this is bbc news. the headlines at 3.00: after meeting theresa may in downing street the european council president donald tusk, says there has not been sufficient progress in brexit talks but that he's pleased the uk is adopting a "more realistic tone". this shows that the philosophy of having a cake and eating it is finally coming at an end. jeremy corbyn says the shadow chancellor is right to look into a scenario where there could be a dramatic fall in the pound if labour came to power. tensions between north korea and the us have worsened after pyongyang accused president trump of declaring war. thousands of children harmed in the womb by the epilepsy drug valproate — some of their mothers begin giving evidence at a public hearing in london. also this hour... the dangers of school rugby? gon on, say you've never

loved anybody else? i've never loved anybody else, shall i go and get your slippers? one of the biggest stars of the small screen for more than 30 years. liz dawn, who played coronation street's vera duckworth has died at the age of 77. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. donald tusk, the european council president is at downing street for talks with theresa may. he said he welcomed a new constructive and realistic tone from the british government saying he thought the uk had abandoned the

idea of having its breadstick cake and eating it. this is what he had to say. i feel cautiously optimistic about... the constructive and more realistic tone in the prime minister's speech in florence and of our discussion today. this shows that the philosophy of having a cake and eating it, is finally coming at an end. at least, i hope so. and so that is good news. of course, no one will ever tell me that brexit is a good thing, because as i have always said, in fact, brexit is about damage control and i didn't

change my opinion. i feel now we will discuss our future relations with the uk once there is a so—called sufficient progress. that the sides are working and will work hard at it, but if you ask me and today, member states ask me, i would say there is no sufficient progress yet. but we will work on it. 0ur political correspondent chris mason is in downing street for us now.

he says there is cause for optimism so he says there is cause for optimism soiam he says there is cause for optimism so i am hoping he know something we don't? that is what is intriguing, the snippets of commentary, which is all we get and all we can expect to get as the negotiations go on, in terms of the analysis from both sides as to how much progress has been made without knowing in any detail exactly what's being discussed in private. it was striking listening to donald tusk on he was hesitant, understated and quietly spoken, because those others listening to him in front of the microphone could barely hear what he was saying. this that tone and demeanour, he was very clear. firstly, he set the tone was useful from the prime minister in florence last week, he doesn't share the optimism theresa may wanted to articulate that brags it can be a

good thing for both the uk and the european union. he was clear he sees it as european union. he was clear he sees itasa european union. he was clear he sees it as a negative for both. also clear he doesn't think sufficient progress has been made in the talks and that wording is crucial, because it is the wording the eu has set down that the barrier and the uk have typically be for discussions about the future relationship can begin. he said that moment hasn't been arrived at. overall, what we have to look at what donald tusk is saying and what will hear from david davis and michel barnier in their news c0 nfe re nce davis and michel barnier in their news conference on thursday, is, did that foreign speech last week from the prime minister actually work? the answer at this stage is that it seems to have worked up to a point. the eu appear to have liked the tone of the speech, the loss of, as they see it, references to having your ca ke see it, references to having your cake and eating it and all that kind of thing. the crucial thing is, can the florence speech unlocked that

next age of the go see asians? as things stand, it hasn't. what was theresa may hoping to gain by having lunch with donald tusk, when donald davies and michel barnier were downbeat about any progress? she is keen to keep talking to anyone amongst the power brokers around the european union. wealth michel barnier is the chair of those talked representing the member states, there are other voices that clearly she wants to have a frequent and open dialogue with. the other day she spoke on the phone to jean—claude juncker, another power broker in brussels, alongside michel barnier. we were told at a briefing of westminster journalists the barnier. we were told at a briefing of westminsterjournalists the other day she has made frequent calls to other european leaders are among the 27 remaining countries. she happy

irish prime minister here in downing street as well. it is carrying on having those conversations and ensuring from the british perspective, those people are hearing what the uk is saying in these private negotiations. we have occasionally seen suggestions the british government wants to talk directly to the individual member states and go over the head of brussels. but it has to happen in parallel, they can talk to the heads of the member states as well as speaking to brussels. we were told theresa may and donald tusk met at the un general assembly last week and that is when the arrangements we re and that is when the arrangements were made for him to make the visit to downing street. both sides want to downing street. both sides want to see the progress and the pace of these talks quicken and appointments like this in the middle of a week when the real stuff is going on in brussels, are at least to some

