this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 7pm: the justice secretary says the government won't be seeking a judicial review of a decision to release the serial sex offenderjohn worboys. i know this will disappoint the victims in this case and members of this house. given the crimes for which he has been convicted, on a personal level, candidly, i share those concerns. a breakthrough in the early detection of cancer? us scientists develop a blood test that identifies eight common forms of the disease. the californian parents accused of holding their 13 children captive plead not guilty to torture, abuse and false imprisonment. the white house has accused us democrats of trying to force a government shutdown as the deadline approaches for the senate to pass a funding bill. as president trump approaches his first year in office, we'll find out how the people of pittsburgh think he's done. and the train in a tube that could reach 700 miles an hour.

virgin are testing the hyperloop system in america, and think it join legal advice, he won't be

going down that route. but he tried to offer reassurance

to worboys‘s victims. let me be absolutely clear, worboys will not be released until their representations have been properly considered and his licence conditions are in place. last week, i asked for assurances that the views of victims were taken into account, and that robust licensing conditions would be put in place to manage his risk. but, as one politician withdraws from the court arena, another, sadiq khan, labour mayor of london, says he is now investigating whether can bring a legal challenge. worboys is currently being held at wakefield prison in west yorkshire. a lawyer for some of his victims is questioning why he is being freed from what is a top securityjail and, in a letter to the parole board, which approved his release, there is detail on why they are pressing ahead with the victims‘ legal challenge to try keep worboys behind bars. we presently don't know the reasons why he has been granted a release.

but we do know is the nature and scope and extent of his offending. we know that, up until very recently, he was denying responsibility for the offence. he may still be. we know that the parole board, only the previous year, refused to move him to an open prison because they considered he was still a risk. what has changed over that time? the women whojohn worboys picked up and then drugged and assaulted have spoken of how they fear for their safety if he is freed. they say he knows their addresses, and they are calling for him to be banned from the entire greater london area. his victims are set to launch their legal challenge next week. while that is going on, the black cab rapist, as he is known, will remain in prison. june kelly, bbc news. let's speak to andrew sanders, professor of criminal law and criminology at sussex university, and a former parole board member. hejoins me via webcam

from birmingham. thank you forjoining us this evening. what is your reaction to david gauke‘s decision not to pursue a judicial review? i'm david gauke's decision not to pursue a judicial review? i'm not david gauke's decision not to pursue ajudicial review? i'm not surprised because it's difficult to see how an action forjudicial review could succeed. why? there two grounds on which you can bring that action, the first would be that no reasonable body could reach the decision it did but, without knowing the evidence the parole board had, we don't know if it was a reasonable decision, but i'd be surprised if it would take an unreasonable decision to release anyone even if a different body might disagree. it's not a question of thejudges might disagree. it's not a question of the judges putting themselves in the parole boards place. they have to decide it is entirely unreasonable. how highly do you rate the chances of this private attempt

for a judicial review, being put forward by some of the victims of worboys? weather brings in action, the law has to be applied the same, so an the law has to be applied the same, so an action by somebody else wouldn't stand a greater chance. the victims, one of the victims‘ arguments, i‘d imagine, and i‘m sympathetic to this, would be that they were not consulted in advance. the problem is that victims are not consulted on whether or not to release somebody. victims are consulted on the licence conditions. they should have been consulted, and it‘s wrong that they were not, but it‘s wrong that they were not, but it wouldn‘t have affected the decision whether or not to release worboys, so i don‘t think anybody will succeed on that point. what course of action might be available to any of the interested parties in keeping him behind bars, given the concerns that have been expressed about the fact police think he might have attacked a lot more women?m goes back to the original investigation many years ago, and we know that many police investigations

are happening at the moment because they have had their resources reduced through the last few years due to austerity policies. i think the government needs to think again about the way funding for police forces has been cut in the last few yea rs. forces has been cut in the last few years. what extent do you think there is about a change to the way there is about a change to the way the parole board operates, with greater involvement by the victims to talk about the terms of the release, the conditions of his release, the conditions of his release and where he ends up? victims are consulted on conditions, andi victims are consulted on conditions, and i think it‘s right that this person shouldn‘t be released until all the victims concerned have had a chance to give their views about conditions. if one of those conditions. if one of those conditions is that he doesn‘t enter london, that may well be appropriate. but the other thing is that many victims feel completely removed from this process, and i think that‘s wrong. victims should have more involvement. that doesn‘t mean they should necessarily have a

