this is breakfast. theresa may suffers her first major commons defeat as mps win the right to have the final say on a break the deal. ayes to the right, 309, noes to the left, 305. 11 conservative rebels joined the opposition to demand the parliament gets to vote on any agreement before it is finalised. good morning. it is thursday. also coming up, another medical breakthrough thanks to gene therapy. british doctors develop a new treatment for the most common type of haemophilia. this is huge, groundbreaking, because there are options to think about normalising levels in patients with severe haemophilia. it is mind—blowing.

remembering the victims of grenfell tower. it has been six months since 71 were killed in the fire. they will be honoured at a service at st paul's cathedral. good morning. it will be the busiest day of the year for the royal mail. we are at manchester, and they will deal with 3 million letters and parcels airline. how are they coping? i will find out. in sport, england lose big names find out. in sport, england lose big na m es early find out. in sport, england lose big names early in the crucial third ashes test as they fight for survival in the series. and we have the weather. good morning. a bit icy. a bright day ahead of you. rain, sleet, and snow showers. the full forecast is coming up. thank you. good morning. the first story is theresa may has suffered her first significant defeat in the commons since the election. 11 conservatives sided with labour to make sure they get a say in the deal

before it is finalised. we can speak to our political correspondent, ian watson, in westminster. it is lovely to see you. her first major defeat. how will this impact are? her first defeat overall! the first defeat since becoming prime minister. it underlines the fact she lost her majority in the general election. the dup helped, but not enough. if enough people on her side vote against it, it makes a vulnerable. the timing is not great. she goes to meet european union leaders at the council. it should have been a week where she got a victory. they are talking about a transition deal and a trade deal with defeat in her yea rs. a trade deal with defeat in her years. it is significant. —— ears. some of the newspapers say it is. the daily mail called them traitors. the key thing is the balance between

getting the legislative detail in place to have a smooth brexit and so on. we will look to get the balance right. it will not stop us leaving the eu in march, 2019. a prominent leave campaigner before becoming a minister said it was a minor setback. however, some people are saying once people have begun to rebel against the government they may get a taste for it. the rebel in chief, the person putting forward the amendment, dominic grieve, a former attorney general, he hinted strongly last night there may be further rebellion to get a specific date for brexit taken out of the legislation as well. we have to co—operate together to make sure

this bill is either in a proper state to do what people want which is to deliver a smooth and affective brexit, and we will do that. i will be allowed when it is over. smooth and effective. is that what we will see in april, 2019, in regards to this verdict? it could be. it is difficult to say. this makes it more difficult to say. this makes it more difficult because, in effect, if you look at what this vote did, it is saying there should be a meaningful vote on the final brexit deal. now, the government tried to reassure some of the lower mps and bought off some of the lower mps and bought off some rebels with promises, but not enough. what they wanted was to have ridden into law the fact that there would be this vote on the final deal before brexit get. —— written. in addition, this means that withdrawal

has to be put into separate legislation here. it may sound technical, but it gives mps the chance potentially to amend and change the legislation to influence the type of deal we get. that could turn out to be very messy for the government. thank you for explaining that! british doctors say they have achieved a significant breakthrough in the treatment of the most common type of haemophilia. the genetic defect means blood cannot clot so small cuts can lead to heavy bleeding. the nhs trust and queen mary university of london used gene therapy to correct the defect in a small trial. walking two miles to work used to be unthinkable to jake 0mar. he was born with haemophilia a, a genetic defect that means his blood did not clot. the slightest injury used to mean severe bleeding. even a long stroll would cause bleeding in hisjoints. but no more.

i think the gene therapy has hopefully given me a new lease on life. it will allow me to be a lot more active with my boys as they grow up. kick footballs, run around in the park, climb trees, and not be someone who has to worry about what i am doing. jake was one of 13 patients given pioneering gene therapy last year. a virus was used to give his body new genetic instructions for clotting blood. all of the trial patients are off their haemophilia medication, and 11 now have roughly normal levels of blood clotting proteins. this is huge. it's groundbreaking. that's because the option to think about normalising levels in patients with severe haemophilia is absolutely mind blowing. so, to offer people the potential of a normal life, they have had to inject themselves every other day to prevent bleeding is transformational.

studies will now take place to see if gene therapy can replace regular injections. and truly transform the lives of patients. a memorial service is being held at st paul's cathedral this morning for victims and survivors of the g re nfell tower victims and survivors of the grenfell tower fire in west london. 71 were killed when it tore through the tower block six months ago today. prince charles, prince william, and theresa may, will be among the 2000 people expected to attend. frankie mccamley is at st paul's cathedral this morning for us. paul's cathedral this morning for us. tell us about the service today. yes, well, charlie, the main focus of this service is to try to remember the 71 people who lost their lives six months ago today. there will also be a chance to say thank you to the emergency services who came there to help, and also, for all of those people affected to come together to hear messages of support and to make sure that this is something that is not forgotten.

we are expecting around 2000 people here a bit later on. service starts at 11. 1500 of those will be survivors, community workers, families, and those who gave up their time to help in those days following the fire. the remaining 500 will be emergency services. we are going to see politicians here to be the prime minister, theresa may, labour leader, jeremy corbyn. 0ther leaders will be here, and many of the royals will be down. they have been quite heavily involved in meeting different families over the last two months. now, i have been covering this story for the last six months, hearing all of the different stories from heartache to heroism. and i think this is going to be an extremely emotional time. we are going to hearfrom local schools. they are going to be performing, local bands. we will hear the voices of the community. it is going to be a very unique service, a multi—faith service, but the main message will bea

service, but the main message will be a message of hope, that people will be able to rebuild their lives, and people will be able to get that justice that they are really seeking. than the. -- thank you. british cyclist chris froome says he will be exonerated after a drugs test showed he had twice the add missable asthma medication in his body in november. more information has been requested from the four—time tour de france winner. he says his reputation will not be tainted and he has cooperated with the investigation. i certainly shared everything i had with the uci exactly. i have a clear routine when i use my inhaler, and how many times i use my inhaler, and how many times i use it, and i have given all of that information to the uci to help get to the bottom of this. the scottish government is expected to announce its first major changes to announce its first major changes to tax bands after power was given

to tax bands after power was given to holyrood last year. some in scotla nd to holyrood last year. some in scotland could get more tax than others paying the same salary elsewhere in the uk. free fees, free prescriptions, free elderly care, and more free childcare, just some of the services on offer to people in scotland. but now it seems some scottish taxpayers will pay more than others in the uk to be the snp government in holyrood is facing a shortfall in its day—to—day budget of hundreds of millions of pounds. the government already pledged to increase spending on the nhs and has promised to lift the cap on public sector pay. local councils in scotland say they need more money to help provide services. to raise the extra cash, the scottish government is widely expected to increase income tax revenue are introducing a new tax band which will levy more from higher income earners, perhaps those earning more than £30,000. many will

pay no more because the median salary is 211,000. some business leaders are warning any increase in taxes could make scotland more competitive. the first minister says her government needs to invest in the future, but admits it is facing difficult choices. of course we know we have to make sure taxes are fair and competitive, but we also need to invest in infrastructure and innovation. we know that the economy needs that to the future. that is the balance we are seeking to strike. the snps either majority government, but will need the support of one other party to get the budget through. with only the conservatives opposing tax rises, people in scotland will find out later how much some will end up paying. catriona renton, bbc news. thousands of prisoners serving amenity sentences in england and wales are being supervised by probation staff over the telephone

rather than face—to—face, according toa rather than face—to—face, according to a report from the chief inspector. the ministry ofjustice first elephant the provision applies only to some lower risk offenders after they have been apprehended, but says improvements are needed. they are financially strapped, so these are not particularly attractive. they have had real problems trying to implement new idea. —— it. they have had a very ambitious model, if you like, for delivering services in the community they found difficult to bring to fruition. the most powerful storm to strike mainland america in a decade has been calculated in terms of the weight of the water falling on taxes from hurricane harvey in august. —— texas. 180 billion tons. the same

weight as the stadium. you can understand the devastation. sports news. the batsmen of england under the hammer. things were looking 0k. in the need to win this to retain the ashes. they may as well come home. they were 2—0 down and have not won at the waca in perth in a0 yea rs. not won at the waca in perth in a0 years. the morning session looked 0k but they have lost some key names early. alastair cook lost his wicket. .. i early. alastair cook lost his wicket... i think he got seven. it was his 150th test. the first english captain to get that far. joe root went for 20. mark stoneman battled ha rd root went for 20. mark stoneman battled hard but hasjust

co ntroversially battled hard but hasjust controversially being given out. england, 2—0 down in the series to be they will lose if they do not get something from this test. they are 135-a. something from this test. they are 135—a. cricket authorities say there is no evidence to suggest this test match has been corrupted in relation to allegations of match—fixing in the sun newspaper. four—time tour de france winner chris froome says he hopes his legacy will not be tainted after returning a wrong drug test. and premier league leaders, chelsea, extend their record—breaking run of consecutive top—flight wins to 50. more on the match—fixing allegations in the newspapers. a christmas theme, surprisingly enough, in the pages. think christmas dinner with a twist. i

think it is looking quite christmassy outside. we have the snow and ice descending. a little bit of snow overnight across some parts of the uk, especially areas around the midlands. but with clear skies afterwards comes with the risk of ice. take it a bit gingerly on some of the roads and pavements, especially where we have had snow overnight. showing you the latest radar charts, showers mainly to the far south, the west, and the light areas showing where snow is falling as well. a bit of snow continues to fall into the morning rush hour in parts of central scotland. if you are travelling into glasgow from the north—east of the south—east you will see a bit of snow on some of

