to more harmful ways of resort to more harmful ways of bringing up their children. like what? like as ar sighs. if my mother decided not to talk to me for 24 hours as an alternative to smacking me,i hours as an alternative to smacking me, ithink hours as an alternative to smacking me, i think i would have grown up something scarred. there are more toxic ways, i think, of scarring your children and i don't think that amounts to a good future for them. john wilkes, let's finish with you. you mentioned other countries like sweden, which seem progressive in some ways than britain at times, what sort of strategies can parents use then? if they are at the end of their tether and smacking is not per missable, what can they do? parents are adopting more strategies without violence or smacking. i think people will have to be supported if the provision comes into effect, a pa rent provision comes into effect, a parent should be supported. but

there is no thresh news of the world a domestic situation. we don't accept a certain amount of physicality between two partners in a relationship, so why accept the same level and parents don't have full rain reign of physicality. the law say there is is a reason of chastisement. we are going a step further to produce a level playing field with how adults are treated with the sorts of rights that are set in place for adults and put them in place for our children. reverend iver martin and john wilkes, thank you very much for your time. drivers on southern rail are to be balloted on a proposed deal to end their long—running dispute. they've been offered an almost 30 per cent pay rise over five years. leaders of the aslef union are recommending that their members accept the offer saying it offers a "complete resolution" to the is—month—long dispute which centred on the safety of driver—only operated trains. we all like a good snooze, don't we?

this is the adorable moment that a sleepy badger was found wrapped up, enjoying a snooze in a cat basket. he got through the cat flap. ate the cat's food and curled up and went to sleep in its basket. it the prime minister is in brussels for an eu summit — hoping for progress in brexit negotiations. as the number of recorded crimes in england and wales rises sharply, norfolk police say they're getting rid of all of their police community support officers. the actor, tom hanks, has described the sexual misconduct allegations against harvey weinstein as a "watershed moment", that will lead to a sea change in hollywood. an update on the market numbers for you — here's how london's and frankfurt ended the day.

and in the the united states this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. they are all in negative territory as you can see. they are all in negative territory as you can see. now its time for meet the author. william shakespeare had a younger brother richard but we know less about him than the bard. bernard cornwell brings him to life as the narrator in his book, fools and mortals. the brothers are leading more or less separate lives a tale of rivalry, jealously and blackmail. set during rehearsals of a first night of a midsumumer night's dream. welcome. it's a change of scene for you,

bernard, because you are best known as someone who writes in battle mode, really. people are found with muskets or waving swords in many of your books. what is it that fascinates you about the 15905, and theatre in london? well, it's just that it's the beginning of a whole new industry which has obviously prospered mightily ever since, but before the 1570s there were no permanent playhouses. no theatres, if you like. the first is built in 1574. 20 years later, they are in full flow. we have a whole new industry in london. it has to be london because london is the only city big enough to support it. and, shakespeare's company, the lord chamberlain's men worked at a place called "the theatre". a name that has stuck. i miss—spent my summers on stage, and i have done for the last 11 years.

that experience has absolutely fascinated me. i mean, what was it like in sha kespeare‘s time, putting on a play? is it any different to today? and so, in a sense, it's an attempt to actually recreate the world of shakespeare's theatre. and you've done something rather cunning. you've brought in as the narrator of the story richard, one of shakespeare's brothers, a younger brother who is a real man. we know that he existed, but we know almost nothing about him. so you've got a wonderful blank sheet of paper! i love blank sheets of paper, and richard is the most blank of all of the sheets. shakespeare had three brothers: edmund, giles and richard. we know something about the first two. edmund became an actor and died much too young. he is buried in what is now southwark cathedral. but richard, we have his birth date, or at least the date of his christening. we have his death date. and we have one court mention in between where he is fined for not attending church. that is it. so he's a completely blank slate. i think it's most unlikely that he went to london and became an actor, but why not? it gives me a chance to tell the story... a chance to tell the story and explain that the brothers are estranged, more or less.

at least, they have a very difficult relationship. which is partly due to professional rivalry. then, you weave a story that involves a lost play, a lost manuscript. it is all set around the rehearsals for the first night of a midsummer night's dream, which is a play about putting on a play! putting on a play, yes! so we can see where you are going here? yes, it is a play that i love, i've twice played in a midsummer night's dream. and i think that was maybe the reason i chose it, because i know the play quite well. you know the plot. most people you ask if they can remember if they remember the plot to a midsummer night's dream, they would struggle. it's very convoluted. it has a lot of main characters. i'm a great believer that shakespeare knew what he was talking about when he said in romeo and juliet "the two hour traffic of our stage". usually, you cut a play down to about two hours, plus an interval. there's a lot going on in those two hours, there really is. and i suppose also it gives you the idea of the ferment of the playhouses of the time, you are giving the audience

entertainment of every kind through the course of the evening. it's almost participatory, isn't it? yes, it's extraordinarily exciting. the playhouse was a whole new idea. up until then, if you were going to see a play you would go to an inn yard, probably, or maybe to a hall somewhere. and the play moved on, the cart moved on and you didn't see a play again for some weeks or months. but once you have a fixed playhouse in london, orjust outside of london, then the audience is the same, night after night. instead of needing three or four plays to keep going, you need about 30 plays a year. you need new material all the time. so the playwright is born. if there had not been a permanent theatre, if it wasn't for the bricks and mortar and the timber and the plaster, we wouldn't have shakespeare. he wouldn't have been needed. nobody would have paid him to write romeo and juliet or a midsummer night's dream. he might never have been. might never have been. and he was writing

