reflects the metro reflects with disbelief on the catalogue of his fortunes. and the catalogue of his fortunes. and the eye giving a centrestage to the prank. predicting these will be a final day in office. the daily express asking readers to trust her fighting spirit. the guardian also features the catalan crisis in spain. finally, a story in the times explores the risk of dementia for women who develop high bp in their 40s. that is the summary of of the news. now it is time for newsnight. a single misfortune might be regarded as nothing. open, global, self confident britain. while our opponents flat with the foreign policy

of neutrality, we have bounced back. we have created record numbers of jobs. two looks unlucky. three, though? an image of modern britain, in all its diversity, compassion and strength, that was shared around the globe. a painful metaphor for a party struggling to hold it together. however, the fact that it went wrong actually made it a strangely moving prime minister's speech. but one that gained theresa may more sympathy and less authority. has that left her in danger? we'll discuss the drama, the farce, and the policy too. also tonight: san francisco led the world into the hiv epidemic among gay men, and is now leading the world out of it. i think prep is this enormous breakthrough, not only in protecting against hiv, but improving the health and well—being of people, because, for the first time, they can have sex without being scared. we'll hear about how its success

in bringing infections down is coming here. hello. this was billed as the speech to rescue her premiership, but, in the event, theresa may had a horrible end to a difficult party conference. now, i promise we will talk about what she actually said a bit later, but the drama of the day was in one man's prank, one woman's coughing and two badly—fastened letters. in a funny way, it exposed the human side of politics — it was hard not to feel for theresa may as a person. the mishaps also made one of her key points today — that she's someone who battles on in the face of adversity. it was also poignant to see the cabinet —

led i think by amber rudd and philip hammond — give her a standing ovation at a vulnerable point to help herfind time to catch her voice. but, but, but... all that being said, what theresa may needs is respect and authority to clasp a demoralised and divided party and lead it somewhere. this won't have helped. here's our political editor, nick watt. # sometimes i feel like throwing my hands up in the air... sometimes things just go wrong no matter what you do. a speech designed to revive a premiership through a new british dream turned into a politician's worst nightmare. it all started so well, as theresa may spoke of the personal, politicaljourney that brought her all the way to number 10, and then she apologised for the election. we did not get the victory we wanted, because our national campaign fell short. it was too scripted, to presidential, and it allowed the labour party to paint us as the voice of continuity, when the public wanted to hear a message of change. i hold my hands up for that.

i take responsibility. i led the campaign, and i am sorry. theresa may was approaching the halfway point when there were the first signs that all was not quite normal. cabinet ministers eyed the scene warily, as the prankster, simon brodkin, hopped into view and handed over a fake pas to theresa may. the prime minister, who is conscious of her own security, appeared briefly startled. after a lengthy pause, she managed a joke. i was about to talk about somebody i'd like to give a pas to, and that'sjeremy corbyn. theresa may recovered her stride to press on with her signature announcements on housing and an energy cap, only to struggle with a coughing fit. the conference rallied

to the prime minister, but some members of the audience needed a little encouragement. luckily, an old university friend was on hand. bad luck, of course, comes in threes, so in the final indignity, the lettering of the conference slogan started to fall off the wall. the prime minister rediscovered her voice at the end, and was comforted by the man she calls her rock. genuine warmth and affection for theresa may at the end of one of the most extraordinary conference speeches by any british prime minister. for the first time, this conference saw a more natural theresa may, as she got through the heckler and persevered with the croak in her voice. the warmth in this hall may well save her premiership, but that will depend on whether this party is feeling love or pity for their prime minister.

love, love, love. this party doesn't do pity. if you are being pitied, you'd be gone before getting to that sort of stage. we like to see people who beat the odds. that's what gets us going. people who defy whatever obstacles are in their path. if you want a metaphor for a prime minister and a leader who can fight through difficulties, that speech was a perfect metaphor. it was difficult for her cough, but the hall really showed their support for her. it was a well thought out speech. she was disrupted, held herself well, and continued with her theme. there was also admiration amongst party members. when you are in her position, the minute you get a tickle and you think, oh, my god.

