alluded me until now. —— eluded. a heap of emotions came running through. bit of a light—hearted fun wasn't it with everything that has gone on, exactly the way it should be taken. as australia, they will feel right back in this. guzman khawaja, one of their key men, a battling half—century turn things round. afterwards he said he was surprised by the speed of the england batting collapse. never an easy place to bat. particularly as a tail—ender. we knew if we got one wicket we'd have a chance. the boys bowled well to get 6—450 —— — a0. wicket we'd have a chance. the boys bowled well to get 6—450 —— — 40.‘ good day for australia, you sense steve smith is the key man. 92 not out going into day three. if he gets a big century australia will still be hopeful of securing a first—innings lead and potentially a match—winning and ashes winning position. andy swiss reporting for us. position. andy swiss reporting for

us. world seven clear at the top of the championship table after beating sheffield wednesday this evening. he showed why the most expensive player signed by a championship club, rachel shabi. it is believed to be £50 million they paid by him. wednesday still ten points off the play—off places. manchester city are playing tottenham in the late kick—off tomorrow, dominating the season s0 kick—off tomorrow, dominating the season so far with 15 consecutive wins and counting. can anybody stop them? arsenal, wins and counting. can anybody stop them 7 arsenal, chelsea, wins and counting. can anybody stop them? arsenal, chelsea, liverpool and manchester united have all tried and manchester united have all tried and failed. spurs have history on their side. who will handle the pressure? patrick geary reports. mid—december and manchester city move from probably uncatchable to possibly invincible. this weekend they play spurs, the only team in they play spurs, the only team in the top six they haven't yet faced. 0ne the top six they haven't yet faced. one by one of their arrival to have

been dispatched including last weekend manchester united, the closest to them in points and geography. can they emulate arsenal in 2004 and go the season unbeaten? the manager is having none of it. in 2004 and go the season unbeaten? the manager is having none of itm belongs to arsene wenger. we are going to lose games. the important is to play better, try to play better. that is the most important things. those records are impressive. city have won an unprecedented 15 straight premier league matches. picking up 49 out of a possible 51 points, enough to finish eighth in the league last season. if they win the last iraq matches before christmas they will average 2.89 points per game, the highest any team in top—flight history has managed. can tottenham stop them? they ended city's unbeaten run at the start of last season and their boss likes a challenge. i think we're going to play, for me, the best team today in

europe. not only in england. it's so exciting, a massive challenge, this type of challenge you want always to have the possibility to have. city are already being compared to another spurs aside, the stylish double winners of 1961. while they are on course to be more effective than mourinho's ruthless chelsea tea m than mourinho's ruthless chelsea team of 2006. history is one thing. this christmas city and their manager are still focusing on the present. patrick geary, bbc news. leicester host crystal palace in the early kick—off, arsenal will look for their first early kick—off, arsenal will look for theirfirst win in early kick—off, arsenal will look for their first win in four games taking on newcastle at home. burnley had to brighton, chelsea host southampton and stoke will hope for change in fortunes against west ham. the first top—flight meeting between watford and huddersfield takes place at vicarage road. ulster beat

harlequins. six different players scored tries. 52—24 victory in belfast. stuart mccluskey with this one early on. harlequins kept the score to 16—12 at half—time. they haven't won in europe this season though they took away a bonus point from tonight. ulster stay second in the pool and have a good chance of qualifying for the quarterfinals. andrew trimble scoring their final try of the night. ronnie 0'sullivan's winning run has come to an end with a thrashing byjohn higgins at the scottish open. he's won three ranking titles including the uk championship recently, but he lost without winning a frame against the home favourite in glasgow. the first time higgins has whitewashed 0'sullivan in a match in 23 years. he plays neil robertson next in the semifinals. to beat ronnie, somebody just said, the last time i

whitewashed him was 1994. that was on the way to my first tournament. i can remember, i played in the quarterfinals. a great result for me. the british number two tennis player aljaz bedene is switching back to his country of birth, slovenia. he took british nationality in 2015 but a change in rules m ea nt nationality in 2015 but a change in rules meant he's never been allowed to represent britain at an olympics davis cup. he will represent slovenia from january the 1st next year. here is russell fuller. he's big ambition is to play the tokyo olympics and he realised that the aid of 20 at its best to put the british passport in the draw and ta ke british passport in the draw and take out the slovenian one. i don't detect any bitterness from within the lta, i think frustration and his lack of communication over the last couple of years, perhaps the opaque nature of some of his responses about his future intentions. ultimately, it is a plan that hasn't

worked out. pat mcquaid has told the bbc chris froome's adverse drugs test is a disaster for the sport that could lose tea m disaster for the sport that could lose team sky all of its credibility. chris froome, who won the tour de france four times was found to have doubled the permitted level of a legal asthma drug in his system during his win at the world asbo near this year. he said he was following doctor ‘s advice. —— at the vuelta this year. phil taylor's last ever pdc world darts championship. the legendary player is going for a 17th world title before retiring from a brilliant career spanning before retiring from a brilliant career spanning three decades. the power was tested in his first—round match against fellow englishman chris dobey but he went through three sets to one at alexandra palace. that is all for tonight, from all of us, good night. hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are kevin schofield, editor of politicshome and rachel shabi, journalist and broadcaster. lets give you a flavour of the papers as a whole. lets give you a flavour of the papers as a whole. the i leads on brexit, with trade talks due to take place in weeks, as negotiations move onto the second phase. the ft reports on a u—turn by ryanair, reversing a decision to recognise pilot unions for the first time, in the hope of avoiding strikes over christmas. the times reports on the fallout of a collapsed rape trial, after police failed to disclose evidence —

