hello, it's monday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. welcome to the programme male fertility problems are now the most common reason for couples seeking ivf treatment in the uk. yet we can reveal that the system is failing men, and one expert exclusively tells us, astonishingly, women are being offered ivf in order to treat male infertility. it's now quite urgent that we look at the problem. men are not being looked after properly, not diagnosed and not cared for. today we hearfrom men who've never spoken before about their infertility — because of the shame and stigma. when we found out about it, i was very angry for a long time. i went mad with money, didn't i? my performance at work deteriorated quite significantly. to the point that i lost myjob late last year. it basically broke my heart, completely broke my heart. even just talking about it now is making me want to cry. i saw a man break, basically. he didn't feel like a man. and that's so unfair. are you a man with

fertility problems? have you felt ignored by medical professionals because you're a bloke? get in touch if you want to share your own story. also — the victims commissoner apologies on this programme to a grenfell survivor after he tells her he feels he's had to beg for help since the tragedy. today, victims of crime and major disasters are to be given more support in a new government strategy. here's a mum whose son was fatally stabbed. i was never prepared for the fact that the knife that killed my lovely son was paraded come in a tube, and held up all the way round the court, and passed us. and that was the most heart—wrenching thing. and the government says that people who rent our rooms in exchange for sex are breaking the law. the bbc‘s been undercover to meet the men who are doing it and a woman who fell prey to the practice. we had, like, an arrangement that was written down and signed. a couple of times a week,

he would give me alcohol, drugs, take me out, whatever, and we would have to sleep together. and that was, sort of, the arrangement, instead of money. but why has no one been convicted? hello. welcome to the programme. we're live until 11 this morning. the tuc is calling for a four day working week — with a five day pay packet. we know many of you catch our programme while you're supposed to be working, so we wanted to find out from you today — where you watch our programme and how you watch — are you at home? in the office? gym? watching on your normal tv, or laptop or mobile? do let me know. use the hashtag #victorialive. if you re emailing and are happy for us to contact you — and maybe want to take part in the programme —

please include your phone number in your message. if you text, you'll be charged at the standard network rate. our top story today... for the first time, male infertility is now the most common reason that couples in the uk seek ivf. a leading fertility expert has told this programme that men's fertility is being continously overlooked — with men not being offered the right treatments or warned about the risks infertility can carry. they say women are too often being given expensive and invasive ivf treatments to try to overcome the man's lack of quality sperm. it's now quite urgent that we look at the problem. men are not being looked after properly, not diagnosed and not cared for. even though the woman may be perfectly fertile and have no detectable problems, the woman actually acts as the therapy for the man's problem. so we are giving an invasive procedure to a person who doesn't need it, in order to treat another person. now, that doesn't happen in any other branch of medicine. it's really rather absurd that it still happens. talking about male fertility,

i think there was a stigma there. it's not a manly thing to discuss. it's boxed up, put the back of the mind and sort of forgotten about. we'll have much more on this story in the next hour, if you have experienced issues like this — get in touch with us. joanna gosling is in the bbc newsroom with a summary of the rest of the days news. middle—aged drinkers are being encouraged to have two alcohol—free days a week. the advice from public health england comes as a yougov poll says people in their forties and fifties are most likely to drink heavily. jenny kumah reports. dryjanuary, if you did it, may be a distant memory. or you may be thinking of going sober for october. today, though, sees the launch of a health campaign with a different approach. rather than promoting the idea of taking a whole month off alcohol, it is encouraging people to have more alcohol—free days. abstinence programmes like dryjanuary or staying sober

for october can be beneficial but we also know people can come off those programmes and go back into their old habits very quickly. what we are trying to suggest is we take more drink free days on a regular basis as well, so that we can cut down our drinking overall. the more you drink, the greater the risk to your health, it's really that simple. according to a yougov poll, two thirds of regular drinkers say they find cutting down on alcohol harder than improving diet or exercise. one in five people surveyed drank more than the recommended 1a units a week. that's around six glasses of wine or six pints of beer. health experts say if you're raising too many glasses, you are also raising your risk of developing conditions like heart disease, cancer and high blood pressure. jenny kumah, bbc news. the conservative party will suffer a catastrophic split

unless theresa may backs down over her brexit plan — that's the warning today from a former brexit minister. steve baker, who resigned from the government injuly, says the prime minister faces a massive problem ahead of the party's conference later this month. 10 downing street says the plan for future eu relations, agreed at chequers, was the only credible and negotiable deal on the table. parts of the police service in england and wales are "on the verge of crisis" — that's the warning from the president of the police superintendents‘ association. chief superintendent gavin thomas says forces are "utterly reliant" on fewer staff working longer hours. here's our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw. a year ago, gavin thomas claimed policing was facing a perfect storm due to budget cuts and rising crime. now he believes the service is in even worse shape. the police superintendents‘ association president says routine policing is utterly reliant on officers staying on when their shift ends or working while on leave. that, he says, exploits police officers and defrauds the public. the government has encouraged constabularies to pool their resources and personnel but,

according to mr thomas, it has led to some officers spending four hours in a car driving between forces and others using two different laptops and e—mail addresses for the same job. the home office says it's carrying out a review of front—line policing to bring about improvements. danny shaw, bbc news. the swedish general election has left the two main political blocs almost tied, with the anti—immigration party making gains on its previous results. sweden democrats won around 18% of the vote — up 5% from the previous election. no party has an overall majority, but neither the ruling centre—left, nor the opposition centre—right coalition wants to work with the nationalist party. its leaders have urged them to reconsider their stance. two british tourists are reported to have been attacked in paris by a man armed with a knife and an iron bar.

in all, seven people have been injured — four of them seriously. the man, who is said to be an afghan national, has been arrested. french police say at this stage there is nothing to indicate that it could be a terrorist attack. an inquest into the deaths of the five people killed in the westminster bridge attack last year will get under way today. kurt cochran, leslie rhodes, aysha frade, and andreea cristea were run down by a car and constable keith palmer was stabbed to death outside parliament. the attacker, khalid masood, was shot dead by armed officers — his inquest will follow straight afterwards. there are calls for a shorter working week with people working fewer hours for the same pay. the tuc‘s general secretary, frances o'grady, will tell its annual congress in manchester that a four—day working week is achievable this century. if you look at the average supermarket today or a warehouse, you will see there are lots of different shift systems. this is about saying flexibility should be two way. there should be rewards for everybody from new technology

and everybody needs and deserves a decent wage. kylie minogue and jason donovan delighted fans with a surprise reunion on stage as part of bbc radio 2's live in hyde park concert. # now were back together, together... kylie was headlining the gig when she brought her former neighbours co—star on to dance during a rendition of their 1988 duet especially for you. jason later tweeted "i literally turned up on my bike to support my friend kylie minogue and next thing you know i'm on stage in front of 70,000 people recreating those dance moves. mad! loved every second." that's a summary of the latest bbc news — more at 9.30. do get in touch with us throughout the morning — use the hashtage #victorialive

let's get some sport, azi farni is at the bbc sport centre. djokovic won the man's final but everybody‘s talking about serena williams‘ outburst? novak djokovic won his 14th grand slam title, by beating juan martin del potro. it was an a—list performance in front of a celebrity crowd, which included oscar winner meryl streep, who was clearly enjoying herself in the arthur ashe stadium. and djokovic was having fun on court too, winning his third us open in straight sets. that makes it back to back grand slam victories for the wimbledon champion, who‘s now third on the all—time winners list, level with pete sampras and behind only roger federer and rafa nadal. there is a lot of significance in me being now shoulder to shoulder in terms of grand slam wins with him.

it is truly incredible, when you think about it. i watched him when one of his first wimbledon championships and i grew up... you know, playing and thinking that one day i‘ll be able to do what he does. to be actually hear, it is a dream come true. everyone still talking about serena williams. the women‘s tennis association has backed up serena williams‘ claim of sexism for the way she was treated by the umpire during her us open final. williams got a code violation for coaching, a penalty point for racquet abuse and a game penalty for calling the umpire a "thief" in her defeat to naomi osaka. she was laterfined £13,000 by the united states tennis association but the wta have said that the umpire showed williams a different level of tolerance than if she had been a man. let‘s talk about cricket. alistair cook looking to sign off in style?

yes, he‘s batting for england for the last time today, before signing off on a 12 year international career. alastair cook received a standing ovation when he arrived at the crease for the second innings against india. he helped them reach 114—2, for a lead of 154. cook finished 46 not out at stumps — i‘m sure all the england fans will be willing him to make a century later today in his final innings. and how did ryan giggs react to the defeat in the nations league? understandably unhappy with that. they were beaten 2—0 by denmark in their second match of the new national league tournament. after thrashing the republic of ireland 4—1 in their opening match ryan giggs‘ side were brought back down to earth by tottenham midfielder christian eriksson. he put them ahead with that goal in the first half and then stepped up for the spotkick when wales conceded a penalty after the break. finally, an incredible incident in

the motogp? yeah, some senior motogp riders are calling for a lifetime ban for romano fenati after what can only be described as an outright dangerous move in the moto2 race at the misano grand prix. following an earlier incident when stefano manzi made contact with him, fenati leaned over and grabbed manzi‘s brake lever, all this at around 140mph. well fenati was disqualified and later given a two race ban but some, including british motogp rider cal crutchlow have said that the italian should never compete on a motorcycle again. crutchlow incidentally finished third in the motogp race, for his second podium of the year. thank you very much. more sport throughout the morning. men in the uk are becoming less fertile, and no—one is exactly sure why this is. but for the first time male infertility is now the most common reason that couples seek ivf. this programme has been told that men‘s fertility

is being continously overlooked — with men not being offered the right treatments or warned about the risks infertility can carry, and ivf is too often being used as the solution. adam eley has this exclusive report. my gp essentially said, you are producing no sperm so you won‘t be able to have children. take a ticket, out the door. away you go. no support whatsoever. the problem is growing. men in the western world are becoming less fertile. the population don't understand just how common it is. over the last 50 years or so sperm quality has decreased. for the first time ever, problems with male fertility are the primary reason for couples seeking ivf. but it‘s rarely spoken of. he didn't feel like a man and that's so unfair. a lack of research means men are not being offered the best treatments available. men are not being looked after properly, not diagnosed and not cared for.

