“mt: : change here, and the athletics is where the isle of wight is hoping to begina where the isle of wight is hoping to begin a strong performance and guernsey also edging up in the table. this could be the smaller island nations. the cayman islands are one of the favourites in the men's track events and the estonian island is hoping to keep its men's basketball title. another day of competition, the second day of the the island games here in gotland. that is from sportsday with me, tim hague. thanks for watching. i will be back at a quarter past eight with more sport. you're watching bbc news. the government has revealed that 60 tower blocks, covered in supposedly fire resistant cladding, have failed safety tests following the grenfell tower disaster. the department for communities and local government says checks have been made in 25 council areas across england, and so far the failure rate is 100%. 79 people died in the grenfell tower fire in west london 11 days ago, prompting the nationwide review.

former chief fire and rescue adviser sir ken knight said he was impressed by the rate at which tests are being carried out on tower blocks. i think it's going well. the arrangements were set up, as i said, very early after the fire itself. of being able to do with up to 100 tests a day. they have not reached anything like that level, of course. there is no backlog of tests now. it doesn't mean to say there won't be the samples coming in, and the local figures show a worrying result, with some of those tests, but nevertheless the testing has been going at pace. all of those panels that have failed those tests, either the housing authority or the local authority, either has been informed or if they haven't been informed,

will be informed within the next few hours, i understand. they evidently know the urgency of the need to test and that is why the arrangements were putting place. i think they are coming in at the speed that they do. i'm sure, and i can't tell you at the moment out of these 600 that has cladding that needs to be tested, because that is not the issue in all cases, but i think the testing... there is no backlog to the testing procedure or the testing taking place, or indeed in the reporting back of the test results to those involved. so if there are local authorities or housing authorities that have tests yet to be done then the testing facilities are there and ready and waiting to undertake tests. the message it sends out is that they need to ensure that they are safe in all the other ways, so in a clad or unclad building, it is the issues of the fire safety doors, the means of escape being kept clear, smoke detection detection in the flat itself, and people know what to do in a fire, and actually those flats that have had that cladding

and found it has failed are still occupied of course because they have other measures in place, the mitigation measures, to ensure they are safe to stay in the homes. and certainly the public in those homes of course are worried, but they should be able to be reassured by the fire and rescue service and the national fire chiefs council guidance that all the measures are in place and they are safe in their homes. but it is right to say that where all those other measures fail, the local housing authority, the council, may take those steps to evacuate the premises, and in those circumstances the right to do that. they're right to do that. sir ken knight. now its time for meet the author. another martina cole thriller, another number one bestseller. betrayal continues herjourney through the london underworld where, in martina cole's stories, it's the women who are the most dangerous. in this one it's jade who is plotting to become miss big. for 25 years, since dangerous lady, this is an author who has made that world her own. welcome. 25 years since dangerous lady,

martina, and the ladies are still pretty dangerous and rough, aren't they? yeah, i think i like my dangerous ladies, and i also like my dangerous men. i normally write from the point of view of the criminal, as everybody knows, as opposed to the police. i don't really write many police procedurals, so i quite enjoy sort of being on the other side of the coin. the other side of the coin — it's where you've always been, in a way, and the brilliance with which you made these tough women the ones who really ran the show, i mean, was that something thatjust came to you accidentally? you just tumbled into it? you know, i come from a long line of really really strong irish women, so i think that's probably got something to do with it. but also, you know, i'm a very strong woman, and i think that comes across in the books. and also i'm a great believer in women, you know —

we don't get mad, we get even, which i think comes across as well. it's about women being put in extraordinary positions in their lives and making the best of it. betrayal, just out in paperback, is i think the 23rd novel — and betrayal, the title, is the essence of the book. now, i'm not going to give away the plot, but once again it's a woman who's in a position where she can really wield an extraordinary amount of power, and some pretty big rough tough men are actually quite terrified by her. yeah, well, jade is a fantastic character. she was a great character to write. aiden was a really terrific character to write too, who's sort of a love interest... head of the family. but also this is the first time i've ever done sort of the may—december romance, you know, where the woman's older than the guy.