extent, an indicator about. whenever anybody comes out to speak, you have to get down on your knees and crouch? yes, as is the story of my life, always the last to the party, turn up about five or ten minutes before donald tusk leads and i am now ina before donald tusk leads and i am now in a deserted street and who knows, donald tusk will be halfway back to brussels on the train. thank you, chris nations. —— chris mason. the shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, has said labour is preparing for government with "war game type scenario planning", including what to do if there were a dramatic fall in the value of the pound. he was speaking last night at a fringe meeting in brighton organised by the campaign group, momentum. 0ur political correspondent iain watson reports from the conference. is this the day the labour party changed definitively? the conference is voting to give mps less power, and members more say in future leadership elections. policy is changing, too. labour is now an anti—austerity party, commmited to opposing spending cuts and pay restraints. and at a fringe meeting last night, the shadow chancellor seemed to suggest this

is creating new enemies. plans would be needed to oppose a tax on a left—wing labour government, including a potential run on the pound. we will face all the challenges that i am sure you discussed before i got here and paul mentioned as well. and we have got a scenario plan for those. that is exactly what we are doing at the moment, bringing the relevant expertise together at every level to talk through what happens if, what happens if there is such and such reaction. what if there is a run on the pound? what happens if there is this concept of capital flight? i don't think there will, but you never know. so we have got a scenario plan for that. and this former shadow minister thinks the threat could be real. if you look at history, you will see that history has shown that sometimes big business, corporations, the city, don't always look favourably on a labour government. especially a labour government that is talking about

a re—negotiating the kind of social compact within our society and economy — trying to make it far more equitable. so what has been going on in the labour party? why would it be potentially facing such threats? the campaign group, momentum has been credited with shifting the party to the left. two years ago, this group didn't even exist. it was set up to keep the spirit ofjeremy corbyn‘s first leadership campaign alive. but now, it is increasingly influential, no longerjust on the fringes of the labour party conference but taking part on the conference floor. but at the activists insist it is all about democracy. it is significant on the basis of internal party democracy. it is giving more power to members, more choices, rather than it being done by parliamentarians. as a measure of how labour has changed, many mps opposed jeremy corbyn‘s leadership, aren't even trying to resist further reductions in their power. so labour is changing, and its leadership is now saying openly that they need to plan for potentially more hostile opposition than any recent

government has faced. in the last few minutes the labour leaderjeremy corbyn has been speaking to our political editor laura kuenssberg. your shadow chancellor suggested last night, you might have two prepare for a run on the plan, prepare for a run on the plan, prepare for a run on the plan, prepare for the prospect of people taking money out of this country? why would people do that? now, today in the treasury there is a whole team of incredibly brilliant people looking at speculation against the pound, looking out runs on the pound, looking out runs on the pound, and economy because those exchange rates make a difference. john is making the point, you have got to look at all these things and all of these scenarios. i recall reading an interesting book by clive ponting, who was a civil servant in the 1970s, and how the wilson

government had to deal with speculation against the pound which was damaging to the programmes he was damaging to the programmes he was trying to introduce. john is right to look at these scenarios. if we are to move into government, we need to know what we are going to do, that was set out in our manifesto and we're putting more detail into that. but also looked at the scenarios we might find. so that isa the scenarios we might find. so that is a realistic scenario, there might bea run is a realistic scenario, there might be a run on the pound? there has beena run be a run on the pound? there has been a run on the pound for the last two years. what it has done is making travel to europe or anywhere else more expensive, made imports more expensive but the other side of the coin, it has made some exports a bit cheaper. your shadow chancellor is talking about something different, he was suggesting, however unlikely, people might want to ta ke however unlikely, people might want to take money out of britain if you are elected, why do you think people

would do that? i would hope they would do that? i would hope they would recognise we want an investment led economy, that we are going to increase taxation to corporations and the very wealthiest, to invest in the education of our children, invest in improvements to heart health care, set upa improvements to heart health care, set up a national investment bank, which will provide a better basis for industrial developments and investment in the future. it costs oi'i investment in the future. it costs on the way there, but the benefits of decent chances of employment all round the country, is something well worth working for. john mcdonnell also said you have to be prepared for what happens, when or if they come for us. who are they? people thatjohn probably come for us. who are they? people that john probably doesn't like, come for us. who are they? people thatjohn probably doesn't like, i am not actually sure who he is referring to, i haven't spoken to him this morning. he is looking back again at the experience of past labour government, the wilson

