hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2: have your money back — charities return money raised at a prestigious men—only charity dinner, after allegations of sexual harassment at this year's event. multiple women told me that they had been touched inappropriately, and that ranged from holding their hands to touching their stomachs, to hands near the bottom of their back. women have the right to feel safe wherever they work, and allegations of this type of behaviour are completely unacceptable. 70% rise in the number of prosecutions collapsing in england and wales because of issues over sharing evidence. ifeel every single bit of my determination to go on creating better opportunities for people managing cancer. cancer patients should be free to take the risk of undergoing different innovative treatments on the nhs —

dame tessa jowell‘s message, in herfirst interview since being diagnosed with a brain tumour. coming up on afternoon live: all the sport, including... phil neville, a rather controversial appointment? absolutely, and definitely not the best start for the new england win in‘s manager. he has apologised for comments he made about women on social media and says they are not a true representation of his character. more on that later. see you later, holly. and the weather... yes, hail storms, severe gales blowing through scotland. things will get better later on but more on that in about half an hour. thanks very much, tomasz, and coming up, what's with the big pout? 1000 camels —— a dozen camels have been

disqualified from a camel beauty pageant in saudi arabia for receiving botox injections. hello, everyone. this is afternoon live and i am simon mccoy. "i thought things had changed — and it is absolutely clear that they haven't. we have to send a clear message that this is unacceptable." the words of government minister anne milton in the commons a short time ago, over the men—only charity dinner where women were allegedly groped, propositioned and sexually harassed. undercoverjournalists from the ft say it happened at the prestigious presidents club annual charity fundraiser in london. already two charities who benefited say they're handing the money back, and one of the organisers, david meller, is standing down as a non—executive board member at the ministry of education. daniela relph has the latest. undercover at the 5—star dorchester hotel. madison marriage, a reporter for the financial times. here, getting ready for a night's work as a hostess at the presidents club fundraising dinner. the guests, all men.

the hostesses, all young women. paid around £200 for an evening's work. as the dinner began, guests were told they were at the most un—pc event of the year. there was a charity auction, including an offer of plastic surgery at a harley street clinic. perhaps, they were told, for their wives. and during the evening, the undercover reporter says she and others were repeatedly groped and harassed by male guests. multiple women told me that they had been touched inappropriately, and that ranged from holding the hands, to touching their stomachs, hands near the bottom of their back. things which maybe you might not find too offensive, but touching their bums, kind of grabbing them,

pulling them into their laps. yes, a complete range of sexual harassment, basically. the event raised more than £2 million for several organisations including great 0rmond street hospital. it now says it will return all donations due to the wholly unacceptable nature of the event. guests included the government minister nadhim zahawi, who said he left early after being uncomfortable at what was happening. david walliams made this statement. and in a statement, the presidents club said... what happened was that women were bought, as bait.

for men. rich men, not a mile from where we stand, as if that is an acceptable behaviour. it is totally unacceptable. businessmen david meller is a trustee of the presidents club and until today, he was also a nonexecutive board member at the department for education. he has now stepped down from that role. to be honest, mr speaker, i was born in 1955, and to be honest, mr speaker, i was born in1955, andi to be honest, mr speaker, i was born in 1955, and i think, as the honourable lady will know, and i have said at this dispatch box before, i thought things had changed, and it is absolutely clear that it hasn't changed. i think there is an association between rich wealthy people and this sort of behaviour. we have to send a clear message that this is unacceptable. the future of the presidents club dinner is also now in doubt. will the allegations of lewd behaviour end an event that has been held for 33 years?

daniela ralph, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent vicki young is at parliament. widespread condemnation. i don't know if the prime minister has had anything to say? she actually wasn't asked about it at prime minister's questions, which was surprising, but you saw there that the labour mp jess phillips had an urgent question responded to by a minister. but we ask that spokesperson what theresa may thought of the whole thing, and the response was that she was uncomfortable with the reports she read this morning and they added obviously it was an event she would not have been invited to, as a woman. nadhim zahawi, the education minister, a lot of pressure on him to explain himself and he has tweeted in the last half an hour. "i do condemn this behaviour. it is truly shocking. i will never attend a men only function, ever." and on

david meller being asked to stand out from his position on that board, downing street saying he was asked to give up thatjob and he has done so to give up thatjob and he has done so and they say that was the right decision. very strong words as well from jeremy corbyn‘s spokesman who said the event was appalling, women clearly felt threatened they are, he said it was an outrageous example of sexual harassment under the guise of a charity event. so a little taster of what people are saying about all of what people are saying about all of this. you know, many people here will feel over the years they have heard it all, but they are genuinely shocked this has been going on for very many years. as i said, pressure still on the education minister nadhim zahawi, but this was also from a number of female mps. at that dinner last night there were not justjust dinner last night there were not just just conservative members attending, notjust just just conservative members attending, not just conservative just just conservative members attending, notjust conservative men attending. they were from all political denominations. the problem is with the dinner itself, the fact that there are men who attend those

dinners and think it is appropriate. 0ne dinners and think it is appropriate. one of the prizes on that dinner was plastic surgery, to spice up your wife. it is appalling that that continues and i support the minister and her response and we all have our duty to make sure that those dinners don't ever happen again.|j duty to make sure that those dinners don't ever happen again. i hold you back hope that the secretary of state is as disappointed as i am at both a board member and a minister in this department attending an event describing itself as the most un—pc event of the year. let's be clear about what that meant, mr speaker. an event where women were not invited as guests but were there as objects of the rich and powerful men. they are to act as hostesses and were forced to wear revealing clothes and a number reported they we re clothes and a number reported they were groped and sexually harassed. some of the charities, as we have been hearing, have decided to hand back the money raised that evening at the presidents club dinner. 0ne

of the prizes up for auction was a lunch with borisjohnson, the foreign secretary, and there are a number of questions from labour mps this afternoon asking whether he go ahead with that price. studio: vicki, thank you very much, vicki young. we can now speak to maria miller, chair of the women and equalities select committee. it is difficult to know where to start here. firstly, your reaction to what was in the financial times this morning. i think it is shocking that in 2018 britain we have people in the city of london who think it is appropriate to hold events which create so much of a sexual harassment environment for women, but also exclude women from taking pa rt but also exclude women from taking part in what would have been an important business networking event. shocking, and really unacceptable. has there been any breach of any law? a men only event requiring women staff to parade, we are skimpy outfits, behave in a certain way, or

at least expected to. i been, well, again, in this century you don't expect this sort of thing to be acceptable, let alone be done? what is clearly a breach of the law as people harassing women who were employed as hostesses. i think those who decided to go along to an event which was a men only with more than ioo which was a men only with more than 100 hostesses might well have asked themselves the question, you know, what was the objective of this? but those women who were employed deserve to be treated respectfully, not just because deserve to be treated respectfully, notjust because that is the right thing to do but because that's the law, and the people who employ them have a duty of care and also health and safety law which they should abide by and keep those women safe. they clearly didn't do that, but the problem is the law really has very little piece, and if those women —— very little teeth, and if the women we re very little teeth, and if the women were to bring action their compensation would be derisory. the education minister has condemned the

behaviour and he was present there. what should be done about that? my understanding is the minister accepted an invitation from the member of the board for the department for education. maybe he mistakenly thought that would be a legitimate thing to accept. i have already made it very clear to members in the government that they need to review their processed for not only accepting invitations to events, which is already subject to a great deal of scrutiny because of the potential problems that can cause the government, but also ministers need to review what events they decide to give gifts to, because of course the foreign secretary had also agreed to give a gift to this event, importantly, to raise money, but to an event i'm sure he would not want to be associated with. pretty stomach churning, isn't it? we are talking about a group of rich arrogant men who clearly feel they can get away with whatever they want to get away with. sexual harassment, as we know,

is endemic in this country and more than half the women in this country suffer sexual harassment on a regular basis, and i'm afraid it doesn't have much respect for class. the idea, as the organisers tended to suggest, that rich wealthy men don't sexually harass women, is clearly untrue. harvey weinstein is an example of that, but also, you know, the proliferation of nondisclosure agreements, settlement agreements, around the behaviour of senior members of staff in major corporations in this country, it is something which i think now really does come under the spotlight. maria miller, thank you very much for your time this afternoon. lots of reaction on twitter to this story. i will show you one from kevin maguire of the daily mirror, speaking specifically about the presence of nadhim zahawi, and he quotes what nadhim zahawi, and he quotes what nadhim zahawi, and he quotes what nadhim zahawi says. you can see the

court there and what kevin thinks of that. nadhim za hawi court there and what kevin thinks of that. nadhim zahawi has tweeted himself, and says "i do unequivocally condemn this behaviour. the report is truly shocking. i will never attend a men only function ever." that is unlikely to be the end of the matter but we will keep an eye on twitter and of course bring any further reaction to you. you are watching afternoon live. there's been a significant rise in the number of prosecutions collapsing in england and wales, because of a failure by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence. figures obtained by bbc news show that more than 900 people were formally cleared, or had cases against them dropped, in the year to last april, because of problems with disclosure. 588,000 cases were prosecuted. here's our home affairs correspondent danny shaw. i was relieved, notjust for myself, for everyone that's been with it every step of the way. under investigation for rape for two years, liam allen's life was on hold. then, three days into his trial, his legal team received crucial information and the prosecution was halted. the case highlighted

problems with disclosure, the duty on police and prosecutors to pass on material which might assist the defence case or undermine the prosecution's. finally, liam allen achieved the justice that should have been his from two years earlier. he had been on bail for two years not knowing if he was going to be convicted, facing a sentence of perhaps 12 years or so and be on the sex offenders' register for life. just the toll upon a young man who is in the middle of a university degree cannot be imagined. bbc news has obtained figures on how many people have been cleared or had allegations dropped against them because of disclosure failings. in 2014—15, proceedings were halted against 537 people. by last year, that number had risen to 916. that's a 70% increase in two years in the number of defendants cleared after disclosure failings emerged. the implication is that it could lead to miscarriages ofjustice. the criminaljustice system is based upon trusting the prosecution to disclose material which undermines their case or assists a defence case. and if they are not doing

that, then clearly, there can't be a fair trial. the crown prosecution service says the number of trials which collapsed because evidence is not disclosed when it should be is a fraction of the total number of cases they deal with, about one in every 1,000 prosecutions. but the cps says that is still too many and, in the coming days, they will be publishing an action plan to tackle the issue, along with the police. senior police officers say there needs to be a change of mindset, so disclosure is put at the centre of an investigation, rather than something that is done at the end. danny shaw, bbc news, at the old bailey. save the children has temporarily suspended all of its operations in afghanistan after attackers stormed their offices in the eastern city of jalalabad. at least two people have been killed and 12 injured according to officials and it's believed around 50 staff were in

the building at the time. four gunmen are believed to have taken part in the attack, and three are said to have been killed. the fourth is reported to be barricaded on the top floor of the office building. uk unemployment fell by 3,000 to 1.41; million in the three months to november. the number of people in work has reached a record high of 32.2 million, according to figures from the office for national statistics. but the growth in wages, at 2.4%, remained below inflation at 3.1%. you watching afternoon live and these are our headlines this afternoon. two children's hospitals give back donations to a men only fundraiser following allegations of sexual harassment. a number of court cases collapsing in england and wales because of the mistake was

sharing evidence is up. cancer patient should be free to take the risk of undergoing different innovative treatments on the nhs according to dame tessa jowell, after she has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. a nun has expressed a ‘deep sense of regret‘ for any abuse at children's home in scotland in the 1950s. she broke down while giving evidence at the scottish child abuse inquiry. a number of people have already told the inquiry about the abuse they suffered at the smyllum park children's home in lanark. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. a former resident has said a "culture of evil" existed at smyllum, a former care home and orphanage in lanarkshire run by catholic nuns. certainly, dozens of former residents have alleged

they were abused at the home, which was run by the daughters of charity of st vincent de paul, and which closed in 1981. they say they were beaten repeatedly for any 01’ no reason, some have also alleged they were sexually abused. theresa mcgrane has described being sexually assaulted by a priest, then beaten by a nun who found out. she says the denials from sisters who worked at smyllum that any abuse took place is ridiculous. we seem to have been in two different places. the children have been in smyllum, and the nuns have been in utopia. i honestly think the lawyer has advised them to say it didn't happen, they're all liars, that's not the truth, because they're afraid of civil suits afterwards. if they admit one single thing, they're opening themselves up to a civil suit. so something tells me they've just been advised to deny everything. as well as the abuse, hundreds of children who died at smyllum are believed to be buried in an unmarked grave. a bbc investigation in september suggested at least 400 children who died at the care home between 1864 and 1981 are buried in st mary's cemetery in lanark. the former labour cabinet minister, dame tessa jowell, has spoken about her diagnosis

of a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer called glyco—blastoma. in herfirst interview since being told she had the illness, the former culture secretary has been speaking to the today programme's nick robinson about how she's determined it will not diminish her sense of hope. i was diagnosed with an acute and very serious form of brain cancer. it came with absolutely no expectation. no warning? absolutely none at all. i had not a single apparent symptom. but you've decided to speak in the house of lords about your illness, and what you think needs to be done to help others. was it a difficult decision? and why is it important to you to go to the lords to speak out? it hasn't been a difficult decision at all, because this is something that i feel a tremendous sense of mission about. 0ne change you want is a change

to the way medical research is carried out, and the phrase that is used is adaptive trials. what do you mean by that? the important fact about an adaptive trial means that it can start and not... not achieve what you want, and then move on to the next version. you don't have to simply wait for a set number of weeks or months? exactly. and it allows you to trial more than one thing? yes, and that's how we get the pace of changes happening quickly. so a patient might try, i'll take the risk, i'll try one, two, three things, whatever the side effects, because i want to take my chances. that's exactly the kind of risk that patients should be free to take. anybody who has had cancer knows that, particularly for people like you, maybe people like me, the hardest thing to get used to is not being in control. i don't think i'd immediately leapt to the inevitability of cancer. i think that to begin with i felt i would have this tumour, that it would be operated on, and then that would be it. it's actually much harder now,

because now my life is day by day affected by tumour. i've been lucky enough to read the speech you will give to the house of lords, and you end with some words from seamus heaney, the poet. he said, i'm not afraid. i am not afraid. i feel very clear about my sense of purpose and what i want to do, and how do i know how long it's going to last? i'm certainly going to do everything i can to make it a very long time. that was dame tessa jowell.

