i‘ft ht been mike wa’itching car. what has it been mike watching him this season the cover looks like it has been a pivotal last couple of races for him, he has gone clear of sebastien vettel, do you think he will win the world title this year that also what have you made of his time at mercedes? he has changed a lot. his character has changed and i think his confidence in his ability has changed, which is good to see and, yeah, he is one of the older statesman now of the sport and i think is great for the sport as well. i think he will clinch it over the next couple of races and four world championships, that's just crazy. more than ayrton senna, that's like alan prost, three off michael schumacher. if he stays in the sport he could eat schumacher‘s record. and finally, five—time world champion ronnie o'sullivan has been given permission to wear trainers in his second—round match at the english open. yesterday he turned up to his match in trainers because of a sprained ankle and said afterwards that

as a result of the strapping, he couldn't get his leather shoes on. despite his unusual attire, o'sullivan won the match against china's zhang anda — four frames to one. you wonder what he will turn up in next time? slippers? flip—flops? that's all from sportsday. we'll have more throughout the evening. the short story writer george saunders has been speaking about becoming the second american author to win the prestigious man booker prize. his winning book lincoln in the bardo, is his first full length nove, and deals with the grief of abraham lincoln following the death of his young son, in 1862. well, earlier my colleague annita mcveigh asked him how he made the transition from a short story writer into a novelist — particularly when he viewed the prospect of writing the book with trepidation.

it was very scary. it's such a beautiful idea for a story and i didn't think i had the skills to do it so didn't think i had the skills to do itsoi didn't think i had the skills to do it so i delayed and delayed and i thought that some point you reach a crossroads where you either take a scary leap and try and fail or you end up repeating yourself in an artistic death so i thought at 55 a few more years so artistic death so i thought at 55 a few more years so i should keep myself alive as an artist rather than, you know? up untilthat point had been writing short stories so how was the transition, was that difficult to manage was the process the same? i kept waiting for the big trumpet blast of being a novelist but i spent my life learning how to make one thing and then it was, can you build a mansion? and i thought yes, ican you build a mansion? and i thought yes, i can put some small things together so was the same process but over a larger skeleton. tell our audience a bit more about what this

book is about, bardo is the idea of purgatory in to bat, i understand? yes, purgatory is important but bardo is more negotiable, a dead person, if they come to an understanding about their life they can be freed up the story was when lincoln was president his son passed away and he went into the cryptjust to see his body and that spoke to me, the level of grief that would drive a person to do that and then of course he had to leave and fight the war so just the profundity of that evening. and it was a charger mark ona that evening. and it was a charger mark on a visit to washington that planted the seed of this idea in your mind. —— was a chance remark. we were driving by a graveyard and my wife's husband said, did you know... i thought, my wife's husband said, did you know... ithought, what my wife's husband said, did you know... i thought, what a story but

i wasn't sure if i could do it. so i stored it away for 20 years and in 2012 i thought if not now, when? in the things i have read about you you are very modest and self—deprecating. how does it feel to be awarded this prize? do you think of it as validation, i don't know. yes, somebody with lifelong so self—esteem, it's very validating. i think what you try to do is take the very generous think what you try to do is take the very generous response and think what you try to do is take the very generous response and ploughed under and say i don't deserve it but i'm going to try to and i'll try to make it the next work even better.‘ make it the next work even better.l bit of pressure perhaps for the next work? pressure is ok, it's good. another novel short stories question? i have no idea, i'll go home and see what is interesting. during a conference yesterday in westminster, a conservative mp revealed he spends up to an hour in the bath every morning "to relax and compose my thoughts for the day ahead". tim loughton, who is co—chair of a the all—party group

on mindfulness, a form of meditation, follows in the footsteps of sir winston churchill, who was also fond of a long soak in the tub. mr laughton said this afternoon it was surprising that the news he takes a bath had made the headlines. no, ithink no, i think what i've regret if anything is that the headline had become about my bathing habits where is this was a very important and fascinating conference yesterday where we had 20 mps from 15 different countries coming to london to promote mindfulness as one solution for the epidemic of dental illness we have in the western world at the moment and these are very serious issues and we had the godfather of mindfulness in from the states, they are fascinating presentation and said that mindfulness is something that anybody can do any time, anywhere. i gave a vote of thanks and said well, actually, i do my mindfulness in my bath in the morning. i reserve a

time, 1015 minutes, just to switch off, no mobiles, no bbc radio going on and you forget about all the strains and stresses of what happened yesterday what's coming up tomorrow. you are just reflecting, be stressing for the present and thinking about what's the environment around you, that is what mindfulness is all about and it certainly works for me, it works we re certainly works for me, it works were a certainly works for me, it works were a lot of people and evidence shows its working for a lot of people and you can take ten minutes out from your lunch break at work, on the bus, in your favourite armchair at home, something anybody can do and it helps your mental good health and that's got to be good for our highly stressed society today where everybody is living their lives that 100 mph. take that time out and the stress. tim lawton on his bathing tim lawton on his bathing habits. tim lawton on his bathing habits. time for a look at the weather now. good evening, potentialfor windy weather coming our way through the rest of this week and the worst of

the winds could come from this cloud, which has been over bermuda, producing heavy rain. that will develop markedly over the next 48 hours and before that arrives cloud ganging up on the south, patchy rain and drizzle, working to north—east england to night and click on the south east of scotland. a lot of mist and cloud around takers into thursday morning. temperatures should not drop too much from what they are this evening, around 1013 celsius as we start the day. very grey start, patchy mist and fog around. we could see another burst of heavy rain workers way up from central and southern england, east midlands wards east england. but there should be brighter weather, for a time western wales, eastern scotland. more rain, though, in northern ireland. by the end of the day heavy rain in the south—west and gusty winds. but we could finish the day with gales in the south—west and

increasingly across the english channel through thursday night. more rain northwards and eastwards across the country. but whether to come as we the country. but whether to come as we go through the night and into friday morning. temperatures around 11 or 13 celsius. friday starts off great, damp, outbreaks of rain and drizzle. the breeze eases down, skies brighten up. actually getting better for many of you on friday. not a huge amount of sunshine but there will be some breaking through. not especially warm but a bit of a calm spell before the weekend arrives and that potential for yet more very arrives and that potential for yet more very windy and at times wet weather. here comes that area of cloud as a deep area of low pressure. the biggest development will be through friday and the time it reaches our shores it will be less potent but it could still produce problems on saturday, particularly across southern half of the country with winds gusting 50 or 60 mph, maybe more. uncertainty about exact wind strength across the

south. wind picking up across eastern parts of the country but on saturday should be dry. wet and windy through the night and into sunday. sunday still gales around western coasts but after a wet start it brightens up. we will keep you updated. you're watching beyond one hundred days. there are few things more sacred than soldiers who've died in battle — so why have they been sucked into america's toxic politics? donald trump started the fight — but now his chief of staff, a democratic congresswoman, and even a grieving widow are part of this sorry story. the wife of a soldier killed in niger cries over his casket. she is left with two children and another on the way. politics should be nowhere near this scene. president xijinping is riding high as he opens china's national congress — and he's still cracking down on corruption. the world's fastest growing humanitarian crisis is getting even worse. we'll be live on the border between myanmar and bangladesh. this has to be one of

the single day influxes