you possibly think of gangsters settling feuds in old victorian times. but there are a group of people but determined to bring the sport back to the mainstream and take it legally to the masses. a twitter user called suzie q objected to that report, writing that she was "disappointed" the bbc is promoting and endorsing violent sport. "gratuitous violence. what's the difference between this and a street brawl? hope there aren't too many children watching. shameful." now, not for the first time, we are in the middle of a winter of difficulties and challenges for the national health service. bbc news has been reporting them with considerable attention. tonight at six, an apology from theresa may after new figures reveal pressure on the nhs this winter. from ambulance transfer delays, unprecedented calls to the helpline and operations postponed. a stark claim by doctors. winter pressures have left patients dying prematurely

in hospital corridors. they say safety in a&e units in england and wales has been compromised at a sometimes intolerable level. there is a clear emergency and what a number of other observers have clearly described as a crisis. one in ten nurses is leaving the nhs in england every year, as the gap between those leaving and joining the profession widens. hospital consultants in wales say patient safety is being compromised and that the nhs and social care are chronically under resourced. we've got patients that are in the department where we don't have space to see them and then we are coming back the next day and some of the patients are still here. it's getting worse every winter, but this is the worst we have seen it. viewer, mike hill, reacted to the coverage he'd seen by writing... "every year the bbc in january encourages public hysteria by sensationalist reporting. an open door is offered to every medical group, trade union, charity and politician with the same crisis message."

and robert put it like this... "i am tired of hearing the scurrilous comments on bbc news programmes running down the nhs and the annual pressures they are coping with admirably. the nursing staff are demoralised as a result." meanwhile, brian megson declared himself a fan of bbc news, but he echoed those reservations. what i don't enjoy is your constant commentary about the nhs. you start off in december and then you really let rip injanuary. every day there's a report about how bad it is, people dying in corridors, not enough nurses, not enough doctors. there's always something wrong with the nhs every day for you guys and you really should stop it. it's a wonderful organisation, why can't you let it be? it's a very big, tough organisation to run for those who are running it and i wish he would stop this obsession and fixation with it. well, hugh pym, the health editor for bbc news is with me now.

thank you for coming newswatch. there is a sense that the nhs in crisis story comes around each winter. are you too negative in how you focus on it? well, there's always a balance to be struck, we are very aware of that. the balance between recognising that the nhs does a fantasticjob throughout the year and it is a very popular and well regarded institution. the staff work extremely hard. but also recognising that if is under great pressure and staff are feeling the pressure, and that is often what we are being told, then we need to report that. we need to hold the government to account on the performance of the nhs and the management of the nhs in different parts of the uk. now, this winter it's been made abundantly clear to us by many people on the front line, that the pressure is greater than they have known before, even worse than last year. many of them think the nhs is underfunded. we've had stories from patients as well about very, very long waits in ambulances outside hospitals and we have a duty to report that. you've absolutely made the journalistic case for why this is news, it's about what is abnormal. but is there enough consideration of the cumulative effect

of all the stories, that they might actually be hurting peoples' confidence and undermining staff morale, which is what some viewers are concerned about? well, a couple of the stories we did just to highlight, as we've seen just a few minutes ago, the letterfrom 68 leading a&e consultants. again, on the front line of the nhs, writing to the prime minister, saying they have very serious safety concerns, that people could be dying prematurely because of waiting in corridors. that letter echoed by consultants in wales, writing to the first minister. if that's how they feel in the nhs, then i think we have to report that. and when it went out on social media, there were a lot of tweets from people in different parts of the nhs, welcoming the fact that senior clinicians were speaking out like that. so in terms of the negative impact, it's hard to tell with morale, but we have done positive stories about the role of nurses, for example.

a whole day of coverage on the valuable role they play. also positive stories about how some hospitals, in the face of great pressure, are coping and are having to devise ways of streaming people through a&e. i highlighted a scheme in ipswich. we've looked at the performance of luton‘s a&e, hitting all their targets. a video on our website on that. so i think we do always try to highlight the steps which have been taken to mitigate this pressure. it is interesting you mentioned the day focused on nursing, because it wasjeremy hunt, the health secretary, tweeted that while the bbc‘s focus was good, he accused the bbc of underplaying the increase in nurse training places. does he have a point? well, we were highlighting the story which was that last year, the year to september 2017, more nurses had left the nhs thanjoined it in england. there was a 3000 gap and that hadn't been seen at all in recent years. there was a small gap in the previous year, but it had been positive a few years before that. highlighting the real

recruitment and retention challenges the nhs has. the government's line is, new training places have been set up for a future flow of nurses and we did report that. but they are, in a way, different stories. yes, planning for the future is one thing, which the government is trying to do. what was the situation last year? that was illustrated by the facts we quoted from nhs digital. it is very clear from our conversation so far that there is a real political issue in how the nhs is being reported, given the government and the opposition are saying very different things about the funding going into the nhs and how it is being spent. how much of a challenge is that reporting it? it is a great challenge because the flow of funding is very complicated. yes, the government can say they have put more money into the nhs and others can say, including labour, that it's not enough. and that's of course, in some sense, is a value judgment. but there is an increasing view across different parts of the nhs and royal colleges, trade unions and think tanks, saying that in england and also the uk, spending is lagging behind what it might be as a share of national income.