government had problems about that and we need to look at these scenarios. listen, we need to lead a government that will reduce inequality, invest in the future. i have met with, and john has many times, the cbi, federation of small businesses and talk to them about their investment plans and strategies. those conversations go ina very strategies. those conversations go in a very positive way because they wa nt in a very positive way because they want to see a government that is working for economic improvement. are you comfortable with him talking like that, talking about people he doesn't like. he would be your chancellor, your closest political ally, he is sounding like you are approaching getting into government like some kind of war where people you don't like might come and. isn't it about bringing people together? it is about bringing people together but it is about the agenda. 0ur chief political correspondent vicki young is in brighton for us now. he is dammed if he does plan fit,

dammed if he doesn't? he is talking about preparing for government, making sure they are going through the plans, thinking about the legislation they might need in order to implement what they need to do. the broader point is, not shying away from the fact this is a radical programme, it is a break, notjust with previous conservative governments and the way things are done, but the labour governments of tony blair and gordon brown, particularly on issues as the pfi which fund hospitals and schools and keep them running. the idea they wa nt to keep them running. the idea they want to bring most of those back into the state system is a huge change, which would require a lot of work. in one sense, he is saying they need to be prepared for that, but also there is the other issue that it could be unpopular with the establishment, with vested

interests. they already have people from business saying they don't like these ideas and they are preparing for that as well. earlierjohn mcdonnell was asked by reported exactly what he had meant by those comments last night. are you planning for a run on the banks under a labour government? no. the group momentum, they were looking at all different options. 0ur investors getting spooked with the prospect of you in the treasury? not at all. i have been sitting down with asset managers and others through the summer. they are very interested in our infrastructure proposals on how we can work with them. you don't think there will be financial instability under a labour government? quite the reverse. with billions and billions more debt? quite the reverse. what we're getting form the asset managers like the infrastructure investment

they can link up with. they come to us for security around brexit. it was us putting forward a transition deal. i am confident. why would your policy is potentially cause a run on the banks? they wouldn't. why would you entertain that? i'm not. john mcdonnell trying to play down those comments and say people are reading too much into them. they are saying this is the shadow chancellor who will be in charge of labour's finances, admitting the proposals they have are so radical but they are also destructive and they would bring down the british economy. we are going to go inside the hall because the shadow health secretary john ashworth has been speaking and has been talking about the onset of winter, the nhs in crisis and more money for a&e. winter, the nhs in crisis and more

money for me. who comfort us in our final moments. you have our gratitude, you have are backing and you have our commitment that we will tackle chronic vacancies, bring back the bursaries and we will scrap the pay and deliver fair pay for all of you. —— pei cap. and to those of you who come to our shores from the eu and beyond, we say you are welcome, your rights will be secured, you are not bargaining chips but you are pa rt not bargaining chips but you are part of our society and part of the fabric of the national health service as well. but we all know the fabric of the nhs is being co nsta ntly fabric of the nhs is being constantly undermined by the co nsta nt, by constantly undermined by the constant, by the millions of pounds

wasted on the endless tendering of services to private providers. and we know it is patient care that suffers. let me give you an example. an ambulance contract in sussex, handed to a private company who didn't even own any ambulances. so they subcontracted to 20 other companies. two of those companies ceased trading and ambulance drivers couldn't be paid. thankfully, that contract has been taken off private hands and back into the nhs. and recently, i have the privilege of meeting some of those ambulance drivers from the gmb, ambulance drivers from the gmb, ambulance drivers who took their patients to appointments for weeks, without pay. don't those ambulance drivers showed

that public service is about a greater calling, is about compassion, care and public duty, not contracts, markets and commercialisation? so, i can pledge to you today, a labour government will legislate to reinstate the secretary of state's responsibility so secretary of state's responsibility so universal care will reverse the health and social care act, fight the fire sale of assets and end tory privatisation. applause you know summing else? you will have

seen you know summing else? you will have seen it in your local communities. cutting beds, closing services, rationing of treatments because of tory underfunding is not sustainable transformation. so, conference, we will stop the sdp ‘s and integrate social care as well. i also want a new approach to public health that protects people'swell—being for yea rs protects people'swell—being for years to come. to prevent disease, to reduce the toll from cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes, it is time to start tackling the causes of ill health as well. we need to end the dismantling of our

public health services. we need to tackle socialised isolation. we need to build decent homes and improve the quality of the air we breathe. we have seen an increase in hospital admissions from malnutrition in this country. we have seen a stalling in the improvements in life expectancy for the first time in 100 years. now, we know a child born into poverty is likely to suffer far worse health outcomes in life. it was once said, there can be no keen a revelation of a society's sole vandeweghe in which it treats its children. now this party has long been committed to abolishing child

