that the institution which makes the laws that govern conduct in all our workplaces fails to live up to the standards we would expect anywhere else. harassment is rife, notably by mps of the house of commons staff, or clerks. now one eye—catching case was mentioned there. a senior clerk of the house, who had made a formal complaint about bullying by labour mp paul farrelly back in 2012. he's always denied it, but what happened to her after she had complained had a big effect in deterring many other clerks from using the reporting system. her name was emily commander, and chris and lucinda, have now sat down to talk to her, and hear her story in full. we'll bring you that interview shortly, but first chris is with me. it's fair to say, the reporting you had done a couple of weeks ago has had an effect on the house of commons. the first and most important thing is the house of commons commission, the panel mostly of mps which runs the house, has agreed to set up an enquiry. we don't know the terms of that yet.

will it name names? will it pick out problematic mps? the gouse has committed to something new, rip up the existing hr policy for clerks and start again, something they were not intending to do previously. this is a case well known among the clerks, emily commander, she alleges that she was bullied by paul farrelly, he denies it, she has not spoken before. for one very important reason, she is still a serving clerk and after the process, she alleges she was bullied by paul farrelly mp, she started a formal complaint process, that rolled through. at the end of all of that, umm, she decided to leave the house of commons, she was given a career break by the house, so she's not working their day—to—day but she is still formally a deputy clerk, and so we asked her why it was that she chose to speak with us. for my whole career, i've been used to keeping quiet and sticking to the shadows, but when the newsnight programme aired, my name became quite public in connection with bullying in the house of commons.

and because everybody knows that i exists now, i feel a duty to speak out on behalf of my colleagues who are still under the same professional obligations that i was under before. so can you tell us what happened to you when you were clerk on the culture, media & sport committee? so, being clerk of the committee, you have, as a baseline duty, to manage a team of people, and you also have to help the chairman of the committee run theirenquiries, and on this particular committee, there was a very high—profile enquiry into phone hacking, which meant extremely long hours, as a basic prerequisite of the job. you were the clerk on the day that rupert murdoch got hit with a foam pie. you are quite clearly visible in the footage. what are you saying on the phone? you are taught to do only two things if something like that happens: one of them is to remind the chairman to suspend the meeting, and the other is to pick up the phone and tell the television crews to cut the cameras.

and that's what you were doing. i was telling them to turn off the cameras. so while running that committee you had an experience of bullying, can you explain to us what effect that had on you personally? it undermined my confidence at a time when life was already quite stressful, so it made it difficult for me to believe myself capable of doing the job that i had been doing personally well, up until that point, and it wore me out, it made me feel profoundly ashamed. i found it difficult to admit even to my husband, let alone any of my colleagues, that i was having any difficulty. because i saw it, and i think the person who did this to me, saw it too as a sign of weakness, from me. i felt it to be my duty to keep going, and i wanted to keep going, as i loved myjob, and so i kept going and i kept going and at some point, that takes a toll on a person, and you have two stop. and then you finally raised a complaint about what happened to you.

i didn't really want to raise a complaint, what happened was, one day, i started crying in my office and then went home. my senior colleagues advised me to go home. and i felt it wasn't sensible to be there with their manager in tears. and then it became clear to me that myjob was in peril, not myjob at the house but myjob on the committee, because if i was not there, i could not do it, and at that point, i felt i needed to explain what was happening to me, and use the mechanism that was available to do that. i wanted what was happening to me to stop, and i wanted to carry on doing myjob and doing it as well as i could to the best of my abilities, and at that point there was no way for me to do that except to try to stop the behaviour that i was experiencing. the complaint triggered an investigation by a senior member of house staff, he found there had been an abuse

of power or position, unfair treatment, and undermining a competent worker by constant criticism. the mp's conduct was deemed "offensive and insulting." i expected that what would happen was that the finding would go to the member's party, that they would be asked to apologise and amend their behaviour, and then everyone could get on with doing theirjobs. instead of which, the member appealed not only the finding but the process and the whole matter was referred to the house of commons commission. what did they decide to do? i don't think they really knew what to do, they wrote to me saying they did not know what to do with it, so various solutions were tested out. including, at one point, it was suggested that the investigation should be reopened in some way, that the commission should reach its and finding, at one point that i should be mediation. and eventually, after several

