what is in some parts of the country will be forced to show id before casting their ballot. foreign private young carers on receiving the help they need. the prevent anti—extremism programme has been defended by leicestershire‘s chief constable who says some criticism of the scheme is hysterical. also, tributes are paid to the actress liz smith who has died at the age of 95. the choreographer sir matthew bourne

has described her as a true british legend. and we will be looking back ata legend. and we will be looking back at a rocky year in british politics. welcome to bbc news. some voters in england are to be asked to provide photographic identity before they vote, the measure is being piloted as efforts to curb electoral fraud. a government commissioned report in august concluded that the authorities sometimes turn a blind eye. he was our political correspondent.

an election victory, but steeped in claims of corruption. but for rahman became mayor of tower hamlets. he wasjudged instead by an election court which threw him out of office. it heard claims of voter fraud and intimidation. it prompted a wider review of election practice carried out by the former communities secretary who called for the introduction of id checks. when it comes to vulnerable individuals who want to be able to exercise their individual right to vote, they are given the opportunity of doing so without the possibility of doing so without the possibility of intimidation. the report said

authorities were turning a blind eye to corruption. he accused some bodies of denial and failing to challenge electoral rigging because of the threat of violence. in some communities... some voters will have to bring proof of identity, a passport or with photo photo id. but changes to the voting register had already harmed the party and some claimed this would make things worse. the people most likely not to have a passport or driving licence are going to be the poorest. like the decision last year to knock a lot of people off the electoral register will basically had the labour party. the number of voter fraud claims are relatively low. the government hopes these plans will help reduce them further. tom is widely in the studio. give us

a sense of how big a problem this really is. it's one of these issues that gained prominence because that case we mentioned in tower hamlets, it gained widespread publicity but when you look at the numbers, they a re pretty low when you look at the numbers, they are pretty low when it comes to allegations of complaints about voterfraud. allegations of complaints about voter fraud. last year, allegations of complaints about voterfraud. last year, figures according to the electoral commission, there were 51 million votes cast in all the elections across the country and yet they were fewer than 700 complaints or allegations of fraud, that gives you allegations of fraud, that gives you a sense of how much of an issue there is in terms of complaints about it. but the government says is this is an issue about reputation, both in the system, so when you get these allegations, it images trust. so these measures

these allegations, it images trust. so these measures are these allegations, it images trust. so these measures are needed to protect that, to protect the reputation. in terms of some of the criticism, that it may affect turnout, one part of the uk, in northern ireland, they have had this for years, showing photographic id when you show up, it works perfectly well. the government has said there is no indication it should affect turnout. there are some who say they feel that because the problem is isolated, but this is a massive change here, albeit that it already goes on in northern ireland, for something that doesn't happen that often. we have heard from the labour party who broadly welcomed anything that they say cracks down on voter fraud but they are worried about the kinds of people this will affect. they say when you introduce a system like this, as we heard from ken livingstone, it could affect the poorest, those who don't have utility bills in their own names, or a passport, some labourfigures are

worried this could affect their voters, they are complaining and worried about changes to the voter registration system, which has brought a lot of labour supporters of that register, they say this could render system further away from the labour party. we applied from the labour party. we applied from the labour party. we applied from the electoral reform society, which campaigns for there are elections, they say that this is an overreaction, it's like a sledgehammer to crack a nut and could introduce more barriers to voting. the actress liz smith, best known for playing nana in the bbc sitcom, the royle family, has died, at the age of 95. she acted in numerous television series and films, and was nominated for a bafta for her role in ‘a private function' in 1985. joining me on the line is the actress suejohnston who played her daughter barbara in the show the royle family. good review to to us here. —— can

view to speak to us here. your memories of working alongside liz smith? what a privileged life i've had to work with liz smith. she was hilarious, rather eccentric, and the most wonderful actress. she was the most wonderful actress. she was the most generous friend, i can't stop heaping praises on her unthinking how much i'm going to miss her and how much i'm going to miss her and how much i'm going to miss her and how much we all going to miss her, really. she had that awful lot, i can hear in the background, that cranky laugh, but what i laughed about liz was, we have finished filming the programme and she would ta ke filming the programme and she would take off her grey wig and then wash her hairand she

