dramatic evidence to the grenfell inquiry — the commissioner of the london fire brigade says she was worried some of her firefighters wouldn't come out alive. dany cotton says no training could have prepared her teams for what they faced, and the fire could not have been extinguished. we have never an experienced an event like that. we have never seen such a significant failure of a building. we'll have the latest live from the grenfell inquiry. also this lunchtime: president trump's nominee for the supreme court will be questioned by senators soon — they'll also hearfrom one of the women accusing him of sexual misconduct. moscow rejects claims that one of the prime suspects in the salisbury nerve agent attack is a highly decorated russian special forces colonel. treating more patients at the scene of a call—out could improve ambulance services and save millions of pounds, according to a review. and all eyes on the tiger as golfing stars of the us and europe prepare to face each other in the ryder cup. and coming up on bbc news...

football's governing body in europe, uefa, say they will use the video assistant referee in the champions league from the start of next season and extend it the european championship in 2020. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the grenfell tower inquiry has been hearing dramatic testimony from the commissioner of the london fire brigade. dany cotton said the fire was unprecedented, and like a scene from a disaster movie. she said it could not have been extinguished even if crews had had specific training in blazes involving cladding, and said she feared some

of the firefighters going into the building would not survive. our correspondent sophie long reports. this is the first appearance of dany cotton. at the inquiry into the fire that claimed the lives of 72 people. as commissioner of the london fire brigade, she was ultimately responsible for the operation to bring the blaze under control. in a written statement, she said... today she told the inquiry there we re today she told the inquiry there were many aspects of the fire that we re were many aspects of the fire that were unprecedented. complete failure of the building, the ability of the fire to travel through the building, reach all the compartments, to travel across central communal parts and areas, for the fire to spread as

rapidly as it did, for it to involve as many people... i could go on forever. what happened that night that building would have been deemed to have been a completely unrealistic scenario that would never happen. there were questions about training, but dany cotton said it was unfair to expect firefighters to be trained for a scenario that they believed would never happen. we learn from every operational incident but in the same manner i wouldn't develop a training package for a space shuttle to land on the shard, that is an instance of that scale so i wouldn't expect to be developing a response to something that simply shouldn't happen. dany cotton also faced questions about the so—called staple policy, where residents were told to stay in their flats if they weren't directly affected by flames, smoke or heat. she told the inquiry that was the right advice at the time. the buildings were designed for the fire

to stay in the compartments of origin for 60 minutes and for the vast majority of those, they do that. therefore on balance it is safer to remain in yourflat that. therefore on balance it is safer to remain in your flat and that. therefore on balance it is safer to remain in yourflat and not open doors and become compromised. if the building behaves correctly and it does not go beyond the compartment of origin, that is the safest option. many of those who survived spoke of life—saving acts of heroism that night, others say lessons must be learned. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds is at the grenfell inquiry. and quite extraordinary, listening to so much of what dany cotton had to so much of what dany cotton had to say today. what is equally extraordinary is that this was her first day officially in the job as commissioner of the london fire brigade, that was the day of the fire. she had been acting in the role since january of last year, but this point about training is

becoming central to the inquiry at this stage. dany cotton said there was no way the firefighters could have stopped that fire, no way they could have been trained to cope with something like that. it was put to her that in fact the chance of this sort of fire was very much on the radar of the fire brigade. in 2014, operational guidance nationally was released following previous fires that said that firefighters should ta ke that said that firefighters should take account of the construction of buildings to see if that would have an effect on the fire. dany cotton said she had read that guidance since the fire but not before. in march 2014 there was a meeting of the london fire brigade to consider what happened in the previous fire at lakanal what happened in the previous fire at la ka nal house what happened in the previous fire at lakanal house in south london which also raised concerns about the sort of cladding. very much put it on the radar, as the inquiry was told, and she said no training was directly developed as a result of

that meeting. i think the question that meeting. i think the question that will be put and the thesis that will be put to the fire brigade throughout this process is whether there was enough training. but it a lwa ys there was enough training. but it always must be said that whatever happens with regard to training, there were some extraordinary act of heroism that night. tom, thank you. if you want to hear more about the grenfell tower inquiry, eddie mair presents a daily podcast from the hearing, looking in detail at each day's evidence. you can download it from the bbc iplayer radio app, or your podcast provider. us senators are preparing to question president trump's nominee for the supreme court, brett kavanaugh, and one of the women who's accused him of sexual misconduct. professor christine blasey ford will appear before the panel this afternoon, seperately from judge kavanaugh, who has strenuously denied all accusations. justices on the us‘s highest court are nominated by the president and hold the position for life.