i thought she did really well. others were less effusive about the prime minister's leadership. i won't say sterling. —— stirring. i was asked yesterday by reuters what i thought about morris' speech, and i thought that was stirring and uplifting, with little detail. theresa may nowjoins a long list of politicians humbled whilst the cameras are rolling. the lucky ones rush it off. —— brush it off. i've got my answer! the unlucky ones never recover from an image that symbolises their weakness. so this was a dreadful end to a difficult week for theresa may. good generals need luck, and this prime minister seems perennially unable to lay her hands on that prized political gift. friends of the prime minister told me that she handled her bad luck today with skill,

and showed some rare unscripted humour, but the vultures in the conservative party are beginning to circle in the hope that her misfortune will provide their chance to pounce. the prime minister managed to find a light side to her conference called, tweeting this picture, but at the most excruciating moment of the day, her cabinet colleagues could not hide their pain. nick is with me. you said this is the big, make or break speech. what are we all talking about. for surviving, what are the stakes? there strong cabinet support for the prime minister,

but conversations have been under way this afternoon amongst critics of theresa may and conservative mps. there's a feeling of sympathy for her, but the thinking is she needed a barnstorming speech today to revive her premiership, and that didn't happen. i sent a movement of opinion amongst conservative mps. the consensus up until now was that she had until the end of brexit, until 2019, but there is some movement to she will need to think about going sooner than that. one former cabinet minister said to me that the prime minister is in danger zone, and there was a window of opportunity for her to go between now and christmas, because the eu negotiations don't get into the free trade deal until after that. i spoke to another person, who said that this prime minister is two disasters away from leaving downing street. they said today, one down, another to go. what we are talking about today is the so—called men in grey suits. we are talking about possibly, at some point, a private delegation visiting the prime minister and saying, think about it. briefly, security.

a guy gets in, gets very close to her with an unwelcome piece of paper. what are they saying about that? the home secretary said there is an enquiry under way, but there is real cabinet anger at what they say is the failure of the prime minister's close protection team to protect her. they should anticipate, and there was lots of notice of what this prankster was up to. nothing happened, and the cabinet ministers said they were looking at each other almost saying, do we need to go and rescue the prime minister? nick, thank you very much.

well, poor theresa may could have done with a hamlet cigar and the appropriate music to play at the end. it makes an interesting question, though, as to what kind of politicians we want or respect. we don't warm to robotic ones, we don't always like slick. but do we have the right kind of tolerance for those who suffer the odd indignity? i'm nowjoined by the times columnist jenni russell and the lbc presenter, iain dale. but let me start with margot james, who is a minister in the business department. good evening to you. which row were you in? about ten rows back. what were your feelings as you watched this unfold? i was inspired by the speech. i don't recognise the narrative that's been building up. i found it inspiring. i felt she reset the design for the party. i was very pleased. but obviously, things didn't go to plan, clearly, in a number of ways. i really felt for her over this loss of voice. i knew before the speech that she had a bad cold. did she because often a sort of nervousness or tension causes something in the throat. no, she wasn't well. i think it's probably

laryngitis from what i heard. i was speaking to her pps, george hollingby, and he said that she's got a really bad cold but she's really up for it. health problems like that, at a time like that, it's just a ghastly feeling. you didn't recognise the narrative we imposed at the top of the programme. i want to ask these two if they do. the papers tomorrow are certainly going with the narrative of the farce. i'm afraid that is what we will remember. a brave effort by margot to say she thought it was inspiring. the fact is, it was impossible to take the speech in whilst she was talking because you were thunderstruck. you got caught up in the narrative of extreme sympathy and horror at the whole thing. everybody is saying today, a politician doesn't want pity.

