hello, this is breakfast, with sally nugent and charlie stayt warnings of damage and disruption as storm doris heads for the uk. this is what it looked like in western ireland overnight, that this is the scene in blackpool this morning. commuters here are being advised to take extra care as some of the worst weather of the winter so far arrives. it is right over the centre of northern ireland at the moment, the eye of the storm, and it's packing three punches in a sense, heavy rain, heavy snow and gales, even severe gales in the central swathe of the uk. i'll have more details in 15 minutes. good morning, it's thursday 23rd february. also this morning: nearly 10,000 motorists are legally allowed to drive despite having enough penalty points to be banned. new figures show one man is still on the roads with 62 on his licence. new advice to eat even

more fruit and veg. researchers say 10 portions a day can significantly cut the risk of premature death. good morning. hs two gets the royal seal of approval later, but amid controversy seal of approval later, but amid c0 ntrove i’sy over seal of approval later, but amid controversy over the route and the cost of the new high—speed line, i'm in birmingham finding out what difference it could make for passengers. in sport leicester city lose in spain but jamie vardy‘s away goal in seville means they still have a chance of making it through to the last eight of the champions league. also this morning, a new sound for smoke alarms. wa ke wake up, the house is on fire! wake up, the house is on fire! safety experts say a voice rather than a beep is much more likely to wake up the kids. we'll be speaking to the people behind the new device. first our main story. winds of nearly 90mph have been recorded in western ireland as the worst weather of the winter hits

the british isles. storm doris is expected to arrive in the uk in the coming hours, with heavy snow forecast in scotland and strong winds for many parts of england and wales. some rail and air services have already changed their schedules and drivers are being warned to avoid some roads. let's get a sense of what it's like out there at the moment with our reporter, allison freeman who is in blackpool this morning. good morning, allison. 0bviously good morning, allison. obviously it doesn't look too pleasant there. are you expecting the weather to get worse? well, here it blackpoolthe wind and rain that we'd been expecting just started to strike about half an hour ago. we know that north wales is getting quite a battering at the moment. and that on the coast of the republic of ireland, on the galway coast, they recorded a gust of 87 mph this morning. the area that will be worst affected by the snow this morning

will be central and southern parts of scotland. there expecting there between ten centimetres on lower ground and up to 30 centimetres on higher ground, and of amber warning in place there and as a result all school transport has been cancelled and drivers will be warned to take ca re and drivers will be warned to take care when they get on the roads this afternoon. the wind and rain will affect the north of england, the midlands, east anglia and north wales, which, as i say, is getting the brunt of it at the moment. there's an amber warning in place at the moment for wind and we're expecting gusts on the coastline of 80 mph and the knock—on effect of thatis 80 mph and the knock—on effect of that is we're expecting possibly some damage to the buildings and we're expecting problems with transport. there have been some flights cancelled in and out of heathrow, that's mainly domestic and shorthaulflights. and heathrow, that's mainly domestic and shorthaul flights. and we heathrow, that's mainly domestic and shorthaulflights. and we know on the trains, the east coast main line after 9:30am is going to run a reduced service with the speed limit

going to 50 mph. those gusts of wind are expected to be worst in the north of england around lunchtime today and people are being cold they must take care today in these treacherous conditions, which should be over at around 6pm. back to you. allison, thank you very much indeed. that's the picture in blackpool. we can go now to blacksod. it's a small village that opens to the atlantic ocean in erris, north county mayo. we're joined now by fergus sweeney, who lives there. what is it like for you this morning? good morning, charlie. it is still pretty dark at the minute but the winds are still howling. it's not as bad as it was at around 2am this morning, it peaked at the west coast at around 2pm with very violent gusts —— 2am. where i am at the moment we sustained damage to the moment we sustained damage to the roots and we have to wait until

daylight to see exactly how bad the damage is. -- grooves. are emergency services warning people about the conditions in advance? -- grooves. people have been talking to the press and the national broadcaster issued a warning and from the coastguard. i believe we're on an orange warning, which is fairly high up. it isn't red, so it's not that bad, but it is pretty high up so people would have been aware, especially on the west coast. we are used to storms so we are conscious when we get these warnings and we keep an eye out. fergus, thank you very much. fergus sweeney keeping us across how those storms are emerging through the morning. and we will be speaking to carol as well this morning. prisons will be expected to reform criminals as well as punish them under what's being described as the biggest overhaul of the system for a generation. the justice secretary, liz truss, will present a bill later aimed at reducing prison violence and cutting re—offending rates

in england and wales. here's our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. some prisons in england and wales have been in crisis in the last year. violence and the use of illegal mobile phones and drugs have been soaring after deep cuts in the number of prison officers. but in otherjails, like hmp 0nley in warwickshire, it is still possible to prepare inmates for life on the outside. abdul tahir is coming to the end of a two year sentence and hopes to go straight into a job as a bike technician at halfords. he told me his experience ofjail time has been mixed. when i was in pentonville before i came here we were locked up 23 hours a day. literally treated like animals. we had to ask for toilet paper, we had to ask for basic decency. so coming here now, it looks like a completely different prison. i firmly believe if you give someone a chance to change, they will change. in her first prisons and courts

bill, the relatively newjustice secretary liz truss wants to have it written into law that it is her duty to rehabilitate prisoners and notjust to house them. as we're seeing fewer people committing a crime for the first time, which is good news, more of the crime in our society is committed by people who have already been in prison. so we really need to deal with this issue which has been a problem going on for decades. the prisons and courts bill will also bring in new laws allowing mobile phone companies to help the prison service to detect and intercept devices being used behind bars. daniel sandford, bbc news. the hs2 high speed rail link between london and birmingham, is expected to get final approval today. the line, which is due to open in 2026, will reduce journey times and provide thousands ofjobs. but its feared the construction will bring wide—spread destruction to people living along the route. ben's in birmingham

for us this morning. i have to ask you first of all, i hope storm doris has been kind? yeah. i got a feeling we might be feeling storm doris over the course of the morning and we'll keep you updated from here too. as you mention, i'm here becausejust behind me, we will show you later, is the site of the new terminus in birmingham for the high—speed line that's expected to get the royal seal of approval, it will get the green light later today. let me run you through what we know so far as far as the timeline for hs2 is concerned. you might remember it was first proposed in 2009 but it's been the set by all sorts of problems since the controversy over how much it could cost, some estimates say £60 billion. 0ther it could cost, some estimates say £60 billion. other concerns over the route, where it would go and stop

and parts of the country that would face either demolition or changes to the natural landscape, that sort of thing. the first stretch of that, between london and the west midlands, terminating in birmingham, is expected to open by 2026 and if that gets the go—ahead and all the plans run to time, it could mean the journey between london and the west midlands is cut by about half an hour. that would be crucial. but remember, the second phase of that line, that's expected to run from here up to the north—west and north—east, so going on towards manchester and leeds. that one is expected to open by 2033. again, a longer time scale for that but again it could cut about an hour of the journey between london and the north—west. so over the course of the morning we'll speak to both sides of the debate. i've taken a journey from london to the west midlands meeting people along the route and finding out what it could mean for them and we'll talk more about that in the next half an hour. see you them. ben, thank you. the partner of murdered children's author helen bailey is facing

the rest of his life in jail for killing his wife. ian stewart smothered the writer and hid her body in a cesspit at the couple's home. she was found, alongside her dog boris, three months after she disappeared in april last year. mr stewart will be sentenced at st albans crown court later this morning. voters are going to the polls today in two parliamentary by—elections in cumbria and in staffordshire. they were triggered by the resignations of the labour mps jamie reed in copeland, and tristram hunt in stoke—on—trent central. polling stations open at seven this morning and close at 10pm tonight. the maker of hotpoint and indesit tumble dryers has changed its advice owners of the machines, telling customers not to use the appliances until they are repaired. whirlpool has been replacing orfixing an estimated 3.8 million potentially faulty machines across the uk after it found excess fluff can present a fire risk. previously, the company told customers they could continue to use their tumble dryer, provided it was not left unattended. an investigation by the bbc has

found there are nearly 10,000 drivers across the uk still on the roads despite having 12 or more points currently on their driving licence. official figures reveal that one driver has over sixty points official figures reveal that one driver has over 60 points on his licence, but has still been allowed to continue driving. david rhodes reports. from speeding to drink driving, failing to have insurers or causing a collision on the road, penalty points are given to motorists when they break the law. 12 active points ona they break the law. 12 active points on a licence usually means a driver will be banned for a minimum of six months. but figures obtained by the bbc show that just under months. but figures obtained by the bbc show thatjust under 10,000 drivers are still on the roads despite having 12 or more points. most are found in england, with the largest number being in greater london. although one driver in west yorkshire is still on the road despite having more than 60 points

on their licence. the law doesn't seem to be working at the moment, we've got people obviously being caught and going through the justice system but actually the whole point system but actually the whole point system seems to be making a mockery of that. drivers are getting away with repeatedly breaking the law. motorists with 12 points can appeal toa motorists with 12 points can appeal to a magistrates court like this one and claimed that a driving ban would deliver exceptional hardship on their lives, meaning they lose a job or be unable to care for a family member. there is no definition in law as to what exceptional hardship means so one magistrate may decide ifa means so one magistrate may decide if a driving ban would cause someone to lose theirjob, that is exceptional hardship. another magistrate may decide it isn't. every band is considered on a case—by—case basis. the government says the vast majority of drivers with 12 points are automatically disqualified and it only in exceptional circumstances can judges decide not to issue a ban. the fact remains, though, that there are

drivers who have continually broken the law and who are still on our roads. david rhodes, bbc news, bradford. david bowie dominated the brits last night a year after he died of cancer. he was awarded best british male and best british album, for his swansong, blackstar. 0ur entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba was at the ceremony. britain's biggest girl band little mix kicked off the show with a glittering, energetic performance of their number one and the song also won them the best single award. this is for you! and the award for british male solo artist goes to the late, great david bowie. david bowie went on to win a second award. best album for blackstar, which was released two days before his death. he's always been there supporting

people who think they're a little bit weird ora people who think they're a little bit weird or a little bit strange. this award is for all the macro a two and all the people that make the kooks. thanks, brits. dashboard all the kooks. best british female artist went to emily sandakan who brought her sister on stage when she collected the award. thank you for allowing me to make the music that i make and allowing me to express what i think is important. thank you so much. but perhaps the evening's most poignant moment, chris martin from coldplay‘s george michael tribute. lizo mzimba oh, bbc news. time to have a look at all the sport. good morning for leicester

ish. they are still in the champions league, another loss, a big run of losses for leicester but an away goal in spain is quite important. good night forjamie vardy. hasn't scored for nine games but a goal finally for him. leicester city lost again last night, butjamie vardy‘s away goal has given them a chance of reaching the last eight of the champions league. 0pponents, sevilla, went 2—0 up. but vardy popped up to score the goal, which means leicester only need a 1—0 win at home to go through. wayne rooney could be on his way to china earlier than expected with news that his agent is in the country trying to negotiate a deal for the england captain to play in their super league. manchester united cruised through to the last 16 of the europa league with a 4—0 aggregate victory over st etienne. henrikh mkhitaryan scored the only goal of the game in france after a quarter of an hour. jonathanjoseph has been left out of the england squad preparing to face italy in the 6 nations on sunday. the bath centre has played in all 15 matches under eddiejones but has

returned to his club after being cut from the 24—man squad. so, yeah, the six nations is back after the rest weekend. many stories in the papers so i will run through those later. first, a quick chat with carol for the weather. maybe not that quick. all highs on the weather this morning. storm doris is on its way. the eye of the storm is over northern ireland. over the next the hours, you can see the track she is making from west to east. rain, snow, and even severe gales. look at this chart. locale squeezed the isobars are on the south—western flank. —— look how. this is where we will have the strongest winds. in

the centre, the wind will be like. we start off with the first met 0ffice warning. an amber warning to look out for snow. the snow is in scotla nd look out for snow. the snow is in scotland largely, especially the central lowlands and the southern uplands. 20—30 centimetres in the uplands. 20—30 centimetres in the uplands above 100m. that is not very high. transient snow for a time today across parts of northern ireland. largely in the hills. northern england and north wales as well. the other warning is another amber warning for wind. strong and gusty winds today. gale force and even gusty winds today. gale force and eve n severe gusty winds today. gale force and even severe gale force. we are looking where we see this swathe of orange, that is where the amber warning is. 80 miles an hour locally. further south, warning is. 80 miles an hour locally. furthersouth, looking at 50-60 locally. furthersouth, looking at 50—60 miles an hour. in this particular suede, the winds will do