months, i received a letter from the member concerned. was it a fulsome apology? no, it's fair to say it was not. do you regret making the complaint? i do really regret making the complaint, at the time i did not feel that i had any other option because i was finding it difficult to carry on doing myjob in the conditions i was going to do it and i wanted to carry on doing my job and that was the only solution i could find. but it was such a long and drawn—out and painful process, with so little to say for it at the end of it, that i wish i had not done it. i'd spent my whole career idealising the institution i work for. and thinking that the people above me and my management structure could do anything, that they were superheroes. geeky ones, but superheroes. and then it made me... it was a profound moment of disillusionment to discover that for all their effort, on my behalf, and for all my efforts, nobody was able to do anything even so simple as elicit

an apology in the first instance, just a simple apology and an attempt to set things back on the right track. would you trust any system that these mps in a critical role, either investigating or sanctioning, other mps on these issues? no, iwouldn't, because of what happened to me before i made my complaint, i would have trusted mps to have remedied the situation quickly, discreetly, without unduly disturbing anybody. but seeing the months that it took with no resolution at the end, no. i think something that was an hr problem became political really quickly and it became about preserving the committee's reputation, preserving a party's reputation, ensuring a committee's findings were not compromised,

all sorts of political reasons why it was difficult to deal with. so what has to happen now? i think this is a great opportunity, it's been really painful for me to have this dragged up again. but i think it having been dragged up it is a great opportunity for the house to look at what it does and create a new system that works well for members and is fair for members but is also fair to staff, and i think the only way to do that is by having an independent system for adjudicating and resolving complaints. the house of commons commissionjust agreed to set up an enquiry, do you think that is a valuable exercise? i don't see how you can set up any system without knowing what the problem is that the system is there to address, so unfortunately, painful though it might be for me and everybody else involved... i think they're going to have to look at past cases to understand the problem properly.

naming names at the end of it? yes, i think they're going to have to do name names, it doesn't necessarily have to be in public, and certainly from my part, i don't suggest for one moment that there needs to be a witchhunt, but i think the commission, at least, needs to know what it is facing. so you went through this very traumatic process, how do you feel now? actually, ifeel worse now, after all this time, than i thought i did when i first went on my career break, and that is because throughout my career i have been trained to be resilient and fine, so, when i made the complaint, colleagues would ask me all the time, "how are you?" and i would say, "i'm fine", because that was a way of proving that i was not weak,

and submitting to being treated badly, because i was a bit of a failure. that i was resilient. it's only now that i have been able to confront the fact that actually, it wasn't fine at the time and it still doesn't feel fine now. and that's been a painful process for me. emily commander there, talking to chris cook. in the wake of newsnight‘s investigation, the house of commons commission has agreed to an inquiry into bullying and harrassment, but it's still not clear what its remit will be or whether individual cases will be considered. detective seargant nick bailey, who's been in serious condition in salisbury district hospital after the nerve agent attack there, has been allowed home. a chance for him to recuperate. meanwhile, the russian ambassador the uk faced the press today, and was on feisty form both defending his country, and criticising this one. she provided no proof of russia's alleged involvement in the incident, and made the conclusion that, as she put it, it was highly likely that russia was responsible for it. thus, the british government built

an official position, and i want to stress this, an official position on pure assumptions. well, theresa may is in brussels today for the european council meeting. she's only got another four of those before brexit, and for her, today, this one is all about russia. our political editor nick watt is in brussels for that council meeting. a big moment, the european council has all but accepted the uk explanation for what happened in salisbury. the european council agrees with uk government that is highly likely that russia is responsible for the salisbury attack and that there is other plausible explanation. this is what the president of the european council has tweeted. the significance of those words, those are the words that will appear on any formal european council conclusions tomorrow.

