thank you to all of you who got in touch with us this week. if you want to share your opinions, or even appear on the programme, you can call us. or e—mail newswatch. you can find us on twitter. and do have a look at previous discussions on the website. that is all from us. we'll be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye. hello this is breakfast, with rachel burden and charlie stayt. the conservatives try to play down speculation that taxes will rise if they win the general election. labour accuses the government of planning a tax bombshell, while the liberal democrats say theresa may intends to hit the pockets of white van man. good morning it's saturday the 22nd of april. also heard:

ahead: 50,000 police officers are deployed across france, as security is tightened ahead of the first round of voting in the country's presidential election. we put them in the sport because it is quiet. they will be happy. and they have access to our garden and oui’ they have access to our garden and our neighbour ‘s garden. —— in this spot. a helping hand for hedgehogs — how a village in east yorkshire has take on their closes rivals tottenham, in the first of this weekend's fa cup semi—finals at wembley. and ben has the weather. a decent weekend in prospect. plenty of dry weather. even some sunshine. but there is a big change on the way for the start of next week, something much colder on the way.

all of the details in about 15 minutes. good morning. first, our main story. the conservatives are attempting to play down speculation that they will raise taxes if they win the general election. yesterday, the chancellor, phillip hammond, hinted that the government might abandon the pledge made at the last election not to raise income tax, national insurance or vat. labour and the liberal democrats were quick to jump on what they saw as a change of policy, warning that tax rises lie ahead. 0ur political correspondent, iain watson, reports. all correspondent is in westminster. tax was always going to be a big issue. yes. tax during a general election campaign is a word they don't want to mention. but we are looking for any hints of what might be in statements. yesterday philip hammond suggesting he might want to drop not raising vat, not raising

national insurance, not raise income tax, because he says chances want the flexibility to manage the economy. those three taxes are big revenue raisers. he said he would rather they were not constrained. the lib dems and labour quick to criticise saying it would hit the pockets of white van man. cena tax bombshell lies ahead. although labour have said they want the rich to pay more taxes. —— saying a tax bombshell lies ahead. cast your mind back, it seems a long time ago now, to the budget in march. philip hammond's u—turn very quickly when he intended to raise national insurance contributions for the self—employed. that was ditched. some differences between theresa may and philip hammond on tax policy. we will have to see where we end up when the manifestos, out in the coming weeks. thank you. more than 50,000 troops are being deployed across france in preparation for voting in the country's presidential election after the killing of a police officer in paris.

all correspondent is in paris at the moment. it looks like life returning to some normality, but security will no doubt play a big role over the coming days. security is very tight. it has been ramped up. there are police walking around in this bustling market. but this is a scene of peruvian normality this morning. a very normality this morning. a very normal saturday morning. this is the market, just a stone's throw from notre dame cathedral. today is a day of political silence. campaigning ended at midnight. there are no bombardments from politicians. so the french have a chance to breathe after months of relentless political battles. but the events of thursday night, just a couple of miles from here, on everybody‘s minds. it is

visible in the security presence all around. also because people are wondering what kind of effect that will have on this election. whether it will have an effect on peoples voting intentions, and also what effect it will have on turnout. whether people will be put off from coming out to vote because of the security threat. let's bring you one detail about the victim of thursday night's attack. the man —— policeman was 37. he was actually deployed to the bataclan theatre massacre. he returned there one year later on patrol. he was interviewed by a magazine and he told them, i'm happy to be here, to defend our civic values, and to say no to terrorists. six months later he lost his own life. very poignant dimension to that story. thanks very much. mike pence says a us naval strike group will

arrive in waters near north korea in arrive in waters near north korea in a matter of days. there had been confusion earlier this week over whether the uss carl vinson was heading into the sea of japan or not. however in a press conference with the australian prime minister, mr pence said the us wanted to show north korea it had the resources to secure the region. all options are on the table. let me assure you, the united states will continue to work closely with australia, our other allies in the region and with china to bring economic and diplomatic sanctions to bear on the regime in pyongyang until they abandon their nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. the sun newspaper has printed a formal apology to everton footballer ross barkley. former editor kelvin mckenzie compared the footballer to a gorilla in an article for his column. ross barkley‘s grandfather is from nigeria but the newspaper says a racial slur was never intended. kelvin mckenzie remains suspended from the sun. for the first time