say in whether somebody is released, but there is no reason why a victim, if they wish, shouldn‘t be present ina if they wish, shouldn‘t be present in a parole board hearing whether a person who committed the crimes against them are having that. we could even allow victims to question the prisoner. i think that would help victims to understand the decisions that are made, and help them to feel more involved in the process , them to feel more involved in the process, and then i think there might be less feeling of injustice at the end of the day, whatever the decision is. this case is certainly generated a lot of discussion about the way parole boards function. what other changes do you think might now be looked at in this whole process, given that debate? be looked at in this whole process, given that debate ?|j be looked at in this whole process, given that debate? i think that, understandably, people want to know how parole boards make their decisions, and why they make the decisions, and why they make the decisions they do. so i think that the reason is that parole boards have for making release decisions in high profile cases like this could be made public. there might need to be made public. there might need to be some anon i think involved in the

political principles could be made for more public. victims could be allowed to attend hearings if the law were changed, and i think other people could be allowed to attend hearings, so that the wider public gets a better idea of how these things happen. after all, most court hearings are public, and april board hearings are public, and april board hearing is like a court hearing and i would have thought the same principles could apply. —— a parole board hearing is like a court hearing. thank you for talking to us. and we‘ll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow‘s front pages at 10:1i0pm this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are the editor of politics home, kevin schofield, and the chief political commentator from the independent, james millar. scientists say they‘ve taken a step towards one of the biggest goals in medicine — a single blood test for all types of cancer. a team in america has trialled a method that detects eight common forms of the disease without the need for invasive biopsies or operations.

their vision is an annual test designed to catch cancer early and save lives. here‘s our medical correspondent, fergus walsh. it is ten years since ali was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. it is rare for anyone with the disease to survive that long. there is no screening programme, so tumours are usually found too late. a blood test would make a big difference. if we are able to get more people diagnosed sooner, like me, then it‘s going to make me feel a lot happier. there are only i% of us who are surviving, like me, to ten years, and it‘s a bit of a lonely place. there aren‘t many of us around. and i‘d really like pancreatic cancer to become more of a chronic disease, rather than such an acute, deadly disease, as it is now. scientists atjohns hopkins university in baltimore have made significant progress towards a blood test for cancer. the team examined blood samples from around 1000 cancer patients.

they had one of eight different common cancers. lung, liver, pancreas, colon, oesophagus, breast, stomach or ovary. cancer cells shed bits of dna, which circulate in the blood, so the test looked for 16 gene mutations and eight protein biomarkers. overall, the blood test found 70% of the cancers, but that success rate fell to just 40% with small, early—stage cancers, and this is when you‘d want tumours detected, when there is the best chance of a cure through surgery. so a reliable blood test for cancer is some way off. but the francis crick institute in london, which is pioneering research in this area, believes it will come. i am almost certain that, in the next five to ten years, we will see tests like this becoming much more routine in clinical

practice, to help us diagnose tumours earlier and help us increase the cure rates for patients suffering from cancers. the american cancer blood test costs around £350 per patient, and each positive result would need further investigation, so the burden on the nhs would need to be weighed against the benefits of early treatment and lives saved. fergus walsh, bbc news. well, one of the cancers which is often detected late is pancreatic cancer. let‘s speak to leanne reynolds, head of research at pancreatic cancer uk. she joins us from north london via webcam. thank you forjoining us this evening. what would a test like this mean to you? so, for pancreatic cancer in particular early diagnosis

blood tests are the holy grail. 80% of patient flu are currently diagnosed when their cancer is at the very late stage and, at that point, treatments are limited. surgery is currently the only treatment that can save a life for patrick cancer, and at that stage access to other treatment options might not be possible, such as clinical trials or other drugs. if we can improve the numbers of people diagnosed earlier, this gutsy survival outcomes improving, where they have been stubbornly low for they have been stubbornly low for the last 50 years. how early is early? for pancreatic cancer at the moment, 80% of people are diagnosed ata moment, 80% of people are diagnosed at a late stage when their cancer has spread, so any stage where it is diagnosed early enough for surgery to be an option would be fantastic, and really start to see those improvements in survival outcomes. for this research, where they were looking at patience at —— patient