on that wording, russia highly likely, that is about 80% of what the uk wants, because they believe russia is definitively responsible. the second bit, there is no other plausible explanation, that is absolutely the language that the uk would like to see. around eight o'clock uk time, the prime minister started addressing the european council on salisbury. she was immediately supported by emmanuel macron and angela merkel, the french president and the german chancellor, who had met her beforehand. then there were some member states who expressed a little bit of scepticism. they said, we would like to see more evidence. at that point, there was a second intervention from angela merkel. she says, i know what happened. i have seen the intelligence. theresa may's explanation is correct. then an intervention from donald tusk. as i understand it, that point, he got to cross the line. they have been talking about

salisbury for nearly three hours. as i understand it, what they are talking about now is possible action by some member states to follow the uk example in expelling undeclared russian intelligence officers. briefly deconstruct this for us, how difficult is this while brexit is going on? significant at two levels, it helps theresa may in what she describes as a long—term challenge to threatening the russian threat to all of europe. secondly, it's bigger than that. last september, in her florence speech, theresa may said that the uk, whatever happens in brexit, would make a unilateral declaration of support for europe's security. well, that test has appeared to pass its first outing. earlier this evening, i spoke to sandro gozi, the italian minister for european affairs. i asked him where italy stood on the issue of russia. well, what has happened is very serious.

italy is on the uk's side. it has shown full solidarity. we need the full evidence about the responsibilities. in this very moment, they are defining the eu stance, which must be united, must be bold, must be clear. it may be that the british are not able to give the 100% proof, but if the british are persuaded that the russians did it, would you be keen to, say, expel russian diplomats as the british have? listen, i think there are several ways of responding to such a serious event. as i said, in my view, what is important is that there is a unity of the eu as a whole. what did you think of the jean—claude juncker letter to putin, congratulating him, his excellency, as he put it, congratulating him on re—election? a lot of people here, i think,

were surprised to congratulate anyone on re—election, when the election is quite often regarded as rigged? it's part of the job of the president of the commission. i mean, i think there is a lot of work to be done, because it is clear that their relationship with russia is more and more complicated. certainly it has become even more complicated and more serious after the events in london. your country has a rather interesting attitude towards russia, doesn't it? why does berlusconi have such a respect for putin? why does the 5—star movement want to end sanctions? what is it about italy, populists and cosying up to vladimir putin? well, i can tell you what i told the russian representative that came to see me a few months ago. they have been very keen in having a positive relationship with the 5—star movement. in general, they have been very keen in looking at the attention,

giving them some political support to anti—european populists and extremist movements all over europe. in my view, this is a fundamental strategic mistake. i don't think that the real interests of the russian federation is to see a weakened european union. i don't think the real interest of the main parties in moscow is to foster the relationship of the anti—european movement. it is a legitimate choice, in my view, it is the wrong choice, and in my perspective it is a matter of concern. i note you say it is legitimate for russia to support separatist movements, which is an interesting thing you can discuss at more length? i can't say it is not legitimate to have a relationship with a movement which gets 18% in a democratic election in my country. i do not share that approach,

but i can say that it is not illegitimate. i think it is a strategic mistake. has brexit had any effect on the response that theresa may has had when talking to the other eu countries? no, not at all. also, because even with brexit there is something on which the two sides are very clear, they have been very clear, and i hope there will be very consistent in the future, the european union and the united kingdom, building up a strong partnership in security, defence and home affairs. i think what has happened in the last days in london shows that brexit, or not brexit, and it is going to be brexit, the security partnership between the union and the uk is of utmost importance. in the future, we will have to shape a new partnership. i think in the continent we must move fast towards a new security

policy, towards a europe defence, towards a more effective action and home affairs. if we do so, the partnership with the uk will be even more effective, more interesting, both for london and for the european capitals. thank you so much for talking to us tonight. we are going to come back to russia in a moment. news has broken since we have been on air that president trump has replaced us national security adviser hr mcmaster with bush—era defence hawk john bolton. we're joined by chris butler in washington and this is a really big change in direction on foreign policy? yes, i think that follows rex tillerson being replaced as secretary of state by mike pompeo, you are getting a real sense of a change in tone, particularly on foreign policy, from the white house.

