in varanasi, living witnesses to its gradual degradation. translation: there's an old saying here that the ganges belongs to everyone. you are free to do what you want, throw what you want, cremate dead bodies, bathe, wash, and you'll achieve salvation. but we are being irresponsible, we do not have the right to pollute the ganges this way. three years ago, the indian government pledged more than £2 billion to clean up the ganges, but much of the money remains unspent and the focus, in any case, is on treating sewerage and industrial effluents. so the only people trying to prevent plastic waste being dumped into the river are these scrap pickers. translation: every day we pick up about ten to 20 kilos of plastic. we have to sift through the rubbish and segregate the plastic. it is estimated that every year, 1.2 billion pounds of plastic waste is dumped into the ganges, much of it carried into the bay of bengal where the river eventually empties out. sanjoy majumder, bbc news, varanasi.

now on bbc news, it's time for newsnight with emily maitlis. fire and fury in america, as an explosive war of words erupts between donald trump and his former soulmate, steve bannon. could this be the spat that drives trump's electoral base away? we'll ask bannon‘s right—hand man, and a woman from team trump 2020. another winter, another crisis. as the nhs postpones thousands of routine operations, is the system itself in a critical condition? we have been planning most of the year now for the challenges of winter. we had a very challenging winter last year as well. and actually, the nhs is better prepared than it's been for very many years. as violence escalates in yet another of syria's so—called "de—escalation zones", we'll hearfrom inside idlib, the last rebel—held province in the county. and is there a way of making the cinema work better for those with dementia?

we speak to the actress carey mulligan. yeah, i do fear it, and i think we all should fear it, you know. and i think that's what we need to, er... we need to turn that fear into action, you know, this is a global issue. one in three people will develop dementia of some kind. good evening. even for a man as combative as donald trump, today's statement left little to the imagination. he denounced his former white house strategist, steve bannon, as a man who had lost his mind, who had nothing to do with trump or his presidency.

the president may be playing with fire. steve bannon knows things about him very few others do, and he has a powerful base on the right in which to relay them. the statement came from the president after the release of extracts from a new book — ‘fire and fury‘, by michael wolff. in it, bannon describes a meeting between donald trump junior and a russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign as treasonous and unpatriotic. it looks and sounds like an ordinary trump spat, but it raises questions of whom the republican base now see as their leader. and this in a midterm election year. the relationship between donald trump and steve bannon is one of the most curious in modern america. if donald trump made winning the presidency look easy, steve bannon — some will tell you — was the strategic brain behind the campaign. he was also the ideological rump of trump's ‘make america great again‘ strategy, introducing him to those on the right who would become a proud and vocal base amongst his supporters. like many of trump‘s advisers, he didn‘t last the course of the transition to power. if bannon was the one person who, rumour had it, was allowed

in the oval office without a tie, he was nevertheless unceremoniously fired from his job in the white house last autumn. but anyone who thought bannon would go quietly couldn‘t have been further from the truth. he backed roy moore for the alabama senate race last december and is encouraging hard—right candidates to take on sitting republican senators in almost every seat that‘s up for the mid—term elections this november — part of what he sees as his broader populist war against the republican establishment. bannon remains a powerful force in the alt—right news site breitbart, which could yet turn its editorial power against the president. the bigger question this schism raises is, what happens now to the base? do they stick loyally with their leader, trump himself, or realign with the ideology that brought them to him in the first place, the now free agent that is steve bannon? the spectacular breakdown of communications between the two

men was inevitably the focus of questions at the daily white house press briefing this evening. here‘s press secretary sarah elizabeth huckabee sanders responding to a question about whether donald trumpjunior had committed treason. er, i think that is a ridiculous accusation and one that i‘m pretty sure we‘ve addressed many times from here before. and if that‘s in reference to comments made by mr bannon, i‘d refer you back to the ones that he made previously on 60 minutes, where he called the collusion with russia about this president a "total farce". so i think i would look back at that. if anybody‘s been inconsistent, it‘s been him. it certainly hasn‘t been the president, or this administration. it's been reported that he was furious when these reports first came out about what bannon was quoted as saying. is that an accurate depiction? er, i think, erm, furious, disgusted would probably certainly fit when you make such outrageous claims and completely false claims against the president, er, his administration. so what‘s going on here, and where does this leave the president? raheem kassam is a close advisor to steve bannon and the uk editor of his breitbart news.

