weeks when something does. a year when globalisation went into reverse and the nationstate reasserted itself as the governing concept of choice. after decades of balls coming down, it was the use of barrier is going up. we have to build a wall, folks. we have to build a wall, folks. we have to build a wall, folks. we have to build a wall. the year that nationalism and naked tribalism reasserted itself as well.” nationalism and naked tribalism reasserted itself as well. i also wa nt to reasserted itself as well. i also want to fight for the preservation of our own identity. it arises out of our own identity. it arises out of fear and that is what is being expressed. a year of anger and division. shame on you, boris! you area division. shame on you, boris! you are a parasite. a year traditional politics and its parties began to fall apart. you know perfectly well what the answer is. i'm very surprised and quite disappointed that you should even raise this question. the year the truth became stretched and political

communication changed. you brag that he had sexually assaulted women. do you understand that? i didn't say that at all. don't think you understood what was said. this was locker room talk. whether you like a lot, i don't, he is clearly incredibly talented 21st—ce ntury communicated. people expect that of their leaders after 2016. for me, 2016 has been something of a blur. notjust a sense of events overtaking us. you have not been that many. they have just been rather important. more sense of assumptions changing. for many, it's disorienting and they reach out historical parallels. some reassuring ones or some obvious and rather dark ones. the most commonly cited comparison is the 1930s. and it's easy to see why. you have outside parties outside the movements that arrived on the political scene, saying we are not

the same as other people, we are different. we will sweep away systems which are not working for ordinary people and that becomes enormously seductive to people who feel either that they have been left behind or their voices are disregarded. it wasn'tjust behind or their voices are disregarded. it wasn't just the nazis. spain and portugal and italy all have their fascists as well. there was oswald mosley in the uk and the left—wing populist she we longed over in the us. —— she we longed. those outside parties have been relatively contained in western democracies since the end of the second world war but now they are here and they are here and we are very worried. the 30s can also be remembered for a us led tariff for disrupting trade added to the disintegration of international cooperation. i've also think is use a very tricky at the moment in terms of the breakdown of what had very

secure international organisations, especially the eu and nato for all its faults and the seem to be under great pressure. if you lose the structure of international collaboration, such as they are, which allow people to think internationally, then it is lost and in the 19305, internationalists were very difficult to find. at vast pro- nazi gathering carrying a pro— nazi campaign of back to germany. historians are never keen on glib comparisons, particularly to the 305. by reaching to the most familiar piece of history, can see other parallels. we've got to be careful of this 19305 comparison. one of the reasons everyone mentions i5 one of the reasons everyone mentions is that it is the only history people know. this is not fa5ci5m. there are no militarised paramilitary organisations as they we re paramilitary organisations as they were on paramilitary organisations as they were on the 305 that characterised

the 305. the renault storm troopers. there are no black5hirt5. things are very different today. this is, in many ways, the working of democracy. the working of democracy in the sense that... one of the great things about democracy is that it reflects the differing views of the voters and they can make changes, radical changes without having to turn to revolutionary violence. one of the rules of the media has got to be not to indulge in hyperbolic hitler spotting. perhaps then the year should be seen as one in which the elites were overthrown. year should be seen as one in which the elites were overthrownlj year should be seen as one in which the elites were overthrown. i don't think so much the 19305. the 18305 isa think so much the 19305. the 18305 is a better one. you had prints metternich, the chancellor of austria and a group of like—minded monarchs and statesmen deciding it

was good for europe, for 30 or a0 or 50 yea rs was good for europe, for 30 or a0 or 50 years and they believed a bit like the eu elite today, that they we re like the eu elite today, that they were absolutely right. there was no other way but the way. of course, gradually bubbling under was resista nce gradually bubbling under was resistance to this. maybe the 18305 instead of the 19305. resistance to this. maybe the 18305 instead of the 1930s. it's hard to make sense of 2016. the end of one kind of order but we haven't yet seen the construction of a new one. two or three times in your life, you get a year that is a juncture in the course of history and think we just had one. there was a kind of confusion of different directions and that explains many of the contradictions we are seeing. donald trump getting the support of american conservatives even though he isn't a conservative, is economic interventionist. brexit, apparently a protest vote against globalisation

yet the brexiteers say we are now going to become a beacon of global free trade. all over the place at the moment, a complete mess. and perhaps suggests there are useful parallels to be drawn to those messy historical upsets would come along every now and then in the form of revolutions. lenin would definitely have recognised this as a revolution and he would have found a way of seizing upon it. revolutions happen when assumptions that generations have had for a very long period are broken down and people no longer believe in them. we are seeing that very much in 2016. russia of course had to revolutions in 1917. one overthrew bizarre and all the old assumptions. the second months later that saw an opportunistic leningrad power. you promised anything and everything, he lied unashamedly, he