poverty so i can tell you today, the next labour government will commit to an all—out assault on child ill health. no longer will we let squalor in pair the health of our children, conference. so that means we will recruit more health visitors and school nurses for our communities. we will invest in dentistry and to tackle child obesity, we will give every infant a free school meals and banned junk food advertising on family television. and we will end the disgraceful cuts to child and

adolescent mental health services. we will end the scandal of children being treated in adult awards and deliver true parity of esteem, conference. —— awards. i want to tell you about one other thing. this year, £113 million will be cut from alcohol and drug addiction treatment services. recently, i chose to speak out personally about my own circumstances, growing up with a dad who had a drink problem, he was an alcoholic. his drinking hole over my childhood. i remember going home and the fridge was filled with nothing but bottles of drink. spending

evenings with him when all he did was drink until he fell asleep. things got so bad in his later years that he felt he couldn't even come to my wedding because he was too embarrassed. i tell you this story, not for your indulgence or sympathy, but because there are 2 million children growing up with an alcoholic parents. 335,000 children grow up with a parent with drug abuse issues. so part of our assault on child ill health, i will put in place, with your support, hopefully, the first ever national strategy to support children of alcoholics and drug users and we will invest in addiction treatment and prevention as well. so, conference thank you. so,

conference, a fully funded public national health service. fair pay for the staff, an end to tory privatisation and assaults on health inequalities, the best quality of ca re inequalities, the best quality of care for all, free at the point of use, when you need it. this is what we strive for, we settle for nothing less, it is the demand of a civilised society. so today we pledge ourselves to united efforts and resolve the next labour government will rebuild our nhs. thank you very much. bright—macro the shadow health secretary, john ashworth, pledging more money to support child health, to support addiction and giving a very personal insight into his experiences with an

alcoholic parent. only a handful of nhs private contracts are supporting significant problems, but they want to bring more in—house and end private contracts in much of the health service. so, john ashworth, the latest speaker at the labour conference and we will be getting more from vicky young, the correspondent covering that for us. we will bring you the headlines in just a couple of minutes, but first the weather. we have some warm sunshine and feeling summary report of the country this afternoon. not dry everywhere just rogue showers across eastern part of england and heavy one for lincolnshire down towards kent and essex. but for the vast majority of places, staying dry with a light, southerly breeze and most temperatures up as high as 20 degrees or so. bit patchy cloud here

and there, but as we head into this evening it remains dry and showers in the east fade away quickly and with clear skies it will turn misty and murky ‘s, so there will be low cloud and fog patches. problems on thursday morning the central and south—east england. foggy in a few spots. but that should lift fairly quickly tomorrow. for much of scotland, central and eastern england it will stay dry in the day. for northern ireland, wales on the south—west of england it will be wet and windy, particularly during the afternoon. 15 degrees in belfast but in london in the sunshine we could see 21 degrees. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: jeremy corbyn has come out in support for shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell. he says that his party is united around the "different" economic strategy.

the us defence secretary is seeking a diplomatic solution to rising tensions with north korea who are accusing washington of declaring war. following a meeting in downing street the european council president, donald tusk, said that although there had been no sufficient progress towards brexit talks, they were now on a more realistic footing. this shows that the philosophy of having a cake and eating it, it's finally coming to an end. mothers of children harmed in the womb by the epilepsy drug valproate are set to give evidence at a safety review hearing taking place in london. the hearing has heard that as many as 35,000 women of child bearing age in the uk are using the drug. liz dawn, the actress best known for her role as vera duckworth in the soap coronation street has died. her family say she died peacefully in her sleep yesterday. jessica has the latest sport.

england all—rounder ben stokes was arrested after an incident in bristol in the early hours of yesterday morning and won't be available for the fourth one—day match against west indies. he missed training today, along with team—mate alex hales, who is also helping police with their enquiries. the ashes squad to tour australia this winter is announced tomorrow. ben and alex will not be available for tomorrow's 0ne ben and alex will not be available for tomorrow's one day international against the west indies. ben was arrested in the early hours of monday morning, 25th september following an incident in bristol. he was held overnight and released under investigation without charge late on monday. he will notjoin the tea m late on monday. he will notjoin the team in london. hayles did not train