yet another one departs from that door behind me. john bolton is someone that is regarded as being a real hardliner. extremely critical of north korea, extremely critical of iran, perhaps not as moderating an influence as mcmaster and rex tillerson were. i think you're getting a changing of the guard in the white house when it comes to foreign policy. some will argue it is also to do with president trump himself, and the fact he has not really had a great relationship with either hr mcmaster or rex tillerson. in the case of hr mcmaster, he criticised and publicly rebuked him for some comments that he made about russian interference in the election in 2016 being something that was clearly something that happened. so, there have been public rebukes, but there are big questions now about what happens in terms of foreign policy. that is particularly important when you look at what has happened with north korea,

the idea that president trump will meet kim jong—un. well, one of the ideas for a sanction against russia that has not been taken up was to somehow banish rt, the russian state tv channel, from the uk. maybe the reason rt was not closed down is that the authorities came to the view that, like cambridge analytica, its ability to bend our minds is not as great as it might hope. but rt is not the only russian state media operation here. sputnik uk is based in edinburgh. it's part of sputnik international, which has a radio station in the us, and it distributes radio and online material here via the web. that gives it one great advantage over rt — it doesn't need a broadcasting licence. so what is it like? john sweeny went to visit. in 1957, the soviet union fired a tin can into space. they called it sputnik. it wasn't so much what it did —

the first satellite did nothing except go "beep—beep—beep" — but what it represented. the triumph of russian will over the west. we are in the middle of a new cold war — at least it feels like that. the weapons, not bullets or bombs, but information. and i've come here to edinburgh which, in this surreal conflict, is fast becoming a new frontline. hello. hi — igor? dobroye utro. dobroye den‘! good day. dobroye den‘. welcome, welcome. sputnik uk is, some say, a russian propaganda machine. it launched in scotland in the summer of 2016. the team pings out radio output on the internet. so, where are the nuclear rockets? igor laughs with tensions high, i do my diplomatic best. what's it like being a traitor? interesting question! i wouldn't consider

myself a traitor. i found sputnik on the internet. i applied for the job and... of course, i googled the company before i arrived here. i was met with a barrage of this kind of... what i would call sort of propaganda. "oh, the propaganda outlet has landed in edinburgh. " but i came to interview and what i saw was sort of like a family. they listened to what you have to say. you are also working in a difficult time. your mates mock you a little bit about who you are working for? i don't think so. i have a couple of friends that have deleted me from facebook, saying, "what are you doing?" but i don't agree with that at all. i think everyone is entitled to their opinion. so, today's agenda. i see maude is doing a story on facebook? euro mps have denounced sputnik as pseudo—news and an instrument of the russian state. oxana brazhnik used to advise a putin trustee. but she wouldn't talk

to us on camera. she kept a close watch, mind. sputnik is a tool of the kremlin‘s propaganda machine, true orfalse? false. don't believe everything they say. we report on all stories. we report about navalny as well. correction — when the effective leader of the russian opposition, alexei navalny, was half blinded last year, sputnik ran not a word on their english language service. the international version of sputnik say they have requested an interview with navalny, but he declined the invitation. is the british government handling the skripal case in the right way, in your opinion? quite frankly, it's been very rushed. sputnik can be weird. a recent online article queried why theresa may visited salisbury without protective clothing. sputnik specialises in conspiracy theories and obscure voices that struggle to get an airing in the mainstream media. what we are seeing now is a kind of deflection

to the forthcoming brexit, and i think there are concerns that could be calamitous to the uk, and that certain people have an agenda to make sure that there an external threat, because in times of crisis, external threats are useful. have ever been told you can't run that story? no, never. never been told that. a lot of people, they ask me, you are just a mouthpiece for president putin. but i ask them, how do you think that operates in practice? that we sit down in the boardroom and we get a television conference call from president putin, who tells us what to do? it would be great, it would be much easier for us if that happened. if we just got a fax through from moscow that says — "you will read this." unfortunately, it's not like that. yesterday, the foreign secretary, borisjohnson, likened the world cup in russia this summer to hitler's olympics in 1936. it's that sort of talk that's led some to raise a prospect of banning russian state—funded news from the uk.