things like bring down branches and possibly uproot some trees. it could cause structural damage. in a vehicle it will be difficult. that is just with the wind element. a third element, rain. the rain is coming around this area of low pressure pushing from west to east. through the course of the day, as the squeezing isobars continued to move the squeezing isobars continued to m ove a cross the squeezing isobars continued to move across us, transient cold air coming in, with snow in the hills of north wales and perhaps northern ireland as well. and then through the day as the local pressure centre goes on to the north sea, the is winds will come across the back of it. for the afternoon shower, gales and severe gales in yorkshire, lincolnshire, and down to it. by then, improving in the west. —— east anglia. not so much of the snow brisk in parts of the east. a lot going on with storm doris. she is still with us. she clears into the

north sea overnight. behind her, showers to be dry weather as well. cold enough for frost and ice showers to be dry weather as well. cold enough forfrost and ice in parts of scotland. especially where we have lying snow. that leads us quite nicely into tomorrow. tomorrow, we can loosen our corsets and breathe a sigh of relief, because it will have passed. cold weather, a fine start, some sunshine, some showers, and through the day, the next area of low pressure, bringing with it more rain and strengthening winds receded by snow in scotland and possibly in northern england as well. then this first front on saturday. then a warm sector. we pulling up this warm air. the temperatures will go up. that in itself, coupled with the rain coming m, itself, coupled with the rain coming in, will present a few problems. we will see the ice thaw, providing

surface water issues with flooding. and then we are back up into double figures. the weather is not finished. the unsettled theme continues. sunday, we have dried weather, but further fronts coming in bringing in more rain. some of that could also be heavy. 0nce again, the wind is picking up. it is fairto again, the wind is picking up. it is fair to say that over the next few days, the weather will be unsettled. it is storm doris we are keeping an eye on today, charlie and sally. thank you. we know you will keep an eye on that. the front pages. we will have some of the front page sport stories as well. the first female commissioner of the metropolitan police was unveiled yesterday outside the new scotland yard. the front page of the scotland times. £450 million lost over a failed green power programme. britain is wasting hundreds of

millions of pounds subsidising power stations. the daily mail. the front pages. a story about raf pilots. a suggestion they have been secretly taking out british jihadists. suggestion they have been secretly taking out britishjihadists. this is the main picture with ian stewart and his wife helen bailey, convicted of her murder yesterday. an interesting story. a picture of cheryl cole. sideways. it is showing definitely she is pregnant, if there was any doubt. she is part of an advertising campaign for a big cosmetics company and that is what she has chosen to show she has a baby on the way. that is the official news. some rugby stories took my eye in the times. germany wa nt took my eye in the times. germany want to be the next rugby superpower. they are funded by a marketing billionaire pouring money into them over the last decade. they

wa nt into them over the last decade. they want tojoin into them over the last decade. they want to join the six nations one into them over the last decade. they want tojoin the six nations one day alongside george, romania, spain, russia, and germany, all pushing to be the next european superpower. —— georgia. another nice nice story about the england coach, eddie jones. he took his dog to the party is today. i am waiting for the day our boss says we is today. i am waiting for the day our boss says we can is today. i am waiting for the day our boss says we can bring our dogs to work. a puppy. it looks like a big ball of white fluff in this picture, it is difficult to tell. he ran around the training ground with it. it is nice to see that other side of eddie jones, it. it is nice to see that other side of eddiejones, because he is quite spikey sometimes. that is the word. the front page of the telegraph. if i can get to grips with the paper here. sorry about that. a story here about marmalade. i know this one. marmalade is going out of fashion for younger people, apparently. consumer research is saying younger people are rejecting

it, with only one in five aged under 28 last year. it is disappearing. wouldn't that be a sad thing? my grandmother always brings five jars every time she comes to visit. tell us every time she comes to visit. tell us honestly, are you enjoying it? yet. so glad you said that. it is a shame we have run out of time. i have a great story about badly dressed man. we will do that later in the programme, shall be? are you saying something about me? no! boris johnson yesterday going for a run. how difficult it is for men to get sportswear and other things right. nonsense. we will see you later on. it's one of the biggest investments in peacetime britain, costing over £56 billion, and later today, the first phase of the hs2 rail line between london and the midlands is expected to receive the official go—ahead in the house of commons. the project promises increased capacity and faster journeys, but building the line will see ancient woodlands destroyed

and disruption to the lives of those living nearby. here's ben with a look at the pros and cons. more of us are using the railways than ever before. it means busier stations and busier trains. and so the government says hs2 is the answer. but is it? i am taking a journey on the first stage of the route from london to birmingham to see what impact it could have. the biggest challenge is tackling overcrowding. the current tracks and stations cannot handle many more passengers. but at as well as running more frequently, the trains will be faster as well, and that is good news for passengers. thank you. sometimes you do not get enough carriages, which can be a big problem, and it is really crowded on the trains. a lot of people standing up the trains. a lot of people standing up can make it difficult to get off of the train as well. i regard getting on the train as worktime, so

if you cannot sit down, you feel frustrated. it is notjust commuters who stand to gain from the new railway. we average around 10,000 jobs over the first phase of the instruction, peaking at 25,000 jobs a month. and that isjust during construction. there will be tens of thousands maintaining and running it when we are done. that could mean even greater economic benefit. take this journey, even greater economic benefit. take thisjourney, for even greater economic benefit. take this journey, for example. 0ne even greater economic benefit. take thisjourney, for example. one hour and 20 minutes. we are 50 minutes into the journey. but if this was an hs2 train, we would already be in birmingham. and that means spending less time travelling and more time working. and one estimate suggests that could add about £15 billion to the economy. but at what cost? the current pricetag is close to £60 billion. but many say it could be much higher. 60 ancient woodlands would have to be bulldozed. 350 homes will have to be demolished. and thousands of businesses will be

affected. like this farm in buckinghamshire. the land will be split into when work begins. buckinghamshire. the land will be split into when work beginsm buckinghamshire. the land will be split into when work begins. it is going to completely alter the way i farm. i would lose half of the grazing my calfs can go out to. i am not convinced with hs2. we have far more important things to do. certainly we should not spend all our money on a rail line that will be, in my opinion, outdated in 10— 15 years. the first section to the west midlands will be opened by 2026. an extension to leeds and majesty will open by 2032. hs2 should make journeys faster and majesty will open by 2032. hs2 should makejourneys faster and more unstable. —— manchester. should makejourneys faster and more unstable. -- manchester. this is the first part of the journey, birmingham. keeping the reject on—time and on track could prove more difficult, however. dan thompson, bbc news, in birmingham.

—— ben thompson. thompson, bbc news, in birmingham. -- ben thompson. and ben thompson will be there for us all morning. you're watching breakfast. time now to get the news, travel, and weather, where you are. good morning from bbc london news. i'm sonja jessup. the capital's commuters are being warned theirjourneys could be disrupted by storm doris today, with winds of around 50 miles an hour predicted. most southern rail trains will have speed restrictions in place later, and passengers on southern and the gatwick express have been told to expect delays and cancellations on all routes south of east croydon. dozens of flights have already been cancelled at heathrow as a precaution, and the dartford crossing is also likely to be closed later. the government is still not doing enough to demonstrate it can mitigate the environmental impacts of a third runway at heathrow. the government says it takes air quality commitments extremely seriously, and that the runway will not go ahead unless air quality requirements are met. but the environmental audit committee insists more needs to be done. with an infrastructure project that

is as big and expensive as a heathrow expansion, the government cannot just crossed its heathrow expansion, the government cannotjust crossed its fingers and hope for something to turn up. need to give clear guarantees to mps and residents that air pollution will not get any worse and they need to set out how that will happen. let's have a look at the travel situation now. 0verground has no service between willesden junction and camden road. south west trains have delays though. londonbound via wimbledon due to track problems. let's take a look at the blackwall tunnel. northbound traffic is slow from the woolwich road flyover. there's been an accident on the a3 kennington park road. it's closed southbound at the jucntion with newington butts.

and there are delays on the m23 southbound between the m25 and gatwick following an accident there. henley—on—thames actor george cole's camel coat and trilby from the itv series, minder, will go under the hammer today. the distinctive coat and hat were regularly worn by cole's character, arthur daley, in the show that ran for 15 years. they're expected to fetch between £800 and £1,200. let's have a check on the weather now. good morning. storm doris arrives today. and we have a met office weather warning across the capital for strong winds. some dusting of 50-60 for strong winds. some dusting of 50—60 miles per hour. towards northern counties like hertfordshire, buckinghamshire, essex, there could be dusting of 50 -70 essex, there could be dusting of 50 — 70 miles per hour. it could make for tricky travelling conditions. already we have squally winds and a heavy band of rain going east. then the wind will pick through the late morning into the afternoon. that is the strongest wind. the rain will not be a problem through the afternoon but a lot of cloud around. temperatures dropping off and the winds lightening. by deceiving's

rush—hour, the wind will be lighter. —— this evening. cloud and rain and then the skies were clear. it will feel colder tonight. in fact, for some rural spots, we will see a touch of frost. feeling cooler tomorrow but a much nicer today. lighter winds. brightness and sunshine. breezy again on saturday but mostly dry on the weekend and rather cloudy. and i am back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. now it is back to charlie and sally. goodbye for now. hello, this is breakfast, with sally nugent and charlie stayt it's on thursday 23rd february. we'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment, but also on breakfast this morning: alarm: wake up, the house is on fire! that's the human voice of a new type of smoke alarm. we'll find out why it might be better at saving the lives of children in the deepest of sleeps. not too hot and not too cold these are the planets that nasa says could be just right

for supporting alien life. we'll speak to one of the team behind the discovery. if you've ever kept a diary, would you let anyone else read it? we'll hear how yourjournal could help future historians find out what life today was really like. all that still to come. but now a summary of this morning's main news: winds of nearly 90mph an hour have been recorded in western ireland as the worst weather of the winter so far hits the british isles. storm doris is expected to arrive in the uk in the coming hours, with heavy snow forecast in scotland and strong winds for many parts of england and wales. 0ur reporter allison freeman, who is in blackpool this morning the reason for that is blackpool is one of the first places to be hit. that's right, the weather has been getting up in the last hour or so. we had a bit of torrential rain that's been forecast and the gusts

are released out in to blow across the. the worst of the weather here in black blackpool is expected to be after 9am. there are a number of amber weather warnings in scotland, england and wales. in scotland there expecting 30 centimetres of snow up in higher ground expecting 30 centimetres of snow up in higherground and expecting 30 centimetres of snow up in higher ground and people are being warned to take care when they travel on the roads. in northern england and wales, those gusts of wind are what the amber warning is about, they could cause problems with travel and damage to buildings. heathrow has already had some flights cancelled and the ease coast main line will run a reduced service after 9:30am and people who are on their the roads are being asked to ta ke their the roads are being asked to take care on what could be treacherous conditions. it does not look pleasant out there! and we will have the weather with carol later on this morning. prisons should not only punish

criminals but reform them too under what's being described as the biggest overhaul of the system for a generation. the justice secretary, liz truss, will present a bill later today aimed at reducing prison violence and cutting re—offending rates in england and wales. i think the fundamental problem we've had as a country for decades is we've never been clear that prisons do need to be places of reform and we've never put the measurements in to see how well governments are doing and how well ultimately the secretary of state is doing with that system. plans for the multi—billion—pound hs2 project, to build a high speed rail link between london and birmingham, are expected to get final approval today. the line, which is due to open in 2026, will reduce journey times and provide thousands ofjobs. but its feared the construction will bring wide—spread disruption to people living and working along the route. the fiance of murdered children's author helen bailey is facing the rest of his life injailfor killing her. ian stewart smothered the writer and hid her body in a cesspit at the couple's home.

