how well i can finish and that's that really. that's all you can do. but it will be a pleasure to go out on a sunday trying to win a major. cristiano ronaldo captained portugal in their confederations cup draw with mexico in russia this afternoon. it's his first match since those rumours emerged that he wants to leave real madrid. the world player of the year had a hand in the opening goal of the game, setting up ricardo quaresma to score. but with the score 2—1 to portugal in second half stoppage time mexico grabbed a dramatic equaliser — hector moreno with that header. full time score in kazan — 2—2. in group b, cameroon are playing chile in moscow. it is currently goalless. they are just approaching half—time. england were thrashed 64—17 by new zealand in the final of rugby union's world under—20 championship in tbilisi.

the baby blacks completely overawed the young england side and asafo amua scored three of their ten tries, including this interception. scotland took fifth place with a 24—17 victory over australia. wales beat italy 25—24 to finish seventh, while ireland beat hosts georgia 2a—18 for ninth. porsche have won the le mans 2a hours race for a third year in a row. the trio of german timo bernhard and new zealanders brendon hartley and earl bamber were driving porsche‘s number two car, and had been last yesterday. but the number one porsche retired overnight when in the lead, and two of the toyota entries also failed to finish. england blew a three goal lead to draw with argentina in their hockey world league semi—finals in london. goals from mark gleghorne, sam ward and barry middleton, put them 3—0 up early in the third quarter. but, their opponents were far from defeated,

replying with three goals of their own in a four minute spell later in the same quarter. england are top of pool a, above argentina on goal difference. they next play south korea on tuesday. the confederations cup is all about late goals. chile now lead cameroon byi—o. late goals. chile now lead cameroon by 1—0. next, it's late goals. chile now lead cameroon byi—o. next, it's time late goals. chile now lead cameroon by 1—0. next, it's time for meet the author. whether on the page or on the stage, hollie mcnish has made quite a name for herself. her collection, plum, is about the memory of writing verses at school and how they seem now, looking back.

and so it's about all the fears, embarrassments and growing pains of a young girl. welcome. you write very graphically about all these embarrassments of adolescence. do you still feel them, or do you just remember them? i still feel them. i still feel embarrassed about things now, though, so i don't know if it's changed that much. probably the same topics. well, i'm bound to say in this book that if you're embarrassed by them, you're dealing with it by writing them out of your system. well, i always have, i think. because there's no subject that you don't touch, here. no. i don't mind embarrassing myself. i think the only thing i wouldn't want to do is to write about other people. although, having said that, there is a few about my school friends but i have asked

them for permission. one of the things i should tell people about this collection is that you publish lines that you wrote when you were very, very young, at school. and then you write about what it's like to look back on them, in a way. how much were you writing when you were seven, eight, nine? when i was seven, eight, nine, not a huge amount, but i started writing a diary when i was about eight and that was alljust poems. i don't know why, i used to just read a lot of kids‘ poetry. did you ever think that you would be a professional poet? no, i didn't want to be, really. and you enjoy, judging by this collection, these short, pithy, repetitive, very rhythmic poems that sort of hit you quickly? i think this book has got those in it. so this book, i specifically chose poems that i maybe hadn't performed before. so i still write quite a lot and a lot of them are long and windy but i kind of chose the shorter ones.

in short ones, do you often find yourself performing them before you have even written them down? yes, i think of them and then write them down very quickly. and i edit... this book, i have edited it... i worked with a brilliant editor, don patterson, which i've not really done before with my poems, which is probably why they are a wee bit punchier because he said you don't need to repeat that five times! yes, do it four times but not five! yeah. and what about audiences? as a performance poet, i know that's a phrase that covers a multitude of sins, but if we just use it for the sake of it, somebody who comes on and delivers the poems in a very punchy way as part of a gig, what is it that the audiences like? well, from what people have said, they like the honesty in them and i guess they like someone saying things they might consider too rude or that they maybe wouldn't want to talk about. in other words, they want poems that don't seem too artificial or contrived, but actually hit you in the solar plexus?

yeah. and i guess that they can understand. a lot of poetry, you have to read it five times to understand it whereas i think if you are speaking it, that's hard because you can't just ask the person on stage to read it again and again until you get what they're talking about. in a way, what you're doing with these poems, when you said that the embarrassments and fears and eruptions of childhood and adolescence never really go away, you are trying to touch people where it hurts, aren't you? i don't think i'm trying to do anything, really. but you do it. i think you're stirring old memories among people. yeah, i think i am doing that. i guess because most people don't write a diary, most people don't record all these things whereas i did so i guess i can remember them all. you say you started writing a diary when you were eight and most of it was in verse. how long did that go on for? it's going on still, now. really? yeah. the last book i had out wasjust my diaries, about becoming a mum. so all your secrets are there? yeah, so a few of them

i haven't put in. let me ask you, how will you feel when your children are old enough to read that diary? that is the main thing that crossed my head and i wondered whether i should take certain things out of every book i have published, really. that would be cheating, wouldn't it? yes, so i haven't. and actually, if my daughter doesn't like me because i had some strange sexual experience when i was younger, i hope she's more open—minded than that. it's not that they're strange. it's that they're the usual mixture of embarrassment, failure and occasional success that probably most people go through. yeah, i guess most people don't... most people don't talk about them. they certainly don't publish them. most people don't write them down, they're trying to forget them. i think most people want to talk about them. after gigs i find that's the best bit, when i ‘m signing books or talking to people. really? yeah, they just want to tell me their stories. i love it. what do they ask you? they don't ask me, theyjust tell me their stories. that this one struck home because it reminded them of their relationship with somebody?