since the industrial revolution britain has gone a whole working day without using coal to generate electricity. national grid said the news was a "watershed moment" in attempts to phase out coal by 2025. taxes on co2 emissions, and the falling cost of renewable energy, have made coal plants less economical in recent years. a nasa probe, flying near the planet saturn is about to set it's self on a path of destruction, as it runs out of fuel. cassini will pass the planet's moon, titan, this morning. but this will cause it to change course and heading straight for saturn's atmosphere where it will be destroyed. it's hoped before it's demise, it will be able to make some last minute measurements of the planet's rings, rotation, and length of day. from take—aways and box sets, to prince george's favourite tv programme, the duke and duchess of cambridge have spoken about their family life together on radio one. the couple were promoting their mental health campaign on the station's chart show as our royal correspondent

peter hunt reports. please welcome to radio i the duke and duchess of cambridge. oh, my god! with a destiny to fulfil, some dj—ing in the meantime. these are royals bringing their message about mental health to a young audience, and a confession about listening habits. i have texted in, yep. under a different name? obviously, i wouldn't tell you who i was. definitely not! what are you doing texting in your car? obviously i stopped in a lay—by. i have not texted while driving, because that is illegal. the princely fan, who seeks shout—outs, and who was castigated when he missed a royal event for a skiing and clubbing trip, loves going to gigs. it's not something you can really do all the time? no, and you know, i've got in enough trouble with my dancing recently, so it's kind of best to keep away from that, to be honest. the price of such airtime, questions that wouldn't have amused victoria, like what takes their fancy for a tv supper. yeah, i'm not so good with the spicy food, though. i'm not good at spice. if you do a takeaway, they must never believe you when you're ordering it to the palace, right? it doesn't usually get ordered to the palace, chris. right, isee.

we tend to go and pick it up, not ourselves. i've got you, got you. go for a little visit around the area. he's not going to go to chicken cottage, is he? laughter the professionals changed. the royals remained, and were set to work. the official chart with greg james and the duke and duchess of cambridge — go. he had 13 weeks at number one, with shape of you, before harry came along and spoiled his easter. sounds familiar! laughter radio bringing together briefly two national institutions, the monarchy and the chart show. so, number one is ed sheeran, shape of you. for a couple facing a life of pomp, this was pure pleasure. when i'm on holiday, would you mind stepping in? to be honest, we could probably do a betterjob. peter hunt, bbc news. how do you think they did? not too bad. it could have been awful. they seemed very relaxed. we will

have the weather in a few minutes time. last december we spoke to the team gb paralympic sprinter libby clegg, who was testing a special pair of goggles to help with her visual impairment. for one family watching it was the breakthrough they were searching for. their ten year old son charlie has a similar condition, so they contacted the doctors involved and he is now the youngest person on the trial. we'll speak to charlie and his mum in a moment but first let's take a look back at libby and her fiance trying out the technology. 0n on one level the goggles act as a big magnifying glass. but there is a lot more. it makes edges of objects sharper and really brings out the contrast between light and shade. darren was keen to have a go at them, too. he's also got a form of macular dystrophy. you have a big spot! you look really old. you are

making me self—conscious. go back to being completely, like... blind.|j can see my tattoos. that's mad. we'rejoined by charlie, his mum helen and also elodie draperi from give vision, the company that developed the technology. good morning to all of you. charlie, good morning. helen, you saw that report, and you thought, do you know what, i think charlie could benefit. it was auntie sarah. she saw it. she jumped onto the phone. we were at school. we didn't see it live. but she said this gadget is going to change charlie's life, didn't she? very long story short. a couple of twea ks, very long story short. a couple of tweaks, contact with kennedy, a trial, and here we are. —— contact with elodie, a trial, and here we

are. explain to us your vision, what you see normally and what difference do the goggles make? without the goggles, everything from far away is way smaller and fuzzier. in the studio, for example, we have the cameras over there, are you able to see the cameras clearly? that is about 12 feet. the writing on the cameras, they would probably be lines with little spaces in. white lines. and with the goggles on, because you use these in the classroom, what difference do they make? the main difference that would make? the main difference that would make is, basically, it zooms in. it's really big. it's not fuzzy. it's really big. it's not fuzzy. it's clear, isn't it? it's really clear and it really helps. we're having a look at you in your classroom. this has made a big difference to you in school, hasn't

it? what difference has it made in your lessons, being able to take pa rt your lessons, being able to take part in normal school life? it's basically, do you want me to help? before the goggles, any access to the interactive whiteboard, or the normal white board the teacher was using, charlie had no chance. he did not see. he would rely on his classmates, and quite recently a teaching assistant that works with him, to help him see what was going on. now, he sits with his classmates, sometimes without adult support at all, and accesses the lesson in real—time. support at all, and accesses the lesson in real-time. brilliant. the same as everybody else. no delay. no additional things written down next to him. it must be great for you to see a success story, to see how it is helping people. it is very rewarding work. in developing this technology, we have enhanced