she was found, alongside her dog boris, three months after she disappeared in april last year. ian stewart will be sentenced at st albans crown court later this morning. the maker of hotpoint and indesit tumble dryers has changed its advice to owners of potentially dangerous machines, telling customers not to use the appliances until they are repaired. whirlpool has been replacing orfixing an estimated 3.8 million potentially faulty dryers across the uk after it found excess fluff can present a fire risk. previously, the company told customers they could continue to use them, provided they were not left unattended. researchers have developed a new smoke alarm sound

with a lower pitched tone and a woman's voice which they say is more likely to wake children. teams based in dundee and derby began working on the project after fire investigators warned that children were able to sleep through conventional alarms. 0ur medical correspondent, fergus walsh, reports smoke alarms save lives, in this demonstration it happened moments after so it gave them time to escape but research has found that children are but research has found that children a re often but research has found that children are often not roused by the sound of are often not roused by the sound of a standard smoke detector. their research was prompted by the deaths of six children in a house fire in derby in 2012, set deliberately by their father. two smoke alarms failed to wake them. dave coss was a fire investigator on that case. u nfortu nately fire investigator on that case. unfortunately that was the first one that brought it to my attention but since that day i can recount half a dozen fires where children have failed to respond during sleep and they have become trapped and died. he's helped design a new alarm sound which combines a lower pitched tone and a human voice. wake up, the

houseis and a human voice. wake up, the house is on fire. in this demonstration it worked. melanie wilkins‘ four boys woke immediately but now researchers won 500 families with young children to volunteer to test the prototype. fergus walsh, bbc news. astronomers say the discovery of a record seven earth—sized planets orbiting a single star brings them a step closer finding life in other solar systems. three out of the seven have the environment necessary to support living organisms. the planets were detected using nasa‘s spitzer space telescope along with several other observatories. are we saying there could be something out there? possibly, conditions are saying it could be possible and later we will speak to experts to explore this a bit more. i thought for one minute you were going to say we will be live talking to the extraterrestrials. that would

bea to the extraterrestrials. that would be a great day! maybe one day! i hope i‘m on that day. be a great day! maybe one day! i hope i'm on that day. we've might be leading on that story. we're leading with leicester losing in the champions league, their only lifeline, they got an away goal in the first leg so they still have a chance of going through to the last eight, which would be amazing considering they are doing so badly this season compare it to last season. the manager of sevilla said yesterday it would be hard to imagine a bigger difference between two teams in the champions league. a bit disparaging! leicester city were beaten 2—1 by sevilla in their champions league second round match, but they did score an important away goal. sevilla are third in the spanish league and dominated the game, missing a penalty before opening the scoring. they went 2—0 up. butjust when leicester needed it, jamie vardy got one back which means they only need a 1—0 win at home to go through. wayne rooney could be on his way to china earlier than expected with news that his agent is in the country trying to negotiate a dealfor the england

and manchester united captain to play in their super league. rooney is no longer first choice of united manager jose mourinho and agent paul stretford is in china negotiating with interested clubs. the chinese transfer window closes next tuesday. a summer move still seems the likelier outcome however. united coped 0k without rooney in the europa league last night, henrikh miktaryan‘s goal gave them a 1—0 win at french side saint etienne. they won 4—0 on aggregate. united have now lost only once in 25 games. it's it‘s nice. it‘s a good feeling. we trust in each other and, you know, one day we are going to lose. the important thing is after that defeat we go back again to a good run because the team is playing in a solid way.

tottenham host gent in front of a sell—out wembley crowd in the europa league tonight. spurs are looking to overturn a 1—0 deficit from their poor display in the first leg in belgium last week. we were poor and they were better than us. the fact they won didn‘t surprise me because we watched many games about them and we knew the quality. this uprising thing was our performance. we know how they play and it‘s up to us to try and be better and to show that we deserve to go to the next round. jonathanjoseph has been left out of the england squad preparing to face italy in the 6 nations on sunday. the bath centre has played in all 15 matches under eddie jones but has returned to his club after being cut from the 24—man squad. england will confirm their starting fifteen tomorrow morning. george north will start for wales in their match with scotland on saturday, after recovering from a thigh injury. the wing will replace alex cuthbert. it will be the only change to rob howley‘s side from the defeat by england two weeks ago.

budapest is to withdraw its bid to host the 2024 summer olympics, leaving only los angeles and paris in the race. more than a 250,000 hungarians had signed a petition against hosting the games, with opponents saying the money would be better spent on hospitals and schools. the international olympic committee will announce the winning city in peru in september. it now looks like it‘s going to be either los angeles or paris. both good options. both really strong campaigns as well. kat, thank you very much indeed. eating five portions of fruit and veg a day is one of the best known bits of dietary advice there is. but new research out this morning says that while that‘s good, the figure should be more like 10 if you want to get the full benefits. they‘ve also identified specific examples that can help reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. let‘s speak to the author of the report, doctor dagfinn aune from imperial college london. very good morning to you, thank you for your time this morning. could

you give us the basis, what you‘ve discovered in your research. good morning, sir. what we did was we conducted and we combined analysis of 95 already published studies on fruit and vegetable intake to see the mortality risk. we found that eating even moderate amounts of fruit and vegetables reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and of course mortality. we found that higher intakes, intakes as high as 800g, ten servings per day, was associated with a strong reduction in risk. doctor, is it as straightforward as saying if you eat twice as much, ten portions a day perhaps, you‘re giving yourself

twice as much protection or reduction of heart disease or cancer risk? when we looked at the day for co ro nary risk? when we looked at the day for coronary heart disease and stroke mortality, it seems like you could say that... for mortality, most of the benefit is up to five a day but there is some further reduction up to 800 g as well for all across mortality. you look at specific food types that have specific benefits. for heart that is for example, talk us for heart that is for example, talk us through the specific items related to benefits for heart disease —— for heart disease. related to benefits for heart disease -- for heart disease. for cardiovascular disease, heart disease, stroke mortality we found particularly apples, citrus fruits, pears, green leaf vegetables like

salads are very beneficial. for cancer, consett fruits and vegeta bles cancer, consett fruits and vegetables and green and yellow vegeta bles vegetables and green and yellow vegetables were beneficial. doctor dagfinn aune, thank you for your time this morning. he is the author from the imperial college london. the advice is ten portions of fruit and veg instead of five is better and veg instead of five is better and you get considerable health benefits. and apples and pears. all good! you‘re watching breakfast from bbc news. the main stories this morning: winds of up to 80 miles per hour are expected today as storm doris hits the uk. forecasters have warned road, air and ferry services could be affected. ministers will publish plans later for what‘s described as the biggest reform of prisons in england and wales in a generation. it sets in law for the first time thatjails should reform offenders as well as punish them. the weather. could today be some of

the worst weather this winter? yes. this is the fourth named storm of this winter. it is crossing very populated areas. look at the wind gusts we have had in the past few minutes. so, you can see the strongest winds at the moment are in the west. now, storm doris, the eye of the storm is currently across northern ireland. this is where there is not much wind. then the storm will drift from the west to the east in the next few hours. in doing so, you can see where the squeeze of the strong cost winds is, the south—western flank. as it goes west to east, that will follow it.

earlier on in the day it will be in the west and go to the east by the second rush—hour of the day. the met 0ffice second rush—hour of the day. the met office has two amber warnings to be prepared. the first one is for snow. it is already snowing in the highlands of scotland just south of the great glen. but there is another warning for the plan is. these are the warnings. 20 centimetres above 100m. and five and ten metres across the central lowlands, especially in the central lowlands, especially in the western side. the other amber weather warning to be prepared is for wind. the strength of the wind. it is very windy. gales and even severe gales. now, as we go through the day, this strongest swathe as we saw on the weather chart is coming in from the west. you can see where it covers by the colour on the

chart. 90 miles per hour. locally, 80. that is enough to cause widespread disruption to transportation and power cuts, for example. structural damage. trees coming down. 0utside example. structural damage. trees coming down. outside of the amber weather warning. still, we have very strong winds. 50, 16, 70 in the east. —— 16. heavy rain pushing across wales and going into the north sea. it is all rotating around that area of low pressure. now, in the south, it will be windy, but mostly dry. the odd showers. all the action is in this central swathe. and by the time we get to the afternoon period, especially the latter pa rt afternoon period, especially the latter part of the afternoon, strong winds will be in parts of yorkshire, lincolnshire, and east anglia. gales, possibly severe gales. the evening and overnight period. the storm pulls away into the north sea.

things will quiet down. there will still be showers, some will be wintry. look out for highs on untreated surfaces, especially in scotland. —— ice. a lot going on today. back to you, charlie and sally. thank you. we will talk to you soon. hs2 has promised lots of some of the fastest trains in europe, thousands ofjobs, and more than half an hour shaved off the journey time between london and birmingham. today, the project is due to get the final approval in the house of commons, but some fear the construction will bring widespread disruption to the lives of people living and working along the line. it is going to make a huge difference. ben‘s in birmingham this morning, where a new station will be built for the trains. he is there in the wind and rain, i have to say. that is where it will be built. good morning. good morning. you will have to bear with us morning. you will have to bear with us this morning because it is very wet and windy and wild out here. i will try to persevere as much as i

can. you might be able to make out behind me the site for the new proposed terminal. the new terminal for the new hs2 trender comes into birmingham. that is the first phase of the project. the second goes in to leeds and manchester. it was proposed back in 2009 and has been beset by all sorts of problems, concerns about the route and the cost, especially for people who live and work along the line. let us hear from both sides of the debate. we have two guests. let me start with you. you think this is a good thing for birmingham and you work in the chambers of commerce. we can see there is huge investment in birmingham. this is just there is huge investment in birmingham. this isjust the there is huge investment in birmingham. this is just the latest ina birmingham. this is just the latest in a whole line of investments. absolutely. into such great location, having this conversation this morning here that you can see the new investment, the cranes on the new investment, the cranes on the skyline, and the investment opportunity with the h52 upgrade. a lot of success stories. the hsbc

relocating to birmingham. it has become part of the success story of the city, the h52 coming to birmingham as well. and notjust direct investment from the h52 line, but also associated benefits. a lot of work going with local stakeholders about how they can maximise this opportunity to kickstart investment maximise this opportunity to kicksta rt investment and maximise this opportunity to kickstart investment and supply chain opportunities. even public transport from areas outside of birmingham into birmingham to make the most of it. laying out the benefits for birmingham, but you absolutely don‘t agree this is what birmingham needs right now. we are seeing a triumph for vested interests today. it goes against evidence based policy. the whole case for hs2 has been invented and totally made up by the people who wa nt to totally made up by the people who want to build it to be the construction industry and the co nsulta nts construction industry and the consultants within. they are running their own gravy train. the first set

of co ntra cts their own gravy train. the first set of contracts went 88% over budget. we have just seen the chair of hs2 and ch2m come in 49% over budget. it started at 30 billion, it was going to connect to heathrow, that has been cut. the official cost is now at £56 billion. the cost will keep going up and up and up or something only a fast train for fatcats. but something needs to be done, right? all the trains are too busy. it is not just about speed, but capacity. the trains as they stand cannot take many more passengers. theresa may admitted herself at promenades is question time a few weeks ago they could upgrade capacity by 40% by putting in signalling. there have a lwa ys putting in signalling. there have always been cheaper ways of improving capacity and improving the

network. the bottom line is the vast maturity are commuters he will not benefit from hs2. if you want to increase it, there is a requirement of cuts to free up capacity which means losing the trains you already have from many places not on the main route of mcadoo. you take his point that money needs to be spent? but it needs to be spent on a different way, he says. but it needs to be spent on a different way, he sayslj but it needs to be spent on a different way, he says. i disagree. it represents great money for value overall. we need to make sure it is kept on message and budget. it is incredibly difficult to predict what the cost of something like this will be, a 20 year project. as we have seenin be, a 20 year project. as we have seen in the last 12 months, things can change and be unrecognisable in only 12 months. i understand the problems with try to estimate things with the exchange rate and what is going on with costs of imports, which have changed dramatically in that time. both of you, thank you

very much. we will continue this debate a little later. i hope you can stay with us. the cameraman is doing a greatjob of keeping the lens doing a greatjob of keeping the le ns clea n. doing a greatjob of keeping the lens clean. storm doris is making her presence felt already this morning in birmingham so i will go inside. ok, thank you. go and get a cup of tea. poor ben. the storm is hitting and due to kick in mainly around 9—10 a.m. this morning. it has already started. we will get all the detailed information from carol about what the weather will be like for you this morning wherever you are. in a week, northern ireland will see its second election injust nine months. the power—sharing government collapsed injanuary amid a bitter row between unionists and republicans. many have called this a divisive election but, away from the old sectarian issues, there are familiar concerns for voters like education, the economy and health. 0ur ireland correspondent invited a group of people to the whitla hall at belfast‘s queen‘s university to see if there was more that united

people than divided them. elections are a time when people come together. united in the task of making a choice, but often divided. notjust by theirjobs, their age, or the interests, but by their backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences. first of all, thank you very much for coming. i want to ask a couple of questions. we obviously need you to be honest. who has been to the gym in the last week? there are the athletic, or at least the enthusiastic. there are magics who sent valentines cards this year. —— there are romantics. and those who admitted, or perhaps were forced to

admit, they were drunk in the last week. but it is shared experiences which could influence how individuals vote. who has waited four hours or more in accident and emergency to get treatment for themselves or someone else? waiting lists in northern ireland are among the longest in the uk. politicians have described the health service here at as at breaking point. have described the health service here at as at breaking pointlj have described the health service here at as at breaking point. i am a nurse. the reason people wait a long time in emergency departments is because we have an older population. there is not enough investment in primary care and the community. we have to remove the politicians out of health and appoint someone in charge of it you will be responsible for all the operational matters. this is not scientific, but the responses suggest a lot connects these businessmen and farmers, students, and senior citizens. who has a close friend or a relative who is gay or a lesbian? northern ireland is the only part of the uk

where same—sex marriage is still illegal. and in the past, stormont‘s biggest party, the dup, used a veto to vote in favour of it. it is a disgrace and everyone has a right to decide who they want to marry and fall in love with. i am not quite sure. i have always believed it should be a male and female to bring up should be a male and female to bring upa child. should be a male and female to bring up a child. what all believe is that politics matters. from arts to want more funding for languages. and those who want protestants and catholics to be taught together, which is the exception, rather than the rule. yet a lot feel they do not fit into northern ireland‘s traditional boxes, of unionists or irish nationalist, though that‘s how they vote. who is proud of northern ireland? it is interesting the split. the generations who did not know the conflict and the other half. what sucks is that there is so much to be proud of in northern

ireland. people can be grateful of what we have done. but we have an executive marked by scandal and crisis and falling apart consistently. different views that will influence that election result when voters mark their preferences in the boxes next week. chris buckler, bbc news, belfast. it is 6:56, which means it is time to get the news, travel, and weather, wherever you are. good morning from bbc london news. i‘m sonja jessup. the capital‘s commuters are being warned theirjourneys could be disrupted by storm doris today, with winds of around 50 miles an hour predicted. most southern rail trains will have speed restrictions in place later, and passengers on southern and the gatwick express have been told to expect delays and cancellations on all routes south of east croydon. dozens of flights have already been cancelled at heathrow as a precaution, and the dartford crossing is also likely to be closed later. the government is still not doing enough to demonstrate it can

mitigate the environmental impacts of a third runway at heathrow. the government says it takes air quality commitments extremely seriously, and that the runway will not go ahead unless air quality requirements are met. but the environmental audit committee insists more needs to be done. with an infrastructure project that is as big and expensive as a heathrow expansion, the government cannotjust cross its fingers and hope for something to turn up. they need to give clear guarantees to mps and to residents that air pollution will not get any worse and they need to set out how that will happen. now we‘ve warned you about the problems expected because of storm doris, but let‘s take a look at how london‘s transport is running now. the 0verg round has no service between willesdenjunction and camden road. there‘s a problem with the overhead power lines.

