backing the things which most people want, but are blocked by vested interests. we are a government in waiting. so how will 2018 pan out? a new year, but old politics is dead. everything changed in 2017 and the parties are playing by new rules, so it's a fine time to ask where we are going. who better than the members of our prestigious panel of pundits and pollsters to provide a map of the route ahead? also tonight, there's been six days of unrest in iran, is it theocracy vs democracy? and what does it mean for the reformist president rouhani, that his reforms have evidently not won over the people? cherie blair offers a new year suggestion on how to promote economic growth. that there is a vast opportunity that is being underused in every single country across the world. that opportunity is women. and in the last year, almost 1,000 bank branches have shut. three of those were in

holywell in flintshire. we see why it hurts, and what traders can do about it. they all say that they are for the businesses and that and yet they're not helping us at all. they're making it harder for us to get to them. because if we run out of change or need to do a bank for cash and that, you can'tjust nip to the bank any more. you've got to physically go to a town somewhere else. hello, happy new year. hopefully. but who will it be a happy new year for? that's where we start tonight as we take advantage of the fact that 2018 is still in its warm—up phase to look at politics here, and how it might evolve. as always, the big battle is the one between the conservatives and labour and rarely has the choice between them been as stark. so how a minority conservative government gets on, and whether labour can threaten it is an obvious issue for the year ahead. but in some ways, a lot

of the action in politics these days is within the two main parties. they both have huge great cracks down the middle of them, and yet both have survived 2017 in one piece. can they really survive the storms of brexit and 2018 without at least one of them suffering a big rupture? well, we'll reflect on that shortly, but first, chris cook has been looking at the queue of storms heading the way of the government in 2018. the government is facing an olympiad of challenges this year. here are five events that will probably define whether 2018 is remembered as a success. the most important one, of course, is brexit. we are heading to leave the eu in the spring of next year, but the initial deal, whatever it is, needs to be agreed by this autumn. so we have time to get it through the various parliaments. ireland remains a big issue for a deal.

a lot of brexiteers wanted to diverge from the eu's rule books and want the uk, including northern ireland, to move as a single block. but our government has already agreed there may need to be full alignment with those rules with the internal market and the customs union, which relate to cooperation on the island of ireland. that seems irreconcilable. there may also be difficulties managing expectations. the eu has said our current... negotiating position means we will only get a deal like that granted to canada. and we won't get details of that signed off in the coming year. 0nly outline principles. you using a little bit lately as well. —— the economy has been wheezing. anaemic growth was the norm before the referendum, that's all we've had since, and it remains the expectation for the coming years. that will mean a continued squeeze on wages. one of the most painful facts of life about post—crisis britain

looks likely to continue. weak growth will also mean weak tax revenue growth and that complicates tasks like the introduction of universal credit. it would always be hard and fiddly, but doing this on a budget makes everything harder. the benefit being much less generous than it had been planned to be adds a lot of pain into the mixture. the nhs and social care are another troublesome problem. the care services are desperate for money, and we are well off our target at the moment. so far, the public has seemed quite relaxed about longer waits, but the clinical problems it creates are mounting and public indifference may soon turn. finally, keep an eye on universities. while well shielded from austerity, they are perhaps the most pro—remain sector in the country and they're having their funding reviewed. and a new regulator's coming in. which has already caused some consternation. if you were trying to foment a culture war, it's harder to think a better way to get going. it's not all doom and gloom. precisely because polls suggest the british public aren't optimistic.

so a middling finish might be greeted quite warmly. but it's certainly a gruesome set of obstacles ahead for a minority government. chris cook's guide to the government's challenges. in terms of the labour opposition, 2017 was quite a year. one in which old rules were broken, particularly the rules of thumb by which political experts manage to look like experts. here's a quick look back at our new year programme this time last year, and what our panel had to say aboutjeremy corbyn. ignore the fact the guests are sitting at school desks, no—one can remember what we were thinking, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. the question i put was, can labour recover? it is very difficult to see how labour can move on from its current situation. actually, when the polls get it wrong they tend to understate labour, not overstate labour, so if they're wrong, they're quite likely to be wrong the other way round. obviously, corbyn‘s no good, but he may go. imagine that ed balls came back into parliament, imagine ed balls was leading the labour party. imagine that theresa may stumbles.

