from tyne cot that brings to an end to the official commemorations here in belgium. the battle 100 years ago on the fields of flanders left behind the shattered, broken landscape and in its wake of a million men killed or wounded. passchendaele touched the lives of so passchendaele touched the lives of so many families from all corners of the earth. they lost fathers, brothers, sons and uncles. and so on this centenary, in the words of siegfried sassoon, we look down and swear by the slaying of the war that we will never forget. for now, from my guests here at tyne cot, i say thank you to them for their contributions and to the entire bbc tea m contributions and to the entire bbc team who have brought all this coverage from belgium. thank you, goodbye. remembering the fallen, one hundred years after the start of the world war i battle of passchendaele,

commemorations are taking place in belgium. this is tyne cot cemetery, most of those buried here died in the 3 months of fighting near ypres. members of the royal family and the prime minister are here for a special service to remember those who fought and died here in one of the bloodiest battles ever fought. the battle we know today as passchendaele would last for over 100 days. we remember it's not only for the rain that fell, the mud that weighed down the living and swallowed the dead, but also for the courage and bravery of the men who fought here. four thousand guests have been invited to attend, among them descendants of those who fought and died, here today to honour their sacrifice. studio: and in other news this lunchtime. ministers insist they can deliver thousands more mental health staff in england, despite questions about whether it's feasible. like all times, it will be

challenging to deliver it but we are determined to hold true to our promise, to transform mental health services. bbc presenter vanessa feltz says she's upset and hurt by a sunday times column suggesting she's well paid because she's jewish. and not on the pitch but in court, cristiano ronaldo gives his testimony as he faces accusations of tax fraud. coming up in sport: england close in good afternoon from tyne cot cemetery in belgium,

where commemorations have just taken place to mark the centenary of the start of the battle of passchendaele, it was one of the bloodiest of world war one. around half a million allied and german soldiers were killed, wounded or went missing in three months of fighting. as the battle raged, torrential rain fell, many of the soldiers simply drowned in the mud, their bodies were never found. this afternoon prince charles, the duke and duchess of cambridge havejoined 4000 guests to remember the sacrifice made by so many in a battle that has come to symbolise the horror of world war one. robert hall reports. there are few more peaceful places than the gentle slope of tyne cot and today among the white

headstones, families look back gci’oss headstones, families look back across the years, to another big push. at ten to four in the morning, less than five miles from here, thousands of men drawn from across britain, france and the commonwealth attacked german lines. the battle we know today as passchendaele would la st know today as passchendaele would last for over 100 days. we remember it is not only for the rain that fell, the mud that weighed down the living and swallowed the dead, but also for the courage and bravery of the men who fought here. tyne cot overlooks the rolling farmland, streams and woods that were once no man's land. a scar of liquid mud and stagnant, stinking craters. this

rare film, held by the australian national archive, gives a sense of the struggle to gain ground as more and more men were thrown into the attack. bert ferns was with the second 6th lancashire fusiliers, hejoined at 18, struggling up slimy duck boards. we were very often taking a quarter ofan hourto we were very often taking a quarter of an hour to move a few yards. fellas were sliding off them, falling into shell holes. we got some out, i'm afraid there were some we could not get out, and the point was, was it worth risking two men's lives to save one? private edward michael batten. d company, 45th battalion... private

james munro, one south african infa ntry james munro, one south african infantry regimen. my great—great—grandfather. .. my great great—great—grandfather. .. my great great uncle... voices and stories from around the world, in an army that came to ypres, men from distant corners of the empire fought and died alongside each other. bert began his attack here, decide the german bunker that now lies within tyne cot cemetery. the lancaster fusiliers made their way uphill towards passchendaele village, and a spot which bert later said he would never forget. we came across, would have been about 100 yards square, of bodies. that had been caught

in an artillery shrapnel attack. they were absolutely massacred. tyne cot may not see an event of this scale again, it has been a place of pilgrimage for a century, and it is likely to remain so for generations to come. well the ceremony finished a short time ago, and as it came to a close there was a flypast by the belgian air force. the f16s flew in a missing man formation to honour all those who were wounded, died or went missing in northern belgium. with me is dr glyn prussor, from the commonwealth war graves commission, who's been involved in organising the event.