i don't think we were at any point offered an alternative to ivf on the nhs. and men aren‘t being told the consequences of poor sperm quality. men who are over 45 are more likely to have children who will have childhood cancers. so what needs to change? we got married in 2010 and decided a year after that we were going to start trying for children. and itjust didn't happen. i said to craig, we need to get tested. when craig and katie franklin from clacton had difficulty conceiving, doctors presumed the issue must lie with katie. i definitely think the gp and the gynaecologist definitely thought it was to do with me. and then i had the procedures that obviously told us that it wasn't. only then, after invasive testing on katie, was craig‘s fertility considered.

like many men with fertility problems, when results found craig had no sperm due to a chromosome defect, the news was not sugar—coated. the very blunt answer we got from the doctor was, "i‘m was sorry, you won‘t be able to have children." that was literally it. off, out the door, goodbye. there was no compassion, no nothing there. that just absolutely destroyed us. completely destroyed us. do you think he would have been as blunt if there was a problem with you, katie? i don't think he would have been so blunt. i think it's very common for a woman to have issues with fertility and i think they deal with that quite regularly. whereas a male fertility side of it, they don't deal with at all. male infertility is now the most common cause of couples seeking ivf in the uk. and it‘s a growing issue. with men wanting to have children later in life and sperm quality decreasing due to modern lifestyle matters such as processed food,

alcohol consumption and being overweight. alison campbell is director of embryology of the uk‘s biggest chain of private fertility clinics. one in six couples experience some form of subfertility or infertility and about half of the cases are associated with male factor infertility. and it‘s notjust a simple as how many sperm are present in the semen sample. it‘s the quality of those sperm. it does appear, and the literature would support, that over the last 50 years or so sperm quality has decreased. sometimes we have more eggs than we have sperm. it doesn‘t happen very often, but it‘s a huge challenge. professor sheena lewis is one of the uk‘s leading fertility experts. she is head of the british andrology society which aims to improve care for men‘s reproductive health. she believes couples will continue to be failed unless the medical community places much greater emphasis on male infertility. it‘s now quite urgent

that we look at the problem. men are not being looked after properly, not diagnosed, and not cared for. one of her biggest concerns is that there‘s so little research into treatments that ivf, a process that revolves around a woman, is being used to treat male infertility. even though the woman may be perfectly fertile, have no detectable problems, the woman actually acts as the therapy for the man‘s problem. so we‘re giving an invasive procedure to a person who doesn‘t need it in order to treat another person. now, that doesn‘t happen in any other branch of medicine. it‘s really rather absurd that it still happens. and each round of ivf is thousands of pounds. this is a huge expense for the nhs as well as for the couples. this couple, who asked to remain anonymous, decided to seek out alternatives to ivf for themselves. if they hadn‘t, they may never have had their son. i don‘t think we were

at any point offered an alternative to ivf on the nhs. it was basically ivf is the only way you‘re going to be able to have kids. so this is the process. they had been trying for over a year when they were offered their first round of ivf. despite there being nothing wrong with the woman‘s fertility. it was unsuccessful. and a difficult process to go through. ivf was not one of the highlights of my life. it was really unpleasant. injecting your stomach with needles that don't go in the first time is not a walk in the park. even before the ivf i had a really invasive test where i was injected with dye. there was a student there and they got it wrong, it was horrible. the couple decided to see if any other options were available. at a private clinic, christopher daniel, not his real name, had varicocele — an abnormality in the scrotum that affects up to 40% of men with fertility problems. but treatment for it is not available on the nhs.

the doctorjust said, it‘s not something we do on the nhs. he didn‘t really know a huge amount about it. the couple paid for the operation privately. and a few months later, their son was conceived naturally. for us it was a miracle when our son came along. it had been really difficult when the ivf didn't work. the health watchdog nice pointed us towards its guidelines, which say varicoceles repair treatment should not be offered to men as it has not been proven to improve pregnancy rates. but professor lewis says that while varicocole repair treatment won‘t be the solution for every man, there is real need for the nhs to offer other treatments before ivf. we would suggest that men see a urologist and have a clinical history, a clinical examination and some simple treatments before they go to the stage of having ivf. she believes men must also be made aware of how their own health choices can have grave consequences for the well—being

of their offspring. men do have a biological clock. it‘s not the way women have a menopause at 40, a5, and they don‘t have any more eggs. but what happens with men is as time goes on, because of their lifestyle, because of their environment, there are more and more opportunities for mutations to occur within their sperm. men who are over 45 when they have children are more likely to have children who will have childhood cancers oi’ may have psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disease or autism. and we also know that smoking can cause the same problems in offspring. but it‘s notjust men who need to be educated. in some cases it‘s doctors too. there‘s so little focus on male infertility. when craig discovered he was infertile, he was sent by his gp to a women‘s health specialist. i was actually referred to the gynaecology ward in the women‘s health side of the hospital.

he was sat with women of like, pregnancy, and for us, we had just been told we can't have children. and to be sat in that environment was really, really hard. and there was actually no men in there, that i can remember. it could have been dealt with so much differently. and it‘s not an unusual story. we pretty much got told, you need to adopt or you need to have donor sperm. and they were the only two things that got offered to us. mark harper was told he was infertile having had testicular cancer. i don't think they actually had an awful lot of guidance to give you, an awful lot of knowledge. they were clearly following a very set pattern and trying to lead you down certain routes. he lives in ilkeston, derbyshire, with his wife suzanne and their two children, conceived through donor sperm. when mark was found to be infertile, it was suzanne that was first informed. leaving mark feeling sidelined. as soon as you had the sperm count,

i got a phone call at work that afternoon thatjust said i'm really sorry to tell you that the sperm count is zero. we'll make you a referral, make you another appointment to come back in and discuss it. that was it. just a phone call. i then ran mark and told him over the phone again and then came home and obviously we were devastated. well, that my wife found out i didn‘t have any sperm before i did, yes, that was a little bit surprising. if you‘re talking to a male about his infertility problems, you ought to be talking to the male about it. i‘m here, i‘m a person. i was the one sat in front of you and i‘m the one you sort of need to be talking to about male fertility issues. suzanne had fertility problems herself, but the couple believe, as a woman, support for her was much greater. certainly, from what i‘ve seen, the female is dealt with quite well. but there almost seems to be a lot more guidance, a lot more signposts that the gps are aware of and can

point to for the ladies. the royal college of gps says doctors are highly trained to have sensitive, non—judgemental conversations with all patients. and to advise them of the best options going forward. craig struggled with the emotional toll of hearing of his infertility. when we found out about it i was very angry for a long time. i went mad with money, didn't i? my performance at work deteriorated quite significantly, to the point that i lost myjob late last year. it basically broke my heart, completely broke my heart. and evenjust talking about it now is making me want to cry. i saw a man break, basically. he didn't feel like a man, and that's so unfair. this is the first time craig has spoken openly about his infertility. talking about male fertility, i think there is a stigma there,

it‘s not a manly thing to discuss. it‘s boxed up, put to the back of the mind and sort of forgotten about. did you tell any of your friends about it? no, this interview today is about saying hey, this is my problem. thankfully, craig and katie are now looking to the future, but they know it could have been very different. we're still here, we're still together. we're stronger than ever. other couples might not be as strong as us. they might not be able to work through that. and i can see why they wouldn't be able to work through that because it's so hard for the male, the man, to actually come to terms with not being able to give his wife a child. they‘re now looking for donor sperm and they‘re going private, having been refused ivf on the nhs. i don‘t think anybody would be really happy with having to use another man‘s sperm to you know, to produce... to procreate.