flu at stages one, two and three, this is where it might perceptually be receptive, which is might it is quite promising. what further research is needed to build on this? this group were looking at samples from patients and wife had a diagnosis confirmed already, so further research is needed to look into groups of people who don‘t have symptoms yet or who have yet to be is diagnosed, and more research needs to be done to improve the sensitivity of the tests. for the study reported today, around 70% of cases were picked up, and only around 40% of stage one cases, so you‘d hope that further refinements to the test would see those numbers boosted. why is it so difficult to detect pancreatic cancer? pancreatic cancer is tough to diagnosed for a number of reasons. awareness of the disease is low, and as such the

public might not have an awareness of the symptoms. and they are very vague symptoms and often come an extremely late. they are things like back pain that can spread to the tummy, yellowing of the skin, known as jaundice, potentialsudden tummy, yellowing of the skin, known as jaundice, potential sudden weight loss and indigestion. 0ften, patients go back and forth to their doctors being misdiagnosed, and that can lead to delays in getting a diagnosis, which means that things are diagnosis, which means that things a re often diagnosis, which means that things are often diagnosed at that late stage and treatment options are limited. we all want to be optimistic, but i suppose we have to temper it with a bit of realism? yes, i think we can be cautiously optimistic. the results are very promising and this sort of research brings hope for the future that we can hopefully see more people reaching the i% can hopefully see more people reaching the 1% club, as we call it, the i% of people diagnosed with survived for ten years or more, so we are hopeful but we have to be cautiously optimistic. thank you for

talking to us. thank you. the headlines on bbc news: the justice secretary thejustice secretary has said the government will not be significant judicial review of a decision to release serial sex offenderjohn worboys. scientists say they have taken a step towards one of the biggest goals in medicine, a single blood test for all types of cancer. the white house accuses us democrats of trying to force a government shutdown, as the deadline approaches to pass a funding bill. the us senate is preparing for a last—minute vote on a bill that, if passed, would avoid a government shutdown. the struggle to keep federal institutions funded comes as donald trump prepares to mark one year in power. let‘s speak now to our washington correspondent. how have they got to this point?

congress has to fund the us government and they do this on a yearly cycle from october to 0ctober. last 0ctober, they couldn‘t agree on a year budget so they temporarily extended the financing of several —— federal government until december, and then again, and then until tomorrow, january 20, or actually midnight tonight, and now they are negotiating, trying to extend it even further because they still can‘t reach a permanent budget agreement. there are some politicians, a lot of democrats, a few republicans, who don‘t want to kick the can down the road bit further, and democrats are holding out to notjust... but get a permanent resolution for undocumented immigrants who came over to the united states as children. they were protected during the 0bama administration from deportation and allowed to getjobs and get loans and go to college, and

donald trump effectively ended that as of march, and now the democrats are trying to wrap that into these negotiations, while republicans wa nts to negotiations, while republicans wants to fund the government with a few unrelated sweeteners. thank you. meanwhile, this weekend sees the first anniversary of donald trump‘s inauguration as president of the united states. a property billionaire, a political novice, he was dismissed by many as lacking the skills and experience needed for the top office. his victory against hillary clinton, who had the support of the washington establishment and who won the popular vote, marked the beginning of a new era for america. laura trevelyan went to speak to trump voters in pennsylvania one year on. let‘s speak to laura trevelyan in pittsburgh in pennsylvania. welcome to a slightly chilly pittsburgh, where, as you can see, it‘s just been snowing. this is the state that donald trump narrowly and surprisingly won, in less than i%, a little over 40,000 votes, when

pundits across the nation thought it was in the bag for hillary clinton. how did he do it? it turns out his message of make america great again and america first resonated in particular with formerly democratic voting blue—collar workers in declining industrial sectors. i‘ve been out and about in the state to find out if people think donald trump is measuring up to their expectations. the mon valley in western pennsylvania is the birthplace of us steel. this factory was once owned by the i9th—century magnate andrew carnegie. in its heyday it employed thousands. donald trump tapped into the sense of industrial decline, winning by promising to "put america first". 0ver lunch i asked trump voters for their verdict on year one. it seems like he cares about the working class, he cares about the people who are trying to make a living and have big businesses and things like that, small businesses, he cares about that kind of stuff.

