there are obviously international angles to the budget of one of the world's the guest economies. all of the papers are leading with the uk's spring budget. the ft leads with the uk spring budget and says chancellor philip hammond has launched a £2 billion tax raid on self—employed workers to provide extra money for social care. the uk economy is predicted to grow by 2% in 2017. the times — their world section looks at two separate attacks carried out by isis during the last week. 38 people were killed in afghanistan after militants stormed an army hospital in kabul and ten train passengers were injured following a bomb attack in madya pradesh, central india. it is the first successful terrorist strike by isis in the country. also in the same section of the times, more than 50 french teenagers are under arrest after gangs of school pupils went on the rampage through three schools in paris's northern suburbs. obviously this will be discussed in the election campaign in april. that's when the first round of the

election campaign will take place. the arab news reports how arab mps in israel's parliament are outraged after it voted for a law that could stop mosques using loudspeakers for the call to prayer. the law calls for religious institutions to be banned from using outdoor loudspeakers, which mps see as being directed at muslims. and finally, the times reports that women are more likely to chose salad than fries when in the company of a handsome man. good looking males reduce a woman's desire for unhealthy foods and makes them choose low calorie options. that's why i'm so slim, in the presence of adnan. i was going to say something about my wife... i've never met a woman who has eaten chips in front of me, but as you say it is for good looking men. joining us is alpesh patel, who's ceo at praefinium partners. my my voice went up when i said philip hammond predicts the uk economy will grow by 2%. it is very exciting. actually, referring to the budget of

course, it is exciting. normally budgets are absolute snooze —fest, but the exciting thing is looked at international papers, what does eve ryo ne international papers, what does everyone else make of the budget? the headline was brexit yet to impact group. it has been outstanding that we have this huge economic event going on, and yet british growth is set to continue. cani british growth is set to continue. can i say something, the event hasn't started. as you know, the market works on anticipation and expectation. it has already started. just look at the price... the pound rate. that's been part of the good news. i have a role with the department of international trade. we are so busy with exports and the reason is the pound is at 20 years — year reason is the pound is at 20 years —— year lows, so it has been great for the economy, in that it hasn't

been nearly as bad as expected, if anything there has been a move upwards. the only thing that the budget is we should have borrowed like crazy, because the uk government at the moment is so trusted you can borrow at about i% and not have to pay it back pretty much about. the pound went up a little bit during his speech, which is interesting. also we must say for those watching us thinking, hang on a minute, the weak pound is a disaster for a minute, the weak pound is a disasterfor me, a minute, the weak pound is a disaster for me, those companies where they are importing bits that they then sell, if that makes sense. remember, it is betterfor the economy to be more export led that import led and we are. but we shouldn't be because the pound was overvalued. —— and we shouldn't be. it means a surplus of our own economy. that means stuff that needs to go in the cars that need to be made... i mean a shift away from

importing is a good thing, beaver the exporter —— regarding the exporter is, it is tougher for importers biting actual fact we wa nted importers biting actual fact we wanted to be for the exporter industry. it means morejobs in those sectors, be exporting sectors. so it has been positive in rebalancing the economy. that has little to do with the chancellor and more to do with those companies getting on with business. let's bring a few islamic state group strings together. what happened in kabul, almost a0 people killed. is engaging with security forces in kabulfor the engaging with security forces in kabul for the first time. they plant a bomb on a train in india. having their territory reduced in syria and iraq seems to be taking them further abroad and launching these kinds of

attacks. they've always had global ambitions. with india and the train attack, which i understand is the first isis led attack in india, india drives isis crazy, because you've got the world's largest democracy, 350 million muslims largely living in peace, you have had muslim presidents. if you are an islamic fundamentalist and you see a bunch of muslims living happily in a democracy you are going to go not. if anything, it's a credit probably to the indian intelligence service that there haven't been isis attacks, but there have been islamic fundamentalist attacks. the indian government will tell you the nationalist attacks they source from pakistan, terrorism has been a problem in india for a long time. isis just problem in india for a long time. isisjust adds to problem in india for a long time. isis just adds to that. it drives a lot of people crazy when you have a democracy and 350 million muslims living relatively happily within that. sadly, it will continue. i

hope it is the last one and i hope this intelligence agencies continue to do the good work they have done up to do the good work they have done up until now because it has been surprising that it has taken this long for them to do one. in europe, not the same issue, but it is linked. the headlines here about teenagers arrested after gangs of school pupils were running riot in their various schools. teachers barricaded in classrooms. that's the picture we are told. this is in the suburbs of north paris. it says race on that. i think we can read between the lines and work out what the newspapers are saying and what marine le pen will talk about. muslims, that's what she will focus on. you remember with the us election, donald trump constantly mentioning problems in paris, even sometimes when there were issues, now there are, and i think marine le