incredibly moving ceremony that took place. particularly reflections from soldiers on both sides, british and german soldiers, letters written home during the battle, particularly moving. the conditions they were fighting in as it began, 100 years ago, could not be more different than today, blue skies, sunshine, 100 years ago, heavens opened, and these fields were turned into mud. the first day of the battle, the artillery bombardment, 11.5 million shells destroyed the very delicate water management and drainage system. the mud defined the battle, not continue throughout the battle, in september and october the rain stopped, the ground dried up and the british were successful, causing huge casualties and a huge crisis of morale, then the rain returned, and not far from morale, then the rain returned, and not farfrom here, the morale, then the rain returned, and not far from here, the village of passchendaele came to some of the worse of world war i. large numbers

of descendants were here, watching the ceremonies, a big event for the centenary, do you think this act of remembrance will continue in decades to come? i think it is very important, a very emotional moment, i moving occasion, for all of the rest of us. also important to try to understand what happened, a complicated war, a complex war, it is important that alongside that emotion, we try to comprehend and understand, for me that is at the heart of true remembrance. among the 4,000 people here this afternoon are 100 british teenagers brought to belgium as volunteers by the youth programme, the national citizen service. earlier i went into the cemetery to meet two of them. morgan, what made you want to come here? at first, i thought this would be an amazing opportunity for young people to get involved but as i was making my research, i realised i had such a personal connection, not only to the war but all of my ancestors who fought in the war. tell us about

the role they played here. one of my grandmother's uncles, he fought in the battle of passchendaele, and died on the 26th of september, 1917. he survived a long time. even what happened to so many of these men, it is difficult to imagine, standing here today, the battle started 100 yea rs here today, the battle started 100 years ago today, to imagine what those men went through. we have been lucky enough to have a few tours of cemeteries and the numbers are getting to us, we cannot get our head around them, something that has impacted on me, i am a similar age toa impacted on me, i am a similar age to a lot of the soldiers who fought, and 100 years ago this would have been me, this would have been asked fighting, it is important to keep young people involved. —— this would have been asked fighting. you came here and had a surprise when you discovered your own connection.” thought this would be an opportunity to meet old friends, make new friends, but when i began my research, but i found i had a

relative, that was my great grandmother's cousin, and so it was really nice to find a connection with the event, before i had no idea. you have spent the past few days escorting some of the descendants of the people who fought here, around these events, what has that been like? it has been quite warming, hearing other people stories, i have my own story but it not compare to those i have heard, amazing how much time has been put into people's research, and hearing what they have come for. to be here to commemorate, it is amazing. people find it incredibly moving, there is a strong connection, you see your name, you spot an ancestor, poignant moment. everybody has a connection with this whether they know it or not, somebody from their village, their town, a young person going out of their way to look for somebody to connect with in the war, i think it is something that everybody can connect to, and it

bonds us all. hopefully i am hoping that with all the cross generation work, we can work to not let something like this happen again. this is the centenary, what happens next, it is your generation that must keep this alive. especially with the involvement of the national citizen service, i hope that people can understand they are so vital to these commemorations, it is important to have all generations working together to ensure this does not happen again. do you think it will be possible to keep people fascinated and remembering events like this. the amount of involvement we have had even 100 years after, it will continue for many more years to come, it is essential. thank you very much, max and morgan. two young teenagers whose ancestors we re two young teenagers whose ancestors were fighting near 100 years ago at the battle of passchendaele. we'll have more from tyne cot cemetery later in the programme, now though, it's back to you reeta. studio: the government has pledged

to recruit another 21,000 mental health workers in england over the next four years. the health secretaryjeremy hunt says it's time to end the "historic imbalance" between mental and physical health services, and wants an extra one million people to be treated by 2021. the royal college of nursing says more money is needed to be able to train new staff on time. here's our health editor hugh pym. voiceover: v0|ceover: underfunded and not prioritised, mental health care has suffered in recent years according to campaigners and charities, with patients often experiencing long wait for nhs treatment. the government says that is changing with new investment and an expansion of the mental health workforce in england. we have worked out exactly how me more doctors, nurses, therapists we need, we have worked out where we think we can get them from, and like all plans it will be challenging to deliver it but we are determined to hold true to our promise to transform mental health services. the plan involves an extra

21,000 mental health staff in england by the 2020 financial year, including children's services, adults talking therapies and crisis care. 0fficialfigures show adults talking therapies and crisis care. official figures show that there was a fall in the number of mental health nurses of more than 6600 between 2010 and 2016. the move has been welcomed by the royal couege has been welcomed by the royal college of nursing, though leaders are sceptical about what can be delivered. how are we going to do that in such a short timescale when other government policies are getting in the way of that. we already know we have one in ten posts in mental health vacant, we will fill those as well as putting additional nurses in. mental health campaigners say it is a step in the right direction. because mental health services have been underfunded for such a long time, this initiative will not help us time, this initiative will not help us to achieve the parity of esteem that so many of us want, but it will

