in towns and villages nearby, the spades were out to clear the way. she's just come in for a packet of cigarettes, and she's decided to clear my front path away, and that's community spirit for you. heavy snow also fell in the north of england, where 100 gritters were sent out onto the road network to keep traffic moving. the snow has been falling steadily all morning across swathes of northern england. as predicted, it's been settling most in areas like this, just outside huddersfield, up here on the higher ground. in cumbria, hazardous conditions left some vehicles stranded on the a590, and there were also delays on other main roads. staff at the highways england control room in wakefield have been monitoring the motorways and a—roads. the next thing we're looking towards is the threat of ice for this evening and overnight, we've got teams of gritters working 21w, traffic officers patrolling the network as well, and obviously a team here in yorkshire and the north east

working from the control room to make sure that that impact‘s not too severe. drivers are advised only to travel if necessary. judith moritz, bbc news, wakefield. now, it's time for the weather. after today brought snow for some of us, the weather is going to turn progressively less wintry. a band of rain pushing northwards and east was during the night. some snow for high ground of wales, northern england and maybe low levels in northern ireland. a mild night to the south but northern areas across scotland, north—east england, it will turn cold enough for frost and perhaps icy stretches into tomorrow morning. a cold start in the north and then this band of wet weather turning to snow over high ground in scotland, bright sky is falling behind. a bit of rain into the far south—west later, a blustery day and three in aberdeen and 13 in london. into new

year's eve, a band of the very wet weather in the south—east at first, strong wind with gale force winds for ireland and scotland and things improve, bright skies and sunshine. showers, for most places at midnight, it will be dry. hello. this is bbc news. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow morning's papers in a moment — first the headlines. the new year honours have been published. bee gees singer barry gibb and beatles drummer ringo starr are granted knighthoods, while strictlyjudge darcey bussell is made a dame. the government's infrastructure advisor has resigned over the handling of brexit. lord adonis says theresa may is "pursuing a course fraught with danger" over the uk's eu departure. weather warnings for ice are in place across parts of northern england and scotland. the rac says driving conditions will be very difficult,

if not impossible, in the worst—affected areas. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are jason beattie, head of politics at the daily mirror and tim stanley from the daily telegraph. tomorrow's front pages. thank you for coming in. thank you for staying. i have nowhere else to go. we do have two barbie doll. -- bar the door. the front pages... and it's saturday knight fever for the daily mirror, which focusing on bee gee barry gibb becoming a ‘sir‘ in the new year honours list. while it's the ballerina turned strictly come dancing judge darcy bussell picked by the daily telegraph to grace its front page. she's been made a dame

in the honour‘s list. the paper's main story is about conflicting advice given to drivers about whether or not they can use satnav apps on their mobile phones. the daily mail has both barry gibb and darcy bussell on its front page, but its main report is that banks have shut 800 branches across the country this year. the times headlines that travel firms are misleading holidaymakers with claims of cheap deals, which the paper reports are not as good a discount as the marketing suggests. the weekend edition of the financial times leads on the rallying of stock markets around the globe, reporting that the ftse all world index has seen its biggest increase since 2009. we begin with the new year honours, which have only been released officially in the last hour or so. we have been speaking to some of the happy recipients. the daily mirror has saturday night fever, because barry gibb is getting a knighthood perhaps with others who are long overdue. why are you laughing?”

only just noticed the overdue. why are you laughing?” onlyjust noticed the pun. it is a tragedy. laughter. it is so lovely to drag you into 2018. anyway, a marvellous picture you have picked on the front. also, darcey bussell, she is on the guardian, looking completely magnificent when she were still dancing, of course, she is maybe not so dancing, of course, she is maybe not so well—known to a loss of people until she became a judge on stickley. and you have an of that. it is not even a bee gees song. my 9395 it is not even a bee gees song. my gags are off as well. you are all over the place. keeping with the honours system, i think, conceptually, on the one hand it has become more meritocratic since the 19605, become more meritocratic since the 1960s, there is a certain element of