exactly. or the first time they tried on a bra or being shy at school or whatever it is. you're particularly sharp on that transition to adolescence from the point of view of a girl. and i suppose you were writing in the knowledge that in contemporary society, the pressures, particularly on young women, young men as well, are enormous. that's why i wanted to put those poems in this book, really. ifeel for young girls it's more complicated than anyone because you're told basically at once to be sexy all the time and not have sex all the time. we've got this strange dichotomy, especially with young teenage girls, that i don't think is very fair. and it's rather tough. really tough, yeah. if you look a certain way, you are teased for it. i think it's tough for young boys as well, actually. i don't know what it's like to be a young boy so i didn't write about that! with any good poetry, there's nowhere to hide for the poet. it's all there, isn't it? yeah, it is all there. i really don't know how people are going to take this book but i think i'm probably prepared

for people knowing even more about me. well, you're exposing yourself in the sense that you're going back to your feelings, some of which are very funny, some of which are very familiar to people and for others it won't be familiar. but you're laying it all bare. yes, but i think it's kind of important for me. i'm quite bored of taboos. i don't think they're good, especially as young people are growing up, taboos around your body, around sex, around relationships, i think actually people feeling that they need to keep secret about things... get on with life. yeah, just stop being so ashamed of everything we do and everything we feel and all the lust or whatever it is. i'm just bored of those things being the things we shouldn't talk about. so you really want to just draw the curtains and let the light in. yeah, ifeel like if i'm all right to embarrass myself then it might be helpful for a few people, then i'lljust keep

on embarrassing myself! it does look as if you've enjoyed embarrassing yourself? yeah, it's great. i don't know if the family has! but i've enjoyed it! hollie mcnish, thank you very much. and now to end the programme, hollie mcnish is going to read one of the poems from her collection, plum. "call on me". for all friends. we don't call on each other any more, we all live too far away. and now impromptu visits worry — you might interrupt my day. you do not wake me up on weekends with screams pitched to my bedroom glass. do not ring my doorbell more than once. politer, now. step off the mat. now we must plan to meet in diaries. don't dance in pjs, share the bed. you do not comb my hair for hours to practice plaits. drink tea instead. i love you still, my friends. i count our meetings down like holidays. the dream each time the doorbell rings — it's you, just called to play. good evening. it's been the hottest

day of the year so far with lots of dry, settled, sunny weatherfor day of the year so far with lots of dry, settled, sunny weather for many of us. the best place to head was to the beach, as you can see from this photo. it's really been hot and humid widely. temperatures across the country— 20s, low 30s, with the exception of shetland. that week weather front has been with us for a number of days, producing a lot of cloud and some drizzle. elsewhere, lots of hot sunshine. through the night, that is going to lead to a pretty muggy night. temperatures are widely staying in the mid to high teams for many. a little bit of low cloud and murk close to the coast in the south—west. a weather front

sitting to the north—west, which will slowly drift southwards over the next day. for many, plenty of sunshine and plenty of heat again. widely, high 20s or maybe low 30s again in the south east corner. a slim chance towards parts of lincolnshire and the midlands of catching an isolated shower due to the heat. head to the coast if you like it more refreshing. plenty of dry, sunny weather in the story for many. asimilar dry, sunny weather in the story for many. a similar scotland for parts of scotla nd many. a similar scotland for parts of scotland and northern ireland, though the weather front may slip south and produce a bit more cloud. but drier conditions for the western isles than of late. the weather front continues to push out of scotla nd front continues to push out of scotland over monday night into tuesday morning, bringing a subtle change. the cloud will arrive further south and introduce fresh

air. mid—teens into scotland, mid—20s, but we still keep the heat and humidity to the extreme south. wednesday will be dry, hot and sunny for the south, but the potential for some sharp, thundery showers to move in from the west. a real contrast between the north and south. a similar feel on thursday. hot in the south, but cloudy and fresher elsewhere for many. this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm. as the government pledges £5,500 to everyone that lost their homes in the grenfell tower fire, the leader of the council rejects criticism of it's response. to say that the local authority is not present and that we're not working together with other councils is inaccurate. the mayor of london sadiq khan says the council's efforts have not been felt on the ground. 0urjob is to get alongside the men

held them also to have the capability to provide that long—term support. with the chancellor philip hammond says leaving the european union and it would be a very very bad outcome. portugal declared three days of mourning as emergency services battled in