identified a scapegoat that he could then blame for everything. he used then blame for everything. he used the word elite a lot. he said people had not really heard too much from experts. one feature of the current situation is not just experts. one feature of the current situation is notjust that events are unpredictable but that you can get perverse outcomes. democracy at its foibles and the public can get things that perhaps they never really intended. you could have a binary vote, very evenly matched, that then leads to quite an extreme outcome. public preferences are quite complicated things. we all wa nt quite complicated things. we all want the public to have their say but the challenge is to reduce that down to something simple while capturing some of the nuance and to make sure that in the process, the public do get what they really want. can the outcomes sometimes be very perverse? that there is a sort of, that the intended outcome of the revolution is not where the revolution is not where the revolution ends up. yes. one very

obvious one is the french revolution. one of the less famous when they wanted to get rid of the king and ended up with an emperor. when hitler was called to become chancellor in january 1933, when hitler was called to become chancellor injanuary1933, he was intended to be the puppet of right—wing conservatives. intended to be the puppet of right-wing conservatives. within weeks, he was out of control. there is an unintended consequence of a major, major source. 1830s, 1917, 19 305. each history has something useful to say that none can really tell us about 2016 will lead.|j don't think it had the revolution yet, evan. if the revolution is coming, you will know about it. this is not 1917, ladies and gentlemen. this is the year that democracy actually spoke. come back in 100 years and i will tell you about 2016. a full—length opera composed by an eleven—year—old british girl has received its world premiere

at a sold—out performance in vienna. alma deutscher began composing aged four and has already produced concertos for piano and violin, to critical acclaim. her opera, cinderella, relocates the traditional fairy tale to an opera house managed by cinderella's stepmother, with the two ugly sisters re—imagined as aspiring divas. finally in 2016, you would have seen many, many attempts at the manikin challenge is the craze swept the web but the best one was probably till last. these pictures have come from the european space agency who shared a video featuring the end —— the entire crew of the international space station. taking the manikin challenge to new heights. thank you for watching. not as much fog around england and wales as friday begins but still the potential for some dense patches. do not drop your guard just yet. still worth checking the situation where you are, especially across parts

of east anglia, south—east england where it's a cold start once again but a few fog patches elsewhere. also into wales and midlands. a very different story in northern scotland. a weather system hanging around throughout the day with wind and rain. that rain is more on than off across the north and the western isles. actually to the east of that, parts of north—east scotland will see a bit of sunshine occasionally. this is the picture at 8am, plenty of cloud around and in the west in the west—facing coast and hills, damp and drizzly at times. that a feature of the weather throughout the day. many of us getting off to a fairly mild start but where we have some of that fog around and particularly across east and south—east of england, temperatures there close to freezing. some starting with a frost. if you stay misty and murky, your temperature will be held down into single figures whereas elsewhere, despite the cloud, it turns out milder than thursday. especially when you can see a bit of brightness, maybe north—east wales,

north—east england and eastern parts of scotland. still, north of scotland throughout the day you have rain and wind. 11 degree temperatures for glasgow but just five celsius in norwich. into friday night you will probably be struck by the fact that this weather system is still hanging around the same parts of northern scotland. as we look further south we see plenty of cloud. it will still be damp and drizzly at times in the west. the west—facing coast and hills. there will still be a few fog patches but not as much as we get friday morning. thatjust easing away from being a majorfeature of our weather. not as cold as well. as new year's eve begins, this is how it looks for the final day of 2016. finally this weather system is getting a move on and taking the rains southwards through scotland and northern ireland. the good news is that if you are out and about and celebrating the arrival of 2017, that should push away from you although cold air behind it with wintry showers.

the start of 2017 you can see the band starting to push towards parts of england and wales, especially the further north you are. for much of england and wales it will be fairly mild to be out and about. that will not last long. look at it for new year's day. the rain clears its way southwards and all of us will find ourselves in colder air with a few coastal showers around. cold air for the start of the new year. hello, this is breakfast, with steph mcgovern and charlie stayt. russia warns of retaliation as 35 of its diplomats are expelled from the us over the hacking scandal. president obama's ordered the sanctions after claims moscow interfered in america's presidential elections. good morning, it's

friday, 30 december. also this morning: learner drivers will be allowed on motorways for the first time. the government says the plans will improve road safety. prescribing pets — why senior nurses are calling for more animals to be used as part of patients' treatment. i guess it is a