you're watching beyond 100 days. summer is over for british politicians who are full of sound and fury but nothing much in the way of progress on brexit. spare a thought for theresa may — dealing with the eu may be a whole lot easier than dealing with some in her own party. borisjohnson is no longer the country's number—one diplomat but his newspaper opinion piece today suggests he's still the pm's number one headache. on capitol hill they're gearing up for a fight as well over the man mr trump wants as the next supreme courtjudge. also on the programme.... two reuters journalists are sentenced to seven years in myanmar charged with breaching the official secrets act when they were reporting on the slaughter of the rohingya people. and we take a look at some of the more unusual ways governments around the world have tried to boost their country's falling birth rate. get in touch with us using the hashtag — #beyond1000ays. hello and welcome.

i am katty kay in washington, christian fraser is in london. borisjohnson has yet to provide us with his own workable solution to the brexit conundrum, but he does have words to describe what he thinks of the prime minister's current plan. in his first intervention since resigning as foreign secretary, he compares the negotiation to a wrestling match. the inevitable outcome will be victory for the eu, he says, with the uk lying flat on the canvas. and for the £40 billion that downing street is handing over? well, mrjohnson thinks britain will get "two—thirds of diddly squat". tomorrow parliament is back, but nothing has changed. the splits on the right and the left as deep as ever. so what is it about the prime minister's so—called chequers plan that both leavers and remainers oppose? the prime minister's proposal is that the uk adopts a common rule book — for all goods including agriculture — which would mean the uk following the eu's regulations. for that reason, brexiteers — and some remainers — think it's the worst of both worlds. no longer would the uk receive

the benefits of eu membership. nor would it have the total the freedom to strike deals with non—eu countries. it's not winning much support in brussels either. the commission's chief negotiator, michel barnier, says he is "strongly opposed" to separating rules on goods from services: well, today members of the house of commons european select committee met with michel barnier in brussels. among them was the chair of the committee, hilary benn, and the prominent brexiteer, jacob rees—mogg. mr barnier was, as you would expect, extraordinarily charming and well—informed. and he and i found we were in a considerable degree of agreement, that chequers is absolutely rubbish and we should chuck it and what we should have is a canada—style free—trade deal. i mean, he seemed to think that was the way forward and has published charts showing that. so, interestingly, eurosceptics and mr barnier are in greater agreement than eurosceptics and the government, or mr barnier and the government. it was very encouraging.

it is very clear from the reported remarks of michel barnier in the german newspapers this morning that the government's proposal for the facilitated customs arrangement and the common rule book are not acceptable to the european union and it is clear, therefore, that what is on offer is either a deal like canada, which would not give us what we need, or, my view is, remaining in a customs union with the european union. hilary benn, the chair of the european select committee. we can talk to katy balls, political correspondent for the spectator, who is in westminster. and anne mcelvoy, who is senior editor at the economist — she is in our paris bureau. katy balls, let me start with you. i sense through the course of the day that positions have hardened again against the chequers plan. we have nick boles, soft remainer, normally loyal to the prime minister, he has said there is zero chancellor and passing the parliament and now we

have michel barnier breathing committee members that actually there is nothing in it for the european union either. yes, and numberten's european union either. yes, and number ten's vick hope, the summer recess, with a lobby mps going away would help them because of the eurosceptic mps, perhaps they remain mps calm down and come around to theresa may's proposals. parliament does not return until tomorrow but it is clear that the opposite has happened. the party is even more divided were brexit and the one thing that they can agree on is that they do not like chequers. what is either working in the field theresa may is that lots of people do not like it for different reasons. as you have said, you have nick boles one side suggesting eea, which brexiteers. bike. you also have the idea of toying with the second referendum, brexiteers do not like that. and then you have to talk of a free—trade agreement. the only positive for theresa may and all of this is that they are not united. although they are many opponents,

they different things. anne mcelvoy, dominic raab try to sell the idea of the british government being united and was ready after not being able to come to a common consensus. i imagined that i'd via brussels are looking at that but the huge amount of scepticism that they are a p pa re ntly of scepticism that they are apparently behind chequers plan. brussels was never friendly to check from the get go. this has consolidated that you and it is interesting hearing jacob rees—mogg effectively telling you that they had a cosy meeting with mr barnier and both agreed it was rubbish. that is only part of the story because it really depends what the endgame is here in paris. and also in berlin. that is not necessarily the same as the instant response from brussels. certainly, there are common things, the chequers plan is overcomplicated, which is its downfall. but it is certainly the

case that the eu has often divided goods from services when it suits it. there is a way forward for theresa may, but she cannot simply continued to suggest that it is chequers or bust, if you want me, ta ke chequers or bust, if you want me, take the chequers deal. she does not have a majority in her own party for the chequers deal or elsewhere. how does she move forward without losing what remains of her authority in the negotiation? katy balls, it looks like, looking at it from the side of the atlantic, that britain is in one of its most critical political phases ever and yet the two main parties, the labour party and the conservative party, could not be any greater disarray. is that because of brexit, or are the party is in disarray and therefore we have this committee the process, where the negotiations are not going well?m is notjust because of brexit, it is because brexit has proven more complicated than many thought it would be. and also it was such a close ward, 52% to 40%, means that