set the foundations to be able to look forward to a future where mental health is treated on an equal footing to physical health. labour argued that by keeping the lid on public sector pay, the government was making it harderfor the nhs to recruit and retain staff. to expect people going to flock when there is nothing being done about pay, where there are real workload and morale problems, it is just there are real workload and morale problems, it isjust not realistic. a key pa rt problems, it isjust not realistic. a key part of the government's plan is to encourage psychiatrists and mental health nurses who have left the nhs to return. whether that can be achieved is far from clear. and hugh is here now. — how realistic is this target? there are many uncertainties over it. a number of nhs trusts in england have said it is difficult to recruit staff right now. so this policy is extremely ambitious. it has also been pointed out that in england, new nurse trainees from september will have to start paying their own tuition fees and they will

have to borrow the money, and there has been a decline in application forms for that position. there is a public sector pay cap, 1% pay which many would argue has deterred people from going intojobs like this many would argue has deterred people from going into jobs like this and which has led to some people rethink, a big debate going on about that in government. whether that is changed or not. so a number in the health world saying, yes, this is a very welcome move, but it is an aspiration and it has to be delivered before anyone can say it is going to make a huge difference. the governor will say in the past, money has been promised, but no proper workforce planning has gone ahead. this time, it is different, it has been given the right parity. but it is not new money, it is already in the nhs england budget and whether it does result in 1,000 new posts by 2020 is highly uncertain as things stand now. thank you. the prime minister's spokesperson

has insisted the free movement of people will end when the leaves the european union. downing street said it was wrong to speculate on the sort of immigration system which would need to be permitted after brexit. norman smith is at westminster, and there are so many different messages coming out of government, what is going on. there has been a veritable hubbub of rival ministers setting out their different takes on brexit, with former remain ministers the loudest, with the chancellor saying there may need to be a three—year transitional period after we leave in march 2019, the home secretary saying eu migrants might still be able to come for a period of two years as long as they register, and you sense downing street has said, in of! stop the bickering! with the prime minister's spokesperson saying the plan remains

as set out by theresa may at the start of the year, freedom of movement will end when we read. it is not going to continue in all but name, and we will not have an off—the—shelf trade deal keeping us in the single market. it looks like an attempt by number 10 to reassert control. the real question is whether ministers pay heed. norman, thank you. russia's president putin has ordered that hundreds of staff working for the us diplomatic service in the country must leave theirjobs. the move comes after the us congress imposed tough new sanctions on moscow. washington has branded the decision "regrettable and uncalled for". several people have been killed in clashes in venezuela during the country's controversial election. president nicolas maduro has claimed victory — calling it the biggest vote ever for the revolution. he wants to put in place a new constituent assembly, with powers to rewrite the constitution. the opposition boycotted the vote and at least ten people died in clashes between police and protesters.

willgrant is in the capital, caracas. the election appears only to have added to venezuela's problems? that is right, this was the bloodiest election day in living memory. in venezuela. and as you say, it is completely compounded existing problems. the government says around 41.5% of the electorate turned out to vote for them. and they are taking that as a resounding victory. but most venezuelans, i think not watched in disbelief when that result was announced. they simply do not believe that many people turned out in support of the government, given the disillusionment, the anger, the frustration on the streets, the long queues for basic foods and the violence. nicolas maduro have has a

serious problem in terms of the credibility of the vote and of governing venezuela, moving forward. thank you. the time is 13:20. our top story this lunchtime: remembering the fallen — 100 years after the start of the world war i battle of passchendaele, commemorations are taking place in belgium. coming up... three wickets and counting. south africa clinging on as england chase victory at the 0val. coming up in sport: it's straight back to training for england's women, after an historic win over france puts them through to the semifinals of the european championship. one of the world's highest—paid sports stars, cristiano ronaldo, has appeared in court in spain, accused of defrauding the authorities of millions of pounds in tax. prosecutors say the real madrid

star used a company to hide his true income. ronaldo has allegedly evaded paying more than £13 million in tax since 2010. his earnings last year amounted to £72 million — which included his salary, bonuses and endorsements. ronaldo has denied the allegations, saying in a previous statement that his conscience is clear. let's go live now to madrid and to our sports news correspondent, richard conway. what's happened this morning? there has been quite a bit of drama outside the courtroom at the very least. inside, it was a closed session, cristiano ronaldo appearing beforejudges, who will session, cristiano ronaldo appearing before judges, who will decide session, cristiano ronaldo appearing beforejudges, who will decide if in due course these allegations will proceed to a full trial, we will note that in due course. but he arrived via a side door and he did not go through the waiting media. but his employer real madrid, an

employer who are quite worried that perhaps ronaldo will leave because the player is very angry over these allegations, he said indeed, he would leave spain, such was the anger about the allegations. real madrid put on a big show and they brought in a sound system and said ronaldo would be addressing the world's media when he finished, giving testimony, and so we waited. but a lawyer for him appeared and said he had gone home and he would not be appearing here today, read into that what you will, a fine of £22 million awaits him and potentially a three—year jail term, theoretically, it would be difficult to see if he would be jailed. but a big fine awaits if he is convicted. so no word from ronaldo today, he has gone away and we wait to see if this tax case will proceed into a full trial. richard, thank you. 0ffering hiv tests to people when they register with a gp is cost—effective and could save lives, according to a new study.