the higher routes. north—east parts of scotland, a few showers around. showers for northern ireland, a mixture of rain, hail, sleet and snow. compared with yesterday morning across the eastern half of england are much right start to the day. 0nly england are much right start to the day. only one or two showers around, a few day. only one or two showers around, afew in day. only one or two showers around, a few in parts of norfolk. more showers to wales in the south—west and quitea showers to wales in the south—west and quite a breeze. those winds will pick up later on, touching gale force at times. more showers in western areas, a light covering of snow over the hills, and central and southern scotland once again, eastern areas, a dry and bright day with a few showers around but across the board temperatures down on yesterday. it will be a little bit chilly once again. 0nly yesterday. it will be a little bit chilly once again. only three to seven celsius for many. called with the wind in the south—west and further gusty winds to take us into the night. showers will start to push their way southwards, and as the clear just about anywhere could see some ice into tomorrow morning. temperatures only just above freezing, i think, for many. tomorrow will feel cold again with a shift in the wind direction. following the isobars, they go into the north. winds coming all the way down from the arctic. so much chillier day tomorrow and with winds coming in from a more northerly

direction, a shift in levy showers can be. a few in the south—west of wales, choral and northern ireland, and for many a grey start across southern areas. things will brighten up, a lot of you will see some sunshine. the chilly areas with us friday night in the saturday. a widespread frost but this weekend signs of change. mild airfrom the atla ntic signs of change. mild airfrom the atlantic starting to push its way back in. for the weekend forecast, a bright, frosty start. southern and eastern areas staying dry and bright but clouding over from the west with some patchy rain. temperatures slowly on the rise and they will start to rise further into sunday. for eastern areas, a bit of a chilled at nine to 11 celsius across the west as we go into sunday. if you want the milder air, get ready. it will be wetter and windier as well. that is how it is looking. i will have more throughout the morning for you. when we first see you we always like to take a look

and see how smart you look. are the little specks on your shirt christmas trees? no, just little specks of blue. i was going to say it was my breakfast, but i haven't had that! thank you very much. looking at the front pages. these words are cropping up now. mutiny, revenge. we are talking about the house of commons yesterday. starting with the daily telegraph, mutiny is the word they go with. a picture of theresa may. mutiny on the house of commons. it is like a tale of pirate goings—on. she will go to meet eu cou nterpa rts goings—on. she will go to meet eu counterparts in brussels. the talks are infact counterparts in brussels. the talks are in fact over brexit and are not due to happen until tomorrow, but given the vote yesterday, the first defeat for her over what is going to happen with brexit, it is causing at best a bit of embarrassment. the language is interesting. revenge is

on the front page of the times but the daily mail has made itself very clear. it uses the word treachery. just as the newly confident tories in the head in the polls, 1! self consumed malcontents pull the rug from under our eu negotiators, betray their leader, party and i7.a million brexit voters and most damning of all increasing the possibility of a marxist in number ten. it asks those who have rebelled, proud of yourselves? an announcement from peter kay about his tour and other works for the foreseeable future. his statement about that yesterday. the front page of the sun takes a look at a cricket story and allegations of match fixing. yes, so the headline is we smash what to fix the ashes. a statement from the international cricket council. —— smash plot. they

say based on the dossier they have received from the newspaper that there is no evidence, substance or justification to suggest that this test match or the ashes series as a whole is subject to corrupt activities and they say there is no indication players in this test have beenin indication players in this test have been in contact with the alleged fixers. the ecb are aware of the allegations and say there is no indication the england team are involved in any way. and like many sports, the issues over bookies, match fixing, it has been a real issue. exactly, particularly in cricket. they have been cases where it has gone all away and people have been charged. and i think the allegations by the sun, were people saying we could do this. i don't think it has gone as far as chatting to current players. the back page reflect the manchester city result.

they think it is wonderwall over. reflect the manchester city result. they think it is wonderwall ovenm that and 0asis reference? they were inspired by oasis, apparently. at some point they will run out of funds on that song. —— puns. love it or hate it, apparently marmite can fight anxiety. it is not necessarily the marmite itself, it is the yeast in it. it means we can suffer less from stress and anxiety. but we have got to have an opinion on this. a christmas dinner with a twist. deep—fried christmas dinner. christmas dinner with a twist. deep-fried christmas dinner. is everything deep—fried? deep-fried christmas dinner. is everything deep-fried? everything. stuffing balls, deep—fried sprouts i can get into quite easily. but...

there is a gravy bomb which is a p pa re ntly there is a gravy bomb which is apparently a potato stuffed with gravy and deep—fried. apparently a potato stuffed with gravy and deep-fried. usually they put in spy on the christmas lunch as well. is that a convention i am not familiar with? it is putting. i am surprised that is only 1200 calories. people can see that anyway on christmas day. just because it is beautiful, this is a squirrel fighting the mouse over nuts. preparing for hibernation —— fighting a titmouse. the number of successful prosecutions for fly tipping has fallen to a record low, according to bbc research. last year1 million incidents were reported at 1500 were successfully prosecuted. this scene plays out every day across england, fly tippers dumping

waste for others to clean up. councils last year had to deal with 1 million fly tipping incidents, up from 700,000 fly tips five years ago. councils in england last year spent collectively over £16 million on investigating and prosecuting fly tippers, but with cuts to council budgets, thisjob is becoming harder. yes, the last few years, everyday we pick the same stuff up, almost every day. it is a builder that has done this, cladding. it is building rubble, basically, this one. it is standard practice, basically. here in barnsley, the local council now uses cameras to catch offenders but those they catch do not often appear in court, meaning the number of fly tipping prosecutions is now at a record low. a decade ago, 2000 prosecutions were successfully brought against fly

tippers, but last year that fell to just over 1500. shrinking budgets mean many councils can now issue fines directly. does prosecution were? in my opinion, not very well. there is a limited amount of resources that we have. we need to educate people at the same time. it is no good spending lots of resources to help someone pay £200 when they go to work. over 50,000 penalty notices were handed out in england last year and the government says it has cracked down on offenders by helping to strengthen sentencing guidelines, but the number of fly tipping incidents has continued to rise, meaning this is a battle that many councils at the moment don't appear to be winning. all this week we have been hearing how singing is good for us and why are people like a singalong, four—hour bbc breakfast sings series. has your mood improved after

singing? that is one of the things that has emerged. if you sing, especially in public, even though it can be nerve racking, it can be good for you and make you feel good. can be nerve racking, it can be good for you and make you feel goodlj can be nerve racking, it can be good for you and make you feel good. i am not sure if the audience enjoyed our singing, but we enjoyed it. we performed last night at bridgewater hall. we were led very ably by our choirmaster. here is him giving us some tips on how to get those high notes. breathe, you know, in and out as much as you can. reading is good. do some the lip drills. —— breathing is good. some white faces, some tight faces. and some throat massage. you are going to be absolutely

brilliant, and everyone is going to love you. are you going to be totally there for us? with the voice and everything? you are crucial to this going anywhere near according to plan. i will be right near you. final top tip, deep breath in. here we go. the bbc breakfast. bbc sing! and to put that in some kind of context, a couple of minutes after that, we stepped onstage in front of 1200 people or so and tried to sing. we tried our best. if you want to see how we got on, you can see and hear our efforts 22 december and on christmas day. you can decide whether it is a treat, but we did it. you are watching breakfast from bbc news.

still to come this morning: if you haven't sent your christmas cards yet, don't panic. there are still a few days left. ben is at a royal mail sorting office in manchester. iimagine it i imagine it could be quite busy. good morning. yes, don't worry, i haveit good morning. yes, don't worry, i have it all in hand this morning. welcome to the sorting office in manchester. we are coming to grips with how busy they are. on a typical thursday they deal worth about 2 million bits of mail, whether that is letters or parcels. today is the busiest day of the year for them, they deal with 3— 3.5 million bits of mail, just in this centre alone, as we all get those christmas cards and parcels sent out for christmas. this machine is pretty special, it deals with about a0,000 letters every single hour and it is all automated. so it will scan the address and automatically puts it into these little boxes on here. and don't worry, if your handwriting is

not great, somebody will have a look at the address, and they will decide where you intended to send it. we will have a look around here, find out where how it all works and crucially whether they can get through all those items they need to send. we will show you round later, but before that, let's get the news, travel and weather where you are watching this morning. good morning from bbc london news. i'm sara 0rchard. six months on from the grenfell tower fire, the london fire brigade's chaplain said around 300 firefighters have sought counselling. mia hilborn told the bbc many were suffering from symptoms of post—traumatic stress disorder, and that the fire had affected the whole fire service. it has been such a massive incident that it has affected the whole of the london fire brigade, every single person who works for the fire brigade has in some way been impacted by grenfell.

british transport police have released cctv images of two men they believe threatened and robbed a teenager of his bike. the 16—year—old was on the platform of west drayton station when they grabbed his bike. when he refused, the men threatened to stab him. it happened on the evening of 5 november. west ham united are involved in a legal dispute with their landlords at the london stadium. it is over plans for an additional 3,000 seats at the ground, and whether the landlord, a group called e20, is entitled to receive a share of the revenues from them. west ham currently pay £2.25 million a year to use the stadium. people living near heathrow will get the chance to have their say on plans to build a third runway and expand the airport. from next month, local communities will be invited to comment on some new and revised options, including the design, changes to flight paths, and the reconfiguration of the m25. the public consultation will last for ten weeks, and is separate to the one held by the government. let's have a look at the travel situation now. there is a good service on the tubes this morning.