actually, i think it's worse than you're saying though for corbyn because what i get in focus groups is not that people don't like him. he's literally irrelevant. that was last year. you're going to see some of those faces again. we'rejoined by the lbc presenter iain dale, the founder of britain thinks, deborah mattinson, who you heard there, faiza shaheen, the director of the centre for labour and social studies, and by the times columnist matthew parris. we should start with last year and you weren't the only one who said it last year. you got a lot right. you didn't show it! what happened last year, that the pundits got jeremy corbyn wrong? the central thing that happened was that younger voters turned out to vote. when you are predicting what is going to have an election, the best tools you have are how people have behaved last time. what we all did, this is why it wasn't just pollsters that politicians, ca nvassers, everybody read it wrong.

matthew, have a go at this interesting question, will the young people turn up next time? what would be the working assumption now? i don't know why you are asking us, we got it so wrong last time. get some new pundits! you should never underestimate the conservative party's capacity to fail to infuse the population. it wasn't just jeremy corbyn's success but the conservative party just didn't fizz. young people want a bit of fizz and we underestimated the hunger for that. how do you think these new rules that prevailed last year will last? will it go back to the old style of business? we make a mistake when we make this about individuals

or specifics of rules. what has happened is that a number of conservative ideologies, about the way we run the economy, whether it's about the way in which posterity has spectacularly failed and cost people in society, or whether it be the setup on brexit. a lot of people can see that these ideas are not delivering any more. things have changed. how do we expect young people to support market fundamentalism when they themselves don't have any capital? you can't be capitalist when you don't have any capital. we look at this issue of young people, we talk it up to individuals but there is something much deeper here. it's about the way in which the plates of society and the economy are shifting. for the time. things have changed and people have changed their views accordingly. there are three battles in politics. within tories, labour

and tories and labour. let's go back to the tories. we didn't play your election predictions. iain. the tories have held it together in the last year, will they get through 2018 together as a party? theresa may's objective was to make it to christmas and quite unbelievably. the chance to get rid of her was onjune the 9th and they didn't get rid of her. there hasn't been a king or queen over the water, no wonder they can unite around and replace theresa may with. that's still the case now. that will probably be the case this time next year. we will still be in that position. she is an ever stronger a position than people think. strong enough to carry out quite a wide—ranging reshuffle. she will say, i dare you to get rid of me. including boris? including boris and the chancellor. she can certainly move one of them.

i might regret saying this but the big battles over brexit have already been had in 2017. the big battle this year will be in the house of lords. that could be trickier for theresa may than anybody realises. we have a two—year parliament, they can't invoke the parliament act until after we have left the eu. because the deal would have been done. the only way out is if the house of lords cut up rough. the only way out of that is a general election. i rather question your confidence in her longevity. she is like a ping—pong ball, balanced on a fountain. she is like a weevil, she wobbles but never falls down. she has no weight of her own, one stumble and accident, and accidents happen in politics. there have been so many since the election. she stumbled over grenfell tower, the machinations over brexit. she has got through those. what do you mean that brexit is sorted out now? we haven't said that.