celebrity culture entered into it. 0n the other hand, because of the e on the end of it, it feels a bit old world. which i like. culturally, something is starting to jahr about the two things. some people, when they do feel resentment, certain people are getting awards, i think that has to do with it. our focus is upon the famous people, ringo starr, jillie cooper, but lots and lots of people who are not well known we'll get it to their working charity. and you prefer that. you are trying to get a controversy out of me.” you prefer that. you are trying to get a controversy out of me. i am not. some people don't deserve it. i thought about it and that was a bit mean—spirited. there are lots of elements of celebrities like you aware of. jillie cooper writes a

racy, saucy books which my mum rates, but on the other hand she also is very good on animal rights and welfare and she probably deserves in a word —— and what about. —— an award for that. come back to me in 12 minutes and i will have a witty bee gees pardon. will you keep taking part in the paper review while you do it. maybe it will be down to you. thank goodness you are here. we will talk about the papers a bit more. i have a slight issue about who gets honours and who doesn't. it is very much behind closed doors. a loss of interference goes on. they get handed out to mp5. nick clegg gets one. he was deputy prime minister. he also misled people over tuition fees. and he didn't, he was in coalition. he said

he would not and he did. what does it mean about trust in politics when they come out the other side and get this automatic gong? it mars it for those deserving winners. it is a lwa ys those deserving winners. it is always a subjective judgement. it is based upon a slightly invisible system of suggestion and nomination. and some favours and be cronies. how should it be done? there is tension between it being a monarchical institution and on the other hand democratic, if you did it completely openly, a completely different set of people would get the awards, but it would lose some of that connection with charity. you might see people getting awards to a different group of people find objectionable. should it be a public vote ? objectionable. should it be a public vote? that is terrible. sometimes the wrong people when it. but only

in your opinion. many people get it. i lot of people who should be awarded but who were not well known for what they do or who are shy and would not want to talk about it... do you think tax a club like ringo starr should get one. you presume that i know anything. you assume i know who ringo starr is. there was this bad in the 19605. he banged thing5. this bad in the 19605. he banged things. was he the walrus? shall we move on? adonis quits calling theresa may be voice of ukip. this is lord adonis. by sharing the infrastructure —— tearing the infrastructure —— tearing the infrastructure commission, he served asa

infrastructure commission, he served as a labour transport secretary stability for that he was a libdem and before that a journalist. he said that his views have not changed. he said that the party he could express those views within, they moved. this is where he is damaging theresa may because he is 5een damaging theresa may because he is seen as being on the right of the labour party and he cannot work with the conservative government. the impression is that they have moved even further from the centre ground. lam not even further from the centre ground. i am not surprised by his thai raid against brexit. he was a well—known remainer. —— tirade. they bailed out a private company who bid money to run the east coast main line and taxpayers as a result have been pulling out of the contract and could lose up to £2 million. that is

quite substantial. he also talks about the fact that there is no capacity within the government to deal with anything other than brexit. 0ther deal with anything other than brexit. other important decisions are not being made properly. is that they are so preoccupied with brexit that it they are so preoccupied with brexit thatitis they are so preoccupied with brexit that it is why things like this bailout has been allowed to happen. that was made by anna melbourne, the accusation. the same charge he said the government did not happy wit to do so —— did not happy. there is a slight contradiction in the resignation letter, an extraordinary document and well worth a read. 0n the one hand you might interpreted generously and say he feels that the progress of the eu withdrawl bill and the government's ridiculous ansan brexit negotiations means that a point has been reached that he cannot ignore it does make the

govan‘s brexit negotiations. cannot ignore it does make the govan's brexit negotiations. not in the times. it is not a surprise from him. this government committed itself to leaving the eu. it will leave many people saying you are asking for a new term in government. we should acknowledge and we are getting there, it is being acknowledged that brexit is simply so acknowledged that brexit is simply so big it dominates both foreign policy and parliamentary time, that we have to be honest and say traditional battles of the left and right and some traditional goals of government have to be slightly parked until we have this done. it is too big. how will it happen? i was talking to an advisor that wippa david cameron. he said that when he was negotiating his minor concessions from the eu and head of calling for a referendum, he said it