this morning and has returned voluntarily to bristol today to help police with their inquiries. we can't offer any further details on this at this point, but we will provide updates when we have more updates and information to give. how does it affect the players chances of ashes selection? the squad will be selected on form and fitness as they normally would. the lancashire spinner sophie ecclestone has been named in the england women's squad for their ashes, starting next month. it'll be the first time that captain heather knight has led her side into an ashes series. they leave for brisbane on 7th october. it is the return of the champions league tonight — manchester city take on shakhtar donetsk. city defender kyle walker says nothing can stop them, if they keep their early season form going. they're top of the premier league and walker says he's really enjoying pep guardiola's style of management. he is always giving us words of

encouragement and i think the standard of players in the teams that he has managed in the past speaks volumes. so, it's a good motivation to have there. you know the calibre of manager that he is and hopefully we can just keep performing as we're doing. he always still wa nts performing as we're doing. he always still wants more from us which is good for us to keep pushing us. loris karius will start in goal for liverpool's match at spartak moscow as managerjurgen klopp continues his policy of rotating keepers for different competitions. he believes it can only strengthen his goalkeeping options and for karius, it's an opportunity to impress the boss. i see this as a chance to show the manager i'm ready, i want to prove that of course, i want to play also in the premier league, but for now, i use these games to perform good and then hopefully also be in goal

and then hopefully also be in goal and then hopefully also be in goal and the premier league. of course that's my goal for the future. tottenham will also be in action tonight, but without play—maker christian eriksen when they face alpoel nicosia in cyprus. he fell ill on sunday. the former chairman of newcastle united freddy shepherd has died. he was 76. shepherd served as vice—chairman and later chairman, of the club from 1991 until 2007 which was during the period when they finished premier league runners—up under kevin keegan. he was instrumental in bringing alan shearer to newcastle for a then world record £15 million. shearer has tweeted his sadness at the loss of his "great friend". another british bobsledder has taken to crowd—funding in a bid to reach the winter olympics after financial support for the women's programme was withdrawn. donna creighton was a skeleton slider until moving over to bobsleigh this year with the promise of

being fast—tracked into the gb women's team. but after british bobsleigh pulled theirfunding, and misha mcneill reached her £30,000 target, creighton launched her own crowd—funding campaign. best of luck it her. that's all the sport for now. hugh will be here later. news from the metropolitan police in london. they are saying that this morning they arrested a 19—year—old man atan morning they arrested a 19—year—old man at an address in north london with terrorism offences. he was arrested on suspicion of disseminating terrorist publications and has been detained and taken to a south london police station where he remains in police custody. 0fficers are carrying out a search of the address in north london. they say their inquiries continue and they say the arrest is not connected to

the parsons green investigation. a man of19 the parsons green investigation. a man of 19 arrested in north london. tensions between the us and north korea are continuing to escalate with recriminations and accusations on both sides. the americans have warned pyongyang to stop its provocations after it said it had the right to shoot down us bombers. south korea called for a level—headed response. from seoul, danny savage reports. american military aircraft preparing for a show of force close to the north korean coast. these planes went on to fly in international airspace near the east of the country, further north in the region than they ever have been. the us says it was a demonstration of their resolve. now, north korea has reacted to donald trump's threats and action by claiming the united states has declared war on them.

translation: since the us declared war on our country, we have every right to take countermeasures, including shooting down us strategic bombers, even when they're not yet inside the airspace border of our country. the question of who won't be around much longer will be answered then. the white house, though, says it's absurd to think they're at war with north korea, and is trying to strike a more diplomatic tone overnight. it's never appropriate for a country to shoot down another country's aircraft when it's over international waters. our goal is still the same, we continue to seek the peaceful denuclearisation of the korean peninsular, that's our focus. doing that through both the most maximum, economic and diplomatic pressures. it was a point echoed by the us defence secretary on a visit to india, jim mattis said diplomatic efforts were continuing. and that is our goal, to solve this diplomatically, and i believe president trump has been very clear on this issue. but north korea's interpretation

of us actions, and its proposed response is another escalation in this ongoing crisis. this former secretary—general of the united nations, who himself is south korean, says the situation is alarming. even during the height of the cold war, including soviet union, they have never threatened to use nuclear weapons, unless they are attacked by nuclear weapons. but north korea has blatantly publicly threatened that they will strike the united states with nuclear weapons. so far, this has been and remains a war of words. but if american planes do clash with the north korean military, the risk of tipping into conflict increases dramatically. schools should ban what's being called "harmful contact"