patients at a0 gp surgeries in hackney, in london, were given finger—prick tests when they signed up. the research, by two london universities, suggested the tests should be rolled out to all the 7a local authority areas in england with high rates of infection. the bbc presenter vanessa feltz has said she was "extremely upset" by a sunday times column, which suggested she earned a high salary at the corporation because she wasjewish. she described the piece, written by kevin myers, as "so obviously racist, it's surprisingly hurtful". 0ur media editor, amol rajan, is here. remind us of the background to this. yesterday, in the irish edition of the sunday times, there was a call bya the sunday times, there was a call by a controversial list by somebody who is a regular contributor to the sunday edition of the irish times, kevin myers, and he wrote how bbc stars are paid and in that list, va nessa stars are paid and in that list, vanessa feltz and claudia winkleman,

who arejewish, were reported. kevin myers said they were paid that much, he implied it was because they were jewish and he said jewish were not known for having lower salaries and is demanding less money. he said these things about how men deserve to be paid more because they are seldom found to be pregnant. it was intellectually incoherent and the question people would ask is how this got through. the usual process, i know this from a daisy newspapers, is the editor on the desk says, what do you think about writing? the columnist writes it and you check it with a headline to your editor. there is a question about how the irish edition allowed a column that was anti—semitic and misogynistic to make it onto the page. we can hear what vanessa feltz had to say right now. when you write something, it's read by the sub—editor... yes. it's read by the features editor. it's usually read by whoever it is... in the old days, it was setting to print but, you know, putting it... yes.

arranging it on the page. it's read. and then it's read by, supposedly read by the legal team and the editor. it's not like you just write it and the next minute, it's in the paper all by itself. that's not how it works. indeed. so i said ijust couldn't understand how all those layers of command had allowed something so blatantly racist to be put in the paper. what is likely to happen now? i have spoken to people at the sunday times and news international and they said kevin myers is no longer going to write for the irish edition of the sunday times and i would be amazed if he ever writes for a news international, the owners of the sunday times, if he ever writes for their publications again. many thanks. it's day five of the third test, and england's cricketers need four wickets to beat south africa at the oval. the pressure on the visitors intensified after toby roland—jones took two wickets in quick succession. south africa are trailing by 320 runs. 0ur sports correspondent, joe wilson, is at the 0val this lunchtime. yes, england came into this test match looking for some answers after

a heavy defeat in the last test match. they picked three new players. they are here in a dominant position on monday afternoon, starting the day needing six wickets, south africa needing to bat out the day for a draw. you could forget about the school, unless it was a £20 note. £20 got you for the kids, £1, this way, please. it's certainly tempted some, it created a queue, the very best of test cricket was on offer. south africa could not rely on the weather. is that a blue sky? nobody holds up placards celebrating stoic defence, but that is what the situation demanded. dean elgar batting, do not show them you are hurting! infant had not taken a wicket, in ken toby roland—jones, the man who makes things happen, the umpires said no. inman said review, inspired decision. bavuma was gone, he faced 97 balls. philanderfaced

one. now toby roland—jones on his debut going both barrels for the hat—trick. it did not carry! very nearly! if it was a bruising fight, dean elgar was still fighting, he reached 100. england is needed is to be patient as well, remember that ru ns be patient as well, remember that runs do not matter. south africa's victory target was purely theoretical. what counted was getting the batsmen out and elgar was playing like a man who saw life after lunch. by the very last ball before the break, chris morris went. three more to take for england. and shortly, south africa resume in the second innings on 205—7, is there any chance of the rain coming to their rescue the to frustrate england? not where i am standing, it does not look like it. thank you. the person who can answer that is

with me now. here's jay wynne. this was the view in kent from a weather watcher, patchy cloud in the distance. but this was the lovely double rain will captured in wales and you need rain to have a rain will. and we have showers and some sunshine. midweek, wetter weather spreading across the country. then it turns breezy as we return to sunshine and showers. low pressure to the north west of the uk. that is driving the weather. the closer you are 2% of the low pressure, that is where the showers will be at their heaviest, so wettest in scotland, northern ireland, some thunder and few showers in the south east. largely dry here. further north and west, ru m bles largely dry here. further north and west, rumbles of thunder and hale mixed in with showers, but further spells of sunshine and temperatures in the upper teens. similar in northern england. sunny