of northern england, more in the way of blue skies and sunny spells. a few showers in the north—west and they will persist tonight, some wintry on the high ground. clear skies in the south—east. some outbreaks of light rain and drizzle, perhaps some patches of mist. it won't be just as killed in the south—east. away from that, the chance of a touch of frost to start the day tomorrow. the cloud will thin and left in the south. brightness developing. there will be good spells of sunshine elsewhere, but somejobs are good spells of sunshine elsewhere, but some jobs are possible in north—west scotland, some wintry. temperatures are around 12 celsius, and a —— the wind is light. a reminder that the clocks go forward one hour tonight. it is the beginning of british summer time tomorrow. hello and a very warm welcome to dateline london.

i'm jane hill. this week we reflect on the european summit and hopes perhaps for successful brexit talks. russia was also much—discussed in brussels. and we'll question what can or should be done to regulate social media platforms in the light of continuing revelations about facebook and cambridge analytica. my guests this week, the guardian columnist nesrine malik, the writer thomas kielinger, a correspondent for many years for germany's die welt, john fisher burns of the new york times, and bronwen maddox, now at the think tank the institute for government, previously with the economist and the times. welcome to you all. so, is there finally some momentum in the brexit talks? at a summit in brussels this week, eu leaders approved the guidelines for the negotiation of future relations with the uk, and while that was expected, observers picked up on a degree of optimism about the whole process that perhaps hasn't been seen before. britain's departure from the bloc

wasn't of course the only matter under discussion. there was wholehearted support for theresa may's robust stance against russia in the wake of the salisbury poisoning. a russian double agent and his daughter remain unconscious in hospital after they were attacked with a nerve agent in a usually quiet westcountry town three weeks ago. let's start with "brexit". bronwen, on brexit, theresa may says she thinks there was a new spirit of co—operation and opportunity, do you agree? momentum is too big a word for it, they moved forwards, that is all. they agreed a transition and agreed to begin the first phase of talks about future trading relationship itself. has each side moved very much? well, a bit...

britain got some of what it wanted, the ability to start trade talks with other countries during the so—called transition period and the eu got a bit of what it wanted, in saying you might have free trade on goods but we will not do an awful lot about services. you are still looking at something maybe more ambitious in other free—trade deals we have done. but i think that the language was different on both sides and there was a desire to move forwards. she's not exaggerating that. there is an awful lot of hurdles and some of those have simply been picked up and moved down the road, not very far down the road, in the case of the irish border, moved to may, where people have to agree what to do with it. there was a desire to move forward, let's give them that. would you echo that reading? i have an additional explanation about why the atmosphere was so good, and that is, we owe it to russia, for this to have happened! the russian threat has led to these diverse nations to come together, more closely, and put their disagreement with britain

behind them for the moment, and realise this is no way that we can hold brexit against london, we have to find a common platform to countenance the real threat of the future, which is not what britain will do with her own country after she exits the european union, the real threat is, how to cope with russia in the absence of america as a main partner. we do not have america to fall back on, it is totally unpredictable, this entity, on the world stage, now. in the meantime, europe had better look after herself and come together. theresa may was helped by this new awareness in europe, that really, we come to a crunch time, and this man, putin, has to be contained. there is a new sense of a need for containment. that is interesting, the issue concentrated minds. very much so. president putin thanked theresa may for increasing the size of the majority by which he was re—elected. and there is a new coherence behind

the european position. we will talk more about russia. nesrine and john, your thoughts, what optimism you have on brexit? it feels like there is a changed tone on both sides, there is not a sense that the eu is bullying the british into a position, nor is there a view that the british are being unreasonable. but the reason for that, is because britain has made quite a few concessions, or, actually, as you said, kicked the can down the road further, and that might be quite a smart thing to do for the initial stage, which is to get it moving, let's get unstuck from the first stage of negotiations. and then do the resolution of the fine print afterwards. and so i think, all said and done, it is at the expense of britain,

more than it is at the expense of european union. but i agree that there is a certain sharpening of minds, notjust because of russia but also because of the us, there is a sense that there is not... there is a threat, there is an abandonment, on the part of the us, that focuses minds, because you cannot really depend upon the us in terms of nato, foreign policy support, to act as a bulwark against russia, and you have a rising threat from russia. so if there was, at least rhetorically, some motivation on the part of the eu to be provocative, or triumphant, that has been dampened, i think. the russia point that was made, i think that is absolutely fundamental, i think europe that will have rediscovered in the events of salisbury and elsewhere, paradoxically in part because of the link between our security services