0n the trains, there is major disruption on all south—western railway services in and out of waterloo, due to ongoing problems at vauxhall. check before you travel. 0n the roads, the a13 is building westbound heading out of dagenham into barking. and heading through wandsworth common, there are temporary lights in place on trinity road at routh road, for emergency repairs. let's have a check on the weather now, with elizabeth rizzini. hello, good morning. well, it has turned colder again, but not as chilly as it was earlier on through the week. now, we should see some sunny spells around today. quite breezy start and then the winds will gradually ease down as we had through the afternoon. we are starting off at around three, four celsius through this morning. there will also be some showers around as well. some of the showers possibly turning a bit sleazy over the high ground of the downs and the chilterns but mostly as rain. many

places out towards eastern areas staying driver much of the day. highs of five to six celsius. there will be quite a bit of wind chill around as well. now, overnight tonight we are expecting further showers to sweep through again. the chance of them turning a bit wintry ofa chance of them turning a bit wintry of a higher ground but mostly falling as rain. this is how we start the day tomorrow. 0ne ought to mac degrees celsius. watch out for some icy patches here and there. tomorrow, a cold feeling day, maybe one or two showers. quite a bit of cloud around and once again a chilly wind. a widespread frost to start the weekend but by sunday it is turning a little bit matter again. —— milder again. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now, though, it is back to charlie and naga. bye for now. hello.

this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. we'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment, but also on breakfast this morning. the results have been described as "mind—blowing." we'll hear how an experimental gene—thera py could transform the lives of patients with a rare blood condition. also this morning, it's back to the classroom for these pensioners as what's thought to be the first elderly day care centre in a primary school opens its doors. # pretty #pretty woman, walking down the street... and after 9am, he was one of the pioneers of rock ‘n roll, but 60's superstar roy 0rbison's personal life was marred by tragedy. his son will be here to tell us about the man behind the dark glasses. good morning. here's a summary of this morning's main stories from bbc news. theresa may will meet eu leaders later in brussels later todayjust hours after a commons vote which could make it harderfor her to secure the final rigs deal. —— brexit. 11 conservative rebels voted

along with the opposition to make it necessary for parliament to have a say on the deal. british doctors say they have achieved a significant breakthrough in the treatment of the most common type of haemophilia. the genetic defect means blood cannot clot so small cuts can lead to heavy bleeding. the nhs trust and queen mary university of london used gene therapy to correct the defect in a small trial. a memorial service is being held at st paul's cathedral this morning for victims and survivors of the grenfell tower fire in west london. 71 were killed when it tore through the tower block six months ago today. prince charles, prince william, and theresa may, will be among the 2000 people expected to attend. hollywood actor salma hayek has been the latest to accuse harvey

weinstein. she said he threatened to kill her and called him a rage filled monster. a spokesman for harvey weinstein disputed the account. thousands of prisoners serving community sentences in england and wales are being supervised by probation staff over the telephone rather than face—to—face, according to a report from the chief inspector. the ministry ofjustice says telephone supervision applies only to some lower risk offenders after they have been apprehended, but says improvements are needed. the scottish government is expected to announce its first major changes to tax bands after power was given to holyrood last year. some in scotland could pay more tax than others paying the same salary elsewhere in the uk. bbc understands a new tax band could be treated for those above £30,000. and now for an update to the ashes.

we need to hang on! if you havejust woken up, we are watching the ashes. a summary. it was a fairly decent mourning for england, the morning session. —— morning. alastair cook was out early. after lunch, australia's bowlers to control. after a half—century, mark stoneman was controversially given out for that. it hit his glove. 155—a. they lost alastair cook for seven runs, captain,joe lost alastair cook for seven runs, captain, joe root, 20. they trailed the series 2—0 and will lose the ashes if the are defeated. —— trail. it is too early to say things are really bad. meanwhile, the icc say there is "no evidence" to suggest that this test match has been "corrupted" in relation to allegations

in the sun newspaper this morning. here is cricket australia's chief executive, james sutherland. we have absolute confidence in our players. the team officials and others involved in the game as well. there is nothing to suggest based on what we have heard from alex marshall and other understandings we have and intelligence, to have any suspicions about players we have. i have full confidence in them. chris froome has told the bbc he understands people will be cynical, but insists his legacy won't be tainted. it emerged yesterday that froome had double the allowed level of a legal asthma drug in his urine following a test during the tour of spain, which he won, in september. cycling's world governing body the uci wants more details from the team but froome has not been suspended. i do understand, obviously, it's come as a big shock to a lot of people. but i stand by what i've always

said, and that is i certainly haven't broken any rules here. i haven't taken more than the permissible amount, and i'm sure, at the end of the day, the truth will be told. manchester city are record breakers, after extending their winning premier league run to 15 games with a a—0 hammering of struggling swa nsea. man of the match david silva scored twice, including finishing off this lovely move, while sergio augero and kevin de bruyne also found the net. city have been playing some magical football but their manager puts the record breaking run down to hard work. we got the ball when we did not have it. simple as that. everyone is committed and is ready to make his effort. that is why. and, of course, winning 50 games in a row, it never happened before for us, and gives us a lot of confidence. manchester united managed to keep the gap with city to just the 11 points thanks to a 1—0

win over bournemouth. at a rain—soaked old trafford, the only goal came from romelu lukaku's header in the first half. jose mourinho said afterwards it's still all to play for in the premier league and that he'd be heading on holiday to la if he thought the title race was over. sam alla rdyce continues to work his magic at everton. it's now three wins and a draw since he was appointed manager. wayne rooney was on the scoresheet again as they beat newcastle 1—0. they're up into the top half. elsewhere, leicester enjoyed a comprehensive win at southampton, tottenham beat brighton. but liverpool were left frustrated by west brom, and it finished goal—less too between west ham and arsenal. in scotland, celtic have stretched their unbeaten domestic run to 69 matches after beating hamilton academical 3—1. they're five points clear of rangers who came from a goal down to beat hibernian 2—1 at easter road. alfredo morelos scored the winner in first—half stoppage time. the cricket, 160—a. we have not lost

another wicket in the last five minutes. you have to take the good news. a woman's place is in the kitchen and it's down to the man to provide for his family. just two gender stereotypes that still, all too often, appear in literature and on our tv screens. so, are companies doing enough to tackle this kind of sexism? the body that writes the uk code of advertising will implement a new rule next year to tackle the issue. let's ta ke let's take a look at the kind of thing we mean. a mother doing the housework while the rest of her family relaxes on the sofa. or a man trying and failing to cook dinner, almost setting the kitchen and himself on fire. finally, a boy plays football while the girljust watches on the sidelines. craig jones from the advertising standards authorityjoins us from our london newsroom. thank you very much forjoining us.

not surprisingly, this has been called for quite a while. we have seen this bleed into campaigning for children's toys and the sexism around that. why now a call for a change in advertising? the research comes at the end of the year—long enquiry looking at the evidence around the area and talking to academics and people concerned about it and young people and parents. they told us some gendered stereotypes in advertising are harmful. that does not mean we will do away with all of them. we will not see an end to women doing cleaning in advertisements and so on. but we will remove things that are harmful because they affect the way people see themselves and society sees them. we have seen young girls and women not going into careers. we have also seen a cost in the economy because of that because

thatis the economy because of that because that is unexploited potential which could have been very good. how do you make a balanced? is that what advertisers need to do? if women are still seen cleaning, and men clean as well, does it have to be balanced? as well, does it have to be balanced ? is that as well, does it have to be balanced? is that how you avoid stereotypes ? balanced? is that how you avoid stereotypes? yes. it is those harmful stereotypes. we will publish a rule for consultation earlier in the new year and we will set out where we think the line is drawn between normal gender stereotypes and harmful stereotypes. actually, one aspect which is likely to fall one aspect which is likely to fall on the wrong side of the rule is knocking people for not conforming to gender stereotypes. 0ne knocking people for not conforming to gender stereotypes. one of the really interesting examples we saw of the economic harm is the engineering sector telling us the pa rt engineering sector telling us the part of the labour shortage they are seeing their is because young people, young girls in particular, are internalising the message that engineering is only a man'sjob. these are the kinds of scenarios we will capture in the rule and will

have public consultation to see if we got it right. what will the public be asked ? we got it right. what will the public be asked? we will consult what the rule book says to set the standard for what constitutes harmful stereotypes. afterwards, advertisers need to stick to it and advertisements can be banned if they do not follow it. the view in the last few months have been many marketers and surveys coming forward to say already advertisements are changing to deal with these outdated portrayals. there will be rules to get rid of the remainder of these.|j tell you what i am concerned about, advertisements these days are often entertaining and funny. some are parodies of certain stereotypes. they are there to make us laugh and entertained. they are notjust purely a billboard so to speak for a

product. how much creativity will be stifled ? product. how much creativity will be stifled? have they given new feedback? they have. they have been very responsible and positive. recent surveys showed a majority of advertisers are already improving their advertisements. they will be keen to engage on this and they will be supportive of the agenda. if you look at advertisements from 20—30 yea rs look at advertisements from 20—30 years ago, some people are shocked at the sexist images around in that time. but at that time they were thought to be, you know, just a product of their time. the big question is, in 20—30 years' time, when children are looking at those adds, will they think it is outdated? advertising adds, will they think it is outdated ? advertising always adds, will they think it is outdated? advertising always needs to be innovative and creative, but a small section of gender stereotypes that are harmful, we will identify the rough edges that need to be smoothed out. when will we see these

changes, briefly? it will be fairly early in the new year, with a public consultation, and we want to hear what people think of them. thank you very much. craig jones. you are watching breakfast. the main stories this morning. the prime minister is due in brusselsjust hours this morning. the prime minister is due in brussels just hours after conservative rebels and the commons defeated the government in a key brexit vote. british doctors say trials of a revolutionary gene therapy suggest the most common type of haemophilia can be cured. the weather. here are the details. good morning. good morning. a bit dicey in the uk in the morning. we saw showers, snow showers at that, to ta ke saw showers, snow showers at that, to take it through the night. listened to the radio and regional updates. —— listen. showers mainly

towards the west. the white is an indication of where you have snow. further snow flurries to come in central and western scotland. mainly in the hills to the north and south of glasgow. a few issues on the m8 at times. 0utbreaks of glasgow. a few issues on the m8 at times. outbreaks of rain with sleet and snow mixed in far northern ireland this morning. the east of england, most places starting dry and bright. a good deal of rain. wintry flurries in north—west england and wales. rain showers to the south—west. gusty winds. getting stronger through the day. gale force at times. that adds to the chill of today's weather. show is most prevalent to the west. —— showers. covering the hills. avoiding the worst of the showers in eastern scotla nd worst of the showers in eastern scotland and england, with many dry for the bulk of the day. a cold day. temperatures, a—6 for many of you.