i think any man would be a lot happier to use their own sperm. but we‘ll take that child, we‘ll love it either way, regardless of whether it‘s been conceived naturally or conceived by donor. mark says donor sperm was always the right choice for him and suzanne. but whatever direction couples take, he says the key for men is not to be afraid to talk. don‘t bottle it up. if you think you‘re struggling to have children and you‘ve got an inclination there might be a problem there, it‘s time to be open and frank about it rather than... don‘t hide from it. go at it full steam and see if you can find some answers, some solutions, or at least help understand where you are. if you have experienced issues like this, let me know. we‘ll be discussing this in more detail on the next hour of the show. an e—mailfrom an e—mail from somebody who does not

leave their name, and you can be anonymous, sadly it is not news that female ivf seems to be a man‘s solution to male infertility. when i first found out i had issues, my doctor at the time told me i wouldn‘t be able to have kids. our adoption, there was no solution. subsequently i got married and a doctor advised that ivf was the solution. four cycles later, there was no child and the marriage was on the rocks. throughout the process, i felt increasingly guilty. i am now resigned, as almost a8, to not having children. i wouldn‘t want to put any woman through the trauma of ivf for what is effectively my problem. if you want to tell us about issues to do with male infertility, get in touch to share your story this morning and to help break the stigma, which is partly what craig was doing in the film. we will talk to him live in the second hour of the programme. now we‘re going to talk about what is happening in paris. seven people have been wounded — four seriously — in paris in an attack by a man armed

with a knife and an iron bar. there are reports that two british tourists are among those injured. a suspect, said to be an afghan national, has been arrested. our correspondent hugh schofield is in paris. happened late last night, at about 11 o‘clock, a very warm evening in the north—eastern part of the capital, where this took place. there were a lot of people out in the bars, in a very trendy area, but also very close to a very big immigrant population, long—standing. also an area where there is a lot of drug problems. it seems that at 11 o‘clock last night a man went on the rampage with an iron bar and a long knife. he attacks people who were

milling around by the cinemas. he was chased by people that were there, went down a side street and attacked another couple, the english people involved in this sorry tale. he was being chased by the crowd. among them were people that have been playing boules. they threw them at him and got him on the head. he was overpowered. at one point, it looked like the mob was going to have their way with him. wiser heads prevailed and they overpowered him, he was taken into custody. all we can say is that he has been identified as a 31—year—old afghan national and he is unconscious. whether that is from the boules, i don‘t know. we have not spoken to the police yet. we‘re not sure about

the police yet. we‘re not sure about the state of health of the british people. of the seven people injured, four of them are in a serious condition, one of them is in a very serious condition. whether the two british people are among the seriously injured, i don‘t know. have the police said if they are treating this as a terrorist incident? they have said they are not treating it as a terrorist incident, there is nothing linking it with traditionally defined terrorism, there is no claim that he shouted and allegiance, or allahu akbar, anything like that. it is not conventional, textbook terrorism. some people will be saying, i‘m on a second, should we just write this off was the act of a madman? there is context in all of this, no doubt the debate will go on on those lines as it has done every time there has been an attack of this nature by a

migrant, someone of muslim origin, who also has psychological problems. that is what seems to be the case. thank you. still to come. as the government announces new plans to support victims of crime and major disasters, we‘ve been speaking to the victims commissioner — who‘s apologising to a grenfell survivor, on this programme. and — as the government cracks down on landlords offering sex—for—rent, the bbc‘s been undercover to meet the men who are doing it, and a woman who fell prey to the practice. time for the latest news — here‘sjoanna. for the first time, male infertility is now the most common reason that couples in the uk seek ivf. a leading fertility expert has exclusively told this programme that men‘s fertility is being continously overlooked — with men not being offered the right treatments or warned about the risks infertility can carry. it‘s now quite urgent that we look at the problem. men are not being looked

after properly, not diagnosed, and not cared for. even though the woman may be perfectly fertile, have no detectable problems, the woman actually acts as the therapy for the man‘s problem. so we‘re giving an invasive procedure to a person who doesn‘t need it, in order to treat another person. now, that doesn‘t happen in any other branch of medicine. it is really rather absurd that it still happens. a new campaign is urging people between the ages of a5 and 65 to have regular "drink—free" days. middle—aged drinkers are more likely than other age group to drink more than the recommended ia units a week. a yougov poll also shows that they find cutting back on alcohol far harder than eating healthily or exercising. the conservative party will suffer a catastrophic split unless theresa may backs down over her brexit plan — that‘s the warning today from a former brexit minister. steve baker, who resigned from the government injuly, says the prime minister faces a ‘massive problem‘

ahead of the party‘s conference later this month. 10 downing street says the plan for future eu relations, agreed at chequers, was the only credible and negotiable deal on the table. parts of the police service in england and wales are "on the verge of crisis", that‘s the warning from the president of the police superintendents‘ association. chief superintendent gavin thomas says forces are "utterly reliant" on fewer staff working longer hours to keep up with increasing demand. the home office says it‘s carrying out a review of frontline policing. there are calls for a shorter working week with people working fewer hours for the same pay. the tuc‘s general secretary, frances o‘grady, will tell its annual congress in manchester that a four—day working week is achievable this century. that‘s a summary of the latest bbc news. here‘s some sport now. novak djokovic won his iath grand slam title,

beating juan martin del potro in straight sets at the us open. it‘s back to back grand slam victories for the wimbledon champion, who‘s now third on the all—time winners list, level with pete sampras. the women‘s tennis association has backed up serena williams‘ claim of sexism for the way she was treated by the umpire during her us open final. williams got a code violation, a penalty point and a game penalty but the wta have said that the umpire showed williams a different level of tolerance than if she‘d been a man. alastair cook will bat for england for the last time today. the former captain will call time on a 12 year international career at the end of the test against india. he will resume day four on a6 not out, with england 15a runs ahead. and wales were beaten by denmark in their second match of the new nations league tournament. tottenham midfielder christian erikssen got both goals, as ryan giggs‘ side lost 2—0. that‘s all the sport for now. the victims commissioner

has apologised to a grenfell fire survivor exclusively on this programme — as the government launches a review of how victims of crime and major disasters are treated. one in five adults in england and wales was a victim of a crime last year ? that s according to the annual crime survey. and those who do fall victim to a crime can find themselves caught up in an often bewildering process of police, lawyers and courts at a time when they are at their most vulnerable. the government review will look at how those caught up in disasters like the grenfell fire and the hillsborough disaster — are supported. there‘s a plan to create a new role of "independent public advocate" who will represent victims. the criminal injuries compensation scheme will be reviewed, and the so—called same roof rule will be abolished. this has prevented some victims of crime from being compensated if they lived with their attacker. the rule was changed in 1979, but wasn‘t applied retrospectively. i‘ve been speaking to

the victims commissioner baroness helen newlove, and also to gill veysey, whose son darren was stabbed to death. she says throughout the court process, she was never informed about what was happening and the balance of rights seemed heavily weighted in favour of the perpetrator. we were joined by katie russell from the charity, rape crisis, and joseph john, who lived on the second floor of grenfell tower with his son and ex—partner. baroness newlove explained to me what difference the national victims strategy will make. what we are seeing with this strategy from the ministry of justice later today is that the entitlements of victims are strengthened and it is important that their voices are heard.|j thought that they were still some

way away from that law. there are some way away but i will still push the government because it has been a ma nifesto the government because it has been a manifesto promise and they have to consult on that but in that we‘re looking at domestic abuse advisers, victims advocates and the independent public advocate which on huge tragedies and disasters is welcome. jill, thank you for talking to us, your son darren was fatally stabbed in 2009. i wonder if you could describe for the audience what it was like for you and your family to go through that court case? it was like for you and your family to go through that court case7m was not good at all to be honest, i would have preferred looking back on it that i was a bit more prepared and it would have been helpful if somebody could have prepared us everyday for each thing that we were going to hear and see. what support

did you feel was therefore you? the police were very good, they were there with us and sat with us outside the court but in the court, there was a lot of young people in there was a lot of young people in the public gallery texting and messing about and in and out the door as all the time. i also had with me my youngest daughter and my grandson who was just 16. they were with me when we listen to the pathologist report and also i was never prepared for the fact that the knife that killed my lovely son was paraded in at tube and held up all the way round the court and that was the way round the court and that was the most heart—wrenching thing, to see that knife that had killed my son. it did not have to be held up and shown to everybody, it could have beenjust

and shown to everybody, it could have been just gently taken and shown to everybody, it could have beenjust gently taken round the court and given to the judge. again if you have been told that was likely to happen, it may partially helped you? yes, i had to leave the room, i would helped you? yes, i had to leave the room, iwould not helped you? yes, i had to leave the room, i would not have wanted to have been there had i known that was going to happen. so if you had been told he would have been able to make that decision. yes, and i could not. joseph, you lived up grenfell tower on the second floor with your son and ex—partner. the government say in this new strategy that they will offer victims of big disasters like those people involved in rental tower more support in the future. i wonder if you feel that you have been listening to commit as a victim? from the get go, no. the a nswer victim? from the get go, no. the answer is no. i have been trying to

ask them for help, trying to rebuild my life. i‘m still traumatised and still living that every day. i‘m getting no help from them. what kind of help have you been asking for? courses to help me better myself and my future for me and my boys. it it feels like i am begging them, ifeel they do not care about me. for me i believe i am and nobody in this country, that is how i feel at the moment. trying to get help from them, no help. my daughter is trying to get help from them, they‘re still making choices about our future and it is not fair. when you hearjust

of describe how he feels he has been treated, what would you say to him? i would like to talk to josef myself, i think it is important as victims commissioner to understand something that you do not really know what is going on and i think thatis know what is going on and i think that is what people are just feel, and you need support to get you through every day. it is difficult to get out of bed so i'm saying i'm here and will listen and see if i can help in any way. we still have people in hotels, most of us are still living in temporary accommodation and still uncertain as to what is going on. so for me definitely, i‘m born in this country, i was not illegal here, but i seem to have been treated just like everybody, bottom of the list. i went through trauma and i‘m still going through that every day. i

cannot even sleep, trouble sleeping and eating, problems with my family, creating other problems and i‘m getting no help. so my back is against the wall full stop there are organisations apparently working with grenfell tower victims so it would be good to try to help in every way we can after this. there‘s only so much they can do, my lawyer is trying to help. at the end of the day they are not making the decisions, not making the choices. but for me i want to say how i feel about them but i think they are possibly treated as different as human beings. that is why this national victim strategy, we need your voice in there, national victim strategy, we need yourvoice in there, it national victim strategy, we need your voice in there, it is notjust an independent public advocate but it is the support mechanism and compensation to help you carry on. it is not about a begging bowl and