some of the stuff he does i agree with, like the tax cuts, looking after working class people, but i'm not a big fan of all the rants on social media. i think they can do away with all that. how are you feeling with that vote? a little disappointed. juan lacey, a small—business owner in the mon valley, hoped mr trump would run government like a ceo, so does this former 0bama voter regret switching to trump? when i went into the voting booth and i pulled the lever i was satisfied. i'm having buyer's remorse. why? because it's not consistent. john fetterman is a democrat in trump country. you get out into some of these areas that no one‘s visited, no one‘s taken the time to care, left it really open and ripe for someone to step in like a donald trump and say, hey, i‘m the guy that can fix this. the populist mayor of braddock, with a tattoo of the town‘s zip code, counsels his party to understand trump‘s appeal. it's got to be more than trump is awful, vote for us,

and it has to come back to like earnest, progressive, populist message. in his inaugural address a year ago, donald trump promised people 5

so, in his inaugural address a year ago, donald trump promised the forgotten people of america they would be forgotten no more, and what he described in that inaugural as american carnage, shuttered factories, families devastated by opioid abuse, he promised that american carnage would stop right here, right now, and that sense of finally being remembered resonated a lot in these declining industrial areas, in south—western pennsylvania. so, if people feel that donald trump is following through on that and an improving economy will help, he could be re—elected, but what i‘ve picked up here is that people feel donald trump is somehow getting in the way of himself with his tweeting and

social media rants, so if he can get that under control, which is a big if, perhaps more people would come back on board. thank you, laura, in pittsburgh. a couple accused of imprisoning, abusing and torturing i2 of their children at their home in california have appeared in court. david and louise turpin were arrested on sunday after one of their children escaped and raised the alarm. police say the children were fed very little, allowed to showerjust once a year and chained for weeks or months at a time. the couple deny the charges against them. james cook reports from california. give up that right... david turpin, appearing in court to deny betraying his own children with a bewildering catalogue of cruelty. his wife, louise, also pleaded not guilty to inflicting physical pain and mental suffering. it‘s also alleged that one of the couple‘s daughters was sexually abused by the father. prosecutors say the siblings endured the abuse for years, as their parents plumbed the depths of human depravity.

one of the children, aged 12, is the weight of an average seven—year—old. several of the victims have cognitive impairment and neuropathy, nerve damage, as a result of this extreme and prolonged physical abuse. the children were supposedly schooled here in their home, but the district attorney said they lacked basic knowledge. some did not even know what a police officer was. they were reportedly allowed to showerjust once a year and were beaten, chained up and tormented. they would buy food, including pies, apple pies, pumpkin pies, leave it on the counter, let the children look at it but not eat the food. about the only thing the children were allowed to do in their rooms, or chained up, was to write in journals. we now have recovered thosejournals, hundreds of them, and we are combing through them for evidence. the 17—year—old who raised the alarm after climbing out of the home through a window had been plotting the escape for two years.

one of her sisters made it out with her but turned back out of fear. this case has sent waves of revulsion across the united states and beyond. the authorities say the siblings are doing well but some of them at least have almost certainly suffered irreparable physical and mental damage. the parents are due in court again next month. if convicted, they face life in prison. james cook, bbc news, riverside in california. a teenager has pleaded not guilty to trying to kill passengers in a bomb attack on the london underground. ahmed hassan, who‘s 18, denied attempted murder, and causing an explosion at parsons green station in west london last september. 30 passengers were taken to hospital. his trial has been set for the 5th of march. ajudge has demanded the police and crown prosecution service explain to him what went wrong in a rape case against an oxford university student after it collapsed just days before the trial.

0liver mears had spent two years on bail when the cps dropped the case on the basis of fresh evidence. surrey police admit there were flaws in the investigation including not looking at the complainants‘ social media history. at first glance, it looks like a length of pipe but it‘s actually a prototype of a new mode of transport that could transform the way we travel. it‘s called hyperloop, a system which sends shuttle pods through low pressure tubes, cutting down friction and wind resistance. engineers say they could reach speeds of 700 miles per hour. the project is being tested in the nevada desert and our technology correspondent, rory cellanjones, has been to see it in action. his report contains flashing images. we are heading through the nevada desert, north of las vegas, for a glimpse of what its backers claim is the future of transport. this is hyperloop, an attempt to send passengers hurtling at 700 mph through a vacuum tube. many think that‘s far—fetched, but this project got the backing