that's a disaster. is that true? well, quite a few of my nonpolitical friends have said in recent weeks, i feel really sorry for theresa may. that's not a great place to be for any politician. today, that's been exacerbated. however, i did three hours of this on my radio show this afternoon. first, we concentrated on the disasters, and there were quite a few calls. the second two hours we concentrated on the energy cap and housing. three calls over those two hours. if you looked at the texts and tweets, they were sort of 50—50. in the end, does the fact that she had a cough, and she was genuinely ill. she was on the radio with my colleague yesterday, and she said she had a cold. does having a cough mean she's any more weak today than she was yesterday? of course the papers are going to say yes, and i understand that, but if tory mps think that the way to get through this now

is to depose theresa may, they should be careful what they wish for. if you are trying to establish authority, it's difficult to have a room full of people feeling absolutely, desperately sorry for you. the whole reason theresa may is in office is because nobody can agree who should replace her. that fact hasn't changed. anyone else who wants to take over is in a weakened position themselves. borisjohnson has done

himself a disservice. ruth davidson is in scotland. amber rudd cannot take the position because she is a remainer. thatjust leaves david davis. the tories have already wasted brexit time with a general election. if they now have a leadership election... unless they can find a candidate that everyone agrees on, it's very dangerous. nick watt was right. there are conservative backbenchers who are machinating today. there is one former cabinet minister who is going around collecting signatures, i am informed. what will the consequences of that be? more disunity. nobody votes for a dis—unified party. they are being totally disloyal, and they are going to affect the conservatives' long—term chances. do you recognise plots, names going round, texts talking about the leadership? that sort of thing is rife in politics. iain is talking about an ex—cabinet minister.

there are some ex—ministers who are extremely embittered individuals, whojust want to get their own back on the fact that they don't feel recognised. life is full of that. you have to move on and disregard it. that would be my advice to the prime minister. people saw a more human side of her today. i think people sympathised with her, but not in a pitying sense. i'd then think the problem is... i would take issue with whatjenni said, because i don't think the problems obliterated the speech. we want to talk about the policy, the substance of the speech, which we need to get to. in broad direction, theresa may is tilting away from laissez faire conservativism. theresa may is not aping jeremy corbyn, but maybe

she is mimicking ed miliband's labour. her new policies were in areas where labour's making the running. student fees, housing, energy prices. so will that shore up tory votes, or validate people switching to the real labour? it's a bit reminiscent of the 70s labour government. back in 1976, prime ministerjim callaghan made a hugely important party conference speech, yielding somewhat to the thatcherite economic argument. it's an absolute fact of life which no government, left or right, can alter. we used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting government spending. i tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists. that was a really important moment. sorry, i'm playing the wrong thing. the conservative party has a problem with one large group of people — voters born since ted heath

lived in downing street. labour's well ahead with younger people. we will discuss whether that is a tory fate soon. for more specifics, here is chris cook. the conservative party has a problem with one large group of people — voters born since ted heath lived in downing street. labour's well ahead with younger people. even those at the start of middle age. the tories' narrow win in the last election was based on their success with older britons. there are big, specific issues facing younger people. and this week, the tories devoted some time to them. but it wasn't wholly convincing. take housing. in 1991, two thirds, 66%, of 25—31i—year—olds owned a home. now, it's just 42%. that's what happens when you get high house prices and stagnant wages. the announcement today sounds big — an attempt to deal with that.

i can announce that we will invest an additional £2 billion in affordable housing, taking the government's total affordable housing budget to almost £9 billion. but, it's about 5000 new affordable homes per year. and labour's manifesto pledges the equivalent of 70,000 extra affordable homes per year by the end of the parliament. they're nowhere close. but a decent home is a right for everyone, whatever their income or whatever their background. what about student debt? the average debt for an english undergraduate is £32,200. much of that is down to the fees. in fee—free scotland, it's £11,700. the goverment‘s response has been to change the english loan repayment terms. the point at which repayment starts