we will be confronted with norway or canada. what is going to happen? the conversation about brexit this year will throw up so much. yes, in the house of lords, but also in terms of trade. trade isn't just about the movement of goods any more. it will also be about the issue of movement of people. so much will have to be an done and redone this year. when we have a conservative party that isn't united, that doesn't have a vision for brexit... and labour does? really? they offer something different. what is easy movement because no one can define it, what does easy movement mean? is brexit holding the party together? no. to be fair, though, i don't think there is one that holds the labour party together, either. that's the problem. there are three groups of people, one, the diehards, passionate about brexit, the devastated pessimists, they have their heads on their desks and are beside

themselves with sorrow. about one third each, there is a third in the middle who are swing voters. they are a bit more relaxed either way. it's very hard to envisage any kind of solution. ican. i think there is a brexit that can more or less look inside the conservative party. iain, this issue may never explode. the brexit that will satisfy the conservative party is that we formally leave the european union but to all intents and purposes stay within the european union. that won't satisfy everybody! that might satisfy you but not me. 0r many others. that's the problem. we have to real people like you in like a fish, very gradually. that is not possible. is another area again where the conservatives are not

going to deliver. they have built up these promises and they will fail. people will be angry. let's come to labour. labour have held it together. by not saying anything on anything. that might be the right tactic. to stay quiet. of course, there are political tactics. and what is clear about what labour offered in the last election and what word is that when the manifesto came out and they talked about bringing the rail services back into public ownership, the talked about housing, they talked about what they would do with homelessness and the nhs. they offer something different to young people. bribes? unfunded bribes. a different way to fund the economy. more money for everyone. there was a poll yesterday which suggested more people feel that labour's values are closely matched to their own values. many more than the conservatives. if that is the case, how come the conservatives

are polling so much further ahead of their own values? why is it basically level pegging? theresa may still outranks jeremy corbyn as best prime minister bya mile. can you envisage labour pulling ahead significantly? yes i can. i can't underestimate the conservative party's ability to discuss the electorate. we will see in the london elections in may what happens to the tories in london. british people may want to vote for a mangy aardvark rather than vote for the present conservative party. that is what worries me. is this the year we get off brexit as a conversation? is it possible to talk about something... the headlines of the newspapers tomorrow, nhs tells hospital to cancel routine operations. winter crisis cripples the nhs. the guardian on the same topic. it is the issue that most people

are concerned about. 5196. at the nhs is now 45%, the highest it has been for 16 years. it is rising up. people are getting more and more concerned. it relates to brexit, people link the two together. just give the nhs a few billion more as an emergency and the immediate crisis subsides. it doesn't solve the problem but it takes it out of the headlines, that is what they will do. it is what they always do. but people are using the nhs. this is what people get wrong, the public are constantly using these services, they have seen a change. there is a time lag. they are frustrated. they won'tjust be upset about brexit but about seeing more homeless people on the street, but how difficult it is to get appointments. 2018 will be a year where these trends and these mistakes and the defunct ideology at the conservatives and their policies are going to lay out. housing is the highest level of concern since the 70s.

the economy is something that is not being talked about. that is a real challenge for theresa may. a lot depends on who she points as her deputy if she does that. she needs to effectively own the brexit agenda. a bit like the second world war, there needs to be a churchill in charge. i can't compare theresa may to winston churchill. there needs to be a figure a bit like atlee who can run domestic politics. where does this end this year? do any of you expect a general election. you akk said no last year. no. only if the house of lords does play up. i can't foresee other circumstances. and political parties intact at the end of this year? sort of.

we stumble on. muddle through scenario? with no new leaders? it is a shame. we will be treading water at such a crucial time for this country. less of a shame. what about third parties? do any of you think another party, third party... no. labour has changed and corbyn offers something different. a new labour. there is something very different here on offer. it speaks to people's concerns and their needs and their worries. exactly. i think that as well. that is a good question on which we will finish. muddle through and finished the year where we start. thank you and happy new year. in iran, six days of riots, spreading to around 50 cities and towns with over 20 people dead. something is up, but what exactly? unlike the protests a decade ago, when educated urban youths protested against a disputed election result that gave power to a hardline president, today it seems that many