tonight, showers become dominant for a time in southern england. easing before another batch goes south. the wind going in a northerly direction. temperatures dropping further tonight. tomorrow morning's rush—hour, a mix of ice. most will see a few showers tonight in the tomorrow. icy start for tomorrow. following the isobars back into the arctic to be the air is coming from a cold direction once again the big even colder than today. western areas brighter. northern and eastern scotland and eastern parts of india and, a greater chance of some showers. —— england. the majority, after a great start in the south, a sunny day on friday. a cold one. the cold air will take us to the start of the weekend. changes afoot to take us into next week. saturday. bright and sunny to the south and east of the

country. cloudy in the west after a brighter start. chilly in eastern areas. slowly, and i mean slowly, turning more mild in the sunday. the best of any dry weather to the east. mild weather brings, of course, something more wet and windy. the mild weather will last into next week. before i go, some pictures from last night. some were lucky enough to capture the macro want peaked last night but you might be lucky again tonight. —— geminid meteor showers. it might have peaked. they have always done that, charlie. it has always done that, apparently. it is said it is never too late to learn something new, and now a group of pensioners in east london are going back to primary school.

in what is believed to be the first uk scheme of its kind, more than a dozen old people with early—stage dementia will spend the morning with pupils, joining in various activities. it is hoped, by bringing the generations together, each will learn new skills and improve their quality of life. brea kfast‘s tim muffett joined one of the groups at downshall primary in ilford. back to school. for some, it has been more than 60 years. but at downshall primary in redbridge, east london, there are lessons to be learned for all ages. for three days a week, the older adults come and join us. they do some artwork, they play puzzles with these very young children who have only been in school a few months. and they give them the opportunity to talk and interact. you know, there is this bringing alive of the two generations. downshall school is thought to be the first uk primary to host regular day care for the elderly. the scheme has been trialled for a month. it officially

launches today. ijust trialled for a month. it officially launches today. i just like children, and they are so beautiful. when they do something they go... why do you like having the old people coming along to visit your school? because we get to talk to them. ijust school? because we get to talk to them. i just love school? because we get to talk to them. ijust love it. school? because we get to talk to them. i just love it. they school? because we get to talk to them. ijust love it. they are really nice, because they can play with us, and they can talk to us. pam, like some others who have attended, is in the early stages of dementia. what do you gain from this experience? friendships and loyalty. they are funny. they are funny, are they? they find you very funny, apparently! inspiration for this project came from japan, which has, it is thought, the fastest growing elderly population in the world, and where community led elderly and dementia care has flourished. so what we are trying to do is trying

to bring that here to the uk. we don't have those sorts of multigenerational families that we may have had 50 years ago. what that does is it puts older people at risk of loneliness and isolation. doctor hinchcliffe says collaboration between the school, north—east london nhs trust and charities such as redbridge uk all mean that the cost of the scheme will be negligible, and the benefits potentially huge. what impact do you see it having on your husband? potentially huge. what impact do you see it having on your husband7m makes him light up, it makes him think more, which is necessary, because he does tend to so of go into his own little world every now and then. it is a great scheme, and i give it 110%. yes, i want the 100, i will give you the ten! some say education is a gift that keeps on giving. at downshall primary, school life is bringing benefits to young and old. 0nce or twice we have seen pieces

like that, it just 0nce or twice we have seen pieces like that, itjust works, doesn't it? it is almost like rejuvenation, isn't it, just older and younger people together. talking about getting connected, it is that time of year when people send parcels, lots of letters and christmas cards being sent. we have sent ben to a sorting office in manchester to see how it is going. welcome to the sorting office in manchester. the busiest day of the year. the guys here are wading through that huge pile of business cards and parcels we are sending. here they are going to deal with 3— 3.5 million bits of post, be that letters parcels, compared with 2 million which they normally deal with on thursday. me introduce you to tony. how do you gear up for something like this? —— let me

introduce you. as soon as we finish christmas for one year we start preparing for the next one, we brought in an extra 600 christmas employees to help us with the christmas rush and nationally we will recruit an extra 20,000 people to help us with the christmas rush. what do we know about the number of letters a nd what do we know about the number of letters and parcels? traditionally we are sending fewer letters but we are shopping online. there are some changes. christmas cards are still really important for us. we handle around 1 million christmas cards this christmas. parcels are hugely important, last december we handled 100 and 38 million parcels, —— 138 million parcels. and that continues to grow. it has been a tough time for all that restructuring at the royal mail of late. you have had to change the way you do your business. there has been the threat of a strike. update me on that. the good news is we have completed our external mediation involving royal mailand external mediation involving royal mail and the communication workers union. a set of recommendations were

made and we are back into detailed communications with the union, and we are hopeful of a settlement early in the new year. so no strikes over christmas? no strikes over christmas. let's talk about what you need to do to make sure that stuff gets where it is going. all of these quys gets where it is going. all of these guys are working hard to make sure everything get where it needs to go. talk us through some dates. the last recommended date for second class is the 20th, first class the 21st, we ask people to address it really clearly a nd ask people to address it really clearly and use the postcode. let me introduce you to kerry, from the greeting card association. it is so interesting, surrounded by parcels and letters and particularly greeting cards. you have a pretty good insight into what we are sending. how many are we sending? on an annual basis we send just short of9 an annual basis we send just short of 9 million cards across the whole of 9 million cards across the whole of the uk and over one in ten of those cards we sent at this time of year so as a nation we absolutely love christmas cards. and what we

send has changed. a lot more personalised, addressed to specific people, to mum and dad, for example, you have an insight into that. that's absolutely right. what we are sending now is close to families, mum, dad, to the one i love, or even to our pets, we love them. i am also interested in that etiquette of how you know who to send to. if you don't get one back, how many years don't get one back, how many years do you still send one until you give up do you still send one until you give up and dates and one back? what is the rule? i think everybody has their own rule. 0n the rule? i think everybody has their own rule. on a personal basis, i would give them one chance. if i don't get one in one year, i wouldn't get them on the following year. but we sent 9 —— 900 million cards. as you can see, pretty busy down here over the course of the day. all of the staff, as you have heard, a lot of them are temporary staff they brought in to handle the

christmas rush but the busiest day of the year for christmas rush but the busiest day of the yearfor them, christmas rush but the busiest day of the year for them, and we will meet some of them and explain to you a bit about how it works. certainly we will have a look at those parcels being sent, because the parcels business is a really big growth area as more of us are shopping online. to get those things to our house in time for christmas. you posted my present in time? no, i am going to hand deliver it, obviously.|j present in time? no, i am going to hand deliver it, obviously. i don't know if that is the right place to say that, but i look forward to seeing you with my big rocks and the present. you are watching breakfast from bbc news. still to come this morning: what is the first thing you want me to say to you when you hear? my name. growing up deaf. a new documentary follows the life of three teenagers as they face life—changing decisions. we will be speaking to lewis, who

you saw in the clip, a little later on. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news. i'm sara 0rchard. six months on from the grenfell tower fire, the london fire brigade's chaplain said around 300 firefighters have sought counselling. mia hilborn told the bbc many were suffering from symptoms of post—traumatic stress disorder, and that the fire had affected the whole service. it's been such a massive incident that it's affected the whole of the london fire brigade. every single person who works for the fire brigade has in some way been impacted by grenfell. british transport police have released cctv images of two men they believe threatened and robbed a teenager of his bike. the 16—year—old was on the platform of west drayton station during the altercation, and after refusing to release the bike, the men threatened to stab him. it happened on the evening of 5 november. west ham united are involved in a legal dispute with their landlords

at the london stadium. it is over plans for an additional 3,000 seats at the ground, and whether the landlord, a group called e20, is entitled to receive a share of the revenues from them. west ham currently pay £2.5 million a year to use the stadium. people living near heathrow will get the chance to have their say on plans to build a third runway and expand the airport. from next month, local communities will be invited to comment on some new and revised options, including the design, changes to flight paths, and the reconfiguration of the m25. the public consultation will last for ten weeks, and is separate to the one held by the government. let's have a look at the travel situation now. there is a good service on the tubes this morning. 0n the trains, there is major disruption on all south—western railway services in and out of waterloo, due to ongoing problems at vauxhall. check before you travel. 0n the roads, there is northbound traffic on the blackwall tunnel southern approach, from the woolwich road flyover.

and, on the aa06 north circular, traffic is slow into henlys corner and the a1, with delays back towards east end road. let's have a check on the weather now, with elizabeth rizzini. hello, good morning. well, it's turned colder again, but not as chilly as it was earlier on through the week. now, we should see some sunny spells around today. quite a breezy start, and then the winds will gradually ease down as we head through the afternoon. we're starting off at around three, four celsius through this morning. there will also be some showers around, as well. some of the showers possibly turning a bit sleety over the high ground ground of the downs and the chilterns, but mostly as rain. many places out towards eastern areas staying dry for much of the day, highs of five to six celsius. but there will be quite a bit of wind chill around, as well. now, overnight tonight, we're expecting further showers to sweep through again. the chance of them turning a bit

wintry perhaps over the higher ground, but mostly falling as rain. this is how we start the day tomorrow, one ought two degrees celsius. watch out for some icy patches here and there. tomorrow, a cold—feeling day, maybe one or two showers. quite a bit of cloud around, and once again a chilly wind. a widespread frost to start the weekend, but by sunday, it's turning a little bit milder again. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. bye for now. hello. this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. theresa may suffers her first commons defeat as mps win the right to have the final say on a brexit deal. 11 conservative rebels joined the opposition to demand that parliament gets to vote on any agreement before it's finalised.

ayes to the right, 309, noes to the left, 305. good morning. it's thursday the 1ath of december. also this morning: another medical breakthrough thanks to gene therapy. british doctors develop a new treatment for the most common type of haemophilia. this is huge. it is groundbreaking. that is because the option to think about normalising levels of patients with severe haemophilia is absolutely mind blowing. remembering grenfell‘s victims. six months to the day since the fire which killed 71 people, they'll be honoured in a service at st paul's cathedral. good morning. it is the biggest day

of the year for the royal mail. royal mail is predicted to deliver 10m parcels and tens of millions of letters today as customers rush to complete their deliveries before christmas. i'm at a sorting office in manchester to find out how they're coping. england are four wickets down in the ashes as australia pile on the pressure at the must win third ashes test. it is because they can play with us and talk to us. learning and laughter. how our generation is coming together to teach one another ata coming together to teach one another at a primary school in east london? —— are generations. and the weather. good morning. icy outside. forthe east of the country, a dry and bright day compared to yesterday. rain in sleet and snow in the west. more details coming up in 15 minutes. see you later.

