. she's not in any way alone and the figures you have are extraordinary. what struck me most, some of these children identified, 160,000 young carers under the age of five. children identified, 160,000 young carers under the age of fivelj children identified, 160,000 young carers under the age of five. i wash up carers under the age of five. i wash up by carers under the age of five. i wash up by that number, i didn't expect it, this is new information from the local authorities —— i was shocked. it is likely to be an underestimation as well! they said 30 councils said 160 children under the age of five. that is something we need to know more about. you need to know what they're caring responsibilities in tail. they haven't given that information so i

need to know what they are doing —— involve. are you worried about these children taking on these responsibilities or that they aren't getting support? it's the fact they are underthe getting support? it's the fact they are under the radar getting support? it's the fact they are underthe radarand getting support? it's the fact they are under the radar and they aren't getting support. you heard from leah, she loves her family, doing amazing things and without complaint, but they are heavy burdens and we know young carers are more likely to fall behind at school and have poor health and actually more likely to not have the freedoms of friendship that children of that age will, and those are heavy burdens and they need more help. why are they going under the radar? partly because local authorities don't know they are there so the information isn't good, that needs to improve. partly because the emphasis on identifying them and assessing them rather than on providing support as well, that's an emphasis that probably needs to change so this poses real questions for local authorities about how they

know more about carers, how they offer support and how schools can help as well. can there be a role to install people to say they are carers? that is surely the case, that families will often be relu cta nt that families will often be reluctant to say this. -- can there be able items. possibly there could be able items. possibly there could be bullying at school when they stand out. when schools do know about this —— can there be reluctance. they can offer additional support and raise the issue in assemblies. in the south—west for example, 40% of children who are carers get help, in london that drops to 17% so it is possible. leah, you do get help, what kind of things are you given help with? with the young carers, you can go on a break or something, so you can go on a break or something, so if you need to give them a call they are available 2a/7. so if you need to give them a call they are available 24/7. you have been on breaks as well, haven't you.

do you talk with your friends about your responsibilities?” do you talk with your friends about your responsibilities? i don't talk to them about what i do but they have heard the expression young carers before but i don't tell them what i've done. with your other young carers, does that help when young carers, does that help when you talk about your experiences? it's not just me, you talk about your experiences? it's notjust me, there's hundreds of people there as well. what kind of people there as well. what kind of support would make a big difference or have you got enough?” think i've got enough but it would be good if it was in school is a bit more and stuff. that means people would be more aware about it. -- in schools. is there a stigma? there could be but i don't think there should be, this is exactly what other young carers say. this is about acknowledging, recognising and providing the understanding and support when needed. thank you all. good luck as well with your exams, i

know it's really important. thank you very much. coming up in the programme: from a suitcase, to a military jacket, we'll hear the remarkable stories behind the ordinary objects, featured in a new series on radio 4. stay with us, headlines are next. hello, this is breakfast with louise minchin. coming up, we've got a special edition of click, looking back on what new technology was unveiled this year. but first, a summary of this morning's main news. the children's commissioner for england says the vast majority of young carers receive no support from local authority social services. more than 160,000 young people in england are carers but anne longfield says four out of five of them are "going under the radar". the local government association said funding cuts mean councils are being forced to make difficult decisions. some voters in england will have to show photo id before being allowed to vote, as part of a new trial. it's one of a number of schemes being introduced by the government to

reduce electoral fraud. the councils involved will use the measure in the 2018 local elections. it comes after a report into voter corruption in tower hamlets last year.