and the health secretaryjeremy hunt has announced on twitter that he will be looking at cancer care suggestions made by baronessjowell following her interview this morning on the today programme. the new northern ireland secretary, karen bradley, is holding talks aimed at restoring devolution at stormont. she's meeting the main political parties to try to kick start the power—sharing executive, which collapsed last january. mrs bradley has said "time is short" but there is one last opportunity to restore the executive. a deaf woman is suing the promoter of a concert by the pop group, little mix, forfailing to provide a sign language interpreter for two support acts. sally reynolds and two deaf friends took their daughters to the concert, organised by lhg live, last september.

our legal affairs correspondent, clive coleman, has the story. i like that one there... cate merry and herfriend megan are massive little mix fans. # i got the, i got the, i got the power...# last year, cate's mum sally bought tickets to see the band in concert. sally is deaf, and booked for her and two deaf friends to go with their daughters. she asked the organisers lhg live to provide a british sign language interpreter. we asked two or three times initially, please can you provide an interpreterfor us, and the explanation we got back was just a no, we didn't have any reason behind it. and eventually we became so frustrated. and i wanted to share the same experience that my daughter had, and that my friends were there too — essentially i just wanted access to the songs. under the equality act, any organisation supplying a service to the public is under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people's experience is as close as possible to those without a disability.

with just days to go before the concert and no interpreter in place, sally took an unprecedented legal step. she instructed lawyers to apply for a court injunction to force lhg live to provide a british sign language interpreter, and it worked. music: black magic by little mix. the girls and their mums got to go to the concert, and when little mix took to the stage their lyrics were interpreted for sally and her friends. but earlier on there were two supporting acts, and the interpreter hadn't been booked to cover them. ifelt that, you know, we were really part of the little mix experience. but because it was so good, i realised that we'd missed out on the first two acts, so it was very much a disparity of experience to everybody else. in a statement, lhg live told the bbc: for cate merry, there's only

one thing that matters. because i really love my mum and i really want her to come to the concerts with me. clive coleman, bbc news. sir eltonjohn is set to make an announcement about his future career at a joint press conference in london and new york on wednesday. the star is expected to reveal plans for a new venture after his las vegas residency comes to an end in march after six years. media reports in the uk have speculated the 70—year—old will announce his final world tour. sir elton has sold more than 300 million records over his career. time for a look at the weather. tomasz schafernaker is here. what a

grey day. dreadful, isn't it? that is today's weather, but i want to show you something a lot of people have been describing on twitter where the weather was fine then all ofa where the weather was fine then all of a sudden there was this almighty burst of heavy rain. i will show you what it looked like. we have a storm currently crossing the country, storm georgina. if you look at this you can see it is almost like the rain has been drawn on with a ruler. that is probably only about three or four miles across, and it is rushing through at around, say, 50 miles an hour, like a car. so when you are standing here, not a drop of rain, then all of a sudden this wall of water. there is this discussion around that you're supposed to either run through heavy rain or walk slowly, do you know anything about that? no idea at all. i don't know what you're talking about, to be honest. laughter stay with me. if it is very heavy

rain, you're saying if you run through you don't get so wet? yes, oi’ through you don't get so wet? yes, or if you walk through heavy rain, you get equally wet or equally not wet, something like that. i'm sure somebody is watching who knows what iam somebody is watching who knows what i am talking about! no, nobody has a clue what you are talking about! laughter do you know what, look... the point is if you see the rain, i would go indoors. how would that grab you? but if you are caught in it? anyway, i thought i would show you something interesting, there you go. but today the weather is no laughing matter because there is a storm moving to the north—west of the uk and here it is, storm georgina. excuse me, serious face now. it is a nasty bit of weather because in the western isles of scotland, for folks there, a very windy day, cost in excess of 8o a very windy day, cost in excess of 80 miles per hour. —— gust in excess. this is what it looks like.

that line of rain has crossed the country and we are left with clear spells and some showers, so still a really breezy afternoon and second half of the evening for many of us, but to the north—west of scotland is where we have that nasty area of weather, which is of course no laughing matter. serious whether there and the gales will be affecting the northern part of scotland, blowing out through the course of this evening. through tonight, that area of bad weather pushes away and then we have some clear spells and we can still see plenty of showers around and that will really be the theme as we go into tomorrow, so tomorrow morning actually, for many of us across eastern and southern areas it will start off fairly bright with sunshine, but then a little later in the afternoon you can see another area of showers moving through. i suspect some of those will be a little bit like that line of rain i shall you earlier on. sunny one

minute then the next downpour poster. five, six, 7 degrees for most of us, and friday is the better day. it starts off fairly decent and will stay that way most of the day but there are more fronts waiting out in the atlantic and they will come oui’ way out in the atlantic and they will come our way and bring us, i think, pretty grey cloudy drizzly sort of weekend. this is what it looks like saturday and sunday. at least it won't be particularly cold, 12 degrees or so. with this whether the weather tends to stay milder. so changeable week, take care in northern parts of scotland for a few more hours yet because it is very very windy. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. great 0rmond street hospital says it will return money raised at a men—only charity dinner amid allegations of sexual harassment at the event. meanwhile one organiser of the event held at the dorchester hotel has quit a nonexecutive role at the department of education. told me they had been touched

inappropriately and ranged from holding their hands to touching their stomachs, to hands near the bottom of the pack. around 900 court cases have collapsed in the past two years because police and prosecutors have failed to disclose evidence. the crown prosecution service says the justice system has "systemic" problems. a deaf woman is taking legal action because the promoter of a little mix concert failed to provide a sign language interpreter for part of the gig. sally reynolds and her friends requested an interpreter when they attended the concert in sussex last year. cancer patients should be free to take the risk of undergoing different innovative treatments on the nhs — dame tessa jowell‘s message — in herfirst interview since being diagnosed with a brain tumour. a nun says she has a ‘deep sense of regret‘ for any abuse at children‘s home in scotland, as she gives evidence to an inquiry. sport now on afternoon live.

phil neville hasn‘t had the best start since taking up his role as england women‘s manager, has he? definitely not. it‘s betty says since getting thejob, he has had quite mixed reactions, though it did not help just a couple of hours after signing on the dotted line yesterday, some rather controversial tweets were dug up from a few years back which do not really paint him in the best light. some have described them as sexist, one in particular from 2012 in which described them as sexist, one in particularfrom 2012 in which he suggests that women might be too busy making breakfast or getting kids ready to read his tweets. he has since deleted his twitter account and has apologised, he insists those comments are not a true and genuine affection of his character or his beliefs. people are not happy, campaigners like kick it

0ut are calling for a disciplinary charge to be bought. the other issue of course is people pointing out a lack of managerial experience? that‘s right, something highlighted quite early on when there were just talks about him becoming the head coach. remember he has coached at his former club, man united, as well as valencia and england under 21s. actually he‘s only ever managed one game at salford city which of course he co—owns, there has also been concerns raised over his lack of experience within the women‘s game, the women in football group said todayit the women in football group said today it actually felt like a kick in the teeth and the women‘s sport trust have said they are disappointed at the apparent lack of transparency and the process in the appointments, however we have heard from the men‘s manager gareth southgate insists the process was poon southgate insists the process was poor. how do you get that experience without opportunity? -- he insists the process was tomorrow. there has

beena the process was tomorrow. there has been a thorough process around that application. he is taking over a team, a good team, they have improved enormously over the last few years, hopefully for them as a team, everybody can stop focusing on the football and how they progress. that was gareth southgate speaking at the draw for the new uefa nations league which took place this morning. it will replace most friendlies with competitive matches offer a new route to your 2020. england will play spain and croatia, northern ireland have drawn against austria and bosnia and herzegovina, scotla nd austria and bosnia and herzegovina, scotland against albania and israel, and wales face the republic of and denmark. to melbourne, where defending champion roger federer is through to the semifinal of the australian open. he beat thomas paddick in straight sets.

he is one of sport ‘s most recognisable stars, roger federer, five—time champion in melbourne. somehow for a few moments at least this seemed a little unfamiliar. shots being missed, then umpires being challenged. it was all very unlike roger. for his opponent, thomas birdlike, a great chance to beat the great man. with shots like this, his luck certainly seemed to be in. you do not achieve what federer has needed luck. roaring back, much more what his fans have grown to expect. a challenge federer a lwa ys grown to expect. a challenge federer always looked like meeting. two sets up, there was no letup. after that troubled start, the end was never really in doubt. what is in doubt now is if anyone can stop him.

next up for federer is his south korean opponent. he beat american tennis and grown in straight sets earlier, the 21—year—old the youngest grand slam semifinalist for eight years. world number one simona halep beat christian atsu reach the women‘s semifinals. she fought back after saving a second break points, and 19 games in a row on her way to winning in straight sets. simona halep will face calverton in the final. kerber has won all 1a singles matches she has played so far this season. more sport in the next hour. thank you. it‘s been a busy day in westminster, with david davis in front of the brexit committee, an urgent question on the men—only dinner allegations and theresa may at prime minister‘s questions. let‘s go to our chief

political correspondent vicki young to hear more. we are indoors because it is far too wet outside for me and my guests so wet outside for me and my guests so we thought we would mull over the week ‘s event from indoors, i am joined by katy balls from the spectator and stephen bush from the new statesman. if we start with pmqs, nhs is not surprising that is whatjeremy corbyn decided to go on. is this an issue where labour will a lwa ys is this an issue where labour will always be head of the conservatives? definitely. gavin barwell is rumoured to be one of the people he does have that belief. i think it is the second week corbyn went on the nhs and was much more effective this time, in part thanks to the foreign secretary. borisjohnson's time, in part thanks to the foreign secretary. boris johnson's manoeuvre this week, the briefing he was going to bring out the cabinet, the demand for more money, that eventually came with a slap down from number ten. that made it easier for corbyn to put the pressure on theresa may because it made a sound a bit like

she did not want to get more funding. you particularly enjoyed pmqs this week, what did you make of it? they are both a lot more leading on their feet than i remembered. it's not great art particularly good theatre, though of course one of the things they both do well is click it for social media, the nhs is a great area for social media. while they will always lose to labour on the nhs, they do not lead to lose that badly, if they can get sore point where they are losing narrowly under david cameron, where they were trailing but not miles behind labour. what was interesting yesterday after the boris johnson intervention, i detected from some tory mps than what they did like was the boldness, they are getting slightly fed up with what they say is downing street being far too timid. people feel downing street has been on the back foot basically since midway through the election

campaign. she does not seem like she has denied to step up. they also know this is not a great time to have a leadership election but the difficulty is, because the government has no real agenda other than that, we are all desperate for something to write about. it feels like these mumbles were in forest fire conditions, it is so dry that any spark could burn the whole edifice down. that is a problem, brexit dominate so much, fold theresa may talking about the social mobility agenda, it‘s not really happening? i think there's a problem but at present on her big problem is that the brexit negotiations are at a pause which means everyone has more time to look at the fact that nothing is happening domestically. we saw tweets on friday, the government one of timidity, echoed this week is quite critical editorials from the right wing press but also from other backbenchers such as nicholas on describing this government as hashtag dull, dull, dull. this is from her own side,

they are not saying they want to send the letters back to the 22 committee trying to get rid of her but they are putting in a warning that they do expect some vision from the prime minister, which you could say is fair. when it comes to brexit, you mentioned david davis was in front of a select committee this morning, they said we would not have the gps ironically came on regularly, what did he say?‘ have the gps ironically came on regularly, what did he say? a few things that will worry the risk that wing of the conservative party, he was asked about his red lines on the brexit negotiation and jacob rees—mogg who is a member of the committee warned theresa may that her red lines were starting to look a bit pink. david davis suggested they did not have guidelines because he said it would be an idiot to go into a negotiation with red lines, that will send alarm bells. also a bit of a row brewing on the transition period, jacob rees—mogg is no longer a lone brexiteer, he is now the all— powerful chair of the european research group. if he is raising concerns about the terms the

government are agreeing on the research group, it's probably reflected in the rest of the wing of his party. are the eurosceptics about to start roaring? one of the things the government has done well on is giving lots of rhetorical meat for moving closer towards a softer brexit position. the implementation transition period is a classic example, one thing you can't say about jacob rees—mogg it is not someone who can be fooled by that rhetorical bait and switch. the eurosceptics are starting to get rightly worried, the brexit vague will get is not the one they thought. things could get sticky for the government could get sticky. —— the government could get sticky. —— the brexit and they will get. the tory minister who was at this all men are events, he can survive? this was a horrific story about the fundraising dinner. it seems the government are sticking by him. he called into the back of the chamber, walked, not called! he seemed to be

quite calm and first, sat on his phone quite concerned. and westminster thinks it has had all the divorce was still quite shocking. i thought i had seen the grimmest bit this morning then i realised i had got so depressed midway through that i had stopped and there were even more grim stories. if no one can prove he didn't leave early, but if there is a photo of him still at 11pm then he has to go. thank you very much. that is the story everyone is talking about today but i‘m sure brexit will return to the front pages sometime soon. thank you very much. a new inquest is about to open into the death of a soldier at deepcut barracks in 1995. private sean benton was the first of four young soldiers to be found dead at the barracks in surrey over a seven year period. a coroner has previously ruled that he took his own life. this fresh hearing was ordered after family lawyers got access

to thousands of documents relating to his case. our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. sean benton passed out from his basic army training in the autumn 01:1994. he had fulfilled his boyhood dream. he was sent to deepcut barracks in surrey to finish his training. nine months after he arrived there, he was dead. he was found with a rifle at his side and five bullet wounds to his chest. sean‘s sister, tracey, remembers how he changed in the army. and that‘s you and him...? yeah. at pirbright? she‘s clear what she wants from this new inquest. the truth, what happened, what were his last moments, and the bullying and the culture in that camp, why they let it go on. sean benton, he was found shot. sean‘s parents, harry and linda, didn‘t live to see this new inquest. i promised my mum i would carry on for her, but i feel sad that they are not here,

because it should be them fighting to get some sort ofjustice for sean. sean benton was the first of four young soldiers who died at deepcut over a seven—year period. all had suffered gunshot wounds. a fresh inquest two years ago on one of the four, private cherleames, concluded that she‘d ta ken her own life. at that inquest, deepcut was described as a morally chaotic environment, and the army acknowledged that some instructors had abused their power. sean benton had struggled with military life and, on the day before he died, he‘d been told he was being discharged from the army. the inquest is set to hear from around 150 witnesses. it has to look at in what circumstances he came by his death, so that‘s not only going to be looking at what happened to him, whether he himself was the subject of bullying or harassment or poor support, poor welfare. it‘s going to be looking at the wider circumstances,

what systems and policies were in place to protect young people in that camp. it‘s 23 years since sean benton‘s short life ended. now, for the first time, his days at deepcut will be examined in detail in public. june kelly, bbc news. for the past week over 100 young women have spoken in court about abuse committed by the former team usa gymnastics doctor, larry nassar. he‘s due to be sentenced later today, after admitting multiple counts of sexual abuse. three members of the usa gymnastics board of directors have resigned in the wake of the scandal. 0ur correspondent rajini vaidya nathan reports. face—to—face with their abuser, in scenes you don‘t usually see in court. for decades, larry nassar was a doctor to young gymnasts. his patients included decorated 0lympians, including gold medal winner simone biles. but, under the guise of treatment, he molested them. you used your power to get close to me.