theresa may suffers her first major commons defeat as mps win the right to have the final say on a break the deal. to have the final say on a brexit deal. 11 conservative rebels joined the opposition to demand the parliament gets to vote on any agreement before it is finalised. if she had won the vote, she would go to brussels today feeling emboldened. after what happened last night, what happens? it is not welcome for her. this is the first to fiji has suffered as prime minister in the commons. —— defeat. psychologically, it is a blow. it is not what you want to see happen as you are about to go to brussels which should have been a triumph. she should have been able to start

the next phase of negotiations and get sufficient progress. in truth, the other european leaders are well aware she has no overall majority, that she needs the dup to prop her up. i don't think it will make a practical difference. nonetheless, if labour, the snp, and some conservatives get together, she is vulnerable from now on. some have tried to play it down the blue the key is getting the legislative detail in place. —— down. we need parliament to have the proper accountability we will look again to get the balance right. it is a minor setback but will not stop us leaving the eu. he said this is a minor setback. nonetheless, there could be trouble ahead. the rebel in chief, if you like the person who put

forward the amendment, this change, dominic grieve, he was suggesting the rebels could work together on other issues as well. they could ta ke other issues as well. they could take a date for brexit out of the legislation, march, 2019. that could go and they could vote against the government if theresa may is unwilling to make further concessions. we have to co-operate together to make sure this bill is ina together to make sure this bill is in a proper state to do what people want, which is to deliver a smooth and effective brexit. and we will do that, and i will get together with my colleagues and we will continue to work. i shall be glad when it is over. many people will be thinking along those lines. help us with the thought process. that date, march 2019, all of the business in the commons, what difference does it make to that day? it could make a

difference. he said we would leave at that day anyway. we will all be glad when it is over. here is what could potentially happen. it was never guaranteed mps get a vote on any deal theresa may negotiates in brussels. if they do not like it, they can say no thank you, and send her back. it is true she could also ask the rest of the european union, the other eu leaders, the extent that period of negotiation. that is possible if there is full agreement. in practice that is unlikely to happen because if a deal is voted down it is far more likely we would get a change of prime minister and possibly even a general election. 0ne possibly even a general election. one thing that could happen, of course, is now that the amendment has been put in, any deal now have to be written separately into british law, which might also give mpsa

british law, which might also give mps a greater opportunity to influence the final outcome. thank you very much. british doctors say they have achieved a significant breakthrough in the treatment of haemophilia. big effect m ea ns in the treatment of haemophilia. big effect means blood cannot clot so a cut could lead to heavy bleeding. —— the defect. the nhs trust and queen mary university of london used gene therapy to correct the defect in a small trial. walking two miles to work used to be unthinkable to jake 0mar. he was born with haemophilia a, a genetic defect that means his blood did not clot. the slightest injury used to mean severe bleeding. even a long stroll would cause bleeding in hisjoints. but no more. i think the gene therapy has hopefully given me a new lease on life. it will allow me to be a lot more active with my boys as they grow up. kick footballs, run around in the park, climb trees, and not be someone who has to worry about what i am doing.

jake was one of 13 patients given pioneering gene therapy last year. a virus was used to give his body new genetic instructions for clotting blood. all of the trial patients are off their haemophilia medication, and 11 now have roughly normal levels of blood—clotting proteins. this is huge. it's groundbreaking. that's because the option to think about normalising levels in patients with severe haemophilia is absolutely mind blowing. so, to offer people the potential of a normal life, they have had to inject themselves every other day to prevent bleeding is transformational. studies will now take place to see if gene therapy can replace regular injections and truly transform the lives of patients. james gallagher, bbc news. a memorial service is being held at saint paul's cathedral this morning for the victims and survivors of the grenfell tower

fire in west london. 71 people were killed when the fire tore through the tower block, six months ago today. prince charles, prince william, and theresa may, will be among the 2,000 people who are expected to attend. 0ur correspondent, frankie mccamley is at st paul's. good morning. good morning. the main focus of today's service is really going to remember those 71 who lost their lives in six months ago. it is also a chance to thank the emergency services who came to help, and for all of those affected to come together to hear those messages of support and to make sure this is something that is not forgotten. we are expecting 2000 people here today. not only survivors, career families as well. and also those who came together to give up their time and charities and those who came together to support those on the ground. —— bereaved. politicians will also come. theresa may and

jeremy corbyn and also the royals. the counsellor has been told to stay at home. it shows the friction over the last six months. today will be a very emotional day. this will be the first time many people have seen each other since that tragic day. many people will take hope away from this and will hope they can rebuild their lives and get some justice in their lives and get some justice in the future. thank you very much, frank mccamley, at st paul's cathedral. the hollywood actor, salma hayek, has become the latest celebrity to accuse harvey weinstein of harassment. in an article for the new york times, she wrote that the film producer threatened to kill her and described him as "rage fuelled monster." a spokesperson for mr weinstein disputed the actor's account. the british cyclist, chris froome, says he will be exonorated after an investigation into his drugs test revealed twice the permissable level of asthma medication in september. the sport's governing body, the uci, has requested more information from the four—time tour de france winner.

froome says his reputation won't be tainted by what's happened and that he has been cooperating with with the investigation. imean, i i mean, i have certainly told and shared everything i have with the uci, and told them exactly. i have a very clear routine when i use my inhaler, how many times i use it, andi inhaler, how many times i use it, and i have given all of that information to the uci to help get to the bottom of this. the scottish government is expected to announce its first major changes to tax bands later today since power was given to holyrood last year. the move could see some in scotland

pay more tax than those earning the same salary elsewhere in the uk. catriona renton reports. thousands of former prisoners serving community sentences in england and wales are being supervised by probation staff over the telephone rather than face—to—face, according to a report from the chief inspector of probation. the ministry ofjustice says telephone supervision applies only to some lower risk offenders after they have been assessed in prison, but says improvements are needed. the most powerful storm to strike mainland america in a decade has been calculated in terms of the weight of the water falling on texas from hurricane harvey in august. 127 billion tons!

that makes it one of the heaviest rainfall events in the history of hurricanes. no wonder it was devastating! the papers. reflections on what happened in the commons yesterday. theresa may is heading to brussels today. talks later this evening. mainly tomorrow. revenge is the word used in the times. the language is interesting. new guinea is the daily telegraph's word. —— mutiny. today she will be attending the memorial service at st paul's cathedral, and later travelling to brussels. and another paper taking in that story. the daily mail talking about the

announcement from peter kay yesterday, apologising to fans after he scrapped his comedy stage tour forfamily reasons. it's been six months since 71 people lost their lives what was the uk's worst tower block fire. this morning, victims‘ families, survivors and community leaders will gather for a national memorial to remember those who died in grenfell tower. tiago alves managed to escape the blaze with his family, he joins us now from st paul's cathedral. thank you so much for your time this morning ahead of the server is a little later this morning. first of all, could you tell us what you will be thinking when the service takes place later? —— service. be thinking when the service takes place later? -- service. my thoughts will be with the bereaved families this morning and the rest of the day. today is a date not about

survivors, but purely about the bereaved, theirfamilies, survivors, but purely about the bereaved, their families, and survivors, but purely about the bereaved, theirfamilies, and the rest is of those affected. everyone will have their thoughts and prayers focussed on them. do we have some idea of how the service will be presented? there will be voices from some of those people like yourself caught up in those events. presumably, it will be an emotional time for many people like yourself today. well, of course, you know, having to relive all of this over the last six months is going to be quite emotional and is going to bring back memories. in the same way, we can never forget about what happened that night, and the reason we are doing this today is to make sure that people do not forget. you know, this was such a national disaster, and we want people to remember. because now, the survivors are in

one position, but today is only about those who lost their life. one position, but today is only about those who lost their lifelj know that in amongst those who will be attending today are members of the emergency services, and for many of them these are terribly traumatic times. i imagine they will be very welcome amongst people like yourself. well, definitely. you know, these people are the people who in turn saved so many lives that night, and i would love to thank the emergency services that managed to help that night, because, you know, it was traumatic for us, but at the same time it was traumatic for them. soi same time it was traumatic for them. so i would like to thank them all for their service that night, and to make sure that they get the help that they need, both physically and mentally. could i know that it was tough for us, it was tough for people who had to run down the

stairs once. people were running up and down the stairs multiple times soi and down the stairs multiple times so i would like to thank the emergency services for that directly. everyone deals with grief in different ways. for some it is a very personal thing. for other people it helps to have moments in time, and this is a public event, isn't it? for some people this will bea isn't it? for some people this will be a very important marker, six—month bond. be a very important marker, six-month bond. well, of course, you know, the fact that this is at saint pauls cathedral, one of the most nationally recognised monuments, even here in london, it is absolutely incredible that we can have something like this, to make sure that the public does not forget what happened that night. thank you for your time this morning, and we look forward to speaking to you a little later on. you are watching breakfast from bbc news. the main stories this morning: the prime minister is due in brussels, just hours after conservative rebels in the commons defeated

the government in a key brexit vote. british doctors say trials of a revolutionary gene therapy suggest the most common type of haemophilia can be cured. it is getting it is getting colder it is getting colder and it is getting colder and icy it is getting colder and icy on it is getting colder and icy on the it is getting colder and icy on the roads. yes, very good morning to you. chilly for the next few days but a change on the way. one or two waking up to an extra dusting of snow which was not there when he went to bed last night, adding to icy conditions for the morning commute, especially from the midlands, mid wales and areas northwards. adding on to that, there is snow in the forecast. looking at the radar chart, the light colour is where snow has been falling over the last few hours. some snow to the north and west, l fast, in the hills