thatis it is not about a begging bowl and that is important that we have that strategy for everyone and your experience is important and to gather feedback. do you have faith that things could change?” gather feedback. do you have faith that things could change? i have no faith, i have faith in going out on the streets and working and building myself. for me from the get go i never depended on anyone and never asked anyone for anything. i never got anything, never push myself. hopefully tyrannous new love will be able to help you as she said this morning. — baroness. katie is from the charity rape crisis. from your point of view tell us what you hope will change with this government that strategy today? what we are particularly pleased to see is this

chatterjee talks a lot about the current criminal injuries compensation scheme which we have been with other charity partners calling forfor been with other charity partners calling for for many years to be com pletely calling for for many years to be completely overhauled because it is not fit for purpose particularly for victims and survivors of sexual offences. they have been discriminated against by various aspects of the current scheme. so the so—called same roof rule which discriminates against people sexually abused in childhood which earlier this year was ruled to be contrary to the current human rights laws, that is going to be abolished but there will be a full review of the scheme as well and obviously this is something that we are very interested in and we hope our voices will be heard during the review because there are many aspects to the current scheme including things like the two—year cut—off for planes including the fact that people who

have unspent criminal convictions that are unrelated or automatically turn down compensation. and crucially the confusion in the existing scheme about the definition of sexual consent. and a situation whereby a number of survivors of child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse have been told that theyin sexual abuse have been told that they in fact consented to the sexual abuse against them which of course in the law of our country is impossible because people under the age of 16 are not legally able to consent to sexual activity. just extraordinary, isn‘t it forgot i wa nt to extraordinary, isn‘t it forgot i want to play you a clip with gemma dowler, the sister of milly dowler who was murdered edged their team. — age 13. she was speaking about the experience of her family in court as the man convicted eventually of the murder of her sister was being

tried. i think the whole process of the criminal trial was so weighted towards him. hearing that he had been given access to some of the stuff that was found in our house, notes that millie had written, drawings and things like that, so he could potentially have touched something she had touched, was so awful. the individual accused seemed to have more rights than the family, can you relate to that?|j have more rights than the family, can you relate to that? i absolutely agree. once you‘re dead you have no human rights, the perpetrator has those rights still right up until the rest of his life. we will see if this strategy launched today makes any difference but in the meantime thank you all very much. coming up...

a trans woman has pleaded guilty to sexual assault of fellow inmates in women‘s prision — and now prison reformers say trans people who have committed violent offences against women should not be able to transfer to women‘s prisons. that‘s coming up just after 10.30. the cost of renting a property or a room is on the rise and so it seems is the practice of renting out rooms in return for sex. often these requests can be subtle adverts talk about rooms in exchange for benefits. the government has said landlord to advertise free rooms in return for sex are breaking the law but as the law being enforced and two other people advertising free rooms in exchange for the benefits. we went undercover to expose the practice of sex for rent. the government says

these ads are illegal, but no—one else seems to care. i‘m going undercover to meet the landlords who are offering free rent in return for sex. and a vulnerable woman who experienced the riskier end of these arrangements. one guy expected me to like, sleep with him but also then put in about having like, group sex with like, a lot of his friends. then you sort of get in a bit of a dangerous cycle. so why is nothing being done about it? i have worked on lots of shocking stories about homelessness recently. and i know how hard it is to live a normal life when you don‘t have a safe place to call home. i thought i‘d seen the worst of the housing crisis. but last year i heard about a new trend that i found most alarming.

sex for rent. in the last six months i‘ve seen dozens of local adverts on craigslist. some of them are worded subtly, so, "could be rent—free for the right student". but others leave no doubt. "double room in return for your booty." "simple, no hassle business deal." i want to speak to the guys posting these ads. but when i contact them as a journalist, they don‘t respond. so i‘m going undercover. most of them ask for a photo, so it‘s time to get into character. i‘ve already responded to some adverts and the replies have been very revealing. so one landlord here told me he‘d expect sex a couple of times a week. another one says he has a high sex drive, is very adventurous and has no limits. and he‘d also expect you to surrender to him. now, that makes me feel really weird and i‘m doing this as a journalist.

i can‘t begin to imagine what it must feel like if you are doing this for real. here‘s my picture. right, it‘s gone, there‘s no going back now. i‘m just really glad i‘m wearing a wig, to be honest. so he doesn‘t actually have a photo of me as i normally look. trying the wig on at home is one thing. it suddenly feels very different on the way to my first meeting with a landlord. right. i‘ll see you on the other side. from his advert, i already know tom is in his 60s and has a one bed flat on the outskirts of bristol. he has already sent me more than 50 e—mails including a photo, keen to arrange a meeting. the messages are mild, but he clearly feels very familiar already and goes straight in for a kiss. how are you? i already know part of the deal is sharing his bed. but i want to find out what else he‘s going to expect. so i‘vejust come back

from meeting with the landlord. and, yeah, it was a really, i don‘t know how to... intense experience, i guess that‘s how i‘d describe it. and even talking about the idea of doing it made me feel so uncomfortable. it wasn‘t a very nice experience. it wasn‘t very nice at all. and all i keep thinking about is how these people doing this for real must feel. one of those is 22—year—old laura from bristol. after a family breakdown left her homeless, she entered into a sex for rent arrangement as a 19—year—old. laura is not her real name and she asked for us not to show her face. you were living with friends, sort of sofa surfing. yeah. and then you ended up getting into this sex for rent arrangement. how did that come about? i sort of stumbled upon craigslist. i went to london and he said he had a little, almost

like a little cabin outside. it was like a bedroom/living room. we had a kind of arrangement that was like, written down. so a couple of times a week he would sort of give me alcohol, drugs, take me out, whatever. and then we‘d have to sleep together. and that was sort of like the arrangement instead of money. how did that make you feel? looking back, it‘s kind of disturbing. but at the time i just didn‘t care. i really didn‘t care about what was happening. and when you came back to bristol, did you look at doing the sex for rent arrangement again? yeah, i put some posts up. everyone i spoke to just seemed a little bit dangerous. one guy expected me to, like, sleep with him but then also put in about having, like, group sex with a lot of his friends. you sort of get in a bit of a dangerous cycle. this whole sex for rent arrangement is relatively new and it seems to have got much bigger in the last couple of years. why do you think that is? for young people, it‘s hard to move out, it‘s hard to sort of like getjobs. and even looking at shared houses,

it‘s a lot of money. especially if you‘re working like minimum wage jobs. you‘re not going to be able to afford to live. you think landlords are then taking advantage? i think they are, yes. using the fact that some young girls are vulnerable, they are using that against us. so are landlords breaking the law? we‘ve asked the ministry ofjustice, who told us... i arranged to meet the next landlord at a pub in swindon. from his advert, mike claims to be in his a0s, with a designer pad on offer. and this time i would even get my own room. there‘d be zero rent and no bills. just an fwb relationship. we‘ve exchanged a dozen messages. nothing dodgy. but he tells me he‘s done this before and he‘s clearly got away with it. hi, mike, nice to meet you. how are you? good, thank you. have a seat. thank you. no kiss this time. but when i ask for a small glass of wine, he very generously returns with a large one.

can i give you money for it? no, it‘s only glass of wine. after some small talk, we cut to the chase. it turns out, i‘ve got competition. the ministry ofjustice says just placing an advert is illegal. but we‘ve checked with the police, who are not aware of any prosecutions. so it hasn‘t been tested in court and a solicitor with expertise in this area doesn‘t think it‘s an open and shut case. i‘m not sure it is inciting prostitution, i think it‘s a grey area. and i suspect the crown prosecution service and police are not very interested in taking this on because there is no clarity. you might historically get prosecutions. when i say historically, two years down the line, when a tenant has moved out, they come forward and say "well, actually, i had to have sex with him, i didn‘t really have an option because he threatened me with eviction if i didn‘t sleep with him." we offered both landlords the opportunity be interviewed

or to give us a statement. tom wasn‘t interested. all right, goodbye, nice to meet you. mike says he is now living abroad. he told us he was pretending to be a landlord and he‘s actually a writer and a feminist and that he placed his advert to research his novel on the theme of the exploitation of women. he says that i was the only person to respond. we look forward to reading your book, mike. we really do. what would your advice be to anyone who is maybe considering entering into one of these arrangements with someone? it‘s not worth it, just for saving a bit of money. it is dangerous, it is stressful, it puts you on edge. it isolates you. if you can afford to just about get by and pay rent, just do it. or if you have to sort of grovel a bit and apologise to family or friends, just do it. it‘s not worth all the stress. that was rachel

stonehouse reporting. you can watch that investigation again on tonight s inside out west in the west country or on the bbc iplayer later tonight. thank you for your messages this view sharing your experience about male infertility. richard on e—mail says i have a low sperm count and the support offered to me with definitely below par. the issue most men face is a feeling of not being a man and you feel you have let your partner down. this can only be ove rco m e partner down. this can only be overcome with support and meant opening up to talk about the issue. i agree men should be provided with a lot more support before any ivf treatment especially a small lifestyle changes can have quite a big effect on sperm production. we have progressed significantly in

many areas of medicine but not at all in this key area for the plenty more of those to read out and i will do in the next hour but before that the latest weather good morning. this week we will have fairly typical british weather, and mainly with a westerly air stream. that is the case through this morning, if we look at the satellite images, that mass of cloud across the uk and right through the atla ntic the uk and right through the atlantic at the moment. that is moving further east and giving us grey skies. this is the theme currently across scotland with even some outbreaks of rain in the west of scotla nd some outbreaks of rain in the west of scotland put up further south a little brighter with some sunnier spells. and really across many southern areas spells. and really across many southern areas we spells. and really across many southern areas we keep some sunny spells into the afternoon. feeling still quite warm and temperatures getting up into the 20s. further

north we run into more clout and showers perhaps across lincolnshire towards norfolk and certainly crossed northern ireland and the west of scotland. temperatures around 15 — 19 degrees. through tonight the showers and rain become a bit more intensified across scotla nd a bit more intensified across scotland with the east. rain spreading into northern england across wales and the north west midlands. with all that cloud and rain it is not going to be a cold night, temperatures staying in double figures for most. all the cloud i showed you is associated with this weather front in the mid—atlantic which is across the uk asa mid—atlantic which is across the uk as a cold front. it will move south from tuesday so rain with that as well but that will eventually peter out. across southern areas it is going to remain quite warm. temperatures still into the 20s but

behind that cold front further north it is going to be pressure with temperatures down to around 16 or 17 degrees. as we go into wednesday we start to pick up some uncertainty, a bit of a kink in the weather front which brings in some heavy rain and still to the most of that pressure conditions, to the south of that still warmer conditions but on wednesday the fresh air extending to all areas. some that could intensify all areas. some that could intensify a bit, some heavier bursts of rain across southern a bit, some heavier bursts of rain across southern areas on a bit, some heavier bursts of rain across southern areas on wednesday. remaining dry further north with some sunny remaining dry further north with some sunny spells. and temperatures around 15 — 17 in the london area. so by the end of the week quite cool for many with some rain at times as we go into the weekend. goodbye. good morning.