in rugby for children under the age of 16, that's according to researchers at newcastle university. they say all schools should ban tackling and scrums to make it saferfor children. last year, the four senior doctors ruled out a ban, but this latest research says the risk of head injuries and concussion are not adequately reduced by safety equipment. let's speak now to professor eric anderson, co—trustee of the sport collision injury collective, a collection of research and academics which aim to reduce the number of injuries in british youth sport. are you calling for a complete ban orjust in schools? in schools. our call has nothing to do with what's occurring in community levels of by occurring in community levels of rugby played for a number reasons including the fact that in community levels of rugby both parents and children consent to play. but the majority of rugby that's played within school systems is played within school systems is played within pe and our research of about 300 schools randomly selected from around the country, we show that 77%

of schools require they compel children to play tackle rugby even if against their will. there is a mix—match here. 77% of schools are requiring children to play tackle by, requiring children to play tackle rugby, there is no requirement for them to have training or qualification, and that includes concussion recognition. no requirements at all. what is the evidence that they are getting hurt asa evidence that they are getting hurt as a result of that? this is an excellent question for the department for education which does not require schools to monitor injuries that occur in pe. if a child gets a rubber burn in school ora child gets a rubber burn in school or a paper cut, that's logged, but if they get hurt on the pe pitch, as long as they are not hospitalised overnight, there is no requirement to log that injury. it is impossible to log that injury. it is impossible to know the number of children hurt in school's pe. nobody can say. we

can only look to the community level of rugby where they have better coaching, better preparedness and kids who want to be there for that injury rate and of course that injury rate and of course that injury rate and of course that injury rate is very high particularly when it comes to brain trauma. what about the children who wa nt to trauma. what about the children who want to play rugby with scrummages and with tackling. they love the game and they want to play it. are you saying they can't? no, i'm saying they have a place to do that and the place to do that is community levels of rugby. community play in rugby. not within the school systems who are wholly ill—equipped to deal with this. the difficulty with the argument as we need to go to the department for education to find out what the levels of injury are... they will know. -- they won't know. neither will i and neither do you. where is the evidence that this would save youngsters from harming themselves? the evidence we have to go where children are better trained and they have better coaching and that comes from community levels of

by that comes from community levels of rugby play and if the community levels of rugby play with the high rates of injury applies anywhere near what it does in pe, then we have a real issue and that we're compelling children against their will to partake in a tackle sport with a very high injury rate and all we're saying needs to be done to remedy the situation is turn to touch. very simple. isn't part of growing up doing things that you are not keen on and if you don't want to get involved, you stand away? but you can't, you don't have that choice. 77% of children in british schools are compelled to play rugby. so if they don't want to play, they don't have a choice and if you take that same argument about shouldn't children be compelled, do you compel girls to play tackle rugby? is there a difference? i'm asking you. would you compel girls? i'm not the professor. we argue that neither should be compelled, but a lot of

people in this argument falls down, they say, well, yes, you think boys should be compelled to play tackle by, should be compelled to play tackle rugby, but not girls. we would argue isn't that sexist? we could go on for a long time. some people may they we already have. please have me back. thank you for your time. cheers. the coronation street actress liz dawn, who played vera duckworth in the soap for more than three decades, has died at the age of 77. she first appeared in coronation street in 1974 but after falling ill 10 years ago liz dawn was written out of the soap when vera died in her sleep. herfamily said she had been the "love, light and inspiration" in their lives. 0ur arts correspondent david sillito looks back at her life. all i can say is i hope prince charles never sets eyes on it! admiring my stone cladding, are you?

well, it's certainly eye—catching. certain neighbours may have been snooty about vera duckworth's taste, but without her, coronation street just wouldn't have been the same. nobody'll dispute that! are you trying to be funny or what? aren't you going to carry her over the threshold? when liz dawn first arrived, she said she felt like cinderella — her palace, 9 coronation street. and prince charming — jack duckworth, played by bill tarmey. you haven't met my husband, jack? where's my dog? have you moved it? vera, i wouldn't have done, only it was an emergency! their ups and downs, the laughter — for fellow cast members there is much to miss. her kindness, her generosity, her natural comedy timing and talent, there was not much difference between her and vera in that they were both very grounded, warm—hearted, generous spirited, working—class women. will you make us some chips? oh, you're a right romantic! the marriage was a threesome, vera, jack and the pigeons, and despite the bruises, it lasted because there was something special in this double act. come back here! you! she was born sylvia butterfield,

home was the halton moor estate in leeds. music: coronation street theme. the actress liz dawn, who's died at the age of 77. david brown is in salford just a few hundred yards away from the real coronation street and you have been down there today, have you? yes, i have been speaking to some of the cast members following the sadness of liz's death, that's right. what is the feeling? well, i thinkjust the fond memories of how beloved she was. the thing with liz dawn she didn't realise of how much an icon and national treasure she was. she was a very humble person. i interviewed

her on a couple of occasions and i don't think she realised she was one of the all—time great coronation street matriarchs. she could make you angry, sad and laugh, in one episode? yes, i always think that when they say that soap actors are playing themselves it does them a disservice. 0n coronation street that has to be a family upon who everybody else looks down, originally it was the 0gdens and then then it was the duckworths, it was a of terrific double act.l then then it was the duckworths, it was a of terrific double act. a lot of husbands and wives would look to that relationship with jack and would have thought someone put a mirrorup! would have thought someone put a mirror up! well, the

