you will even find the lemon he used to read those letters. this is an example of a file relating to suffrage and women's rights, this is the case of a woman called hilda burkett, who went by the alias of byron, she was one of the first women to be forcibly fed in prison and she talks about how she's willing to give her life if needed, it's a really great example of one of the personal stories that we have here at the archives. from tomorrow, archives nationwide will be asking us to get involved and to explore these amazing places. who knows, the next big discovery could be yours. robert hall, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear. it was cold this morning, i did not wa nt to it was cold this morning, i did not want to say i told you so, but it was cold. lots of “4, cold and frosty but a glorious day for many,

with lots of sunshine coming through. some beautiful weather watchers‘ pictures into the afternoon. temperatures ten or ii degrees. with the light winds and sunshine that is not bad, but it is not for all. looking at the satellite picture, high cloud and to wales and northern ireland, further north shower clouds moving to scotla nd north shower clouds moving to scotland and northern england, accompanied by gale force gusts. some of the show is frequent, heavy with hail and thunder and even snow to the higher ground. they will continue to the rest of the afternoon, one or two perhaps into north—west england but a beautiful afternoon for many. highest values likely of around seven to 10 degrees. down on yesterday but hopefully the sunshine will compensate a little. as we go through the night we keep a strong, gale force gusts in the north, and the news and showers keep coming. elsewhere it becomes messy, we are going to see a bit of drizzly rain pushing into wales in south—west england. not quite as

cold, around four to 6 degrees to the west. we might see light frosting clear skies but not the ha rd frosting clear skies but not the hard frost that we had this morning. it is the meteor showers throughout the night, that is interesting because as we keep the clear skies and there is a new moon, in loupe —— rural spots you might see a good chance of catching a good glimpse. but back to the mess that is saturday. plowden drizzly rain across wales, south—west england will eventually have sunshine into the south east. the best chance on saturday of seeing sunshine. northern england and scotland away from the showers to the far north—east, around 6 degrees here. milder with a cloud and drizzle. those are your choices. not much change as we move out of saturday into sunday, keeping the mild and damp flow towards the south—west with outbreaks of light rain, clearer skies into the north. the north—east looks likely to cling onto the cold dhaka, the milder air

trying to squeeze in birds really taking its time. the weather front not moving very far very fast, by sunday it looks likely we will keep the clearer, colder weather the further east you are, cloudy but milder to the west. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime... zimbabwe‘s president robert mugabe has made his first public appearance since the country‘s army took over on wednesday. that‘s all from the bbc news at one. so it‘s goodbye from me, and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s good afternoon. a look at the day‘s sport here now on bbc news. we begin with cricket where australia have retained the women‘s ashes thanks to a six—wicket win over england in the first of three t20 internationals. victory in the next two games means the series can now only be drawn.

andy swiss has more from sydney. the first ashes triumph of this exciting few months has gone emphatically australia‘s way as they retain the ashes with two games still remaining in the series. it was always going to be a tough ask for england. they had to win here tonight and win the last two games tonight and win the last two games to win back the ashes and they got off toa to win back the ashes and they got off to a terrible start. heather knight out second ball, england subsided to 16—1; at one point. at that stage, there seemed no way back. there was still a chance, but australia swept them away with a ruthless run chase. mooney hitting the winning runs, finishing on 867-0. three englishmen lie in the fopp

four places in dubai in the golf after a fascinating round which saw matthew fitzpatrick take a one—shot lead going into the weekend. our correspondent ian carter is in dubai for us. that was some round wasn‘t it? absolutely. an english dominated day, hugh. it was hatton who really set the tone with a brilliant 63. very quiet in the first round, level par72, very quiet in the first round, level par 72, but today really got things going. he was 8—under through his first 12 holes and the only spoiling effect really was on the final hole when he got stuck in a bunker and ended up wracking up a bogie. that took a bit of the tinge away from an otherwise brilliant day for him. he went to 9—under. fitzpatrick went to the top of the leaderboard. he‘s the defending champion. he beat hatton into second place last year and it