poorer or unemployed iranians are on the streets. and in power now is not a hard liner, but a moderate, president hassan rouhani. he's the one the west has bet on, signing a nuclear deal with him in the hope he'd soften the regime. well, iran's supreme leader, ayatollah ali khamenei is blaming enemies of the country. the us has condemned the regime and said all freedom—loving people must stand with the cause of the iranian people. john sweeney has been looking at how the unrest has evolved. welcome to a small town in iran. it was burning last night. the numbers of protesters are small, but uprising in the likes of this town could be big trouble for the regime. they are shouting, "death to the dictator" and that's not good news for the supreme leader, ali khamenei and his iron fist,

the revolutionary guards. we want freedom! in 2009, millions took to the streets of teheran to protest against vote rigging. why should much smaller numbers in 2018 pose a problem? what they thought was a controlled burn has essentially spread into a wildfire that you're seeing in cities and provincial towns, places we haven't seen protests since the 1979 revolution. i think that's interesting, especially when you look at the numbers. you had millions of people taking to the streets of teheran, you're finding that hundreds at most a few thousand people are taking to the streets right now. i think that's interesting. the numbers aren't big but the geography is. this map, produced by opponents of the regime, points to how widespread the protests are. this is an uprising

from across the country, but even more toxic to the powers that be in teheran, it's coming from below. many of these cities, even iranians don't know where they are. they are small towns. what we know about these demonstrators is that they are poor, many of them voted for rouhani a few months ago. they are disappointed in him, in president rouhani. many of them did not vote, they don't have a leader but they are frustrated, they are angry and they want change. but the regime does not. these are its motorbike warriors, on the streets of teheran to keep things the way they are. their master, supreme leader ali khamenei, blaming amongst others western spies. translation: following recent events, the enemies have united and are using all their means, money, weapons, policies

and security services to create problems for the islamic republic. his president, hassan rouhani, took a more sober tone, calling the protests and opportunity, not a threat. donald trump has been banging the drum for regime change. so has he once again identified an angry working—class space? whether we want it or not, donald trump is the president of the united states. and as such, many iranian protesters, they want to hear from him. they want the support of the american president. whether it's barack obama, george bush or donald trump, they want the american president, british prime minister, leaders of different countries supporting their movement. this was the scene outside the iranian embassy today. the people making the noise here are quite different

to the demonstrators back in iran, the people driving the latest uprising. historically, it's been the well travelled, people with passports, the wealthy, who try and overturn the regime in teheran. this time it's the poor, this time it's the base and that is what makes it so dangerous for the regime and also so difficult to call. but how deep is the hunger for actual revolution? they don't really have to look far to understand what could potentially happen here. the arab uprisings in 2011 are a perfect example, egypt, libya and syria, which the iranian government has a hand in, a perfect example of a situation they don't want iran to turn out to be. the new year hasn't started so well for the supreme leader and his iron fist. too much force and blood spilt will drive the uprising. too little and the regime

could lose control. azadeh moaveni is a journalist and academic who has been covering the middle east for nearly two decades. we're also joined from new york by ian bremmer who's the president of the eurasia group, a political risk research and consulting firm, which published its annual report on the world's geopolitical challenges today. just take me through what the fault line is, what is the divide? is it secular and clerical, rich and poor, economic? what is the divide. i think what we're seeing in terms of what is unfolding on the streets is a very young, very radical, very disenfranchised segment of the population that feels frustrated with economic conditions it is under. you can see from the radical nature of the slogans, they have little stake

in the system, so frustrated that they can't imagine reform, they just want their difficulties to end. some of them are very traditional, some of them are religious, some of them may believe in the system but find it very corrupt in many aspects. it's complicated, in a way! exactly. it isn't theocracy versus democracy like a philip pullman novel where it is the conservative clerics against the forces of progression? no, we have to remember that six months ago there was an election and rouhani won on a landslide, 70 million iranians voted, it turned out, voted for his platform of economic change with hope, wanting to integrate into the world. but the government of rouhani has had a challenge. these are the people who are not seeing anything trickle—down. are the protesters calling for him to be pulled down or for the ayatollah?