last year of virgin, with sir richard branson becoming chairman. in this 500—metre test track, they say they have shown that the technology works, though they‘ve not yet put any human beings on board. i think my background in spacecraft engineering has given me the skill set to be able... the head of engineering, a space scientist recruited from nasa, sees no reason why people might be scared. the hyperloop is a maglev train in a vacuum system or in a vacuum tube. so you can also think of it as an aircraft flying at 200,000 feet, so people don‘t have any issue flying in aeroplanes and people don‘t have any issues going in maglev trains. this is simply combining the two, and it allows you to be more energy efficient. this isn‘t the only project. the electric car tycoon elon musk, who originally floated the whole idea, has proposed a tunnel under los angeles that could carry cars or be transformed into a hyperloop.

the virgin hyperloop team has said they could take passengers from london to edinburgh in 50 minutes, or cut the journey between new york and boston to under half an hour. but making this work in the real world will mean running several of these pipes alongside each other over long distances, perhaps underground, and convincing governments that that is realistic is going to prove, well, pretty challenging. at the giant ces tech show in las vegas, hyperloop‘s chief executive was pushing the message that this technology was coming soon, and he had one startling idea for the uk. you could build a hyperloop between gatwick and heathrow and move between those two airports as if they were terminals, and move in four minutes. we wouldn‘t have to build that third runway. we could save billions of pounds. it‘s an intriguing idea. now all the virgin hyperloop team has to do is convince local

residents they‘d like to see a couple of these along the route between heathrow and gatwick. rory cellanjones, bbc news, nevada. the prime minister of new zealand, jacinda ardern, has announced that she is pregnant. ms ardern said she and her partner, clarke gayford, were expecting their child in june, after which she planned to take a six—week break. ms ardern is now set to be the second elected world leader to give birth while in office — and the first to do so in almost 30 years. i‘m not the first woman to work and have a baby. i know these are special circumstances but there‘ll be many women who will have done this well before i have. i acknowledge those women. i‘m about to sympathise with them a lot as i sympathise with all women who‘ve suffered morning sickness. you have my sympathy.

time for the weather with nick miller. hello. another cold one tonight with widespread frost and icy conditions. heavy snow showers still for a time in parts of scotland, where there is a met office amber warning until 10pm, but they will slowly ease through the night. travelling remains difficult with the new snow we‘ve seen. fewer snow showers by the end of the night, but icy. we will see some wet weather coming into the south—west later in the night. rain, perhaps a bit of sleet, some wet snow associated with that. it sticks around during saturday for parts of northern ireland, wales, the midlands and into southern england. really quite cold under that. milder for cornwall and devon into the afternoon, as it brightens up a little bit. some sunny spells for the far north of england and scotland. just one or two wintry showers left behind through western and northern parts of scotland, but nowhere near as heavy or frequent as they‘ve been today. on sunday, more wet weather spreading north and east across the uk. as it runs into cold air, more snow for a time in parts of scotland and northern england. this is bbc news —

our latest headlines: ministers say they won‘t challenge the decision to release serial sex offenderjohn worboys from prison. the former black cab driver was jailed nine years ago for a series of attacks on women in london. the government says it was advised against a judicial review. we have an independent parole board system. powers are in the hands of the parole board and their are very limited circumstances, it would appear, in which that can be overturned. american researchers say they‘ve taken a step towards a universal blood test for cancer. a team atjohns hopkins university has tested a method that detects eight common forms of the disease, in a single procedure. the white house has accused us democrats of trying to force a government shutdown as the deadline approaches for the senate to pass a funding bill. the parents accused of holding

their 13 children captive in california plead not guilty to torture, abuse and false imprisonment. more now on this weekend marking one year since donald trump was sworn in as president of the united states. he vowed to change the face of politics stateside, with his campaign slogan promising to "make america great again". president trump‘s boisterous style and frenetic twitter feed have certainly kept him in the limelight, but how has he performed on some of his key election pledges — tax cuts, the controversial border wall with mexico, and repealing and replacing 0bamacare, his predecessor‘s health care plan? christian fraser takes a look at president trump‘s first year in office. 12 months in the white house, his first year as a politician. so, what does the report card of the 45th president look like?