there are no southern trains between caterham and purley, engineering work has overrun. let‘s take a look at the blackwall tunnel. northbound traffic is slow from the woolwich road flyover. and there‘s been an accident on the a3 kennington park road. it‘s closed southbound at the junction with newington butts. henley—on—thames actor george cole‘s camel coat and trilby from the itv series, minder, will go under the hammer today. the distinctive coat and hat were regularly worn by cole‘s character, arthur daley, in the show that ran for 15 years. they‘re expected to fetch between £800 and £1,200. let‘s have a check on the weather now. good morning. storm doris arrives today. and we‘ve got a met office weather warning across the capital for strong gusts of wind. some gusts of 50—60 miles per hour. towards northern home counties like hertfordshire, buckinghamshire, into parts of bedfordshire and essex, there could be gusts of up to 50 to 70 miles per hour. it could make for tricky travelling conditions. already we have squally winds and a heavy band of rain going east. then the wind will peak through the late morning into the afternoon. that is the strongest gusts.

the rain will not be a problem through the afternoon but a lot of cloud around. temperatures gradually dropping off and the winds lightening. by this evening‘s rush—hour, the wind will be lighter. cloud and rain and then the skies will clear. it will feel colder tonight. in fact, for some rural spots, we will see a touch of frost. feeling cooler tomorrow but a much nicer today. lighter winds. brightness and sunshine. quite breezy again on saturday but mostly dry on the weekend and rather cloudy. i‘m back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. now, though, it‘s back to sally and charlie. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast, with sally nugent and charlie stayt warnings of damage and disruption as storm doris heads for the uk. this is the scene in blackpool this morning. commuters here are being advised to take extra care as some of the worst weather of the winter so far arrives. storm doris is packing three

countries, bringing gales, severe across our shores, some heavy snowfall and heavy rain. more details on all of that later in the programme. good morning, it‘s thursday 23rd february. also this morning: nearly 10,000 motorists are legally allowed to drive despite having enough penalty points to be banned. new figures show one man is still on the roads with 62 on his licence. good morning. hs2 gets the green light later today but there is controversy light later today but there is co ntrove rsy over light later today but there is controversy over the route and the cost of the new high—speed line. some here in birmingham are affected by the new railway and i‘m eating

them. in sport leicester city lose in spain butjamie vardy‘s away goal in seville means they still have a chance of making it through to the last eight of the champions league. also this morning, a new sound for smoke alarms. and david bowie dominates the brits. the award for british male solo artist goes to the late, great david bowie. he picked up two awards a year after this death from cancer. first our main story. winds of nearly 90mph have been recorded in western ireland as the worst weather of the winter hits the british isles. storm doris is expected to arrive in the uk in the coming hours, with heavy snow forecast in scotland and strong winds for many parts of england and wales. some rail and air services have already changed their schedules and drivers are being warned to avoid some roads. let‘s get a sense of what it‘s like out there at the moment with our reporter, allison freeman who is in blackpool this morning. good morning, allison. we are being blown about a bit by

the blustery conditions, you can see the blustery conditions, you can see the famous swaying sculptures on the blackpool promenade, giving way to the breeze a bit in front of the tower and if we look down towards the sea here, the white horses are really starting to pick up and the waves a re really starting to pick up and the waves are being blown in by the wind. but we don‘t think blackpool is experiencing the full force of storm doris just yet, is experiencing the full force of storm dorisjust yet, that‘s expected just after 9am. but there are expected to be high winds across the north of england and north wales, and that will cause disruption to transport. we know heathrow has already cancelled some domestic and shorthaul flights and the east coast main line, trains on that route are going to be pared down after 9am and they will run to speed restrictions. we‘ve had some pictures from black sod on the west coast of ireland earlier this morning. further down the coast we know there was a gust of 87 mph recorded there, but the full force

of the storm doesn‘t seem to be hitting blackpool yet and it‘s hoped it will all be over by 6pm. allison, thank you. we can talk to carol now. carol, a summary of what‘s been happening so far, what can we expect through the day? the eye of the storm is well and truly over northern ireland and it will be drifting east through the day. the strongest winds currently are in parts of north—west wales, you can see aberdaron, 79 mph. it‘s not just the wind. you can see aberdaron, 79 mph. it‘s notjust the wind. the wind will cause a lot of problems and the strongest winds will be in parts of wales, the midlands, east anglia and parts of northern england and here we are looking at gusts widely between 70 mph and 80 mph. even south of that for south wales and southern england we have gusts expected between 50—6 deep. that can cause major travel disruption but it can also cause power cuts and also

bring up trees, should debris down the road. there‘s a lot to be aware of but equally we have heavy snow, heavy snow in the central lowlands and the southern uplands, again an additional hazard. as the system moves to the east, this evening‘s rush—hour will be particularly nasty with gales or severe gales in yorkshire, east anglia and into the overnight period storm doris will com pletely overnight period storm doris will completely clear. that's good to know, thank you very much. doris will clear of eventually! we will keep you updated on the weather through the morning. prisons will be expected to reform criminals as well as punish them under what‘s being described as the biggest overhaul of the system for a generation. the justice secretary, liz truss, will present a bill later aimed at reducing prison violence and cutting re—offending rates in england and wales. here‘s our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. some prisons in england and wales have been close to crisis in the last year.

violence and the use of illegal mobile phones and drugs have been soaring after deep cuts in the number of prison officers. but in otherjails, like hmp 0nley in warwickshire, it‘s still possible to prepare inmates for life on the outside. abdi tahir is coming to the end of a two—year sentence and hopes to go straight into a job as a bike technician at halfords. he told me his experience ofjail time has been mixed. when i was in pentonville foe example before i came here we were locked up 23 hours a day. i‘m saying we were literally treated like animals. i‘m saying we had to ask for toilet paper, we had to ask for the basic common decency, know what i‘m saying? so coming here now, it looks like a completely different prison, especially at 0nley. there are bits of downs but you can work around those. i firmly believe if you give someone a chance to change, they will change. in her first prisons and courts bill, the relatively newjustice secretary liz truss wants to have it written into law that it is her duty to rehabilitate prisoners and notjust to house them. as we're seeing fewer people

committing a crime for the first time, which is good news, more of the crime in our society is committed by people who have already been in prison. so we really need to deal with this issue which has been a problem going on for decades. the prisons and courts bill will also bring in new laws allowing mobile phone companies to help the prison service to detect and intercept devices being used behind bars. daniel sandford, bbc news at 0nley prison in warwickshire. the hs2 high speed rail link between london and birmingham, is expected to get final approval today. the line, which is due to open in 2026, will reduce journey times and provide thousands ofjobs. but its feared the construction will bring wide—spread destruction to people living along the route. ben‘s in birmingham for us this morning. braving the storm as well, ben. good

morning. good morning, guys. i'm on the roof of birmingham city university and we get a wonderful vantage point but we are contending with storm doris as well this morning. let me show you where we are, you can see this site is derelict at the moment but that will be the side of the curzon street station, it will be the terminus of the hs2 line that runs from london to the west midlands. it‘s a big investment and it‘s been the set with controversy so let‘s go through some of the numbers. you might remember in 2009 the line was first proposed, it‘s a while ago but there‘s been all sorts of debate about the costs. experts say it could cost £60 billion and there‘s been controversy about the root of the line will take, cutting through countryside, businesses and homes. the first phase of the line is expected to open by 2026 and that takes us from

london to the west midlands here and it will cut around 30 minutes from the journey time between those two cities. there will be a second phase that takes the line onwards to manchester and leeds and that‘s expected to open by around 2033. again, if it gets the go—ahead and everything runs to time, it should knock an hour of the journey so a significant investment but not one thatis significant investment but not one that is without controversy. already this morning we‘ve heard from both sides of the debate. those welcoming it say it‘s great for the city and investment but those on the other side, who are affected, they say the muqqy side, who are affected, they say the muggy should be spent elsewhere. we‘ll hear more from them later and i‘ve been taking a journey from london to birmingham meeting the businesses and the people affected and we‘ll hear that a bit later. businesses and the people affected and we'll hear that a bit later. we look forward to it, ben. thank you very much indeed. the fiance of murdered children‘s author helen bailey is facing the rest of his life in jail for killing his wife. ian stewart smothered the writer and hid her body in a cesspit at the couple‘s home.

she was found, alongside her dog boris, three months after she disappeared in april last year. mr stewart will be sentenced at st albans crown court later this morning. eating 10 portions of fruit and veg a day can give us longer lives. the study by imperial college london showed consuming small amounts have a health benefit but more is better. however, public health england say adding pressure to eat more creates an unrealistic expectation. some breaking news bore you this morning from the business world, in the last few minutes there‘s been a fall in profits at british gas over the past year. in 2016 operating profits in residential energy supply fell by 11% to £553 million compared to £623 million a year ago. british gas said this was in part down to a 396

gas said this was in part down to a 3% fall in customer accounts largely in the first half of the year. david bowie dominated the brits last night a year after he died of cancer. he was awarded best british male and best british album, for his swansong, blackstar. 0ur entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba was at the ceremony. britain‘s biggest girl band little mix kicked off the show with a glittering, energetic performance of their number one shout out to my ex. the song also won them the best single award. cheers to our exes for helping us do an amazing song. this is for you, lads! and the award for british male solo artist goes to the late, great david bowie. david bowie went on to win a second award. best album for blackstar, which was released two days before his death. he's always been there supporting people who think they're a little bit weird or a little bit strange. this award is for all the kooks and all the people

who make the kooks. thanks, brits. best british female artist went to emily sande, who brought her sister on stage when she collected her award. thank you so much for allowing me to make the music that i wanted to make and express what i felt was important. yeah... thank you so much. but perhaps the evening‘s most poignant moment, chris martin from coldplay‘s george michael tribute. lizo mzimba, bbc news. that was the brit awards last night. usually, if you clock up 12 penalty points on your license within three years you‘ll be facing a ban from driving. but a bbc investigation has found there are nearly 10,000 motorists still on the roads despite having reached that number.

the figures reveal that one man from west yorkshire has 62 points on his licence, but has still been allowed to continue driving as david rhodes reports. from speeding to drink driving, failing to have insurance or causing a collision on the road, penalty points are given to motorists when they break the law. 12 active points on a licence usually means a driver will be banned for a minimum of six months. but figures obtained by the bbc show thatjust under 10,000 drivers are still on the roads despite having 12 or more points. most are found in england, with the largest number being in greater london. although one driver in west yorkshire is still on the road despite having more than 60 points on their licence. the law doesn‘t seem to be working at the moment. we‘ve got people obviously being caught and going through the justice system but actually this whole points system seems to be making a mockery of that. drivers are getting away with repeatedly breaking the law.

