this is bbc news, the headlines at 8pm: the police officer exposed to the nerve agent when trying to help a russian spy and his daughter has been named as detective sergeant nick bailey. the use of a nerve agent on uk soil is a brazen and reckless act. this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way. a shortage of beds means tens of thousands of operations were cancelled in england in december and january. the government has tabled a budget for northern ireland in the ongoing absence of devolved ministers, due to the powersharing crisis. victims of the parsons green tube attack tell a court how they tried to escape the fireball which engulfed the carriage. a bbc investigation finds a third of all the stock sea life centre died in the space of a year. and in the next hour... the snow is back.

police are warning of tricky driving conditions in parts of wales and central and northern england. meet the author... our guest is the author of the long—running popular series of stories featuring the highland policeman hamish macbeth, dealing with yet another murder in locked in death of an honest man. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the police officer who rushed to the aid of a former russian spy and his daughter, after they'd been poisoned by nerve gas, is still in a serious condition in hospital. but wiltshire police say detective sergeant nick bailey, who's 38, is now able to sit up and talk.

investigations are continuing in salisbury into how and why sergei skripal and his 33—year—old daughter were exposed to nerve gas on sunday afternoon. a doctor who was first on the scene has told the bbc that yulia skripal had stopped breathing and was in a terrible state. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds sent this report from salisbury. detective sergeant nick bailey is 38 years old, a decorated officer with plenty of experience on the front line of policing. he's still in a serious condition but the good news today is he is awake and talking. he's a great character. he is a huge presence in wiltshire police, well loved and massively dedicated officer. he is clearly receiving high, specialist treatment. he is well, sat up. he is not the nick i know that he is receiving

a high level of treatment. the inquiry‘s not letting up. police began what appeared to be a major search and possible decontamination of sergei skripal‘s house today. for a while, they even taped off the graves of his wife and son. we are committed to doing all we can to bring the perpetrators to justice, whoever they are and wherever they may be. the investigation is moving at pace and this government will act without hesitation as the facts become clearer. the bbc‘s been told the nerve agent used was not sarin or vx, which have been used as weapons in the past, but rarer. decontamination teams were heavily protected on sunday. look at this picture from earlier that day. no respirators or suits. these officers could not have known they were about to deal with the use of a chemical weapon in their city. i guess it really brings home to us and the public again that we run towards danger while others walk away. sometimes we run to something we don't know. the risk they faced became

obvious today when a bench, on which the skripals were sitting, was exposed by gusts of wind. just look at the operation needed to go in and peg it down again, four days on from the incident. and it wasn'tjust police officers who risked being exposed that afternoon. i've spoken to a doctor who was there. she's asked us not to name her but she says she came across yulia skripal slumped over the bench, unconscious, not breathing, vomiting and having a fit. she stepped in. she got yulia onto the floor, she got her breathing and handed her patient over to paramedics. she's concerned about what she's come into contact with, but she feels fine. sergei and yulia skripal, attacked as she came to britain from russia to visit him, are not getting better. they remain in a critical condition, as the race to find their assailant — or assailants — continues. tom symonds, bbc news, salisbury. suggestions that moscow may have been involved in the attack have

sparked anger in russia. the state media has complained of an anti—russian campaign by the west. and there's little sympathy — amongst russian people — for the former russian spy, sergei skripal, as our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg reports. moscow feels a world away from the drama of salisbury. relaxed russians are out enjoying a public holiday, determined not to allow a spy scandal to spoil their day. people here are short on sympathy for sergei skripal. translation: the fewer secrets you sell, the longer you'll live. translation: don't betray your motherland. then you'll have no problems. translation: when he was in prison in russia, he was healthy. he goes to britain and gets poisoned. he should have stayed here. it's a similar message from russian tv. the kremlin controlled media have been mocking boris johnson and making fun of britain. if you're a professional traitor,

he says, my advice, don't move to england. something's not right there, the climate, perhaps. but too many bad things go on there, people are hanged, poisoned, helicopter crashes or they fall out of windows." undeeradimir putin, the kremlin has sent a very clear message to the russian people that their country is besieged fortress, threatened by enemies abroad and traitors at home. that's why there is little sympathy here for sergei skripal. and if moscow did target sergei skripal... most russian people, not me, of course, most russian people would take pride in it because there is a very black and white world, it's us against them. putin has brought us back in a big way. today, the president delivered a special address. no mention of spies. he congratulated russian women