mica mosbacher is a campaigner for president trump who works on the trump 2020 advisory committee. first of all, raheem, take is inside steve bannon‘s mind. you know him well, does bannon really believe that donjunior‘s meeting with a russian lawyer was treasonous? i think when you look at how this book was written, really how any book like this is written, the author will have posed certain questions to the interview subjects. the interview subject will give answers and some of those questions are hypothetical. for instance, with a context such as, if this was discussed in that meeting at this time and it went on to do this, does it mean it is treasonous and what have you? and people will give honest answers to those things. i think that is what happened here, i am not sure you‘re getting the entire context of the conversation. but i will say this, steve bannon was in the pentagon during the reagan administration, he is a naval officer, he understands what the russian threat really is.

outside of the sort of media obsession over how many facebook adverts they took out and so on. he understands the geo political threat and he takes that very seriously. so when he remarks that these people should not probably have been in trump tower taking meetings with campaign, senior campaign staff without lawyers in the room, edwards said that that i would say that is a bad thing to say. did he say that to trump and his son? i wasn‘t privy to what was going on in trump tower at the time, i don‘t know who learned what, when. i cannot imagine he would stay silent if he knew that was going on. but again, go ahead. a couple of other things that were said, which you might shed some

light on, although you were not with him throughout the campaign. he said trump‘s ultimate goal was never to win, was that your understanding? he calls him befuddled and horrified, quoting bannon each time. yes, i think there was a point at which the campaign advisers had sort of conditioned the candidate, trump, to think and believe that he was not going to win, he did not have a path to victory. 0ne story that is well—known over here is on the weekend of the billy bush tape weekend, you had the entire team sat around in trump tower and the president, the candidate back then went around the room saying, what my chances? everybody said, zero, zero, zero. access hollywood take? that is correct. bannon said 100% certitude you are going to win. and the president did not believe him. candidate trump did not believe steve at that time. i think the president has been conditioned especially because people were jumping off the boat. the rnc was condemning him, paul ryan, chris christie.

everybody was looping off the ship. there was any one person that stood by him and that was steve bannon. one more on that line, this is out in the book, that trump never wanted to finance his own campaign, that it was steve bannon who encouraged him to do so and trump merely loaned money to it, $10 million, which he then got straight back, is that right? i don‘t know if he got it straight back, i would imagine nobody really wants to finance their own campaign. going into situations where steve bannon during the campaign, they would double digits down in the battle ground states. they knew that they need to spend money, well that, from fastest? going round the country doing big meetings or asking the candidate

to put his hands and his deep pockets and stump the money up himself? i think that is privately reasonable. and it is also reasonable way you might not want to do that as a candidate if you been convinced by so many people around you you are onto a loser. the good thing is, he was convinced to do it, he did spend the money comes steve did work on the campaign and they did when! thank you for being so patient, mica. i want to to the bottom" from steve bannon. what you make of some of these quotes that trump never wanted to win, that he was horrified when he did. that bannon called it broke dipped campaign. this man never thought he could be the president. i disagree totally. first of all, anointing steve bannon the kingmaker it is a gross over exaggeration. if anything, trump won because he outperformed and outworked 17 candidates. he did over 250 rallies and i have been part of by political campaigns and most candidates are very scripted and kept in a bubble. president trump has some of the best political instincts i have ever seen.

he was off script. like all campaigns, they're what advisers that came and went and they had certain roles at certain times. trump would not have one without steve bannon, absolutely. you are on the 2020 campaign and before that, you have the midterms. are you worried that bannon and breitbart will pit itself against trump now, putting up candidates at the hard right which may make it difficult for him to keep the senate? i don't think breitbart wants to get labelled break news like cnn. the rnc has raised over the $130 million in a nonelection year and 70% from small donors. that tells me the base is sticking with him. look at the rally on the eve of the alabama elections. he had over thousands

of people and several waited outside in the rain. steve bannon had broken with the president of the roy moore because the president initially supported luther strange. we were already seeing a slight braking that relationship. do you think the base now goes with bannon or does stick with trump? i think it sticks altogether and i think mica is mischaracterising this. if you look at steve bannon at breitbart news, it is still the only new state into the world and united states that endorses... it is the only one that endorses the maga agenda,