the country is divided, and that is reflected in our politics. when you look at the problems of the labour party, the biggest cause of division, although brexit is one of them, it is actually anti—semitism at the moment and it is handling that. but i think a lot of mps are looking around, they do not think either main party has the type of leadership needed to the critical moment in the history of the country and that is the problem, and with theresa may and her chequers plan, as ann mcelvoy mentioned, we are often given why the other options are bad, that no deal is not a good option, but we have yet to give my chequers is a good idea. option, but we have yet to give my chequers is a good ideal option, but we have yet to give my chequers is a good idea. i think it's theresa may has a media of pushing this, she has the know—how to sell it, she cannotjust point to other options. perhaps not the cause of the division, anne mcelvoy, but if you look at the labour party today regarding selection, they want more freedom to choose a candidate at the local level that they want and they are animated about this because some mps have been voting with the government on brexit. yes,

although the labour party would be divided anyway. i think it is fundamentally divided about its ideology, strains on brexit you find a spot with a lot of people on the the left are naturally eurosceptic but they are younger left voters who wa nt but they are younger left voters who want to make peace with europe and are actually rather pro—european. so it is more complicated that one on the left of centre. i was thinking as to what katy balls was telling us, one of the issues, for both of the parties, nekons them both, which includes brexit but goes beyond that, it is not clear what essentialist offer would look like for either. theresa may has said that if you spot the difference between hard and soft brexit, you cannot get a scramble brexit, but that might do it, but who is happy with that? similarly on the left, it is not clear what you can go back to in the labour party, which deals with the anti—semitism problem arising from an ideology which is strongly anti—and real. where did you go from that? —— strongly

anti—israel. yes, brexit intensifies and, and it is the class to which we look at all of this but the broader problem is that both parties are divided and that the centre of britain is left under represented at a crucial time. britain is left under represented at a crucialtime. it is britain is left under represented at a crucial time. it is going to be a fiery few months. thank you to both of you. one of the dilemmas that theresa may has, katty kay, is that she needs to put some flesh on the bones of this plan. but the more that he does that the more that she alienate the brexiteers, and that she does not do that, she cannot carry labour party and some of the remainers because they will not go her a blank cheque on which to negotiate once the withdrawal agreement has been signed off on. yes, i thought it was interesting, anne mcelvoy said that as well. it sounds from our conversations are there, it sounds like you think the direction is moving more towards

norway and then on towards canada type relationship with the european union. is that something that is actually feasible? does britain want to get to that, what has been known as canada plus, can it get that? and is it something that would be politically tolerable? the point nick boles is making is that if you do normally, you can negotiate only position of strength for canada plus, i do not know if they are going towards that but what i know is that when brussels looks at the division within the tory party, it is asking for the theresa may can carry the chequers plan and why are we investing such effort in negotiating with dominic raab the brexit secretary? other thing that strikes me from what we have heard today from brussels, is that if it is not the brussels plan, there is not enough time to come up with a new sort of plan that we have not heard of before, and it will have to be something that is off the shelf. yes, andi be something that is off the shelf. yes, and i guess the theory is that

if you are going tojumpjet, you should do it soon because the clock is ticking. --junk it. sparks are expected to fly this week as the us senate grills brett kavanaugh to find out if he is the right man tojoin the illustrious supreme court. not since 2006 has a supreme court appointment been this important, because mr kavanaugh would make the court more conservative for years to come. republicans are likely to spend their allotted question time extolling his virtues, while democrats try to explain why they think he's a threat to the nation. the final vote — as with almost everything else in washington — is likely to be totally partisan. so, who is he? brett kavanaugh is a reliable conservative — a former adviser to president george w bush and an appeals courtjudge for the district of colombia. but many people are questioning his position on the limits of the executive power. kavanaugh, who helped investigate president clinton, later wrote that "congress might consider a law exempting a president — while in office — from criminal prosecution and investigation. democrats are also criticising the gop for not being fully transparent on the time kavanaugh

spent at the white house under president george w bush. minnesota senator amy klobuchar said the whole confirmation process "is not normal" it is not normal because we are not able to see 100,000 documents that the archivist has... because the administration has said we cannot see them, they have exerted their executive power. 148,000 documents that i have seen that you cannot see because they will not allow us to make them public. so i cannot even tell you about them right on the show. senator amy klobuchar, who is a former prosecutor. as is this man. yes, joining us now is ron christie, who served as an advisor to george w bush and worked with brett kava naugh. does senator amy klobuchar have a point that this process has not been

handled totally point that this process has not been ha ndled totally tra ns pa re ntly? point that this process has not been handled totally transparently? good afternoon, nice to see you. no, this is the democrats '5 latest attempt to try to slow down the process. we are talking about documents that brett kava naugh are talking about documents that brett kavanaugh had when he was the star secretary, in other words the person controlling the people of all going to and from the oval office. they want to dig into this and say, look, some of these papers were controversial and use that to attack kavanagh on. but those do not have his personal opinions, they were written by others like myself, when i wrote policy for the president. this has been seen as a consequential announcement because of the balance of the court. please explain what impact brett kavanaugh would have won the supreme court and its political leanings? politically, very significant. what you are talking about here is that we have nine justices on our supreme court in the us. you have four conservative type justices, you have four more liberal type justices. if you put brett kavanaugh on, who, by