pen will will do the same thing. we are looking at a large probability ofa are looking at a large probability of a surprise election victory, it was things like this willjust play into it. like president trump you, we will do a ban and stamp it out, things like that. it isn't one story leading after the other, it will play into hands and we could see a right—wing leader in france. play into hands and we could see a right-wing leader in france. we should have had you here next thursday because that today when we will know who will be the next prime minister of the netherlands. ever been to a muslim country and been woken up at 3am because of the call to prayer? i haven't actually. ijust got back from dubai and i haven't... they have very good air—conditioning!m india it isjust have very good air—conditioning!m india it is just noisy 2a seven. forget the calls to prayer is, it is just noisy! i think there is one at 3am and quite often i will be in an air—conditioned room because it is

so hot, so i don't hear it much, but it is kind of soothing to my ear. but in israel, it is contentious. the thing is, microphones haven't existed forever. the call to prayer has lasted century. what's funny about this story, let's do a funny muslim story. what i find funny is they are banning or there's a bill to ban the call to prayer, because it happens five times a day. but some of the people have said it isn't against the muslims, rigidly it is against any religion which has five calls to prayer from outside mosques. i was thinking, yes, just like the travel ban in the us. it is anyone from a muslim country. and banning the burka. it is any religion, as long as you are wearing a burke. isuspect religion, as long as you are wearing a burke. i suspect the volumes being turned up in israel today at every mosque. i think the call to prayer is about to get a lot louder. absolutely. the chips are down! i think i've

seen this story before. to be fair to the women who are apparently according to this study, i want to be the researcher who gets to meet all they do with women, what do you think men do? we, i bet we suck in the stomach or the hair. apparently women don't eat chips in front of good—looking man. —— men. whati wa nt to good—looking man. —— men. whati want to know is, who the heck from this and to what end? —— funds this. good morning. yesterday was a funny old day. it was mild for some of us, but not that much in the way of sunshine. favoured spots were northern ireland and northern england. a beautiful weather watchers picture sent in from york, with the daffodils shining brightly. and despite the crocus in full bloom, though,

down in the south—east corner, there was quite a lot of cloud around. despite this, temperatures peaked at 15 degrees, so it was a mild, albeit dull, day. and at times there were showery outbreaks of rain. thick enough from this cloud across southern england. showers continuing up into the far north and they will continue through the night tonight. at the same time our weather front to the south slowly drifts off into the near continent, but it takes its time in doing so. so all that basically means that we keep the cloud, and we keep some drizzle to the south of the ma corridor. some poor visibility, some coastal and some hill fog. a few sharp showers continuing into the far north of scotland. here it will be chilly enough for a touch of snow to the tops of the mountains, but mild down into the south. but we start off on a drab, dull, damp note again across the isles of scilly and the foot of cornwall. here it's likely to stay disappointing all day. there will be a little bit of cloud around the south, but that should start to break up as we go through the day. largely dry with some sunshine through much of wales and central and northern england.

a beautiful morning into northern ireland as well. a scattering of showers continue into scotland first thing in the morning. some of these showers should ease off a touch into the afternoon, but still driven along by that brisk breeze here. further south, the cloud will continue to break up, we'll see some sunshine coming through. just cornwall may stay disappointing, along with the channel isles. some showery bits and pieces of rain. but temperatures responding with the sunshine. a beautiful spring day for many. 9—15 degrees. one or two could see highs of 16 degrees, that's 6! fahrenheit. as we go through thursday night into friday, eastern areas could see a touch of light frost under clearer skies. at the same time the cloud gathers out to the west. a change to come as we move into friday. still a southerly breeze. it's still going to be mild, but some showery outbreaks of rain and more cloud crossing the country.

7—13 the high. now, the real change will come into the weekend. we lose that southerly flow and the winds swing round more to a westerly. isobars are squeezing together. the breeze will drive in cooler air. so a noticeable difference into the weekend. there will be sunshine. rain at times. not all doom and gloom, but it will feel just that little bit cooler. take care. hello, this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and sally nugent. the chancellor accused of breaking an election promise on national insurance. employed and self—employed alike use our public services in the same way, but they are not paying for them in the same way. philip hammond says his budget announcement makes the system fairer but faces criticism from tory backbenchers about the impact on the self employed. also in the budget, there was the promise of an extra £2 billion for social care and big changes education in england.

i'm here this morning with experts and people affected to see how the announcements have gone down. good morning, it's thursday the 9th march.