and it does not need to be an either or situation. you are right when donald trump is himself on the stump, he has the best political instincts of anybody in the best couple of decades, at least to build that base and get those people are voting and to the rallies. i don‘t think you need to worry about that. throwing threats around, calling breitbart fake news if we do not toe the line is silly. we are not on different sides. this man has accused the president‘s son of treason. that was not a report on breitbart, that is a comments made by a private individual, it you cannot inflate the two. thank you both very much indeed. at least 17 hospital trusts are on the highest state of alert tonight, as well as two ambulance services in england. nhs doctors, consultants, emergency practitioners and nurses have spoken of the impossible conditions in which they‘re being asked to work —

some have called it the most intense strain in their professional lives. we‘ll hear later from the health secretary, jeremy hunt, and chris cook is here to help explain why the service is coming under such pressure. first, let‘s hearfrom those on the front line themselves. when patients have their appointments or their operation cancelled, they may come back into the surgery a few weeks later because their symptoms have got worse so they may be asking us for additional pain relief or some other way of helping them to manage their symptoms until they are rebooked. another thing that we see is that the hospital administration teams are so thinly staffed now that patients are told they‘ll receive another appointment in the post, and then that may not happen. so they quite often have to try and phone the hospital, they leave phone messages, they may leave two or three phone messages, but not have a reply back, so they come to us to ask us to help them reschedule their appointment.

we‘re also getting an increase in winter viruses in children, we‘re just starting to see an increase in people with flu — so there are many different ways in which the winter pressures do affect us in general practice. it means a complete loss of dignity for the patient. i it means a complete loss of dignity forthe patient. ithink it means a complete loss of dignity for the patient. i think that is the most striking thing that we have seen. there will be makeshift screens being pulled around them for them to try and go to the toilet. their results, they're screaming, their pain and their tears will be heard by everyone around them. it is just an impossible place and way to treat patients and look after people, mistakes are going to happen. people are going to be treated inadequately and all we can

do isjust say treated inadequately and all we can do is just say sorry and apologise, and that is not enough. between the christmas and new year period, during emergency surgery, a very elderly lady who i felt that we could not manage and general practice, so i felt that she needed to go to a&e and so instantly, the anxiety within mosul starts because the patient may be does not want to go into a&e, which can understand and you don‘t want is elderly person to potentially go on their own to a very busy and any department, which i know that they are always busy and overstretched. and then the ongoing consequence of whether she is admitted under pressure that that adds on to the hospital or whether she is maybe given some treatment and then sent back home, but she is back home alone and therefore, is

she going to be able to get any sort of temporary services while she recuperates at home? that is one of the dilemmas we face on a daily basis, not just over the the dilemmas we face on a daily basis, notjust over the winter periods were obviously, the demand increases but i think throughout the year. when an electable operation is cancelled, it has a lot of implications on everyone. in a hospital environment, a person going in foran hospital environment, a person going in for an elective operation will probably have to have a preoperative assessment, they will need to have a preplanned programme, if they need to be got fit before an operation. and so, therefore, cancelling an operation means that everything will have to be repeated, part it also has significant impact on the individual. so taking a young person, for example, you say has a

scar that needs revising and also has a lot of psychosocial effects related to that scar, it therefore means that they will have to put their life on hold, most probably, for one to two months because they had planned for their life to move on after they had had their operation and that has an impact for both young and old. well, that was just some of those working with patients in the nhs every day. for transparency, we should mention that alongside his dayjob, one of the campaign as has previously campaigned against the government on health matters and is a member of the labour party. chris cook is our policy editor and has the chance to explain why the service is under such a strain now. just give us, if you like, the big action first. so the first thing is to get your head around the idea that this is the nhs doing more than ever but not keeping up with this

wave of demand. we have this graph you which shows hospital admissions going back to late 2000 under gordon brown. you can see it went from about a million hospital admissions about a million hospital admissions a quarter to about 1.4 million, that is the gap you can see there. it is a 40% rise roughly since gordon brown left office. the thing is hospitals and notjust hospitals, the social care system and gps have not been able to keep up in recent yea rs not been able to keep up in recent years with this rising tide. they had not been able to build the they need and, for example, we can show you another graph showing you why. if you look at the amount that the hospitals has been spending in the last four years on things like buildings, renovating existing buildings, renovating existing buildings and new equipments, there have been big declines in the last four years. about 50% down on new equipment. we‘re not putting money into expanding the pipeline, not in