polling tendencies will reign record more to the right, that could have significant issues as it plays to abortion and relates to crime and out abortion and relates to crime and ouramendments, so there abortion and relates to crime and our amendments, so there are a lot of things that brett kavanaugh could do to steer the court more towards the right. the top and bottom of it, ron, is that there will be much debate in the committee over the next week or so, but there is nothing democrats can do, they do nothing democrats can do, they do not hold control the senate, we do not hold control the senate, we do not have a filibuster, so this go through. this is political theatre, christian, good evening to you. what we will see tomorrow is the nominated justice kavanagh introduced the us senate and for the remainderof introduced the us senate and for the remainder of the week we will have the opportunity to have senators ask questions. you are correct, the way that the rules have changed, the republicans only decide the majority, they do not need 60 votes out of 100 to confront them on. so once the time comes for boarding, yes, this is where... on that point, used to require 60 votes and there used to require 60 votes and there used to require 60 votes and there

used to be a filibuster available, there used to be checks and balances on the administration that the senate was meant to provide, and which they were mourning in some terms about atjohn mccain's funeral. the checks and balances we re funeral. the checks and balances were available to stop the senate becoming more divided, is that not currently the problem in america at the moment? very true. it was a former senate majority leader harry reid who pass the nuclear option, in other words they want more of president obama's nominees to get through so they change the rules of the senate to get through on the slow and gradual. there are many democrats in washington regretting that decision some years back and change it, because the un what? republicans will use the same rules to get brett kavanaugh onto the court. thank you for that, ron christie. remember in politics, you rea p christie. remember in politics, you reap what you sow. that could come back to bite them. two journalists from the reuters news agency have been sentenced to seven years in jail in myanmar. kyaw soe oo and wa lone have been charged with illegal possession

of stolen documents. but during the trial, a prosecution witness said police planted the military documents on the reporters to frame them. the two men were arrested last december while they were investigating the murder of 10 rohingya muslim men. the reuters journalists uncovered the massacre in the village of inn din, where these men were reportedly killed by the myanmar army and buried in a mass grave. the army itself later confirmed the existence of a mass grave. joining us now is ambassador bill richardson who injanuary this year quit an international panel set up by the myanmar government to advise on the rohingya crisis. governor richardson, thank you for joining us. your thoughts on the sentencing of these two mad men for seven sentencing of these two mad men for seve n years sentencing of these two mad men for seven years any case that you have worked closely on. i believe the trial of these two reuters journalist was harsh and the sentencing is a mockery ofjustice.

lam not sentencing is a mockery ofjustice. i am not surprised of the verdict or sentence i am not surprised of the verdict or sentence because i am not surprised of the verdict or sentence because when i was on the advisory board held by aung san suu kyi, isaid, advisory board held by aung san suu kyi, i said, you need to be these journalists, this is a case of freedom of the press and she got angry and said this was not a new charter. it is outside of your mandate. since then, i think the myanmar government has only offered hollow assurances that law and process would be respected. these journals found out about the mass atrocities and found out about the mass graves in myanmar. sol atrocities and found out about the mass graves in myanmar. so i am depressed, the bedrock of democracy, if you that i thought that women shared, a noble prize winner. but she has abandoned her beliefs. it is a sad day for democracy and freedom of the press. and for simple justice. given that there is such compelling evidence here of the setup, from some of the things we have just pulled our viewers,

setup, from some of the things we havejust pulled our viewers, what can the international committee do. how can they apply the pressure to get these two mad men freed? well, i guess there has to be a concerted international effort of pressure. notjust from international effort of pressure. not just from human international effort of pressure. notjust from human rights groups, the press, from government, from the united nations, but possibly that might dissuade the civilian government of myanmar to still pardon these journals. and challenges she could say to the president of myanmar, get them pardon. i doubt that she will do this because of her retreat from democracy and also because she will say, well, i democracy and also because she will say, well, lam not going democracy and also because she will say, well, i am not going to do and because of international pressure. other than that, i think sanctions, more focus on the lack of democracy, more focus on the lack of democracy, more focus on the lack of democracy, more focus on the plight of the eranga might help. it is so ironic that this government resist the

pressure for so many years and refused to release aung san suu kyi from house arrest. do you think now that the government is susceptible to international pressure. is it fragile enough that an international campaign could make a difference here? the big problem is that aung san suu kyi knows that she is being supported by the chinese government, that there is a lack of pressure from other governments and countries like malaysia and indonesia. so she is sitting back and then the united states congress, there is no movement for sanctions, which have to be initiated by the executive. i think the trump administration needs to do more. they have been sanctioned by the myanmar generals for the atrocities, but there has to be more pressure. international pressure on alex song to she. that was what got her out of prison, more international pressure to get to do