i think that the protesters are crying in rage. i think they don't have clear demands, they are articulating their rage at not having their grievances met or considered. i think you put iran at number five on the global risks in terms of your iran us relations today. it is ironic because rouhani is the guy that the west has been backing over the last few years, investing a lot of hope in him. is this the end of that strategy? does it work now? well, it is the end of the west, right, in a sense that you have the europeans still supporting reformists in iran and the iranian nuclear deal but not the united states, not the club administration. not the trump administration. to the extent that these

demonstrations showed the viability of rouhani, they potentially lead to a hardline backlash which plays into trump's anti—iran, anti—work with these people narrative and leads to more conflict. i think that the us iranian fight is likely to become considerably more challenging over the course of this year. and i also agree that the people who are demonstrating right now come from a lot of different walks of life. they are very courageous because the dangers they face from this regime, for them and their families, is the ultimate. it reminds me of what we saw in syria in the early days of the anti—president assad protests. but they did not go well, they were severely repressed and assad is firmly in charge. your guest mentioned about egypt. sure, what happened? the military still in charge, a new president brought in who never really had power and egypt feels like how it used to. small demonstrations

in russia around the country, severely disenfranchised people who have no voice and not going to get one. despite what we're seeing, the likelihood that we are on the brink of regime change, something that can't be repressed, remains very low. do you think that the outcome of this is repression or accommodation of grievances? it could be both. you had rouhani and members of parliament and significant figures within the government acknowledged these grievances and the importance of having space for them to articulate them, but lawfully, not through vandalism and hooliganism. that's why speaking to people in teheran varies and there is ambivalence about what is happening. there is a recognition of the grievance but it will be quickly criminalised because it is destructive. do you think it's helpful when president trump blusters

into the debate and supports people? obama was famously much more cautious about supporting protests in 2009. does it help to bolster the administration in iran if trump comes in or not? it certainly helps trump domestically, there is no pro—iran regime sentiment in the us, there is no lobby for it. trump made his first visit outside the us to riyadh, which is very unusual. he doubles down on that by going after the iranian. the israelis are planning a naming of a railway station after him. all the constituents that trump cares about, it's great. in terms of whether it's going to help those who are demonstrating on the trump providing support, no, it's probably useless and marginal. first of all because the us isn't making the moves and does not have

influence on the ground in iran today. they are going to a gauge in backlash against these demonstrators anyway and they are going to blame foreign actors irrespective of what trump says so i don't think it plays out on the ground in iran one bit. we are going to talk about this more. thank you forjoining us. more projecting ahead now. because it's time for one of our viewsnight spots, and each day this week we'll be running one of these, and each offering a view on a big idea that will be preoccupying us in 2018. tonight, it's the human rights lawyer cherie blair, on a suggestion to boost global economic growth. women's rights, what's the point? what if i were to tell you there was one sure—fire way of growing the global economy? that there is a vast opportunity that is being underused in every single country across the world.

that opportunity is women. mckinsey estimates that closing the gender gap in economic activity could boost global gdp by an additional $28 trillion by 2025. the smart economics argument has gained huge traction in recent years with everyone from the un to the private sector linking gender equality with financial reward. myself included. but should we be reallyjust focusing on translating arguments for women's empowerment into financial forecasts? isn't the fight for gender equality supposed to be about aspiring to a higher ground rather than becoming fixated on the bottom line? across the world, women are shutout of the market, confined to insecure poorly paid work and forced to shoulder a massively disproportionate burden of care work. all because of their gender.