will move from when graduates earn £21,000 per year to £25,000. that small—sounding tweak will cost £2.3 billion per year in the long run, as it means average graduates will repay £10,000 less of their debt. so, that's serious money. a real commitment. but, again, jeremy corbyn just goes much, much further. if we want to remove university tuition fees, and we do, so our students are not saddled with debt, and restore maintenance grants, so that all children, whatever their background, have a chance of going to university, that will cost £11 billion. i think that is money well spent. so, it's hard to see all the other bits, like a cap on energy prices, as solving the tory age problem. especially as they made things worse for younger voters with more money for help to buy, a scheme propping up house prices. the party is largely standing by its 2017 manifesto, and we know what young people thought of that. chris cook there.

we liked it so much that we started playing it twice! margot james, iain dale and jenni russell are still with me. margo, you are a minister, it is funny that all the policy areas in which they were announcements were basically wants that dromey corbyn is making running. thatjeremy corbyn is making running. in the ones thatjeremy corbyn started talking about, there is no announcement. we had the energy price cap in our manifesto at the last election, and something that theresa may made clear that she wanted to challenge when she first became permanent as well. it was dropped from the queen's speech, and it has come back against a pillar that is because we are in the process of trying to get 0fgem, the regulator, to be more assertive in their dealings with the big six energy companies. they have indicated they will need some government action in order

to drive this policy home. we are in the process of... it is off and it's on again. the question is, why do you do this before? didn't you know there was a problem before? you said it was in the manifesto, it wasn't in the 2017 manifesto. for the conservatives to go to the nation with a bunch of labour like policies reminds everybody that you haven't been building enough council homes for the last ten years while controlling energy prices and you have been letting students get into too much debt. i'm sorry, no government has been building enough council houses. you can go back three decades, no government has been building enough. it has been a problem. it is worth noting that in her speech, the pm said that she is going to hold herself personally accountable. think this dreadful housing problem, the housing shortage. that, you know, has dogged the country for 25 years. how many is it going to build brazil and it will build 25,000 of a three—year period. we already partway through the spending period from 2016—21. 8000 houses is your big

announcement on housing? it's not only that. we are also committing £10 billion more for the help to buy scheme, which has already helped a lot of young people to bike but that just pushes house prices up. it helps them get the money but it also pushes the prices up. they can afford the mortgage interest but not by holder posit. it has helped a lot of people to buy their own home. —— the whole deposit. that is a help to. i wouldn't be surprised if there were not further announcements in the next 12 months. as i said, she's going to personally drive this housing solution through. all week, those of us who were at the tory party conference just heard everybody talking about jeremy corbyn. criticising jeremy corbyn and then validating all of the concerns that he has expressed by adopting policies that try to deal, rather modestly compared to his luggage plans, trying to deal... we are not going to get

into an auction withjeremy corbyn of these policy proposals. his proposals are completely irresponsible and undeliverable. in the case of student fees, they are wrong in the opinion of most economists. i wouldn't be surprised if you would agree with them, devon. you know very well that the abolition of tuition fees altogether as proposed by corbynista in to help very much disproportionately middle—class, well educated people, most of whom have been to independence wars. that is the people who will benefit from jeremy corbyn‘s cause. let me open this up. how would this speech have gone down, jenni, if there hadn't been the destruction is? imagine it had gone really smoothly, those words. it would have appealed to some people at the margins who are very well off and might be voted conservative. but it is not doing anything to address the concerns of people under the age of 40 who don't earn above average wages. what has happened over the past ten years, since the financial crash, real wages haven't risen, the glass

ignores or the and an economy which is completely skewed against them. you can't buy a house if you are a young person unless you have got rich parents, the jobs that have got progression and decent wages are very hard to find and you are saddled with the growing student that hanging around your neck for the rest of your life. if you want a decent life with opportunities, jeremy corbyn is saying, i will transform the economy. it hinges on whether you believe him. of course it does. it sounds like... the conservatives after dealing at the edges. did you feel that the speech would have gone down well" i don't did you feel that the speech would have gone down well? i don't disagree with a lot of what jenni said. if you read the speech there is a powerful narrative. theresa may explains why she is in politics and talks a lot about the british dream, which we don't generally used as a phrase in this country. wasn't that ed miliband? michael howard has used it as well. when you read it,