hospitals, social care or gps, so we can cope with this ever rising demands. when it would like this, it looks as though it is all about money. is it all about money? money isa money. is it all about money? money is a necessary but sufficient part of the answer to problems in the nhs. the thing is, you have to remember that there are things like recruitment which have leadtimes. we have a problem at the moment getting and keeping staff, not least because of the referendum result which means it has been particularly difficult to recruit people from the eu. also, evenif to recruit people from the eu. also, even if you put money into building capitalfor even if you put money into building capital for recruitment and that staff, you can‘t just capital for recruitment and that staff, you can‘tjust build it recruitment and not stop it. that is all a challenge and it all has leadtimes. chris, and to grow much. earlier, i spoke to the health secretaryjeremy earlier, i spoke to the health secretary jeremy hunt and earlier, i spoke to the health secretaryjeremy hunt and ask him if he recognised the national health system is in crisis. i think the crisis is when you have adverse circumstances and you don‘t have a plan to deal with those challenges, and that is not the case. in fact,

the opposite. we have been planning for most of the year now for the challenges of winter. we had a very challenging winter last year as well. are there highly challenging circumstances on the frontline? absolutely. and i think i would like to save, a very, very big thank you to save, a very, very big thank you to all nhs staff, notjust me but from the whole country because i think we are incredibly proud of the effo rts think we are incredibly proud of the efforts they are going to to keep patients safe, well beyond the call of duty. you are saying a big thank you to nhs staff, they are saying, i will read out the following... a senior doctor in emergency medicine, i personally apologise to the people and stop for the third world conditions. the president of the royal college of emergency medicine, we are seeing conditions people have not experienced in their working lives. the president for the society of acute medicine, the position is as bad as i have ever known. chief executive of cheshire hospitals, who says i am 34 years in and i had

never seen says i am 34 years in and i had never seen anything like this. chalet as that again? is this a crisis? well, as i say, i do not dispute their experiences. -- shall i asked that? you are happy to say that you plan to council 55,000 operations, you are happy to say that that was part of the plan? then explain exactly what the plan was. this time last year, what we ended up this time last year, what we ended up doing because we had extreme pressures is cancelling a lot of operations the day before. just because you are not cancelling them a24 because you are not cancelling them a 24 hours noticed is not mean that this is a step in the right direction, this means you have a systemic crisis. you have massive, chronic gap between your needs and your resources. we recognise that, don‘t you? your resources. we recognise that, don't you? well, i think it is really, there is a resources issue

which we can talk about but it is really important to recognise that this time of year, creates pressures in health systems all around the world. they had a terrible winter in australia, which was our summer. but it is not just australia, which was our summer. but it is notjust about australia, which was our summer. but it is not just about this australia, which was our summer. but it is notjust about this time of year, is that? three years ago, as you well know, in october of 2014, 200,000 people in that category weighting more than 18 weeks of treatment. you will know well that by the end of last year, that number had doubled. 400,000 people, this is not something that just had doubled. 400,000 people, this is not something thatjust happens over christmas or overwinter. this is the direction the nhs is heading in. well, let‘s look at the longer—term performance because in the five yea rs performance because in the five years and i have been health secretary, we have an nhs that is doing 5000 more operations every single day. the accident and emergency departments of our country are seeing 2000 more people every single day, within the four our

target. we have more doctors, nurses, and an independent report published in the middle of last year said that most major disease categories, outcomes have drastically improve. you eating your own targets injuly and 2015, you have not met that target since 2015. is that long? no, that is correct, but that is not the entire measure of the performance of the health—care system. of the performance of the health-care system. doesn't not matter? tell me these targets out of date and we can get rid of them? of course it matters but in that period, there are 7000 people alive today who would not be alive if we have had the cancer survival rates of 2012, so you have to... you have set these targets in your missing them, if that is the last time you have reached the target, july 2015, where are we now without? well, i will tell you exactly where it we are. we are treating more people than ever before in our history within the four week treatment