and the american security services. which have been helpful in resolving, or at least, tracking down those responsible for quite a number of terrorist attacks, across europe as well as in the uk. i think there is also another factor in all of this, which is that we in the press and in particular the westminster lobby press, tend, because politics is a mostly binary business, we tend to take a binary view of things, and after all, we like controversy and drama. and as the third stage of these negotiations is upon us now, i think there is a sign of sobering up and a realisation, what they used to say of apartheid south africa, that the problems had to be worked out because the alternative is too ghastly to contemplate. it seems to me we reached that point some time ago,

we made some pretty important concessions, the europeans are also coming to the realisation that there has to be a working out of these problems. there are some big problems, the irish border is one of the biggest problems. and we have been talking about that from the get—go and still, it comes up every time is a major issue. we will find a way through that, and the question of financial services, and my reckoning is, on both of those issues, we will find common ground. and a year or more from now we will look back and think, we made much too much of this, there was always going to be an accommodation. sensible minds on both sides will see to it that that is what happens. actually, brussels has been saying this, that it is coming down with the compromise. the famous brussels fudge as we used to call it. may also pertain, we will see what the consequence will be, and too often contemplate...

the whole business of brexit is too big to fail. i wish i could be so reassured, but the line the eu has taken through this is that this is a threat to the whole european project, to the single market, and it is all very well for the brits to talk pragmatically about middle ways and compromises, but we really cannot compromise because it will bring down the whole project. we don't want other countries following suit. we see the change in tone... the threat has been blown out of proportion. they talk over each other the question of other european nations following suit can be looked at in a different way, there is a dynamic — i have said this on the programme before — under way in europe, most of easily represented recently by the result of the italian elections which means that european leaders have not only to find a way to accommodate vexatious business of brexit, but they must watch their backs because there is quite a number of other eu states which share views of

the direction the eu has taken, the federalist direction, that are not so dissimilar to ours and quite a number shared common views on focus issue of immigration. i wish i could share this optimism that things will be worked out in the end but it is not a threat, the eu is not threatening the uk, it is very pragmatic, this language of adversarial threat and enmity, and trying to bully the uk, it is really unhelpful, because... it is not personal, no one in the eu wants to punish the uk because it is in their interests that the uk does well. if there is any unhelpful tone, if there is any threats, it is coming from the right flank of the conservative party, that seems to, whenever progress is made, either participate in publicity hijinks, like throwing fish from boats, on the thames... dead fish, to protest

against deals on fisheries, or, stand and object to every single thing that has been achieved by saying, this is going to be a compromise and it is going to dilute hard brexit. i think this view that the eu is either going to kowtow in the end for pragmatic reasons or because they are in a weaker position, has become mainstreamed because of the propaganda of the tory party, which is the rational party in all of this, i feel. let me put the record straight on what i meant to say, by threat i did not mean they are threatening over london. i feel they feel it is a threat to themselves, as a major player, that britain leavess the european union, and what we do with the rest of us, starting with a budget, there's a huge amount of money that needs to fill the gap in the budget, so they feel a threat

for themselves. the bridge movement is unsettling the eu. i totally agree with you. fortunately, we have moved beyond threatening each other. i think it is going too far to give mr jean—claude juncker a waiver in all of this, and indeed, chancellor merkel as well, she has said some pretty provocative things. if we look at theresa may's handling of this, she has been studious for the most part, for the last couple of years, in trying to lower the temperature, and introduce... the tory party has been the irrational party? that is overstating it, nesrine, this issue is split, political parties and their leaders are purging... i meant the irrational part of the tory party, as opposed to the tory party en masse. they wouldn't call themselves that...

they would give you reasons why not. we don't have time to go into all the reasons. on the russia point, following the poisoning of the spy here in the uk, the former spy, what is your best guess as to how other european countries might go on to react now? we have seen tit—for—tat expulsions, london, moscow. are we likely to see more of that? bigger european reaction to this? it's interesting, it has already been more emphatic than i expected. i thought the reaction that theresa may had on the first three days after saying, will you come and support us, was probably the most she was going to get in terms of qualified support, and then something stronger, saying, there seems to be no plausible explanation. i think europe very much wants to make sure that the security piece remains integrated with britain, and so on. people are very concerned,