“fig—a»: street . --, of 2:55: street when , episode of coronation street when their son terry sold their child and jack and vera were left bereft. i remember sobbing as a child and to earn your sympathies like that as a viewer, it takes something special andi viewer, it takes something special and i think she had that in spades. so we have established that you are a true corrie fan. i wonder if there is an episode which will always sum herup? is an episode which will always sum her up? i remember when jack duckworth was talking about the fact

that they were perceived as common and vera was really freting and he said, "come on, vera, who would think we are common, vauxhall nova outside and pigeons." then there was talk of royalty? yes, definitely. it's strange to think she has not appeared in coronation street for a while and she is corrie. she is one of the rare characters who returned once her character had been killed off. vera passed away in her chair at number9, but off. vera passed away in her chair at number 9, but when bill decided to leave the programme vera came to him ina to leave the programme vera came to him in a dream almost. it might have backfired because it is a programme which thrives on its naturalistic style, but in this case, itjust worked so well because what you wa nted worked so well because what you wanted to see was the pair of them reunited and it was a wonderful

bitter sweet moment i thought. thank heavens there wasn't a shower scene! perhaps i should have kept that to myself! david, great to see you, thank you. thank you. the actor and political activist tony booth, who was the father of cherie blair has died at the age of 85. he starred as mike in the bbc sitcom till death us do part. donald tusk says not enough progress has been made to move to the next phase of brexit talks in brussels. jeremy corbyn says the shadow chancellor is right to look into how loib would handle a fall in the pound if the party came to power. the united states dismisses north korea's claim that america has declared war with

the us defence secretary saying it is seeking diplomatic solutions to the crisis. we are waiting on a court decision in america that could have a major impact on northern ireland's biggest industrial employer. the canadian plane maker bombardier employs 11,500 people in the province. but several american rivals have taken it to court — claming it gets illegal state aid. the boss of the credit reference agency eqiufax is stepping down — just a week before he's due to testify to american lawmakers. this comes after 143 million customers in america had their details hacked. some customers here in the uk were affected. thomas cook, says it expects the price of holidays in spain to rise by as much as to 10% next year because of the weak pound.

but its notjust sterling that's to blame. the company boss told the bbc that spain is becoming an increasingly popular destination because of safety fears elsewhere and that's also driving up prices. britain is on the cusp of an energy revolution. the move towards electric cars and greener energy at home is really promising to shake things up. these changes are occupying the minds of energy bosses around the world — including the man who runs scottish power, keith anderson. he's been betting big wind power and talking to our scottish business editor douglas fraser. britain's biggest wind farm, now complete, more than 200 turbines, enough to power all the homes in glasgow which lies to the north. according to the boss of scottishpower, the developer and one of britain's big six energy suppliers we're going to need a lot more of these change comes to a parking space and radiator close to home. it is a challenge in terms of

changing people's behaviours. in terms of the way they buy cars and use cars, but there is also a challenge in terms of how do we power those vehicles? so for a number of years now, we have been going through an environment where we are reducing the amount of electricity we use and actually as we bring electric vehicles on to the system, we will reverse that process and start using more electricity and that's why it is so important to link it with renewable power to make that effective process and help carbon reduction we need to make sure the electric vehicles are being powered by renewable projects. we hardly started to talk about the change to heating, for a change from electric heating and moving away from gas and oilfired boilers. how much change will that require and extra capacity? it is a big, big process that the country will need to go through and it will take a number of years, yes, we will end up using more electricity. although there will be improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency, we