motorists with 12 points can appeal to a magistrates court like this one and claim that a driving ban would deliver exceptional hardship on their lives, meaning they would lose a job or be unable to care for a family member. there is no definition in law as to what exceptional hardship means so one magistrate may decide if a driving ban would cause someone to lose theirjob, that is exceptional hardship. another magistrate may decide it isn‘t. every ban is considered on a case—by—case basis. the government says the vast majority of drivers with 12 points are automatically disqualified and only in exceptional circumstances can judges decide not to issue a ban. the fact remains, though, that there are drivers who have continually broken the law who are still on our roads. david rhodes, bbc news, bradford. joining us now to discuss the matter further isjeanette miller, a motor offence solicitor. good morning. you specialise in

helping people in these situations. absolutely. karen actually has got in touch with us this morning and asked the question everyone will be thinking straightaway, how can someone still be on the roads with 62 points? it shows a disregard for the law and there are no circumstances that should allow this, it beggars belief. circumstances that should allow this, it beggars belieflj circumstances that should allow this, it beggars belief. i was scratching my head myself as to how that could have happened but a court has heard that person‘s circumstances and we don‘t know those. that‘s the point, every court has to consider each individual case on its own facts. everytime you present to the court, 12 is when you lose your license, we‘re talking about 62 but you‘ve represented people with 30. everytime you have to present a different reason, is that correct? you can't present exceptional hardship price on the same facts within a certain period of time. the first time i go to court i say my mom needs a lift to

hospital every tuesday but i can‘t use that again the next time i have more points? you would have to say something more than that and ultimately the court has to be satisfied based on evidence, it isn‘t a sob story, you can‘t use an example like that, there has to be exceptional hardship and the court will consider whether or not people connected to the offender are likely to be cause hardship. they have to place greater weight on people, such asa place greater weight on people, such as a relative that might need assistance, although visits to hospital once a week isn‘t going to cut it. they would have to consider whether the hardship would be affected like their input or their children, a doctor, it could be all manner of things, it could be anything as long as the court is satisfied its exceptional hardship. but you can‘t present the same argument twice. do you understand the call, 12 points on the that‘s it, nothing, no appeal. i know it‘s in your interest to defend these people. we're not defending them,

we‘re presenting mitigation, which is different. the person walking into court accepting they‘ve done wrong but they asked the court to consider the ramifications of a six—month ban, the starting point, what they would be. we need to maintain the ability of the court to do this. for example, somebody‘s direct debit lapses and they find themselves with no insurance. there is no defence. you cannot say they did not realise and they will get out of it. that is six penalty points. if that happens a couple of times they very quickly reach 12 penalty points. it is nothing to do with their skill. is unfair they lose their job? i nothing to do with their skill. is unfair they lose theirjob? i am not sure that it is. i am trying to do maths while talking to you. if he represented the poor who have 30 points on their licence, they may well have come back to court. —— if

you represented people who have. every time you have managed to come up every time you have managed to come up with another absolutely certain reason why they have to give their licence, no matter how many times you have helped them in court. it does not seem plausible.|j you have helped them in court. it does not seem plausible. i can only think of nine cases in the last decade with that many points to bite a legitimate reason five or six times ina a legitimate reason five or six times in a row? many times the cases have been joined together. times in a row? many times the cases have beenjoined together. it times in a row? many times the cases have been joined together. it is times in a row? many times the cases have beenjoined together. it is not that they go to court multiple times, multiple offences are being decided on the same day in we have dealt with. it is not the case that people have it five times. you are not on trial personally yourself. people will be thinking that you are almost complicit in keeping people on the road who even you, you must drive on the road, you would not wa nt to drive on the road, you would not want to drive on the road next to them if they have such flagrant disregard for the rules that we all

stick to. again, i point to insta nces stick to. again, i point to instances where it is not necessarily flagrant disregard. it isa necessarily flagrant disregard. it is a lot of the time innocent oversight. while i accept that someone who is clearly a danger because of their driving skill, that should be considered differently to someone who has found themselves in the situation through a series of events that does not reflect that danger on the road. the court needs to retain that ability to look at each individual case, otherwise it can result in many people being caused exceptional hardship. that is why it is called that. quite a few people getting in touch with us this morning. we will give you some of those a little later on. thank you so much for coming in. we have talked a lot about storm doris, the weather. some information to bring you from the heathrow airport website. strong winds and a poor weather forecast is related to storm doris and expected to cause issues at the airport. 39 games departures

so farand 38 at the airport. 39 games departures so far and 38 cancelled a rival. —— cancelled. —— cancelled arrivals. carol has more information. storm doris packing a punch. at the moment, the wind we have, it is on the board, which you can see. even in the lower two, 55 — 51 miles per hour. the strongest winds in the west. this is storm doris, continuing to move from the west already affecting our shores, going east through the day. i brought up this chart because i want to show you the isobars. the closer they are together, the stronger the winds. it is on this southern flank of low pressure where we have the strongest winds. in the east, that wind will go with it. it is notjust wind, it

is rained. the met office has a couple of amber weather warnings out. heavy snow this morning. it is already snowing in the southern uplands and central lowlands in particular. that is what the amber weather warning covers. snow in the highlands. above 100m, especially high, 20—30 centimetres. more with height. the central lowlands, looking at about five centimetres. that could lead to travel disruption. the winds. another amber weather warning to be prepared. the strongest winds are coming in from the west, as we saw with the area of low pressure. you will see the chart going amber, that is where the amber weather warning covers. wales, northern england, the east, east anglia, 70 miles per hour. locally, 80. we expect this in the winter in the north—west of scotland, but this is england. this could lead to damage, like uprooted trees, debris

going down the road. and further south, the winds will be lighter. after the rain this morning, largely dry. wristy— 60 miles per hour, still gusty. —— 50. that is something you should consider. the wind is all rotating around the area of low pressure that it will carry on in the snow. as it drifts towards the north sea, the centre, it will ta ke the north sea, the centre, it will take the wind with it. remember the southern flank. by the end of the day, the strongest winds will be with the second rush—hour in yorkshire, lincolnshire, and east anglia. it won‘t be windy out towards the west, but it will be windy skill. —— as windy. this is the picture tonight. 0ne windy skill. —— as windy. this is the picture tonight. one or two showers. a cold night. the risk of ice and frost in the north. tomorrow, we are looking at a

largely dry and cold start some sunny spells. 0nce largely dry and cold start some sunny spells. once again, another system coming in from the west. rain and stronger winds, but nothing like we are looking at today to be back to you. thank you. we will talk to you again very, very soon. keeping us you again very, very soon. keeping us up—to—date on the weather situation today. it‘s one of the biggest investments in peacetime britain, costing over £56 billion, and later today, the first phase of the hs2 rail line between london and the midlands is expected to receive the official go—ahead in the house of commons. the project promises increased capacity and faster journeys, but building the line will see ancient woodlands destroyed and disruption to the lives of those living nearby. here‘s ben with a look at the pros and cons. more of us are using the railways than ever before. it means busier stations and busier trains. and so the government says hs2 is the answer. but is it? i‘m taking a journey on the first stage of the route from london to birmingham to see what impact it could have. the biggest challenge is tackling overcrowding. our current tracks and stations

can‘t handle many more passengers. but as well as running more frequently, the trains will be faster too, and that‘s good news for passengers. thank you. sometimes you don‘t get enough carriages, which can be a problem, and it is really crowded on the trains. a lot of people are standing up. and that can make it difficult to get off of the train as well. i regard getting on the train as worktime, so if you cannot sit down, you feel frustrated about that lost hour. but it‘s notjust commuters who stand to gain from the new railway. we are going to average around 10,000 jobs over the first phase of the construction, peaking at 25,000 jobs a month. and that is just during construction. there will be tens of thousands maintaining and running it when we are done. but there could be an even greater economic benefit too. take this journey, for example.

one hour and 20 minutes. we are 50 minutes into the journey. but if this was an hs2 train, we would already be in birmingham. and that means spending less time travelling and more time working. and one estimate suggests that could add about £15 billion to the economy. but at what cost? the current pricetag is close to £60 billion. but many say it could be much higher. 60 ancient woodlands would have to be bulldozed. 350 homes will have to be demolished. and thousands of businesses will be affected, like this farm in buckinghamshire. the land will be split into when work begins. it is going to completely alter the way i farm. i would lose half of the grazing that my cows can go out to. i am not seriously convinced the hs2 is a necessity to this country at all. we have far more important things to do.

certainly we should not spend all our money on a rail line that will be, in my opinion, outdated in 10—15 years. the first section to the west midlands will be opened by 2026. an extension to leeds and manchester are due to open by 2032. hs2 should make journeys faster and more comfortable. we are just approaching the final part of today‘s journey, birmingham. but keeping the reject on—time and on track could prove more difficult, however. ben thompson, bbc news, in birmingham. we‘ll have more from ben on hs2 in the next half hour. he is looking directly over where the new station will be in birmingham. so we will talk to him later this morning. you‘re watching breakfast. still to come this morning: not too hot and not too cold. these are the planets that nasa says could be just right for supporting alien life. we‘ll speak to one of the team behind the discovery. very exciting. time now to get the news, travel, and weather, where you are. good morning from bbc london news.

i‘m sonja jessup. the capital‘s commuters are being warned theirjourneys could be disrupted by storm doris today, with winds of around 50 miles an hour predicted. most southern rail trains will have speed restrictions in place later, and passengers on southern and the gatwick express have been told to expect delays and cancellations on all routes south of east croydon. dozens of flights have already been cancelled at heathrow as a precaution, and the dartford crossing is also likely to be closed later. the government is still not doing enough to demonstrate it can mitigate the environmental impacts of a third runway at heathrow. the government says it takes air quality commitments extremely seriously, and that the runway will not go ahead unless air quality requirements are met. but the environmental audit committee insists more needs to be done. with an infrastructure project that‘s as big and expensive cross its fingers and hope for something to turn up. they need to give clear guarantees

to mps and residents that air pollution will not get any worse and they need to set out how that will happen. now, we‘ve warned you about the problems expected later because of storm doris, but let‘s take a look at how london‘s transport is running now. the 0verground has no service between willesden junction and camden road. there are no southern trains between caterham and purley. that‘s because engineering work has overrun. the a40 is slow london—bound. and there‘s been an accident on the a3 kennington park road. it‘s closed southbound at the junction with newington butts. henley—on—thames actor george cole‘s camel coat and trilby from the itv series, minder, will go under the hammer today. the distinctive coat and hat were regularly worn by cole‘s character, arthur daley, in the show that ran for 15 years. they‘re expected to fetch between £800 and £1,200. let‘s have a check on the weather now. good morning. storm doris arrives today. and we have a met office weather warning across the capital for strong winds.

some gusts of 50—60 miles per hour. towards northern home counties like hertfordshire, buckinghamshire, into parts of bedfordshire and essex, there could be gusts of up to 50 to 70 miles per hour. it could make for tricky travelling conditions. already we have squally winds and a heavy band of rain going east in the morning rush—hour. then the wind will peak through the late morning into the afternoon. that is the strongest gusts. the rain will not be a problem through the afternoon but a lot of cloud around. temperatures gradually dropping off and the winds will lighten. by this evening‘s rush—hour, the wind will be a lot lighter. cloud and rain and then the skies will clear gradually. it will feel colder tonight. in fact, for some more rural spots, we could see a touch of frost. feeling cooler tomorrow but a much nicer today, lighter winds, brightness, and sunshine. quite breezy again on saturday but mostly dry on the weekend and rather cloudy. i‘m back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now, though, it‘s back

to sally and charlie. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast, with sally nugent and charlie stayt. winds of nearly 90mph an hour have been recorded in western ireland as the worst weather of the winter so far hits the british isles. this is the live scene in blackpool this morning. storm doris moving further inland into the uk. heavy snow forecast in scotland with strong winds of up to 80 mph for many parts of england and wales. prisons should not only punish criminals but reform them too under what‘s being described as the biggest overhaul of the system for a generation. the justice secretary, liz truss, will present a bill later today

aimed at reducing prison violence and cutting re—offending rates in england and wales. plans for the multi—billion—pound hs2 project, to build a high speed rail link between london and birmingham, are expected to get final approval today. the line, which is due to open in 2026, will reduce journey times and provide thousands ofjobs. but its feared the construction will bring wide—spread destruction to people living and working along the route. the maker of hotpoint and indesit tumble dryers has changed its advice to owners of potentially dangerous machines, telling customers not to use the appliances until they are repaired. whirlpool has been replacing orfixing an estimated 3.8 million potentially faulty dryers across the uk after it found excess fluff can present a fire risk. previously, the company told customers they could continue to use them, provided they were not left unattended. the fiance of murdered children‘s author helen bailey is facing the rest of his life injailfor killing her. ian stewart smothered the writer and hid her body in a cesspit at the couple‘s home.

she was found, alongside her dog boris, three months after she disappeared in april last year. ian stewart will be sentenced at st albans crown court later this morning. in the past half hour the parent company of british gas, centrica, has reported a return to the black with profits of £2.5 billion. but at british gas itself profits were down by 11%. the company blames that on a 3% fall in customer accounts. eating 10 portions of fruit and veg a day can give us longer lives. the study by imperial college london showed consuming small amounts have a health benefit but more is better. 0ne portion counts as 80g, the equivalent of a small banana or three heaped teaspoons of spinach. however, public health england say adding pressure to eat more creates an unrealistic expectation. esearchers also identified specific vegetables that they say can help reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.