you weren‘tjust a doctor, you were a trusted friend. and i think that is why i have been in denialfor so long. i did not want to admit that you betrayed and deceived me. larry nassar has already pleaded guilty to ten counts of sex abuse. as part of his sentencing, the judge invited any other of his victims to come forward. more than 150 did. 18—year—old emily morales was one of them. i still believed in you and had sympathy for you. how could i have been so naive? how could a person that i thought to be so genuine and kind and caring be in fact the opposite? i will never understand. but, now that i‘ve said that, i want you to look at me. i believe in forgiveness, larry. larry nassar is due to be sentenced today. many of the women also want him to show remorse. the judge has described the women who shared their stories

as sister survivors. their testimony has been harrowing, but also inspiring. it takes a lot for a survivor of sex abuse to relive their ordeal. it‘s even harder to do that in front of their attacker in court. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, lansing, michigan. we just want to show you the scenes in court earlier as larry nassar arrived in the courtroom to hear the final three witness statements, he has pleaded guilty to ten counts of criminal sexual conduct and faces life in prison. the attorney general‘s office in michigan has asked he be sentenced to a years in prison, he faces 60 years injail for possession of child pornography. some 158 women have accused him during this long sentencing period. we will take you to the court when

that sentencing is scheduled. in a moment the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. two children‘s hospitals give back donations to a men—only fundraiser following allegations of sexual harassment. more than 900 court cases in england and wales collapsed last year because of failures by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence — a rise of 70%. and baroness tessa jowell says cancer patients should be free to take the risk of undergoing different innovative treatments on the nhs, in herfirst interview since being diagnosed with a brain tumour. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. wages rose at their fastest rate in almost a year — but are still failing to keep up with rising average prices. excluding bonuses, pay packets rose by 2.4% in the three months to november according to the office for national statistics. but the average cost of goods

and services is rising at 3%, meaning the squeeze on our income continues. your round or mine? well, it seems like we were both feeling generous. the pub chainjd wetherspoon says its sales and profits were better than expected towards the end of last year into the start of 2018. the owner of more than 900 pubs in britain and ireland said like—for—like sales were up 6%. but the firm warned it would face significant costs relating to business rates and sugar tax in the near future to business rates and sugar tax in the nearfuture. wh smith‘s sales on the high street have continued to fall — but are up once again at its travel outlets like those in stations and airports. the company said sales in its high street stores were down 5% — as they expected. it put that down to fewer spoof humour books being sold. clearly no laughing matter. however, total sales in travel branches were up 7%. you write these all yourself, don‘t you! i stole it from ben bland! who are qualcomm and what have they done? qualcomm are a us company and they are the world‘s biggest

maker of mobile phone chips they have been fined £870 million by european authorities for paying billions of dollars to apple to get them to use only qualcomm chips. the eu‘s competition commission has said that is illegal qualcomm said it would appeal against the fine. yogita limaye joins us from the nyse. thank you forjoining us on afternoon live. remind us what qualcomm are accused of doing? essentially what the eu is saying is between 2011 and 2016, qualcomm pays act also apple exclusively brought qualcomm products, the chips that go inside mobile phones, they are still the dominant company, all the

handsets around the world have qualcomm chips. what the eu is saying is that during that period, apple would have considered giving business to other chip makers like intel for example, that they would have considered buying chips from intel but because qualcomm paid them large sums of money there were made exclusive to qualcomm. the eu was also asked whether apple was complicit in this, too that they have said no, this is a qualcomm issue, they don‘t find any wrongdoing on the part of apple. we have heard qualcomm say they will appeal. have we heard anything else? what they have said is that they don‘t believe any of their actions are in violation of eu laws. that is the reason why they have said they are going to appeal this decision. they say they have received notice on this book, but that is what they have said at the moment. this is the first time the eu have gone after a tech firm. is there a sense in the us they are still unfairly targeted?

that‘s right, last year we saw the eu slapped $2.7 billion fines on google, saying they are using their search engine unfairly to divert customers to their own shopping platform, they have also gone after other us tech giants like apple for saying they received unfair tax brea ks saying they received unfair tax breaks from countries like ireland, saying they should pay back billions of dollars to that country. we know in us tech firms did go to the obama administration to lobby for themselves, we know in the obama administration and official directly came out and said this is unfairly targeting us companies, the trump administration has had a pretty strained relations with the tech sector. they have said they will back apple in its tax case with the eu but we will be waiting to hear what kind of reaction this decision elicits from the administration today. thank you for the analysis, on the floor of a very busy stock exchange. unemployment and wage

figures out today — unemployment down but wages up? that‘s right — the number of people in work is at a record high, according to the office for national statistics. employment rose by 102,000 in the three months to november to a record 32.2 million. the unemployment rate was 4.3%, a record low. average wages up — by 2.4% if you exclude bonuses. but wage growth remains below inflation which stands at 3%. so the questions lots of people are asking is...if the labour market is getting really tight — meaning there are fewer potential employees for employers to pick from — why aren‘t wages rising faster? let‘s get an answer from lee hopley, chief economist at the eef — that‘s an organisation that

champions manufacturing and engineering. i think this is quite a complex picture. if only there was a simple answer. what we have seen is a much more resilient labour market over the last year than many were expecting. we have seen much stronger trading conditions to the latter pa rt stronger trading conditions to the latter part of 2013, swearing a lot more hiring activity across the private sector. we are seeing a range of factors weighing down on the bargaining power of employees. we continued to see weak productivity growth and that has been a real feature of the economy since the financial crisis. without that, pay increases are really unsustainable for businesses. in terms of the bargaining power that individuals have, that is also weakened over that period as well. things could be about to change however, certainly the bank of england thinks that might be the case. we have seen a gradual upward

drift in earnings growth in the last pa rt drift in earnings growth in the last part of last year, and that may continue when we come to the bargaining lines in january. a quick look at the markets. the pound at its highest level against the dollar. it‘s very exciting, it has rocketed up this week. not great for importers? no, but it's interesting for me! it's all about you, isn‘t it! interesting for me! it's all about you, isn't it! now, why have 12 camels got the hump? it's because 12 prized camels have been disqualified from a beauty contest in saudi arabia. after their owners tried to enhance their looks with botox. thousands of camels are paraded at the king abdulaziz camel festival to bejudged on their shapely lips and humps.

butjudges "got the hump" when they discovered some owners had cheated in a bid to win the cash prizes. the festival, which also features camel racing and camel milk tasting, has combined prize money of £40million. but 12 disqualified because the owners used botox, there you are. you asked. there are no words. at last! may hear from you later, you asked. there are no words. at last! may hearfrom you later, may not. time for a look at the weather... here‘s tomasz. not a great day on the weather front, can it get any grey? this picture from somerset. we have had downpours and hailstorms and severe gusts of wind of the north west of scotland, a storm sweeping to the north of us, this is well on the satellite is storm georgina, it is

bringing some very strong winds of the hebrides. this is the kind of weather that will be with us for a few more hours, then eventually the low pressure later this afternoon will be just to the north of scotla nd will be just to the north of scotland around the northern isles, as where the worst of the winds will be. for most of us it would be a blustery evening with clear skies and showers. this is what it looks like around 5pm in the afternoon. clear skies but also showers dotted around, moving quite quickly because the wind is high. pushing them through, some will be happy. possibly hail showers as well. the worst wind around the northern islands, storm georgina here. temperatures in the north around 5 degrees at 5pm, in the south it is around nine or so. through the course of this evening, those winds will tend to ease as we had through the night, still some showers around, low—pressure still over us,

if anything the showers will get heavier across the far west. the clearest weather tonight across the east. still a breezy day tomorrow, particularly around western and southern coasts but overall it will bea southern coasts but overall it will be a bit better, you can see a bit of dry weather across the midlands and east anglia. still quite a few showers through. best advice tomorrow, where ever you are and if you are out during the daytime, ibra paired for rain. rain coats and a volley just in case. paired for rain. rain coats and a volleyjust in case. much better day on friday. however there is a weather front approaching us. through the course of saturday, that weather front will be moving across the country, so it looks like some rain on the way for early saturday onwards. saturday and sunday, grey but relatively mild. those temperatures into double figures in the south—west. hello. you‘re watching afternoon live. today at 3... have your money back. charities to

return money raised from a prestigious charity dinner after allegations of sexual harassment at this year‘s event. multiple women told me they had been touched inappropriately. i is from holding hands to touching stomachs, hands near the bottom of their back. women have the right to feel safe where ever they work. allegations of this type of behaviour are completely unacceptable. a court hears a man accused of planning a terror attack outside a mosque was smiling. planning a terror attack outside a mosque was smilinglj planning a terror attack outside a mosque was smiling. i feel every single bit of my determination to go on creating better opportunities for

people managing cancer. cancer patients should be free to take the risk of undergoing different innovative treatments on the nhs — baroness tessa jowell‘s message — in herfirst interview since being diagnosed with a brain tumour. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with holly hamilton . yesterday phil neville was given the topjob in women‘s yesterday phil neville was given the top job in women‘s football. today he is apologising for comments made about women on social media. thanks holly, and we‘ll bejoining you for a full update just after half—past. tomasz schafernaker has all the weather. some stormy skies. the weather will be improving a little bit as we go through the course of the afternoon. also coming up... what‘s with the big pout? a dozen camels have been disqualified from a camel beauty pageant in saudi arabia for receiving botox injections.

hello everyone. this is afternoon live. i‘m simon mccoy. "i thought things had changed — and it is absolutely clear that they haven‘t. we have to send a clear message that this is unacceptable." the words of government minister anne milton in the commons a short time ago — over the men—only charity dinner where women were allegedly, groped, propositioned and sexually harassed. undercover journalists from the ft say it happened at the prestigious presidents club annual charity fundraiser in london. already two charities who benefited say they‘re handing the money back — and one of the organisers, david meller, is standing down as a non—executive board member at the ministry of education. daniela relph has the latest. undercover at the 5—star dorchester hotel. madison marriage, a reporter

for the financial times. here, getting ready for a night‘s work as a hostess at the presidents club fundraising dinner. the guests, all men. the hostesses, all young women. paid around £200 for an evening‘s work. as the dinner began, guests were told they were at the most un—pc event of the year. there was a charity auction, including an offer of plastic surgery at a harley street clinic. perhaps, they were told, for their wives. and during the evening, the undercover reporter says she and others were repeatedly groped and harassed by male guests. multiple women told me that they had been touched inappropriately, and that ranged from holding their hands, to touching their stomachs, to hands near the bottom of their back. things which maybe you might not find too offensive, but then, you know,

touching their bums, kind of grabbing them, pulling them into their laps. yeah, so a complete range of sexual harassment, basically. the event raised more than £2 million for several organisations including great 0rmond street hospital. it now says it will return all donations due to the wholly unacceptable nature of the event. guests included the government minister nadhim zahawi. he said he left early after feeling uncomfortable at what had begun to happen. and the event host, the comedian and writer david walliams, has tweeted: and in a statement, the presidents club said... what happened was that women were bought, as bait, for men —

rich men, not a mile from where we stand, as if that is an acceptable behaviour. it is totally unacceptable. businessmen david meller is a trustee of the presidents club and until today, he was also a nonexecutive board member at the department for education. he has now stepped down from that role. i‘ll be quite honest, mr speaker, i was born in 1955, and i think, as the honourable lady will know, and i have said at this dispatch box before, i thought things had changed, and it is absolutely clear that it hasn‘t changed. i think there is an association between rich wealthy people and this sort of behaviour. we have to send a clear message that this is unacceptable. the future of the presidents club dinner is also now in doubt.