across europe, about what russia is up to. it seems to me, vladimir putin will in time come to look on the events in salisbury as a disaster. i will be surprised if he looks on anything as a disaster! he has such an ability to... fascinating subject for another day, but something we will be watching and doubtless following on the programme. also there is no apparent end in sight to the controversy around facebook. cambridge analytica has the data of 50 million facebook users being illegally harvested and used in political campaigns. could tracking people's personal information, and thereby producing targeted advertising, have swayed the us presidential election? is it time for international regulation? both companies deny any wrongdoing. is it time to regulate

these platforms? is that even possible or desirable? who would like to kick off on the next ordinary topic that is mired... we must calm down a little bit. every new media, certainly in the newspapers, in the 18th century, radio and television in the 20th century, now social media, every new media has been a cause of concern, even panic, about manipulation of opinion. there is a tremendous potential in social media for doing that. but in the end it seems to me that what we know, as opposed to what we may imagine to be true in this case, suggests that what was done in this case suggests that what was done

was not so different, was an extension of what had already been done before. indeed we know that brittany kaiser, who is a senior official at facebook, has said that she was involved in doing very similar things on behalf of the obama administration. what has happened is that technology has advanced. there is greater opportunities for gathering this metadata. and in the end, we need to remember who is sovereign in all of this — it is the voting public. you can put data in front of people, you can put adverts on youtube, but it's up to them to decide who they vote for. the last point i would say, hasn't this got something to do with just how toxic donald trump has become, brexit in its own way has become, that if manipulation... the using personal data... isn't it more that the public feel anyone who uses

facebook perhaps, they feel betrayed, perhaps embarrassed ? i have seen cases of this in my own family, where i would have wished that my own daughter, for example, had been a little more careful than she has sometimes been on her facebook entries, and yes, there is probably room for legislative and regulatory tightening in all of this. but it is worth asking, if there would be so much fuss about this if the alleged beneficiaries of what had happened, with cambridge analytica and facebook, had been hillary clinton and the remain campaign instead of who it is. the toxicity of trump and brexit has added after burners... the main aspect is not trump but the general feeling for the public, that their information is not safe.

absolutely. i am glad john mentioned the individual and the sovereignty of them. i would like to use "take back control", the brexit slogan, the individual users of facebook must take back control and be more careful with what they do. unfortunately, so many people spell facebook with f—a—i—t—h. i refer to it as a faithbook. they believe everything that is put before them and they do not have enough control of their own senses. and that is more important... where is the individual responsibility, where is the balance between companies being clear and individual responsibility? there are two issues. one is how people make their political decisions. i am from sudan, people make decisions on what forward they receive on whatsapp, it is very popular. fake documents circulate on it, and my mother would even be like, well, a spy, sent to prison, he was not a spy,

he was a journalist. when you make something that seemed quite official, intelligent people make decisions based on how credible the evidence is. that is one problem, it was ever thus, whether it was old media, radio, facebook, social media, that is a problem of how news is circulated and how people have become unaccustomed to taking their information from very limited sources, government, that one news channel, that one newspaper, too many mediums now, for that kind of information to be circulated. i think that is an ungovernable issue, a problem we will have to live with. the other issue is, the very intense, very troubling data mining. sweeping people's likes on facebook — it wasn't age, location, number of contacts — it was your patterns of behaviour,

the pages you browsed, it was how may times you went and looked at a certain profile. that is not illegal. the question is, should it be illegal? should it be regulated. goodness me! if individuals feel like they cannot browse a site when it comes to friends and family and products, without that information being monetised, and then manipulated, to sell them either a product or a candidate, that is something we have to think about seriously. we have the weigh into all of this just how beneficial social media has been. how many tens of million of people in this world feel their lives are better for social media? including some of the gathering of some of the data you are talking about, i quite appreciate when i go on the internet, for example, that ads pop up relating to trips to grand prix races or golf clubs. it saves me a lot of trouble!

if we were to regulate and we were to deny sources of income to social media, guess what, we will have to start paying for it! perhaps that is the answer. i am withjohn on this, i think social media has been hugely beneficial, and people need to get a bit more sophisticated, as one writer put it, if it is free, you are the product. you need to understand being private on that and work out what you do with your likes and so on. in that sense... it is very hard to say, let's have it exactly as it is but impose some great regulator in the sky who will keep all the benefits you have got but take away the things that might be uncomfortable for us. it doesn't work like that. there is a question of tax, and they make their riches only because of the societies that they are dealing with.