on international women's day. moscow knows it's under suspicion that the kremlin is acting as if its business as usual. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. joining me now from newcastle is dr chris morris from the medical toxicology centre at newcastle university. i suppose my first question is, what isa i suppose my first question is, what is a nerve agent, presumably there are different kinds? and different ways they may be administered? there are different types that they all work in the same way, which is that they stop the activity of a particular enzyme, at the nerve terminal, and they make the nerves themselves, over activated and they stop the nerve actually stopping itself, see you get a very active

nerve process taking place. all nerve process taking place. all nerve agents work in the same way and are typically delivered in the same way as well. presumably it could be something that has been ingested or sprayed, could it be that kind of thing that happened here? certainly that would be one of the ways it could be done, we saw the ways it could be done, we saw the tokyo underground with something like sarin, that's how that was applied, a spray or aerosol, in the case of the korean president's half brother, kim jong—nam, that was a case of wiping it on somebody. different ways and different routes of administration. more importantly, for victims in this case, how can it be treated? what kind of symptoms with baby experiencing, presumably if they have not been directly ingesting it could be milder? ——

what kind of symptoms would they be experiencing? accounts seem to suggest things like eye problems people have had, shortness of breath, that would be typical of a nerve agent, at a very low level exposure. but it is possible presumably to treated. how do doctors set about doing that, especially in a hospital in salisbury where they were not expecting this kind of thing?m salisbury where they were not expecting this kind of thing? in any emergency situation you treat the actual symptoms you see in the individual, so they are having difficulty breathing then it's making sure the breathing is maintained, giving oxygen. if the heart races, it is changing or maintaining that. trying to provide supportive care for the symptoms you typically see on somebody in any emergency situation, you look for the most critical events that are happening, and support the patient through that. is there any way to

cou ntera ct through that. is there any way to counteract the effects of the nerve agent, to treat it, to stop the damage that it is obviously doing to the body? there are antidotes that can be given. the military often uses them. in large hospitals, those antidotes would be available as part of emergency medicine kits so they could be used. doctor chris morris, thank you. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages gfx) at 10:40 this evening in the papers — our guestsjoining me tonight are jack blanchard, the editor of politico and kate andrews, news editor at the institute of economic affairs. tens of thousands of patients in england had their non—urgent operations — like hip and knee replacements — postponed in december and january because of a shortage of hospital beds.

new figures also show that a and e performance last month fell to its lowest level since records began. our health editor, hugh pym reports. new year brought extraordinary pressure, illustrated in the new bbc hospital series filmed at nottingham university hospitals trust. today we have run out of space. we are being asked to cancel any nonessential activities. so not cancer, not clinically urgent, but pretty much anything else. i can't see the sense in cancelling... word has come through from nhs leaders that all nonurgent surgery should be cancelled for the month to free up beds for emergencies. i'm very sorry, but i don't know if you've heard the recent news, we have a bed crisis in the hospital. we're going to have to cancel operations at this moment. i'm afraid it's bad news. we are going to have to cancel tomorrow. i'm really sorry. sometimes that meant operating theatres remaining empty. we don't know when we can start operating again at the moment. we've never had it

as bad as this before. we're just left, largely, at a loose end. we're being paid to work, but just trying to find something constructive to do. there was improvement in february. but patients elsewhere, like scott, are still facing delays. he was told the day before his back operation it had been put off, and he doesn't know when it will happen. very, very frustrated. i'm annoyed and i'm hurt, because now i've got to go through this all over again. this isn't something that you think, oh, well, i'm going to go and have a filling done. this is a very invasive operation. figures out today revealed the scale of the consolations. in december there were many 27,000 fewer routine operations carried out in england and the same month a year earlier. injanuary, there was a drop of nearly 14,500. and for the most recent two—week period, bed occupancy in hospitals,

at more than 95%, was the highest this winter. they are going to be suffering pain, discomfort, difficulties with mobility and most of the elective conditions which we are waiting to operate on can deteriorate and develop convocations. nhs england said february was the most pressurised month in the history of the service, with high levels of flu — the background to another deterioration in a&e performance. hugh pym, bbc news. the uk government has set a budget for northern ireland in the absence of a power—sharing administration at stormont. it includes a10 million pounds of a ibillion pound package negotiated by the dup in return for its backing for the conservatives at westminster. i asked our northern ireland political editor, mark devenport, whether it had been inevitable that the secretary of state would have to step in. that is quite right, the stormont assembly is in mothballs at the moment, none of the politicians are meeting and we had those talks that