will the allegations of lewd behaviour end an event that has been held for 33 years? daniela relph, bbc news. we heard about david mele resigning from his nonexecutive directorship at the department for education. —— meller. he has also resigned from the london mayor‘s fund as a trustee. with me now is meller frank from the chartered managers institute. i wish i could say i was surprised. i am institute. i wish i could say i was surprised. iam not institute. i wish i could say i was surprised. i am not surprised. we know there is inappropriate widespread behaviour. what is

surprising in a good way is it is getting prominent coverage in the ft and it is getting called out and challenged with consequences. and it is getting called out and challenged with consequencesm terms of the idea of a men only event, rich men, arrogant men, seemingly doing what they think they can get away with in 2018? seemingly doing what they think they can get away with in 201mm seemingly doing what they think they can get away with in 2018? it is surprising, isn‘t it? if you are a captain of industry in 2018, do you really wa nt captain of industry in 2018, do you really want your shareholders, your customers, your employees to see you associated with things like this? everyone associated with it should have thought about it before they went through the door. what goes through the minds of men when they get invited to a men only event? it was described as the world‘s most un—pc evening. for some to say they

we re un—pc evening. for some to say they were surprised and left early, does that wash? they knew what they were getting themselves into full it has been going on for 33 years with what is good is they are being challenged on it. in 2018 when we see this inappropriate behaviour, which takes many forms and is widespread, so it is not only the captains of industry, we need to challenge it, call it out, challenge and change it. i'm call it out, challenge and change it. i‘m what about those who say it is all for charity, the good cause? that makes it even worse. the charities are saying, right, we will give the money back. in 2018, with new voices like the weinstein scandal, these sorts of events will get called out and challenged more often. is this the weinstein event often. is this the weinstein event of the business world? is this the moment the clock reverts back to the

20th century, rather than the 19th? i would hope that is part of that moment. unfortunately, as i said, there are many more instances of this. this is a high profile instance. there are many everyday insta nces instance. there are many everyday instances of that behaviour in the workplace that need to stop. my mag is some of the men attending the event last week are watching it now, what would you say? —— event last week are watching it now, what would you say? -- if some of the men. think about your own behaviour. ask the question, it is 2018, do you really want to your shareholders, employees, customers and family to see you like this? is there a perception out there this is just how business is? this is how some men in business behave? what is changing is it used to bejust some men in business behave? what is changing is it used to be just a shrug off the shoulder and that is just business as usual. now, if you

participate in this, and you don‘t call it out and challenge it, you are complicit. why drug it is great to talk to you. thank you for coming going to move onto other news now. a number of people knocked to the ground during the alleged finsbury park mosque attack have been telling a court about the moment when a van mounted the kerb and crashed into a group of muslims. darren osborne is accused of deliberately driving a van into worshippers in north london lastjune, killing one person. he denies murder and attempted murder. following the case for us at woolwich crown court is our correspondent, angus crawford. for the first time, we heard from an eyewitness to this attack. he was heading home from the mosque. he had been at late—night ramadan prayers when he saw a man collapsed in the street. he went to help him. he‘s

saw he was still talking and his eyes we re saw he was still talking and his eyes were opened was up from the corner of his eye he said he saw a large, white van, which was revving and accelerating. it turned sharp left and hit him with the wing mirrorand left and hit him with the wing mirror and carried on down the street. he said he fell over, got back up and looked around. then the witness said he could see a lot of people splattered all over the place. he said the guy in the van he feared might have weapons or even a knife or gun. he said the man got out of the van and ran towards the crowd. he had his head down and was punching. lots of people are trying to grab him. he was sweaty and angry. the witness said he grabbed the man jumped onto angry. the witness said he grabbed the manjumped onto his back. together with other people he pulled him to the ground and restrained him. the man continued to struggle. he said some people were trying to punch the man and help him —— hurt

him until the local imam arrived and said, leave him alone. he had been hit full on by the van himself and we heard his injuries described as life limiting and they would require months of rehab. thank you for that. now more on our main story, the events at the presidents club charity dinner. the man who organised it has quit the department for education board. we can now speak to dawn butler, shadow ministerfor women & equalities. i wonder what your reaction was when you saw the report? i thought was a script from a really bad movie. i could not quite believe that was happening in this day and age. i was shocked to understand that politicians and people with responsiblejobs and politicians and people with

responsible jobs and a member of the government attended. i am pleased that david meller has resigned from w should not have resigned, he should have been sacked for the back of the anyway to show we are serious about stamping out the culture of sexual abuse and bullying. i am also demanding that the government rei nstates demanding that the government reinstates the clauses in the equalities act 2010 which labour had which encompasses third—party harassment reporting, which was borne out of the harassment we saw at another famous dinner, web borne out of the harassment we saw at anotherfamous dinner, web black waitresses were abused. u nfortu nately, waitresses were abused. unfortunately, the coalition government decided to repeal the clauses that allowed for third—party reporting. all of this have to change if we are really serious about taking women seriously and stamping out sexual harassment. it is absolutely shocking. i‘m sure people are thinking, are we sure it

happened? the evidence is pretty clear. the ft‘s port is pretty clear on what they say they saw. the children and families minister, nadhim zahawi, has condemned it that he was there at the beginning. what do you think about that?” he was there at the beginning. what do you think about that? i would like to know if he condemned it on the night. we talk very much about how to stop this culture, how to protect women in public spaces. one of the first things we say is when you speak out, you say, no, it is wrong was that you see someone putting a hand up a woman passwords that you stop it from happening full you see someone else harassing a woman or someone else who is vulnerable, you stop it happening. you do not wait for it to be exposed. it is a poor and weak excuse and makes it complicit to what is happening, i am afraid. group of wealthy men behaving as they did. they may say, look, this is all for charity. it is in a good

cause. don‘t blight charity in the name of charity or use charity to act in an inappropriate way. if they wa nt to act in an inappropriate way. if they want to raise money for charity, by all means. great 0rmond street hospital do an amazing job looking after children do not blight them with the murky world of this sexual harassment than to see these wealthy men seem to live in. ok. thank you very much for your time. dawn butler, shadow ministerfor equalities. i just want to show you a tweet that has come in from carolyn fairburn, who has been commenting on this what she has had to say has been very much picked up. if even half of what has been written about the event is true, it is deplorable. that is from the director—general of

the cbi. if you have a view on this, do let us know. you can tweet to me. there‘s been a significant rise in the number of prosecutions collapsing in england and wales, because of a failure by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence. figures obtained by bbc news show that more than 900 people were formally cleared, or had cases against them dropped, in the year to last april, because of problems with disclosure. 588,000 cases were prosecuted. here‘s our home affairs correspondent danny shaw. i was relieved, notjust for myself, for everyone that‘s been with it every step of the way. under investigation for rape for two years, liam allen‘s life was on hold. then, three days into his trial, his legal team received crucial information and the prosecution was halted. the case highlighted problems with disclosure, the duty on police and prosecutors to pass on material which might assist the defence case or undermine the prosecution‘s. finally, liam allen achieved the justice that should have

been his from two years earlier. he had been on bail for two years not knowing if he was going to be convicted, facing a sentence of perhaps 12 years or so and be on the sex offenders' register for life. just the toll upon a young man who is in the middle of a university degree cannot be imagined. bbc news has obtained figures on how many people have been cleared or had allegations dropped against them because of disclosure failings. in 2014—15, proceedings were halted against 537 people. by last year, that number had risen to 916. that‘s a 70% increase in two years in the number of defendants cleared after disclosure failings emerged. the implication is that it could lead to miscarriages ofjustice. the criminaljustice system is based upon trusting the prosecution to disclose material which undermines their case or assists a defence case. and if they are not doing

that, then clearly, there can‘t be a fair trial. the crown prosecution service says the number of trials which collapsed because evidence is not disclosed when it should be is a fraction of the total number of cases they deal with, about one in every 1,000 prosecutions. but the cps says that is still too many and, in the coming days, they will be publishing an action plan to tackle the issue, along with the police. senior police officers say there needs to be a change of mindset, so disclosure is put at the centre of an investigation, rather than something that is done at the end. danny shaw, bbc news, at the old bailey. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. two children‘s hospitals give back donations to a men—only fundraiser following allegations of sexual harassment. more than 900 court cases in england and wales collapsed last year because of failures by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence — a rise of 70%. and baroness tessa jowell says cancer patients should be free to take the risk of undergoing different innovative

treatments on the nhs, in herfirst interview since being diagnosed with a brain tumour. in sport, phil neville lands the top job in english women‘s football. he has apologised for controversial, historical tweets about women, saying they were not the true and genuine reflection of his character or beliefs. draft for the europa league takes place. in places most international friendlies on the calendar and will give teams another route to england‘s 2020. roger federer is through to his 14th australia open semifinal. he will face a south korean on friday. i will be back with more on those stories at 3:30 p:m.. for the past week over 100 young women have spoken in court

about abuse committed by the former team usa gymnastics doctor, larry nassar. he‘s due to be sentenced, after admitting multiple counts of sexual abuse. one woman chose to give excerpts from a diary as an insight into the abuse. the ugly rally the of the past year of my life. they don‘t see the frustration, the exhaustion, the sadness, the emotional and physical trauma that haunts my every move. they do not see the days my husband finds me crying on the floor of my bedroom. they don‘t see me hiding in the bathroom at work, begging myself to pull it togetherjust the bathroom at work, begging myself to pull it together just to the bathroom at work, begging myself to pull it togetherjust to make it through the rest of the day. they don‘t see the trembling in shaking that my body has developed as a defence mechanism when i tell my story. that can sometimes go on for

hours at a time. they are not the ones responding to text messages and facebook messages from the other girls in this room talking about life at three in the morning like it is three in the afternoon was that they do not see my google search history morning, noon and night reading every word printed that day that may be remotely relevant as i hope for good news with every day that passes. they don‘t see the boys that passes. they don‘t see the boys that lingers in the back of my head every time i go to the gym. they don‘t see my fear of going to bed but not just because don‘t see my fear of going to bed but notjust because of the insomnia or nightmares that each night brings but because i have no idea what waking up the next day will bring. they don‘t see a dramatic way this has changed my day—to—day life, the way it has ever changed the way i see the world and now how i see my place in it. those people see none of it. they see none of it because

it is not their burden to bear, it is unfortunately ours. we will bring you the latest from michigan when the sentencing gets under way. sam breaking news. the continuing controversy breaking news. the continuing co ntrove rsy over breaking news. the continuing controversy over the decision to release black cabbie john controversy over the decision to release black cabbiejohn warboys. we have some letters sent to the victims ofjohn warboys in 2009 after he was found guilty of 19 offences against 12 women. the letters were sent by the detective who led the investigation, david reed, from the metropolitan police, and also by the lawyer at the crown prosecution service who is responsible, a man called anthony connell. the tenor of both letters is to thank the victims for coming forward and to try to give them some reassurance that they were expecting

a very hefty sentence forjohn warboys. indeed the cps letter was sent after he had been sentenced. that letter explains the centres and suggests it was similar to a sentence of life imprisonment. —— best sentence. nothing in those letters say thatjohn warboys will never come out and nothing to say he is unlikely never to be released stop it is about offering victims reassurance that he will be behind bars for a very long time. all of this putting pressure on the parole board, whose decision sparked this whole controversy. when you read these letters, especially from the crown prosecution service lawyer, it does make it even more bizarre, the decision but parole board has made, two years after warboys was refused permission to go to an open prison. the letter from the cps lawyer,

anthony connell, says, it is clear from thejudge anthony connell, says, it is clear from the judge posner sentencing remarks he is considered a dangerous offender. those responsible for considering any application will no doubt have this in mind, together with the fact he committed an awful lot of offences. they will also have regard to the fact he denied his guilt throughout the trial and maintained innocence after the conviction. it is written, contrition is a factor considered most carefully by those responsible for considering any application for release. there is a clear indication that unless you express remorse and you hold your hands up and say, yes, idid you hold your hands up and say, yes, i did it and you hold your hands up and say, yes, i did itand he wanted you hold your hands up and say, yes, i did it and he wanted change your ways, you are very unlikely to be released. as recently as 2015, he was still maintaining his innocence. we know that at the moment, john warboys walks soon. arrangements are

being made for his release. i don‘t think it will matter this week. it could happen next week or the week after. the licence conditions will be rigorous and there is a consultation going on with the victims of warboys about that. at the same time there are other issues, one is the fact there is a new victim who has come forward, alleging sexual —— sexual assault from 1997. also there is a possibility of a legal challenge involving possibly the daily mail and the sun as well as some of warboys victims against the decision made by the parole board. save the children has temporarily suspended all of its operations in afghanistan after attackers stormed their offices in the eastern city of jalalabad. at least two people have been killed

and 12 injured according to officials and it‘s believed around 50 staff were in the building at the time. four gunmen are believed to have taken part in the attack, and three are said to have been killed. the fourth is reported to be barricaded on the top floor of the office building. uk unemployment fell by 3,000 to 1.41; million in the three months to november. the number of people in work has reached a record high of 32.2 million, according to figures from the office for national statistics. but the growth in wages, at 2.4%, remained below inflation at 3.1% the former labour cabinet minister, dame tessa jowell, has spoken about her diagnosis of a particularly aggressive form of brain cancer called glyoblastoma. in herfirst interview since being told she had the illness, the former culture secretary has been speaking to the today programme‘s nick robinson about how she‘s determined it will not diminish her sense of hope. i was diagnosed with an acute and very serious form of brain cancer. it came with absolutely no expectation. no warning? absolutely none at all. i had not a single apparent symptom.

but you‘ve decided to speak in the house of lords about your illness, and what you think needs to be done to help others. was it a difficult decision? and why is it important to you to go to the lords to speak out? it hasn‘t been a difficult decision at all, because this is something that i feel a tremendous sense of mission about. one change you want is a change to the way medical research is carried out, and the phrase that is used is adaptive trials. what do you mean by that? the important fact about an adaptive trial means that it can start and not... not achieve what you want, and then move on to the next version. you don‘t have to simply wait for a set number of weeks or months? exactly.

