the attack happened outside his building. a small boy was caught up in it. he is deaf, so he hadn't heard warnings to take cover. omar, the cameraman, worried the boy would bleed to death and told us the eight minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive were the worst he had endured since the battle for eastern ghouta had began. omar carried him to the ambulance where he was squeezed in next to the bodies of the dead. omar has seen a lot of death. he said the boy was a soul he wanted to save. we have been following dr amani, a paediatrician in an underground hospital, who spends every day with the wounded and the dying. in that place, they are all fighting fear, with regime soldiers advancing into eastern ghouta. dr amani sent a message. translation: it is the worst it has been for many days,

the shelling is brutal, bombs, rockets, all kinds of weapons. this may be my last message. the injured are everywhere, the operating theatres are full of wounded people. we don't have enough doctors to help them and our own homes are being shelled. a small amount of aid is being brought into eastern ghouta. all the talk of a humanitarian ceasefire is being ignored. this war started seven years ago. its horror goes on. jeremy bowen, bbc news. thousands of pupils around the country have been taking part in the bbc‘s school report day — finding stories in their local area, and producing their own news bulletins. the focus of this year's project is fake news and how to spot it as our wales correspondent sian lloyd has been finding out. these pupils have been learning how to unpick fact from fiction.

in the online world they have been born into, it's a skill that is more important than it's ever been. as part of bbc school report, resources will now be available to help young people across the uk, but these pupils at maesteg school are ahead of the game. they have researched their own project into fake news. fake news is when someone shares a fake news story online, and then other people have seen it and shared it with their friends, and their friends have shared it with their friends. sometimes it can get out of hand and rumours can start. we need to know how to tell it is fake news, to actually establish if it's fake news. so how do you do that? you can check the url, you can ask an expert — someone with higher knowledge than you. do you think that young people are particularly susceptible to believing fake news? yes, i think so because i think social media and mobile devices have become very popular now and they just believe

anything they see. after learning about it at school, i personally like to look into news stories to see whether they're true or not and have a look on different news websites. the next headline is a boy who is nine got locked in a safe during a game of hide and seek in berlin. do you think this story is true or false? i think this headline is false because it is difficult to get locked in a safe. it sounded unbelievable to him, but that headline was true. a lesson to the class in how tricky it can be to sift what is true from what's false. these young journalists have created their own presentation about fake news and are sharing what they've learned. the bbc is encouraging young people to learn how to check the facts and know where to look for reliable information. while these students can identify a false story, bbc school report wants to ensure other young people are also well—equipped. sian lloyd, bbc news, maesteg. now it's time for meet the author.

blake morrison has packed a lot into his career. a former newspaper literary editor, he became a full—time writer in 1995 and has gone on to publish award—winning novels, poetry and nonfiction. he's probably best known for his bestselling memoir, "and when did you last see your father?", which was turned into a film starring colin firth. so, perhaps it is entirely fitting that his latest novel is about writers. the executor follows a man who becomes the literary executor of an old friend and poet, and the moral dilemmas he faces when he uncovers unpublished and potentially explosive material. blake morrison, the executor raises a whole host of ethical issues,

not least of which is what's more important, the right to privacy or the right to freedom of expression? what was the starting point for the novel? i suppose i have been very conscious in recent years of a lot of controversies about writers publishing stuff that other people perhaps, members of the family, feel is painful, exposing, that they don't like. sometimes they seek legal action to stop such a book, or whatever it is, appearing. so, i think there are moral dilemmas for writers. and i think these days the rights of the written—about seem to have come to the fore. so, it is an old argument. but i think there have been lots of cases, particularly biographies, that have come out where members of the family really objected to them. this question has become fresh again. because what happens in this book is that the wife of the poet objects

to some of the poems that the executor, matt, has found. i suppose what is at the heart of that is what's more important, the wishes of the living or the wishes of the dead? where do you stand? is it a case of publish and be dammned? well, i'm a bit softer on all that. i like to think i would consult members of my family if something deeply sensitive was about to be published. and generally ask people. but then i know writers who are quite brutal about it. you know, they assert their right to write whatever they choose, and to hell with it. i think it's a balance to be struck. i think it's a matter of individual conscience. but certainly there are cases where you are going to expose other people by something you've written. and they're not always going to necessarily go along with it. i think have been lucky, the memoirs i've written, i haven't had a huge comeback from my family, lots of people complaining or anything like that. but i am conscious of cases where that sort of thing has happened.