will end up using more and there will end up using more and there will be did greater demand, we will see a change at the time we use the power and the change in the shape of the way we use the power and again, we need to make sure we have got an incredibly effective electricity system and a generation system lying behind that. your people have been looking at the numbers. how much more capacity is going to be needed to achieve the change? if you look at the projections, electric vehicles is probably the easiest one. if you look at the projections and the scottish government want to hit targets by 2030 and the uk government by 20110, there are predictions from the car sector by 2022 and 2025 an electric vehicle will be cost competitive with a petrol vehicle. if that happens, what you will see is consumer demand will outstrip and outpace anyone's prediction. the worst place we could be in asa prediction. the worst place we could be in as a country is you have huge consumer demand and a great willingness to go out and buy electric vehicles and we don't have

the system that can cope with it. it is possible for us to see that you could see a 20% to 30% growth in electricity demand on the system. what is your message then to government about what it is going to have to do to make it possible for you to deliver on the ambitious targets ? you to deliver on the ambitious targets? the renewables industry has taken huge steps forward in bringing down the cost and improving the efficiency of renewable energy. if we wa nt efficiency of renewable energy. if we want to take the next step forward in tackling environmental issues and climate change then what we need to do is use renewable energy to do that. use the most effective, the most cost effective forms of renewable energy which includes on shore wind and therefore, let us keep building projects out and that's what we need to do, because we need more energy. what's the message to consumers who haven't been big fans of what companies like yours are doing, but you are asking them to change more change around heating and transport? if the public want to and embrace

electric vehicles and embrace climate change, we need to make sure that's possible. the last thing we wa nt to that's possible. the last thing we want to be doing and the country wa nts to want to be doing and the country wants to be doing is to have phenomenal sumer demand for electric vehicles and we are not in a place to be able to service that. we need to be able to service that. we need to start planning all of that investment. 0il oil prices are gaining. the price of crude is close to a two year high. tech firms are getting a bounce. apple and facebook are on the rise. that's it from me, simon. thank you very much. now the weather. the day started off misty and murky and autumnal, but

things have been brightening up through the afternoon. for most of us, things are staying dry. we have got high pressure sitting across the near continent. here is the scene taken an hour ago in cornwall by one of our weather watchers. beautiful blue skies and sunshine there. just a few showers cropping up this afternoon across parts of eastern england and perhaps for east anglia. they should fade away and this evening and tonight we are looking ata dry evening and tonight we are looking at a dry night ahead, but under the clear skies, we will see mist and low cloud forming overnight. so quite a murky start to your wednesday morning. certainly mild with those temperatures 13 or 1a celsius. there could be the odd dense fog patch across parts of central and south—eastern england. further north, for scotland, it's a fine start to wednesday with brightness. clouding over for northern ireland with the breeze picking up, but dry first thing and there will be spells of shine breaking through across northern england. watch out for the odd patch of mist and fog around through the morning. for wales and the south—west of england, visibility better here because we have got more

ofa better here because we have got more of a breeze. some rain pushing into the far south—west for the isles of scilly, but it's dry towards the south east. do watch out for mist and fog. it could cause disruption to travel for a few spots. heading through the day on wednesday, it is a north—east/south—west slit. you can see the rain arriving in northern ireland and into wales and the far south—west too. it could be heavy at times particularly for northern ireland, a bit of a breeze here. elsewhere, across the country, you are looking at a dry day. just the odd chance of an isolated shower, but it will feel warm with temperatures up to 21 celsius towards the south east. cooler in the west. for the one day international tomorrow, at the oval, it looks like a dry picture. warm too with a light breeze. later in the evening, we will see the arrival of this band of rain. so that works into the london region at around 9pm or10pm, it into the london region at around 9pm or 10pm, it pushes its way eastwards through the early hours of thursday morning. some rain for eastern england and north—east scotland. elsewhere, dry and the potential for

mist and fog around on thursday morning too. typical of this time of year. we lose that wet weather from eastern england and it will linger for a time for the northern isles of scotland. lots more in the way of dry, bright weather at temperatures doing reasonably well around 15 to 19 celsius. perhaps a few showers in the south east later on in the day, but the weather is looking reasonably warm over the next few days. it does look though it could turn more unsettled into the weekend. you can find a ten—day forecast online. this is bbc news.

the headlines at 11.00: jeremy corbyn says the shadow chancellor is right to look into a scenario where there could be a dramatic fall in the pound if labour came to power. if we're going to move into government we need to know what we're going to do, that's set out in our manifesto and we're putting a lot more detail into that, that's what this conference is about and that's what all the policy developments are about, but also look at all the scenarios that we might face. after meeting theresa may in downing street the european council president donald tusk says there has not been sufficient progress in brexit talks but that he's pleased the uk is adopting a "more realistic tone". this shows that the philosophy of having a cake and eating it is finally coming at an end.