took up all of downing street's energy —— ahead of. if it were theresa may is trying to do now is that to the power of 1000. so basically all business is stalled. the amount of legislation going through parliament is at its lowest for decades. they have fallen by about half in the last year. there is no business going on. the worry about this is that it is a massive endeavour, but the stuff that needs doing, schools need reforming, hospitals need sorting, the country is worse off as a result of it.” might add that concessions are not just being made in terms of time, but from a conservative point of view in terms of the as well. there are view in terms of the as well. there a re key view in terms of the as well. there are key conservative reforms and aspects that are simply being dropped because they know they are controversial, they will not get through parliament because of the arithmetic, and they would rather focus on brexit. shall we look at the financial times. bless the rb

millennials, they will inherit double what their parents did —— blessed are the millennials. they can't afford a house, but when their pa rents a re can't afford a house, but when their parents are no longer here they will inherit a loss of money. the amount of money passed on by inherited each year has doubled over the past two decades. it will more than double again of the next 20 years as well when the baby boomers die. right now the economy is back. people of my generation may not be making a great deal of money and saving almost nothing, but... we only get £10 from... stock, you will get the sacked again. but because our pa rents sacked again. but because our pa re nts got sacked again. but because our parents got lucky and bought property, the inheritance, because the value of the property has gone up the value of the property has gone up so much, we will, in theory, cash in. it is an interesting theory but i would dispute. let us not forget that mummight be worth quite a lot of money, but as a consequence, related to that, every house around her is worth quite a lot of money ——

mamma's house. i would probably have to get something smaller. what frustrates me mildly is that these are ft reading millennials. a majority will not inherit from their parents. they are struggling to get on the housing ladder, particularly those on low incomes and struggling with high rent and the fact that a view in two generations time will be okayed. .. and inheritance tax? also social care cost. also, my point is i agree with you. this doesn't affect most people but even for those in the south—east who it does a fact, you are living in a part of the world where the cost of living is so high, things like transportation, notjust is so high, things like transportation, not just rent is so high, things like transportation, notjust rent and council tax and things like that that frankly anything on paper that looks like a big inheritance gets

whittled down, which is one reason why many people, even normal labour supporters are against property taxes on the houses because on paper they may be rich but when it comes to their actual income they are really not. shall we finish with banks on the daily mail? 800 bank branches shut in one year. lots of different banks are choosing to do this. because fewer and fewer people are going into branches. the problem is the people who use banks now, and these are the people affected by it are small—business these are the people affected by it are small— business owners who these are the people affected by it are small—business owners who need to take their cash up money to the bank and the elderly, who dislike, plus tim, who dislike modern gadgetry and are uncomfortable using an apple phone to make financial transactions. a majority of us, particularly the younger generation but they only use their phone to do all the stuff they used to do when

they had to queue in a long bank and talk to a dowdy fellow wearing beige and a comb over haircut. there is no need for that! i apologise to all bank tellers now. this is actually quite devastating, they are due to slash 60 of its outlet. we are talking a radical change at the high—street. banks and post offices we re high—street. banks and post offices were are particularly central part ofa were are particularly central part of a smalltown village life. it is true that a lot of us do stuff online, some of us slightly resent this feeling that because people in head office think they can save money by sacking everyone and moving stock offshore, i resent that my choice as a consumer at is being limited. the other sort of person who when the car came along would be known with a blacksmith. change happens, it is uncomfortable and it is difficult. this is, you know,

banks are closing because people are not walking into banks to use them and because you can do almost anything you want now online. and because you can do almost anything you want now onlinem also means that if 100 branches have closed, thousands of people will lose theirjobs. of course! i disagree that all changes are part of cycles or revolution, it is a choice we make to move towards a human must work front, a consumer market will you don't interact. human must work front, a consumer market will you don't interactm isa market will you don't interactm is a choice of. will you can go to post offices and saint—jerome parcel without having to interact. if you choose to. i don't approve of that, it is down to the consumers. —— post a pass. i do try to queue and avoid the self—service because i would rather a local supermarket or bank was employing a human being who speaks to me directly than to get