is not a bad speech. it sets out her cause for the last four years, if she lasts. this feels like a problem, there is a lot of anger and rotation about inequality, grenfell tower, the rich 1% walking off with all the money. —— irritation. it doesn't feel to challenge or articulate the anger. it is basically theresa may struggling to be the change. i think in certain sections it did, but that has all been lost today. somebody said, never waste a crisis. there are always opportunities that come in a crisis. there is a big opportunity here for theresa may. if she embraces this and shows in the next interview that she does how she felt, what did she feel when she was standing there and this quite so bright guy approached her? did she think it was a terrorist? she didn't flinch and she kept going. you can learn a lot about a politician when they face adversity. when i say adversity,

you don't compare that with the way that people have to live in some communities in this country. but we did learn something about her today, and it wasn't entirely negative. i completely agree. she was calm under fire. all of these things happening to her. she finished that speech. i thought in the middle of it that when she was praising entrepreneurs and talking about wealth creators and how we value them, at that point when she began to cough, she could have stopped. because it is a natural break in the speech. i thought she might stop there. i thought she was incredibly brave to go on. i know somebody who has seen her in operation in cobra, she is the sort of personality you want in charge in those kind of situations. she asks all the right questions and comes up with the solutions. a huge amount will depend on whether she has the hunger to keep going.

this is a toxic task, to get through brexit. a lot of the other politicians would be very happy to let her keep going if she can get to the end if they think she can deliver the version of brexit which they happen to want. if she wants it, she may be able to hang onto it. we went back to the distractions, i was trying to keep it on policy but used talks about the coffin, not me. thank you all. —— you started talking about the coughing. some dramatic figures came out yesterday — a big drop in hiv infections among gay and bisexual men in england. a 21% drop in 2016 over 2015. most of that is in london. public health england called it "the most exciting development in the uk hiv epidemic in 20 years". it's actually not just chance or magic. and it's notjust prep — the administration of a drug that prevents infection. the uk adopted some strategies that had been working in san francisco, and they're working here. james clayton went to the city, which is aiming to eradicate new infections among gay men altogether, to see what it is that worked. # if you're going to san francisco #

by the late 1970s, san francisco, known for its liberal politics and free love, had become the gay capital of the world. and, in harvey milk, it even had america's first openly gay elected politician. and then everything changed. i was working in the hospital. half of the patients that we were caring for were patients with aids. and when i would walk to and from work, i would just see... it was... it was devastating. people were emaciated. you would see them one week, you wouldn't see them the next week. people were losing tens, dozens, hundreds of people that they knew were dying or had died. it's easy to forgetjust how bad the hiv aids epidemic

was in san francisco. over a 15—year period, thousands upon thousands of mainly gay men lost their lives to the disease, until a treatment was finally found in 1996. 20 years later, and, quietly, another revolution is happening here. san francisco is aiming to have zero, that's no new hiv diagnoses, by 2020. places like struts clinic in the centre of san francisco's gay heartland in the castro are at the forefront of the fight against hiv. one of the reasons we actually have a big glass front, so you can actually see people come in and the people who are going out, and the idea is, is that when you have that, you show people that it's actually 0k to come in here and to get tested. you don't have to hide the fact that you actually got chlamydia, you don't have to hide the fact that you went to a sex party with 20 people. we celebrate you for who you are.

part of the strategy here is to remove the stigma of getting tested. as early diagnoses of hiv means early drug treatments. but the big innovation here is pre—exposure, or prep. which can prevent those taking it from contracting hiv. the director of public health in the city likens prep to the drug development of the 1990s. do you think prep is comparable... i do think prep is comparable. i think it is this enormous breakthrough, not only in protecting against hiv, but in improving the health and well—being of people. because, for the first time, they can have sex without being scared about contracting a potentially fatal disease. in san francisco, new hiv diagnoses has fallen by 90% since the mid—1990s. and for the last five years, it's fallen by 50%. to 223 cases. compare that to the rates in the uk for gay men that have been increasing until last year.