collapsed last month and after the collapse, officials in the stormont departments were really getting quite frantic, needing that clarity with the start of a new financial year looming, so karen bradley, the secretary of state, has stepped in now. she has set a budget which will allow for around £10 billion worth of expenditure over the course of the next financial year, which has been eased by that confidence and supply money, although these remain tight times, so there are still complaints from some of the parties. it is as you say slightly controversial, £410 million of that £1 billion package negotiated by the dup as part of the deal for supporting the conservatives. how does that go down with people there? people presumably support the idea of having more money for northern ireland? i think there will be a welcome from the voters for the fact the dup has negotiated that £400 million. half will go towards infrastructure, roads and so on and the other half

mainly towards health underbid towards education. i think that'll be welcome notjust by dup supporters but by others, but the fact we don't have a political agreement been so far as the politicians are concerned, there is a bit of carping and people saying it is being used to plug the gaps and the fact that these are tight times is being shown by the fact that the regional rate, one of the methods stormont uses to raise its own revenue, has been raised above the rate of inflation, a change to the policy that previous local governments had adopted whereby they froze it and kept it down to the rate of inflation. talking of the politicians, is this seen as another step towards direct rule? how close are we to getting any kind of agreement? it seems to have gone backwards. it certainly does. in a speech today, arlene foster said she couldn't see any possibility of a return to devolution in the coming weeks and months. i think what is happening is the uk government is trying to handle this sensitively,

it doesn't want to announce a full—scale return to direct rule for the fear that some parties, particularly sinn fein and the sdlp, the irish nationalist, will walk away from stormont altogether so we are seeing what is termed a glide path towards direct rule with more decisions like this budget being made by london ministers but trying to make it without declaring they have ta ken over completely. the headlines on bbc news: the police officer seriously ill in hospital after being exposed to the nerve agent when trying to help a russian spy and his daughter in salisbury has been named as detective sergeant nick bailey. tens of thousands of patients in england had their non—urgent operations — like hip and knee replacements — postponed in december and january because of a shortage of hospital beds. the uk government has set a budget for northern ireland in the absence of a power—sharing administration at stormont. sport now and a full round up from the bbc sport centre.

what a result for arsenal in the europa league tonight. they've beaten ac milan 2—0 in the first leg of their last 16 tie, with arsene wenger avoiding a fifth straight defeat. milan were in great form ahead of this one, unbeaten in 13 games but it was the italians who went behind after 15 minutes, henrikh mkhitaryan‘s effort deflecting off leonardo bonucci to give arsenal the lead. mkhitaryan came close to a second in the first half, with arsenal breaking on the counter, the armenian‘s shot clipped the top of the crossbar and in first first half stoppage time aron ramsey gave the visitors the cushion they were after when he tapped in for 2—0 to put arsenal in a great position ahead of next thursday‘s second leg. last year's cheltenham gold cup winner sizing john has been ruled out of this year's big race

because of a hairline fracture of the pelvis. trainerjessica harrington hopes the horse will start exercising again after a two week rest. meanwhile ruby walsh had a successful return to the saddle in his first race since breaking his leg in november. walsh was victorious on the willie mullins trained lareena in the maiden hurdle at thurles. he's is set to ride 2015 winner faugheen in the champion hurdle on the opening day of the cheltenham festival next week. england rugby union head coach eddiejones has named his team for saturday's six nations meeting with france. england need to match ireland's result against scotland to keep alive their hopes of a third straight title. captain dylan hartley misses out through injury so 0wen farrell skippers the side. all these things are set to text you and asi all these things are set to text you and as i said off—camera, these weeks where you come back off a loss of the weeks you live for, it tests your metal, test the mettle of the coaches, the players, they must keep focused and generate that energy and