i like my women to be feisty and, you know, i like them to be able to take care of themselves, and i think that's very important. 0bviously you're writing about london and the underworld and so on. do you feel close to that world? i'm not suggesting you're in it! but i mean culturally do you think this is a fascinating pulsating undercurrent of, you know, the world you know? you know, growing up in essex and london... well, without crime there'd hardly be any television programmes. there'd hardly be any books. think about it, you know. everybody wants to know, how do you catch the bad guys? the differences are i don't want my bad guys to get caught a lot of the time, because i end up quite liking them. but, you know, if you look at it, there's so many programmes now on police procedurals, especially on serial killers and all sorts, and i think i probably tapped into that a long time ago, a long time before women were writing my kind of books, because it was always just policemen. there's so many women now writing books about criminals. and do you find a lot of your readers are women who rather enjoy that sense of, you know, the power

being handed over? you know, my readership‘s now about 50—50. i'm still the most requested books in the prison system, and i'm still the most stolen books from shops, which i always find quite... why do you think? even in scotland, in the male prisons, i'm the most requested author. and i take that as a compliment, because these are the people that i'm writing about. and if they think it's realistic, then obviously i must be doing something right. have you done talks in prisons? oh, yeah. i've been doing prison workshops for 25 years. and what do you make of it, when you go inside and face them?

it depends. i mean, i was in barlinnie twice last year. i've done a couple of writing classes in there. i do most of the big prisons. i've done belmarsh for years, wandsworth, holloway — it's been closed now, thank god, it was getting really old. but i do a lot of women's prisons, men's prisons. i do the writing class. i also encourage reading. i've done the six book challenge and i'm still ambassador for that, to go in and get people reading — notjust in prisons, but in the workplace. of course. it's just about getting people back reading books. when you're in a prison, and you're with some fairly ha rd—boiled characters, and presumably you don't know their real names, or what they've done... yeah, you know who they are. some of them you've obviously heard of, but i've never ever asked anybody ever what they've done. no. i think people think you go in and they tell me all their stories, but they don't. i go in there and i do an actual writing class. questions and answers — they ask me things they want to know. and i must admit there have been times when i have known the people in there, and they've gone,

"hello, do you know..." and i go, "oh, hello." laughter. but i've got to say, it's very worthwhile. you know, we've got the best education system in the world — it's free, and i'm still shocked at how many young men especially cannot read and write by the time they get to prison. it's shocking. what fascinates you about, you know, the dark side of our lives? well, i think it's what fascinates everybody, i mean, a lot of male authors, you know, with everything from the godfather, and i think what really interests me is, you know, what turns people. and it can be a very narrow line between an ordinary respectable life, if you like, and... yeah, well, they always say that about the police, don't they, and the criminals? they've had such a thin line between them, you know. another little bit and they would be chasing you, you know, and oftentimes police say that, because a lot of police come to signings and things — a lot of police, especially detectives from certain stations around london. what do they say to you? well, they say, "god, it's just so realistic," "it's so believable." and that's what i take as a compliment, you know. how do you think you found that voice, because every author needs a voice, a sort of confident voice

at the beginning... a bit individual, i know, yeah. and you seemed to hit it bang off. i mean dangerous lady, 25 years ago, was an instant bestseller, and you've gone on, you know, with this extraordinary career ever since. did itjust come to you, that way of talking about them, that way of describing things? i think what the secret for me was — i wrote as i spoke, and i wrote the dialect as i heard the dialect in my head. you hear it and it just comes to you? i hear it, yeah. i remember years ago when we were doing dangerous lady as a television series, and johnny woods who directed it, he said, "it was the first book i ever read, martina, where it was just like reading a script. it was like reading a shooting script." he said, "you don't have that much description, but what you have is in how people talk and how they react with each other." he said, "i think that shows." i don't have reams and reams of, you know, if they have long hair or... do you like some of the bent people that you meet? yeah, i mean, very enigmatic. so many people are very enigmatic, you know, and i think people can go either way, you know, and i think more and more the lines are becoming blurred because of what's happened with with bankers and what's happened...