figures released yesterday show a 21% reduction in new hiv diagnoses in the uk, fuelled by a 29% reduction in london. clinics like london's dean street told newsnight they have been copying what san francisco has been doing. but there's one obvious distinction. the difference between this clinic here in downtown castro and any clinic in the uk is that here you can walk in, and 90 minutes later you can walk out again with a free prescription of prep. that simply doesn't happen in the uk. the nhs is about to launch a trial on prep. but, as it currently stands, prep is not available on the nhs. many gay men by their prep online, but not everyone can afford to. the fact that it's not available to people in england free of charge is crazy. and it's not right. so, are these drugs changing attitudes towards hiv? it's very open.

people will be like, hey, do you want to hit it up? and you'll be like, what's your status? and they'll be like, oh, and negative, i'm on prep. or someone will be like, i'm positive, and it's undetectable, it's safe if you want to do it. i'm hiv positive, and so, way back, there was a real fear of anyone knowing, because it was like a stigma associated with it. but i think now it is viewed much more like any other chronic disease. but this new freedom has also led to concerns that prep could encourage risky sexual behaviour. do you think there is more condomless sex, do you think? yes, it is. especially around here, it is a lot of condomless sex. because people have a lot of trust on being on prep. so far, although trials show prep does result in more condomless sex, there hasn't been a marked rise in stis.

but more research clearly needs to be done. london is looking to copy san francisco. but not everything is working here. hiv diagnosis is falling in the gay community. but just look at the rate of decline in white men. among other ethnicities, it's falling much less quickly. people who find themselves homeless now make up nearly 50% of all hiv diagnoses in the city. it's 8am, and sixth st harm reduction clinic in san francisco's much less affluent tenderloin area is preparing to open its doors. everything here is part of either safe sex, safe smoking, or safe injection. and everything here reduces the risk of transmission of hiv and hepatitis c. but despite needle exchanges like this, the getting to zero initiative is not making the inroads it hoped for. we've seen a drastic decrease in new hiv transmission

among white gay men. right? that was the first population we outreached to, that was the first visible population that was affected by hiv, and so they did massive amounts of outreach. and what happened was we left behind everyone else that was vulnerable to the disease. joining me now is kate harrison, head of programme funding for avert, an organisation that works to educate and inform people about hiv. we've seen a big drop in london, particularly in london. how easy would it be for the rest of the uk to copy what has happened in london? in london you have a concentrated population. you've got fantastic services like the dean street clinic, and other clinics that are providing services to gay men. in cities, it would be easier to provide those services. more scattered populations outside our more difficult. and what is driving it? is it all about prep, or earlier treatment that makes people less infectious? prep is a game changer, no doubt, and it's very important. gay men are the heroes in this

story, because they've been championing prep and getting it for themselves. they've had to buy it, but they are doing it. websites like i want prep now are really important. earlier testing and earlier treatment is also really important, and that is also being driven by the communities, who are saying, let's be open about this and let's get to the clinics. so you need clinics. it's easier in the city than in the countryside. absolutely. other communities, which is the pointjames was making towards the end, there hasn't been a drop. presumably prep would work in those communities as well. how easy is it going to be to take it from gay men going online, buying this thing, or getting tested every three months so they know they are going to be treated as soon as they are infected. how easy is it to get that over

to other communities? one of the big differences for gay and bisexual men is that they know that aids isn't over. people outside that group, people i speak to who are not gay or bisexual, sometimes think that hiv is in the past. people need education first and foremost. they need to know they are still at risk. knowledge is really important. you also need to be looking after yourself. you need to be a bit motivated, and you may need a bit of money as well, if you are having to buy prep. you shouldn't have to buy prep.