and it allows you to trial more than one thing? yes, and that‘s how we get the pace of changes happening quickly. so a patient might try, i‘ll take the risk, i‘ll try one, two, three things, whatever the side effects, because i want to take my chances. that‘s exactly the kind of risk that patients should be free to take. anybody who has had cancer knows that, particularly for people like you, maybe people like me, the hardest thing to get used to is not being in control. i don‘t think i‘d immediately leapt to the inevitability of cancer. i think that to begin with i felt i would have this tumour, that it would be operated on, and then that would be it. it‘s actually much harder now, because now my life is day

by day affected by tumour. i‘ve been lucky enough to read the speech you will give to the house of lords, and you end with some words from seamus heaney, the poet. he said, i‘m not afraid. i am not afraid. i feel very clear about my sense of purpose and what i want to do, and how do i know how long it‘s going to last? i‘m certainly going to do everything i can to make it a very long time. and the health secretaryjeremy hunt has announced on twitter that he will be looking at cancer care suggestions made by baronessjowell following her interview this morning on the today programme. just a quick bit of breaking news.

we arejust just a quick bit of breaking news. we are just hearing from the bank of england governor, all to do with the president‘s club dinner. mark carney is deeply dismayed that an event like this could take place. the bank is stressing they did not approve any prize for the gala and had no association with that organisation for that organisation full. this follows reports that one of the prizes on offer was the chance to have tea with bank of england governor, mark carney. there are denials that was ever approved by the bank of england and a strong condemnation of events at the club last week. it's it‘s been quite a stormy day in the far north off north—west scotland, some strong gusts of wind and gales have been felt across other parts of

the uk as well. this is storm georgina sweeping, grazing the north west of scotland. a weather front also crossing other parts of the uk, also crossing other parts of the uk, a blustery day for many with a spell of heavy rain at some point. storm georgina they‘re just clearing to the north of scotland by the time we get to the second half of the afternoon. rush hour temperatures, five in the north, around nine in the south. it will remain breezy with showers but lots of clear spells as well. quite a turbulent evening on the way, particularly across the north with mountain snow. thursday looking better, still some showers but not quite as many. this is bbc news —

our latest headlines. the charity commission says it‘s looking into allegations that hostesses were groped and propositioned at a men—only fundraising event in london. two children‘s hospitals, including great 0rmond street, are to return all money raised at the annual presidents club dinner. multiple women told me they had been touched inappropriately, and that ranged from holding their hands to touching their stomachs, to hands near the bottom of the back. the number of prosecutions in england and wales that collapsed because of a failure by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence increased by 70% in the last two years according to figures obtained by the bbc. the crown prosecution service says the justice system has "systemic" problems.

a deaf woman is taking legal action because the promoter of a little mix concert failed to provide a sign language interpreter for part of the gig. sally reynolds and her friends requested an interpreter for the concert in sussex last year. a court hears that a man accused of carrying out a terror attack outside a north london mosque was smiling after ploughing a van into worshippers. darren osborne, a8, is accused of ploughing into worshippers in finsbury park, killing one person and injuring nine others last year. cancer patients should be free to take the risk of undergoing different innovative treatments on the nhs — dame tessa jowell‘s message — in herfirst interview since being diagnosed with a brain tumour. a nun says she has a ‘deep sense of regret‘ for any abuse at children‘s home in scotland, as she gives evidence to the scottish child abuse inquiry. smyllum park children‘s home in lanark faces allegations of historic physical, sexual and emotional abuse. sport now on afternoon live.

phil neville hasn‘t had the best start since taking up his role as england women‘s manager, has he? as first days go, this might be one of the worst. since there was talk of the worst. since there was talk of phil neville getting the job, there have been mixed reactions. it did not help when a couple of hours after signing on the dotted line yesterday, some controversial tweets we re yesterday, some controversial tweets were dug up from a few years back which do not paint him in the best light. some have described them as sexist, one in particularfrom 2012 in which he suggested women might be too busy making breakfast and getting the kids ready to read his tweets. he has since deleted his twitter account and has apologised, insisting his comments were not a true and genuine reflection of his character or his beliefs, but people

are not happy. campaigners like kick it out are calling for a disciplinary charge to be bought. the other issue of course is people pointing out a lack of managerial experience? remember he has coached at his former club, man united, as well as valencia and england under 21s. actually he‘s only ever managed one game at salford city which of course he co—owns, there has also been concerns raised over his lack of experience within the women‘s game, the women in football group said today it actually felt like a kick in the teeth and the women‘s sport trust have said they are disappointed at the apparent lack of transparency and the process in the appointments, however we have heard from the men‘s manager gareth southgate who insists the process was thorough. how do you get that experience without opportunity? wish him well. there has been a thorough process around that application. he is taking over a team, a good team, they have

improved enormously over the last few years, hopefully for them as a team, everybody can stop everybody can start focusing on the football and how they progress. that was gareth southgate speaking at the draw for the new uefa nations league which took place this morning. it will replace most friendlies with competitive matches to offer a new route to euro 2020. england will play spain and croatia, northern ireland have drawn against austria and bosnia and herzegovina, scotland against albania and israel, and wales face the republic of and denmark. will it be michael o‘neill at leading the green and white army? the northern ireland manager has said he expects to sign a new contract said he expects to sign a new co ntra ct to said he expects to sign a new contract to remain in charge until 2024. last week he had been in talks with the sfa regarding its vacancy,

but has elected to stay put.|j with the sfa regarding its vacancy, but has elected to stay put. i have two years left on my current contract, we will get round the table again, we had positive discussions before christmas is about extending my contract. as i say, we pick them up in the next week or so and have something to announce hopefully in the next two weeks. to melbourne, where defending champion roger federer is he beat tomas berdych in straight sets. he is one of sport‘s most recognisable stars, roger federer, five—time champion in melbourne. somehow for a few moments at least this seemed a little unfamiliar. shots being missed, then umpires being challenged. it was all very unlike roger. for his opponent, tomas berdych, a great chance to beat the great man. with shots like this, his luck certainly seemed to be in. but you do not achieve what federer

has by needing luck. roaring back from three games behind, much more what his fans have grown to expect. berdych providing a challenge, but one federer looked like meeting. two sets up, there was no letup. after that troubled start, the end was never really in doubt. what is in doubt now is if anyone can stop him. more sport in the next hour. thank you. downing street says the prime minister was ‘uncomfortable‘ reading reports of sexual harassment at a men—only fundraising gala at the dorchester hotel in london. two children‘s hospitals, including great 0rmond street, are to return all money raised at the dinner after an undercover reporter from the financial times said hostesses were groped and propositioned.

the organisers of the dinner say they‘re appalled by the allegations and have launched an investigation. businessman david meller, the presidents club chair, has resigned from his position as a director at the department for education. at this event, there are allegations of inappropriate and lewd behaviour. it is quite extraordinary to me that in the 21st—century allegations of this kind are still emerging. women have the right to feel safe where ever they work, and allegations of this type of behaviour are com pletely this type of behaviour are completely unacceptable. david miller has been a nonexecutive board member in the department for education and the chair of the apprenticeship delivery board. the government expects board members to adhere to the code of conduct for board members of public bodies. this clearly states they should adhere to

the seven principles of public life. david mellor is stepping down as nonexecutive member for the department for education, and the apprenticeship delivery board.|j welcome that david mellor is standing down, the undercover report in the financial times about the event organised by the charitable trust which he chairs tells more thanjust trust which he chairs tells more than just an alarming story, and trust which he chairs tells more thanjust an alarming story, and i noticed that the organisation wishes to put it on to the individual members, were actually what happened was that women were bought as bait. for men, rich men, not a mile from where we stand. as if that is u na cce pta ble where we stand. as if that is unacceptable behaviour, it is totally u na cce pta ble. unacceptable behaviour, it is totally unacceptable. at dinner last night, there were notjust conservative members who were attending there, not conservative men attending that dinner, they were from all political nominations. the

problem is with the dinner itself, the fact there are men who attend those dinners and think it is appropriate. one of the prizes of that dinner was plastic surgery to spice up your wife. it is appalling that that continues, i support the minister in her response and we all have our duty to make sure those dinners don't ever happen again.|j hope the secretary of state is as disappointed as i am at both the board member and a minister in this apartment attending an event describing itself as the most un—pc event of the year. let‘s be clear about what that meant, an event where women were invited not as guests but as objects of the rich and powerful men. they had to act as hostesses and were forced to wear revealing clothes and a number of reports they were groped and sexually harassed. joining me now is daniel fluskey, head of policy and research at the institute of fundraising. when you first saw the ft report,

what was your reaction?” when you first saw the ft report, what was your reaction? i was appalled, i thought it was disgusting behaviour that has no place in our society and it was horrible to think women had to endure that under the guise of charity fundraising. have you ever heard of anything like this before? is there an assumption that this is ok? is there an assumption that this is 0k? no, it is there an assumption that this is ok? no, it is absolutely never ok, this kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable. the fact that it was for charity or that some donations we re for charity or that some donations were raised in no wayjustifies what took place. when events are organised, what sort of checks are made? is there an oversight on things like this? every charity should have a duty of care to its employees, it volunteers, orto should have a duty of care to its employees, it volunteers, or to the staff of the venue where those events might be taking place as well as to the attendees and the people that are coming. they should be taking every opportunity to check

that the event they are running is going to be safe, that people will be taken care of and that they can go there and have a good time with no expectation or no pretence of there being any kind of behaviour like this. difficult for charities who get a phone call saying we are raising money, would you be prepared to be on the list if we raise money for you? what to be on the list if we raise money for you ? what can to be on the list if we raise money for you? what can they actually do, if they had seen perhaps this was an all men event attended by the rich and powerful, they may have drawn some conclusions, i don‘t know? and powerful, they may have drawn some conclusions, i don't know? we don‘t know exactly what the charges may know about what the event was and what went on. everything begins and what went on. everything begins and ends with the charity values, so now they know how that money was raised, those charities can choose to refuse those donations, great 0rmond street hospital today said they would refuse a donation from they would refuse a donation from the president‘s club. because it can‘t be right to the charities who add are here to make a difference

and rely on the goodwill of the public can risk that reputation by having donations tainted in this way. gambling has its own oversight, other industries, fund does not? other industries, fund does nowm does. all charities are regulated by the charity commission and the charity commission today have said they will investigate the president‘s club. there is also a fundraising regulator which sets a code of practice for fundraising which sets out all the details about how charities fund raise, all of those have to be abided by. your hope is this is the moment everyone ta kes stock hope is this is the moment everyone takes stock and realises where the line is? absolutely. even if you have never been involved in these events, it is the right time to take stock, do checks and balances and make sure any event and any fundraising you are putting on is being done in the right way. thank you for coming in. little mix, forfailing to provide a sign language interpreter

for two support acts. sally reynolds and two deaf friends took their daughters to the concert, organised by lhg live, last september. our legal affairs correspondent, clive coleman, has the story. i like that one there... cate merry and herfriend megan are massive little mix fans. # i got the, i got the, i got the power...# last year, cate‘s mum sally bought tickets to see the band in concert. sally is deaf, and booked for her and two deaf friends to go with their daughters. she asked the organisers lhg live to provide a british sign language interpreter. we asked two or three times initially, please can you provide an interpreterfor us, and the explanation we got back was just a no, we didn‘t have any reason behind it. eventually we became so frustrated. i wanted to share the same experience that my daughter had, and that my friends were there too, essentially i just wanted access to the songs.

under the equality act, any organisation supplying a service to the public is under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people‘s experience is as close as possible to those without a disability. with just days to go before the concert and no interpreter in place, sally took an unprecedented legal step. she instructed lawyers to apply for a court injunction to force lhg live to provide a british sign language interpreter, and it worked. music: "black magic" by little mix. the girls and their mums got to go to the concert, and when little mix took to the stage their lyrics were interpreted for sally and her friends. but earlier on there were two supporting acts, and the interpreter hadn‘t been booked to cover them. ifelt that, you know, we were really part of the little mix experience. but because it was so good, i realised that we‘d missed out on the first two acts, so it was very much a disparity

of experience to everybody else. in a statement, lhg live told the bbc: for cate merry, there‘s only one thing that matters. because i really love my mum and i really want her to come to the concerts with me. clive coleman, bbc news. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. two children‘s hospitals give back donations to a men—only fundraiser following allegations of sexual harassment. more than 900 court cases in england and wales collapsed last year because of failures by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence — a rise of 70%. and baroness tessa jowell says cancer patients should be free

to take the risk of undergoing different innovative treatments on the nhs, in herfirst interview since being diagnosed with a brain tumour. wages rose at their fastest rate in almost a year — but are still failing to keep up with rising average prices. excluding bonuses, pay packets rose by 2.4% in the three months to november according to the office for national statistics. but the average cost of goods and services is rising at 3%, meaning the squeeze on our income continues. your round or mine? well, it seems like we were both feeling generous. the pub chainjd wetherspoon says its sales and profits were better than expected towards the end of last year into the start of 2018. the owner of more than 900 pubs in britain and ireland said like—for—like sales were up 6%. but the firm warned it would face significant costs relating to business rates and sugar tax in the nearfuture. wh smith‘s sales on the high street

have continued to fall — but are up once again at its travel outlets like those in stations and airports. the company said sales in its high street stores were down 5% — as they expected. it put that down to fewer spoof humour books being sold. clearly no laughing matter. however, total sales in travel branches were up 7%. i knew you enjoyed that one, so i kept it in again! you have the latest figures on pension freedoms. that‘s right. pension freedoms — started in april 2015 with the aim of giving people greater flexibility — allowing them more choice about how to use their pension savings by allowing them to withdraw lump sums. since then almost £16 billion has been withdrawn. and while it‘s looking like the number of people withdrawing sums of money