for money of course? writing for money, and making a great deal of money. the way to make money was to be a shareholder, and owner, of the company, and he is. it's quite natural that a story like this would bubble up. jealousy, professional rivalry. the theft of a text, because of course there was nothing to protect. no, there was no copyright. if you were an actor, you didn't get a copy of the play to learn your lines. you just got your part. so, if you were playing duke theseus, you would have the line, you know, hippolyta's line "i've never heard such such silly stuff, this is the silliest stuff that ever i heard". and then you would get your lines. and you would have to work out what else was going on! yes, it was like a jigsaw puzzle. you'd have to go, who's next? and you would have to do that in rehearsal. if you had too many copies of the play, someone‘s going to steal it, and if they steal it, then their company is going to put it on and you have no redress at all. so if you've got a great play like romeo and juliet, or midsummer,

you certainly don't want the admiral‘s men across the river putting that on because you are losing half your audience. and that is the main spring of this plot? yes. i would like to think that the main spring of the plot is can we possibly make a success of this ridiculous play with fairies in it? but, who knows? and in writing this story, which has elements of a romp about it, what does come through is your affection for the whole business, the fun of it and the stagecraft, and the smell of the greasepaint, as it were? yes, it is a huge affection. i like to think it is a tribute to everyone who works in the theatre, for all the pleasure they give us. when you had finished constructing the story, in terms of plot, and then given richard the characteristics which you were able to make up because we know nothing about him, did you find at the end that you got to know his brother at all better, or not? yes. i got to understand what william shakespeare was doing in the sense of being a sharer in a theatre company.

and, the pressures on him to produce plays. there is this huge pressure to have new material all the time. and much of it is dross. but nevertheless, benjohnson was writing for the admiral‘s men, shakespeare's writing for his own company. there is pressure producing. "come on, will — we need plays". a remarkable writer like you has had such worldwide success with a whole string of novels, pretty much all set in the past but not entirely, but most of them. you must find yourself coming back to the core subjects that engross people and keep them interested, and the rivalry between two brothers is one of the classics, isn't it? yes, rivalry or conflict. somebody once said that every good novel begins by asking a question that the reader did not know that they wanted answered. it's got a very good opening line, this one. can you remember it off the top of your head? "i died just after the clock in the passageway struck nine", i think it is!

well, it's not a bad beginning, and beginnings matter, don't they? beginnings matter, very much so. it was kurt vonnegut who said a novel begins by asking a question the reader did not know they wanted answered. and that actually, in a sense, is what you do. i mean, harry falls in love with anne, but harry is already married to catherine. you're off, because you want to know how it will end. bernard cornwell, author of fools and mortals, thank you very much. thank you. good evening. so we have it, a second named storm of the season, storm brian, named by the irish met service. it can bring lively weather our way. here it is out in the atlantic. it

is strengthening rapidly. it will be at its strongest peak strength out in the atlantic through tomorrow before we can see it coming to our shores. at the moment we have windy weather. not quite as potent but it has been producing gales over the english channel coasts. lots of heavy rain in the south—eastern corner. rain almost everywhere. turning drier in the west later on. but undersnit the rain bands, misty over the hills. clearer skies in western northern ireland. temperatures like last night, about 10 to 13 celsius. a grey start to friday. friday will be getting better but outbreaks of rain over england. the midlands holding on to the cloud through the day. most on to the cloud through the day. m ost pla ces on to the cloud through the day. most places then seeing sunshine coming through. with the air with us, it will be fresher once the sun

out a little improvement on today. and by the time it gets to 4.00pm. rain in northern ireland. a wet evener here. strong winds spreading over wales and south—west england and north and to the east as storm brian approaches. a slightly weaker storm than earlier in the day. but it brings gales storm than earlier in the day. but it brings gates to the south—western approaches to the uk. let's focus on that. the wing strengths around the coasts of wales, southern and south—western england. up to 70 miles an hour in one or two spots. spring tides so rough around the coasts with the high seas. showers over over the west in the morning. east of scotland and england, not so bad. a little bit of sunshine. a few showers in the afternoon but the main of the showers over to saturday will be in the west.

temperatures later in the day up to 13 celsius in the west. saturday to sunday, the storm is weakening, pushing into the north sea. so sunday, west to north—westerly winds, sunshine and winds. showers to the north and the west, a coal day by and large. goodbye for now. welcome to outside source. catalonia refuses to back down on special independence from spain. the spanish prime minister responds by starting the process of stripping away catalonia's powers. in the us, the white house chief of staff says he was stunned by president trump's phone call to a soldier ‘s widow was criticised. and i'm live with the latest eu summit, where european leaders are telling outside source their assessment of theresa may and her approach to the brexit negotiations. it's not flexibility

and it's not a realistic approach, what we're hearing from the uk this time. also the world's fastest growing humanitarian crisis. thousands of rohingya muslims continue to flee violence