the right thing. to challenge the myanmar military, but also pardon these journalists who were only doing theirjob. governor richardson, thank you forjoining us. and it was governor richardson who raised the case of a swift aung san suu kyi. there's a crisis looming in several industrialised countries. not trade wars, not climate change, not evenimmigration — no — it's a lack of babies and sharply ageing populations. singapore is one country with a real problem — it has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. cue a new government foray into romance. singapore is now offering to pick up the tab for couples who date — in the hope of encouraging marriage and, eventually, procreation. katie silver has more. young singaporeans enjoying a night out. speed dating is all the rage, but here, it is being subsidised by the government as a way to get young people to meet. the government really wants to get

guys and girls to get together, to form families. coming here, i hope to expand my social network and meet friends and hopefully i can meet someone that is suitable. these dating nights are just one of a number of solutions, including tax breaks, baby bonuses and preferential housing that the government is using to combat the country's low birth rate. ivy and her husband are in the fourth cycle of ivf and half the costs were subsidised by the state. i get emotional and begin to cry for no reason. it is also financially difficult. if you do not have the subsidy, we would not even think of going to ivf. despite years of intervention, there is little progress in getting the country's birth rate up. it is partly down to women marrying later, but the

increasing cost of living here and cultural expectation that women will ta ke cultural expectation that women will take care of ageing parents, are also putting them off. injust 18 yea rs, also putting them off. injust 18 years, singapore also putting them off. injust18 years, singapore will shrink from having sex workers for each elderly person, down tojust having sex workers for each elderly person, down to just two, and the consequences for those of the future of the country are dire. put —— fewer people of working age makes it harderfor fewer people of working age makes it harder for the fewer people of working age makes it harderfor the economy to fewer people of working age makes it harder for the economy to grow and increases the burden of having to pay for a growing number of elderly people. one population expert has said the reason government interventions are not working is that they do not get to the heart of the problem. in singapore, you have about 17 to 18% of young people that are never married. that is one of the high is probably in the world in terms of single rate. so do really have to think about why people are not getting married. but time is running out. policymakers are now targeting the other end of the age spectrum. getting older people to

work longer. kate silverton, bbc news, singapore. ——kate silver, bbc news, singapore. of course singapore is not the only country facing this problem — nor is it the only one to have introduced some rather inventive ways to tackle it. in 2007, the russian government declared the 12th of september the ‘national day of conception', in the hope that giving couples the day off from work would encourage them to do their bit... and if they did their bit well — with a resulting birth on russia s national day 12th of june, nine months later then there were all kind of prizes on offer... including refrigerators! produce child, win fridge. let us have a look at another one, this one was in denmark. yes. i love that one. that is a

travel company advert and if you can prove that you conceived your child on holiday, you would even get cheaper holidays in the future and a three years' supply worth of baby goods. you have to try to get your population to get babies, go on holiday and perhaps more romance!” feel cheated, if i went home to mrs frazer and suggested we could have a holiday and a free fridge, i might be younger! you know it was notjust a holiday, you know how it works?! and apparently, singapore, this is not the first time that it has had a campaign like this. we tried one a few years ago and this is really

were. they teamed up with a mint fabricator of candy to try to get people to have lots of minutes. that was to encourage procreation. fresh breath, more babies?! the romanians went the other way and said that if you do not have babies, your tax will go up. i think i like the incentives of the free fridge better. yes, the free fridge andamans. —— the free fridge and the mints. this is beyond 100 days from the bbc. coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news — a bbc investigation uncovers evidence of a black market for prescription drugs which is fuelling an opioid crisis in the uk. and we'll see how robots are changing the way surgeries are made... that's still to come. stay with us. good evening, the very distinctive types of weather across the country.

today, south tees. aero aswar bright with some sunshine and a pretty one field. up to the north—west that look like this. in northern ireland, beautiful sunny skies, and in between, we had a riverfront, a band of cloud protecting part of our nature, with some rain. ahead of it, some warm air, behind that frontal system across the north—west, it has been a cool, fresh feeling day, despite the sunshine, and as we go into tonight, we are going to see increasingly chilly conditions across northern ireland and scotland, even the big towns and cities down into single figures. sports in the countryside like in the highlands could get to freezing and could be odd mist fog that. not so cold for the south and east, particularly where you are stuck under the weather front with the band of cloud and some outbreaks of drizzly rain. this weather front right and seals tomorrow, sitting in place and making for another fairly dull day although i hope that cloud

will break a little bit. some showers browse for east anglia and the south—east. scotland and northern ireland getting good spells the sunshine. after that chilly start temperatures recovering to 16, i7 start temperatures recovering to 16, 17 degrees. they could get up into the 20s across the south—east corner. for tuesday evening, the 20s across the south—east corner. fortuesday evening, little changes. feel amounts of cloud across the central areas, clear spells and another corner to come across scotland and northern ireland. we look further ahead in the wednesday. high pressure broadly in charge of the scene, our first weather front gets squeezed out. but another starts to push into the north—west and this will eventually turn things more unsettled for all of us later in the week. during means bringing rain into the west of scotla nd means bringing rain into the west of scotland and northern ireland. also extra cloud and the odd shower in the far south—east, in between we will see some cells of sunshine. all of us crueller and fresher by the stage, 17 up to 20 degrees. for the end of the week, this frontal system moves south—eastwards and we will