everything from a machine. you promised us a punt on a bee gee's lyric. however we owe you a apology. so you win again was hot chocolate, ifi so you win again was hot chocolate, if i cannot figure out why you can't give me that anything that everybody needs, i shouldn't let you keep me down like my baby. the bee gee's, you win again. you were almost right. is that at depressing? you win again. go on the. —— that. televisions would chatter, dogs would howl. next time. that is it. i would howl. next time. that is it. i would pay you a cheque that. jason, it tim, everybody. aren't we glad they came in? coming up next, meet they came in? coming up next, meet the author. sophie can tellers new novel is

called my not so perfect life, which gives you a clue. it is that a woman in her 20s who leads an apparently glamorous life in london, although the truth is much more prosaic and has to move back to the country when she is sacked to work for her father. but the life she finds there is not quite what she expected to. sophie has written a string of worldwide bestsellers, including the confessions of a shopaholic series picked up by hollywood. if you are wondering, she doesn't mind the term chocolate, she much prefers what one bookshop called her novels, which lit. welcome. you are introducing us to a

metropolitan life which isn't quite what it seems. do you think that is the truth about the way people live these days? i think that all of us are suckered into projecting the perfect life. i think that social media has not helped this tendency. which i think was always in us. you know, back in the day you would have your portrait painted, wouldn't you ? speak for yourself! you'd make sure you looked alluring...well,100 years ago. but i think my forebears would have aimed to look as rich and prosperous and happy and wonderful as they possibly could. then, the portrait would be hung on the wall and you could go about your everyday life. i think now what we do is constantly throw out portraits of ourselves through social media, and also through our professional demeanour, just this sort of image.

then we look at other people. although we know that it is invented, we sort of believe it anyway. this book seems very much of the moment, in that this picture which is built up, say, on instagram, which really is a construction which is quite fake. she goes back and lives in a wee little one room place, although when she is out and about, she looks quite glamorous. this really is a bit of a problem for us, not for us all, but a problem of our time? and i think it is. it is sort of accelerating. i mean, social media has exploded, certainly in my lifetime, from not existing to almost being a planet that we have discovered, and now we live on! we have colonised it and had to make it work for us as humans and i think it brings out the best and the worst. i love the connection but this measuring and judging is not good. you write about women with particular feelings, notjust women, but particularly for young girls, teenage girls, and so on. this world that they are introduced to, you talk about measuring, testing, living up to expectations. whether it is how you look, your sexual experience, whatever —

it is the sort of thing where, in your young life and my young life, didn't exist. absolutely didn't exist, you had your own teenage struggles. perhaps you would tell your diary about them, and maybe a close friend. you spent a lot of time on the phone with one person, whose voice you could hear, by the way. as humans, we respond to so many signals. voice, touch, eyes. and on social media, there is a barrier. there is a visual construct and this wretched "liking" which everyone becomes addicted to, and a validation that we have all got hooked on. it is not good. where can it end? it can only lead to a kind of addictive reliance on it. we should not give the idea that the book is a meditation on contemporary society! it is not. it is a story. but that is the theme, really. when you get an idea like that, does it gnaw away at you until you've written the book? yeah, i think i go around the world with a sort of radar. whatever i see goes into my stories. so, when i see people shopping too much, that goes in.

and when i see people projecting lives and feeling anxious because they are not living up to some sort of measure of success, that goes into a story. but what i try to do, as you say, i try to make people laugh, whip over the pages, see what is coming next. it's not a treatise, not a thesis, the thesis is sort of there between the jokes. what do you think you have got that makes you a good storyteller? i think from what my readers say, they relate to my characters. they sort of see themselves in the characters, they see those flaws and foibles. they think, ah, i have done that. in everyday life? in everyday life. but then what i do is push it to the nth degree, whether it is getting into ridiculous situations. i love a bit of farce, silly situations, and quite intricate plots. i'm a real geeky plotter. but you start off with somebody that you relate to. so go with them through the story. it is the old story, isn't it,