people's remaining site. people with severe sight impairment. what it does is it improves their visual performance and accuracy. they can see things sharper, they can see things which are further away. they look bulky. i was expecting them to be heavy, but they are not, they are light, what material are they made out of? it depends. we have different types of headsets, because we have different levels of magnification. we have almost ten different headsets. we gave the name of our first use, so this is the charlie. it really depends. —— we gave this the name of our first user, so this is the charlie. it's mostly for people who use a magnifier, or need to enlarge everything, or maybe they don't have very clear vision. it will help them

for indoor activities at home, at work, or at school, for indoor activities at home, at work, orat school, like for indoor activities at home, at work, or at school, like charlie. we can see the moment after moment you tried the goggles for the first time. let's have a look. are you all right? are you just really pleased? that brings it home. one is technology, one is the sheer emotion. what was happening?” technology, one is the sheer emotion. what was happening? i was crying because i'd never seen that thing before. in my mind i was thinking this is so cool. the headset made me experience how to see normally like other people do.

that was harry in that video, my 11—year—old brother. that was harry in that video, my 11-year-old brother. who came in? harry was just in front playing fifa. charlie is normally this close. he was sat on the chair, far away, and experiencing it for the first time. what was that like? my voice was all over the place in that clip. we did not expect it to be so life changing for him and just utterly beyond anything that we could have imagined. lovely to see all of you here this morning. thank you for coming in this morning. charlie you are looking very smart this morning. everyone has said that, even my grandad. libby clegg, the athlete who has inspired charlie, really wanted to be here

but she could not change her training commitments. instead, she wa nts to training commitments. instead, she wants to send you a gig, she is sending you some tickets for the para world championships. she wants to catch up with you. will you go? yes. my grandmother wants her autograph because of all the things she has achieved. we will get it when we meet her in the summer. thank you very much. here is ben with the weather. a fairly good news story for you on the weather front, as far as the weekend is concerned. some of us will get off to a decent —— some of us got off to a decent start, this is a picture from one of our weather watchers. but as you can see from the satellite, not sunny for everyone, some cloud around,

especially over northern scotland bringing showers. though showers will be persistent over northern ireland. sunny skies across england and wales. where we do have the cloud it will break up, we will see sunny spells. they keep the showers over northern scotland which will also be chilly. this afternoon, apm, south—east england, wales, down to the channel islands, through the bristol area, into the west midlands, these areas should see good spells of sunshine. some spells of sunshine across east anglia and the south—east. but the odd chance of catching a shower. chilly close to the east coast, 8 degrees in sunderland. northern ireland sticking with a largely cloudy sky. fairly bright for southern scotland. northern scotland seeing sunshine and showers. wintry over higher ground. breezy and feeling chilly here. some of these showers across northern scotland will continue overnight. largely dry night, it

will get cold enough for a touch of frost, particularly out in the countryside. a chilly start even in the centre of london. not bad news for the marathon runners at the starting line. things should brighten up through the day and things will warm up into the afternoon for those taking time to finish. across wales, bright skies and sunshine tomorrow, but north—west england clouding over. similar stories in northern ireland and scotland. the odd splash of rain. heavy rain in the afternoon from northern scotland. just 6 degrees in shetland. and that is the sign of what is to come for the new week. this area of low pressure swinging across northern and eastern scotla nd swinging across northern and eastern scotland with windy weather, wet weather, and this cold front pushes south and the floodgates open to a cold blast of wind from the north. it'll be like going in reverse with the seasons. chilly weather, wintry showers, even some snow to fairly low levels in some places. that is enough to make us cry for

other reasons, and not good ones. i got very emotional. the general election campaign is just a few days old. 0ne topic already emerging as a key battle ground. the so—called triple lock on state pensions was brought in by the conservative led coalition back in 2010. theresa may has so far refused to guarantee keeping it if she wins the election. while labour has pledged to keep it until 2025. so what is the triple lock? it guarantees that the state pension will rise in one of three ways. either the same as average earnings, keeping the increase in pensioners‘ income at the same rate as those in work or in line with the consumer price index. that's the measure of how much british households are paying for a typical basket of food, goods and services. or it simply goes up by 2.5%. the triple lock guarantees to increase the state pension by whichever of these three measures is highest. so how popular is the policy of looking after pensioners? they've worked through their lives

and they've paid their national insurance, they've paid their taxes, so i think they deserve it as much as anyone else. if you can't look after the elderly, what can you do? if it can be done, stop it for them — they don't need it. a lot of them just put it straight in the bank. earlier the pensions analyst helped us on earlier the pensions analyst helped us on the triple lock. it was introduced to help raise pension income levels. it was necessary. it's been achieving that. the state pension costs the government around £90 billion per year. it's a big chunk of public spending. the triple lock, by giving pensioners the best of those three measures, so it'll a lwa ys of those three measures, so it'll always be running ahead of the rest of the population generally, means that the cost of the state pension would inevitably keep rising if we project forward to the middle of this century. it would add another 196 this century. it would add another 1% of this century. it would add another i% of gdp this century. it would add another 1% of gdp on to the cost of the