around glasgow at the moment, and that will continue through the morning rush hour. it could still be a little bit tricky places. north and of scotland very few showers, many will be dry this morning but temperatures still sub zero by the time we to nine a.m.. showers in northern england, maybe the pennines westwards. eastern parts of england, compared to yesterday morning, a good deal brighter. cold and frosty but they will be some sunshine. many will be dry. frequent showers in the south—west and across wales. wintry over the hills to begin with but that could get down low in the hills as we get into the afternoon. quite windy across the afternoon, touching gale force at times. it continues to feed showers in across western areas through the day. a mixture of rain, sleet and snow. many staying dry through the day and across the board are colder dated yesterday, with the strength of the wind and the south—west. that wind will bring a few more showers to the south—east to finish the day and showers will

work their way southwards overnight. most of us will see at least a spot or two of most of us will see at least a spot ortwo of rain, most of us will see at least a spot or two of rain, some sleet is well over higher ground, and that will lead to icy conditions to take you into your friday rush hour. gloomy in the south to begin with, but that wind from the arctic, it will be even colder than today. with the wind coming to a more northerly direction, we change whether showers are. after a bright day, more cloud across eastern areas. a few showers for pembrokeshire, cornwall, and also northern ireland, but for most of you, if you start the day gray, it will be warmer than today's values. we start the weekend with a frost but milder air is trying to push its way back in, and it will start on saturday. many will start the day dry and bright with sunny spells. brightest in eastern areas. clouding over in the west with patchy rain and drizzle later. still a bit chilly but as winds go

south—westerly into sunday, we lift the temperature is uk wide. still five or six degrees here, but there isa five or six degrees here, but there is a price to pay. we have something milder heading our way for the second half of the weekend and the start of next week, but it does mean we are also likely to see a little bit of wet and windy weather as well. certainly looking mother into next week compared with what we have had over the past two weeks. double digits, that is quite high for this time of the year. it is a little bit above what we have had normally, but compared to the last few weeks it is positively balmy. the number of successful prosecutions for fly tipping has fallen to a record low, according to bbc research. last year1 million incidents were reported, but only 1,500 were successfully prosecuted. this scene plays out every day across england — fly tippers dumping waste for others to clear up. councils last year had to deal with 1 million fly tipping

incidents, up from 700,000 fly tips five years ago. councils in england last year spent collectively over £16 million on investigating and prosecuting fly tippers. but, with cuts to council budgets, thisjob is becoming harder. well, yeah, the last few years, it's getting harder, yeah. every day we pick the same stuff up, almost every day. it's a builder that's done this, cladding. it's building rubble, basically, this one. we see it at many sites we go to. it's standard practice, basically. here in barnsley, the local council now uses cameras to catch offenders. but those they catch do not often appear in court, meaning the number of fly tipping prosecutions is now at a record low. a decade ago, over 2,000 prosecutions were successfully brought against fly tippers. but last year, that figure had fallen to just over 1,500. shrinking budgets and new powers mean many councils can now

issue fines directly. does prosecuting work? in my opinion, not very well. there's a limited amount of resources that we have. we need to educate people, at the same time, and it's no good spending lots of resources to have somebody fined £200 when they go to court. over 50,000 penalty notices were handed out in england last year, and the government says it has cracked down on offenders by helping to strengthen sentencing guidelines. but the number of fly tipping incidents has continued to rise, meaning this is a battle that many councils at the moment don't appear to be winning. let's talk to allerston, the chief executive of the environmental charity keep britain tidy. we were hearing from our correspondent saying the battle against fly tipping continues but there does not appear to be much ground being made on this. why do you think that is?

it is disappointing, isn't it? and i think it comes down to, as was mentioned in your piece, we need much stiffer sentences. 90% of those cases which are taken are less than £1000, and that doesn't reflect the devastating impact of this environmental vandalism that we are all having to pay to get cleared up. so why do you think prosecution rates are so low? it cost muggy to catch people and it costs muggy to prosecute them, and i think those resources a re few prosecute them, and i think those resources are few and far between. —— costs money. it also sidestepped theissue, —— costs money. it also sidestepped the issue, which is that all of us need to be getting rid of our waste ina need to be getting rid of our waste in a legalfashion. everyone of need to be getting rid of our waste in a legal fashion. everyone of us needs to make sure we are doing the right thing but we need to make sure it is easierfor right thing but we need to make sure it is easier for people to do the right thing. let's talk about deterrence. what is an effective deterrent if prosecution rates are not rising or are not effective? well, i think we need to fix that, don't we? the cameras are a great

idea. i think the police need to get involved. currently environmental crime is less than 0.5%. we could use some help from professionals. 0nce use some help from professionals. once people are caught we need stiffer sentences, because that will provide an incentive for those people who have to pay for the enforcement. at the moment they don't think it is worth their while. well, one of the things, i suppose, it is pretty obvious when we see fly tipping and people dumping stuff, but you also hear of incidents where somebody has put their bin out on the wrong date, there beanbag, and been accused of fly tipping, or someone pops the envelope in a bin on the roadside and is accused of fly tipping as well —— their bin bag. there seems to be little clarity regarding who should be prosecuted or fined. well, there is

some confusion, i think it is important we make it easy for people to do the right thing. i can't think ofan to do the right thing. i can't think of an incident where anybody was convicted of fly tipping for dropping an envelope and the very fa ct dropping an envelope and the very fact that there were so few cases proves there is very little enforcement of fly tipping but people do need to know what they should be doing with their waste. so iam afraid should be doing with their waste. so i am afraid putting your black bag out on the wrong day is effectively fly tipping, because it is only going to sit down potentially be distributed across the street if your way services are not active at day. so people need to put their bins out on the right day, yes, and they also need to make sure that when they have bulky waste like mattresses and refrigerators that they are making sure that they are legally disposing of them. because ultimately it is our rubbish, it is our responsibility. allerston, chief executive of keep britain tidy, thank you forjoining us this morning. you are watching breakfast from bbc news. still to come this morning: if you haven't sent your christmas cards yet, don't panic.

there are still a few days left. have you sent your is? not quite. ben is at a royal mail sorting office in manchester. absolutely, do not worry, i have it all in hand this morning. these guys are dealing with some of the millions of parcels that are expected to get through over the next 2a hours. they normally deal with about 2 million parcels and letters at this site in manchester, ona letters at this site in manchester, on a typical thursday. but today they are going to have around 3— 3.5 million cards and parcels to get to people up and down the country. a really busy time for them, the busiest day of the year, of course, as we gear up for christmas. so a lot for them to hit getting on with. they have hired extra staff, they have temporarily pop—up sorting offices to make sure that everything gets to people who need it. i have saidi gets to people who need it. i have said i will make myself useful, so

these people are going to help me. where do i need to put this stuff? this is going to burnley, so where do we put this? on to rose six. i will get stuck in, shall i? for that, let's get the news, travel and weather where you are this morning. good morning from bbc london news. i'm sara 0rchard. six months on from the grenfell tower fire, the london fire brigade's chaplain said around 300 firefighters have sought counselling. mia hilborn told the bbc many were suffering from symptoms of post—traumatic stress disorder, and that the fire had affected the whole service. it's been such a massive incident that it has affected the whole of the london fire brigade. every single person who works for the fire brigade has in some way been impacted by grenfell. british transport police have released cctv images of two men they believe threatened and robbed a teenager of his bike. the 16—year—old was on the platform of west drayton station

during the altercation, and after refusing to release the bike, the men threatened to stab him. it happened on the evening of 5 november. west ham united are involved in a legal dispute with their landlords at the london stadium. it is over plans for an additional 3,000 seats at the ground, and whether the landlord, a group called e20, is entitled to receive a share of the revenues from them. west ham currently pay £2.5 million a year to use the stadium. people living near heathrow will get the chance to have their say on plans to build a third runway and expand the airport. from next month, local communities will be invited to comment on some new and revised options, including the design, changes to flight paths, and the reconfiguration of the m25. the public consultation will last for ten weeks, and is separate to the one held by the government. let's have a look at the travel situation now. there is a good service on the tubes this morning. 0n the trains, there is major disruption on all south—western railway services in and out of waterloo, due to ongoing

problems at vauxhall. check before you travel. 0n the roads, on the ma, london—bound traffic is building from junction 3 at heston, towards junction 2. there is traffic on the a23 streatham high road northbound from norbury towards streatham station, following an accident. let's have a check on the weather now, with elizabeth rizzini. hello, good morning. well, it's turned colder again, but not as chilly as it was earlier on through the week. now, we should see some sunny spells around today. quite a breezy start, and then the winds will gradually ease down as we head through the afternoon. we're starting off at around three, four degrees celsius through this morning. there will also be some showers around, as well, some of those showers possibly turning a bit sleety over the high ground of the downs and the chilterns, but mostly falling as rain. many places, i think, out towards eastern areas staying dry for much of the day, highs of five to six degrees

celsius. but there will be quite a bit of wind chill around, as well. now, overnight tonight, we're expecting further showers to sweep through again. the chance of them turning a bit wintry perhaps over the higher ground, but mostly falling as rain. this is how we start the day tomorrow, on one or two degrees celsius. watch out for a few icy patches perhaps here and there. tomorrow, a cold—feeling day, maybe one or two showers. quite a bit of cloud around, and once again a chilly wind. a widespread frost to start the weekend, but by sunday, it's turning a bit milder again. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now, though, it is back to charlie and naga. hello. this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. we'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment, but also on breakfast this morning. theresa may will meet eu leaders in brussels later todayjust hours after a commons vote which could make it harder

for her to secure her final brexit deal. 11 conservative rebels sided with opposition politicians to demand that mps get a vote on any agreement before it is finalised. ministers and leave supporters have sought to play down the defeat as a minor setback but labour leaderjeremy corbyn said it was a "humiliating loss of authority" for the prime minister. a third person has been charged with the murder following the deaths of four children in a house fire in salford in greater manchester on monday. the 25—year—old man who's from the area has also been charged with attempted murder and arson. he'll appear before magistrates later today. the children's 35—year—old mother is still being treated in hospital. british doctors say they've made a significant break—through in the treatment of the most common form of haemophilia. around 2,000 people in the uk have the genetic defect which means their blood cannot clot properly. the research team at barts health nhs trust and queen mary university of london used gene therapy to correct the defect in a small safety trial. none of the 13 patients who took part needs further treatment. a memorial service is being held