well, let‘s remind ourselves what candidate trump had promised. the mantra was of course, make america a great again. and this was how he proposed to do it. isis will be gone if i am elected president. 0bamacare has to be replaced. i am going to build a wall and mexico‘s going to pay for it, right? right? a complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states. 0urjobs are being stolen like candy from a baby. not going to happen any more, folks. well, let‘s start with the economy, because there is a curious disconnect, here. the president has record low approval ratings, but the stock market is hitting record highs. this week, the dowjones smashed through the 26,000 mark for the first time ever. and, the economists say, it is mr trump who should take the credit. he has delivered on the tax cuts that he promised. but, will be boom on the market eventually translate into wage growth?

0n trade, there is more to do, the first thing that he did when he was in office was to withdraw from the transpacific partnership. the nafta negotiation, that is ongoing. trump‘s warning to canada and mexico is that he wants better terms, or he will pull out. it looks like he is serious. what about repealing and replacing 0bamacare. well that turned into a congressional nightmare for the republicans. the tax reform bill does chip away at one of the affordable care foundations, but the president‘s comment in december that essentially the job was done, well that is fake news. it isn‘t. where the president will think he does score highly, though, is on foreign policy. having vowed to destroy isis, the caliphate is on the run in iraq and syria, and despite the often alarming public feud

with the rocket man, kim jong—un, north and south korea are at least talking, for which the president has of course claimed credit. what about that wall, perhaps the campaign promise that resonated most with the base. well, right now, the president is demanding congressional funding as part of immigration reform, and there is still plenty of resistance. the one thing that we can say, with some certainty, is that mexico isn‘t going to pay for it. at least not directly. the promised ban on muslims, well, that became a travel ban on countries that were predominantly muslim. the legal challenge to that is ongoing. the courts, much like the media, have incurred the president‘s wrath. so, on policy, it is a mixed report, with some successes. the one thing that has changed, beyond all recognition is the oval office stuffing list. he has lost special elections, in virginia and alabama,

perhaps the ultimate test of mr trump‘s presidency will come later this year, with the midterms. joining me now from washington is professor capri cafaro, a former democratic member of the ohio senate. it isa it is a lot what we have expected. people were alarmed by the fact president trump, for example, would roll back environmental protections, get out the paris accord, for example. these things have happened, we have stepped back from the paris accord and we have done a lot of rollbacks from environmental protections. we have put, president trump has put someone as chief of the environmental protection agency, as someone, the environmental protection agency, as someone, who is in the private sector, been concerning with regards to basically trying to dismantle environmental regulation. when it comes to those issues, when it comes to the issues of the lgbt community, religious freedom, race relations,

the way that women are perceived and treated, i think a lot of those things, because of the climate that has existed under president trump, i think that on one hand it has been incredibly frustrating, but on the other hand it has motivated a number of democrats, particularly women to seek elective office in the mid—term election. in terms of tax cuts and the economy doing well, that will go down well with a number of people who feel that under him they can get a job who feel that under him they can get ajob and who feel that under him they can get a job and that nobody bothered about them before. how did the democrats respond to that? it is a good question and i come from a community like that. by community of more traditional democrats and the industrial midwest, who felt like they had been neglected. they had lost theirjobs in the industrial sector due to trade imbalance. there is still a lot of that success in

the stock market that is yet to translate down to wage growth, for example. we hear statistics about african—american unemployment being atan african—american unemployment being at an all—time low, at the same time wages in the african—american community are about $1800 less, even adjusting for inflation, than they we re adjusting for inflation, than they were in 2000. there is a lot under those numbers. 0n the face, very promising and i would personally said that any time anything is going to stimulate the economy, it is a good thing and in this context, the corporations have actually decided, many of them, to reinvest in the workforce in the form of bonuses and increasing paycheques. it is a mixed bag, democrats will have a hard time saying it is a bad thing, but i think there are two issues. one is theissue think there are two issues. one is the issue of economic prosperity,

but the other is the issue of american values. what president trump is presenting, not only to the american public, but to the global community, as far as what it means to be an american, as an inclusive, progressive nation that is concerned about their fellow neighbours and participating in the international community. a lot of his supporters don‘t care about that, as long as he gets done what he promised to do. how permanent change is his style of politics for america, generally. particularly the way he interacts with the media and uses social media? i think he has done permanent change to the way politics is done here in the united states, particularly the interaction with the media and utilisation of social media. there are things that happen ona media. there are things that happen on a daily basis, under the trump presidency, that would have, in any other context, in any other