our top story: male infertility is now the most common reason for couples seeking ivf in the uk. a leading expert in male reproductive health has told this programme there‘s an urgent need to tackle the decline in male fertility, and that the system is failing men, who often feel they can‘t speak out. we‘ll hear more from craig who is speaking the stigma is there, it is not a manly thing to discuss. we‘ll hear more from craig who is speaking out for the first time about his own infertility and is now looking to use donor sperm to have a child. a prison reformer has said trans people who have committed violent offences against women should not be able to transfer to women‘s prisons. that‘s after a trans prisoner was placed in a female prison and within days sexually assaulted fellow inmates. we speak to someone who knew the prisoner now called karen white before she went to new hall women‘s prison, and warned the authorities about her. and we‘ll here from a former

prisoner who is transgender and has concerns about how the prison service has handled it. and the victims commissioner exclusively apologises to a grenfell survivor about the lack of support he‘s received since the disaster. iam here, i am here, i will listen and see if ican i am here, i will listen and see if i can help in. i‘ve been working with the departments, and i apologise that my office has not been able to get to you, but it is not for wanting to get to speak to you. and we will talk to a firefighter who was one of the first to be sent to the top floors of grenfell. eric kennedy macfoy has written a book about the experience and the impact on his mental health. good morning, it‘s ten o‘clock. here‘sjoanna gosling in the bbc newsroom with a summary of the days news. for the first time male infertility

is now the most common reason that couples seek ivf. this programme has been told that men‘s fertility is being continously overlooked — with men not being offered the right treatments or warned about the risks infertility can carry, and ivf is too often being used as the solution. it is quite urgent that we look at the problem. men are not being looked after properly, not diagnosed and not cared for. even though the woman may have no detectable problems, she works as the solution for the man‘s problem. it doesn‘t happen in any other branch of medicine. it is rather absurd it still happens. talking about male fertility, there is a stigma there. it is not a manly thing to discuss. it is not a manly thing to discuss. it is not a manly thing to discuss. it is boxed up and put to the back of the mind and forgotten about. new campaign is urging people

between the ages of a5 and 65 to have regular drinker free days. middle—aged drinkers are more likely than others to drink more than the recommended 1a units a week. a yougov poll also shows that they find it harder to cut back on alcohol than eating healthily or exercising. the uk economy grew, according to the office of national statistics. a shrinking manufacturing dragged on production growth, which was up just 0.1%. the conservative party will suffer a catastrophic split unless theresa may backs down over her brexit plan that‘s the warning today from a former brexit minister. steve baker, who resigned from the government injuly, says the prime minister faces a ‘massive problem‘ ahead of the party‘s conference later this month. 10 downing street says the plan for future eu relations, agreed at chequers, was the only credible and negotiable deal on the table. parts of the police service in england and wales

are "on the verge of crisis", that‘s the warning from the president of the police superintendents‘ association. chief superintendent gavin thomas says forces are "utterly reliant" on fewer staff working longer hours to keep up with increasing demand. the home office says it‘s carrying out a review of frontline policing. two british tourists are reported to have been attacked in paris by a man armed with a knife and iron bar. seven people have been injured, four of them seriously. the man has been arrested. french police say at this stage there is nothing to indicate it could be a terrorist attack. there are calls for a shorter working week, with people working fewer hours for the same pay. the tuc general secretary will tell the annual congress in manchester that a four—day working week is achievable this century. there are lots of different flexible

systems. it should be two way. there should be rewards for everybody and everybody needs and deserves a decent wage. that is the latest news, moore at 10.30. we are going to talk more about male infertility in next few minutes. thank you for your messages and experiences. it is really difficult to talk about, so i appreciate it. david says, i was told i was infertile in may. the facilities of the hospital were lacking and i was sent to a toilet with a pot. the general feeling was that the gp didn‘t know how to deal with me. there was not even a process in the system to arrange a test. i had to call numerous departments and explain my issue to complete strangers until i got sent to the right place. the only solution being offered is ivf. my wife, perfectly healthy and fertile, has been put through many uncomfortable tests and has been told she has to have further invasive tests to proceed. i don‘t see why she has to go through

is to deal with my problem. we don‘t even know if it is worth putting her through testing yet. all of the referrals and tests have to go through her doctor and we have to visit my gp for them to write to her gp to arrange things. i have just this month been diagnosed with testicular cancer. i had surgery last month and i am awaiting chemotherapy, which will likely effect as further. i feel lonely and trapped with little support. men are supposed to just get on with it. these things are not talked about socially. the world needs to change its views on fertility. my wife is co nsta ntly its views on fertility. my wife is constantly asked when she is having a baby and i can see it break her inside each time. she does not want to blurt out the reasons. suzanne on facebook says it must be really difficult for men, women get sympathy in droves but men are seen as inadequate. i really feel for them and there is not much about it

in the media tool. another viewer says, thank you for bringing this to light, my husband and i have been trying four years and have been u nsuccessful trying four years and have been unsuccessful due to him having no sperm. that is related to a pre—existing hormone condition. the lack of understanding and insensitivity from some gps has been dreadful. one gp stifled a laugh when i said we were thinking of fertility treatment because my husband had no sperm. i left that appointment in tears. if you have an experience to share, get in touch, we will treat your experiences with sensitivity and courtesy as always. do include your phone number in your message. let‘s bring you the latest sport. novak djokovic won his 1ath grand slam title, by beating juan martin del potro. it was an a—list performance in front of a celebrity crowd, which included oscar winner meryl streep, who was

clearly enjoying herself in the arthur ashe stadium. and djokovic was having fun on court too, winning his third us open in straight sets. that makes it back to back grand slam victories for the wimbledon champion, who‘s now third on the all—time winners list, level with pete sampras and behind only roger federer and rafa nadal. there is a lot of significance in me being now shoulder to shoulder in terms of grand slam wins with him. it is truly incredible, when you think about it. i watched him when one of his first wimbledon championships and i grew up... you know, playing and thinking that one day i‘ll be able to do what he does. to be actually here, it is a dream come true. the women‘s tennis association has backed up serena williams‘ claim of sexism for the way she was treated by the umpire during her us open final. williams got a code violation

for coaching, a penalty point for racquet abuse and a game penalty for calling the umpire a "thief" in her defeat to naomi osaka. she was laterfined £13,000 by the united states tennis association but the wta have said that the umpire showed williams a different level of tolerance than if she had been a man. alastair cook will bat for england for the last time today. the former captain will call time on a 12 year international career at the end of the test against india. he will resume day four on a6 not out, with england 15a runs ahead. joe wilson is at the oval, joe it‘s going to be an emotional day for alastair cook and england? another bright and breezy day in south london. i think the cook factor will attract a decent crowd here today. it does seem like this farewell has lingered throughout the test match. i guess that is because

he has played so well. he walked out toa he has played so well. he walked out to a big ovation and most people inside the oval would have thought this could be his last day batting for england. the fact is, india could not get him out. the more we see him play in the classic manner, showing great concentration and discretion, you do wonder why, the age of 33, has he decided to retire? i guess the clarity in his mind enables him to play well in the test match. joe root will resume on 29. i am sure he would love to have him with him over the winter. we might as well say it now. by the time we get to next may orjune, the campaign to get him back for the ashes will be in full flow. as it is, there is the issue of england trying to win the test match. they are 15a runs ahead. the more he bats, if he does get to 100, i guess england will feel they are out of sight. india will take a great

effort to get back in it, but they have the motivation of winning the final test match before the series ends. a big day ahead. thank you very much. that is all of the sport for now. male infertility is now the most common reason that couples seek ivf, but often men carry the shame of being infertile in silence. couples are being failed by a system that overlooks men. in some cases, women are undergoing invasive procedures before their male partner‘s facility has even been tested. we will be talking to two men ina tested. we will be talking to two men in a moment that want to talk openly about issues they have had and are asking what needs to change. first, here‘s an extract from adam‘s sousse of report. my gp essentially said, you are producing no sperm

so you won‘t be able to have children. take a ticket, out the door. away you go. he felt forgotten, and his mental health spiralled. i was very angry for a long time. i lost myjob last year. i saw a man break. he didn't feel like a man, that is so unfair. male infertility is now the most common cause of couples seeking ivf in the uk. sperm quality is decreasing due to modern lifestyle factors. it is now quite urgent that we look at the problem. men are not being looked after or cared properly. she is head of the british