from their pension pots is increasing — the amount they are withdrawing is falling. now many were worried when these freedoms were introduced that it could result in people taking out money that they need for their retirement and splurging it on expensive holidays or loosing it on financial scams. they put their money in an account so they know where it is but they don‘t realise they will not get the tax—free interest on it the way they would in a pension. there were these concerns. so what do today‘s figures tell us? that‘s what i asked tom mcphail — head of policy at hargreaves. there was this real concern as people were moving away from buying the guaranteed income for life, they have the freedom to take as much money as they like from the pension pot, the worry was would they would do that responsibly? were they all go out and spend it all? the data we are seeing today really supports mounting evidence that that is not

the case, the pension freedoms are run popular and no more and more people using the freedoms every year but the amounts being withdrawn are settling down into something of an equilibrium, it appears they are not continuing to escalate. this is in spite of several years of fairly strong stock market growth. the amount of people taking money out is not escalating, so this is reassuring. christmas has only just finished but you‘re already talking about it again? yes — because the toy fair is on — the uk‘s largest dedicated game and hobby event with the most anticipated products for the year ahead. facts — 26,000 toys were launched last year most popular items — doll play sets, pre—school figures and action figures but all may not be well in toy town — toy r us in the uk and the us have announced store closures — lego announced plans to lay off staff and following three years of consecutive growth in the uk, toy industry sales were down 2.8% in 2017 according to the british toy

and hobby association. but the toy fair was a hot ticket this week. and one man lucky enough to attend is stuart miles, founder & ceo of the tech review site pocket—lint.com. stuart, your specialism is tech — how has the range of tech toys changed over the years? certainly with the advent of coding in schools, we are starting to see some coding robots coming through, but also this combination of physical toys, ie traditional toys, merging with iphones and android devices to create an enhanced element. one of the big toys that

the show advertised was this toy called recoil, a gun where you shoot people with lasers, but now they are adding the ability to plug in your smartphone and use that for ammo counts, working out where people are, seeing the game area and things like that. we mentioned toy sales have fallen for the first time in four years in the uk but we are still spending £339 per child in the uk on toys. when you at the toy fair, what looked like it could be the most popular buys from this year? from a non-tech perspective, one thing i noticed was lots of slime. lots of things like that, a big youtube sensation, lots of people watching how to make slime, do things with slime, toy manufacturers are catching on to that and offering that as well. there is this constant play of tech, thatis there is this constant play of tech, that is quite a important thing,

coding big, lots of robots designed for five plus and younger to allow them to stop this idea of placing things in sequence to code. then those move onto more coding apps, bigger projects, some big italian companies coming in with a robot as well. then into lego. your professional interest is tech but you are a dad of three, having been at the toy fair was there one standout toy that you thought yes, next christmas, that‘s molest? standout toy that you thought yes, next christmas, that's molest? one of the ones i really liked was a tech toy called botley, it was for coding, i had a five—year—old daughter, it was coding for her. i liked it because it encouraged the child to code but it was not an ipad ora child to code but it was not an ipad or a tablet enabled device, so you could play on its own, it with a grid control, very much like the big track i have when i a kid. this

mileage of moving across from having a phone to using traditional toys, we saw lots of that at christmas, my concern sometimes as we worry about screen time germany, and enforcing a child to then keep playing with an ipad most likely your own smartphone if it‘s a younger child, it‘s nice to see toys that they necessarily need a smart device to make them smart. smart slime. smart slime enabled by your phone! i can‘t even think about it. the pound against the dollar has been rising all day. $1.42. a look thatis been rising all day. $1.42. a look that is to do with these unemployment figures in the uk, it is suggesting the uk economy is much more stable than people had

suggested it would be, there is strength in stirling, at the same time there is weakness in the dollar and that is really helping to push the pound up, and the count goes up ftse comes down. we turned those profits into pounds, reducing the value of their profits. this and water spoons i will be discussing in an hour. that‘s all the business news. 12 prized camels have been disqualified from a beauty contest after their owners tried to enhance their looks with botox. thousands of camels are paraded at the king abdulaziz camel festival to bejudged on their shapely lips and humps. butjudges "got the hump" when they discovered some owners had cheated in a bid to win the cash prizes. the festival, which also features camel racing and camel milk tasting, has combined prize money of £40million. time for a look at the weather...

not a great day on the weather front, can it get any greyer? this picture from somerset. we have had downpours and hailstorms and severe gusts of wind off the north west of scotland, a storm sweeping to the north of us, this swell on the satellite is storm georgina, it is bringing some very strong winds off the hebrides. this is the kind of weather that will be with us for a few more hours, then eventually the low pressure later this afternoon will be just to the north of scotland around the northern isles, as where the worst of the winds will be. for most of us it would be a blustery evening with clear skies and showers. this is what it looks like around 5pm in the afternoon. clear skies but also showers dotted around, moving quite quickly because the wind is high. pushing them through, some will be happy. some will be heavy.

possibly hail showers as well. the worst wind around the northern islands, storm georgina here. temperatures in the north around 5 degrees at 5pm, in the south it is around nine or so. through the course of this evening, those winds will tend to ease as we head through the night, still some showers around, low—pressure still over us, if anything the showers will get heavier across the far west. the clearest weather tonight across the east. still a breezy day tomorrow, particularly around western and southern coasts but overall it will be a bit better, you can see a bit of dry weather across the midlands and east anglia. still quite a few showers through. best advice tomorrow, where ever you are and if you are out during the daytime, be prepared for rain. rain coats and a brolley

just in case. much better day on friday. however there is a weather front approaching us. through the course of saturday, that weather front will be moving across the country, so it looks like some rain on the way for early saturday onwards. saturday and sunday, grey but relatively mild. those temperatures into double figures in the south—west. hello. you‘re watching afternoon live. today at 4... have your money back — charities return money raised at a prestigious men—only charity dinner after allegations of sexual harassment at this year‘s event. multiple women told me they had been touched inappropriately and that ranged from holding their hands to touching their stomachs to hands near the bottom of their back. women have the right to feel safe wherever they work and allegations of this type of behaviour are completely unacceptable a former doctor to the us gymnastics

team is due to be sentenced after admitting multiple counts of sexual abuse. some of his victims addressed him directly at the hearing. there is peace in knowing you will never be able to walk the streets again and hurt any other little girls. a court hears that a man accused of carrying out a terror attack outside a north london mosque was smiling after ploughing a van into worshippers. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with olly foster. phil neville‘s appointment is still controversial. he is not long into it. less than 24 hours after becoming the head coach of the lionesses. the fa has been criticised for giving him the job lionesses. the fa has been criticised for giving him thejob in the first place. thanks, olly. and tomasz schafernaker has all the weather. very windy, especially in scotland.

saum georgina is sweeping through. more on the forecast in half an hour. thatcher ‘s rugged storm georgina. also coming up... how the south west is tackling plastic pollution at sea by recycling the waste into kayaks. hello, everyone. this is afternoon live. i‘m simon mccoy. "i thought things had changed and it is absolutely clear that they haven‘t. we have to send a clear message that this is unacceptable." the words of government minister anne milton in the commons a short time ago, over the men—only charity dinner where women were allegedly, groped, propositioned and sexually harassed. undercover journalists from the ft say it happened at the prestigious presidents club annual charity fundraiser in london. already two charities who benefited say they‘re handing the money back —

and one of the organisers, david meller, is standing down as a non—executive board member at the ministry of education. daniela relph has the latest. undercover at the 5—star dorchester hotel. madison marriage, a reporter for the financial times. here, getting ready for a night‘s work as a hostess at the presidents club fundraising dinner. the guests, all men. the hostesses, all young women. paid around £200 for an evening‘s work. as the dinner began, guests were told they were at the most un—pc event of the year. there was a charity auction, including an offer of plastic surgery at a harley street clinic. perhaps, they were told, for their wives. and during the evening, the undercover reporter says she and others were repeatedly groped and harassed by male guests. multiple women told me that they had been

touched inappropriately, and that ranged from holding their hands, to touching their stomachs, to hands near the bottom of their back. things which maybe you might not find too offensive, but then, you know, touching their bums, kind of grabbing them, pulling them into their laps. yeah, so a complete range of sexual harassment, basically. the event raised more than £2 million for several organisations including great 0rmond street hospital. it now says it will return all donations due to the wholly unacceptable nature of the event. guests included the government minister nadhim zahawi. he said he left early after feeling uncomfortable at what had begun to happen. he has vowed to never attend a men only function again. the event

organiser was not at the dinner but has expressed his dismay. and the event host, the comedian and writer david walliams, has tweeted: and in a statement, the presidents club said... what happened was that women were bought, as bait, for men — rich men, not a mile from where we stand, as if that is an acceptable behaviour. it is totally unacceptable. businessman david meller is a trustee of the presidents club

and until today, he was also a nonexecutive board member at the department for education. he has now stepped down from that role. i‘m quite old, mr speaker, i was born in 1955, and i think, as the honourable lady will know, and i have said at this dispatch box before, i thought things had changed, and it is absolutely clear that it hasn‘t changed. i think there is an association between rich, wealthy people and this sort of behaviour. we have to send a clear message that this is unacceptable. the future of the presidents club dinner is also now in doubt. will the allegations of lewd behaviour end an event that has been held for 33 years? daniela relph, bbc news. our chief political correspondent is here to talk about theirs. nadhim

zahawi has here to talk about theirs. nadhim za hawi has put here to talk about theirs. nadhim zahawi has put out a condemnation of it but he was there. many questions have been raised join the session in the house of commons about that some labour mps suggesting he had attended this event before. we have not been able to get to the bottom of that. he therefore should have realised. questions about when he did actually leave. when you go to events saying it is the most un—pc events saying it is the most un—pc event of the year, it should make you think twice grand especially if you think twice grand especially if you are an mp or a government minister. there are calls for him to think about his position. he has put out a tweet this afternoon saying, i do unequivocally condemn this behaviour. the report is truly shocking. i will never attend a men only function, ever. after prime minister‘s questions, although it was not raised as a question with the prime minister, afterwards her spokesman was asked what she felt about all of this. the prime

minister was uncomfortable at report she had read in the paper in the morning and added quite pointedly it is an event she would not be invited to. there was also a comment from labour, a spokesman forjeremy corbyn, suggesting that one of the labour fundraisers, appear, might also have been there. the labour spokesman said women clearly felt threatened at this event and said it was an outrageous example of sexual harassment under the guise of a charity event. i'mjust harassment under the guise of a charity event. i'm just hearing that a spokesperson for theresa may says borisjohnson a spokesperson for theresa may says boris johnson didn‘t know a spokesperson for theresa may says borisjohnson didn‘t know a lunch with him was auctioned at the club. mark carney is also angry his name has been associated with this. how much anger is there within westminster over all of this? westminster over all of this? westminster has had its own problems. we have had allegations recently about some of the things that had been going on in the palace of westminster. i still think today

mps were really shocked about what they were reading, the idea that this kind of event was going on, even though it has been going on for 30 years of the idea it was still going on and all these people were turning out to be men clearly thinking there was no problem with it. the idea that a government minister could go there and not think twice it could be an issue clearly has shocked people as well. you talk about borisjohnson. i think it could be a similar situation to mark carney where they said the prize, if you like, had been offered at a previous auction and the winner sent it on and had it we auctioned somewhere else. there was no question that borisjohnson was no question that borisjohnson was that the event that the fact that many charities are handing back the money clearly means the days of this event are probably numbered. thank you very much. for the past week over 100 young women have spoken in court about abuse committed by the former team usa gymnastics doctor, larry nassar.

he‘s due to be sentenced shortly. one woman chose to read excerpts from her diary. the ugly reality of the past year of my life. they don‘t see the frustration, the exhaustion, the sadness, the emotional and physical trauma that haunts my every day and every move. they do not see the days my husband finds me crying on the floor of my bedroom. they don‘t see me hiding in the bathroom at work, begging myself to pull it togetherjust to make it through the rest of the day. they don‘t see the trembling and shaking that my body has developed as a defence mechanism when i tell my story. that can sometimes go on for hours at a time. we we re

we were ultimately strong enough to ta ke we were ultimately strong enough to take you down. not by one but by an army of survivors. we are jane doe is no more. i will never be out of the gymnastics again in the same way. as i look to the future, i plan to pursue a career in criminal justice. i hope by putting people like you away our might be able to stop the nightmares and start healing. there is peace in knowing you will never be able to walk the streets again and hurt any other little girls. what was done to myself and these other women and little girls, and the fact that sexual violation was enjoyed by larry matters. it demands justice. the sentence imposed today will send a message about how much these precious women and children are worth. you have seen our pictures. moments in time captured for the young, vulnerable and violated. i

think the young girl i was and the little girls and young women all of these survivors were everyday. i feel like i see them on the faces of my two precious daughters full. when i watch my daughter is eyes light up at the nutcracker, i remember how all these unused to be. the sparkle their eyes must have had, as mine did, before their innocence was taken. we will take you to michigan when the sentencing gets under way whenever it happens we will bring it to you. a new inquest has opened into the death of a soldier at deepcut barracks in 1995. the coroner has told the court the scope of an original inquest in 1995 was "limited" and he had now enabled a "broader enquiry". private sean benton was the first of four young soldiers to be found dead at the barracks in surrey over a seven year period. a coroner has previously ruled that he took his own life. we can talk to our correspondent richard lister. he is covering this inquest for us.