we need something done around the country. that is as far as i go on regulation. the question isn't whether social media has been good or bad, especially in the developing world, social media is how people do business, particularly on facebook, the question isn't whether it has been good or bad. i think it has been very good personally, in terms of political engagement, commercial participation, etc. the question is, a very specific one, which is, as far as political manipulation of people's information in order to target them with certain misinformation, is it just advertising? do we come to the conclusion that this is a sophisticated form of advertising, targeted advertising, and we can't do anything about it? is there something far more sinister? it could be something as simple as social media making it clear upfront that any

of your information, all of it, can and will be used, to target you for... i think the fundamental issue, people did not know... transparency. it is not even about regulation, it is about being upfront and transparent and then people make their own informed decisions. yes, i agree, one thing that has been missing so far, it has not been subject to the general warning that anyone could... in the blurbs for the medicines, they have to remind what is likely, and what results might occur if you take this tablet or that tablet. the same will have to apply to facebook. personal responsibility is a major factor. we are much too inclined in our age to regard ourselves as victims, i don't think social media users are victims, many of them have been irresponsible in the use of the media, and this scandal alone, this controversy, is likely to cause a lot of people to think again.

quick thought on other matters, we mentioned the trump administration earlier, in separate matters. john bolton appointed this week, i'm interested... you know him, you have interviewed him, we remember him and his bellicose language in previous administrations, those of a certain age. bad news. the iran nuclear deal, in particular, he is very likely to take forward what trump has said he wants to do and unpick the nuclear deal, which will be bad for the world. it has put a brake on iran's nuclear ambitions, but i think that we will get a possible saudi bomb, and so on, and proliferation. he goes out for an argument, the washington post, the only line of wit i can remember in that newspaper, he said he failed to achieve a compromise with anything, including the colour of his moustache and his hair! he's a controversialist... i do know mcmaster, from his lead role in iraq in combat,

brightest officer of his generation, and he won his phd by writing a thesis on the failure of the american military command to be honest with the american public and with the president, during the vietnam war, and seems to me that he is very significant, this was notjust a push but a pull situation, for some time he had wanted to get out, because he thinks things are travelling in a way he could not live with. very good to see you all. plenty of food for thought. you can follow us all on social media — if you're still using it! do join us again next week same time same place. but for now thank you for watching and goodbye. hello. feeling a bit springlike for some of us through the weekend. we

have seen a split in the country with the best of the brightness in the north. tomorrow, a bit more sunshine, good sunny spells and a chance of seeing isolated showers further north and west. we have a swelling area of low pressure to the south—west, the spanish met service has called it stormy hugo and that will cause stormy conditions in spain but throwing up more cloud across the south of the uk, some drizzle as well. we see photos like this from our weather watchers. a bit more in the way of blue skies the further north you are. for northern ireland, scotland and northern england. we have seen a few showers in the north and west, they will continue through tonight, some could be wintry. clearer skies and working south—east tonight. the south and east of england holding onto more cloud, drizzle, one or two patches of mist and fog.

temperatures not falling so far with clearer skies, it will be a cold and frosty night. a reminder that the clocks are going forward tonight. we start the day tomorrow with cloud in the south and east. it will gradually lift up, but it could linger. there will be sunny spells elsewhere, one or two showers for northern ireland, scotland and into northern england. those are showers could be wintry over higher ground. there will be brightness and sunshine, temperatures at a maximum of 12 degrees with light winds. but it does not look like the less cold conditions will last. it will turn colder as we go through next week towards easter, with the risk of seeing snow to tuesday and wednesday. but some uncertainty to that, so stage and to the forecast. monday, bright and frosty. we will see sunshine, increasingly cloudy from the west with spells of rain. temperatures on monday still in the double figures, a maximum of 12.

tuesday and wednesday we will drag on the colder airfrom tuesday and wednesday we will drag on the colder air from the east. you see the milder air in the south being replaced by colder air. going through choose the and wednesday, it looks like it will stay like that towards easter and the risk of seeing snow. some concerned to do so stage you would. before i leave you, a reminder that the clocks are going forward tonight. this is bbc news. the headlines at five. hundreds of thousands of people all across america join rallies calling for tighter gun controls. alex's death could have been prevented. all the 17 beautiful angels lives could have been prevented. this is the scene live in washington were survivors of the school shootings in florida are taking part in march for our lives.

tributes to the french policeman who died from his injuries after swapping places with hostages during the terror attack yesterday. 0h swapping places with hostages during the terror attack yesterday. oh and smith says he will continue to argue against brexit despite being sacked from the labour front bench over the issue. and across the finish line they