was a second successive 67 for pits patrick who looked so at home on the greens. he moved to io—under. in the wider picture of the race to dubai, a brilliant bounce back from tommy fleetwood today, a 65 for him. that‘s taken him to 6—under and it‘s brought him right back into the picture as far as the race to dubai is concerned. his closest rival is justin rose, round in 70 today to move into 8—under. the big frustration for him was the uncharacteristic bogie to finish his round. thanks so much forjoining us, ian. bbc sport understands the former women‘s goalkeeping coach lee kendal admitted to using a fake caribbean accent towards aluko. he stepped down from his role yesterday. his admission was not included in the fa statement. the fa said no further action was

necessary. the director of rugby, steve diamond has been given a six—week staidium ban for comments he made about the referee after his side‘s match with exeter last month. half of the ban referee after his side‘s match with exeter last rr buti. half of the ban deduction if behaviour continues. you can find more of those stories on the website at www. bbc.co.uk/sport. on the website at www.bbc.co.uk/sport. more on the website at www. bbc.co.uk/sport. more in on the website at www.bbc.co.uk/sport. more in the next hour. as we‘ve been hearing the president of the european council, donald tusk, is expected to tell theresa may that there is no guarantee that talks on a future trade deal between britain and the eu will begin next month as the government hopes. meanwhile the brexit secretary david davis, urged other eu countries to do more to help the divorce negotiations move ahead. you want the other

side to compromise. i want them to compromise. surprise, surprise, nothing comes for nothing in this world. but so far, in this negotiation, we have made quite a lot of compromises on the citizens right front, we have made all the running. we have made the running in terms of things like the right to vote, weather the european union doesn‘t seem to be able to agree that everybody involved, the 3 million europeans in question, the 3 million brits abroad, should be able to afford. they can‘t do that. we have actually been offering some quite creative and promoters. we haven‘t always got that back. you are admitting that you‘ve been backing down, then? no, it‘s not backing down. the reason we agreed this approach was so that the citizens right issue, which we view as morally the most important, was able to be dealt with right up front, and that‘s why we‘re doing that. but you have come to the powerhouse of the european union without an offer on what pretty much everybody on the other side agrees is the biggest problem.

eu politician after eu politician has been crystal clear, they are not going to move on in the way you want to until the uk is willing to make a promise, not to give a figure, but to give a promise that you are prepared to write a bigger cheque. of course. but the other thing that is also clear, and this is not the only european country have been to in the last week or two. what‘s also clear is that many of them do want to move on. they see it‘s very important to them. countries like denmark, countries like holland, countries like italy and spain, countries like poland can see the big, big benefits in the future deal that we‘re talking about, the strong... the deep and special relationship

that the prime minister refers to, a strong trading relationship, a strong security relationship. they‘ve all got things to benefit from that. as i say, this is not a one—way street, this is not something for nothing, this is something which benefits everybody. so few‘s holding it up, then? you list those countries... it‘s a negotiation. are germany and france holding things up? to be clear, germany and france, it‘s the open secret of europe, they‘re the most powerful players on the european continent, of course they are. well meanwhile, the foreign secretary borisjohnson, has been holding discussions with his irish counterpart this morning in dublin. mrjohnson said it was important trade talks started as quickly as possible, so progress could be made on issues surrounding the irish border. and nobody wants to see a return to a hard bordeer, nobody wants to see a hard border. we must work on it, and we've got to work on it together. and i think what i would say to you is that in order to resolve those issues and get it right for our peoples, it is necessary now to move on to the second stage

of the negotiations, which really entail so many of the questions that are bound up with the border issue. i think the message that the irish government will be giving and the conversation we will have today, i suspect will be quite similar to the conversation that the taoiseach is having with the prime minister today. and that is that, yes, we all want to move on to phase two of the brexit negotiations, but we are not in a place right now that allows us to do that. the prime minister is facing renewed pressure to enshrine in law. the report says it could take away

