you that hampered the limit on it, you then don't overrule the democratically elected chamber —— if you did that and restricted the limit. usual influence and power to represent different parts of society. —— use your influence. i think this is an excellent idea, and i would like to see the comments coming down from 650 to 600, as well —— the house of commons.” coming down from 650 to 600, as well -- the house of commons. i agree, something has to be done about the house of lords, we have set this, for many decades. some for hundreds of years. it is completely bloated and there are people who have only got their peerages, present company excluded, for nefarious reasons and backscratching. the whole history of the honours system has been sullied and i'm not a fan of abolishing the tyre lords. —— the entire. but when

something has been sullied, it is difficult to repair the damage.” agree. everyone should say, by the way, if that means it is my time to 90, way, if that means it is my time to go, you say goodbye. as andrew lloyd webber has done. every previous attempt has ended in failure, so one wonders what will happen. we should put pressure on reform. we have been talking about the weather here, extraordinary pictures coming into the above first, let's go to the daily mirror. ifi could make a point on this, we haven't got the full story, and they have not got... the right of reply is the wrong thing to say, but what caught my eye, this is a newspaper review and i think this is irresponsible journalism. £500,000 a day being

paid out in dividends, 190 million, thing. it says royal mail pays fat cat shareholders. 12% of those shareholders work for the royal mail, so when your postman comes tomorrow morning, just call him a fat cat. it is notjust employees, anyone who has a pension will be in some way a shareholder indirectly at royal mail. they are not individual shareholders. the point is, this is a dividend and on that basis the shareholders are getting dividends, when it could be nationalised, but why call them fat cat? because they hate business. it is, and there is also the ongoing row between the unions and business bosses at the royal mail. they had to get an injunction this week and that only happens today, so this is a story

within a story of union bosses pitted against the bosses which has called shareholders fat cats, which is ridiculous for the 12% of the shareholders liverpool are accepting what capitalism should be about, employees being part of the system. it is modern reality, companies can't afford these pensions any more and royal mail has realised that, rather later than most and they have a big fight on their hands. absolutely. moving on, some amazing pictures of the weather, we have been talking about some extraordinary storms in parts of ireland and parts of the scottish coast, but this picture in the i. this amazing picture of the sun.

yes, we all saw this in parts of london, it looked like there was going to be a thunderstorm, but there wasn't, and then it looked like there was going to be red dust. it is ophelia pushing and sucking the saharan sand and the ash coming from southern europe, mixing to create this extraordinary darkness and then the red sun. everyone was talking about it, it was very un—british. talking about it, it was very un-british. i came in a cab across 0xford un-british. i came in a cab across oxford street and people were taking photographs of the sky. i would make one point, we mustn't forget, in ireland three people were killed after the storm. there is a very

tragic side. thousands and thousands are without electricity, which could cause health problems. very serious damage in some areas. daisy, the guardian, theresa may fails to move the dial over brexit, the headline. well, of course, she does, and isaiah in an exasperated way, we knew that this dinner she was having wasn't going to lead to any great announcement —— wasn't going to lead to any great announcement “ and wasn't going to lead to any great announcement —— and i sigh. this is not worth the paper it is written on. she speaks about accelerating the process. as opposed to slowing down. she said a great big nothing apart from the fact it was a convivial dinner. it says senior diplomats said the uk has not done enough, what arrogant ofjosie is this? they are sitting there saying,

let's see more —— what arrogant of you can't really be saying that the government and those in the government and those in the government that will for brexit really do have their ducks in a row andl really do have their ducks in a row and i really well organised. really do have their ducks in a row and i really well organisedlj and i really well organised.” certainly agree that they do not, but i do find it incredibly annoying when you get people like the labour opposition saying the negotiations are not going on quickly enough, but it is very easy, just like the check, but if you are going to write a check when you are legally obliged to do, which is what they are saying, europe are saying this is what you are legally obliged to do, and we also want more, but if you do that, the british people will never forgive. some interesting body

language, as the cameras were filming, the four main parties leaving this dinner, and there were bear hugs between david davis and jean—claude juncker. bear hugs between david davis and jean-claude juncker. excuse me, you hold your friends close and your enemies closer. we know he does have his sas training. we are looking at this, from the perspective of we should do more, but the european union also need to get a good deal done, and i'm not saying any of that, it is very frustrating. many more stories. also in the guardian panama papers report killed in bombing. this is a good story, i'm so bombing. this is a good story, i'm so glad it is prominent in the guardian, what is going on in malta is very significant. a journalist, the most famous investigative journalist in malta, her car was