that if the reader doesn't care about the character, not necessarily total affection, but does not care in the sense that is not interested in... then, the thing is a dead duck? i completely agree. you can have an anti—heroine, but you need someone that is interesting. all of my sophie kinsella novels i have written in the first person. that makes them quite intimate. there is a connection. what is the advantage of writing in the first person? i find an instant intimacy with the character. i know these characters so well, and i did used to write in the third person. there was a slight level of detachment. you are moving chess pieces around. now, it is like method acting. you are in one person's head? i live these plots, and actually my husband can tell when things are going badly for my character, they go badly for me! i weep, i laugh... you know, it is quite an emotionaljourney. and when you're in the throes of a story, once you have got the idea, you think that

you are there as a character who has begun to form in your mind? you just go at it, hammer and tongs? i do, i do. i'm a real planner in terms of plot. i love a plot, i love structure. i spend quite a lot of time working things out, turning points and getting it all clear in my mind. also working out what i want to say, because you can have an idea for a story but you're not sure what you are trying to say about the world. 0nce i've got that, i'm impatient. i want to see how it turns out. what do you want to say about the world? i think all of my books want to say, look at us, we are human! aren't we ridiculous? look at the pickles we get ourselves into... it is about absurdity? it really is. and, by the way, we are all like this, but never mind. let's notjudge ourselves. are you one of those writers who goes around either literally with a notebook in the pocket, where you scribble down things. or, at least a notebook in your head, and you spot somebody in a coffee shop or somewhere and you say, right, i've got her...?

i do, and i think i do it all the time. i've got you, right now! well, good luck! i never have the right person for the right chapter. if i could go to a coffee shop and find the right character and put them in now, that would be very handy. it doesn't work like that? it never works. but you store them up, or store up a little facet of something you've heard, and it comes back to you later. do you think about your readers when you are doing this? you have a vast army of readers out there, do you ever think about it and what they want? i connect with them, and when i meet them, interestingly it is the same wherever i go. they have a sort of human... what do they ask you, what kind of questions do they ask? they want to know what is happening next with my characters. i know that they love to laugh, but to be honest, i don't visualise them when i am writing. i think that would freak me out. so i write the book that would please me as a reader. what would i love to read? i love a plot, some comedy and something to think about. what about endings?

have you thought of... you know, a really tragic ending? well, i sometimes think, you know what? i should do that sort of... because you haven't, have you? gut—wrenching. .. no, i haven't, i haven't done the gut—wrenching tragedy where you just think, "why?" as you turn the final page. so far i've not been ballsy enough to do it. maybe someday? bit of resolution. maybe one day. sophie kinsella, thank you very much. thank you. it was holland and northern england that today it's all heavy snow. it called weather still in place overnight. this band of rain moving across england and wales bringing mild airwith across england and wales bringing mild air with it. by the end of the night, look at these temperatures. incredible really. still some pockets of frost in the north. massive canberra to contrast as we start saturday. most having a great start saturday. most having a great start at a. a slice of sunshine across central areas but a band of rain on northern ireland into scotla nd rain on northern ireland into scotland where we will see some snow, this time the hills north of

the central belt. perhaps for a bit ofa time the central belt. perhaps for a bit of a time in the central. rain not farfrom of a time in the central. rain not far from southern england, of a time in the central. rain not farfrom southern england, 13 of a time in the central. rain not far from southern england, 13 to 1a celsius and as we go through saturday evening into new year's eve we will see some potentially quite stormy weather affecting the north of the country. potentially sophia gales from a storm called dylan, working to the north sea through the afternoon. that still some showers as we run towards the midnight hour and those media celebrations. there's your weather. this is bbc news.

i'm ben bland. our top stories: anti—government protests spread to several cities in iran, with thousands chanting slogans against the country's supreme leader. new york's fire chief says a toddler playing with a stove started a fire in the bronx which killed 12 people including five children. funerals in egypt for nine people killed in attacks on coptic christians. and it's knight fever — bee gees singer barry gibb is given a knighthood in queen elizabeth's new year honours, as is the beatles drummer ringo starr.