it would be a very retrograde step for the uk to do. because, normally, it's only totalitarian regimes that close down media that they deem hostile to what they are about. you know, i think that would be deeply damaging for britain's reputation, actually. history point — 1939, the british government closed down the morning star because it was sympathetic with the nazi—soviet pact. so, sometimes democracies close down propaganda machines. during a state of war. as far as i'm aware, the uk isn't at war with the russian federation. sputnik uk is well named. it is a tin can that broadcasts its curious one note message to the universe. beep". beep. . .. beep". you will have seen headlines about the bloodbath on the high street.

quite a few retail chains have been toppling — toys r us has shut down, many other chains are struggling — from mothercare, to new look to carpetright. there are some obvious explanations for what's going on — cautious consumers are not shopping with abandon as their incomes are not growing. and when they are shopping, online takes a larger share. but there is something interesting going on underneath that overall picture, the bloodbath is not uniform. shopping is becoming polarised — the big cities benefit, the smaller cities and large towns struggle. a new £80 million shopping development in northwich. but only one of the newly built units is occupied. it is quite a struggle to get the shops to move in. one reason is that it is 20 miles from manchester, which makes for a better shopping experience. you see, with shopping from home now so easy, the physical shopping we do changes. it becomes more of a leisure experience with coffee and browsing time, better done in big centres

and off the scale. we are seeing a divergence in the market at the moment and larger cities are certainly looking much more resilient. they have a much wider retail offer than smaller towns and cities and they have much more associated leisure that provides a much longer opportunity for people to shop. at the other end of scale, are seeing the small convenience centres also looking quite resilient. the area where we are seeing so much stress is the middle ground. look at these figures, compiled from an array of retail indicators, such as vacancies and earning great, big cities score well out of ten, smaller ones not so much, manchester gets a ten, nearby wigan, a four. leeds gets a respectable six, but bradford just one. birmingham, eight, wolverhampton, two. you're looking at at least 20%

of shopping in those middle sized centres looks to be redundant, so there is a considerable amount of change and recycling of the space which needs to occur. the struggle of shops in these places is just an example of a far broader phenomenon. the smaller cities, particularly those with an industrial past, have struggled to find a post—industrial role. we all know the mega—city of london has polarised the economic geography of the uk but the same effect appears to be occurring on a smaller north and south. joining me, andrew carter. and

diana, fell short or store is this gap between the big cities and the small cities? there clearly is a gap, but there's always been a gap. big cities have always been the nucleus of this economic activities they've benefited from a range of different drivers that really pull people into the economy, whereas the smaller towns have been more solar space, and when that fails, they are in trouble, so that difference has a lwa ys in trouble, so that difference has always existed. now they have higher overhit —— overheads. always existed. now they have higher overhit -- overheads. and too much retail in smaller towns. absolutely, they expanded when the internet wasn't around, and now it is, which has made a lot of small retail out of date. what about the bigger picture? in the us, the small cities seem to be suffering. there are

increasing benefits to scale. if you are big, you can offer lots of things. if you are a fan, you can meet with other firms like yourself to share with ideas, and if you are a worker, it allows you to come into those kind of places and shop around. there are a lot of opportunities for you, and that's why london does really well, manchester increasingly does well. not just the south, the city centres, liverpool, leeds, manchester, all thriving. yes, and we see a changing economy, over the last decade, but we have also seen a return to city living. going back 20, 30 years, people tended to leave urban areas and go somewhere else but younger professionals, younger populations, they are coming back and wants to stay longer in urban areas. then you have the cumulative force. if you are a small city, you are wigan, you are middlesbrough, stoke, wolverhampton, what do you do? let's start with retail,