what has the coroner been saying? we have had half a day of testimony at this inquest. it wrapped up a few minutes ago. thejudge this inquest. it wrapped up a few minutes ago. the judge was the coronerfor this minutes ago. the judge was the coroner for this second inquest, which was expected to last a couple of months and hear from at least 150 witnesses. said the original inquest was limited in scope when he says, by opening and engaging the human rights act he is able to broaden the scope of this inquest considerably. it won‘t just look at the basic how, when and where questions about the death of private venting but also who fired any shots that were fired that night and whether there was any third party whose interests should be questioned, whether there were any systemic shortcomings at deep cutbacks which contributed to his death. he said they will sit until about easter and there will hear from nine expert witnesses. we heard live testimony today from the sister

of private venting. she talked a bit about the last weekend the family saw private bemton. she said he was crying when he had to go back to deep cutbacks. he was very unhappy there. her parents, both of whom are deceased said they did not believe their son was murdered but there had been a terrible accident of some kind and was wanted to get to the bottom of that. tracy lewis, the brother of private benton talks about his state of mind for that he said —— state of mind. she said at one stage he was shackled me to parade around the canteen and was made to feel he merely aided. that seems to refer to an incident ten days prior to that when he was incarcerated, in custody, for

kicking in a window at deep cutbacks. it was suggested that was a time when he was going out to get some food. that had a big impact on him. tracey lewis said in her statement that the impact of the death was profound and change the course of all of our lives. this inquest will continue tomorrow and for the next couple of months. thank you. uk unemployment fell by 3,000 to 1.44 million in the three months to november. the number of people in work has reached a record high of 32.2 million, according to figures from the office for national statistics. but the growth in wages, at 2.4%, remained below inflation at 3.1% you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. two children‘s hospitals give back donations to a men—only fundraiser following allegations of sexual harassment. a former doctor to the us gymnastics

tea m a former doctor to the us gymnastics team is due to be sentenced. more than 900 court cases in england and wales collapsed last year because of failures by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence — a rise of 70%. phil neville has apologised for sexist comments on social media. he was only appointed as head coach to the women‘s team yesterday. he said that was not a true reflection of his character nor his beliefs. england have been paired with spain in the inaugural uefa league, to run alongside world cup qualifying. details of the other home nations opponents coming up. roger federer is through to the australian open semifinals. he will now play a south korean on friday morning. i will be back with a full update in 15 minutes. don‘t forget, you can let us know

what you think about any of the stories. it‘s emerged that victims of black cab rapistjohn worboys were given written assurances he would face a lengthy sentence after his 2009 conviction for drugging and assaulting women. both the metropolitan police and crown prosecution service wrote to victims involved in the trial. those letters have been seen by the bbc for that there is continued controversy about the decision to release him after less than 12 years in jail. the release him after less than 12 years injail. the letters release him after less than 12 years in jail. the letters were sent by the detective who led the investigation, david reed from the metropolitan police and by the lawyer crown prosecution service, who is responsible, a man called anthony connell. the tenor of both letters is to thank the victims for coming forward and to try to give them some reassurance that they were expecting a very hefty sentence for

john warboys. the cps letter was sent after he was sentence was that letter explains the sentence and suggests it was similar to a sentence of life imprisonment. there is nothing in those letters that says deepcut barracks will never come out. nothing in those letters to say he is unlikely ever to be released. but the tenor of the letters is to other victims a lot of reassurance that he will be behind bars for a very long time. all of this putting more pressure on the pa role this putting more pressure on the parole board, whose decision, it has to be said, sparked the whole controversy. when you read these letters, particularly from the crown prosecution service lawyer, it does make it even more bizarre the decision the parole board has made two years after deepcut barracks was refused permission to move to an open prison. the letter —— warboys.

it is clear he is considered a dangerous offender for that those responsible for considering any application will no doubt have this in mind. they will have regard to the fact he pleaded not guilty and denied his guilt throughout the trial and maintained his innocence after conviction. tony connell writes the contrition is a factor which is considered most carefully by those responsible for considering any application he might make to be released. there is a clear indication that unless you express remorse and you hold your hands up and say quick yes, i did it, and you wa nt to and say quick yes, i did it, and you want to change ways, you are very unlikely to be released. as recently as 2015, warboys was still maintaining his innocence. we don't know when but we know at the moment john warboys walks, soon. arrangements are being made for his

release was identikit will happen this week and it could potentially happen next week or the week after. there is a consultation going on with the victims of warboys. there are two other issues. one is the fa ct are two other issues. one is the fact there is a new victim who has come forward, alleging sexual assault from 1997 the police are investigating, and also that there isa investigating, and also that there is a possibility of a legal challenge involving possibly the daily mail and the sun newspaper as well as some of the victims of warboys against the decisions made by the parole board. we are just hearing that doctors and hospital staff across wales are unable to access patient details because of a widespread failure in computer systems affecting the welsh nhs. co nsulta nts systems affecting the welsh nhs. consultants and gps,' blood and x—ray results because a internet portals are down. when 2p as calling the situation chaos, saying he cannot do

anything with the situation down. —— one gp. the national cyber security centre said the issues affecting the nhs in wales are not the cyber attack but the result of technical issues. the welsh assembly‘s position health spokesman said the problems were incredibly concerning, especially after the ransomware attacks last year on the nhs. any developments, we will bring them to you. a number of people knocked to the ground during the alleged finsbury park mosque attack have been telling a court about the moment when a van mounted the kerb and crashed into a group of muslims. darren osborne is accused of deliberately driving a van into worshippers in north london lastjune, killing one person. he denies murder and attempted murder. following the case for us at woolwich crown court is our correspondent, angus crawford. for the first time, we heard from an eyewitness to this attack. he was heading home from the mosque. he had been at late—night ramadan prayers when he saw a man collapsed in the street. he went to help him.

he saw he was still talking and his eyes were open. from the corner of his eye he said he saw a large, white van, which was revving and accelerating. it turned sharp left and hit him with the wing mirror and carried on down the street. he said he fell over, got back up and looked around. then the witness said he could see a lot of people splattered all over the place. he said the guy in the van he feared might have weapons or even a knife or gun. he said the man got out of the van and ran towards the crowd. he had his head down and was punching. lots of people are trying to grab him. he was sweaty and angry. the witness said he grabbed the man, jumped onto his back. together with other people he pulled him to the ground and restrained him.

the man continued to struggle. he said some people were trying to punch were trying to punch the man and hurt him until the local imam arrived and said, leave him alone. he had been hit full on by the van himself and we heard his injuries described as life limiting and they would require months of rehab. that was angus crawford. the new northern ireland secretary, karen bradley, is holding talks aimed at restoring devolution at stormont. she‘s meeting the main political parties to try to kick start the power—sharing executive, which collapsed last january. mrs bradley has said "time is short" but there is one last opportunity to restore the executive. save the children has temporarily suspended all of its operations in afghanistan after attackers stormed their offices in the eastern city of jalalabad. at least two people have been killed and 12 injured according

to officials and it‘s believed around 50 staff were in the building at the time. four gunmen are believed to have taken part in the attack, and three are said to have been killed. the fourth is reported to be barricaded on the top floor of the office building. turkey, along with fighters from the free syria army began an assault on kurdish forces on the other side of the border with syria on saturday. it believes the kurdish militia is a terrorist group. our correspondent and his team are the first international journalist given access in north and syria. this is helped by the turkish

military. you can see the kind of assistance and presents of the turkish military. this town used to have a population of about 50,000. actually it has now swelled to about 300,000 goes it has taken in a lot of refugees from the fighting in italy —— idlib. fighting the kurdish militia, the wide pg. —— ypg. you occasionally get some incoming artillery or missile fire into here. turkey has been training and aiding the syrian police and opposition fighters here to work arm in arm as part of this operation. turkey insists the ypg is linked to the

pkk. they want to push the ypg back from its border to clear it and extend this kind of buffer area further to stop the ypg from linking up further to stop the ypg from linking up territory they control, to extend and create a safe son on the other side of the turkish border with syria, about 30 kilometres deep into syria. this town is a central part of his objective. it isa it is a grey day. most of the pictures from the weather watchers have been equally great. this is a tree with raindrops on the window. there we go. interesting. i thought you might like that one. this is from barbara from london. this is more serious was in then all recently we have had snow from now it has turned mild. the river use as

burst its banks. it is january and a horrible day. it looks quite lively. we are still seen the end of the storm was that this is stormed georgia. the centre of the storm is crossing between orkney and shetland. —— this is storm georgina. other parts of the country are just feeling the effects of it. no big deal but i‘m pleasant enough. twitter has gone mad. last time you are on you were talking about what to do in the rain, walk or run through it. they commissioned £100,000 worth of research at university to look into this. do you know what the final report was? inconclusive. that‘s why i couldn‘t give you a straight answer. well, i‘m used to that. let‘s have a look at the forecast. this is five

o‘clock. eight, 9 degrees in the south and six in the north, still blustery. not pleasant. it will stay very breezy with showers through the rest of this evening and overnight. the temperatures, by the end of the night, when be an awful lot different to what we actually have out there right now. tomorrow morning starts off quite nice across many eastern and southern areas. and central parts of england as well. by the time we get to the afternoon, we have more showers coming in. it is one of those days where we have the blue skies, sparkling sunshine and the dark cloud comes over and gives a downpour. friday is not going to be like that. it will be a bright day, really pleasant. come the weekend were just day, really pleasant. come the weekend werejust in day, really pleasant. come the weekend were just in time for the weekend, we have yet another weather front in the atlantic. also a storm is that this is moving closer to iceland. that should not give us too much in the way of wind.

nothing like we have had today. the next one will bring us some are the conditions. temperatures are 12 degrees, even in belfast was changeable weather for the rest of the week, which is what we would very much expect this time of year. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the charity commission says it‘s looking into allegations that hostesses were groped and propositioned at a men—only fundraising event in london. two children‘s hospitals, including great 0rmond street, are to return all money raised at the annual presidents club dinner. multiple women told me they had been touched inappropriately, and that ranged from holding their hands to touching their stomachs, to hands near the bottom of their back. a court hears that a man accused of carrying out a terror attack outside a north london mosque was smiling after ploughing a van into worshippers. a nun has told the scottish child

abuse inquiry that her catholic order offers its "deepest and most sincere apologies" to anyone who may have been abused while in its care at the smyllum park children‘s home. the number of prosecutions in england and wales that collapsed because of a failure by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence increased by 70% in the last two years according to figures obtained by the bbc. sport now on afternoon live. phil neville hasn‘t had the best start since taking up his role as england women‘s manager, has he? isa is a slightly rocky one. six pme yesterday he was named as the man to ta ke yesterday he was named as the man to take over the englander lionesses. he said it was an honour, he would ta ke he said it was an honour, he would take them to the next level, on the verge of something special. tender agrees with man united, but as we have seen with a lot of high profile public appointments, particularly in politics, a trawl through social

media accounts can sometimes unearth something that might prove a little embarrassing and certainly a couple of neville‘s historic posts can be interpreted as sexist. one suggesting that women would be too busy making breakfast to read the m essa g es busy making breakfast to read the messages he had posted. he has deleted the account and apologised today by the fa, his new employers, insisting those comments were not a true and genuine reflection of his character. lots of reaction. anti—discrimination groups saying they will ask whether the fa should consider charging their new head coach. and there are questions about his experience in terms of being a manager. he had a spell of coaching roles with man united and valencia, not too successful. he managed salford city which he co—owns as a favour for one match, salford city which he co—owns as a favourfor one match, which he did

win. women in football group says it feels like a kick in the teeth. this is what phil neville is up against. what has not helped is that some of the top women in the game, top coaches and managers simply did not want the job. there was not a great deal of competition for phil neville all candidates for the fa to choose from. lots of questions over whether the fa were aware of those historic tweets, echoes of how they dealt with mark sampson. he was sacked over his conduct in a previous role after a issue with racist comments. now same questions being asked over the recruitment of phil neville. here is what management thinks. how do you get that experience without opportunity?

wish him well. there has been a thorough process around that application. he is taking over a team, a good team, they have improved enormously over the last few years, hopefully for them as a team, everybody can start focusing on the football and how they progress. that was gareth southgate speaking at the draw for the new uefa nations league which took place this morning. it will replace most friendlies with competitive matches to offer a new route to euro 2020. 56 teams. england will play spain and croatia, northern ireland have drawn against austria and bosnia and herzegovina, scotland against albania and israel, and wales face the republic of and denmark. those games will take place

alongside traditional euro qualifying campaigns. it will be complicated. to melbourne, where defending champion roger federer is through to the semifinal of the australian open. he beat tomas berdych in straight sets. he is one of sport‘s most recognisable stars, roger federer, five—time champion in melbourne. somehow for a few moments at least this seemed a little unfamiliar. shots being missed, then umpires being challenged. it was all very unlike roger. for his opponent, tomas berdych, a great chance to beat the great man. with shots like this, his luck certainly seemed to be in. but you do not achieve what federer has by needing luck. roaring back from three games behind, much more what his fans have grown to expect. berdych providing a challenge,

but one federer looked like meeting. two sets up, there was no letup. after that troubled start, the end was never really in doubt. what is in doubt now is if anyone can stop him. more sport in the next hour. now on afternoon live, let‘s go nationwide and see what‘s happening around the country — in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. and in a moment i‘ll be speaking tojustin leigh in plymouth, about how the south west is tackling plastic pollution at sea by recycling the plastic that washes onshore into kayaks. but first to assad in london... assad ahmad is in london,

and can give us the latest on the row between labour‘s national executive committee and the local council over a controversial housing development. explain what has happened. this is really unusual, for labour‘s national executive committee to have a90 national executive committee to have a 90 minute meeting yesterday about one local issue affecting one council in north london is highly irregular. they say they did it because they say 22 councillors in labour run haringey had written to them and said there is an issue about housing developments really dividing the party, we need you to get involved in show guidance. so what is so controversial about this housing development? haringey council say they have thousands of council homes in desperate need of regeneration and investment for the sake of the tenants, they say they did not have the money to redo them themselves. back injuly did not have the money to redo them themselves. back in july this

did not have the money to redo them themselves. back injuly this signed it 50-50 themselves. back injuly this signed it 50—50 public—private partnership with a private firm in order to get hundreds of millions of pounds in to redevelop these homes. lots of people in the area, notjust councillors by local people as well against the plans. some say it‘s not good for labour council to do a deal with a private company like this in order to renovate council homes, others who live there say we are worried about what will happen to us if we have to move out, while the homes are being renovated, will we be allowed to move back in? is this a form of what they call social cleansing? the developers say that is not the case. anyone moved out will be able to come back. nevertheless, with divided opinions so deep—rooted in the area of north london, the national executive said we have to get involved. in our opinion, they said, if you can‘t sort this out yourselves, then put a block on the redevelopment entirely, bringing a halt to all the plans to