so getting that balance right and also highlighting the need for the nhs to be efficient and how it can save money is always quite a difficult thing to get right. but, there is now an increasing debate about the need for a cross—party view on this, involving everyone across society, how do they want the nhs to be funded and social care? where is the money going to come from, does it need more tax? on this, of course, the 70th year of the nhs. what is interesting, is we started off talking about viewers' concern that the bbc is being too negative, but it has also been striking that the bbc‘s logo for this story is ‘nhs winter. whereas in the past it has been ‘nhs crisis', which the bbc also got criticised for. some might say, is the bbc being too shy of being as hard as it needs to be on this story? we have been very careful in our reporting not to use the word crisis and not to brand it as a crisis. it is for others to make that assertion.

many are, many doctors as well as politicians are saying it is an nhs crisis. i think the best we can do is state the facts, state what is really going on in hospitals, gp surgeries, community health, mental health, right around the uk, state it as it is, make the debate about funding as clear as possible and then leave others to judge how serious it is. i think no one can be in any doubt, we have laid out there for viewers and listeners, there is a very serious state of affairs in some parts of the nhs, currently in january with flu being a major problem. we need to judge things in the months ahead as to where things go from here. hugh pym, thank you so much. finally, in advance of president macron‘s visit to the uk on thursday, mp tom tugendhat was speaking to breakfast presenter charlie stayt about anglo—french relations when he found himself struggling with a croaky throat. it is true that our relationship is incredibly close and incredibly important for both of us. and we now have both got a responsibility to make it work on every level.

thank you very much for your time this morning. we will allow you to get a glass of water to help your throat. thank you for your time this morning. thank you. always annoying when those frogs appear at the most inopportune times. it's 7:21am... given that frenchman, president macron, had just been under discussion, was that reference to a frog, a subtle, if rather questionablejoke, orjust an unfortunate coincidence? a twitter user called the mystery man bought the former, describing it as an amazing joke and although some were less impressed, a bbc spokesman said, our guest appeared to be struggling with a croaky voice and naga was simply referring to that. thank you very much for all your comments this week. we welcome all your opinions on bbc news and current affairs, so do please get in touch with us... that's all from us, we will be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week.

goodbye. hi there. snow again caused problems on friday in scotland. scenes like this were fairly commonplace. the snowiest place at the moment — tulloch bridge, in the highlands, where we've nearly got a0 centimetres of snow on the ground. now, the forecast this weekend, a couple of areas of low pressure, one today and another bringing heavy rain and a change to mild conditions on the way for the second half of the weekend. this is how we start off your saturday, then. a band of rain will be working into southern and western parts of the country. a cold and frosty start to the north—east, with snow showers again affecting parts of scotland, with an ongoing threat of ice, as well. the main uncertainty with the forecast through the weekend is how far north this pulse of rain will be during saturday morning. it could go right the way

across northern ireland. if that happens, there is quite a risk that it turns to snow. three or four centimetres quite possible here, similar snow totals possible across the high ground of north wales, and the north—west midland for a time. whereas, further south, for the most part it's cold rain will fall, although there will be some flakes of sleet mixed in, particularly over the high ground, for example the chilterns, and maybe some other areas. rest of the day, bright skies in scotland filter southwards into far north england northern ireland. a slow change to the rest, a dull, dank day, with the rain easing off slowly, and we're left with chilly conditions. temperatures for most in a range of 3—5 degrees. milder, though, in the south—west. on saturday night, the second of those areas of low pressure that we see on the satellite picture starts to swing in. that will be bringing a band of rain across northern ireland. ahead of that, it is cold, one of the colder nights of this year so far in scotland. temperatures could be dipping down

well, well below freezing, perhaps —8 or —10 degrees, something like that. and then on sunday that band of rain will work into colder air, and for a time, it could turn to snow. and that snow could be very heavy across the high ground of scotland, and across the peaks and the pennines, as well, perhaps as much as ten or 15 centimetres of snow. whereas if we get snow at lower levels, it will not last long because it will transition back to rain, as mild air works in from the west. there will be quite a range in temperatures, then, for the second half of the weekend. quite chilly underneath this band of rain, and still some snow mixed in across the north—east. mild air pushing in across parts of england, wales and northern ireland, boosting, for some, the temperatures to double figures. and that is the story of the weather next week. mild air across the country, so the weather will feel much different early next week. that's your latest weather. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe.

my name is duncan golestani. our top stories: the us federal government faces a financial shutdown at midnight as politicians in washington fail to back plans to authorise a spending bill. president trump says hopes of making a deal "are not looking good" and claims the democrats want a shutdown. a new front in the conflict in syria, but this time it's turkey opening fire on kurdish forces. facing up to his crimes — we hearfrom more gymnasts who survived sexual abuse by the former team usa doctor, larry nassar. hopes and fears for peru — pope francis speaks about the future for the future of the amazon and its people.