andrology society. one of her biggest concerns is that there is so little research into treatment that ivf, a process that revolves around the woman, is being used to treat male infertility. the woman actually acts as the therapy for the man‘s problem, so we are giving an invasive procedure to a person who doesn‘t need it, in order to treat another person. that doesn‘t happen within any other branch of medicine. it is really rather absurd that it still happens. mark harper, who has two children via donor sperm, was told that he was infertile having had testicular cancer. i don‘t think they actually had an awful lot of guidance to give you, an awful lot of knowledge. they were clearly following a very set pattern and trying to lead you down certain routes. when mark was found to have no sperm, the doctor told his wife first. i got a phone call at work that afternoon that just said, "i'm really sorry to tell you that

the sperm count is zero. if you‘re talking to a male about his infertility problems, you ought to be talking to the male about it. i‘m here, i‘m a person. i was the one sat in front of you and i‘m the one you sort of need to be talking to about male fertility issues. let‘s speak now to james d‘souza who has fertility problems. he and his wife have been trying to have a baby for seven years. stephen harbottle is a ivf consultant in cambridge. anya sizer is here from the charity, the fertility network uk. and we can speak to craig franklin, who we heard from in adam‘s film. he‘s infertile and is now looking to use donor sperm to have a child. also on the line are a couple andrew and sereet. this is the first time you are

speaking out about your own infertility. tell us what you believe the stigma is.” infertility. tell us what you believe the stigma is. i think the stigma with male infertility is that it is not a manly thing to discuss. i think women discuss female problems between them, for men, it is not something that is discussed. as mentioned in the report, we tend to box it up and not deal with it. i think that needs to change, either by more support from the nhs or third parties. what's it like being told that you have no sperm?m destroys you. it makes you feel less ofa man. destroys you. it makes you feel less of a man. you know, it feels like you can‘t provide for your wife. you a lwa ys you can‘t provide for your wife. you always brought up to believe that you should be the provider, and not being able to provide something as simple asa being able to provide something as simple as a child for your wife, thatis simple as a child for your wife, that is devastating. james, sitting

in the studio, he was nodding as you said that. you have been trying for a baby since 2011, first naturally and then to ivf. how difficult is it for you to be seven years on without a child? really difficult, because nobody talks about the male side of things. the way we approach things is very much equal. all of the support, all of the conversation was very much for and about my wife. but i felt like i had to say stuff, assert myself into conversations, even with medical professions are between us to get across, this is how i feel, i questioned myself, questioned by masculinity. even the phrase fertility problems is a loaded phrase. a lot of us in the community trying to conceive referred to it as a journey of

fertility, a journey of trying to have children. it has made me realise that there are so many different expressions of family. it is not only me having my own children, it could be adoption, it could be donor sperm. i never considered that before. i think one of the main things was really realising that i don't have to define myself as a man by my sperm count. stephen, why are men being overlooked when it comes to infertility? i think one of the problems that we have is that doctors, gps, doctors in hospitals, are not aware of the full range of tests that are available for men. what often happens is a couple presented with an infertility problem, a journey, if you like, and something will be found, and the doctor's response will be, well, you need ivf. it is being used as a catchall. i think there is much more that we can do before men get to that we can do before men get to that point. there are tests we can

commission, tests for dna fragmentation, tests for other things ina fragmentation, tests for other things in a seaman sample, indicating that we can improve it before we take the plunge. ivf, as we have reported, in adam‘s film and the people that have been getting in touch, it is being used to treat male infertility, which is unbelievable, not to mention a com plete unbelievable, not to mention a complete waste of money? when we use the term ivf, it refers to two different techniques. there is another technique, and once we have established that there is a problem with the sperm count or the ability of them to swim, we can take a single healthy sperm and injected into the egg. that technique is highly effective. but it is still

going on before that? there is potential that men are being fast tracked into these treatments before we have all of the answers. that is what i would like to see change, for us to have more diagnostic tools readily available on the nhs, so we have the information before we engage with treatment. because all of the attention tends to be on women, the research tends to be about the woman and what she‘s going through. so the research isn‘t actually focused on male fertility. it ends up being that people don‘t talk about it, we don‘t talk about it, gps don‘t talk about because they don‘t know. it is certainly something that we have been discussing, how you get the research funding towards the men as much as the women. so that couples have a choice, a much more informed choice about whether they choose ivf or not. do you hear stories of couples being pushed down the route of ivf

from a woman‘s point of view, and the men are ignored? absolutely, i think what we're talking about is a cultural shift that needs to happen. i think the culture at the moment is very much focused on the women's physical issues and emotional issues. what we really need to see issues. what we really need to see is the realisation that, actually, this is increasingly becoming a male issue. more men are reported at the gps for fertility problems than women these days. statistically there is a slight increase there. we need to see that realised. we need to see that recognised. we also need, the other end of the spectrum, to see their emotional welfare being really ta ken care to see their emotional welfare being really taken care of, because the focus is so much on the women and the women's emotional well— being. craig, talk about your emotional well—being and the impact it had on you when you tell have no sperm. what did you end up doing to help yourself cope? i would have a

get—together with friends, the weekend after we had been told about my diagnosis. unfortunately my friends cancelled, through no fault of their own, and i took that com pletely of their own, and i took that completely the wrong way. i thought my friends were abandoning me. i have a real problem with money. i was spending money that i didn‘t have. it caused me to get a couple of black marks on my credit record. it also made me feel very low, i wasn‘t able to perform myjob correctly at work and i lost my job late last year. it did have an impact on my wife, my relationship between my wife and i. you know, she would say things about not being able to have children, and it felt it was apportioning blame to myself.

i knew at the back of my heart that wasn‘t the case. a wide variety of emotions. you know, a lot of anger there. it is only in the last six months that have been able to deal with this and talk openly about it today. we are very grateful to you for that, actually. you have encouraged people like andrew and sereet to get in touch. could you related to some of those emotions? yes, thank you very much for having us on. i can relate to a lot of what has been said. certainly, male infertility is not treated in the same way as female infertility. in our case, it turns out it was

actually down to medication i was taking, that was stopping me from producing sperm. as a result of that, my wife ended up going through ivf for our first that, my wife ended up going through ivf for ourfirst child, that, my wife ended up going through ivf for our first child, when it turns out that the medication i was taking was actually stopping me from producing sperm. once i stopped taking the medication, we actually had a second trial is naturally.” feel extremely guilty about the fact that my wife had to go through ivf. are you with us, serit? how are you? 0k. how have you coped with the fact that you have gone through that, you have a child, thank goodness, but it was potentially unnecessary. well, we had two children, one through ivf and the other one naturally. that's

what i mean, you have ivf for the first child, but you could have done it naturally if you haven‘t been having a medication? thing was, we didn't know about the side—effects of medication. it ended producing his to virtually nothing, and the doctor was mentioning about literally taking one sperm, put it into the egg and the magic happened. we we re into the egg and the magic happened. we were willing to go through it, because we wanted to have a child, and that is the only way that it was possible. because of our age, we thought we would have to go privately. we went to a different service, and we were very fortunate. we saved up and we were able to pay

privately. we told our story, they asked about the medication and we left about half an hour later. the consultant phoned up and spoke to andrew and said, you know that you're taking medication, you know that it reduces your sperm completely? i would suggest you stop taking it for three months and then see what happens, and do another sperm sample. we will take it from there. and you got pregnant? and then we got pregnant, yes. we are very lucky. we would like to let everybody know, this is one of the reasons we have phoned up, to let everybody know to see about the medication. it was actually testosterone replacement. thank you for that.

stephen harbottle, what has to change? gps have come in for criticism, we have a statement from the royal college of gps, they say they are highly trained and sensitive when it comes to these things. that may be true, but some people have said gps have not articulately helped. what needs to change? gps need to be more aware of what treatments are available. we need to know if these tests are going to be deployed and if they will be available on the nhs. even backin will be available on the nhs. even back in cambridge, we are in a position where we are looking to self fund some of the testing that we believe will help nhs patients so we believe will help nhs patients so we can offer that testing, because the commissioners are not in the position where they confront it. where do you get the money from? from our own resources, we had to pull them from other areas. i

believe this commissioned them so they have a better insight into where they are, before they offer them ivf. thank you, all of you. we really do appreciate it. still to come, is the conservative party at risk of splitting over theresa may‘s brexit plan? that is the warning from steve baker. until recently, he was the brexit minister. we have heard a grenfell survivor, just ofjohn, talking about the trauma of his experience. he received an apology from the victims commissioner. many of the emergency services who arrived on the scene have suffered mental health issues

as they come to terms with what they witnessed. let‘s talk to a firefighter who was one of the first to be sent to the top floors of g re nfell tower. edric kennedy macfoy was a firefighter for almost 13 years with the london fire brigade. he worked as one of the firefighters dealing with the aftermath of the fire at grenfell tower which killed 72 people as well as having a key role in other incidents like the croydon tram derailment the year before. i want to start i‘d talk about g re nfell tower, i want to start i‘d talk about grenfell tower, you were sent to the top floor is the morning after the blaze had begun. what was your task? it was the same morning but the fire started and i arrived at the scene at ten o‘clock and was briefed with my crew to start with the 15th floor and make our way up as high as we