see another pushing into the near content. what we will develop is an area of low pressure, which will spoil things for the end of the week, bringing outbreaks of rain at times, if really cool feel but things only slowly turning drier from the south over the weekend. this is beyond 100 days. with me katty kay in washington, christian fraser is in london. our top stories: the brexit debate intensifies with more pressure on theresa may's grand plan. downing street hits back at boris johnson's attack saying the former foreign secretary has no new ideas. we investigate the thriving black market in controlled prescription drugs helping to fuel britain s addiction to opioid based painkillers. coming up in the next half hour: the new technology which means your next surgeon may not have much of a bedside manner. and drivers who fail a roadside eye—test in three areas of england this month will have their licence revoked immediately. let us know your thoughts by using the hashtag ‘beyond—one—hundred—days'.

let the sprint begin. there are just nine weeks to go until election day here in the us and the results will decide whether the republicans retain control of congress or not. all 435 seats in the house of represenatitves are up for grabs and one third of those in the us senate. as the democrats look to win back the house — they're relying on a new generation of military veterans who have decided to run. party strategists hope their centrist appeal will win over voters tired of the gridlock in washington, as the bbc‘s laura trevelyan now reports. nice to see you. she is running her campaign with military precision trying to meet as many voters in this newjersey suburb as possible. that is what you would expect from a farmer navy helicopter pilot.”

that is what you would expect from a farmer navy helicopter pilot. i tell people i was a helicopter aircraft commander and they never once started a mission saying i am only taking democrats on this mission or iam only taking democrats on this mission or i am only taking republicans on this mission. she has raised lots of money that the campaign. she is running against the tax changes coming newjersey‘s way and she is for gun control. i am qualified in automatic weapons and i know the danger. we need the federal government to step in to make sure we have good quality gun legislation across the board. max has not done 15,000 doors in new york as he tries to turn this republican seat blue.” am posts 9/11 war veteran. injured in afghanistan by a roadside bomb, max was decorated for bravery and his run is inspired by his soldiers.

they didn't think about their own personal self interests, they tried to get the job done and that is what i want to see more of in washington. that motivation resonates with emily who helps people run for office. when they served this country in formidable years, 18 to 28, they learned to be about something bigger than themselves. if we had more leaders who were doing what's best for the country over what is best for the country over what is best for themselves, it would transform our democracy. it is not surprising democrats are pinning their hopes on suburban seats and win back the house of representatives. americans have more confidence in the military than any other us government institution and one third of the democratic candidates running in competitors seat this november have served in the military. she is one of five female veterans contesting the democrats top target seats. we

battle if we are military helicopter pilots or if we are senators. the democrats dreams of blue wave will materialise in november, veterans will be leading the charge. and for more on the trends emerging during this election cycle we are joined now by maryjordan, a correspondent for the washington post. you have the great task of travelling round the country to cover these midterm elections, if democrats are going to win back the critical number of 24 seats in the house of representatives, are these vetera ns house of representatives, are these veterans going to be the kind of way they do it? absolutely. there was a concerted effort to go out and get vetera ns to concerted effort to go out and get veterans to run because they are good on the gun issue, they know how to shoot and they want gun control

and they seen as the less partisan. both women and men veterans, so these women around 40 to 45 years old whether first fighter pilots everin old whether first fighter pilots ever in the united states and a lot of them have this gung ho, we can do anything and bate barnstorming. clearly, they have the momentum and they are going to win. i think they will be part of a huge part of the democratic way. the way the democrats have decided to do it is try to reach to the middle and appeal away republican voters who don't like donald trump. what we saw in florida last week was a huge amount of energy in the democratic party on the left. they said we don't want people in the middle, we wa nt don't want people in the middle, we want solid, progressive liberals we can rally behind. which is the winning strategy? this is the worry and the democratic side and this is the only hope, probably back donald trump has of winning. if he can split the democratic side, he has a

chance. the polls are showing 60% of the people disapprove of donald trump. every effort is going to be on the democratic side to try and figure this out. a lot of young people are fed up with the moderate, they are a progressive, but a lot of other people say, we want the white house, we want congress back and the way to do it is the middle. it is still not resolved unable basically up still not resolved unable basically up to the leader of the party. and whoever they picked to run in 2020 and challenged from, that is their biggest challenge, to unite the democratic side. mary, iwant biggest challenge, to unite the democratic side. mary, i want to familiarise our viewers with how the projections are starting to look for the house which is critical for donald trump's agenda. so if we show people be solid democratic seats in blue and the solid republican seats in red. and the one in yellow are the ones who could go either way. what can you tell us about the 30