underlying all of this is a fundamental belief that women aren't as capable or qualified as men. this sexist belief is outdated and dangerous. as well as stunting economic growth, it limits the dreams, aspirations and potential of millions of women and girls across the world. in 2018 we need to wake up to the fact is women make up half the global population. they deserve equal access to economic opportunity. not because they're instruments of growth but because they're human beings. so let's not fight for women's economic equalityjust because it makes financial sense of the let's fight because it's the right thing to do. now, you've enjoyed a few bank holidays over the last couple

of weeks, but that phrase is becoming increasingly archaic and irrelevant in a world where banks don't have branches, that can take holidays. here is an astonishing fact that our technology editor has uncovered: since the beginning of last year, the four big british banks have closed or announced plans to close 18% of their branches. about 1,000. that's18% in about a year. now you might say who needs cash in the age of contactless payments? but it's not altogether that simple. as long as some people use cash, small retail businesses need physical banks. well, david grossman is our technology editor and he has been to a town with a population of about 9,000 people to see how departing banks affect commercial life, and how shops might themselves respond, by moving to alternatives to old—school banking services. all is not well in holywell. the only bank that's guaranteed to stand by this part of flintshire is the one that separates it from the river dee.

until last year, there were four banks on the high street. one after another, three of them closed. each hole in the wall became just a hole in a wall. the cash points of the one remaining bank now has a permanent queue. for a lot of people, they only came into town for the banks. so, because the banks had gone, it was easier to go somewhere in the town where there is a bank so they can do their shopping and banking at the same time. karen lloyd runs a flower shop in holywell. she says the banks' departure has been devastating for small businesses like hers who need branches to deposit their cash takings. they all say that they are for businesses and that and yet they're not helping us at all and making it harder for us to get to them.

because if we run out of change or you need to do a bank for cash and that, you can'tjust nip to the bank any more. you've got to physically go to another town somewhere else. of course, this isn'tjust happening in this town, it's happening all over the uk. the government has opened up banking to competition and many of the newcomers into the market are online only. clicks don't need many bricks. in an effort to stay competitive, the traditional banks are dropping branches faster than a dead tree in a storm. all over the uk, the scars of missing bank signs. at the start of 2017 the big four uk banks had 535a branches between them. since then, barclays has closed 98 branches. hsbc, 129. lloyds, which includes halifax and bank of scotland, have closed or announced they will close 250 and rbs, including natwest, have closed

or announced they will close a71. that's a total of 948 branches gone or going in a little over a year. for most towns, the story would end there, with empty buildings and a sense of decline. and so it might have done for holywell had it not been for a chance conversation between the local mp and a tech executive. i met david hanson, the mp for the yeovil constituency and we were talking about the issues that holywell was facing and as square is a relatively new business to the uk, we only launched in march of this year, we were really keen to get close to a town like holywell to understand the problems that small businesses have there and see if there was anything we could do to help. i have a three metre one, which is a bit on the long side. square is already big in the us, it allows small businesses like philjones' computer store in holywell to take card payments

with a smartphone. there's no contract and there is a fixed fee. in partnership with the town council, square has given free card readers to any business that wanted one. over 90% have signed up. i took cards up until 2014 and then i stopped taking cards. why? the payment terminal i had was costing me a lot of money as rentaland i had minimum processing fees every month and there were different variable costs with different types of transactions. some lower than square, some higher than square. so in average, even if i wasn't using it, it was costing over 40 odd pounds a month just to have a machine here. for many businesses in holywell, that outlayjust didn't make sense so they were locked in a world of cash but now, without the physical banks, they and their customers needed to process their cash. sweeny ted palmer has cut hair in holywell for decades. he is typical of a cash

locked business. his haircuts cost £6. having a card reader made no sense. initially, he was resistant to square's help. £6, please. but now he says he wouldn't go back. people do ask me, do i take card and i've lost custom over it. on a couple of occasions, i've cut people's hair and they said, do you take card and i said no and they said they would get the cash from the machine and i've watched them out of the window go and carry on. free haircut? yeah, just not bother coming back. so to me it was a no—brainer, really. as long as it was viable, you know, it's another service that i can offer. and people are carrying less and less cash. the banks still visit holywell, this natwest mobile banking van sets up once a week in the council car park. whilst it's true many can now bank online, once you get out of town,