ministers‘ flexibility if negotiations come down to the wire. the chair of that committee is the labourmp hilary the chair of that committee is the labour mp hilary benn. he‘s been telling us there is a history of last—minute deals in the eu. telling us there is a history of last-minute deals in the eu. the government‘s proposed around amendment to the bill to set 11 o‘clock in the evening on 29th march as the date we leave the european union and what we have said in our report today is that if the negotiations go down to the wire, andindeed negotiations go down to the wire, and indeed when we took evidence from david davis, he said that it could go to the 59th minute of the 11th hour, if you‘ve put an absolutely rigid date in the bill, then you could deny yourself the flexibility that you want if the negotiations have not quite been concluded because you are stuck, you are held by this fixed date that‘s been suggested. and that‘s why the committee‘s said we think that it could, could create significant difficulties if the negotiations go down to the wire because you might wa nt to down to the wire because you might want to prolong them for a while to

tie up the last bit that you are trying to agree. now, there is a bit ofa trying to agree. now, there is a bit of a history in the european union of a history in the european union of negotiations going to the last minute, even though michel barnier‘s said that he would like to wrap them allup by said that he would like to wrap them all up by october at the latest november of next year precisely to give time for the british parliament to ta ke give time for the british parliament to take a view, for the european parliament to decide and for the other member states to be sure that they are happy with any agreement that‘s reached. hilary benn talking to us earlier. we‘ll keep you up—to—date with the negotiations. that eu summit going on in sweden in gothenburg of course. we‘ll have more on that on the bbc news channel. for a generation of children used to tablets, emojis and instant messaging, hand written letters might seem like something consigned to the history books. but teachers at one primary school think pupils are missing out by not putting pen to paper,

the way their grandparents did. so the school in kidderminster has teamed up with two local care homes to launch an inter—generational pen pal scheme between children and residents. 0ur reporter emma jane kirby has been to find out more. we have got some exciting post today. what do you think it might be? the letters! the pen pal letters! the postman has been at this school in kidderminster and they‘re eager to find out what their pen pals have to say. dear jasmine. thank you so much for your very lovely and well—written letter... most of the children have never received a letter before, let alone a written one. but thanks to a scheme linking them to a local care home, they‘re now old hands at it. we believe the art of letter writing is lost, so we‘re encouraging children to write for a real purpose, beyond a simple snapchat or text message. above that we want to engage with the community because we believe as a school that‘s something we‘re passionate about. and the considerable age gap between the correspondents doesn‘t seem to be a problem. you get to listen to what places they've been to and what they've

been doing and the cheeky stuff that they've done. you get to ask all the questions you really want and most of the time they answer them. this project is about so much more than just teaching a generation of children raised on e—mails how to write properly set out letters. the pupils are now finding out about their pen pals, where they lived, what they did as children. it‘s about forging friendships across the generations. i've got a letter from the school from one of your pen pals, called tilly. shall i read it to you? they are lovely, those kids. at the care home, the children‘s letters are equally well received. many of the residents have dementia and staff help them to read their mail and draft replies. reece asks, what was your favourite trip? weston—super—mare.

0ne lady couldn't believe that children wanted to know about her and her life. she started crying, but she was crying happy tears at the thought that someone wanted to know about her. has everyone got a place that their pen pal is visiting? for now, the children are finding out as much as they can about their pen pals, and just before christmas the letter writers will meet face—to—face. robert mugabe makes his first appearance since the military took control of the country. robert mugabe is still officially the president. he addressed a university graduation ceremony in harare. theresa may is attending a european summit in sweden and despite

warnings that the eu might not start trade talks in december, she says she‘s looking forward to a positive response. now the business news with egon. shares in the construction firm carillion shares have taken a beating. they‘ve plunged 30% after it issued another profit warning. it‘s facing difficulties with a project in the middle east. nissan says it‘s in talks with suppliers and dealers over compensation for the recall of more than a million cars over quality control concerns. compensation is being decided on a case by case basis. citizen advice is calling for a ban on automatic increases in credit card limits. it says more than a million people with financial difficulties have had their limits increased without their consent. we are always being told that we need to be building more houses. but what exactly is the best way to do that? well the national infrastructure commission thinks its come up with a winning formula.