seats and how important is it for democrats to focus on those? all the money and the energy is going into those seeds you see in the centre. it is fierce. it marks, the heat is turning up as of tomorrow. this weekend people have been out knocking on doors. it is stunning, the money going into these campaigns, both on the republican and the democratic side. if the house flips it has huge consequences and right now people are betting it will. if it doesn't it will decimate the morale on the democratic side, because gosh, think about what donald trump has done. if they can't, ina donald trump has done. if they can't, in a mid—term move against a president who has really alienated so many people, it will be shocking. soi so many people, it will be shocking. so i think for morale, ben evans prats need to win. it looks like they will, but november is still

many weeks away. mary jordan, thank you very much for coming in. —— democrats. pretty energised republicans as well? yes, we saw that down in florida. it is worth reminding viewers about why we will be focusing on the mid—term elections over the course of the next two months. if the democrats ta ke next two months. if the democrats take back the house of representatives, they will be able to check on donald trump's agenda because they can vote down his initiatives and launch investigations against him and they could launch impeachment hearings, if they wanted to do it. it would clog up the works of the white house and make it difficult for them to push the trump agenda forward in the way he has been able to do because he has had both the house and the senate. that is why we will focus on these midterm elections because it really is, not just these midterm elections because it really is, notjust a referendum on trump, but it will change the nature of the trump presidency going

forward. a bbc investigation has uncovered evidence of a thriving black market in controlled prescription drugs helping to fuel britain s addiction to opioid based painkillers. the drugs include tramadol, fenta nyl and ritilin and there is evidence that some are supplied by post, from america. now as uk doctors restrict supplies of these powerful drugs, illegal traders are filling the gap as jonathan gibson reports. i'm in birmingham to do a drugs deal, but the opioids i'm buying street drugs, they are someone's prescription. nice one, mate, so how much was that again? fourfor a tenner. so 20, yeah? yeah, yeah. cool lawrence is trading in tramadol, it is a controlled, prescription—only painkiller. it is also highly addictive. lastly year it was linked to 185 deaths. see you've got a good little trade going in this? not too bad. as more gps restrict supplies, black—market traders like lawrence are plugging the gap. is it people like me who can't get them from doctor's? yeah. and he doesn'tjust sell tramadol.

i've got some dihydrocodeine, ritalin, xanax — i can get that guaranteed, almost every month. it's imported prescription so someone from america's got it, they will bring it. he sells what he can get on an ad hoc basis, so next time we meet, he has a different selection. what's that? 40 ritalin, 40 tramadol... if you are supplying controlled drugs you can go to prison for 14 years. even if you possess a medicine like that, you are committing a criminal offence if you don't have a prescription for it so you need to be very careful. this is a serious business. but does lawrence know that? what the... what is this about? is about you selling controlled prescription drugs illegally, the ones you've got in that bag. am i under arrest?

you're not under arrest. then go away. do you want to talk about what you've been doing, defend it? there is no way of defending it. i have my reasons. do you continue to carry on selling drugs in this way? after that embarrassment, no! lawrence is just illustrative of a much wider problem, feeding what has become a british addiction. jonathan gibson, bbc news. jonathan gibson joins us now. we have seen the destruction that has done in the united states and there are parallels. a lot of these addictions start with prescription drugs? absolutely and it is an issue that gps in the uk have begun to get to grips with in recent years. there isa to grips with in recent years. there is a reluctance to prescribe these type of opioid drugs for a long period of time. but even a short period of time. but even a short period of time. but even a short period of prescriptions can lead to addiction and when the doctor stops

prescribing the pills, addicts will look elsewhere to get them. jonathan, my understanding was the rate of prescriptions as a percentage of the population was higher in the united states and pharmaceutical companies were aggressively pushing some of these opioid painkillers because they were good revenue earners. but the uk doctors haven't been prescribing them at the same rates, is it starting to change? certainly, i think there is an issue with the level of prescriptions prescribed and that is something, as you say, has been an issue in the united states for some time. there is pressure in the uk now for doctors, gps to prescribe these types of drugs much more carefully. there was a case recently whereby doctors were handing out repeat descriptions without looking at the underlying concerns whether these patients will

need this treatment long term. there was more scrutiny of prescriptions now in the uk, but of course with the black market being what it is now and the availability of drugs so easily made available on the internet and a few other means. if people cannot get them from the doctor, they will turn to alternative suppliers. jonathan gibson, thank you very much. one of the throwaway lines in his package, they can come to the post. there is a glut of these prescription drugs in america but it is not beyond the realms that some of these are coming in through the post and that is a very difficult thing to stop. and fe nta nyl has very difficult thing to stop. and fenta nyl has been very difficult thing to stop. and fentanyl has been coming into the post into the united states from china. so there is no reason they don'tjust china. so there is no reason they don't just switch the china. so there is no reason they don'tjust switch the address and send them to the uk. fentanyl is a big killer here and we hope it doesn't spread to the uk but it there has been a couple of stories