take off her grey wig and then wash her hair and she would be mrs sims dictated, she was like america want bigger, she had the most beautiful haircut —— mrs sophisticated. nanette she wasn't but when she put that we gone and got on the sofa, she became nana. absolutely amazing. she loved everything about being an actor. and she neverforgot my colleague, forgiving her the chance to be an actor because she struggled the years. she was on her own with her kids, she had to take all sorts of work because she wasn't getting much work as an actor. it wasn't until my colleague a further break that she took off, if you like, then everyone. . . that she took off, if you like, then everyone... i remember her, the thought of her coming into play nana, to me, iwas

thought of her coming into play nana, to me, i was so excited. and she lived up to her reputation. she was wonderful. a few years ago i went to see her not long ago and she was down in worthing, in her home, andi was down in worthing, in her home, and i took out in the wheelchair and we went down the front and because it was barbara, people were so delighted to see her. and she loved it, and people werejust delighted to see her. and she loved it, and people were just so generous and coming to talk to her, it was just my lovely memory of that day, that we shared in worthing. just my lovely memory of that day, that we shared in worthinglj just my lovely memory of that day, that we shared in worthing. i can hear the warmth and affection in your voice, it's delightful. hear the warmth and affection in yourvoice, it's delightful. i'm getting a picture from view of someone who was hugely professional in terms of her craft but also in love with everything about it. totally in love with everything about it, it was a joy, because she found so much joy

about it, it was a joy, because she found so muchjoy in doing thejob. she loved being in the programme, she loved being on the sofa, we never left the sofa when they change the lighting, nobody scattered back to their dressing rooms like in normaljobs, wejust to their dressing rooms like in normaljobs, we just stayed to their dressing rooms like in normaljobs, wejust stayed on to their dressing rooms like in normaljobs, we just stayed on the sofa and laughed and laughed, and she loved it. it almost became a little family for her. we all became a little family, we all love each other. that indulgently, but we just had such happiness, and she brought so much humour. yes, she was eccentric but she was a very bright lady, too. a real pleasure to talk to you, we appreciate your time at a sad time. lovely to hear your warmth and your stories. talking to us there about the

actress liz smith, who died on christmas eve at the age of 95. 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 young carers, who look after sick and disabled family members, are invisible to the authorities. the local government association says funding cuts mean councils are 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 are being 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

the local government association says funding cuts to children's services means councils are being forced to make difficult simon hatch is a spokesman for the charity, carers trust. he says the number of hidden young carers could be even higher. sadly they are the figures we recognise, possibly even worse than that, we know there are thousands of carers going without the support they need, very often those are because of the cuts councils have faced over recent years, and things are getting worse. many of these young carers who are as young as three, four, five, often won't recognise or identify themselves as carers, that can be a problem, particularly in schools, carers are being bullied. facing difficulties, missing out on crucial school time, s0 missing out on crucial school time, so we have projects to help them. councils do try but they do need to

focus efforts on this area for these vulnerable again people. 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 patients don't get caught between different parts of the system. dr mike smith, a trustee of the patients' association, agreed with professor cummings' comments and explained how some types of care could work away from the hospital ward. at the moment there are about one in ten people sitting in hospital beds that don't need to be there, blocking places for others who do need to be there for acute services, costing the best part of 1% of the nhs budget and it could be so much betterfor their life and health, there are figures

to show they get better quicker in a place they are happy with. in most cases, this is when they are not in need of acute services, it is their own home. there are places in the uk where it is working well. health care professionals would be happy for themselves or their nearest and dearest to be treated in these places because they are working so much better, if you look at the figures in terms of health and also outlook and life itself, mortality figures, they are better as well. people are happier when this happens, that's where the majority of them want to be and so would the taxpayer be. it's £3500 a week to keep somebody in hospital and if you are doing that when they don't need to be there, eating up the nhs budget, it's not good, in a variety of ways, not least in terms of life and health. that is in some parts of england