at saint paul's cathedral this morning for the victims and survivors of the grenfell tower fire in west london. 71 lives were lost when the fire tore through the tower block, six months ago today. prince charles, prince william, and theresa may will be among the 2,000 people who are expected to attend. the hollywood actor, salma hayek, has become the latest celebrity to accuse harvey weinstein of harassment. in an article for the new york times, she wrote that the film producer threatened to kill her and described him as "rage fuelled monster." a spokesperson for mr weinstein disputed the actor's account. the scottish government is expected to announce its first major changes to tax bands later today since power was given to holyrood last year. the move could see some in scotland

pay more tax than those earning the same salary elsewhere in the uk. bbc understands a new tax band could be created. those earning above £35,000 may pay more. we will have the weather in a few minutes. warming up but still chilly, unlike down under. it is very warm in perth. it looks beautiful. 35? i will have a look. are we bringing some fire to the game? england is slowly recovering. it is hard to tell this early. plenty of boundaries, a few wickets, and some controversy. set the scene. there are five tests. this is the third. this is crucial? england lost the first two. if they do not win the third test, it is game over. the final two will be dead rubber.m

third test, it is game over. the final two will be dead rubber. it is quite temperate. not too hot. 25. not the 35 we thought. let's go to andy swiss. the players havejust come out after tea. that is correct. england, 175— four. something of a recovery, as you said. pretty uncomfortable viewing for england fans. the waca is renowned as a paradise for pace bowlers, and it certainly has been for australia's pace bowlers today. it has been fast and fiery and ferocious, especially for mark stoneman. he broke his bat and his helmet and was eventually given out at 56. he was initially given out at 56. he was initially given not out what australia looked at it and it had nicked his glove on

the way through the wicket keeper. he had to go for 56. england will not be proud. the evidence was not conclusive. there has been a recovery since then. england, again, afamiliar recovery since then. england, again, a familiar problem. many players getting to 20—30—a0, but no one getting to 20—30—a0, but no one getting the 100 they need to set up. dele alli also needs to come still. they need a00 ideally in the first innings having won the toss to be in a good position to win. we will have to leave it there. apologies for the pictures. away from the action, the sun this morning has said bookmakers offered to fix aspects of the match. authorities have said they want

documentation from the sun to conduct an investigation. chris froome has told the bbc he understands people will be cynical, but insists his legacy won't be tainted. it emerged yesterday that froome had double the allowed level of a legal asthma drug in his urine following a test during the tour of spain, which he won, in september. cycling's world governing body the uci wants more details from the team but froome has not been suspended. i do understand, obviously, it's come as a big shock to a lot of people. but i stand by what i've always said, and that is i certainly haven't broken any rules here. i haven't taken more than the permissible amount, and i'm sure, at the end of the day, the truth will be told. manchester city are record breakers, after extending their winning premier league run to 15 games with a a—0 hammering of struggling swa nsea. man of the match david silva scored twice, including finishing off this lovely move, while sergio augero and kevin de bruyne also found the net. city have been playing some magical football but their manager puts the record breaking run down to hard work.

we got the ball when we did not have it. simple as that. everyone is committed and is ready to make his effort. that is why. and, of course, winning 50 games in a row, it never happened before for us, and gives us a lot of confidence. manchester united managed to keep the gap with city to just the 11 points thanks to a 1—0 win over bournemouth. at a rain—soaked old trafford, the only goal came from romelu lukaku's header in the first half. jose mourinho said afterwards it's still all to play for in the premier league and that he'd be heading on holiday to la if he thought the title race was over. sam alla rdyce continues to work his magic at everton. it's now three wins and a draw since he was appointed manager. wayne rooney was on the scoresheet again as they beat newcastle 1—0. they're up into the top half. elsewhere, leicester enjoyed a comprehensive win at southampton,

tottenham beat brighton. but liverpool were left frustrated by west brom, and it finished goal—less too between west ham and arsenal. in scotland, celtic have stretched their unbeaten domestic run to 69 matches after beating hamilton academical 3—1. they're five points clear of rangers who came from a goal down to beat hibernian 2—1 at easter road. alfredo morelos scored the winner in first—half stoppage time. just listening to andy swiss... broken bat? helmet? yes. is that because of the stage the ashes is at, the aussies are going at them? they always do. it is the ashes. at, the aussies are going at them? they always do. it is the ashesm we draw, it is not over. no. is it unrealistic to hope for a draw? not

at the moment. it is a bit early. the tragedy at grenfell brought the issue of fire safety to the forefront of the public‘s consciousness. shock turned to anger when it became clear the fire had spread up a thick layer of external plastic foam insulation. now, questions are being raised about the measures used to make furniture less flammable. new research suggests some of the most commonly used flame reta rda nts actually ma ke the fire more toxic, and do little to hold back flames, as bbc newsnight‘s chris cook explains. in britain, furniture fabric has to pass very tough tests, uniquely tough, in the world, before you can sell it on the market. manufacturers, though, have worked out the easiest way to get through those tests is simply to load the fabric with chemical flame reta rda nts. fabric with chemical flame retardants. the grenfell tower fire is an apt moment to consider the wisdom of this approach. but within

the towler, the fire obviously move through the building very rapidly and people reported noxious black smoke filling the interior. dozens of residents were treated afterwards for cyanide poisoning, including a 12—year—old memberfrom for cyanide poisoning, including a 12—year—old member from the gomes family. the smoke was so intense that getting a mouthful of smog, you we re that getting a mouthful of smog, you were gagging. smoke is always bad for you. it can always kill you. but the thing is, the most common fire reta rda nts the thing is, the most common fire retardants in the uk work by interfering with the chemistry of the flame. and a byproduct of it means when the fire gets going, the smoke is more toxic. richard hull, a professor of chemistry and fire science from the university of central lancashire led the study. hejoins us now. good morning. good morning. were you surprised by what you were seeing

from the chemicals coming from the flame from the chemicals coming from the fla me reta rda nts from the chemicals coming from the flame retardants material? umm, we started off the study because we we re started off the study because we were trying to find out... so, this isa were trying to find out... so, this is a collaboration with three fire rescue services, west midlands, lancashire, and another. the first pa rt lancashire, and another. the first part showed a number of fire deaths occurring from furniture and bedding was higher than the number of fires. most fire deaths occur from upholstered furniture. how can this be? we also found in other studies that when you add fire retardants, it often increases the toxicity of the smoke. how do you add one? so, during the manufacturing process, chemicals are added to reduce the flammability, and then sometimes, that makes the smoke more toxic because it interferes with the burning process halfway through. you get all of these toxic things that

would otherwise be cleaned up. get all of these toxic things that would otherwise be cleaned upm lehman stearns, if i understand, manufacturers are trying to do the right thing by making these items less flammable, but by doing so, if they do catch fire, they are more toxic? -- laymen's terms,. exactly. regulations say stop it burning and reduce vulnerability. is what they do. is it a simple procedure? can you make it fire retardants without emitting dangerous toxins? there is no requirement to reduce toxicity of furniture and installation materials on the side of buildings. —— insulation. so you get a one—sided approach to fire safety. saved the regulations change and a look at toxicity, which is understandable,

and you would support it, how do you measure how toxic something is? —— say the regulations. what is acceptable? you burn it and measure the concentration of gas is. surely any the concentration of gas is. surely a ny level of the concentration of gas is. surely any level of toxicity... the concentration of gas is. surely any level of toxicity. .. somethings have perhaps 10— 100 times more toxicity when they burn. for example, polyurethanes produce a lot of hydrogen cyanide when it burns. that is 20 times more toxic than carbon monoxide. what are the implications? we have all got foam furniture in our homes. are we all at risk? we are anyway if it is toxic. but how do you change it quickly? the industry is very adaptable. as soon as there was a criteria to reduce toxicity, they could then sell furniture with lower toxicity. is it a straightforward

procedure to change manufacturing? the first thing would be to have... after getting toxicity there is another goal and they would meet it. you are a professor involved in legislation. 0ur you surprised attention has not been brought to this previously? are you? many people might be at home sitting on their sofas thinking someone else would have thought this through. their sofas thinking someone else would have thought this throughlj would have thought this through.” have been saying this for 20 years. but since grenfell tower fire safety is on the agenda and people are waking up to the fact there is a serious problem, when you have a fire, many people die unnecessarily, because we have strict furniture flammability regulations but nothing on toxicity. to reiterate, people will be concerned hearing you speak

now. are we talking about older furniture? up—to—date modern furniture? up—to—date modern furniture as well? very new furniture has three the four kilograms of fire retardant, but that ends up in household dust which causes smaller problems, and a crane disruption, some developmental difficulties, but it means that the furniture ignites much more easily. so we have bought sweets of furniture from ebay for £15 and we have found that they ignite so easily because the fire retardant is... the only requirement in the testis is... the only requirement in the test is to test their new furniture, and the older furniture has lost the fire retardant, it has gone into the household dust in the furniture ignites very easily. thank you, very interesting. here is matt with a look

at this morning's weather. and it is warming up a little bit, but still chilly. good morning, yes, it is still chilly out there. it will be a few days before we have milder air. looking chilly here in chesterfield, and across other parts of the uk, could be a little bit of ice around following overnight showers, especially from the middle midlands, mid wales northwards. it is from here the showers not only have rain showing up on our charts, but you will notice the light colours. there is still some sleet and snow mixed in. we have snow on the hills across scotland at the moment, especially to the south and west. areas around glasgow, if you travelling any distance, you could encounter some snow. the same north—west of belfast, but mainly to lower levels, eastern parts of scotland, down through eastern england, a dry enough start. much brighter than it was yesterday, but