can looking at the extent and reporting back the extent of the fire in each flat and also reporting back the location of any victims. i went in with my crew and started actually on the 16th because the crew had just finished on the 15th. we were the first to go above the 16th after the initial fire we were the first to go above the 16th after the initialfire had taken place. when you knew that was your task what were you feeling?m was nerve—racking, you know you are going into the building that is a very hot, visibility is poor and potentially you know that you‘re going to see things you can never see. you go into like a robot mode and just become fixated on the task and just become fixated on the task and what you have to do. what was the environment like when you got there? it was hot and at first the heat was bearable but each floor we

went up it became hotter and hotter and we encountered several casualties which was very hard to see. women and babies. what did it for me was when i saw a dog and i say that because in all my years in thejob dogs say that because in all my years in the job dogs always make it out. normally it is a dog that would even raise the alarm so when i came across this dog i actually lost hope and thought you know, if that dog did not make it out it is unlikely anyone else did at the time. you we re anyone else did at the time. you were only in the tower for about 25 minutes, were you afraid? yes, of course. the heat was became unbearable by the time we got to the 22nd floor. you could hear pops and bangs and the building crumbling

around us and i was surprised that no firefighter lost their lives that they. you will have read the stories yourself that some of your former collea g u es yourself that some of your former colleagues said you faced comparatively little danger because effectively the fire had burned itself out and they criticise due for writing this book.” itself out and they criticise due for writing this book. i can only talk about my own personal experience and what i saw and experienced that you cannot make these things up and you never go into a these things up and you never go intoafar these things up and you never go into a far situation by yourself, i ami into a far situation by yourself, i am i was with two other crew members who experienced the same thing i did that day. last year after the itv documentary inside the london fire brigade, i was thrust into the public eye and did not expect a documentary to be so successful. now with this book once again i‘m thrust into the public eye and u nfortu nately a

into the public eye and unfortunately a small minority of firefighters reacted badly to this, ido firefighters reacted badly to this, i do not know why, it would need to ask them of the majority have been very supportive and that includes members of the public and members of the grenfell community. one of them, aldo diana, what eldric has done discuss me full stop that is part of a small minority and eldric happens to be one of those people. how does that affect you? i have my truth, i know what i did, all statements are out in the public domain so it is clear for anyone to see. before having any interviews, my role on that day had to be verified so before i could come out and speak about it it had to be verified. just to let the audience know london fire brigade say that the book is unauthorised and you resign from the brigade before they sate noticeably

feeling could take place over the unauthorised deal. —— they sate before a disciplinary hearing could ta ke before a disciplinary hearing could take place. ijumped at the opportunity because it was the perfect chance for me to write about this. the book was not about g re nfell tower this. the book was not about grenfell tower but my life inside and outside the fire brigade, losing my mother at an early age, starting training school three months later which was a welcome distraction, learning about firefighting. using the jaws of life to cut open cars, the jaws of life to cut open cars, the thing about breathing apparatus, the thing about breathing apparatus, the supply of water. moving on to more traumatic events like the g re nfell tower more traumatic events like the grenfell tower fire and croydon tram derailment. being on that chime and witnessing mobile phones ringing

from loved ones trying to get through to their partner or mother and father. what impact did the experience you have hired as a london firefighter, what impact has not had better mental health? after g re nfell tower not had better mental health? after grenfell tower and the croydon tram derailment, it is to hit me hard and i experienced anxiety, depression, ptsd, i was diagnosed with these things. it was one thing that training could never prepare me for, i lost my mother at an early age just before starting the job and that apparently for seeing dead bodies because i‘d seen my own mother dead four. it may be more sensitive to the pain of victims because i could identify with that. and that‘s why i chose to resign from the fire brigade. the fire brigade, 13 years and giving people that physical health, when that dramatic event happens and it is so

chaotic, is it afterwards when things quite down that the victims are things quite down that the victims a re left things quite down that the victims are left in a very isolated place and that is when depression can kick in to stop that is where i want to come in and help. over time i made a decision, assigned to say to right thing and one of the croydon, the quy thing and one of the croydon, the guy who lost his life in the croydon tram derailment, his wife which doubt to me after seeing me in a documentary and asked if i would meet for coffee and meet her grandson of the i‘m went to meet them and just sat with her for three hours to learn about her experience and being told afterwards her husband was injured and then later she learned that he was not and the names had been ripped up. and just talking to her about these feelings and being that outlet for her made me realise this is what i want to

do, to help people emotionally now. that is the journey i‘m now on. thank you for talking to us. next the fallout from brexit. until recently the government brexit ministers steve baker has won the promised up to 80 conservative mps are willing to reject her plan for brexit known as the chequers deal. he says the party would suffer catastrophic split if she does not rethink. meanwhile the former foreign secretary was johnson is once again under fire following comments he made about theresa may and her brexit plans. in an article in the mail on sunday, mrjohnson said the prime minister had "wrapped a suicide vest" around the british constitution, and handed the detonator to the eu‘s michel barnier. let‘s speak to our political guru, norman smith. let‘s talk about steve baker and his

winning first of all. it is a sign of just how fraught winning first of all. it is a sign ofjust how fraught relations are now in the tory party, a kind of chasm that has opened between theresa may and her brexit critics and people are beginning to talk about party splitting. maybe if she presses ahead with chequers her opponents sitting as independent tory mps. we know that labour has faced similar tensions and no one has actually abandoned ship, it is ha rd has actually abandoned ship, it is hard is it were to desert your party but that is how fraught relations had now become in the tory party because we seem had now become in the tory party because we seem to had now become in the tory party because we seem to be engaged in pretty much a fight to the death between brexit critics and theresa may and her determination to stick to the chequers deal. and there is no sign of either side backing down. if you listen to steve baker this morning arriving at westminster, he was pretty clear that the chequers

plan was just not acceptable. was pretty clear that the chequers plan wasjust not acceptable. the chequers plan is not a compromise a cce pta ble chequers plan is not a compromise acceptable to the conservative party, you can see that but it is notjust eurosceptics. party, you can see that but it is not just eurosceptics. there party, you can see that but it is notjust eurosceptics. there are a lot of conservatives who just want to move past this dispute but what you will notice is there are conservatives on the remain side of the committee will not accept chequers and i have now reached a point where i have met conservatives previously disinterested and just automatically for the main thing we should go for no dealjust to escape the set of problems. that is not what i want, i want to go forward with the deal in our mutual interests put up and borisjohnson, busy preparing a leadership challenge? i do not think that he is writing these highly charged articles in the daily telegraph just because he likes robbing people the wrong way, he is a man on the liver is because the truth is although people may say theresa may can drop chequers, with another plan, eve ryo ne chequers, with another plan,

everyone knows that if chequers goes down then she does as well and many brexiteers believe borisjohnson could be the next leader by christmas or easter. let‘s speak now to the conservative mp and prominent brexit campaigner andrew bridgen who has defended boris johnson‘s comments. he‘s also a member of the influential european research group of conservative backbenchers. thank you for talking to us. do you agree that your party could split?” do not think so but what we have is in totemic policy by the government, this government will be judged on the way we leave the eu, devoted to leave and we are leaving but the brexit proposal, the so—called chequers proposals are more unpopular in the country than the poll tax. i‘ve looked at all the details and i could not support chequers if the eu paid us let alone expect us to pay over 39 billion of taxpayer money. theresa may if she

persists with this, you do not think your party could split? i'm publicly down as having a letter of no confidence are calling for a confidence are calling for a confidence vote in the prime minister just confidence vote in the prime ministerjust on the basis that she remains backing the chequers proposals. if we do not deliver on brexit i see huge problems ahead for our democracy and people‘s belief in democracy. they voted to leave and we will effectively not believing and the analogy of the suicide vest and the analogy of the suicide vest and the analogy of the suicide vest and the detonator in the hands of the eu, under the chequers plan the eu would have control of our destiny and be able to make laws that adversely affect uk businesses and benefit continental businesses and we would not be able to do anything about that. theresa may said the only credible plan is her chequers plan. now there is open warfare in

the conservative party and voters normally end up punishing government but are riven with splits and infighting so you must be worried about that? this is such a crucial policy, the treaty we have with the eu as we believe will set out our relationship and something that will affect our grandchildren and probably their grandchildren, we have to get it right for the future of this government and the of our democracy and keeping jeremy corbyn out of number ten, if we delivered the wrong sort of brexit, that is the wrong sort of brexit, that is the best guarantee thatjeremy corbyn and his marxist and racist labour party will get the keys to power and i‘m not willing to let that happen. the european research council had to shelve the publication of your brexit blueprint, because it talked about building a missile defence shield to protect uk, sending a force to defend the falklands, and reports

suggest not even borisjohnson was prepared to sign up to it calling it mad. i do not think you can speculate about report that has not been issued. why has it not been published? been issued. why has it not been published ? you been issued. why has it not been published? you promised he would published? you promised he would publish a blueprint. we're going to address the key points that the government say are preventing dealing with the irish border situation and i believe that will be dealt with in a paper that will be up dealt with in a paper that will be up properly on wednesday. but at the end of the day the government will bejudged on the end of the day the government will be judged on the way we leave the eu. chequers is more unpopular in the country than the poll tax was. there is another easy alternative, the super canada deal, we have exactly the same standards and it is just a matter of saying to the eu we

do not want tariffs on anything. this deal could be done quickly and the eu already offered us a separate canada deal. the difference between us and canada and japan, they did not pay anything for this deal and we have £39 billion of taxpayer money on the table. do you believe that despite denials, theresa may and number ten that despite denials, theresa may and numberten are that despite denials, theresa may and number ten are behind a plot to damage boris johnson? the rumours and stories around borisjohnson and his private life have been circulating for years, i do not believe in coincidence, i think you just have to ask yourself why this appearing now in the national press, the timing. you believe it is number ten? i believe it is about as told bya ten? i believe it is about as told by a seniorjournalist ten? i believe it is about as told by a senior journalist as ten? i believe it is about as told by a seniorjournalist as a unit number ten were engaged in tactics to smear borisjohnson and that has come true. i do not think it will do