it's a very blurred line now between who people actually think are criminals — people say, you know, "oh, he's a bit of a lad," or "he's a rogue," but the man that'sjust took everybody‘s money in the bank, i think they have a completely different impression. well, that's an interesting philosophical question, isn't it? in betrayal, i mean, you're back in this territory that you know. it's the territory of the street, the territory of the family. it's all in the end about power, and you love to see, in the power game, the women at the top. i do, i can't help it. i do like to see women... i like to think that extraordinary things happen to us, whether we want them to or not. you lose a child, you lose your husband, something terrible happens and you have to pick yourself up and go on, and i like to think that my women have all these extraordinary things happen to them and they come out on top. and i like to think that, you know, we all come out on top. martina cole, author of betrayal, the 23rd book in a series, i suppose, that began with dangerous lady, thanks very much. thank you. hello. good evening. we will start

with a look at the big picture which sees one area of low pressure to the north—east of the uk heading towards scandinavia, then we looked down towards the east for this area heading our way. in between the two there was a bit of a breeze and the amount of cloud. a few showers dotted around as well, mainly into scotland. a line of rain in a few parts of wales and through the midlands. heading south and fizzling out then the skies will be clearing in many places. there will still be a shower or two, in scotland and the north coast of northern ireland but generally dry weather with clear skies. temperatures getting away, major towns and cities hanging on to double figures but dipping down in rural spots to single figures. a

decent start for many. particularly the further east you are, brighter early on. this is the area of low pressure creeping across ireland. the cloud will be thickening up in northern ireland through the morning. the rain will eventually setting and after a bright start in wales and the south—west it will tend to cloud over but elsewhere, a brightly with good spells of sunshine and light winds as well. it should feel pleasant enough out there, particularly in the south—east, temperatures low to middle 20s. even in the north, i7 south—east, temperatures low to middle 20s. even in the north, 17 or so, but notice it is a good deal cooler in aberdeenshire, 14 degrees on the coast. the evening, wet in northern ireland, that rain making progress into the south and west of scotland. getting it what's the north—east as well. some outbreaks of rain in the north—west of london and north wales as well. this is the big picture for tuesday. low pressure in the north of the uk and we have to watch this coming from the new continent because it could contain some heavy, potentially thundery, showers. a lot of cloud on tuesday. watch out for the showers

from the south, as i see the potential of thunder and lightning with those, and outbreaks of rain further north as well. top temperature by this stage down to 20-21d. into temperature by this stage down to 20—2id. into wednesday, some heavy rain across much of england and parts of wales, into southern scotla nd parts of wales, into southern scotland as well. a bit of a breeze into the middle of the week along that north sea coast, so wet and windy here and on the poolside. 0nly 12-13 windy here and on the poolside. 0nly 12—13 degrees in newcastle. all in all this week is looking pretty u nsettled, all this week is looking pretty unsettled, some spells of rain and some of that could be quite heavy and at times it will be quite windy. —— wetand and at times it will be quite windy. —— wet and windy here and on the cool side. this is bbc news. the headlines at eight:

the number of high rise blocks which have failed fire cladding safety checks rises to 60 across 25 local authority areas. so far 100% of buildings tested have failed. if there are local authorities or housing authorities that have issues to be done, deep testing facilities are there and ready and waiting to undertake the tests. the brexit secretary, david davis, says he's "pretty sure" but not certain he can secure a good deal when britain leaves the eu. at least 150 people are feared to have been killed in eastern pakistan after a lorry transporting oil burst into flames. six people including three children have been injured