we heard leafy green vegetables. apples and pears very good for heart related problems. ten per day, how are you doing so far? about struggling with five, now they‘ve upped it, don‘t know how i‘m going to cope. you have to stop and think, i‘m going to eat this satsuma, because it‘s one of your five a day. you have to put it in different pasta sa u ces you have to put it in different pasta sauces and i don‘t know how i‘m going to get my boy to do it! what‘s going on this morning? i‘m going to get my boy to do it! what's going on this morning? we've been talking about leicester city, fourth from bottom in the premier league after winning last season, got through to the champions league and they‘ve been doing phenomenally well even though they are fourth from bottom in the premier league this season. what a story, winning the premier league last season, facing relegation this season but what if they go on to the last eight and win the champions league, is it possible? and all the money that

comes with it. you can't ask is it possible with leicester because last season they proved anything is! leicester city were beaten 2—1 by sevilla in their champions league second round match, but they did score an important away goal. sevilla are third in the spanish league and dominated the game, missing a penalty before opening the scoring. they went 2—0 up. butjust when leicester needed it, jamie vardy got one back which means they only need a 1—0 win at home to go through. we go back and score a goal, it was important for things. three things give strength to us. vardy, go back to the goal, reopen the match in the second leg, and that is important. we know they are better than us, a very high quality team, why experienced team, everything is high, experienced team, everything is hgh,0k7 experienced team, everything is high, ok? but we have a very big heart. wayne rooney could be on his way to china earlier than expected with news that his agent is in the country trying

to negotiate a dealfor the england and manchester united captain to play in their super league. rooney is no longer first choice of united manager jose mourinho and agent paul stretford is in china negotiating with interested clubs. the chinese transfer window closes next tuesday. a summer move still seems the likelier outcome however. united coped 0k without rooney in the europa league last night, henrikh miktaryan‘s goal gave them a 1—0 win at french side saint etienne. they won 4—0 on aggregate. united have now lost only once in 25 games. it‘s nice. it‘s a good feeling. we trust in each other and, you know, one day we are going to lose. the important thing is after that defeat we go back again to a good run because the team is playing in a solid way. tottenham host gent in front of a sell—out wembley crowd scottish cup holders hibernian

knocked out their edinburgh rivals hearts in their fifth round replay at easter road, just as they did last season. hibs won 3—1 and championship side ayr united will provide their opposition in the next round. jonathanjoseph has been left out of the england squad preparing to face italy in the 6 nations on sunday. the bath centre has played in all 15 matches under eddie jones but has returned to his club after being cut from the 24—man squad. england will confirm their starting fifteen tomorrow morning. george north will start for wales in their match with scotland on saturday after recovering from a thigh injury. the wing will replace alex cuthbert. it will be the only change to rob howley‘s side from the defeat by england two weeks ago. budapest is to withdraw its bid to host the 2024 summer olympics, leaving only los angeles and paris in the race. more than 250,000 hungarians had signed a petition against hosting the games, with opponents saying the money would be better spent on hospitals and schools. the international olympic committee will announce the winning city

in peru in september. it looks like los angeles or paris. two good options, i know which one i would prefer! go on. paris. there would prefer! go on. paris. there would be less of a time difference, all the live action would be while you‘re awake. you could sit and watch the olympics from 9am until 10pm. if it‘s in la you will have to get up in the middle of the night to watch things live. we do that anyway! let‘s take it to hollywood i say, let‘s do the hollywood 0lympics! i‘m all for that. say, let‘s do the hollywood olympics! i'm all for that. a bit of sunshine would be nice and in paris that‘s not always guaranteed but it will be interesting to see where it ends up. the fact from dairy and have signed those petitions, you saw the protests in rio before the

0lympics about how they wanted the money spent on hospitals and schools. it went ahead there but obviously in budapest they have listened. ben is in birmingham for us this morning looking at hs2, but there‘s another big breaking business story this morning. in the last hour, british gas parent company centrica has announced pre—tax profits. here‘s ben with what that all means. good morning. i‘m in birmingham and we have nipped inside to get away from storm doris for a bit but i wa nt to from storm doris for a bit but i want to talk about centrica, results out this morning and it has marked a return to profitability, profits are up, figures of £2.5 billion in profits for last year. up from a big loss, a loss of £857 million in the year before. if you look down to the detail, some interesting stuff, it says reve nu es we re detail, some interesting stuff, it says revenues were down 4%. a 3% reduction in the number of customer accou nts reduction in the number of customer accounts that it holds. british gas still one of the biggest suppliers

of domestic heating to our homes and electricity and gas and one of the big six that‘s coming for lot of criticism about their prices and whether they would increase prices over the winter. remember, they decided not to do that but already a lot of criticism about how much money they make as a result of not only supplying energy but generating it. let‘s speak to the boss, chief executive ian conn joins it. let‘s speak to the boss, chief executive ian connjoins me from it. let‘s speak to the boss, chief executive ian conn joins me from the city. good morning. looking at your numbers, a return to profitability, talk me through those details, as i mentioned, you not only sell the energy but you generate it too. let me correct one thing you said, you reported correctly the statutory accounts but that includes lots of write—offs and revaluations. the underlying profits were up 4% at £1.5 billion and we delivered strong cash £1.5 billion and we delivered strong ca s h flow £1.5 billion and we delivered strong cash flow last year, which obviously allows us to pay dividends to shareholders and invest for the

future. in british gas residential energy, obviously what our consumers worry about, our profits were down 11% tojust over worry about, our profits were down 11% to just over £550 million. worry about, our profits were down 11% tojust over £550 million. quite a challenging time in the uk energy market at the moment. yeah, let's talk about some of those challenges and one! talk about some of those challenges and one i note in your statement is the cap has been introduced for prepayment metres. it was a controversial decision at the time and something that will affect you and something that will affect you andi and something that will affect you and i note from your statement you said it will affect you negatively as far as revenues are concerned to the tune of £50 million. that is a factor but let me return to what we're trying to do for our customers. the first thing we're trying to do is actually offer good value and for the first time in a while our standard tariff, which i know comes in for a lot of criticism, is actually cheaper than 95% of the ones out there and in a range of about 900 out to £1200, we're right in the middle, a bit

below, at 1044 and our fixed tariff is pretty good value as well. the second thing to say is we've improved customer service significantly and we've launched a new british gas rewards programme to reward the loyalty of customers and give them new offers that i think they will really want and light as opposed tojust they will really want and light as opposed to just energy.” they will really want and light as opposed to just energy. i wanted to ask you about that, you‘ve launched british gas rewards and that gives people that stays with you incentives like discounts and tv packages. why not just incentives like discounts and tv packages. why notjust cut your prices? i've said to you, we're no longer the company that has the highest prices that everyone is trying to shelter underneath. we are very world valued in terms of them e.g. pricing and we have decided to freeze our prices all the way to august —— energy pricing. they've stayed at the same level. that's

when new suppliers and other competitors are putting prices up. the first thing to say is about the delivery of value for our customers, it's true, some people only one value energy fixed—price deals, although they have to keep shopping around because those prices tend to go around because those prices tend to 9° up around because those prices tend to go up at the end of the contract. what we found is a lot of customers actually want more than just energy. we're going to give people reductions on their bill, the longer they're with us, they're going to get rewarded with reductions on their bill but we're also offering other things, like, as their bill but we're also offering otherthings, like, as you their bill but we're also offering other things, like, as you say sky packages but also boiler servicing alive with energy, which our research says people value, and being able to control your home with the energy package, which a lot of people really value, so that's what we're doing. i want to pick you up on that idea of freezing your prices, you‘ve made a big deal about not putting your prices up on your standard tariff certainly, but looking at the detail it‘s already

one of the most expensive caris. people would be better off switching toa people would be better off switching to a cheaper alternative —— expensive tariff. that's not true. it's true you can find cheaper prices if you only want energy from some smaller suppliers but as we've seen some are offering energy at a loss to them and i'm not sure how sustainable that is. some of the more vocal independent suppliers, actually their standard tariffs are above ours, i want to make that really clear, and the standard tariff range today, including all the new suppliers, is £900 to £1200 or thereabouts and we're at £1044. and our fixed tariff is about just over £1000 and most of the fixed tariffs in the market are between £930 and £1000. sol tariffs in the market are between £930 and £1000. so i don't think we are the overpriced company at all. we're actually offering good value.

0k, mrconn, it‘s we're actually offering good value. 0k, mr conn, it‘s good to talk to you. some clarification there on the return to profitability, but as he pointed out, certainly the residential bit as far as they‘re concerned, competition is tough and many more people switching to alternative suppliers. the number of customer accounts at british gas down by another 3%. more from here, talking about hs two and we could even mention storm doris, we could be going outside to see what it‘s doing in birmingham later. you better put your code back on! thank you. carol, ben carol, ben was mentioning the storm in birmingham, pretty bad conditions there. what about the rest of the country? birmingham is by no means the worst, the worst conditions are in the west. we‘ re the worst conditions are in the west. we‘re looking at gusts of wind: these are really strong gusts. storm doris has been coming in from the

atlantic. you can see where the eye of the storm is and continuing to push steadily towards the east. through the morning, here‘s the eye, things are fairly calm as you can tell from the lack of isobars but look at the squeeze out towards the west and as the whole storm system moves to the north sea, that squeeze will continue across other areas. that‘s only one element of the storm, the other is heavy rain wrapped around it and also heavy snow. the met office has to amber warnings, the first is for heavy snow, that is a be prepared warning. we‘re looking at a lot of snow in the southern uplands and central lowlands. above 100 metres in the southern uplands, which isn‘t particularly high here, we have 25 and 30 centimetres of expected snow, more with height, five centimetres, especially along the west of the central lowlands. but outside the area and the amber warning we‘re looking at snow in the highlands and grampians. then the wind amber

warning, be prepared, very strong winds. we‘re looking at gusts of widely 70—80 mph. here‘s b and the plume, this is where you can expect the gusts —— the amber plume. this is inland. it takes in parts of the home counties. those gusts of wind can bring down trees and cause structural damage, debris flying down the road and major travel disruption. south of that we‘re still looking at 50— 60 mph gusts, covered by a yellow warning, a level down from amber. through the day here‘s the rain rotating around that area of low pressure. further snow to come and as the low pressure system drifts to the north sea the squeeze of wind comes in producing snow in the hills of wales and the pennines and then it pushes to the east coast. by the time we get to the afternoon rush hour, the strongest winds and severe gales will be in yorkshire, lincolnshire

and east anglia and for a time in north—east england we‘ll see some snow. through the evening and overnight period, there‘s the centre of the storm, it all pulls away onto the near continent leaving us with a quieter night. still some showers and wintryness around, some frost and wintryness around, some frost and the risk of ice on untreated surfaces, especially more in scotland. tomorrow a much quieter day, we start off on a cold note, dry weather, sunshine and a few showers and then later in the day another weather front from the west will introduce wet and windy conditions, but nothing like today, although it will be preceded by hill snow in western scotland and north—west england possibly as well. thank you very much, carol. in a week, northern ireland will see its second election injust nine months. the power—sharing government collapsed injanuary amid a bitter row between unionists and republicans. many have called this a divisive election but, away from the old sectarian issues,

there are familiar concerns for voters like education, the economy and health. 0ur ireland correspondent invited a group of people to the whitla hall at belfast‘s queen‘s university to see if there was more that united people than divided them. elections are a time when people come together. united in the task of making a choice, but often divided, notjust by theirjobs, their age, or the interests, but by their backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences. first of all, thank you very much for coming. i want to ask a couple of questions. we obviously need you to be honest. who has been to the gym in the last week? there are the athletic, or at least the enthusiastic. there are romantics who sent valentines cards this year. and those who admitted, or perhaps were forced to admit, they were drunk in the last week. but it is shared experiences which could influence how individuals vote. who has waited four hours or more in accident and emergency to get treatment for themselves or someone else? waiting lists in northern ireland

are among the longest in the uk. politicians have described the health service here at as at breaking point. i am a nurse. the reason people wait a long time in emergency departments is because we have an older population. there is not enough investment in primary care and the community. we have to remove the politicians out of health and appoint someone in charge of it you will be responsible for all the operational matters. this is not scientific, but the responses suggest a lot connects these businessmen and farmers, students, and senior citizens. who has a close friend or a relative who is gay or a lesbian? northern ireland is the only part of the uk where same—sex marriage is still illegal.