to say it is spreading across the uk. this is beyond 100 days. still to come: how do you feel about being operated on by a robot? we'll be taking a closer look, as a new robotic surgery system is set to be rolled out in several nhs hospitals next year. this summer was the hottest on record for england, with temperatures beating those seen in the famous heatwave of 1976. for the uk as a whole, 2018 proved to be the joint—hottest summer. and as our science editor, david shukmans reports, the warm weather isn't over yet. it was a summer of extreme heat that, for much of the country, rolled on for month after month. from fires raging on the hills of lancashire. .. ..to the stark image of a dried—out reservoir in the lake district... ..to the punishing temperatures of city streets, filmed by a thermal camera the pavements, depicted in yellow, radiating heat. for anyone on holiday, it was perfect summer weather. beaches were packed and seaside businesses have been booming. no need to fly to distant resorts

for plenty of sunshine. but for many the heat was tough to endure. this field in hertfordshire was typical of many across britain, the only trace of green was the cricket pitch. and for farmers, the long, hot dry spell became a constant source of worry. for mark in devon, the land now looks less parched, but the legacy of the heatwave continues. we all knew the summer was hot, but what do the met office figures actually tell us? well, the summer had an average temperature of 15.8 celsius, and because that is within a fraction of what was seen back in 1976, 2003 and 2006, they're are calling it a joint record. at the same time, england set a new summer record with an average temperature of 17.1 celsius. the key thing was that so many nights were warmer. and another record is that this year has seen 80 days where summer in the uk was above 25 celsius. so does this mean every year will get hotter? well, no.

but as the climate warms, that is set to become more likely. the summer ended with a barrage of storms. some are betting how long it will be when another somerset is another record. officials in brazil have blamed lack of funding for a huge fire that ripped through the country's national museum. one of the largest anthropology and natural history collections in the americas was almost totally destroyed in sunday's fire, in rio dejaneiro. there've been long—running complaints about neglect of the museum. talks are understood to be taking place at the treasury over whether the governor of the bank of england could stay in his post longer than planned. mark carney is due to leave next june after six years as head of the bank. but the planned departure date would bejust three months after britain formally leaves

the european union, leaving his successor to handle the aftermath. drivers who fail a roadside eye—test in three areas of england this month will have their licence revoked immediately. motorists will be asked to read a number plate from 20 metres away, when stopped by police. the scheme is being tested in the west midlands, thames valley and hampshire, in a bid to clamp down on drivers with defective eyesight. causing quite a lot of controversy? i have learned a thing or do because a p pa re ntly i have learned a thing or do because apparently when you apply for your driving licence, you informed the dvla of course whether you have corrected vision, wearing glasses or contact lenses. on the back of your driving lessons there is a code which tells you whether you should be wearing those glasses when you are driving. if i show you mine, there you go. if you see down here, you need your glasses to see it. number12, you need your glasses to see it. number 12, next to it is 115 which

means you are a donor and 71 is a replica diving lessons, this is one i had replaced. also down there would be 01 if i was wearing glasses which will tell you if you would have to wear them when you are driving. in these three areas, if you look at your license and you are not wearing your glasses, you will lose your license. it is seen as a way to get older people off the roads who are more likely to have defected vision. apparently people over the age of 85 are now more likely to be involved in fatal crashes than teenagers. isn't that amazing? some of it is slow reactions but most is because of this vision issue so you wonder if they will be targeting older drivers with this scheme? who have deteriorating vision, i would imagine. ok. a british company has unveiled a new robotic surgery system which is expected to be used at several nhs hospitals from next year.

an american surgical robot has been used in the uk for 17 years but a new generation of smaller, more versatile machines is on the horizon. our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. imagine this operating on you. it's the latest in surgical robot technology. all controlled by a human hand at a console, with the aid of a 3—d monitor. the aim is to make laparoscopic or keyhole surgery technically easier for surgeons, allowing greater precision, and so giving better outcomes for patients. it's considerably easier. all you can do with a conventional la pa roscopic instrument is you can move it in and out, and you can rotate it. and so what the robot enables you to do is to play with this in a much more wide range of movement. the versius robot has been designed and built in cambridge. these robot arms have joints like a human's, at the shoulder, elbow and wrist. they're smaller and more flexible

than current robotic systems, which makes them more versatile, so they should be able to do many more types of keyhole surgery. none of this would have been possible without da vinci, the first surgical robot, introduced to the uk in 2001. there are now more than 70 of them here, mostly doing prostate, bladder and gynaecological surgery. the british versius system is much smaller than this american rival and is aiming to do more. so we want to do operations in the upper abdomen, such as gall bladder operations, operations in the stomach, certainly operations in the bowel for bowel cancer. we want to operate in the chest, so the aim is to replicate keyhole surgery, but with all the advantages of the small instruments, the wristed instruments, that will make it better and easier for the surgeon. the field of robot surgery is about to get crowded. there are several new systems being developed.

the most eagerly awaited is from tech giant google, called verb, which aims to connect all its robots to the internets so they can learn from each other. keyhole surgery was really revolutionary because it allowed to develop complex procedures... this is where many surgeons learn how to do keyhole procedure, london's university college hospital. training to do this with the aid of robot will be common. and eventually machines may be programmed to do some parts of an operation independently. as we develop that human and robot interface, there will be certain parts of an operation, simple parts, that may be able to be automated, if you think about stitching or closing the wound, these may be able to be done with a robot. the cost of the versius robot has not been revealed, but the company aims to make it cheaperfor the nhs to run than its american rival.