it says some senior barristers suggest it's just the "tip of the iceberg". the telegraph says eight in ten rural homes and businesses are mobile phone blackspots, amid concerns some countryside communities are being "left behind". the mirror leads with claims that some hospital nurses are having to pay up to £1,300 a yearjust to park at work. the express reports on a study claiming that shedding weight could be the key to combating rheumatoid arthritis. the sun looks at next year's royal wedding — to be held on the same day at the fa cup final, on saturday, 19th may and "what a right royal own goal" says the mail, expressing concern that next year's nuptials will be a clash for millions of football fans. brexit trade talks, kevin, the i say

it could be kicking off in weeks, what a joy. it could be kicking off in weeks, what ajoy. donald it could be kicking off in weeks, what a joy. donald tusk the european council president hinted today that trade talks, which the prime minister and government are desperate to move on to trade talks. what happened today is a formal rubber—stamping of agreement phase one being dealt with and moving on to face two, it was a formality after the agreement last week. a lot of excitement around that. it took the tension out of the summit in the last couple of days. maybe start to look forward to phase two. the negotiating document the european commission put out today stressed that trade talks formally wouldn't start until march, which is three months away when you consider we have to be out by march 200019. the clock really is ticking. i think it caused a fair bit of nervousness in whitehall. but they've been having a

nod and wink that informal trade talks can begin. which should hopefully pave the way for some kind of deal. theresa may wants a trade deal to be done by the time we leave in18 deal to be done by the time we leave in 18 months' time, 15 months' time. the eu has said, it's something you can finalise after you've left. so there is this is still a big gap between getting to this stage, it's been the easy part even though it seemed difficult. this will be really tough. they say in i they praise theresa may's role in ending the stand—off but it's been a gruelling six months. where do you think theresa may is that all of this? it feels like longer than six months. where she is is where we always knew she would be. having to agree to the framework that the eu has set. she could have done that a long time ago. we could have saved ourselves nine months and had nine months more to negotiate. i think

it's been mismanaged by the conservative government. of course now we are looking at, yes, the eu is saying we're not going to start talking about trade until march, but to be fair, it's not as though the conservative government has said to them what they want in those trade talks. the cabinet is meeting next week to have their first conversation about this, something they've been avoiding all this time. because the cabinet is so divided over this. it's interesting if we look onto the ft weekend, we've got a big piece on this, theresa may given green light in brexit talks. tucked away is a quote from angela merkel, german chancellor, saying britain has to tell us what they want. the most difficult phase is yet to come. where is the vision is the question a lot of people are asking. you hit the nail on the head, the cabinet is so split,

you've got the remainer element of philip hammond, amber rudd. against michael gove, david davis, boris johnson, these hard brexiteers. the prime minister's way of handling it has almost been don't talk about it until we have two. it is called the end estate discussion. what britain wa nts end estate discussion. what britain wants brexit to look like come march 200019. it's remarkable, 18 months since the referendum and they haven't got around to talking about what they want brexit to look like. we were told it would happen before the end of the year which means only one more cabinet before christmas, which is on tuesday. it's going to bea which is on tuesday. it's going to be a bit ofa which is on tuesday. it's going to be a bit of a ding—dong i would have thought. at the same time, they won't come to any conclusions. they'll be having a say because they can't agree. again i think this is entirely her mismanagement, she could have said, and this would have

been... this is true of a 48—52 result referendum anyway but especially true after the election which quite clearly returned to parliament a mandate for a much softer version of withdrawal from the eu than she and her government has been planning. she could have resolved this 18 months ago. certainly since the election since saying... there is no constituency amongst the nation for anything like the kind of brexiteer extremists in my cabinet are advocating, so we're not doing it and that's it. she could have resolved that with better leadership. she could have not had a general election. rachel, delve inside. page two of the sun, they've got this headline, don't cash our bricks checked yet. they say there are these sticking points that could bring things to ahead again. particularly on the issue of the money. saying you can't have it

until you've agreed this, this and this. may be realistic to the sun. probably not to anyone dealing with these negotiations. greasy, we talked about the infighting in conservative government. there was this talk of possible rebellion this coming week but they seem to have had that one off. this was a self-inflicted wound by the prime minister, about a month 01’ s0 by the prime minister, about a month or so ago she brought forward an amendment to her own bill saying the data brexit, 11pm on the 29th of march 2019 must be on the face of the bill. she gave it to the daily telegraph. a cynic would suggest it was only done to get a nice headline in the daily telegraph. it was to

make her look quite tough and pander, almost, to the brexit wing of the party. she got beaten early in the week for the first time on the withdrawal bill. there was a hard—core of tory rebels. she was looking at another defeat on this amendment on the brexit dates next week. looks as though tonight there has been a climb—down, she's managed to get other tory mps to put forward a slightly diluted version of the amendment, which the remain rebels have said they will vote for. she's not going to lose the vote next week. it is again how weak her position is, this was supposed to be heard test of strength. she's had to back down. what more brexit story before we move on, in the scottish times, an angolan immigration control. economic worries. with the uncertainty of