internet connection isn't always good enough. free card payment readers aren't going to solve those challenges. the town council says the project's main benefit is to restore some self belief in holywell. yeah, i can happily see a turnaround from the dismay of the original banks shutting to people being positive about the town. we need to make a lot of changes. it's not a silver bullet that can solve everything, but it certainly helps. first, technology came for the record shops and the toy shops and book shops and travel agents. the fact that it's now come for the bank branches may feel inevitable. viewed from a busy city, even a reasonable evolution. but viewed from many rural towns, the departure of the banks can feel more like a dire threat to their economic life. good luck to the last

bank in holywell. that's all for this evening. but before we go, remember when acid house was the seen as the most corrupting force facing society? ruining the minds of our youth... how things change — rave culture is now at home on the bbc‘s children's channel cbeebies — perhaps some of the people mrs thatcher were worried about are now running the channel..? hey dougie's songs are getting so many young people moving that its soundtrack has even made its way on to bbc radio 6 music. even if you weren't in a gravel pit with a big speaker in 1989 we're sure you'll enjoy this.... goodnight. music: hey duggee "stick song" # stick, stick, stick, stick # sticky, sticky, stick, stick.# hallow bear. it is a night for

batten down the patches —— hello there. storm allen is making its way across many northern areas. parts of northern ireland, northern england, and the far south of scotland as winds in this region could reach up to 90 mph. this is the culprit. tightly packed isoba rs to 90 mph. this is the culprit. tightly packed isobars to its southern flank. they will unite across southern flank. they will unite a cross m ost southern flank. they will unite across most of the country are the north of scotland gusts 70— 90 mph we re a cross

north of scotland gusts 70— 90 mph were across northern ireland. it eagerly across the irish sea coast in the hills. 60 mph were widely through the early hours. 70 maybe 80 mph through the bristol channel and across the south coast. there is likely to be some severe travel warnings. beginning to bbc local radio. the rush hour looks pretty vicious with strong winds moving through. plenty of lost three showers. when the showers arrive there will be some squally winds with them as well. there should be some sunshine as well. it is not com pletely some sunshine as well. it is not completely doom and gloom. jammed it is reaching10— completely doom and gloom. jammed it is reaching 10— 11 in the south. it may not be like that because of the winds. showers as well. not a bad day across central and northern scotla nd day across central and northern scotland because of lighter winds

and afairamount scotland because of lighter winds and a fair amount of sunshine. the showers begin to ease down wednesday night, along with the winds, finally easing down. we are looking at another weather system putting in from the south—west. a brief respite as we from the south—west. a brief respite as we have every wednesday night into thursday the next area of low pressure m oves into thursday the next area of low pressure moves through, storm eleanor weakening. this storm a little further south. it will be not as strong as storm eleanor. it will bring a spell of gales to parts of southern england and wales. a band of rain which will spread this way northwards and eastwards, followed by sunshine and showers. quite mild, 12-13 in by sunshine and showers. quite mild, 12— 13 in the south, chilly in the north, some of the rain will fall so over the hills. that is a sign of things to come. friday onwards and a plume of cold air will spread south across the uk. we had to be weekend with the return of wintry showers and snow showers and overnight frost. take it for the next 24 hours. very strong winds because of storm eleanor.

coming up next on the bbc news channel, newsday looks at the latest international news. tomorrow morning, joint business life for global business news at 8:30 a.m.. followed by a lively breaking news in the victoria derbyshire programme. this is a new state on the bbc. i'm rico hizon, in singapore. the headlines: iran says countrywide protests are being orchestrated by outside forces — the us says the claim is ridiculous. the long climb out of poverty — a special report on china's hopes to lift millions of people from their remote villages into a better life. the continued existence of serious widespread poverty represents a threat to the very legitimacy of a communist party that came to power promising to help communities like this, not leave them behind. i'm kasia madera, in london. also in the programme: the us warns of more sanctions, as it accuses north korea