m5 ‘ur rolling back or ireland, is he rolling back or stating the obvious? —— boris johnson. stating the obvious? —— boris johnson. he is squaring the impossible circle the british government is attempting to square. borisjohnson government is attempting to square. boris johnson plays government is attempting to square. borisjohnson plays into this, they do not want to go for membership of the all a customs union, depending on whether you want the definite or an indefinite article ahead of that. they are scrabbling for things that will make this work. yesterday we had this letter that was picked up in the daily telegraph and other newspapers, this boris johnson letter suggesting there is some sort of electronic solution, where you have a hard border between the republic of ireland, and part of the uk. the bottom line is, as we are going to hearfrom uk. the bottom line is, as we are going to hear from the uk. the bottom line is, as we are going to hearfrom the european commission today when they bring out their latest document on these negotiations, that is not acceptable to the government in the republic of ireland, it is not acceptable to the european commission, the idea of having a hard border. it may be something that boris is trying to put forward because he knows it is

important to keep the conservative party ‘s allies on board, the dup of northern ireland, they need them for a majority. that's one reason why they are doing this but at the european commission, the idea of a ha rd european commission, the idea of a hard border between the north and the south island is not acceptable. it is squaring the circle at some stage, and michel barnier the from european commission is making this clear, the british government need to come forward with what he would regard as realistic negotiating positions. when they see this in brussels, i know when i hearfrom people in brussels, they don't regard it as being realistic. and the peace process plays into this. we will hear from john major, the former prime minister here, about the fact that all of this could undermine the good friday agreement? you need to remember the fragility of northern ireland, to people who are journalists of my generation, the 19805 is not that long ago. although ireland has come a long way

in terms of healing, some of the elements of the fractures between catholics and protestants in northern ireland, they are still there. i think there is a worry that if you do not keep this european union based peace process going, without the fact they did not have to be any borders between north and south, if you put the borders back, undoubtably you are making a fragile situation in northern ireland, a fragile peace, more fragile. and in the arab news, the us and russia trade barbs with northern ireland, what is happening with the united nations, there are geopolitical consequences with what is happening. ye5, consequences with what is happening. yes, they make the point that iran is helping the rebels in yemen in this proxy war that has been taking place between yemen and saudi arabia backing the government. i think you

will see the tensions that are going on in many different ways. you have tensions between the us and russia on many different issues. you have tensions between the us and iran on many different issues. i think this is also a proxy for another battle which is going on over syria, where iran has been helping president assad , iran has been helping president a55ad, with the russians hopping president assad and the americans opposing all of that. i think this is opposing all of that. i think this i5a opposing all of that. i think this is a story where america is becoming increasingly uncomfortable about iran's in several countries in that, again, fragility, it's a very fragile region. there are worries as to what it would mean. we have seen with iran in recent weeks and syria, there are tensions with israel, shipping weapons through syria and into lebanon. yet another country involved in this, iran and lebanon

are involved in this issue and iran has always been involved in lebanon on one side or another. what we are seeing is tensions rising and they try to rein in iran, and the americans have been upset that russia is not helping with that. you have many different countries in a complex diplomatic situation. that is one side of the story but in the new york times, you have trade relationships with a front—page headline, the saudis are looking for oil as they lose dominance? they we re oil as they lose dominance? they were always regarded as the swing producer, the one who set the prices. they wanted to cut back on oil production, they turned off the ta ps oil production, they turned off the taps a bit and the price went up. when they wanted more money, they opened the taps for oil and the boosted prices that way. they have lost their dominance to the united states. saudi no longer needs to sell oil. they have plenty of their

own, and america is now the swing producer. the higher the oil price, the more shale production. they are busy looking around as this article in the new york times says. it is looking to china where it needs to sell more oil. the chinese need oil. saudi arabia has a problem, all oil producers have a problem that the world is moving away from oil. you have situations in many countries where electricity production is 30 01’ where electricity production is 30 or a0%. 0n where electricity production is 30 or a0%. on sundays more than 50% from electricity produced by sustainable sources like wind or solar energy. you have the gas revolution, a lot of gas is regarded as slightly cleaner than oil, that is online as well. saudi arabia needs money from oil but it is becoming increasingly hard to sell. and this story in the times business page, german cities when the right