zest and brutality that you need for the next game. it's ireland who are currently top of the six nations table, joe schmidt has named tadhg furlong and garry ringrose in the team for saturday's clash against scotland. schmidt admits that even though ringrose is short of match practice, it's a ‘needs must‘ selection. it's a needs must situation. but it's a situation where we have a lot of trust and faith in gary. we are hopeful that the wingers help him a bit because they link well with him. and bundy will work hard to make sure that happens as well. he has been the continuity for us in the midfield so far in the championship. britain's chris froome and geraint thomas remain in the top ten after stage two of the tir—eno adria—tico race in italy. they and their team sky colleagues occupy fifth to tenth

place in the standings, all of them just nine seconds off the top rider. germany's marcel kittel won the stage, while new zealand's patrick bevin retained the overall lead. there was also a crash towards the end of the fifth stage of the paris—nice race. frenchman jerome cousin took the first victory of his career in sisteron. spaniard luis leon sanchez retained the leader's yellow jersey. simon yates is the highest placed briton in tenth overall trailing by 48 seconds. snowboarder 0wen pick has been chosen to carry the flag for great britain at the winter paralympics opening ceremony tomorrow. pick lost a leg in a taliban blast while serving for the british army in afghanistan eight years ago when he was just 18. he only tried out the sport having being discharged from the army. britain's17—strong team will be their biggest at a winter paralympics since turin 2006, when 20 athletes took part. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in sportsday at 10.30. a jury at the old bailey has seen the moment a bomb partially exploded

on a tube in south west london. some of the passengers on board have been describing how their hair and clothes caught fire when it went off in a packed carriage last september. 30 people were injured in the incident at parsons green station. 18—year—old ahmed hassan denies attempted murder. from the old bailey, here's june kelly. this was a day of dramatic and distressing evidence as the court heard from those who work on the train under attack. the fireball left passengers burning and screaming in pain. a bomb had been left in a bag. it failed to fully go off but it created a ball of flame which terrified scores of early morning commuters as it rolled down the carriage. 0ne, amy coalville, described to the courthouse how her hair caught fire. she said she'd heard a loud bang and seen a wall of glass. a flame came over her right hand side. earlier the evidence focused

on the movements that morning of ahmed hassan, the teenager on trial for the attack. here he is setting off on his journey with his bomb in a lidl bag, the court's been told. 0ne passenger, victoria holloway, told the jury there was a whooshing sound as if someone had lit bunsen burner she said the flames were touching her legs and wrapping around her skin. in his evidence, an army explosives expert, craig palmer, who was further down the train, went to the scene of the blast. he said... two of the passengers were in tears as they gave their evidence. they testified from behind a screen and could be seen by only the judge, jury and lawyers. one of them, known only as miss s, described how on that morning her coat was burning and her tights were melting. she has been left scarred after burns to her hands, legs and face. gene kelly, bbc news,

at the old bailey. cuts to bin collections, local libraries closing down, big cuts to the amount of money spent fixing our roads — those are just some of the consequences of the continuing squeeze on council funding in england. the national audit office says funding for local authorities from central government has fallen by nearly 50% since 2011. and they say the increasing demands of social care — for the elderly, children and disabled people — means that many councils face running out of cash. alison holt reports. do you want to do something different? an afternoon art class is a chance for people with learning disabilities and other conditions to develop their skills and socialise. for most here, the support is paid for by the county council. but today's report says with local authorities facing such major cuts from central government, they're struggling to cope.

you like its legs? sue, who has multiple sclerosis, describes this centre as a lifeline. i come here only twice a week. i would come more if there was the funding for it. councils like surrey have a statutory duty to support for people who are older and disabled as well as providing children's services and across the board demand is increasing. today's report calculates that on average councils in england pay 54% of their budgets on social care for children and adults. many other services have been cut. since 2010, more than 33% fewer homes get weekly bin collections and 10% of libraries have closed. the report warns with council also using savings to balance the books, one in ten will have

exhausted their reserves within three years. in surrey, one of the wealthiest parts of the country, as well as increasing council tax they're dipping into their savings again. it has been really difficult to make sure we could come in this year with a budget that had the minimum tax level increases. we have had to use £24 of our reserves and million 15 million of our capital receipts. the report says there needs to be a long—term central government plan for the bins, roads and other services that people need. what we want local government do and make funding available. alongside that, social care needs a funding solution as well. the government says a new funding settlement has been approved for council and that will mean a real terms increase in the money they get. we can speak now to andy bounds, northern correspondent for the financial times, who's written extensively