it‘s been looking at the area around oxford, cambridge and milton keynes. it wants the government to boost transport links there in return for local authorities doubling their housebuilding programme. it reckons the local economy would leap from £90 billion to £250 billion. the boss of the commission is lord adonis we spoke to him earlier. the big problem in this economically successful part of the country is that we don‘t have nearly enough houses. house prices in oxford and cambridge are higher than in most parts of london and that‘s saying something, because that is the highest in the country. so how do we get house building significantly increased, including being prepared to set up new towns. milton keynes, a city now of nearly 300,000 residents, is one of the most successful places in the country and being right in the middle of the country, it‘s a great place to be. there is an opportunity to to more

of that too. the answer is, we have to put infrastructure investment, including new rail and roads in ahead of expecting local authorities to agree to new housing and there‘s a deal to be done here between the government and the local authorities. the government agrees to upgrade the infrastructure with the new rail line between oxford, milton keynes and cambridge and i say a new one, in fact there was one there 50 years ago but it was closed after the cuts, but if that‘s put in place, that will transform connections between the towns and cities across this ark, oxford, bicester, milton keynes, bedford, cambridge, all hugely important residential centres. if that‘s put in place with the road infrastructure, i believe it will be possible for the local authorities to agree more housing and this will bea to agree more housing and this will be a win—win. growing the digital economy is a government priority. one area which has seen a boom in digitaljobs and businesses, is hull in east yorkshire. the city‘s low cost of living is attracting more startups, and established tech firms are selling their software all round the world.

now it hopes to build on its profile as uk city of culture, to boost the sector further. katy austin reports. this whole boiler company already uses technology. now it‘s making boilers which can connect to the internet and will soon be co ntrolla ble internet and will soon be controllable by phone. what the app will allow you to do is remotely control the heating, linking directly through the boiler and it‘s official because of the way that you use that communication. this is being created by a tech start—up based at hull‘s home to a digital growing cluster. it's starting to boom. right now, at the moment in time, hull is probably the best place to be in the uk for a digital business. even better than london? definitely. the cost—of—living is a lot lower here. there are some really, really good opportunities. employment in digital tech here grew

by 9% between 2011—2015. over the same time period, there was a 21% growth in hull‘s digital tech businesses, and nearly 7,000 people now work in the sector. it‘s not all new. digital systems from this whole firm are already used by half of the uk's firm are already used by half of the uk‘s police forces. firm are already used by half of the uk's police forces. we create the products at hull and test them as well. their technology's also used on the london underground and in tech giants in dubai. we get a lot of great graduate and fresh talent coming to our business, leading to innovation. in reality, digital still makes up a relatively small pa rt still makes up a relatively small part of this area‘s economy, which has long been short of highly skilled, highly paid jobs, has long been short of highly skilled, highly paidjobs, but has long been short of highly skilled, highly paid jobs, but with a focus on education, more big named businesses coming to hull and the european city of culture boosting its profile, business leaders hope investment and skills and digital

will continue to grow. it's not a problem that it's a smaller tech area because everywhere is different and as long as the tech area is growing and it's in confident and good spirits, it's a good thing. companies tell us they are improving. the growth is coming at the higher end of skills and we need to ensure we have local people skill enough to take those jobs. hull remains a little brother to other northern cities like leeds and manchester but it‘s playing its part in the digital revolution. twenty—first century fox has been attracting more takeover attention. it‘s being reported that cable giant comcast has expressed interest in buying some of its assets as has verizon. shares in gapjumped nearly 8% in after—hours trade in new york. this came after it announced a rise in sales and said it was on track for higher than expected profits. german industrial group siemens is cutting almost 7,000 jobs around the world, mostly in its fossil fuels division. half of the jobs will

be lost in germany. it says demand for its big turbines has fallen dramatically. a quick look at the markets: the ftse doing well. carillion‘s shares have been taking a pointdering after its latest profit warning, the third ina year. its latest profit warning, the third in a year. investors are worried about how much debt it‘s in. sky is leading the rises on the ftse. that is with its shares going up because of speculation about rival companies being interested in buying a big sta ke. being interested in buying a big stake. that sit from me. back to you. a british military working dog who helped save the lives of troops in afghanistan is being awarded the prestigious pdsa dickin medal — the animal equivalent of the george cross. mali, a belgian malinois,

will receive the honour for his heroic actions during an operation in afghanistan in 2012. earlier tina daheeley met mali and his current handler corporal daniel hatley, who trained him as a puppy... amazing dog to train, he picks things up very quickly, he wants to work, he wants to learn. and his general character, he's just a very funny dog. he can always make you smile. what‘s that training process like? it's quite intensive. you have to be constantly teaching the dog. dogs learn through repetition, so we have to do it a lot of times for them to pick it up. it's a very slow process, with good progression, but a very long process. we can see him in action now. how does he compare to other dogs who are serving in the military? he's just like any other dogs serving in the military, it'sjust what he did on that day makes him stand out. he‘s having a lovely time there, very comfortable on our rug. what exactly happened on that day?