any good, people in our country are well aware that very few extended families have not been touched by the tragedy of family breakdown and i think there is an appreciation in the great british public that even public figures are entitled to an element of private life and i think for me when i look at what i‘m looking for in a future conservative leader is someone able to deliver the brexit but we promised the british people. and also give the conservative party the best chance of keeping jeremy corbyn and his extreme left—wing party out of government and for me as a conservative eurosceptic boris johnson ticks those boxes. thank you for talking to us. a prison reformer has said trans people who have committed violent offences against women should not be able to transfer to women‘s prisons if they haven‘t legally changed their gender, after it emerged that a transgender inmate had sexually assaulted fellow prisoners after being sent

to a women‘s prison. karen white was on remand for sex offences she‘d committed as a man, against women, when she told authorities that she now identified as tra nsgender and wanted to go to a women‘s jail. after a full review, they agreed despite the nature of the crimes and her not undergoing any physical or legal gender transition. while there, white sexually attacked female inmates, she committed four assaults and was transferred back to a male prison. last week white pleaded guilty to the assaults. melissa briscoe knew karen white when she was living as a man called stephen wood and that he allegedly committed a rape during this time. also with us, dr nicola williams from fair play for women. that‘s an organisation which is concerned women‘s voices are not being listened to while transgender rights laws are being reformed. also with us is tara hudson. tara is a trans woman who was put in a men‘s prison

where she was sexually assaulted. thank you for talking to us. melissa, you first met karen white when she was living as stephen would and was in a hospital you worked at. you say karen white identified as a 93v you say karen white identified as a gay man then. that is true. and what you think about the fact that the prison service transferred karen white to a women‘s prison? prison service transferred karen white to a women's prison?” prison service transferred karen white to a women's prison? i think with the offending history it is unbelievable but that was allowed to happen. there is a very long history with this individual, physical and sexual violence against children and aduu sexual violence against children and adult women and i cannot understand why they were allowed to be transferred to a women‘s prison and freely associate with women on the wing who themselves were already vulnerable and be allowed to continue the offending pattern they have shown for around the last 20

yea rs. have shown for around the last 20 years. nicola, this came to light last week, what you think about the fa ct last week, what you think about the fact that someone charged with rape who says there identified as the woman was able to be put into a women‘s prison? woman was able to be put into a women's prison? it shows the risk assessment process is not working. and i think we have to be clear that this is not a one—off, there are other fully intact male bodied rapists in prison, someone today called jessica whitfield moved from a male category a prison into a women's prison and jessica is in a prison now as we speak. that person committed to child rapes. this is not a one—off mistake with the prison service, this is actually prison policy and it is that policy that needs to change. i'm not sure it is written policy, they have a

transgender case boy that exist to decide upon the location of a transgender prisoner whose decide upon the location of a tra nsgender prisoner whose legal gender does not accord with their self identified gender. this should consider all previous offending history but that did not take place in the case of karen white from which they apologised for stop so the prisoner the opportunity to move a male prisoner into a few more prison and that was policy that changed in 2016 and... i understand, for that chance gender criminals needed a tra nsgender certificate. that has now changed at the prison through a risk assessment process can have the discretion to move a transgender person into a female prison even if they have legal status as a man and male bodies. one look at criminal history would say,

and that is what they did not do in the case of karen white, they did not take into account previous history. it is hard to know how they could not understand that was the criminal history. the chief executive of the prison reform group has said and i quote, there is emerging evidence that certain men arejumping on the emerging evidence that certain men are jumping on the trans—bandwagon to access and harm vulnerable women in prison. do you agree?” to access and harm vulnerable women in prison. do you agree? i100% agree. what i‘m seeing at the moment, realtransgender agree. what i‘m seeing at the moment, real transgender people like myself, i‘ve lived my entire life as an adult as a female and now all these people are coming out of the woodwork making it really difficult for me and people like me. they‘re just letting them change willy—nilly and it is going the wrong way,. do you think that men who have committed violent offences against

women should not be able to transferred to a women‘s prison if they have not legally changed their gender? exactly, no way should they be allowed to do that, no way. they should have to have operations, they should have to have operations, they should not be able to change their gender behind bars. i do not understand why they let people do that and i am a transgender person. but in prison that is not the kind of place you want to be transitioning. it is dangerous what they‘re doing for the government is right now consulting on allowing people to self identified or self—declared, the people to self identified or self—decla red, the change people to self identified or self—declared, the change their gender when they say it has changed. and that means that people will be able to declare themselves as a man or woman without getting the consent of two doctors as you have to do now. what will that mean for inmates? any mail as mayor would be able to sign a form and become legally female despite having a male body and then would be eligible, as eligible as i would be, to be moved

into a women's prison. that is wrong and we must oppose that. but if self identification goes through and the government is consulting, could there be more cases like this? of course, there are 13,000 sex offenders in prison and how many of those would like to move into a women‘s prison. he sure having a female birth certificate is not enough to stop people moving and it should be based on someone‘s actual birth sex we need to have transgender women in a separate transgender women in a separate transgender wing for example. because it is a male body prisoner whoever they identified, there is no evidence that their sexual offending would be any different. in my case i was placed in a male prison and raped three times in seven days. i do not want to go through that again so do not want to go through that again so there needs to be some sort of

means, it cannot just so there needs to be some sort of means, it cannotjust be the breast gender because that ruined my life, i had to leave the country because of what happened. being forced, you know, i should not have to go through that again if i commit a crime. you talked about potentially a separate area for trans—gender inmates. the issue that tara experienced was males attacking but ido experienced was males attacking but i do not think the way to protect people i care is not right moving them into a female prison.” people i care is not right moving them into a female prison. ijust have to pause at there, thank you. thank you for talking to us. a new campaign backed by public health england is urging middle aged drinkers to have regular "drink free" days.

doctors believe that those who take breaks from alcohol, particularly people between the ages of a5 and 65, will benefit from improved sleep, weight loss and are less likely to have high blood pressure or to develop cancer. with me now is dr sarahjarvis, a gp who is also a medical adviserfor drinkaware, a charity backing the campaign and from cambridge i‘m joined by andrew rayner, who has already begun taking alcohol—free days. how many days a week do you not drink? it is down to just the weekend now. so five days without alcohol and two days drinking. not all the way through drinking but certainly just now at the weekend all the way through drinking but certainlyjust now at the weekend is the only time i allow myself to have a drink. this is i think 14 units of alcohol? probably rather more than that interestingly. it should be smaller. a standard wine bar glass

is around 2.2 units and that is probably about 15, 16 units. so one of those a day or up to four units a day. 14 units per week is ok? for men and women. but that is confusing so now men and women. but that is confusing so now you‘re saying have some days off because we can get our heads around that? absolutely and it is easier to get out of the hat but of becoming dependent psychologically on call if you have a couple of alcohol free days. — — on call if you have a couple of alcohol free days. —— out of the habit. two thirds of people who drank overia habit. two thirds of people who drank over 14 units a week find it harder to cut down them change their diet or give harder to cut down them change their diet orgive up harder to cut down them change their diet or give up exercise or even in some cases stop smoking so clearly it is deeply ingrained and it seems they would find it easier to have an alcohol free day than to cut down the amount of alcohol. is today's

alcohol free enough? well that depends on how much you're drinking on the other days. one of the reasons that we move from weekly to daily originally some years ago was because we said ok, 14 units a week and people saved them all up to have them ona and people saved them all up to have them on a friday night on an empty stomach and that is not the way to do it. we do not want people drinking too much at any one time either. andrew, you feel any better? absolutely, it is helped with general fitness and i feel i‘m getting more value for my time, i enjoy my time for. a couple of days is ok, three orfour days enjoy my time for. a couple of days is ok, three or four days even better? as long as you're not increasing on the other days to compensate. thank you for coming in. a quick update on that knife attack in paris, british people had been hospitalised according to the

embassy there. bbc newsroom has the latest next. thank you for your company, had a very good day. grey and cloudy skies, but there is some sunshine. some lovely cumulus cloud in the isle of wight. it will feel quite warm, actually, temperatures getting up into the 20s. temperatures getting up into the 205. a temperatures getting up into the 20s. a few breaks in the cloud, generally speaking it is quite dry. rain pushing across scotland. the far north—east of scotland are staying a bit drier. temperatures away from that south of england about 1519 degrees. tonight it will turn quite breezy across northern areas. rain for a time will move gradually south. the north and west midlands, still quite a mild night. temperatures staying at 12 or 15 celsius, more chilly further north. during tuesday, it will break up as it moves further southwards with a

band of cloud. brighter skies further north and west, but for many it will feel quite cool away from the far south. this is bbc news, i‘m joanna gosling. these are the top stories developing at 11am... the former brexit minister steve baker says as many as 80 conservative mps are prepared to vote against the prime minister‘s chequers brexit plan. it is very clear to me from my canvassing of colleagues that there we re canvassing of colleagues that there were almost 80 colleagues already who are willing to vote in the house of commons to protest the chequers deal. it would leave is half in,

half out. it is not leaving the eu properly. parts of the police service in england and wales are "on the verge of crisis" — a stark warning from the president of the police superintendents‘ association. the world cup and warm weather helped the uk economy to grow more strongly over the summer — with the construction sector bouncing back. two british tourists are among seven people who have been wounded by a knife attacker in paris.