on local government. he joins us live via webcam from holmfirth in west yorkshire. thank you forjoining us this evening. we are hearing more stories about councils across england struggling to make ends meet. can you explain why it's a problem that they are using their reserves, some would say the results are there to be used? councils cannot run at a deficit, unlike the government which is borrowing year to year to fund itself. they must make ends meet, and they have been unable to for several years, most of them, so they are reading these reserves which are there for a rainy day and of course when the rainy day finally comes in a few years, it will not have any left. they will therefore had to make even deeper cuts in order to balance the books. are there some areas struggling more than others? you might expect areas which have obviously greater need, but some

affluent areas we have heard are struggling as well? indeed, the social care costs have been very high in the authorities. 0ften better off because local authorities provide care for people, and nursing homes, people can also pay for themselves. if you look at percentage cuts, it's what we call the metropolitan district councils, the metropolitan district councils, the big cities outside london, london has had bad as well, but certainly the manchesters, birminghams, there's lots of deprivation there as well still. the one—off grants for being poor and in need have gone over the years, they have had the biggest percentage of proportionate cuts. the government would say recently in the last budget that they did put more money aside for social care. if that money getting through to the front line, or is it simply not enough to fill the gap? it is simply not enough. they came up with a bit of extra money, they have allowed councils to

put council tax by 3.9%. then there was a revolt by backbench tory mps who wanted more money. the communities secretary found a of lord porter who is a conservative and yet the local government association says the councils need 5 billion by 20 20. 150 association says the councils need 5 billion by 20 20.150 million is quite a way short of that. is there any suggestion at all that this money will be found? the government is reviewing funding, they talk about what they call a fairer funding settlement but it is really a case of dividing up the cake a bit differently, rather than enlarging the size of it. they would like councils to rely more on their own resources which means using reserves , resources which means using reserves, business rates being increasingly held locally by councils, and also council taxes going up, as many people will find when the bills start landing on the mat in the next three days. thank you very much. snow has returned to several parts

of the uk, bringing with it hazardous driving conditions and disruption at hundreds of schools. in north wales heavy snowfall saw the closure of more than 100 and 20 schools. it followed a yellow met office warning for gwynedd, conwy, denbighshire, flintshire and anglesey. meanwhile up to nine centimetres of snow fell in parts of yorkshire in just five hours leading to the closure of more than 500 schools. most of them in west yorkshire, from where luxmy gopal reports. the snow that seemed to take yorkshire by surprise. just when it seemed springwood finally arrive, these were the conditions facing commuters earlier today. been stuck on the hill. slipping and sliding and stuck on treacherous roads. adding to the already longer journeys for drivers this morning.

this was rush—hour in leeds. it was near standstill in wetherby. with closures and delays affecting main routes including the m1, m6 did you and a one m, it took many drivers hours to reach their destination, if they made it at all. luckily no one was hurt in this crash in sheffield. as ever, the snow brought out community spirit with strangers rallying round to rescue cars, including students who stopped to help on their way to school. i've been here since eight o'clock. there was just one man who wasn't moving anywhere, so we was just one man who wasn't moving anywhere, so we gave was just one man who wasn't moving anywhere, so we gave him a push. thought we would help. following the snow days of last week, hundreds of schools in the region were shot again. flights were grounded at leeds bradford airport until then able to clear the meaning these children missed out on their school trip to barcelona even though the snow had melted by the time they got back to york. the kids are very resilient but we have had a few

tea rs resilient but we have had a few tears and phone calls home. they have been singing on the way back and we have snuck out to mcdonald's for lunch to make up for it a bit. i'm usually it's been mainly yorkshire affected, surrounding areas barely saw any snow. the highways agency says many roads have been gritted according to the forecast but more is no well than they expected. business leaders have expressed frustration that things ground to a halt. from a gritting point of view, it seems as if it's too little too late. this morning i felt as if there had been no gritting done at all. there was literally sheet ice on the motorway coming in. lorriesjackknifed that we re coming in. lorriesjackknifed that were at 45 degrees across the main carriageway. they were causing the issue. the blanket of snow yorkshire woke up to has mostly thawed now but with temperatures dropping overnight, tomorrow brings the potential for icy conditions and another difficult commute. time for a look at the weather with ben rich. snow cause some disruption across