and in the past, stormont‘s biggest party, the dup, used a veto to vote in favour of it. it is a disgrace and everyone has a right to decide who they want to marry and fall in love with. i am not quite sure. i have always believed it should be a male and female to bring upa child. what all believe is that politics matters. from the arts, who want more funding for things like languages. and those who want protestants and catholics to be taught together, which is the exception, rather than the rule. yet a lot feel they do not fit into northern ireland‘s traditional boxes of unionists or irish nationalists, though that‘s how they vote. who is proud of northern ireland? it is interesting, the split. the generations who did not know the conflict and the other half. what sucks is that there is so much to be proud of in northern ireland. people can be grateful of what we have done. but we have an executive marked by scandal and crisis

and falling apart consistently. different views that will influence that election result when voters mark their preferences in the boxes next week. chris buckler, bbc news, belfast. looking ahead to the elections in northern ireland. the time now is 7:50. is there life somewhere out there in space? scientists are excited after the discovery of seven earth—sized planets orbiting a distant star. researchers say that three of them have the environment necessary to support life. we‘re going to discuss the implications, but first, astrophysicist, tim 0‘brien, has this explanation. this is a model of our solar system.

you can see the earth with the moon orbiting around it. the most distant planet is neptune, 4.5 wheeling kilometres away. that is a huge distance. —— billion. we scaled down to fit on the ceiling. the nearest star is 40 light—years away. such a vast distance we could not possibly scaled to fit in this room. in fact, it is not even in this building. in fa ct, it is not even in this building. in fact, it is not even in cheshire. it is as far as cardiff. these exoplanets, planets outside our solar system, orbiting very own star, a 400,000 billion, to zuwaid. —— there. the reason scientists asked to encouraged, is some could be like earth. rocky planets, maybe

they have an atmosphere. that is where we could find life existing. we are where we could find life existing. we a re really where we could find life existing. we are really in exciting times. we are finding hundreds, thousands, of these planets in other solar systems. and we might, sometime in the future, find life on one of these planets. wow! joining us now to talk about this latest discovery is chris copperwheat, an astrophysicist at liverpool john moores university, and the comedian and amateur astronomer, jon culshaw. good morning to you. good morning. i will start with you. on a scale of one to ten, how excited are you buy this? right there. this is a key milestone. the exoplanets, that has really exploded in the past two yea rs. really exploded in the past two years. this is in the top of the top one or two discoveries. we i nearly at the holy grail, the discovery of

life. —— are. at the holy grail, the discovery of life. -- are. these discoveries are amazing just in themselves. but tell us amazing just in themselves. but tell us what has changed about what we know about the potential on these planets. the majority of planets we have found to date, and there are thousands, are large ones, because bigger ones are easier to find. right now, technology is that it points where we are pushing down to the planets the size of the earth. what is special about this one is we have discovered a complicated system with, not one, not two, but seven earth sized planets around their own star. it is close to asked. and the distance to the start is such that the surface temperature on those planets would be conducive to life. all of the conditions are there for life. in terms of the search for life, this is target number one from now on. this is a step in the

journey. nasa already is making you telescopes to see them. this must be yourdream. telescopes to see them. this must be your dream. it is amazing. i love the thought of exoplanets. if you are on the surface of one of those worlds, imagine what you would feel. the view must be astonishing. the star is the size ofjupiter. it would have a read hue. and we would see the neighbouring planet, not in the way we see mars and jupiter and saturn from the earth, like venus, like dots, but like the moon. you could see the features. aids in a red crescent. —— bathed. could see the features. aids in a red crescent. -- bathed. that difficulty of life on a new planet, how did that feed into your fascination? this is a old rush time for discovery. —— gold. in 2018,

once we have a new telescope, that will have the power to measure one small step further. nothing to block the view. you could measure signatures of what could be denoting life within these worlds. tell us more about the telescope. there is a new successor to hubble coming out in 2018. technology drives science. that is why we are making these discoveries. we have planet finders coming from nasa we currently operate the largest robotic telescope which contributed to this search. we are currently designing an even bigger one. is that the wind you just mentioned, is that in the ca nary islands? you just mentioned, is that in the canary islands? yes. it is important it is in the canary islands because... the conditions. you have

world—class sites that are in areas where they have beautiful conditions and no clouds. you can see the stars better. you are an amateur. what do you have at home? a telescope?‘ better. you are an amateur. what do you have at home? a telescope? a 12 inch reflector that looks like a spin dryer. a seven inch one as well. it is great for amateurs. it will be about amateur astronomy from now on. it is so good for the soul, you can do it from your backyard. that is a serious bit of kit. it is lovely to see you both this morning. that is a serious piece of kit. lovely to see you both this morning. that is a serious piece of kitm is time to get the news, travel, and weather information wherever you are. see you soon. good morning from bbc london news.

i‘m sonja jessup. the capital‘s commuters are being warned theirjourneys could be disrupted by storm doris today, with winds of around 50 miles an hour predicted. most southern rail trains will have speed restrictions in place later, and passengers on southern and the gatwick express have been told to expect delays and cancellations on all routes south of east croydon. dozens of flights have already been cancelled at heathrow as a precaution, and the dartford crossing is also likely to be closed later. the government is still not doing enough to demonstrate it can mitigate the environmental impacts of a third runway at heathrow. the government says it takes air quality commitments extremely seriously, and that the runway will not go ahead unless air quality requirements are met. but the environmental audit committee insists more needs to be done. with an infrastructure project that is as big and expensive as a heathrow expansion, the government cannotjust cross its fingers and hope for something to turn up. they need to give clear guarantees to mps and to residents that air pollution will not get any worse and they need to set out how that‘s going to happen. now we‘ve warned you about

the problems expected lated because of storm doris, but let‘s take a look at how london‘s transport is running now. there‘s no district line between turnham green and richmond— and the 0verground has no service between willesden junction and camden road. there are no southern trains between caterham and purley. engineering work has overrun. this is how the a40 looks. it‘s slow london—bound through northolt and greenford towards the north circular at the hanger lane gyratory system. and the a3 kennington park road is still closed southbound at the junction with newington butts after an accident. let‘s have a check on the weather now. good morning. storm doris arrives today. and we‘ve got a met office weather warning across the capital for strong gusts of wind. some gusts of 50—60 miles per hour. towards northern home

counties like hertfordshire, buckinghamshire, into parts of bedfordshire and essex, there could be gusts of up to 50 to 70 miles per hour. it could make for tricky travelling conditions. already we have squally winds and a heavy band of rain going east in the morning rush—hour. then the wind will peak through the late morning into the afternoon. that is the strongest gusts. the rain will not be a problem through the afternoon but a lot of cloud around. temperatures gradually dropping off and the winds will lighten. by this evening‘s rush—hour, the wind will be a lot lighter. cloud and rain and then the skies will clear gradually. it will feel colder tonight. in fact, for some more rural spots, we could see a touch of frost. feeling cooler tomorrow but a much nicer today, lighter winds, brightness, and sunshine. quite breezy again on saturday but mostly dry on the weekend and rather cloudy. i‘m back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now, though, it‘s back

to sally and charlie. bye for now. hello this is breakfast, with sally nugent and charlie stayt. warnings of damage and disruption as storm doris heads for the uk. this is the scene in blackpool this morning — trains and flights across britain are already being delayed. 0vernight, western ireland has been hit, leaving almost 50,000 homes without power. storm doris is packing three punches, she‘s bringing with her son gales, even severe gales, some heavy snow and even heavy rain, but i will have more of that later in the programme. good morning, it‘s thursday 23rd february. also this morning: a new sound for smoke alarms. wa ke wake up the house is on fire. wake

up, the house is on fire. safety experts say a voice, rather than a beep, is much more likely to wake up the kids — we‘ll be speaking to the people nearly 10,000 motorists are legally allowed to drive despite having enough penalty points to be banned — new figures show one man is still on the roads with 62 on his licence. hs2 gets the go—ahead later today, but there has been controversy about the cost and the root of the new high—speed rail line. iam in birmingham this morning meeting the people affected by the railway. in sport — a lifeline for leicester. jamie vardy‘s away goal in seville means they still have a chance of making it through to the last eight of the champions league. and david bowie dominates the brits. and the award for british male solo artist goes to the late, great david bowie! the singer picks up two awards — a year after his death from cancer. first our main story.

winds of nearly 90 mph have been recorded in western ireland as the worst weather of the winter so far hits the british isles. storm doris made landfall in the uk in the coming hours, storm doris made landfall in the uk in the early hours, with heavy snow forecast in scotland and strong winds for many parts of england and wales. some rail and air services have already changed their schedules and drivers are being warned to avoid some roads. let‘s get a sense of what it‘s like out there at the moment with our reporter, alison freeman who is in blackpool this morning. since we last spoke to about an hour ago it has started to pick up quite ago it has started to pick up quite a bit. you can see a giant 30 feet sculptures on the promenade here at blackpool are really starting to get into the wind in front of the tower. if you come down and take a look at the sea, that is giving quite a good indication of how much worse it has got in the past hour. those white

horses is really starting to take over the sea. it is bashing against the pier in the distance. as that wouldn‘t picks up throughout the day, we are expecting it to cause some disruption, some damage to buildings. we know that at heathrow around 80 flights both in and out of the advert had been cancelled, mainly affecting short—haul and domestic flights. 0n the trains, a number of networks are saying they are going to run a registered service after 9:30am on those winds are expected to really pick up and ran ata are expected to really pick up and ran at a much slower speed as well. this was the scene earlier at blacks on the west coast of ireland. by now that the highest gusts of 80 mph we re that the highest gusts of 80 mph were recorded at galwayjust further down the coast. also in ireland, 40,000 homes are currently without power. we never rest of the weather is still to come probably after nine o‘clock this morning and people are just being asked to take care in

what is going to be quite treacherous travelling conditions today. thank you from a very wet blackpool. we can talk now to carol — how is it looking for the rest of the day? at the moment the strongest winds are in the best. even in bristol and cardiff seeing very gusty winds. as stormed paris knows —— stormed 0s names to the east, 70 to 80 mph gusts. that sort of strength is not unusual in winter if you are in the north west of scotland but it is unusual further south in land, north west of scotland but it is unusualfurther south in land, which is why there are so many issues. they could be major travel disruption as we are already hearing, and trees uprooted, structural damage, that kind of thing. the storm will move to the east so the evening rush hour we‘re looking at girls and severe gales across lincolnshire, east anglia

before it eventually close away as we had on the other night. as well as the wind, heavy snow across scotla nd as the wind, heavy snow across scotland and heavy rain moving from west east as we speak. thank you very much indeed. five minutes past eight, the rest of the news now. prisons will be expected to reform criminals as well as punish them under what‘s being described as the biggest overhaul of the system for a generation. the justice secretary, liz truss, will present a bill later aimed at reducing prison violence and cutting re—offending rates in england and wales. the hs2 rail link between london and birmingham is expected to get final approval today — by 2026 the two cities should be linked by trains travelling at up to 250 mph. the currentjourney time will be cut by half an hour and it will provide jobs for thousands of people. but opponents have criticised the billions of pounds due to be spent on the project and claim it will disrupt the lives of many of those living along the route. the fiance of murdered children‘s author helen bailey is facing the rest of his life in jail for killing her. ian stewart smothered the writer and hid her body in a cesspit

at the couple‘s home. she was found, alongside her dog boris, three months after she disappeared in april last year. ian stewart will be sentenced at st albans crown court later this morning. an investigation by the bbc has found there are nearly ten thousand drivers across the uk still on the roads despite having 12 or more points currently on their driving licence. official figures reveal that one driver has over sixty points on his licence, but has still been allowed to continue driving. david rhodes reports. from speeding to drink—driving, failing to have insurance or causing a collision on the road, penalty points are given to motorists when they break the law. 12 active points on a licence usually means a driver will be banned for a minimum of six months. but figures obtained by the bbc show thatjust under 10,000 drivers are still on the roads despite having 12 or more points. most are found in england, with the largest number being in greater london. although one driver in west yorkshire is still on the road

despite having more than 60 points on their licence. the law doesn‘t seem to be working at the moment. we‘ve got people obviously being caught and going through the justice system but actually this whole points system seems to be making a mockery of that. drivers are getting away with repeatedly breaking the law. motorists with 12 points can appeal to a magistrates‘ court like this one and claim that a driving ban would deliver exceptional hardship on their lives, meaning they would lose a job or be unable to care for a family member. there is no definition in law as to what exceptional hardship means, so one magistrate may decide if a driving ban would cause someone to lose theirjob, that is exceptional hardship. another magistrate may decide it isn‘t. every ban is considered on a case—by—case basis. the government says the vast majority of drivers with 12 points are automatically disqualified and only in exceptional circumstances can judges decide not to issue a ban. the fact remains, though, that there are drivers who have

continually broken the law who are still on our roads. david rhodes, bbc news, bradford. the parent company of british gas, centrica, has reported a return to the black. but at british gas itself profits were down by 11%. the company says it is offering value for money for customers that blames the drop on a 3% fall in customer accounts. the standard tariff range today including all of the new suppliers is £900 to £1200 or thereabouts and we are at an thousand and £44 will stop our fixed tariff is atjust over £1000. most of the fixed tariffs the market are between 930 and £1000, so no, i don‘t think we are the overpriced company at all. we are actually offering good value.