state pension. there is an argument that it isn't sustainable in the long term, but it has been doing its job, it is doing itsjob, and really it's a question of how much longer we should keep it for before finding an alternative measure now we have raised the incomes to an appropriate level. he explains that very well. normally it's difficult to stop him. he's got a lot to say. it is about the convocations of the triple lock, the economic factors, but also there is a big political dimension about how you keep pensioners onside during the course ofa pensioners onside during the course of a general election. this is breakfast. time for a look at the papers now. professor of extragalactic

astronomy! how are you? you will be bringing us down to earth. for the first time since the industrial revolution, britain actually went without coal power for a whole day. would you explain that? this means that we have a national grid. whenever you use electricity, you switch the kettle on, you get electricity supplied on demand. but we have to generate that electricity somehow. traditionally the way to do that was to burn coal in coal powered stations. now we have a much more diverse set of ways to produce energy to feed into that electricity grid. we have solarfarms, wind farms, renewables, and nuclear energy. this was the first time for a whole day that the coal power stations were switched off and did not provide electricity into the grid. we managed to supply the

nation's energy without burning coal for a whole day, which is impressive. it's intriguing. your second choice centres on talking. —— —— centres on dorking. there was a dummy device, it did not have nuclear material in it, the plane that was flying over with it, the catch came loose, and it almost dropped it on dorking. why there? it was just the flight path that is the catch came loose. but they dumped it in the thames vestry, which is where it is still today. the uber revolution with taxis has been extremely interesting to observe.

but they are now bringing it to bikes. people in cambridge, there are many bikes. everybody tends to cycle, the way they have tried to bring this is with a chinese company. the idea is they would have bikes around the city. instead of going to a docking station for collection, you just use your mobile phone. this would be different to the boris bikes. that's right. you would pick one up from a lamp post, you would be sent a code to unlock the lock. they are popular in chinese capitals. they are hoping this will take off in britain. and they work as a scheme? there are so many of them, very popular in china, very much the way to rent bikes, so we shall see. lots of people braced for doing the marathon. there is a story about how to deal with that. this caught my eye because it will be music to many people's ears. a

story that has come out from a remarkable santa convention. it is the beer and health symposium in brussels. it says the best way to recover after a marathon is to have a pint of beer and a packet of peanuts. you want to replace lost fluids, potassium and salts, and the salts from the peanuts will do that, as the beer has everything you need, better than an energy drink, apparently. really? ithought they would encourage dehydration. how does that work? i think it's a fine balance. don't go out and get drunk after the marathon, but think about how you replace your lost fluids and lost salts. i did the manchester marathon. there is a beer tent at the end. and it was a glorious sight. did you say it was the beer symposium which has told us that beer is good for us? i thought there might have been something. you need to understand where the story came from. yes, important. and the story

in the daily express? this rolls—royce is up for sale. it is being sold by a cheshire company fought tooth —— cheshire company for £200,000. you can buy a slice of history as well as a beautiful car. the conversations which must have taken place in that car. this was around d—day, this was the staff car which transported field marshal montgomery. rachel is getting quite upset about cassini. it has been in the news lately because they found water on the moon. cassini has been an extremely important probe. exactly. the whole experiment was designed that it would fly into saturn and it would

be destroyed this september. that is pa rt be destroyed this september. that is part of the experiment. data will be taken all the way which will revolutionise our understanding of that planet. but the teams are upset it is coming to the end of the mission. thank you very much. coming up: after that horrific crash at the race last weekend, billy monger lost both his legs. we will talk about his recovery and the motor racing world which is supporting him. hello, this is breakfast with charlie stayt and rachel burden. coming up before 9: ben will have the weather. but, first, a summary of this morning's main news. the conservatives are attempting to play down speculation that they will raise taxes if they win the general election. yesterday, the chancellor, phillip hammond, hinted that the government might abandon the pledge made at the last election not to raise income tax, national insurance or vat. labour and the liberal democrats were quick to jump on what they saw as a change of policy,