parts of northern england today but it shouldn't hang around too long because there is milder weather on the way. tonight, temperatures will dip away under kebab skies and where we have the lying snow particularly there could be some icy stretches around with some wintry stretches in the north. not as cold in the far south—west because we have more cloud arriving here and that cloud will move northwards across southern parts of england and the majority of wales as we go through the morning into the afternoon eventually bringing outbreaks of rain. elsewhere, some mist patches which should clear fairly quickly and then a good deal of sunshine with a view pesky showers in the north—west. temperatures not doing badly but they can rise further as we head into the weekend, very mild indeed with some spots may be 16 degrees but there will be some rain at

times. this is bbc news. our latest headlines. the police officer seriously ill in hospital after being exposed to the nerve agent when trying to help a russian spy and his daughter in salisbury has been named as detective sergeant nick bailey. he is conscious and talking. the others remain unconscious and critically ill. the use of a nerve agent on uk soil is a brazen and reckless act. this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way. tens of thousands of patients in england had their non—urgent operations, like hip and knee replacements, postponed in december and january because of a shortage of hospital beds. the uk government has set a budget for northern ireland in the absence of a power—sharing administration at stormont. the public spending watchdog has

warned that many councils in england face becoming financially unsustainable because of the increasing demands of social care. warnings of snow and ice are in place for some of the country. police are warning of tricky driving conditions in parts of wales and central and northern england. the american government has said that it is ready to support the uk, in whatever action it takes, in response to the poisoning of a former russian spy, sergei skripal. the us under—secretary of state, steve goldstein, described his attempted murder, and of his daughter yulia, as very concerning. earlier, the home secretary, amber rudd, told mps in the commons, that the poisoning of the former russian double—agent, was "brazen and reckless." she promised the government would act in a "robust" way, once it knew who was responsible. samples from the victims have been

tested by experts at the defence, science and technology laboratory at porton down who are world—renowned experts in this field. this was attempted murder in the most cruel and public way. people are right to want to know whom to hold to account. but if we are to be rigorous in this investigation, we must avoid speculation and allow the police to carry on their investigation. as the assistant commissioner said yesterday, the investigation now involves hundreds of officers, following every possible lead to find those responsible. some of those leads have come from members of the public. i'd like to thank the people of salisbury for their help and for the calm they've shown over the last four days. i encourage anyone who visited salisbury town centre and surrounding areas on sunday afternoon and has not yet spoken to the police to get in touch. we are committed to doing all we can to bring the perpetrators to justice. whoever they are and wherever they may be. the investigation is moving at pace and this government will act without hesitation

as the facts become clearer. we can speak now to the russia analyst martin mccauley who is the author of russia, america and the cold war. he joins me in the studio. thank you for coming in this evening. it has been interesting watching the different responses from amber rudd and borisjohnson about how they view this. amber rudd saying we've got to wait for the evidence before jumping to conclusions but many mps had already made up their minds who was behind this. i'm afraid they had because the russia complain about brusher phobia, the british press wanting bad press about russia, and it has to be the thought of the kremlin so they feel persecuted and don't take it seriously. it is an anti—russia campaign. in this country, it is a

very serious issue. many of them would say that is history here, that the russians have form and moscow has form in this kind of thing. you can go back to the stalin years with the murder of trotsky and people like that and after the war, and of course litvinienko in 2006. people say immediately, oh, it is in fact litvinienko mark two and if you look for polonium 210, it isn't there, it isa for polonium 210, it isn't there, it is a new agent which they say they know but they are not revealing what it is. the next question is who produced it? because it is so sophisticated that only probably a military installation could do it and only in a few countries. where does this leave relations between the uk and moscow? they are at a low point at the moment and this isn't going to help, is it? they are very

low indeed and if you look at anglo russian relations over 300 years, there were short periods when they we re very there were short periods when they were very good. britain and russia don't understand one another. they just fall out all the time. very often, there is a lot of... concerned about britain in russia... they study the english language and shakespeare and so on and they are perplexed at the way britain then, or england, looks at russia because they expect and hope they will reciprocate this love of literature to the britain's, like russian literature, russian culture, ballet, opera. they do but it doesn't affect the general population. therefore the general population. therefore the british government at present is ina the british government at present is in a difficult position because amber rudd said she's going to

