you can have your say on that. with me is geraint anderson who is an author, former stockbroker and newspaper columnist. let's begin with an american city story of sorts. this is the washington post take on the justice department stepping in over this proposed merger between at&t —— at&t, which is a telecommunications business, and time warner, a media business. ever since the late 90s we

have always had the technology, media and telecoms sector, and there was always this talk about integration of a vertical nature, and that this would be the future. this has happened now. the strange thing about this is that it doesn't seem like there are any potential anti—trust issues. they do different things. so the conspiracy theorists are out in force, saying that donald trump eight cnn —— hates cnn, and has employed the justice department quy has employed the justice department guy who is looking into this, and therefore he is causing problems. i am afraidi therefore he is causing problems. i am afraid i probably have to agree with them, because something like this has not happened since the early 1970s, a blockage of vertical integration of this nature, from the doj. soi integration of this nature, from the doj. so i am afraid i am with the conspiracy theorists. normally i'm not. donald trump is behaving like a dictator. time warner's boss said that this defies logic and is unprecedented. but there was a case a couple of years ago, contrast taking over nbc universal. that was

into a12. that is a similar vertical takeover, time warner are perhaps make —— perhaps regretting it now, but they were critical of that at the time. yes, funny, that. the specifics of this case do not add up. you have a telecom in each and company on one hand and a media company on one hand and a media company here, and unless you are fox news, donald trump doesn't like you, because you might be telling the truth. donald trump is increasingly acting like thin—skinned petulant man who, according to several people, has a revenge list of people he wants to take revenge on. i think cnn is most certainly the top of that. don't sit on the fence, callous what you think. i think we know where you are coming from. let's move on to the financial times' view on the collapse of talks in germany, these coalition talks. they have been rumbling on for weeks. i think beyond germany, not many people thought there was a crisis in the offing, but now we have a crisis. they are fairly

conservative in their reporting, the financial times. it is not a massive crisis, just a collapse of talks. yeah. it is the democratic process in play in germany. the problem is of course that angela merkel has been there for well over a decade 110w. been there for well over a decade now. she has been a solid entity in a confusing and unstable world, with trump and brexit and north korea and the middle east and all these other things. she has been there. so to lose her now would be adding yet another element of uncertainty. the markets have not responded particularly badly, which is odd. i would have thought that the euro would have thought that the euro would be down more than it is, and generally, financial markets would be hit harder than they were. a bit ofa dip, be hit harder than they were. a bit of a dip, then going back up? yeah. the one thing that 12 years in the city did teach me is that uncertainty is the thing that markets hate. if she now has to form

another coalition with somebody she didn't want to, or form a another coalition with somebody she didn't want to, orform a minority government, or the third option, which is probably the worst in the short term, having another election, you would think the markets would dip. it seems not. the other interesting thing is that all those people who wanted a precise date of brexit, this is exactly the kind of unforeseen eventuality that makes a mockery of that decision. because there are these answers in circumstances that could delay the process. “— circumstances that could delay the process. —— these unforeseen circumstances. not least because angela merkel, so often, has been seen to be the one figure who can come in at european summits and council meetings and say, right, this is how we have to do it. and other countries have to listen. so she is an there. that would certainly have an impact. —— she isn't there. we have an eu summit on the 15th of december. there is talk of trying to make progress there. if

she is in a state of flux that could be out the window and once again, this idea of the fixed time for a brexit date is shown to be ridiculous. that might be the case, but you bring us neatly onto that summit that you are talking about, because we know that brexit will be right at the heart of the discussions there. the independent online is suggesting that there is a £40 billion offer now ready to be slapped on the table. but not as a gimme, there has to be something in return, and that is the start of the trade negotiations.” return, and that is the start of the trade negotiations. i think it was borisjohnson, when they trade negotiations. i think it was boris johnson, when they started talking about numbers like this, he said the eu could go and was all for it. we are once again being clearly shown that it is not us who hold the cards here. we went in with about £20 billion, ithink, £18 billion cards here. we went in with about £20 billion, i think, £18 billion or £20 billion, i think, £18 billion or £20 billion. the eu said £60 billion, and funnily enough we've offered £40 billion. it is a bit like we are in a middle eastern souk

trying to do a bit of bargaining. it shows me once again that we are not in the driver's seat. we have 27 countries who are there in a unified bloc. if anything, this is adding unity to them. but it is about playing your hand right, isn't it? and trying to reduce the time you are giving to the eu to say, we will ta ke are giving to the eu to say, we will take that away and consider it. both sides know they need to get on with it. and the eu has quite a bit to lose. absolutely. at this concept that just because lose. absolutely. at this concept thatjust because we buy a lot of german cars, they are desperate for a deal... they also have something to lose if they make the process of leaving too easy for us. there are other countries that might want to do the same. it is notjust a question of taking revenge on us. it isa question of taking revenge on us. it is a question of warning other countries that may feel about doing a similar process to brexit, and maybe the process isn't as easy as they would have liked to think. quick reflection in paris and amsterdam, the beneficiaries of these eu agencies which we used to have, or still have, and they are going, with a thousand jobs each.