there's a further twist in this book, if you like, in that it's notjust the reputation of the wife, it's actually the poet himself which could be damaged. i was very struck by one particular line, where you wrote, the life was one thing, the work another. a nasty man might still be a great poet. and looking at the, i don't know, alleged misdemeanours of someone like kevin spacey, i wondered how possible you thought it was to separate the art from the artist? i think, again, if you look to the history of writing, you're going to come across many authors who were not very nice people. i'm very conscious in my lifetime, because i met him, what a bad reputation philip larkin developed, the poet, after his death. and yet he seems to me one of the great 20th—century poets, and nothing that he wrote, for me, is tainted by the fact that he was accused of racism and misogyny and so on. so, i think this is a really difficult one. could i now watch a kevin spacey

film and not be troubled, knowing what i know about him? i like to think that maybe, yes, the integrity of the film doesn't suffer from what we know about the man. but i would assert it all the more in the case of writers. yes, unless, isuppose, it implies tacit approval on our part, if we continue to read their work, watch the films etc? yeah, i think we can like the work and condemn the person for their actions in their private life. but the art, the work, it does, for me, always stand a little apart from the life. there's another line in the book where the poet says there's no point being a poet now, if you're white, middle—aged, middle—class and english, you are a dinosaur. i did just wonder if there are white, middle—class, young english male poets watching this, you telling them to give up now? no, i certainly wouldn't do that. you have to allow for the particular guy who is saying this, rob, who's just got to that point

of becoming a grumpy old man. he feels a bit sidelined. he's had enormous success early in his career, and now he looks around and is a younger generation, a generation of people where gender and ethnicity are perhaps different from his, and he misses the success he had. so i think you've got to allow for his prejudice. no, i think any young, talented poet should just keep going. robert pope also says at one point poets should not get involved in politics. is that something that you think writers should stay out of, current affairs? no, i think there can be a voice, i think in my own writing i've sometimes done something that could count as a sort of political intervention. because i think sometimes works of fiction, poetry, or different kind of nonfiction journalism can shed light on a public issue, a political issue, wherejournalists, and newspapers, and the media generally have presented it in a certain way, along comes a writer with a different kind of take, a different sort of insight. so, i've always had this argument with wh auden,

who famously said poetry makes nothing happen. i think in a very subtle way, poetry, like anything else, can make things happen. and you have had experience of this as well, when you wrote your book about the james bulger trial, "as if". and i know in that book you said he felt that his killers shouldn't have been tried as adults, and he received quite a lot of abuse for that view, as a result. did that make you more cautious about getting involved in speaking out on topics of the day? i don't think so. i mean, i recently reiterated my belief that ten—year—old boys should not be tried in an adult court. which is, you know, whatever horrible crime that was committed by the two boys, and i'm not denying that, i watched that court case, i was in that court, and i just felt the whole process of little boys being tried in court was wrong. i continue to say that. i don't think i'm very popular for saying that,

and my son said to me, don't go on twitter, dad. you don't want to read what they're saying about you on twitter. but, you know, writers have to be prepared to stick their neck out occasionally for something they believe in. and i do believe strongly that it age of criminal responsibility in this country is too low. it's much lower than the rest of the world, really. since 2003, you've been professor of creative and life writing at goldsmiths university. and again, in the book, robert pope articulates the view that creative writing cannot be taught. which is interesting, given your position. what do you think? i think it can. do you? well, put it this way, i think skills can be learned, undoubtedly skills can be learned. writers can be helped to develop, they can learn certain techniques. yes, in the end, perhaps talent is innate, talent is crucial too. but i totally disagree with robert pope on that one.

i've seen how students have come along, been helped, gone on to be published and so on. they've acquired skills that, without going on a creative writing course, they might never have acquired. you're probably still best known for your memoir, "when did you last see your father?" do you mind the fact that it's a book that you wrote back in 1993 that people still most associate you with? it would be nice if i had a big success with something now. but, you know, it's inevitable and i'm very touched, and moved, when people still come up to me and say thank you for writing that book, it helped me grieve over my father, or whatever they say. it does bring us back, i suppose, finally, to literary legacies, which is where we began. do you ever wonder how you will be remembered? i try not to think about it too much, because it feels as if, if you're worrying about that too much at my age, you're kind of writing off whatever time is left to you.

so, i haven't appointed a literary executor. i've no idea what will happen after i go, and what will be left behind. and i try not to think about it too much. blake morrison, really good to talk to you. i've enjoyed it. thank you. i think not many people will come up to me at the end of the weekend and say thank you for the forecast. things are going to turn much colder. in the short term we are looking to the atlantic for our influences. the weather is not that special across parts of scotland and the north of england, whether from there and snow over the high ground. chasing in behind that, we have another set of weather fronts bringing some pretty heavy rain to start friday across wales, and then gradually drifting into eastern side of northern ireland. maybe making progress into the north of england.

winteriness about the showers across the top end of the pennines. certainly across the cairngorms, where the snow is really mounting up. sunshine in the south, the odd shower as well. at least here you have some warmth to speak of. anywhere near the east, i'm afraid it is one of those days again. then, from friday to saturday, here it is the change. it is all about the importation of some really cold air from siberia and also scandinavia. that is the mark of the weekend, and there will be snow in the forecast. this is bbc news. the headlines: police say several people have been killed after a pedestrian bridge collapses onto traffic in florida. as the prime minister visits salisbury, scene of the nerve—gas poisoning, mrs may's allies show their support for her sanctions against russia. we do hold russia culpable for this brazen, brazen act and despicable act that's taken place

on the streets of what is such a remarkable city. russia denies any involvement, as france, germany and the united statesjoin britain to condemn the attack. tests on a door from grenfell tower show it was only fire resistant for half the time it was meant to be. thousands flee the syrian enclave of eastern ghouta as government