engage in some robust responses. does that mean military? the russian military is much stronger than the british military said there is no security problem for russia, they know that. they also know that britain is in a weak position when it comes to sanctions. as johnson claims the uk has been at the forefront of calling russia out, as he calls it, at the forefront of sanctions, about talking about syria and criticising the russians. he says other eu countries have been much more reluctant to do that, is there any evidence to support that? germany and italy would like normal business relations with russia. they don't like they are losing a lot of money and business, and they would prefer money and business, and they would p refer to money and business, and they would prefer to go back to normal relations, and therefore in europe asa relations, and therefore in europe as a whole they'd prefer normal relations and britain is the odd man out. they are always in conflict

with russia which is another conflict. it is unlikely europe will support us. america might say a few things but europe won't support us and it will be difficult for britain to do anything, to force the russians to change... their behaviour, and change the way they look at britain. 0k, interesting stuff, thank you very much indeed, martin mccauley. thank you for joining us this evening. details of the nerve agent on end but haven't been released. earlier, i spoke to the police federation's 0perational policing lead, simon kempton. he began by telling me about the police officer being treated, 38—year—old detective sergeant nick bailey. he is very well—regarded throughout wiltshire police. he has been decorated for his work. he was instrumental in bringing a serious

sexual offender to justice. he was rewarded for that work. it is a reminder for all emergency service personnel, really, that you are going into situations all the time and you don't know what your going into. absolutely. youjoin and you don't know what your going into. absolutely. you join the police to help people so when the call comes, you run to give that help. and you have to, i suppose, put the possible dangers to one side and get on with the job at hand. this is an extreme example of that but it is a reminder that police officers don't know what they'll face or how dangerous their day will be. and does instinct kicking? you say you are putting the situation out of your mind, in a way, but your training and instinct means you'll go in there and do what you've been trained to do. absolutely, and it does kick in. should be proud of the police service we have protecting us. police service we have protecting us. we are very competent and we are

able to rise to any challenge and i think wiltshire police and my collea g u es think wiltshire police and my colleagues around the country have demonstrated that. we have a job to do and we find a way of doing it every time. this is incredibly difficult for the family, for the close family, but also for other officers who work alongside him. what kind of support is there available to them with this kind of incident, which, as you say, is incredibly unusual and deeply disturbing as well? it is, you're right. nick's colleagues are being looked after by the police federation and wiltshire police. you mention the family, we can't forget the family. every police officer needs family support and today those family need our support so we are making sure they are getting fat as well. what about the local community as well? presumably police officers will be involved in reassuring members of the public who will be watching this coverage and feeling

pretty fea rful. watching this coverage and feeling pretty fearful. absolutely. my collea g u es pretty fearful. absolutely. my colleagues are all over the salisbury area today giving that reassurance, talking to the community, answering their questions as much as we can and trying to help them feel reassured and save. i don't live in salisbury but it is a safe place to live. wiltshire police are trying to reinforce that. and how are the officers themselves, those colleagues of nick, feeling, how are they responding to all of this? i think they are showing their professionalism through and through. they know nick, they work closely with him and care about him and they are managing to come into work, do thejob for the are managing to come into work, do the job for the public, are managing to come into work, do thejob for the public, and then obviously deal with their feelings for nick when they leave work and go home and that is where they need that family support. simon campton from the police federation. joining me now from inverness is professor malcolm sperrin, fellow of the institute of physics and engineering in medicine. thank you forjoining us this

evening. can you explain to us, there are different kinds of nerve agents, how can they be administered and what kind of affected they have on the body? nerve agents are designed to interrupt it the passage of the electrical signals along the nerves and what the notes to carry signals to the heart and muscular motion and if those signals are interrupted, the body is compromised so we see interrupted, the body is compromised so we see symptoms such as very badly disrupted briefing, there could be severe twitching, or massive eye watering. there is a whole range of symptoms. they can be administered in one of a variety of ways. one of the traditional ways we use to see as a threat during the cold war was administration by passing aircraft or conventional munitions but equally well they could be administered topically,

three locally, either by somebody who is carrying it. but the person may well be the first victim, who is carrying out. capitals have been taken on board as well. crucially, can the effect of this be treated? and the effects be reversed and what is the prognosis for someone who has been exposed to this? there is action that can be taken. it depends upon the exact agent and how long you've got between the first symptoms start to be or when the agent is first administered. and when you administer what of action you can to help the patient. the quicker the better. in many cases you end up trying to manage the symptoms but the longer you leave it, the more difficult it is to assist the recovery of the