would be in charge of that for us but will not only have the job of seeing government does pay over the money they are taking in insurance contributions but start to educate us on contributions but start to educate us on what it will cost to maintain this health service not at the level now. people come on your programme, they start saying we have the best health service in the world. i wish that were true. it is just totally untrue. what it means now to maintain existing services and then, if we really want to aim for a world —class if we really want to aim for a world—class service again, what sort of sums we'd need to make each month in our contributions. do you think the public would be receptive to that idea of paying a little more on national insurance in order to provide the kind of health cover they could well need to the future? when gordon brown last increased it by putting 1. on, he was amazed he became one of the most popular people in the country. he was fea rful people in the country. he was fearful what the results of that action was going to be. on this

score, politicians should take comfort. people don't want to pay tax. they want to pay through the insurance system. they want to make sure that money goes to health and social care. i think that should be the basis of a longer term governance reform whereby stage two of bevan's great reform will be health and social care. it will be much more obviously owned by us, as the people. and our governors on that, mutual directors, whatever you wa nt to that, mutual directors, whatever you want to call them, will not only have the job of making sure we've enough money now but we're educated into the fact about what it will cost in the longer run. you had that clip from martin stevens at the beginning. we're going to go before the end of this parliament into a period where the amount each of us has spent on the health service, the services we have, it will fall. we've seen nothing yet, yet this nurse's note, how long can we

continue working in the conditions that we're currently working in. what's been interesting in what you've been saying is that you've been using health, talking about health and social care interchangeably. sometimes you've said health plus social care. many people are pointing to the fact that the nhs and social care are not linked. and that, that is the fundamental problem here. while up toa fundamental problem here. while up to a point nhs funding has been ring—fenced for the last few years social care hasn't. it's been hit. that is what's causing the problems with the nhs itself? it is. socialing care budgets, our local authority budgets have been cut by ginormous sums. therefore the pressures have been found as you rightly point out in social care. if you can't look after people in their own homes, they stay in hospitals or worse than that, are actually on

trolleys in hospitals as this nurse in my constituency describes. you have a dozen people which you're desperately trying to find beds for them so they can be admitted to hospital. if bevan started today rather than in 19118, he'd never have had local authority service and a national hospital scheme. it would have been one. the big changes, all my grandparents died either overnight, so to speak, or within a few days of going into hospital. that doesn't now happen. we have quite a longish period, many of us, in hospital or in care before we die. it's that area which has been thought to be better catered for in nursing homes and similar institutions rather than blocking beds in hospitals. for that to happen, one actually needs more money going into the system. i make a plea to the prime minister, please

don't be defensive. bold action is required here. i know she won't take it. she'll think very hard about this. she might be surprised as gordon brown was that she becomes even more popular by making us pay more towards a service which, as you said, some of us are using today but many of us will be using tomorrow or in the rest of the our lifetime. have briefly, some of your labour collea g u es have briefly, some of your labour colleagues suggest £700 million to £900 million allocated for 2019 for social care could be brought forward asa social care could be brought forward as a bit more of a short—term fix. you've talked about your convention and 1. on national insurance. that could be a quicker cash injection straight away. might that be a useful move? it could be. the prime minister should be willing to consider anything. but the crux of this is it will cost us more to

maintain, let alone improve, our health and social care system in this country. and, surprise, surprise, because this is the one institution that people care about, the prime minister might make herself more popular by dealing with it resolutely and dealing with it resolutely means charging us more money through our national insurance that we make contributions which is not nicked by the government for other things but is clearly earmarked for health and social care. frank field, thank you very much forjoining us. the headlines on bbc news: donald trump told a news conference us intelligence agencies might be behind claims that russia has gathered compromising information on him. the us president—elect also said having a good relationship with russia would be good for america. a teenager has been remanded in secure

accommodation after being charged with the murder of a seven—year—old girl katie rough in an update on the market numbers for you. here's how london and frankfurt ended the day. and in the the united states this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. york. let's return to our top story. the claims in a leaked report that the russian security services hold information on donald trump which could leave him open to blackmail. the claims have been denied boot president—elect who takes office in nine days' time dismissing the reports as fake news. he's been holding a news conference, his first since winning the election. he said he would never find since winning the election. he said he would neverfind himself since winning the election. he said he would never find himself in a position in which he could be threatened. when i leave our country, i'm a very high profile country, i'm a very high profile country, would you say? i am extremely careful. i'm surrounded by bodyguards. i'm surrounded by people. i always tell them anywhere,

but i always tell them if i'm leaving this country, be very careful because in your hotel rooms, and no matter where you go, you will probably have cameras. i'm notjust referring to russia but i would put them in that category. number one, i hope you're going to be good anyway. in those rooms you have cameras in the strangest places. cameras that are so small with modern technology, you can't see them and you won't know. you better be careful or you'll be watching yourself on nightly television. i tell this to people all the time. i was in russia yea rs people all the time. i was in russia years ago with the miss universe contest. the moscow area did very, very well. i told many people, be careful because you don't want to see yourself on television. cameras all over the place. again, notjust