renovate all these council homes. did they have a plan b? no. there is a thought that the labour movement momentum of the involved as well? that‘s right, the reason for that is just a few weeks ago, momentum‘s founder, now, they are a left—wing group happily supporting john corbyn, they‘re found about a place on labour‘s national executive committee and this was his first full meeting. in the area of haringey momentum have made their voices very much heard, saying they are against this system, there have been protests like you can see in order to make that voice heard. some are raiding their eyebrows saying this is a sign of momentum‘s growing influence in the labour party. labour say no, there was a unanimous

vote, nobody voted against the plan to bring a halt to this, it is not a sign of momentum‘s growing influence but there are others who say we are not so sure. i know you have plenty more at 6:30pm in london, let‘s go to plymouth. this is a great story. this will show lots of people what can be done in terms of recycling. explain this project. as you know, plastic pollution in our seas as one of the biggest environmental issues of the biggest environmental issues of the biggest environmental issues of the moment. the idea we are reporting on today is perhaps the ultimate in recycling, involving turning some of the plastic washed up turning some of the plastic washed up on our beaches into something useful. neil hambro organises beach clea ns useful. neil hambro organises beach cleans and the plastic being connected goes to a recycling centre where it is chipped and processed into plastic pellets. the best bit is, those pellets are being moulded into kayaks. it is hoped they can then be given away to other communities which can use them to clea n communities which can use them to clean up the seas and waterways in

their areas. the ultimate in the cycling. fantastic. just how bad is the plastic problem down there?m is something we are acutely aware of, with the longest stretch line of coast around the country. neil hambro has organised around a thousand beach cleans, that gives you some idea of the scale of the problem. this has become a national impact global issue in the last few months and yet here is someone who has been working on the problem for yea rs. has been working on the problem for years. he has been telling us where all the plastic is coming from. here we have lots of fishing rope and from that, this is the net that goes underneath the main net to protect it from the sea bed. we do find by weight around about 80% of the waste is coming from the marine environment. fishing, shipping, etc.

a lot of it is quite industrial stuff like big crates here, bleach bottles, big tubing, as well as public matter. neil mentioned the fishing industry there, i should point out we have spoken to the fishing industry who have told us it does do its bit to help clean up our seas, telling us they often scoop up plastic as they bring their catch on board but they bring that plastic back to port for the cycling as well. a great story, this idea of turning the plastic waste on our beaches into kayaks, we will have much more here in the south—west at 6:30 on bbc one. thank you both very much. if you would like to see more on any of those stories, you can access them via the bbc iplayer. we go

nationwide every weekday afternoon at 4:30pm here an afternoon live. there‘s been a significant rise in the number of prosecutions collapsing in england and wales, because of a failure by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence. figures obtained by bbc news show that more than 900 people were formally cleared, or had cases against them dropped, in the year to last april, because of problems with disclosure. 588,000 cases were prosecuted. here‘s our home affairs correspondent danny shaw. i was relieved, notjust for myself, for everyone that‘s been with it every step of the way. under investigation for rape for two years, liam allen‘s life was on hold. then, three days into his trial, his legal team received crucial information and the prosecution was halted. the case highlighted problems with disclosure, the duty on police and prosecutors to pass on material which might assist the defence case or undermine the prosecution‘s. finally, liam allen achieved the justice that should have

been his from two years earlier. he had been on bail for two years not knowing if he was going to be convicted, facing a sentence of perhaps 12 years or so and be on the sex offenders' register for life. just the toll upon a young man who is in the middle of a university degree cannot be imagined. bbc news has obtained figures on how many people have been cleared or had allegations dropped against them because of disclosure failings. in 2014—15, proceedings were halted against 537 people. by last year, that number had risen to 916. that‘s a 70% increase in two years in the number of defendants cleared after disclosure failings emerged. the implication is that it could lead to miscarriages ofjustice. the criminaljustice system is based upon trusting the prosecution to disclose material which undermines their case or assists a defence case. and if they are not doing that, then clearly, there can‘t be a fair trial. the crown prosecution service says

the number of trials which collapsed because evidence is not disclosed when it should be is a fraction of the total number of cases they deal with, about one in every 1,000 prosecutions. but the cps says that is still too many and, in the coming days, they will be publishing an action plan to tackle the issue, along with the police. senior police officers say there needs to be a change of mindset, so disclosure is put at the centre of an investigation, rather than something that is done at the end. danny shaw, bbc news, at the old bailey. in a moment the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. two children‘s hospitals give back donations to a men—only fundraiser following allegations of sexual harassment. a former doctor to the us gymnastics team is due to be sentenced after admitting multiple counts of sexual abuse. more than 900 court cases in england and wales collapsed last year because of failures by police or prosecutors to disclose evidence — a rise of 70%. here‘s your business

headlines on afternoon live. wages rose at their fastest rate in almost a year — but are still failing to keep up with rising average prices. excluding bonuses, pay packets rose by 2.4% in the three months to november according to the office for national statistics. but the average cost of goods and services is rising at 3%, meaning the squeeze on our income continues. apple has announced changes that allow users to turn off a controversial feature that slows down iphones when batteries are running low. the firm was criticised in december after it admitted deliberately slowing down some ageing iphone models to conserve battery life. it promised to rectify the problem but faces lawsuits over the issue. on wednesday it said a beta version of its ios 11.3 operating system would add new features to show battery health and recommend if a battery needs to be serviced. users will also be able to see if the power management feature is on and can choose to turn it off.

the european commission has fined chip firm qualcomm £873 million for making payments to apple so it would only use its chips. commissioner margrethe vestager said: "qualcomm paid billions of us dollars to a key customer, apple, so that it would not buy from rivals. she added that this is illegal under eu rules. qualcomm say they will appeal the decision. did you receive any books under the christmas tree? no. that‘s been a big issue for whsmith — high street sales have continued to fall — christmas 2015 saw a trend for adult colouring in books — 2016 was tongue in cheek humour books in the style of five go to brexit island — but there was nothing like that this year — and whsmith have reported falling sales in their high street stores but sales were up in their stores at airports and stations. shares were up at wetherspoons despite last nights steak night fiasco — steak was taken off the menu at all 900 wetherspoons up and down the country — it might not have been such an issue

except at wetherspoons tuesday night is steak night — the chain blamed a "product recall". no such issues with second quarter like for like sales over christmas ‘7. now, you are getting very excited about sterling. it makes us more expensive to buy from, so lots of people not excited? highest ever number of people in the

uk in employment, 4.2% unemployment, thatis uk in employment, 4.2% unemployment, that is married with a weakness in the dollar partly over a concern of president trump‘s protectionist stance, we talked yesterday about ta riffs stance, we talked yesterday about tariffs on washing machines coming out of asian countries. traditionally, when this happens we would expect to see the value fall. what is happening to the euro? let‘s speak to george godber from polar capital — george who is feeling the pinch from the rising pound? the biggest shares, the ftse100, conversely they do not represent much to do with the uk economy, they represent the global economy. what happens is that 80% of their profits are made overseas, companies like unilever sell helmets all over the

world is all whiskey all over the planet. when you see sterling getting stronger, it means they are getting stronger, it means they are getting less when they translate their overseas profits back into the uk. it usually means the uk overseas earners have a tough time but it should herald better news for domestic players because it‘s a sign ofa domestic players because it‘s a sign of a strengthening economy. simon wa nts to of a strengthening economy. simon wants to know, what about the euro? sterling has fared stronger against the dollar but it has not been as strong against the euro, concerns around brexit. we did see a strengthening of stirling today. david davis saying he was trying to get to the most similar outcome was brexit as pre—brexit, which begs the question as to why we are doing it, but that is a separate debate. there isa but that is a separate debate. there is a reappraisal of the ever since we got to the first stage of talks over brexit negotiations, sterling has been notably stronger in the world market. let's talk about wh smith, a real store bought of the

british high street. it's an interesting tale for this business, the high—street business a bit sluggish, less adult colouring books and less humorous books which have been very high margins for them. if you look below the surface, w h smith has transformed itself, two thirds of its profits now come from its travel business. it is now in 240 sites around the world, this is a huge change from a business that was only on the high streets over a decade ago. that part of the business is very valuable. continuing to grow rapidly, they have announced today they have opened to ten sites in singapore airport. expect to wh smiths if you are out on your holidays in places you might not expect. we had strong results from wetherspoon ‘s. you might not expect. we had strong results from wetherspoon 's. they stood out because other in the pub sector have blamed weak trading announced now, but they have reported strongly. they always have been at that slightly keane priced

end, we know the consumer, if we look on the money over christmas, they have been careful with their pounds in their pockets, when the beans have benefited from that. the chief exec will tell you it‘s all down to his positioning and his customers excitement over brexit, he put a big essay over where he was so excited about brexit today but it will be the keen prices that really helped them out. quick look at the markets? the ftse just helped them out. quick look at the markets? the ftsejust over 1%, the dow in america up, we will have results from a drg and sr is tomorrow, two of your favourite bands i‘m sure. that‘s all the business news. a deaf woman is suing the promoter of a concert by the pop group, little mix, forfailing to provide a sign language interpreter for two support acts. sally reynolds and two deaf friends took their daughters to the concert, organised by lhg live, last september. our legal affairs correspondent,

clive coleman, has the story. i like that one there... cate merry and herfriend megan are massive little mix fans. # i got the, i got the, i got the power...# last year, cate‘s mum sally bought tickets to see the band in concert. sally is deaf, and booked for her and two deaf friends to go with their daughters. she asked the organisers lhg live to provide a british sign language interpreter. we asked two or three times initially, please can you provide an interpreterfor us, and the explanation we got back was just a no, we didn‘t have any reason behind it. eventually we became so frustrated. i wanted to share the same experience that my daughter had, and that my friends were there too, essentially i just wanted access to the songs. under the equality act, any organisation supplying a service to the public is under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people‘s experience is as close as possible to those without a disability. with just days to go before the concert and no

interpreter in place, sally took an unprecedented legal step. she instructed lawyers to apply for a court injunction to force lhg live to provide a british sign language interpreter, and it worked. music: "black magic" by little mix. and when little mix took! were interpreted for sally and her friends. but earlier on there were two supporting acts, and the interpreter hadn‘t been booked to cover them. ifelt that, you know, we were really part of the little mix experience. but because it was so good, i realised that we‘d missed out on the first two acts, so it was very much a disparity of experience to everybody else. in a statement, lhg live told the bbc: to the concerts with me.

clive coleman, bbc news. to keep you in touch with what is happening in wales, a massive it failure happening there. thisjust from twitter, currently a technical issue. i‘m also hearing that there are reports systems are coming back online across the country, that comes from our correspondent in wales but there has been a huge it failure affecting two nhs trusts

within wales. they say they have not been able to get blood results or x—ray results and other systems for gps and surgeons, causing real problems over the last few hours. hopefully there are signs those it systems a re hopefully there are signs those it systems are being resolved. that is the latest on that. i also want to bring you some news on the story we‘ve been covering all afternoon on phil neville, appointed to coach the women‘s england team. we are hearing the historic tweets about women which have got him in hot water, they were deleted that many suggested they made him ineligible for such a high profilejob involving women, we are hearing at the fa say the tweets about women do not meet the threshold for issuing a charge. that comes from the fa chief executive martin glenn in the last you minutes will stop there is plenty more on that story, dan rowan

also tweeting on that, there are some interesting side bars, looks as though he was not the first choice i do. we will be bringing you more on that later. —— he was not the first choice either. and we will have the sentencing of the for the former head of the gymnastics medical team, larry nassar. we are expecting that sentencing perhaps in the next hour or so. we will bring you that here on bbc news because that is it now from your afternoon live team for today. next the bbc news at five. time for a look at the weather... not a great day on the weather front, can it get any greyer? this picture from somerset. we have had downpours and hailstorms and severe gusts of wind off the north west of scotland, a storm sweeping to the north of us, this swell on the satellite is storm

georgina, it is bringing some very strong winds off the hebrides. this is the kind of weather that will be with us for a few more hours, then eventually the low pressure later this afternoon will be just to the north of scotland around the northern isles, that‘s where the worst of the winds will be. for most of us it would be a blustery evening with clear skies and showers. this is what it looks like around 5pm in the afternoon. clear skies but also showers dotted around, moving quite quickly because the wind is high. pushing them through, some will be heavy. possibly hail showers as well. the worst wind around the northern islands, storm georgina here. temperatures in the north around 5 degrees at 5pm,

in the south it is around nine or so. through the course of this evening, those winds will tend to ease as we head through the night, still some showers around, low—pressure still over us, if anything the showers will get heavier across the far west. the clearest weather tonight across the east. still a breezy day tomorrow, particularly around western and southern coasts but overall it will be a bit better, you can see a bit of dry weather across the midlands and east anglia. still quite a few showers coming through. best advice tomorrow, where ever you are and if you are out during the daytime, be prepared for rain. rain coats and a brolley just in case. much better day on friday. however there is a weather front approaching us. through the course of saturday, that weather front will be moving across the country, so it looks like some rain on the way for early saturday onwards. saturday and sunday, grey but relatively mild. those temperatures into double figures in most areas. today at five:

recriminations and resignations after a men—only charity dinner in which women were reported to have been groped, propositioned and sexually harassed. two children‘s hospitals return money raised at the dinner and a government adviser quits. a reporter describes what happened at the event. touching their bums, touching, um, kind of grabbing them, pulling them into their laps, yeah, a complete range of sexual harassment, really. women have the right to feel safe wherever they work and allegations

of this type of behaviour are completely unacceptable. we‘ll have the latest from westminster and and we‘ll be talking to city trailblazer nicola horlick. the other main stories on bbc news at five... it‘s emerged that victims of the black cab rapist john worboys were given