target. what is that figure now is a percentage? no, we publish it on a monthly basis but let‘s just look at the last published date. next week, we will have the data for the whole of november but if you look at the november date, just look specifically at the issue you raised there. the data from november shows that every day, in fact, the number of people we are treating them to seven of people we are treating them to seve n yea rs of people we are treating them to seven years earlier is 5000 more within the target. it also shows that more than half the hospitals in the nhs are performing better in a even a year previously, it also shows that... ijust even a year previously, it also shows that... i just asked you even a year previously, it also shows that... ijust asked you so that we can let the public know how they compare, why won‘t you tell me they compare, why won‘t you tell me the numbers as a percentage? is not my target, it is your target? because we do not have a percentage, there is no number that i am sitting on that i‘m not telling you. the data is collected across the system

once a month and that is then validated and will be published next week and i do not know what that number will be, just as you do not know. are you happy to tell these people, chief executives, experts in their field, that everything people, chief executives, experts in theirfield, that everything is according to plan? that you are reaching targets, that there is not a crisis, that there is no systemic of them with the way the nhs is funded or is working right now? can you tell that frontline staff? you‘re putting words into my mouth andi you‘re putting words into my mouth and i have not said that. exactly, i am asking you. what i am telling you is there is extreme pressure on the frontline and we are incredibly hateful for the hard work that those doctors, nurses and many other people are doing. in are you asking for that money from the prime minister and the chancellor?” for that money from the prime minister and the chancellor? i am asking for money and i have been given money, and that is why in the last budget i was given an extra 2.8 pounds. we are going to need more money going forward, but let me say this, it is notjust about money, it

is about manpower. you will not have the manpower if people think that they are in a crisis and are not able to work in the conditions they have been given. well, i will tell you how we get the manpower, by training more doctors and nurses. it is going to take time, it takes sevenis is going to take time, it takes seven is to train a doctor, to use the trainers. there is some who have been working in this system for 34 yea rs, been working in this system for 34 years, what you say to them? goodbye? i say to them please stick with us, we are working as hard as we can to train up more doctors and nurses to get into the system. and if voters in england or patients who have had their operations put back or frontline staff who have expressed their frustrations, need to find somebody accountable for what they are facing right now, who is that person? is that you or is it simon stephens of nhs england? ultimately, i am accountable for the treatment of every patient in the nhs. iam treatment of every patient in the nhs. i am the health secretary and the people who have had their

operations delayed because of the winter pressures that we are now facing, i apologise because i recognise that it is a very, very big deal if you need a hip replaced in your having to wait longer. jeremy hunt, thank you. the war in series heading towards its ap with no definite end in sight. some believe the government‘s new assault on rebel held areas in the north of the country could prove the end. idlib, in north—west syria, has been at the centre of the fighting since the beginning of the conflict. thousands of civilians were evacuated there, but backed by russian planes, there are suggestions the regime has plans to regain control. i should warn you that this film contains an distressing scene. this has been live for the past two weeks for the people of southern idlib. and the

bombing by syrian government forces is carrying on. translation: today marks the 15th day of the continuous onslaught by syrian warplanes, mainly against the southern and eastern idlib countryside. we have had more than 250 aerial raids. so far, 750 people have died and civilians have been injured. ican have died and civilians have been injured. i can distinguish either buzzing of the regime‘s airplanes pounding the area with honours while doing this interview with you, very moment. —— bombs. and it seems it is the very young who are suffering the most. translation: the majority of those casualties innocent civilians, just yesterday a massacre committed sought more than 12 civilians killed. the majority of which were

children. -- saul more than. hunger and bombs compete as sources of misery and is usually overcrowded province. translation: we left our homes behind only to face the same in idlib province. where else can we go? it is the same nightmare every day, alone, and scared for our children. idlib 's population has swirled with the arrival of thousands of civilians from syria, as more and more rebel territory has fallen to government forces. now, idlib is in the firing line. it is ina idlib is in the firing line. it is in a strategic location, on the border with turkey. supplies coming through pass through it in order to

be deployed. and therefore, if the regime cuts off the supply lines through idlib, it can significantly wea ken through idlib, it can significantly weaken rebels across syria. infighting between rebel groups, some of whom are extremists, has weakened them further. after a long struggle, an alliance, led by the formerly al qaeda linked tahrir al—sham, now dominates. it is accused of carrying out the numerous war crimes. these war crimes include the summary killings of civilians, especially activists. human rights defenders. beheading and the stoning of women. and also, basically passing unlawful sentences throught their courts, that do not need any international standards. idlib‘s civilians haven‘t taken this lying down.