blown up this afternoon, she did her la st blown up this afternoon, she did her last blog this afternoon and then hercar last blog this afternoon and then her car blew last blog this afternoon and then hercar blew up last blog this afternoon and then her car blew up at three o'clock. her blogs get more readers than all of the newspapers in malta put together, she is huge and has been running... she has been called a one—woman wikileaks, the panama papers, she has been linking the maltese politicians with azerbaijan and selling passports, the corruption she has alleged is huge andl corruption she has alleged is huge and i sit on the board of a journalist charity called into news which supports journalists who are working in difficult circumstances, andl working in difficult circumstances, and i was in kiev recently where a journalist was also blown up recently. it is a story that is happening... malta is in the heart of europe, it is not in russia, and it is important. member of the european union. indeed. it was

important that people wake up to this threat. the questions to be asked. we were talking about possible reform of the house of lords and the daily telegraph has changes are afoot for the house of commons. if you look as a new paper review, the telegraph is leading with this, and it is because the boundary commission is going to change, this is to get constituencies to about 70,000 every time. which they have been talking about for many years. the liberal party, they would suffer from it, and they stopped it happening with the coalition, so it was going to happen in two years' time, but that would have helped theresa may at an election held in five years, but she brought it forward so she did not get the benefit of it. it will help the tories by about 20 seats. get the benefit of it. it will help the tories by about 20 seatsm would have given them a majority, so why on earth did she do it?”

would have given them a majority, so why on earth did she do it? i find interesting they are leading with this story, it is a statement of fa ct, this story, it is a statement of fact, that we would have seen a given election result. and it was never going to happen. another statement of fact. turkeys voting for christmas... i think it will, but when you have a minority government, why would you do it? alistair carmichael said it would be a miracle if it happens, the labour party said nobody thinks this will happen, because they simply can't get it through. it is funny. even though the tories would benefit, borisjohnson's seat though the tories would benefit, boris johnson's seat would disappear. and that of david davis. priti patel. the three big hitters in the labour front bench, they are in north london constituencies, contiguous, and they will go, and that will lead to a lot of

scrabbling amongst themselves. that will lead to a lot of scrabbling amongst themselvesm does need to be done, but it is finding a way, as you know, finding a way it can be done, and the reason the labour party mps have smaller constituencies is they tend to be urban. smaller geographical. they tend to be more urban, and their consultants tend to have a lot of problems. —— constituents. consultants tend to have a lot of problems. -- constituents. so many mps are going to be worried about their own seats, so i imagine theresa may will not get around to this. to both of you, thanks for joining us. we have run out of time. that is its night. you can see the front pages on the bbc news website —— that is it for tonight. if you have missed the programme, you can watch it later on the bbc iplayer. good evening. ex—hurricane ophelia

has had a big impact on the weather across the british isles, the summit was the case that the skies were turning red, dust from the sahara and fire from the fires in portugal. further west it was more dangerous because of the strength of the winds, the republic of ireland have the strongest. we saw some very strong winds indeed, the strongest were in the republic of ireland close to 100 miles per hour in the most exposed areas. plenty of other places not too far behind. the area of high pressure will move north, and the winds over wales, the isle of man, will slowly slow down, the strongest terms the ring north

and east, outbreaks of rain in northern areas, as well, and further north, clear spells, and it will not be as mild as it was last night. into tomorrow morning, there could still be some travel issues, strong winds around, especially parts of central and southern scotland and north east england, because where we have these winds fun loving through the central belt, just to the east of the pennines, we could have gusts of the pennines, we could have gusts of up to 70 mph through the morning. that could cause some issues, but gradually, slowly but surely, the winds will ease down. there will still be a lot of clout, and some outbreaks of rain, then we have a nice zone of fine weather —— cloud. and then into the south west, more rain by the end of the day. there is a fresher feel, 13—17. rain by the end of the day. there is a fresherfeel, 13—17. as rain by the end of the day. there is a fresher feel, 13—17. as we go on into wednesday, things look considerably quieter, and look at

the weather chart, not too many isobars. they are widely spaced and they will be quite light and and this band of rain will be working erratically north, a fair amount of cloud, but some brighter glimpses and those temperatures getting up to around 13 in glasgow and a high of 18 in london. for this week, after the stormy start, things will turn quiet for time around the middle of the week before wind and rain returned later. this is bbc news.

the headlines at eleven... storm ophelia — one of the most powerful storms to hit ireland and parts of the uk in recent years — has caused loss of life and power cuts to thousands of homes. theresa may says tonight's dinner discussions with eu leaders have been ‘constructive' — both sides agree brexit talks should be accelerated. thousands of civilians flee the iraqi city of kirkuk, after the iraqi army seized control from kurdish forces. and on newsnight, would tax breaks for the young be met with resistance from the old ? for the young be met with resistance from the old? we slug it out between the generations.