warning that tax rises lie ahead. meanwhile the ukip spokesman on immigration has told breakfast that people should vote tactically to get the version of brexit they want. mrs may said the election is about brexit. 0f mrs may said the election is about brexit. of course, we want to ensure that the 17.4 million people who voted to leave get brexit and not a diluted verse of it. so putting country before party, i think we will look at this tactically and look at where i stood a few years ago, i would say to the tory voters there, you can't win the seat, but if you send a ukip candidate to parliament, that person would help theresa may deliver brexit. 50,000 police officers are being deployed across france ahead of the first round of the country's presidential election. terrorism and security went to the top of the agenda on the final day of campaigning yesterday, after a policeman was shot dead by a suspected islamist militant on the champs—elysees. polls on the french mainland open tomorrow. us vice—president, mike pence, says a us naval strike group will arrive in waters near north korea

in a matter of days. there had been confusion earlier this week over whether the uss carl vinson was heading into the sea of japan or not. however, in a press conference with the australian prime minister, mr pence said the us wanted to show north korea it had the resources to secure the region. taliban gunmen have killed more than 70 troops at an afghanistan army base outside the northern city of mazar—i—sharif. a military spokesman said the insurgents were disguised in army uniforms when they attacked soldiers leaving the base's mosque on friday. the taliban said its attackers had set off an explosion, allowing suicide bombers to breach the base's defences. a nasa probe, flying near the planet saturn is about to set it's self on a path of destruction, as it runs out of fuel. cassini will pass the planet's moon, titan, this morning. but this will cause it to change course and head straight for saturn's atmosphere where it

will be destroyed. it's hoped before it's demise, it will be able to make some last minute measurements of the planet's rings, rotation, and length of day. those are the main stories this morning. it is all about the fa cup today and two cracking semi—finals lined p. yes one today, chelsea going head—to—head with tottenham. yes one today, chelsea going head—to—head with tottenhamlj wonder what effect the result could have on them, how that will affect their premier league run. also, because spurs beat chelsea the other week, are chelsea rattled? they are. chelsea have lost twice this month and that was up thinkable before. it will be interesting and that is

where we will start. let's with the tea—time kick off at wembley, where the two best teams in the premier league, chelsea and tottenham, meet in the first of this weekend's fa cup semi—finals. you'll have noticed there's no dan walker on the sofa this morning — that's because he's on fa cup duty with football focus. it's on bbc one at 12 o'clock, when you'll can hear what cesc fabregas has to say about life under chelsea manager antonio conte — here's a taster. he's completely different, completely different to what i'm used to, what i experienced in my career, another philosophy, another type of football. i had to adapt like everyone else to what he wants. and that's it. i'm just trying to play well when i've the chance and show him that i deserve to play. i like to play, football is my life and it is still my life, but i dealt with it in a way that i didn't think i was capable of of. he spoke to me, he has been honest. he's told me what he wants for me. the reasons why i don't play.

what can i do? go home and cry? no, you just go to training, you give your best to improve. i will keep doing it until he has no option but put me on. and that match is live on bbc one and radio 5 live — kick—off at quarter past five. tomorrow it's arsenal against manchester city in the second fa cup semi—final and in the scottish cup, celtic are going for the treble — they're up against their old rivals rangers. the first of the semis is this lunchtime, when the holders hibernian face aberdeen. we've seen off hearts already in impressive fashion, so aberdeen, the second—best team over the last few years, they keep improving every year under derek. they've been to the league cup final already and the semi—final. they've had a good season. but you've got four teams in the competition who can win a trophy and i'm just pleased that we are there. ijust want to go and try to win it

and get into the final first and foremost to do that. we've beaten some good teams along the way. ross county, a tough match against partick thistle and another tough one waiting for us. but you don't get to the finals without tough challenges. we've got another one on saturday, but looking forward to it. the england manager gareth southgate said he was stunned by the death of his close friend and former team—mate ugo ehiogu, describing him as a "gentleman" and a "credit to football". ehiogu passed away yesterday, aged 44, after suffering a heart attack at tottenham's training ground, where he was the club's under—23 coach. but a colossus on the pitch". there was a minute's applause for ehiogu ahead of last night's championship match between norwich and brighton. the game itself was bizarre — the brighton goalkeeper david stockdale scoring two freakish own goals, as they lost 2—0 at norwich.