chilly. showers in the pennines, the peak district, into the north—west. showers in wales in south—west england in particular. rain, but sleet and snow over the hills. to the south—west of the country, lottery winds. a blustery start, in fa ct, lottery winds. a blustery start, in fact, forjust lottery winds. a blustery start, in fact, for just about all lottery winds. a blustery start, in fact, forjust about all but lottery winds. a blustery start, in fact, for just about all but the north and west of scotland. notice the showers keep going across western areas. they will turn increasingly wintry at times, not just on the hills but into lower levels and parts of scotland we could have a few issues on the hills, around central scotland, as we go over to the evening rush hour. a cold day, temperatures lower than yesterday. a chilly night to come tonight. clearer skies in the east but more on the way of showers in the western side, and as they ease later on we are going to see temperatures drop quite widely. if you are a few degrees above freezing there is the risk of ice on the ground into tomorrow morning's rush hour. the difference tomorrow is where the air is coming from. following the isobars back all the way into the arctic, it will change

where we see the showers. tomorrow, eastern areas more prone to showers, especially north—east england. we will see some for northern ireland in the far south—west of wales and cornwall. for many it will be a dry and brighter day. a colder start the southern parts of england but eventually brightening up. all of us, into the cold air, temperatures around two to six degrees for the vast majority. there will be changes into the weekend, as i mentioned. a frosty start on saturday uk wide. brightest and driest on the eastern pa rt brightest and driest on the eastern part of the country, but in the west later on we will start to see some patchy rain. temperatures starting to creep up and they will creep up a little bit further as we go into sunday. at the signs are, ok, temperatures on the up. it will take awhile for the eastern half of scotla nd awhile for the eastern half of scotland and england but to go with the milder air comes increasing chances of wet and windy weather on sunday. and in the next week we

stick with a slightly milder then compared with the colder conditions we have had over the past few weeks. anything that falls from the sky are more likely to be reined in the wintry stuff we have seen today. more likely to be reined in the wintry stuff we have seen todaym will certainly cause a lot less chaos on the roads, won't it? it is said it is never too late to learn something new, and now a group of pensioners in east london are going back to primary school. in what is believed to be the first uk scheme of its kind, more than a dozen old people with early—stage dementia will spend the morning with pupils, joining in various activities. it is hoped, by bringing the generations together, each will learn new skills and improve their quality of life. brea kfast‘s tim muffett joined one of the groups at downshall primary in ilford. back to school. for some, it has been more than 60 years. but at downshall primary in redbridge, east london, there are lessons to be learned for all ages. for three days a week, the older adults come and join us. they do some artwork,

they play puzzles with these very young children, who have only been in school a few months, and they give them the opportunity to talk and interact. you know, there's this bringing alive of the two generations. downshall school is thought to be the first uk primary to host regular daycare for the elderly. the scheme has been trialled for a month. it officially launches today. ijust like children, and they're so beautiful. when they do something, they go (gasps). why do you like having the old people coming along to visit your school? because we get to talk to them. ijust love it. they're really nice, because they can play with us, and they can talk to us. pam, like some others who have attended, is in the early stages of dementia. what do you gain from this experience? friendships and loyalty. they're funny. they're funny, are they? they find you very funny, apparently! inspiration for this project came from japan, which has, it is thought, the fastest—growing elderly population in the world, and where community—led elderly and dementia care has flourished.

so what we're trying to do is trying to bring that here to the uk. we don't have those sorts of multigenerational families that we may have had 50 years ago. what that does is it puts older people at risk of loneliness and isolation. doctor hinchcliffe says collaboration between the school, north—east london nhs trust and charities such as age uk redbridge all mean that the cost of the scheme will be negligible, and the benefits potentially huge. what impact do you see it having on your husband? it makes him light up. it makes him think more, which is necessary, because he does tend to so of go into his own little world every now and then. it's a great scheme, and i give it 110%. yeah — i want the 100, i'll give you the ten! some say education is a gift that keeps on giving. at downshall primary, school life is bringing benefits to young and old.

do you know, it is really lovely to see that. it just do you know, it is really lovely to see that. itjust works. and it is the lovely conversations you can dip into, always fascinating. 10 million letters a nd into, always fascinating. 10 million letters and parcels are on the move. the bad news is that ben is at a mail sorting centre in manchester. there he is, messing with the mail. let me say everything is in hand this morning. francine porter in kent, your parcel is on its way. elizabeth in gravesend, mrs stevens

in newport, that is coming to you as well. the busiest day of the year andi well. the busiest day of the year and i am causing chaos down here this morning, of course before the christmas rush. they normally deal with around 2 million parcels and letters here every day. they will deal with 3.5 million over the next 2a hours, as it is the busiest time of the year. you will see these guys in the yellow vests, they are the temporary christmas workers. the royal mail has hired thousands of them to keep pace with the extra rush, to make sure everything gets where it needs to on time. how busy is it? extremely busy, we are breaking all sorts of records. you are one of the temporary workers, you have been here three weeks. how long are you working here? 22 december, and possibly longer if they need us. good luck. let's speak to the boss, tony is with me. i really busy time for you. you have all this extra staff, a lot of

pep-up all this extra staff, a lot of pop—up sorting centres, all that sort of thing. how do you prepare for the rush? we come back from christmas every year and start preparing again straightaway. 600 people each year moved to permanent work with us, that happened last year and will probably happen again this year. we recruit another 600 on top of our 900 workforce. we have extra vans, flights and lorries. it isa extra vans, flights and lorries. it is a huge effort to get everything ready for christmas. as you say, todayis ready for christmas. as you say, today is the busiest day. talk us through the crucial dates when eve ryo ne through the crucial dates when everyone needs to get things in the post. second class is the 20th, and the 21st for first class. we ask people to post as early as they can, address it really clearly, and use the postcode, please. good handwriting. let me introduce you to catherine, a regularface on rapist. let's talk about what it means for the retailers. we are sending fewer and fewer letters, we are now seeing more christmas cards, of course, but

it is parcels that places like this have had to get used to handling. we are about 9.7% up on parcels, and most will have had a parcel this week. we are buying so much stuff online that this like this are growing exponentially, in terms of their parcel business. there is a lot of competition in the parcels business. if you think about these online retailers, there are a few firms they can be using. royal mail has a slice of it, but it is tough out there. there are new entrants and amazon have set up their own logistics business, and they had taken 7% of the parcel market and that will continue. most retailers have a complicated way of dealing with your parcels in terms of choosing who will bring them to your door. they will choose different people depending on whether your parcel is something expensive which needs signing for or something small which can go through your letterbox. this is their busiest weekend, after black friday, this is it. my advice is you need to get on the high

street, because you are going to be risking it to make sure you can get your parcels. click and collect works next week, but don't leave it too late. and jon lewis calls the 23rd and the 2ath gentleman's days. if you are a last—minute shopper they promised that if you use it on they promised that if you use it on the 23rd, it will be installed, and that will save many marriages. day you have it. you have been warned, get stuff in the post if you want to get stuff in the post if you want to get it to the people you are sending it to. we will have a look around here over the course of the morning. it is fascinating to see this in full swing. clearly a lot of work they need to do to get everything to they need to do to get everything to the people it needs to get to. and your parcel is here somewhere, i just can't quite promise wear. —— where. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news. i'm sara 0rchard. six months on from the

grenfell tower fire, the london fire brigade's chaplain said around 300 firefighters have sought counselling. mia hilborn told the bbc many were suffering from symptoms of post—traumatic stress disorder, and that the fire had affected the whole service. it's been such a massive incident that it has affected the whole of the london fire brigade. every single person who works for the fire brigade has in some way been impacted by grenfell. british transport police have released cctv images of two men they believe threatened and robbed a teenager of his bike. the 16—year—old was on the platform of west drayton station during the altercation, and after refusing to release the bike, the men threatened to stab him. it happened on the evening of 5 november. west ham united are involved in a legal dispute with their landlords at the london stadium. it is over plans for an additional 3,000 seats at the ground, and whether the landlord, a group called e20, is entitled to receive a share of the revenues from them.

west ham currently pay £2.5 million a year to use the stadium. people living near heathrow will get the chance to have their say on plans to build a third runway and expand the airport. from next month, local communities will be invited to comment on some new and revised options, including the design, changes to flight paths, and the reconfiguration of the m25. the public consultation will last for ten weeks, and is separate to the one held by the government. let's have a look at the travel situation now. there is a good service on the tubes this morning. 0n the trains, there is major disruption on all south—western railway services in and out of waterloo, due to ongoing problems at vauxhall. check before you travel. 0n the roads, there is northbound traffic on the a23 streatham high road through streatham common, following an accident, with delays back through norbury. and on the m25, between junctions nine and ten, there is no access clockwise into cobham services. the entry slip is blocked, with traffic queuing for one mile. let's have a check on the weather now, with elizabeth rizzini.

hello, good morning. well, it's turned colder again, but not as chilly as it was earlier on through the week. now, we should see some sunny spells around today. quite a breezy start, and then the winds will gradually ease down as we head through the afternoon. we're starting off on around three, four degrees celsius through this morning. there will also be some showers around, as well, some of those showers possibly turning a bit sleety over the higher ground of the downs and the chilterns, but mostly falling as rain. many places, i think, out towards eastern areas staying dry for much of the day, highs of five to six degrees celsius. but there will be quite a bit of wind chill around, as well. now, overnight tonight, we're expecting further showers to sweep through again. the chance of them turning a bit wintry perhaps over the higher ground, but mostly falling as rain. this is how we'll start off the day tomorrow, on one or two degrees celsius. watch out for a few icy patches perhaps here and there. tomorrow, a cold—feeling day, maybe one or two showers. quite a bit of cloud around, and once again a chilly wind. a widespread frost to start the weekend, but by sunday,

it's turning a bit milder again. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. bye for now. hello. this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. theresa may suffers her first commons defeat as mps win the right to have the final say on a brexit deal. the ayes to the right 309. the noes to the left, 305. 11 conservative rebels joined the opposition to demand that parliament gets to vote on any agreement before it's finalised.

good morning. another medical breakthrough thanks to gene therapy — british doctors develop a new treatment for the most common type of haemophilia. this is huge. it is ground—breaking. the option to think about normalising levels in patients with severe haemophilia is absolutely mind blowing. remembering grenfell‘s victims — six months to the day since the fire which killed 71 people, they'll be honoured in a service at st paul's cathedral. good morning. it is the busiest day of the year for the royal mail as they prepared to deal the rush than

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