to ban diesel. angela merkel is not that happy about it. it has been an issue? there are 15 million diesel drivers in germany. they can get rid of older diesels, it is hard for motorists who have been encouraged to invest in diesels, because for a long time, it's almost unbelievable, but it was regarded as a clean alternative. i was one of those suckered in. nitrogen oxide pollutants, they cause various health issues. we have the scandals over car companies trying to alter diesel emissions, like volkswagen, what is going to happen? the worry with this is if you are a diesel owner 01’ with this is if you are a diesel owner or car manufacturer, what sta rts owner or car manufacturer, what starts in germany could easily ripple out across european cities outside germany. there will be other

cities and other environmental campaigning groups who say that they wa nt to ta ke campaigning groups who say that they want to take the same measure and one cities to ban these diesels. i think the day of diesel is clearly on its way. we have been talking about the weather, the beast from the east, as it has been labelled. the guardian front—page tries to explain it and where it is coming from and why. there is not necessarily a causal link between what is happening in the arctic but a suggestion as to what there may be. i read this article with fascination, about two weeks ago there was a story in the times, in there was a story in the times, in the weather section that said something strange is happening in the polar vortex and this will come and want us. it did. the guardian are saying that they have had an unprecedented warming in the arctic, in some days it has been warmer in the arctic and has in london, also wrecked thousands of miles to the

south. as a result, it is expelling freezing cold weather which we are seeing in large parts of northern europe, and in some bits of southern europe, and in some bits of southern europe, we are seeing it in london. this should be a worry to us. this could be, if it continues, where we get these episodes of a warmer arctic winter, we will keep getting these blizzards that we see in northern europe. that is what the piece is saying. clearly something is happening with the polar vortex. the question is it is clearly a battle between the scientists, is it global warming or a natural phenomenon. but we don't want a warmer arctic. there are implications for food production and other issues for living. somebody said this was a return to normal winter. that there is nothing normal about this. it is connected to the polar vortex. this is the world's first plastic free supermarket unveiled in the netherlands. more

than 700 products and out without any plastic packaging. everything is covered in plastic. when we were growing up, our parents would come back with groceries in brown paper bags. is that what we are going back to? it is plastic fantastic or not so fantastic. i would welcome, i'm sure we all would, not being deluged by mountains of plastic. it is becoming an issue, especially in the uk where many councils want to cut back on rubbish collections. they do not want weekly rubbish collections. if you have mountains of plastic, what do you do with it when you get it home? we are not ready prepared for this change yet. but it will be a process. jonathan, it is great to see you. thank you for watching the programme. from us, see you. thank you for watching the programme. from us, it's goodbye. the coldest snap this winter season is likely to continue this

week when there is more snow in the forecast. snow has been falling in the form of showers but particularly in north—east england, they have pretty impressive snow depths and they are likely to get bigger. the forecast tomorrow will be more travel disruption and a significant wind—chill. this icy front has been coming across from siberia, across northern europe and driving these snow showers across the north sea into eastern areas and some have been pushing west as well. during the start of wednesday, it looks like most of the showers will become confined to northern areas and eastern scotland. a very cold start with temperatures below freezing across the board. an amber warning remains in force for the eastern side of scotland to the central belt of scotland and to north—east england, where there will be five to 15 centimetres. widespread in some areas and we could see more than that on the high ground. there could be significant

disruption through wednesday morning for the central belt of scotland and north—east england. the showers will be frequent and heavy. further south, more in the way of sunshine but it will be a very cold air. today will be the coldest of the week. factor in the wind as well and it will feel more like minus five to maybe —10 celsius. so, bitterly cold. on thursday, this low pressure which has been named storm emma by the portuguese weather service will move from the south. full of moisture as it bumps into the cold air across the united kingdom and is likely to turn to snow. initially in southern counties of england, south west england to wales as we head through the course of thursday. there will be further, heavy snow showers across the eastern side of the country, particularly north east england and eastern scotland. two amber warnings by thursday afternoon, one across the northeast and this new one across the south—west and it will be heavy, prolonged and disruptive.

another very cold day in store, looking at gale force south—easterly winds which will make you feel very cold indeed. on friday, snow showers continuing across the north—east of the country. this band will move slowly northwards bringing heavy falls and will cause significant disruption. hello this is breakfast, with louise minchin and dan walker. more cold weather sweeps the uk as the "beast from the east" tightens its grip. drivers and rail users are facing more disruption this morning with warnings there's worse on the way. this morning there is ice on the roads to content with, it is a bitterly cold start. some of us will not see much snow, but some of us will see a lot. the met office has put out amber warning areas again with 10-15 put out amber warning areas again with 10—15 centimetres falling, some more than that. a round—up in 15

minutes. we are live in the worst affected areas and this is the bbc‘s building in london as the freezing weather continues.