both times, the ball hit the woodwork before rebounding into the net off stockdale's back. brighton have already won promotion to the premier league. what a big day in manchester city women's history, they face a huge test in the semi—finals of the champions league this afternoon, against defending champions lyon. this is city's first season playing in europe's top club competition whereas lyon have reached five of the last seven finals — winning three. you can watch highlights of the first leg on the women's football show, tomorrow evening at ten to midnight, on bbc one. widnes are still bottom of the super league despite their first home win of the season. they were trailing st helens going into the final few minutes but a late try from patrick ah van gave them victory by 16 points to 14. the 2015 world snooker champion

stuart bingham has been knocked out of this year's tournament by kyran wilson. wilson had the upper hand for most of the match and had a clear lead when bingham made a hash of this attempt at a pot — allowing wilson to clear up and complete a 13—10 win and become the first player into the quarter—finals. and five—time champion ronnie 0'sullivan will resume his second round match this morning against another former winner shaun murphy with a 10—6 lead — he needsjust three more frames for victory. ellie downie has made history, becoming the first british gymnast to win all—around gold at the european championships. she was in second place going into the floor routine in romania — her final discipline of four — and beat hungary's sofia kovacs into second place. downie will compete in every individual final over the weekend as well. i started the vault

differently this time. that went well, the bar went well, the beam was pretty tricky and on the floor i try to not watch anyone else on the floor and go up and focus on myself. after the second stumble, i was like, i'm not sure if it's enough. but i would have been happy with second, then when the score came through i was speechless. i don't have words! britain's fed cup team face romania in a crunch world group play—off game. a win, and gb would be back in the world group for the first time since 1993. heather watson is on court first, against world number 5 simona halep — followed by britain's own top ten playerjohanna konta. we have got such a strong team, such a strong i guess team spirit, that i think that's enough to pull each other through this week. you always hope for a home tie, but the fact it is a sold out arena makes it more exciting and puts us on stage and all of us like playing on the big stages. you can follow the action on the bbc

web—site. you can follow the action on the bbc web-site. the former champion illya nastase is in problem for making excepts about a woman player's pregnancy. more than 700 thousand pounds has been raised to support a teenage racing driver who's had both legs amputated after a crash. billy monger who's 17, was airlifted to hospital from donington park after he hit another car on the track last sunday. joining us now is alice powell, who coaches billy and was there last sunday when he crashed. how is billy coping with the

injuries, how is he doing in hospital? well he is very determined is billy. he is taking it as well as he can. i don't think anybody can prepare for the news that he has had to deal with. he is already desperate to get back in a car and pretending his driving and seeing how he can use the hand clutch. he is being positive. he has his wonderfulfamily is being positive. he has his wonderful family around him. is being positive. he has his wonderfulfamily around him. so he is doing well. as i said, a just giving page has been set up. have you been surprised by how the racing community has come together? yeah, it's, the racing community is one big family. 0k there is rivalries, but it is nice when people come together to help somebody who has

got serious injuries like billy has and it is fantastic the amount of money that has been raised. it has surprised all of us. the target was £260 thousand and we have surpassed that. we are going to keep going and see how much we can raise for billy's future. do you feel like this crash or anything could have been handled differently? this crash or anything could have been handled diffe re ntly?m this crash or anything could have been handled differently? it was one of those fluke accidents really. as many have seen the video footage, he had no time to react to the slow moving car that was moving slow for whatever reason. i believe there is an investigation under way about yellow flags. i was on the pit wall watching the live footage, so i didn't see any yellow flags. there may have been, i don't know. but it's just one of those fluke stents, it's just one of those fluke stents, it -- it's just one of those fluke stents, it —— accidents. it doesn't happen very often. but unfortunately it happened to billy. but he is doing

well and being positive. there will a lwa ys well and being positive. there will always be talk about safety concerns, do you feel like more needs to be done to prevent crashes, how do you feel the safety protocols go on, are you happy with the level of safety at the moment? in formula 0ne, they have more safety procedures, they're travelling high speeds and i hate to say it's got more money. formula four doesn't have as much money. there does need to be an improvement, whether to do with safety cars or virtual safety ca rs with safety cars or virtual safety cars like in formula one. so definitely something needs to improve. i'm sure the msa and the fia are going to take action and get something improved to prevent something improved to prevent something so shocking like this happening again. thank you. great to talk to you. all the best to billy and his family on what must be a harrowing experience. thank you.

best thoughts with billy and his family. but as i said, a massive weekend of sport and we were talking about semi—finals in the fa cup, also in the rugby, in the champions cup. you will be interested saracens against munster. munster in good form. my input trivia-wise into the sport, gloster playing la rochelle and they have a player who weighs 24 stones. that is really big. yes. that is a lot to carry around. he is not a scrum half i take it. no, but all these events taking place today. thank you. the thought of skiing down a mountain at 80 miles an hour might fill most of us with fear

but how about trying it without being able to see? 18—year—old millie knight lost virtually all of her sight at the age of 6 but earlier this year she interrupted her a—level revision to win a first world championship title for a british paralympic skier. mike has been to train with her. meet britain's toughest of teenagers, the fear of doing your a level is nothing compared to racing down mountains at 80 mimp. mph. but at six, milly lost her sight. she has to listen to instructions from her guide. we have had a year working together. ever which day we ski we get better. if he says go, i have to go. you rely on other senses. #123450i it is amazing what