it should be available for free. and it has been approved? the scottish government are providing it for free. there is a very good public health argument for providing prep forfree. tell me about the african diaspora and the issues there. many people come from africa and don't know they are infected, and could be infected for a long time before they realise. they could be, although studies have shown that migrants are more likely to acquire hiv in europe rather than coming in with hiv. so it's a bit of a myth that people are coming to europe with hiv. the goal is to eradicate new infections among gay men by 2020. is it going to happen? presumably, there will always be some infections. there are always people who are in the most marginalised groups.

homeless people were mentioned on that film. there will always be people who are really in the margins. you have to be able to provide services to everyone, and sometimes it's not cost—effective to do that. but it's fantastic to have a bold vision. that's what i'm impressed with the mayor of san francisco doing. thank you. that's it for tonight. but before we go, it's 200 years since the discovery of one of ancient egypt's greatest treasures. the discovery of the tomb of pharaoh seti i was a huge story when it was found and later brought to the home of sir john soane in london. the intricately carved white alabaster sarcophagus is still at that house, which is now a museum. as it launches a new exhibition explaining the story of the tomb, for the next few minutes, we thought we'd leave you with this short film about how it reached its new home. goodnight. egyptian music.

john soane's life story is really extraordinary. he rose from being the son of a bricklayer to, by the end of his life, being a professor of architecture at the royal academy. architect to government, to royalty, and to many members of the aristocracy. this was the greatest treasure that had ever come out of egypt. the sarcophagus itself is incredibly significant in egyptological terms, but they didn't know that. and what they knew was the extraordinary tale of its discovery by the unusual egyptologist giovanni belzoni, formerly a circus strongman.

when it arrived in england in 1821, it seemed destined for the british museum. but after several years of protracted negotiations, they decided not to buy it. and soane was able to step in, offer £2000, a vast sum, and get it here. john soane entertained a lot here in this house. but perhaps the most significant parties he ever held celebrated the arrival of his greatest treasure. he held three evening parties. he invited 900 people. they came at 8pm to view the sarcophagus by lamp light. and the whole thing was treated like a theatrical event. well, the party was covered very extensively in the newspapers. i'd like to read to you a little bit from one of the descriptions. the first person i met was coleridge. then i was pushed against turner, the landscape painter, with his red face and white waistcoat. and i was carried off my legs and irretrievably bustled to where the sarcophagus lay.

soane's house is a perfect cretan labyrinth. fancy, delicate ladies of fashion dipping their pretty heads into an old, mouldy, fusty, hieroglyphed coffin. blessing their stars at its age, wondering whom it contained. the duke of sussex came squeezing and wheezing along the narrow passage, driving all the women before him like a blue beard, and putting his royal head into the coffin, added his wonder to the wonder of the rest. good morning. the north—south divide to start the day. early morning cloud, wind and rain yet to clear

away. a rather grey and wet start to the day in the extreme south. behind it, lovely spells of sunshine with a north—westerly breeze. not and west facing coasts of scotland have some rain. generally speech —— generally speaking, moving through thursday, clear skies by day and that will lead to a chilly night. in rural spots, temperatures down into low single figures and the light winds, it could mean the possibility of a light early—morning it could mean the possibility of a light ea rly—morning frost it could mean the possibility of a light early—morning frost for some. actually start to friday morning that lovely sparkling one to allow autumn colour to shine through. the cloud will have the north and west and the winds strengthen by the end of the day. highs 9— 16 degrees. this is newsday on the bbc.

i'm rico hizon, in singapore. the headlines: the fbi's been questioning the gunman‘s girlfriend who says she had no clue of the carnage he was planning. he never said anything to me or took any action that i was aware of, that i understood in any way to be a warning. president trump pays tribute to the first responders and meets the survivors of the worst mass shooting in modern us history. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: a controversial figure in indonesia politics — we meet the minister with a unique approach to tackling illegal fishing. life through the lens in hong kong.