what we saw was a building in kabul and we were sent forwards to retrieve coalition forces from the building. mali was the dog sent in to look for explosive devices and any potential enemy combatants. and he was hurt badly. yes, he received injuries from two grenades. he kept going. obviously, afterwards, he did receive injuries he needed to be treated for at the end of the operation. how long did it take mali to recover? he was initially treated in afghanistan and then flown back to the uk a few weeks after that. he was pretty fit and healthy generally when he got back, it was more the healing process, to stop infection and get him back to normal. it‘s quite rare for animals to win this award, mali is the only living animal to have won it in seven or eight years.

how many dogs are used in combat? hundreds. if you go back to afghanistan in the height of the conflict, there could have been 130 or more dogs in afghanistan at the time. they are a massive need for the forces, the guys want them on the ground. training is one thing, but what is it like when they are actually in a live situation? that training has to kick in — a lot of it must depend on the relationship mali has with his handler. yes, the bond between him and his handler was phenomenal. that's why they worked so well together as a team and that's why he did what he did on the day. he kept going. no training could be prepare a dog for what he went through that day. he had to keep going and keep working through everything that happened, he was phenomenal. and he saved lives on that day? absolutely saved lives. what is he up to at the moment? he is based back at the defence animal training regiment

and he helps me train new handlers when they come in and helps me to train dogs like mali. bolt bot now the weather. we are keeping the blue sky and sunshine for most. temperatures are struggling but i‘m sure the sunshine helps with that. there is some cloud the further north you go, particularly into northern ireland and scotland. gusty winds and a peppering of cloud here. the showers are driven along by gale force winds. elsewhere, we keep that sparkling

sunshine and top temperatures generally of around 8—10, feeling much colder when you factor in the wind further north. certainly through the night tonight, it looks as though we‘ll keep the showers going for a time. but clear skies to the south. it‘s the meteor shower this evening and it peaks between midnightand this evening and it peaks between midnight and dawn. we have got a new moon which means in rural spots there‘ll be some darker skies and a good opportunity to see it. central and eastern areas seeing the best chance i suspect, more cloud develops from the west and outbreaks of rain move into wales by the end of rain move into wales by the end of the night. here, temperatures will stay up at around five or six. we might in rural spots, particularly in the east where skies stay clear, see temperatures below freezing. a chilly start here first thing in the morning. it‘s a slightly different story as we go into the start of the weekend. cloud and outbreaks of showery rain will continue across wales and south—west england. not really amounting to too much. but it will move towards the london area. the best chance of the

sunshine tomorrow looks likely to be further north. we‘ll keep the extreme breeze and a few showers into the north and here, six or seven the high, double firs down into the south—west. as we move out of saturday and go through saturday night towards sunday, we keep the threat of cloud. that‘s going to prevent temperatures from falling too low here, and in fact the mild air is desperately trying to squeeze in. the further north and east you are, you will have the colder skies but the best chance of dry sunshine. sunday will be cloudy and damp at times to the south—west. cooler but more sun the further north and east you are. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live — i‘m rebecca jones.

today at 2:00pm. ‘more work to be done‘ to advance brexit talks — theresa may and the president of the european council agree on that. but the brexit secretary says its not a one way street... a strong trading relationship, they‘ve all got things to benefit from that. this is not a one—way street. this is not something for nothing. it benefits everybody. zimbabwe‘s president robert mugabe makes his first public appearance since the country‘s army took over — the 93—year—old is reportedly refusing to step down. police are still questioning a man arrested on suspicion of murder as the search for 19—year—old gaia pope continues. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with hugh — and australia‘s women have regained the ashes.