you can do with your other senses. i can't imagine what milly does. she said if you can't see it you can't be scared. in brett, milly has found a perfect guide. he developed his communication skills in the royal navy and now he has steered milly to a world championship gold to confirm themselves as the top pair on the planet. milly's made special goggles to replicate how little she can see. i'm going to put these on and brett is wearing a bright orange jacket and we have got intercome. all i can see is a slither of very fine slither of light and i can't see where my poles are. this is absolutely ridiculous to think of what speeds they get up to like

this. 80mph. can you see me? yes, if i'm tilting my head i can see the orange. am i moving? i'm not moving am i? it was the strangest sensation, like being on an escalator in your sleep. at times i couldn't tell whether i was moving or not. and despite my lack of speed, it still came to a painful end. milly knows the pain only too well, due to concussion she couldn't ski at the british championships and that gave her rivals a chance to steal the limelight. two others became the first to win the over all world cup. we have to be ready for everything, if is there a lump you can't see, you don't get off balance. so soft knees all the time!

0ur visually impaired alpine athletes doing the seemingly impossible. having a visual impairment is restricting off snow. the moment you're on snow, there is an amazing sense of freedom that you wouldn't experience anywhere else. it has grown my confidence as a person and skiing has made me. amazing. sitting, thinking that ta kes amazing. sitting, thinking that takes so much guts. she said, if you can't see it, it can't be scary. not sure i would agree. you're watching breakfast from bbc news. the main stories this morning: the conservatives are trying to play down speculation they're considering tax increases if they win june's general election. 50,000 police officers will be deployed across france for voting in the country's presidential election, after the killing of a police officer in paris. here's ben with a look at this morning's weather.

before ben is here, to tell us it will get cold. this is what it look like this morning. enjoy the moment. i think it is bright and clearfor lots of people, but it is quite brisk and it is going to get a bit chillier, icy blasts, snow even. ben tell us what is to come. you have pretty done myjob! if you think it is brisk today, wait for the new week. i think the advice is make the most of what we have got. for most a decent start to the day. that is the scene from a weather watcher on the wirral. it will be dry this weekend with some sunshine around. not sunny for all of us at the moment. you can see the satellite showing a lot of cloud in northern ireland, parts of wales, the south west, some cloud

across east anglia and the south—east. we are going to see showers in northern scotland and here it will feel chilly. but generally a lot of the cloud will break up and we will see some sunshine. let's look around the country. at 4 o'clock south west england, wales, the channel islands, through bristol to birmingham some sunshine. sunshine in east anglia and the south—east. but don't be surprised if you catch the odd shower here. the east coast of england chilly. but much of northern england chilly. but much of northern england seeing sunshine. northern ireland will hold on to cloud. sunny in southern scotland. but showers in northern scotland and very chilly. tonight some showers continue across northern parts of scotland. most of us northern parts of scotland. most of us will have a dry night with a chilly night and a touch of frost

widely. so a chilly start to tomorrow. but that is no bad anyoning thing for the marathon runners in london. it will warm up with. that is the story for much of england and wales tomorrow, another fine day with sunshine. more cloud in north—west england and northern ireland and scotland and some patchy rain here and for northern scotland, things will turn wet and windy and again just things will turn wet and windy and againjust six degrees things will turn wet and windy and again just six degrees there. and thatis again just six degrees there. and that is a sign of what is to come. through sunday night we see this low pressure winding itself up across the north with windy and wet weather and then into the start of the new week, we follow this cold front and it opens the flood gates to a bitterly cold northerly wind. some very chilly weather it will feel like we have been winding the seasons back into winter. the question for you is can you remember where you left that winter coat?m feels like a long time since that sunny period. it was 25 degrees a

couple of weekends ago. it will feel, and the temperatures during april, we expect them to go up, but they have been going down slowly. it feel like we have gone backwards. we don't like the blue lines. thank you. air pollution, deforestation, poisoned seas and climate change. the story of our natural world can often feel like one disaster after another. today is world earth day and, rather than focus on what's going wrong, scientists are pointing to some success stories, in the hope it will motivate us all to do more. andrew balmford is a professor of conservation science. hejoins us now from cambridge. thank you for your time. this is about the power of thinking positively. yes if we look back to the civil rights movement, martin

luther king inspired the world by saying i have a dream, not saying, i have a problem. in the environment movement we have perhaps let the message predominate that there is a grave problem out there and that's understandable, the world, the natural world, is in trouble and needs us to change what we are doing to for that not to get worse. but we don't inspire people and bring them along with us by concentrating on the negative and the important thing is there are all sorts of extraordinary success stories out there, which which perhaps don't hear about, amazon deforestation is down thirds in brazil over 12 years. china in 2015 has started reducing its carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuel. there are success stories out there that we wa nt to success stories out there that we want to celebrate. this weekend, 25 cities around the world are hosting what we are calling earth optimism