will be asked to show id under pilot schemes to try and curb electoral fraud —— boaters. eight out of ten young carers aren't receiving the ca re young carers aren't receiving the care they need from social services according to the children's commissionerfor according to the children's commissioner for england. and russian crash investigators say a recovered flight data recorder it in a satisfactory condition and therefore may provide clues as to whether military plane came down on sunday. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's steve wyeth. chelsea's lead at the top of the premier league is an impressive one, but if could be trimmed to six points this evening — if liverpool beat stoke in the only game in the top flight. jurgen klopp hopes his players, and the fans, are well prepared after the extra day off before their festive football. atmosphere changes everything, so hopefully all our supporters are recharged after the 25th and the 26th, full of good food and in the best mood for this game,

and give everything you can! stoke beat liverpool injanuary in the league cup but otherwise don't have a great record at anfield, although their manager doesn't consider history a factor. it took us 40 years to get a win there, so we hope it's not going to be as long next time. i don't think there is any pressure on us, we're going there with the intention of getting a positive result like we always do. we never go there with the intention of protecting what we have got. we always think at some point in the game we will have opportunities so it's about staying in the game and taking them when they come. in the championship, brighton are on course to return to the top of the table. they're taking on qpr in the lunchtime game. and lead 1—0 through

a sam baldock goal. victory would take brighton two points clear of newcastle. struggling qpr are looking to end a five—game losing run in the league. in the 3 o'clock game, derby are targeting a club record seventh consecutive home clean—sheet when they face birmingham. lancashire director of cricket and head coach ashley giles has been released from his contract to allow him to rejoin warwickshire. giles — who steered lancashire to promotion to division one of the county championship and the t20 blast title during his time at old trafford — takes up the role of sport director with his home county in the new year. england forward chris robshaw has withdrawn from the harlequins team to play gloucester today at twickenham due to injury. that's the only fixture in the premiership. in the pro12 there's an all welsh encounter as 0spreys play scarlets. that's all the sport for now.

you can find more on our website. rescue teams have recovered one of the flight recorders from a russian military plane that crashed into the black sea shortly after takeoff on sunday. the russian defence ministry said an engine, landing gearand parts of the fuselage had also been found. all 92 people on board the aircraft are thought to have died when it came down near the resort of sochi. angus crawford reports. recovered from the sea bed, twisted and broken. part of the plane's fuselage. thousands of people are still involved in the search, scouring the area where the 30—year—old tupolev15a came down.

specialist teams have found one of the flight recorders. it has been taken away for analysis. the military flight from moscow to latakia in syria had more than 90 passengers and crew on board. it touched down to refuel in sochi, but crashed shortly after taking off again. translation: the site operation has gone on the 2a hours with no brakes. during the day, one more body was found and recovered. soldiers and civilians died side—by—side, all travelling to syria for new year celebrations. 0n

travelling to syria for new year celebrations. on board, too, more than 60 members of the russian army's world choir. at their base in moscow, people have been laying flowers a nd moscow, people have been laying flowers and lighting candles. a national day of mourning was declared. in such, recovery teams used the latest technology. the cause of the crash unknown. pilot error or mechanical failure, a focus for error or mechanical failure, a focus foer error or mechanical failure, a focus for mr gaiters. terrorism has been all but ruled out. so in the waters of the black sea, the search for answers continues. a senior police officer has defended the government's often criticised anti—extremism programme known as prevent. simon cole, who is chief constable of leicestershire and one of those in charge of implementing the strategy, said some recent criticism had been ‘hysterical‘. a british man is in a critical

condition in hospital in antigua after being shot in the head. 37—year—old christopher tester from torquay was injured during an attempted robbery at his parent's restaurant on christmas day. he is being kept in an induced coma and friends have launched an appeal to fly him back to the uk for treatment. 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,