eating ten portions of fruit and veg a day can help ward of disease to help us live longer lives. we thought it was five, it is in fa ct we thought it was five, it is in fact now ten. the findings from a study by imperial college london is double the current government advice of five portions a day. researchers also identified specific vegetables that they say can help reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. david bowie dominated the brits last night, a year after he died of cancer. he was awarded best british male and best british album, for his swansong, blackstar. 0ur entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba was at the ceremony. britain‘s biggest girl band little mix kicked off the show with a glittering, energetic performance of their number one shout out to my ex. the song also won them the best single award. cheers to our exes for helping us do an amazing song. this is for you, lads! and the award for british male solo artist goes to the late, great david bowie. david bowie went on to

win a second award. best album for blackstar, which was released two days before his death. he‘s always been there supporting people who think they‘re a little bit weird or a little bit strange. this award is for all the kooks and all the people who make the kooks. thanks, brits. best british female artist went to emili sande, who brought her sister on stage when she collected her award. thank you so much for allowing me to make the music that i wanted to make and express what i felt was important. yeah... thank you so much. but perhaps the evening‘s most poignant moment, chris martin from coldplay‘s george michael tribute. lizo mzimba, bbc news.

keeping you up—to—date on the weather picture, storm doris bringing some problems and we will bringing some problems and we will bring you details later on. 11 minutes past eight is the time. do you have a smoke alarm at home, does it work as it got batteries in it? it can mean the difference between life and death fires that start during the night when everyone was asleep. while we know they‘re great at waking up adults, a group of forensic scientists and fire investigators is warning that they may not always rouse children. the team has developed a new alarm with a lower pitched tone and a woman‘s voice, which they think is more likely to be heard by sleeping children, as our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. what sound would wake a sleeping child? dog barks. orthis?

what sound would wake a sleeping child? dog barks. 0rthis? melanie has tested her smoke alarm many times at night, and only once has any of her four boys woken up. wake up, the house is on fire! now she is trying something different, and alarm with a lower pitched tone and alarm with a lower pitched tone and a human voice. it wakes all four boys immediately. it is like the voice of a parent that they are used to listening to, and day out, and maybe subconsciously that is what they are hearing when the alarm was going off. the new alarm was designed with the help of her uncle, dave coss, a fire investigator. prompted by a notorious case in derby, when the six children died in a house fire deliberately set by

their father, a house fire deliberately set by theirfather, mick philpott. dave koss says more often than not smoke alarm simply don‘t like children. unfortunately that was the first one that brought it to my attention but since that day i can probably recount half a dozen fires were children have failed to respond from sleep, and if they become trapped the wrong side of the fire, unfortunately then... pandey university and derby fire service one 500 families to test the prototype alarm. researchers predict that alarm with human voices will become commonplace. quite often we hear alarms going off, we don‘t quite know whether they are just a warning or whether it is for real. so putting the human voice into that i think will be one of the key important additional things that will bring to alarms in the future. last year, 300 people died in fires in england alone, and 3000 more needed hospital treatment.

derbyshire fire service used this old shipping container to train fire investigators. let‘s see how quickly a blaze would spread in a bedroom. it takes just a few minutes. fire investigators say it shows that standard smoke alarms are vital in every home. they do wake adults, but pa rents every home. they do wake adults, but parents need to know it could be up to them to wake their children in the event of a fire. fergus walsh, bbc news. dave coss, who helped design this new alarm joins us along with davinderjohal, whose voice is used on it. both from derbyshire fire service. dave, what started you on this path to change the way smoke alarms work? road—macro obviously, the tragedy in 2012, we lost six children in a house fire. we needed some answers. we needed to know why the children didn‘t wake up. we needed to test

the smoke alarm. you are talking about a very famous case. six children died. they were all rescued from their beds so they had not made any attempt to escape the property. that led us to think something was wrong which led to the initial research. there will be a lot of people at home thinking i have got a smoke alarm and they will be wondering is this going to wake the people in my house, my children. what have you discovered about what is wrong with the alarms we have. the first thing i need to stress is that smoke alarms do save lives. there is no research anywhere in the world which says an adult will not wa ke world which says an adult will not wake up to a smoke alarm. but there is one section of society who may not respond in the same way. the immediate advice is to maintain your smoke alarms and keep checking them and have an escape plan. the only thing we are changing is instead of

telling children to come to the pa rents, telling children to come to the parents, we are telling parents to go to the children in case they don‘t wake up. the —— in the long term we are working on another solution. and davinderjohal, this is where you come in. wake up, the houses on fire. wake up, the is on fire. wake up, the on fire. davinder, that is your voice and it is accompanied with a different tone because someone is saying something. idid the because someone is saying something. i did the study for dave with my children, standing under the smoke alarm for one minute which was loud and my children did not wake up. with a standard smoke alarm? with a

standard smoke alarm. using this voice activated on the children, both of mine did wake up pretty much straightaway. do we know what the science behind it is, why are children more likely to respond to a voice? traditionally, the way of explaining it is children are born predisposed to hear a voice. the suggestion is they are that familiar with a voice that when a voice is given to them they will was bond a lot easier. clearly, anything that works as a good thing that you tested it on your own children so people might be thinking that it is because it is your voice that the jobs and responded because it is mum saying something. but when i did it my son thought i was messing about. but it did wake him up. dave has done the research with a lot of other children who don't know me and don't know my voice and still work them. davinder's voice, i had a lot

of different voices i could pick and it was one that delivered it with a sense of urgency and there is something wrong without saying, be frightened, be scared. what is the next thing you can do now, if you know that this works, where can you ta ke know that this works, where can you take it? what we are hoping to do now is the idea of this trial is we are asking for families across the country now to get involved. if they go to the derbyshire fire service website they can click on the link and sign in to the survey. we are trying to gather enough data to say this actually works. then it is down to the industry. we will produce the research, they can produce the research, they can produce a device. and again, not to reiterate, we are not making a new

smoke detector, we are making a sound you could put in the child‘s bedroom. could you pick your voice on it? a female voice seems to work better than a male verse. if you have one in your home could you put your own voice on it? the problem is i could not guarantee the mother being part of the family. they have to deliver the mother in the right way so far better for us to have a pic of the shelf voice that works rather than doing it yourself. are there a lot of homes which don‘t have smoke alarms? there is unfortunately. the advice i would give to any parent is have a working smoke alarms. i get my kids to test it. they tested on tuesday. it is a game, they enjoy doing it. and have that escape plan. i would not want anything to happen to them. all i have done is change our escape plan so have done is change our escape plan so that we would go to them. thank you very much. let‘s have a look at some of the snow that storm doris is delivering.

this is the scene in edinburgh at the moment. as you can see it is causing everyone to slow down. treacherous conditions on the roads. a lot of people are waking up to snow. it looks on the face of it, carol as if there has been heavy snowfall? there have been some. some places asked art in to see it accumulate. but as one of the elements of storm doris. the other one today is the wind. we are looking at severe gales. these are the kind of gusts we have had in the last 15 minutes. it is very much in the west we have the stronger gales that i have put on birmingham as well because we have a band of squally rain moving across with gusty winds. now doris, the eye of the storm has now moved

away from northern ireland. it is now heading towards northern england. first of all, this band of rain is heavy. don‘t be fooled, the wind will strengthen more. if we look at the isobars around the area of low pressure, the squeeze in the west will continue in the south to drift over to the east as we continue through the day. we have the combination of the rain, wind and snow. the met office has an amber weather warning, be prepared for the snow. we are looking at it across the central lowlands and southern uplands. the southern uplands have seen heavy snow above 500 metres. we are expecting about five centimetres across parts of the central lowlands. you can see in the highlands and grampians it is currently snowing. now the other weather warning the met office has is an amber on for wind. very strong

winds. normally we would have gusts of 70 to 80 miles proud with exposure across north—west scotland. today we are looking at where you see the amber area covers 70 to 80 mile proud gusts across wales the midlands and east anglia. we can expect more travel disruption is go through the course of the day. there is debris flying across the road. that comes down towards southern counties. for the rest of southern england and southern wales, gusts of 50 to 60 mph. as we go through the day, there is the eye of the storm, the rain rotating around it, and the strong winds squeezing in across north wales. we will probably see some snow over the pennines times and then it will go into the east. later in the afternoon when the gales and severe gales transferred

to yorkshire, lincolnshire and east anglia for the evening rush hour. as you can see behind it, even though it will brighten up, we are still looking at a windy day. it will take a while before the whole of storm doris pulls away. there will be a touch of frost around and the risk of ice where we have got some damp surfaces, particularly so across scotland. tomorrow, we start off on that cold but quiet note. later in the day, wet and windy weather will come in from the west but nothing like we are expecting from storm doris. thank you very much. it looks like tomorrow is significantly better. we can go to birmingham now. ben is there because of hs2. i , the high—speed link between london and birmingham. that is absolutely

right. storm doris has been making her presence felt here. hs2 gets the final seal of approval later, it gets the go—ahead so that the work can begin. it has been beset by all sorts of controversy, controversy because of the cost and the route it will take. it does get the go—ahead today but what happens next? with me, two guests who can probably explain more. henrietta is from the birmingham chamber of commerce and joe from stop hs2. henrietta, just to start with you, we can see all the investment which has gone into birmingham already, this is the next stage of that? absolutely. hs2 has beena stage of that? absolutely. hs2 has been a catalyst for change in the region. there are companies expanding in birmingham, the confidence shown in the city and the greater links to london. hsz is

already capitalising a lot of investment and will represent a great deal of money coming into the region. bet you do not agree? they look at the money going into hs2, it isa look at the money going into hs2, it is a ridiculous amount of money for the number of jobs it is a ridiculous amount of money for the number ofjobs it will create. it is very poor value for money and the reality is this is a mechanism for the construction industry to siphon billions of pounds of public money into their pockets. we need to improve the railways. if you have ever got on an overcrowded train, you know that more money is needed. why is this not the answer? does not the answer because when you‘re making those decisions, you have to pick the best project. they are perfectly able to increase capacity, spending less money and benefiting far more people more quickly rather than hs2 which willjust be a fast train forfat than hs2 which willjust be a fast train for fat cats. should the money be used to improve our existing

network rather than £60 billion on faster trains? i disagree. ithink it isa faster trains? i disagree. ithink it is a very worthwhile investment. it is notjust about it is a very worthwhile investment. it is not just about the it is a very worthwhile investment. it is notjust about the physical row we re it is notjust about the physical row were lying, it is about everything else it capitalises and changes. you can see the site and what you cannot see other plans behind the scenes for massive regeneration in the area, the stakeholders who have come to improve the area and the broader benefits beyond the line itself. thank you, henrietta and joe. the debate rumbles on. it will get final approval today and then we will wait to see how long it takes to get to build it. lets get the news, travel and weather where you are this morning. likely to see some disruption from storm doris as it moves across the atla ntic to storm doris as it moves across the atlantic to the united kingdom. this

book of cloud as well we have a swathe of strong winds coming in, across ireland and north wales northwest england. we have already had gusts of nearly 80 mph, and those winds will get stronger over the next couple of hours. we are talking about structural damage possible, the wind is strong enough to blow down some trees. transport disruption is really quite likely. expose of vuli samoans heading across the north wales, north—west england, watch for that around greater manchester and merseyside, for those really strong winds had across the midlands and east anglia as well. further north, a different problem in scotland. he we have rain turning the snow. it is really significant falls of snow, particularly across higher elevations, perhaps as much as ten to 20 centimetres above 100 metres elevation, more over higher ground, perhaps about 30 centimetres above 300 metres elevation. it was now likely to cross and transport disruption, and for england and

wales, we have gusts of wind is even 50 to 60 mph, perhaps 70 around the coast, strong enough to bring down some true branches. we could have localised disruption just about anywhere today from this fierce winds. 0vernight, the weather calms down, the wins for light, the risk of some icy stretches under the those close guys as the frost sets in, so will be quite echoed mad but friday completely different whether the —— completely different weather—wise. for many of us, it is a quietand weather—wise. for many of us, it is a quiet and milder kind of day. that is your mother. —— that is your weather. this is business live from bbc news, with sally bundock and aaron heslehurst. tesla fever! elon musk‘s electric car and clean energy company says it‘s on track to launch its first mass—market

vehicle this year. live from london, that‘s our top story on thursday the 23rd of february. could it be the next ford? 0r general motors? tesla shares have been surging in recent months and more good news was delivered overnight — but will elon musk deliver on his promise of mass market car production byjuly? also in the programme: nissan boss carlos ghosn announces he‘s going to step aside as chief executive after 16