the first operation on a patient will be early next year. fergus walsh, bbc news, cambridge. we spoke to fergus walsh a short time ago about this and i asked him if he thinks robots could soon be performing surgeries without the help of human doctors. it's definitely going to come because this new generation of robots, they are going to be smarter and the key thing they will gather that existing robots don't is data. it's all going to be led by the data, that's where health is going. and the one whichjohnson and johnson, the partnership with google is doing, all their robots are going to be connected to the internet and so you can imagine, as they have machine learning over time, the robots will be smarter, the surgeons will be smarter and i can see the day when a surgeon will say, wwould you close up for me now?"

and mark an a—point and a z—point and the robot will get on with it. because suturing inside the body is actually quite a tricky skill, especially using these keyhole instruments. and only some of them can do it? yes, it takes about 100 hours to learn how to suture with these long, laparoscopic instruments. a bit like moving chopsticks which can only move in and out, they are really tricky to learn. but with these new robots, much, much easier. you can do it in about half an hour. i had a go myself and i wouldn't let me operate on you, but i could sort of do it. right, does it mean that surgical procedures that we are not doing at the moment are going to become more feasible? i would imagine there's plenty of upside to this? there is. the key thing is, this is going to be, should be better for patients because laparoscopic or keyhole surgery, these minimal, small incisions, they are less painful for the patience, you get quicker recovery but they are tricky for surgeons to learn how to do them.

so we only do a small proportion of keyhole surgery of operations that are potentially doable. these new robots and indeed, the company da vinci, which is the company that introduced surgical robots more than 4000 of them around the globe, this californian country, it is bringing in innovative new systems and i think we are going to see a definite upswing. so the likelihood of in the future of having surgery aided by a robot, it's going to increase exponentially in the next ten to 20 years. so fergus, it is worth asking the opposite question, do surgeons feel there is any downside to the incremental incursion of a robot into surgery? no, for surgeons it's great news because they have to have a steady hand and what the robots do is they can eliminate hand tremor. instead of standing crouched over

the patient, using these laparoscopic instruments or indeed doing open surgery, they are sitting comfortably at a console and so they can operate for longer. that's been one of the big problems. we have a global storage of surgeons but they tend to have to give up operating at 60, 65. this could allow surgeons to operate potentially into their 70s so it could solve a real problem then. one of the reasons i asked him about the downside might have been their employment prospects. we have spoke a lot on this programme how ai is affecting prospects. when it comes to health care the jobs most at risk to health care the jobs most at risk to being replaced by robots are surgeons and any business. the one at the least chance of being

replaced is an ob/gyn. when i go into operating theatre i will say i wa nt into operating theatre i will say i wantan higuita into operating theatre i will say i want an higuita this to hold my hand. —— anaesthetist. south eastern areas were bright with patchy, hazy sunshine. in the north west it looked like this in northern ireland. beautiful, sunny skiles but in between we had a weather band affecting parts of lancashire. behind the frontal system across the north west there has been a cool, fresh feeling day despite the sunshine. as we go into tonight we will see increasingly chilly conditions across scotland and northern ireland and even the towns and cities down into single digits.

sunspots in the countryside, the highlands of scotland could be below freezing. further south and east, not so cold particularly under the weather front with the band of cloud on some outbreaks of grisly rain. this frontal system drags its heels, sitting in place and making for another dull day. small chance for a shower to clip into east anglia and the far south—east. scotland and northern ireland seeing some good spells of sunshine and after the chilly start temperature is recovering to 16 or 17 degrees. you may get up into the 20s across the east corner. through tuesday evening, little changes, cloud around central areas and clear spells and another cool night to come across scotland and northern ireland. looking further ahead into wednesday, high pressure still broadly in charge of the scene. our first weather front get squeezed out but another one starts to push into the north west and this will eventually turn things on settle for

all of us later in the week. during wednesday, only bringing rain into western scotland and northern ireland. extra crowd and maybe the odd shower in the far south—east but in between spells of sunshine, all of us cooler and fresher by this stage, 17 to 20 degrees. as we move towards the end of the week, this frontal system will slide south eastwards and we see another one pushing in from the near continent and we develop an area of low pressure, which is going to spoil things for the end of the week, bringing outbreaks of rain at times. a fairly cool feel and things only slowly turning dry from the south over the weekend. this is bbc news. the headlines at 8.00pm. downing street hits out at borisjohnson saying "he has no new ideas for brexit" after he criticised theresa may's approach. england's heatwave this year makes the record — the met office confirms it was the hottest ever and that 2018's summer across britain was the joint hottest on record. going forward into the future, it's expected that because of greenhouse

gas emissions and global warming, these kinds of heatwaves will occur more regularly. and when they occur, we'll have higher temperatures as a result. the home secretary issues a stark warning to tech companies, saying that "he won't be afraid to take action" if they don't do more to tackle online child sex abuse. a labour activist who claimed "trump fa natics" were behind accusations of anti—semitism has been re—elected to the party's ruling body. also tonight — after a 13—year career at radio 2,