what is the trick? the first thing to do is be realistic, appreciate what you are, not the pie in the sky and not try to be something you are not. we have done a lot of research with the manchester metropolitan university and identified that towns which understand their function in terms of the way people use them and carry out strategies and implement strategies akin to those uses are... give me an example. if you are a smaller town, if you are a convenience—led town, so you service your local community, what you need to be doing is implementing strategies that enable people that live close to your town to get into your town and shop in your town and provide retail and facilities. don't try to be a destination? don't try to be a big city, don't go for big department stores, you will not do it. if you do that successfully, you will retain footfall, which is what we track, and it is that level of customer

activity which keeps the buildings and keep the economy going. what do you do with all the empty shops, health centres? they cannot all be charity shops. there will be a peak and a trough, there will be vacancies, cities will contract, particularly space around the outside, and they will fall out of use. but ultimately, it is likely that the market will come into play and they will be reused, for commercial, for residential. i think we have got to the stage in many mid—size cities where retail became too dominant, look at retail as a share of manchester london, it is really small, what in smaller places it got very large, and as retail strings, questions of what to do, which then asks questions about other commercial activity, can we bring that into the city centre? can people come back into the city centres and urban areas to live? we will see more of that over the next decade. that that is the high street issue. what aboue the economic

problem, so many of these places have lost the industry for which they grew, what you do to create jobs for the population? do you say, be happy being a commuter town, for people to go to work in manchester. that is part of the story, think about the future of wigan, walsall, wolverhampton, that is closely connected with birmingham and manchester, the better we can get birmingham and manchester to do, the better we can do for wolverhampton or for wigan. that is the story in london, why is reading successful, milton keynes, crawley, brighton, it is because london is very big. not everything wants to be in london. it can be elsewhere. that is part of the story in other places in the country. we need some big cities to be more strongly performing, many of them still underperform the national average, remember that. you know, in a sense? only bristol outside of london that really

consistently over performance. the better manchester does, that is the first challenge, the better it will be for wigan and bolton and for rochdale and for others. we woke today to reports that the contract to produce the new blue british passports has gone not to the british company de la rue, but to a franco—dutch concern instead. it was called a national humiliation, that the french might produce our passports. the chief executive of the british company was on the radio this morning arguing that it was unfair. for me, now, i will have to go to face those workers, look them in the whites of the eyes and try to explain to them why the british government thinks it is a sensible decision to buy french passports, not british passports. one thing he could explain to them is that he bid too high a price for the contract. or he might say, that while britain might be buying foreign passports, those workers probably buy foreign clothes and cars. to their benefit. or he might say that while they lost that contract, de la rue does sell passports to lots of foreign governments,

so it's probably best for the company to promote trade, rather than thwart it. but we've heard few of these free trade arguments today, least of all from government ministers. is free trade such a hard sell? is protection just too popular to take on? i'm joined by veteran brexiteer, sir bill cash. a very good evening to you. i was gobsmacked that you were supporting protectionism, out there batting to bring the contract home... even though it's more expensive. actually, no, what i am saying is what we want is free and fair competition. we don't know the facts, i spoke with the company today, what they are saying is, they were not allowed to compete in france for the french contract, so don't forget, the french are always, as we well—known, great enthusiasts for national champions. £120 million saved, the argument for saving it, it isn't that you are doing a favourfor the french, the argument is that it benefits us! that is the point of free trade!

what about all the people working in gateshead. we could give them each £1 million and still be £20 million ahead. the value of de la rue i believe has gone down by 6% today alone on the news, it is a serious question. i'm just saying this: we don't really know all the facts, there is an appeal procedure, they're going through it, and what is really important is that we have a proper analysis of this, and there should be a proper, maybe the public accounts committee can look at it because there is public procurement, and what i am saying is that the rules themselves have got to be properly evaluated, and... this is naked patriotism! it features, nationalism, we have done the procurement, 120 million cheaper, and they are saying... we don't normally do this! no, it is really this, there is really big questions here, it is a symbolic icon, no doubt about it... that is not what you are talking about this...