over the last year, there have been street protests against hts‘s diktats. local radio station fresh fm has joined the rebellion against hts‘s rule, defying their ban on playing music and using women presenters. but the station‘s founder fears that if president assad‘s forces succeed in overrunning the province, his rule might be even worse than that of the extremists. if assad‘s forces take over all of idlib, will your radio station keep broadcasting? no, no. with the nearby turkish border

currently closed to refugees, the burning question facing civilians desperate to escape idlib is, where to go? if there was an attack on civilians, they have nowhere to flee. they can't go to government—controlled areas out of fear of reprisals and attacks against them. at the same time, they can't cross into turkey. so this would be another humanitarian disaster. if it reaches that point, turkey must open its borders to these refugees, or people fleeing the violence. yesterday, two hospitals in the far south of idlib were hit by air strikes, further hampering the ability of doctors to cope with the growing number of casualties. a shortage of staff and medicines compounds problems caused by damage

to equipment and buildings. but it‘s what might happen if government forces overrun the province that worries some even more. this is a real source of concern for the entire world. because if the regime succeeds in its sinister offensive, it will commit crimes against humanity in idlib. even worse, if the borders are sealed, there will be a total annihilation of more than two million people living here. it‘s yet unclear whether president assad has the strength to retake the whole of this last rebel—held bastian, though even if he does, many years of insurgency involving various rebel looks likely to follow, before rebuilding this shattered country can truly begin. carey mulligan has told newsnight about her fear of developing dementia in old age after she lost her grandmother to the illness. the actress is a spokesperson for the alzheimer‘s society

and was speaking as a number of cinemas have started welcoming dementia patients and their carers to separate screenings. staff are specially trained, and cinemas keep the house lights up, and the volume low, for the benefit of the audience. will this tempt an often immobile section of the community to get more out of life? or is there a danger it might marginalise them even more? stephen smith went to the movies. welcome, everybody, to east dulwich picture house and to alzheimer‘s society and southwark dementia action alliance dementia—friendly screening today. today, we have white christmas, which is very appropriate for this time. and we hope you‘re really going to enjoy it. we‘ve got the wonderful bing crosby and some lovely other amazing actors to entertain us today. you may have had your fill of mince pies and musicals by now, dear viewer, but an outing to the pictures like this can be

a rare treat for elderly people with mental health issues. so bing crosby, danny kaye and friends are top of the bill for this screening, which is especially for those with dementia and their carers. here, they have the house lights up a little for their audience. the volume, not too high. and a break for refreshments halfway through the main attraction. would you like a mince pie, sir? do you like the film today? yes, i didn‘t mind it but, er, i‘ve got my mind working on some stuff i‘ve got to do at home when i get back. you liked the dancing, didn't you, betty? eh? you liked the dancing on the film. oh, yes. dancing‘s dancing, isn‘t it? you used to like to do ice—skating. i used to do a lot of it, ice—skating and everything. well, it's our first outing out to the cinema... pardon? it was the first time we've come out to the cinema, isn't it, together, for a few years?

so we're sort of seeing how it goes. we're hoping everything is going to be good and that mum will enjoy coming and singing the songs from back then. i remember. someone with plenty of experience of the movies, and a family connection to dementia, is the actor carey mulligan. what does she make of these screenings? i think it‘s amazing. ithink, you know, the alzheimer‘s society did a survey recently and found that 67% of the people who were surveyed said they didn‘t feel part of their community any more when they had dementia. and i think, you know, there‘s no reason for these lovely pleasures to be taken away when you have dementia. it can be a very safe, lovely environment, and a very stimulating environment for someone who has dementia. so being able to come to a cinema, and for carers to be able to bring their loved—ones to the cinema, is a really great thing. the actor lost a beloved grandmother to the illness. does she fear for her own health in the long term? yeah, i do fear it.