anonymously, a secret till now. 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 never forget 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, at his home in goring—on—thames in 0xfordshire, friends came

to remember their icon. 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, it 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. let's cross to our correspondent emily unia, who's outside the singer's house in north london. still a lot of people coming to lay flowers among other things, presumably? absolutely, a stream of people have been arriving all morning, gathering outside his

house, people stopping to tie balloons to the railings, to lay flowers, light candles, leave m essa 9 es flowers, light candles, leave m essa g es of flowers, light candles, leave messages of love to the singer that they are heartbroken has gone from their lives. we're talking about people who grew up listening to george michael, dancing to george michael, he was part of a teenage memories. along with members of the public, they have been messages from celebrities, paul mccartney, kylie minogue, sir elton john celebrities, paul mccartney, kylie minogue, sir eltonjohn perhaps as per the most exemplary, he said he was "kind, generous soul and a print artist". a picture is emerging out of a superstar who was a brilliant singer, perform and the producer but also a man of the heart of gold, it appears. he would donate money to people anonymously be heard they we re people anonymously be heard they were in difficulty, he gave free tickets to his concerts to nhs

workers, in particular nurses, and we had a fondness for after the death of his own mother some years ago. now we discover, he was volunteering in a homeless shelter anonymously, making sure nobody knew this was happening, but he wanted to give something back to other people andi give something back to other people and i think that is why it seems so poignant that he has died at such a young age and that we know he had so many problems of his own. a very interesting picture emerging of a man who was a global superstar but clearly had a very generous heart as well. if you're someone who suffers from regular aches and pains, scientists in oxford think they may have found the reason why, and it goes back millions of years. it's all to do with the way humans have evolved, as smeetha mundasad has been finding out. 3—d printing the bones of our distant ancestors

and imagining how we might look in thousands of years' time. an unconventional way to approach an everyday problem. why is it that the humans of today get so muchjoint pain? to answer, scientists looked back at hundreds of ancient skeletons and say evolution could be partly to blame. this is a 30,000—year—old thighbone and it's this area here which has changed. we call it the neck of the thighbone. as we have gone through evolution, this area is getting thicker and thicker whereas we know there is a direct link between this area getting thicker and early arthritis. that is not all. they can nudge their model forward, having a guess at how human skeletons may change in 5,000 years' time. these 3—d printed models show what the bones of the future human could look like. scientists say by studying them closely, it's clear that the human skeleton is changing and they say if current trends continue,

it's likely that arthritis and pain will get more common. let's consider the shoulder. as we began walking on two legs the shape of the shoulder shifted to compensate for a new gait. look at this space getting narrower and narrower over millions of years. scientists say this leaves less room for tendons that attach muscles to bone to move. leading to more pain as we reach overhead. and if this pattern continues, it's set to get worse in the future. researchers say while evolution may have left us with some unharmful hangovers, physiotherapy and using the right posture can help conquer some of the downsides of our design. they hope projects like this one might help design the joint replacements and surgery of the future. time for the weather.

good afternoon to you, we have waved goodbye to the stormy weather that affected some northern areas over the last few days, things have quietened down. some sunshine but also a quietened down. some sunshine but alsoafairamount quietened down. some sunshine but also a fair amount of cloud in the mix. most of the crowd is thin, high cloud, just turning the sunshine hazy but generally a bit more cloud across northern england, there might of sunshine towards the south—east but wherever you are, after a chilly start, it will remain quite cold this afternoon. as soon as it gets dark, temperatures will plunge. a shading of preparing across the map, quite a bit of talk, temperatures in towns and cities around freezing. not as cold across the far

north—west, with more of a breeze, thatis north—west, with more of a breeze, that is where we will happen the modeste weather tomorrow, 12 places will hold on to talk tomorrow, that could keep your temperatures down around freezing. this is bbc news. the headlines at 1:30pm: voters in some parts of england are to be asked to provide proof of id before casting their ballots, as part of efforts to curb electoral fraud. the scheme is to be trialled during the 2018 local elections. the children's commissioner for england has said as many as four