russia but all over. does anyone really believe that story? i'm also very much of a germ owephobe, by the way, believe me! let's talk now to the former british ambassador to the united states, sir christopher meyer whojoins us via united states, sir christopher meyer who joins us via describe united states, sir christopher meyer whojoins us via describe in london. hello, good to see you. thank you for joining hello, good to see you. thank you forjoining us. we are used to donald trump's style. some say blueser. he's nine days away from becoming quite possibly the most powerful politician on the planet. what did you make of his rhetoric and what he was saying in this news conference? well, either historic standards of trump public declarations and pronouncements this was pretty calm and sub died. none of the flaming technicolour that some of his previous pronouncements have had. he started the press conference on the defensive, as regards the buzzfeed, russian

allegations and questions of conflict of interest, actually, he got through this pretty well. he was able to handle it pretty willing. i think the problem here for those who wa nt to think the problem here for those who want to try and push him out of office is that although these allegations are in parts particularly lurid sexually, no—one yet has been able to stand them up. as long as these allegations are no more than allegations, even rumour or gossip, he will be able to get by them pretty easily. indeed. but the fbi and cia felt they were serious enough to present to him and to the president himself who's still barack obama at the moment. do you feel the cia and fbi have to fully investigate these claims now?” don't know. i don't know the background to why they decided these allegations were sufficiently serious to present to the president—elect and to the president. until we know the full detail of what the intelligence

agencies know, it's very difficult for lay men like us to make a proper judgment. all we can say at the moment is that absent is some evidence, some witness that enables us evidence, some witness that enables us to stand up the story. itjust remains allegations. you can't go beyond that. it cannot be very good, can it, for a president, any president frankly, to get off to the kind of rocky relationship with their own intelligence services that mrtrump has their own intelligence services that mr trump has managed to do? that's a slightly different issue. i agree with you there. because, we might have thought before his press conference today, he had declared a kind of truce did the intelligence agencies having met the leaders without any severe repercussions. but, in this press conference,

although he didn't exactly underline this, he did at least suggest the intelligence agencies might be behind the public leaking of these allegations such that they have appeared in certain news agencies. you might say this was a renewable of war between himself and the intelligence agency agencies. you are quite right to say for a president to start his term of office on bad relations, very bad relations with the intelligence agencies is not brilliant for american security and not actually brilliant for world security or the security of the north atlantic treaty organisation. it is not the way to start. also, starting his presidency with a rocky relationship with so much of the media, in a country that's governed by laws where it is important to have a free press and so on. he slagged off buzzfeed. and cnn. wouldn't even ta ke buzzfeed. and cnn. wouldn't even take a question from cnn. he's in

hot water with the new york times. he hates them. slagged off the bbc as well. if this was russia or some republic where perhaps the notion of a free press is a little bit more complicated, that you could get away with it. is this, at the beginning of his time in office, a situation that could be very problematic for him further down the road?” that could be very problematic for him further down the road? i don't know whether that's the case. fraught relationships with defence agencies is serious. fraught relationships with the media is far less serious. after all, all through his primary and presidential campaign, he had difficult and hostile relationships with most of the media. whether we're talking writing press, tv or whoever. and he won the presidency. maybe it would have been best for him to start with a honeymoon with the press. maybe there will be a honeymoon with the press. in this press conference he did praise all those outlets who had

refused to run this sex story. so, i don't take the latter terribly seriously to be honest with you. mr nixon had a very prickly relationship with the press and it didn't seem to do him much harm until the end of course! sir christopher, thank you forjoining us. christopher, thank you forjoining us. a pleasure. a lot more on mr trump's press conference. before that, time for a look at the weather. it's getting chilly. jay wynne has all the details. a lot going on with the weather over the next fee days. if you're on the move bearin next fee days. if you're on the move bear in mind the weather warnings. strong winds in the northern half of the uk tonight. further snow showers getting to low levels in scotland. wintry weather too in northern ireland, some parts of northern england. in the northern half of the uk, a cold night. more rural spots well below freezing. a risk of icy

patches before dawn. further south not so cold. rain pushing in. as that rain moves north, it will start to turn to snow. a difficult forecast. at the moment, some snow over parts of wales, south—west englandnd through the midlands. a cold day across the board. 2 or 3 celsius. for many feeling like minus 2or celsius. for many feeling like minus 2 or minus 3 celsius. through the evening, if looks like we could see snow drifting towards east anglia and the south—east of england. before all is said and done we could see a few centimetres settling. behind it, further cold and frostaway with showers. —— frosty. this is bbc news.

the headlines at seven. donald trump has hit back at allegations that russian intelligence has compromising information about him and suggested the us intelligence agencies were to blame. it was a group of opponents that got together. sick people, they put that crap together. the president—elect had wanted to talk about his business interest but his rejection of the claims prompted angry exchanges with news agencies. you are attacking our organisations. give us a chance to ask questions. the first formal news conference for nearly six months included praise for some and witnessed angry exchanges with others.