and i think we all should fear it, you know. and i think that‘s what we need to... er, we need to turn that fear into action, you know, this is a global issue. one in three people will develop dementia of some kind. in our country, one... every three minutes, one person develops dementia. there‘s over 850,000 people in our country living with it. and everyone knows someone who‘s going through that. and so i think we should all be aware of it. we should all be thinking about how we can conquer it. and that‘s sort of how i see it. i am afraid of it, and that‘s why i want to do something about it. back in south—east london, is there a risk that screenings like this one could actually intensify the isolation of elderly people with mental illness? the cinema should be a part of the local community and people living with dementia are part of that community, and there should be an offerforthem. people don't have to come to those screenings. we've had some people that have come to the dementia—friendly screenings and then felt perfectly comfortable in the cinema environment. they know the staff and they'll come to other screenings. and equally, anyone can come to the dementia—friendly screenings,

you don't have to be living with dementia to do so. but those adaptations are there in place, and there's the cheaper ticket price, free carer places, and free coffee and biscuits, to kind of hopefully help encourage a bit of social interaction before and after the film. taking her mum to the screening, em is grateful that the staff and other patrons are more patient than they might be at a regular showing. we‘ve been to jailhouse rock, which she really loved, like elvis. she knew the songs. did shejoin in? yeah, yeah. and her favourite was singin‘ in the rain, it has been. and then whenever she brings it up that we went there and we saw singin‘ in the rain, that‘s the one... 0h, she remembers that? yeah, she always tells people that she went to a place and she saw singin‘ in the rain. we‘re scrupulously nonjudgemental, of course, but films that get people with dementia and their carers out

of the house, it might just be a feel—good hit. steve smith. let‘s take you through the front pages. the times has that same book extracts that we started with, tony blair warned trump that the uk may have spied on him and a suggestion by michael wolff mr blair might have been angling as an adviser to mr trump in the middle east in the white house administration. the daily telegraph has farmers to be paid for improving public access. and the financial times has a picture of the leaders of hungary and poland, defiant amid eu sanctions threat on immigration policies. that is almost it for tonight. given recent precedent, who would dare predict what 2018 has in store? but one thing we can say with happy certainty is that it will give us a royal wedding. harry and meghan, take note. the best wedding photos of 2017 have just been announced — at least, according to the wedding planners junebug weddings. over 9,000 pictures from around the world were entered into the competition, and we leave you tonight with the pick of the lot. goodnight. # let‘s get married... # i love you and i want to stay with you. # let‘s get married...

# come on, darling, please take my hand... storm eleanor pack a punch in ireland and the uk, bringing severe gusts of wind. these are the wind speeds. we even saw 73 in west london. there it is. it is pushing to the baltic states. this next area of low pressure could pack a punch on thursday afternoon. it is deepening as it comes to our shores. before that, it will send a weather front across the country. quite a wet night in northern ireland, wales, the midlands and the south—west england, the london area. fold in central and northern scotland. —— fog. the weather front

foot continued. behind it, it clears. the wind picks up. gale force gusts. ran in the midlands and northern england, getting into central and southern scotland and in the northern ireland. snow over the high ground as this encounters cold there. it grinds to a halt in these areas. bright to the north and also the south. 60 miles per hour. we could be looking at disruption in the afternoon. stay tuned to the weather. mild in the south, chilly to the north. another low pressure system will bring a blustery day with outbreaks of rain. snow over the high ground of wales and the

pennines and certainly scotland. strong winds again on friday with low pressure, perhaps gale force in the south in south—east. look at the temperatures. this is the theme over the week. a real change. arctic air blasting across the uk. bitterly cold on saturday and sunday if you factor in the wind. a few wintry showers in the north and east. and there is a return to some overnight frost. watch out for the winds tomorrow afternoon. and things turn much more cold over the weekend. this is newsday on the bbc. i‘m rico hizon in singapore. our top stories... a nasty war of words in washington. president trump says his former strategist steve bannon has lost his mind, after he accused mr trump‘s son and son—in—law of treason. i think that is a ridiculous accusation, and one that i‘m pretty

sure we‘ve addressed many times from here before. the un welcomes the use of a telephone hotline between north and south korea, as relations between the two countries seem to improve. i‘m kasia madera in london. also in this programme... how one of the world‘s most sacred rivers, the ganges in india, is also one of the most polluted — clogged with plastic waste and other rubbish.