it is not just it is notjust that it is not just that simple! that is this symbolic question, there is also a legal issue about whether or not the appeal going ahead so i understand actually produces, are there subsidies that lie behind the fact that they have been undercut? they might save some money. the chief executives said to me, in fact, they think they have been undercut by £120 million. "undercut, undercut. " the interesting schism, the interesting revelation in this, is that conservatives are split on free trade, protection... "free and fair," i am saying. it is not free trade, but, the truth is, who is speaking for free trade in the country at the moment? we have got nationalist, patriotic right—wing politician saying we want protection... i did not say "protection," i said "free and fair," there is a big difference. and actually, the same thing is cropping up all over the world because we have all these problems

coming up about the manner in which international trade will be conducted. we have this steel business going on between trump and china, which came out again this evening. the question really is this, are the rules which are being applied being properly applied, or, are... those that protection in... i don't... i don't agree. doesn't this tell us that the "brexit" project, there is a very high correlation between people who want the passport to come back and the brexit sentiment... if we had an opinion poll, i guess you would find there is a lot of people who would agree with what i'm saying. doesn't it tell us all this stuff about global britain is guff, this is a nationalist project? absolutely not at all. those feelings of globalisation. absolutely not at all. if you look at what has been achieved in this current deal, announced in the last couple of days, it is about international trading throughout the world, the fact is, yes, it is a tremendous advantage for us to be able to trade more freely, but when we come... you get a perfectly cheap contract

and you want to bring it home! you are an economist, you know as well as i do, actually, free and fair trade, according to the rules, we don't yet know whether the rules are really complied with, and i am backing the company for a proper enquiry. thank you forjoining us. that's almost it for tonight, but before we go, 754 megawatts of smart solar trackers were delivered to the villanueva solar project in mexico this week, making it the largest solar facility in the americas. this footage of the project may remind some of you of the opening to a certain post—apocalyptic sci—fi film from last year, the sequel to an even more iconic scifi masterpiece from 1982. see if you can work out which one. good night. good evening. the weather is going downhill overnight. weather systems moving in from the west bringing rain. all parts of the country. it

will weaken in the east of the uk. weather fronts moving will weaken in the east of the uk. weatherfronts moving in. the isobars are moving together. windy in ireland and wales and later, england. gales across the irish sea coast. perhaps 50 miles per hour. it will prop up. heavy in scotland and northern ireland. as it reaches the east of england, it will be less. most of us have cloud cover so it will not be cold. frost—free to start friday. a wet day for northern ireland and parts of scotland. improving through the day. rain and cloud clearing the way. a few clouds and northern ireland. the next area of low pressure bringing strengthening winds to the south—west. sunny spells, temperatures reaching nine degrees. not has mild as today to be the low pressure will move into southern

parts of written through saturday and friday night in the saturday morning. cloud cover, not so cool. further north, clear skies, morning. cloud cover, not so cool. further north, clearskies, chilly in northern ireland and scotland. decent weather this weekend to be fairly mild. temperatures around the seasonal fairly mild. temperatures around the seasonal average. fairly mild. temperatures around the seasonal average. further south, a lot of cloud. damp in the south—east all day. the best of the brightness is further north. 11 celsius. the seasonal is further north. 11 celsius. the seasonal average. is further north. 11 celsius. the seasonal average. sunday will be the best of the weekend. a few showers in scotland. the strong sun will get

going, the wind will be lighter. 13. sunday is looking better. temperatures are going away next week. importing cold airfrom temperatures are going away next week. importing cold air from the north—east of the country, bringing a return to overnight frost, and for some, some snow once again. not unusual around easter to see snow, but that is how it is looking. good night. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: john bolton is set to become the next us national security adviser after the president ousts his predecessor by tweet. trump slaps sweeping tariffs on chinese imports. could this be the first shots of a trade war? i'm sharanjit leyl in london. also in the programme: from couch potato to sporting champion. how professional video games players are hitting the big time. from darkness into the spotlight.

how a blind singer overcame adversity to hit a high note.