politician, in any other year, would have totally destroyed a president. but they don‘t even make the news at this point. trump has basically taken on attack where he is willing to fight back. anybody who pushes on his agenda, he utilises orders to push his agenda. he has changed the way politicians, aspiring politicians can conduct themselves. he is able to surprise, even when you think you have seen it all before, how will the democrats tackle that when it comes to the midterms, briefly? the democrats are trying to position themselves as the adults in the room, people who understand how government works, people who understand diversity and the people investing in our economy. democrats must maintain that

economic message and if we do not include that within our platform, we will lose the middle of the country, just as we did in 2016. it is a balance of showing our progressive social values, so to speak, of inclusiveness, but showing investment and economic development in the workforce. professor, former democratic member of the ohio senate, good to talk to you. thank you for your time. thank you again. there was more gloom for the high street today with figures showing that the growth in retail sales slowed last year. it wasn‘t a great christmas either with sales down 1.5% in december compared with the previous month, which was boosted by people taking advantage of black friday offers. emma simpson reports. in the carpetright sale, it‘s half price on selected carpets and beds... it should be the busiest time of the year for britain‘s biggest floor coverings retailer. trouble is, it‘s been anything but. carpetright‘s prices may have been cut by half. unfortunately, its share price almost did the same today after it warned its profits were going to tumble. carpetright says falling consumer

confidence is behind what it describes as a sharp deterioration in trading. in other words, shoppers are holding back from buying these big—ticket items. there wasn‘t much to cheer about for bonmarche either. sales in its clothing shops were down by nearly 10%, compared with the previous year, causing its share price to plummet, too. we are still spending on the high street, and increasingly online, butjudging by these shoppers in skipton, we are also being careful. we‘re looking out for the bargains and the offers rather than the full—priced clothes overwinter. if i need something, i get it. if i don't, i don't buy it, no matter how cheap it is, because if i don't need it, what's the point? so what‘s been going on? december is an absolutely critical month for retailers. in truth, christmas has been pretty disappointing, but probably not that surprising.

inflation hit a five—year high in the run—up to christmas, and this really put people‘s personal finances under a lot of strain. the other really significant impact is black friday. when online orders and parcels are on the move, this shopping extravaganza has changed the pattern of christmas spending. we are doing more of it in november. but, over the whole christmas quarter, growth slowed. question is, will this year be as challenging as the last? emma simpson, bbc news. the world‘s first feature film about menstruation will be released across the uk next month. the comedy features bollywood superstar, akshay kumar. pad man tells the real—life story of how a school—drop out from southern india invented a machine to make cheap sanitary pads, helping millions of women. alice hutton reports. a comedy about women‘s hygiene

doesn‘t immediately sounds like a box office hit. woman strong, mother strong, sister strong. but it is smashing barriers of a different kind. as the first major motion picture dealing with women‘s access to sanitary products, and starring one of the most famous men in india. the film was inspired by this man, arunachalam muruganantham, and the 20 yearjourney to make a cheap sanitary pad for his wife after he found out she was using a dirty rag as a replacement. more than 5000 of his machines are now in operation across india, giving 40 million women access to cheap pads for the first time. among the lives he changed are a group of campaigners from london. period poverty charity, bindi, who‘s been working with him for three years. and today they‘ve got a very special visitor. padman‘s producer, twinkle khanna. it‘s a compelling story,

it was so compelling that i abandoned my second book, i was halfway through that, and i started writing about him. and then i chased him for eight months. i called him every single day till finally he agreed to meet me. what i found wonderful is his concept of social entrepreneurship, where he sells these machines only to ngos and women‘s groups, so they can earn a livelihood as well as have access to sanitary pads. sometimes it's important to be led by someone that you believe has a reputation, or you are inspired by. and twinkle khanna and akshay kumar are both beloved celebrities in india, so i think it's important for people to stand up in the community, that have a voice, and give a voice to other girls and women that don't necessarily talk about menstruation. the team behind the movie say they hope it will put an end to the stigma and shame that some women are made to feel every month. alice hutton, bbc news.