events, where we will celebrate those stories and think about how we can scale up to address the challenges ahead and critically trying to inspire and empower people so trying to inspire and empower people so they can do the many things that make a difference in nair every day lives. it is notjust about professional fixing the problem, lives. it is notjust about professionalfixing the problem, but all of us owning the problem. one reason why people involved in the process have wanted to highlight the perils, the dangers, is to avoid us getting complacent. i'm assuming there is a danger fer you tell people, you talked about deforestation, the good news, people say, that is sorted, we can move on. is that the risk? it is a risk. and i understand that. but there is a need to realign things and address the balance, redress the balance in the balance, redress the balance in the opposite direction. we know from anyonings like road safety campaigns, if you just give people

negative messages, they disengage and go into denial about problems. whereas we need people to feel there are real solutions they need us to do things, but there are real solutions that dewith be part of. can you bring this into people's homes, people at home watching, one of the things that are affecting them that are improving, that are them that are improving, that are the success story they can see, brooeft or feel? so all sorts of things, here in cambridge we are going to be hearing success stories and hearing about solution, we are having a solutions fair, show casing things people can do, whether it is thinking about the food they waste or eating less meat and turning down the heating. those are all contributions they can make. we can all do those things. but then looking out into the natural world, there are then lots of real success stories. today's vents in cambridge,

we are going to be hosting, we are excited to be hosting sir david attenborough and when i was a child and watching nature shows and seeing david attenborough seeing the gorillas in africa, there are only a couple of gorillas left at that time. since then efforts from different organisations have seen the numbers rise. there are now 880 for rhyl whats central africa, thanks to —— go lil ras. for rhyl whats central africa, thanks to -- go lil ras. we have a piece coming up on hedgehogs. are we ata piece coming up on hedgehogs. are we at a good place with them? do you know anything about them?|j at a good place with them? do you know anything about them? i don't know anything about them? i don't know much. we are not in a good place with hedgehogs their numbers have declined. a lot of reasons, i suspect increasing road traffic. it

is easy to drift into the bad news stories, but there are successes too. thank you for that. 52 hedgehogs have been released into the wild after being nursed back to health. residents of burton fleming await new arrivals. they are a bit prickly, apparently, and in desperate need of a fresh start. are you excited? yes. it will keep the grubs down, hopefully. from an animal sanctuary 40 miles away, they finally arrived. 52 hedgehogs, all found sick or injured across the north of england. most of these have come in as babies, and we have hand—fed them, hand—reared them. this one... this one was in a really bad way when she came in.

she was very tiny, very sick. veronica and her husband, frank, run the charity andrew's hedgehog hospital. they believe the village of burton fleming, now considered hedgehog—friendly, will give the animals the best chance. 0ur village doesn't have major roads around it, and hedgehogs need to travel and get around different gardens. providing everyone puts a hole in the garden fence, to make sure they can move around, we hope that the numbers will improve. we are going to be putting the hedgehogs in our garden, because i have three little boys who have never seen a live hedgehog before. look at his face. do you like him? assessing hedgehog numbers is tricky, but in the 19505, it is thought there were around 30 million in britain. but now, conservationists believe numbers have plummeted to under 1 million. we are taking all the hedgerows away, which is what the hedgehogs

need. roadkill, slug pellets, trimmers, bonfires. they have a tough time. the hedgehogs are temporarily marked as male or female, so they can be released in pairs, and then it is time to say goodbye. 0h, sweetheart. they are all out having the time of their lives. we have been through so much with them. but they are now out where they should be. they are wild animals, we know they have to go. we know everyone in the village will be looking after them. other villages aiming for hedgehog—friendly status include windlesham in surrey and portreath in cornwall. we put them in this spot because it is very quiet, and they will be happy here, and they have access into our garden, into our neighbour's garden.

dusk. time to let the hedgehogs go. what is it like when you see a hedgehog returned to the wild? it is what we aim for. our whole purpose in life is to take an injured or sick hedgehog, make it better, and return it back into the wild. all ready to go. to nature, it is hoped, back for good. everyone loves a hedgehog. all the headlines coming up. hello this is breakfast, with rachel burden and charlie stayt. the conservatives try to play down

speculation that taxes will rise if they win the general election. labour accuses the government of planning a tax bombshell, while the liberal democrats say theresa may intends to hit the pockets of white van man. good morning it's saturday the 22nd of april. 50,000 police officers are deployed across france, as security is tightened ahead of the first round of voting in