that's right. the european banking authority and the european medicine agency, both leaving london. 1000 skilled jobs leaving us, one to paris, want to amsterdam. what it tells us, which is slightly sad, especially for remainders like myself, is that it is becoming a ha rd myself, is that it is becoming a hard reality now, brexit. —— remainers. we still hold out hope, but serious things are occurring 110w. but serious things are occurring now. those hopes that we perhaps foolishly hold that maybe this process will end, it is beginning to look very, very unlikely. right, you know a bit about the city. bitcoin. eu have any? no, but funnily enough, a former girlfriend called me up a couple of weeks ago and asked if she should invest? i told couple of weeks ago and asked if she should invest? itold her couple of weeks ago and asked if she should invest? i told her not to do it. well, business and cider. the coin atan it. well, business and cider. the coin at an all—time high... it. well, business and cider. the coin at an all-time high... yet another bad decision, i'm sure she will be ringing me up and telling you what immediate i am. the thing about bitcoin, as far as i can tell, is that it is particularly used by

criminal entities because of the nature of the currency. so i am wondering, if we assume that supply and demand are the principal motivators of its movement up and down, does this tell me that there are more criminals out there using it more often, and maybe that might not be a good sign. bitcoin, by its anonymity and its digital nature, is the preferred currency of our drug dealers and so forth. so you put money on it and you spin the wheel, really? are you complicit in helping drug dealers? i'm not sure. that is another point, but a fair points nonetheless. one last story, which is to reflect on paper francis. offering mercy to drivers who tra nsg ress offering mercy to drivers who transgress on the roads. basically a message to police in italy, i think, to say, be gentle and merciful to drivers. it is our question of the day as well. yeah. an odd one to choose. in merciful is obviously an extremely christian concept. —— of being merciful. it is a wonderful

one. blesseth e who receive it and he who did it, as shakespeare said in the merchant of venice. this particular crime he is referring to, maybe it is talking about using mobile phones, maybe it is talking about drink driving. i don't know. being a parent of two young kids, i'm not too keen on the punishments that might be imposed on driving offences being that much weaker, because actually, i don't want my job is on the road hurting my children. no mercy for not jobs on the road. you are right, that is a great expression to close with. you should say the date is notjust your opinion, the vast majority of our twitter respondents have said the same. great to have you with us. thank you for watching. stay with us. hello. for many it was a very mild start to the new week. 16.6 was the high, well above average for this time of year. we stay in the mild air for tuesday

and for much of the week. i'm sure you've noticed an area of low pressure and a frontal system, which means rain. at eight o'clock in the morning, that rain is draped across scotland and likely to keep falling here through much of the day, just clear of northern ireland. rain returning here later in the morning. it could be a tricky rush hour, particularly through the central belt, heavy and persistent rain. not as cold as it has been, milder air nudging north. that rain will be just about clear of northern england, but certainly down underfoot, with mist and murk and low cloud. in much of england and wales, lots of cloud, but aside from the odd patch of drizzle it will be mainly dry and mild. temperatures around 11 or 12. through england and wales, through the day, that cloud will try to thin and break, especially to the lee of high ground. so there could be a bit of brightness. the rain keeps falling over scotland and later in the day we see another spell of rain in northern england, and northern wales. to the south and east of that, mainly dry. the best of any brightness will be here. mild, with high temperatures of around 14 or 13 celsius.

still quite cool in scotland. in the evening, more rain to come through scotland, slowly pulling away, then a different spell of rain pushing east across england and wales and becoming more persistent across north—west england and north wales as we head through the early hours of wednesday morning. the winds will be strengthening as well, likely to touch gale force along the western and southern coasts. a mild night as we go into wednesday. a much windier day. chance of gales in some places. persistent rain across northern parts of wales, northern ireland, and perhaps stretching up to southern parts of scotland. to the south and east of this, mainly dry, with the best of any brightness. we could well see 15 celsius, butjust 8 in the far north of scotland. lots of isobars through wednesday night and into thursday. strong winds. this front will sweep these, but that will bring heavy rain for a time. how quickly it clears from the south—east of england is a bit open to doubt at the moment. behind it we start to lose some

of the milder air and something colderjust starting to dig back in. a sign of things to come by the weekend. on thursday we could see some snow once again over the mountains of scotland. some rain across northern england. further south, it should be mainly dry, with some sunshine. but eventually some rain pushing back in later. still mild here, 12—14 celsius the high. much colder further north. hello — this is breakfast, with louise minchin and dan walker. theresa may gets the backing of her cabinet to offer a bigger brexit payout. senior ministers have agreed that britain should offer more money to the eu, if it clears the path for trade talks to begin. but the prime minister is facing anger from some of her own mps who are accusing the eu of holding the uk to ransom. good morning — it's tuesday the 21st of november.

zimba bwe's parliament prepares to take legal action to force robert mugabe from power. early screening for lung cancer. doctors say a trial using mobile scanners in supermarket car parks