0ur washington correspondent chris buckler reports. a nominee to sit on america's highest court will walk into a senate room later as the accused, and brett kavanaugh‘s testimony will be weighed against one of his accusers. in her opening statement to the judiciary committee, christine blasey ford will say she remembers a teenage brett kavanaugh drunkenly groping her, trying to remove her clothes and believing he was going to rape her. all of which he denies. despite this and other accusations, donald trump is standing by the man

he wants as his next supreme court justice. they know it's a big fat con job. but the president says he will listen to what dr blasey ford has to say. the republican senators have delayed this for weeks now. they're giving the women a major chance to speak. now, it's possible i'll hear that and i'll say, "hey, i'm changing my mind." that is possible. we want to give them a chance to speak. another woman, deborah ramirez, claims brett kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a college party. and a third accuser, julie swetnick, says as a high school student she saw him press up against girls and try to expose their body parts. judge kavanaugh, what is your response to the allegations? she also claimsjudge kavanaugh was present at a party

when she was gang raped, although there's no suggestion that he was involved. he's called the accusations ridiculous and from the twilight zone. we have had accusation after accusation and accusation. very few of them, if any, are corroborated. our lawyers, if we can make the contact, get on it right away. this hearing is not a trial, but with america watching, president trump's choice to become a supreme courtjustice knows he is having to subject himself to the court of public opinion. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. our correspondent gary 0'donoghue is in washington. this afternoon's session really will be so very closely scrutinised. this afternoon's session really will be so very closely scrutinisedlj think be so very closely scrutinised.” think probably more scrutinised than any other senate judicial in

committee in living memory really. it isa committee in living memory really. it is a huge theatrical moment, a huge moment for congress, the white house and the country, and a real test of credibility. it will come down to in effect who is more believable. christine blasey ford and her allegations against brett kavanaugh or his denials. we know the details of what they will say so the details of what they will say so the focus will be on how they come across, how they make their case and respond to questioning and cross examination, and to that spotlight. the hugely intense spotlight that this will present. the republicans are determined if they can to get their nominee through the democrats determined to stop him. but this is much more than about congress and the supreme court, it is about a moment in time in a sense in american history. it is personalfor those in the room, politicalfor those in the room, politicalfor those in the room, politicalfor those in congress but also cultural for this country in the wake of the

me too movement. gary, thank you. and you can watch the senate hearing this afternoon on the bbc news channel with special coverage starting at 2.30pm. bbc news has learned that an nhs trust at the centre of growing concerns about its maternity services has been asked to hand over hundreds of records to independent inspectors. the shrewsbury and telford nhs trust will have to provide details as part of an ongoing review looking at allegations of poor care stretching back nearly two decades. 0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan is in shrewsbury. we know that more than 100 families have already come forward saying they were failed by maternity services at this trust, that is more than 100 families coming forward and saying their babies died or suffered significant harm or that in a handful of cases the mothers themselves were let down. so far

that figure has been made up of people coming forward and saying can you look into my case. the expansion allows the team to look at hundreds of records between 1998 and 2017. stillbirths and maternal deaths, neonatal deaths, significant harm, and they will determine what to step to ta ke and they will determine what to step to take next. it is vital, in cases like this and in this specific case, that we get to the bottom of what happened, that we look into all potential cases, and the investigation that has been set up can range as wide as it needs to to make sure that we get to the bottom of what happened, that families can find out what happened, and then that we can learn the lessons from it. within the next few minutes they

will be a board meeting here at the trust at which maternity services will be discussed, notjust what happened in the past but problems at the moment. the trusts themselves are saying they will cooperate fully with the review and that the maternity services are safe. thank you. russia has rejected claims by an investigative journalism team that one of the prime suspects in the salisbury nerve agent attack is a highly decorated russian special forces colonel. the group bellingcat says the man using the name ruslan boshirov is really anatoly chepiga, and that he was given the kremlin‘s highest bravery award in 2014. sarah rainsford is in moscow. i suppose we shouldn't be surprised that this suggestion has been rejected? no, i don't think so. this is russia's traditional response to accusations from the west and also it is what russia has said all along

in the specific case of the salisbury poisoning to deny any russian state involvement. the only real statement we have had on this has come from the foreign ministry spokeswoman who put out a statement on her facebook page overnight saying the accusations and the latest claims were false, part of an information campaign against russia. there has been some comment on social media mocking that official denial but there has also been plenty of comment too supporting russia ‘s position and mocking the evidence that the main suspect is actually a military intelligence officer from the actually a military intelligence officerfrom the gi actually a military intelligence officer from the gi you in russia. both sides represented on social media but it's interesting that state media has not even reported the accusations or even the denial by this russian foreign ministry spokeswoman. perhaps that is because the kremlin is still waiting and weighing its response. two weeks ago president putin himself came out directly and said these two suspects

we re directly and said these two suspects were civilians, and that there was nothing special, nothing criminal about them. thank you. treating more patients at the scene of a call—out, along with improving technology and tackling staff sickness, could save the ambulance service in england £500 million a year, according to the regulator nhs improvement. it's carried out a review, which also calls for the ageing ambulance fleet to be renewed. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes has more — there is some flash photography in his report. ambulance services across england are getting busier. ten different nhs trusts handle 10 million emergency calls a year. most of them lead to an ambulance crew being called out. now a review says some big savings could be made if paramedics are able to treat people closer to the scene. in some areas of the country we are taking more people to hospital than we need to. the effect of that is people fill the beds up, particularly in the winter that we need for other people,

so critically sort of keeping that down is the way to do it. and the diagnosis, that early diagnosis, when the paramedic arrives on scene, is the critical factor in this. this review makes clear that ambulance service staff, both paramedics and call handlers, are busier than ever. demand has been rising consistently for the last five years and that's forecast to continue. but today's report makes clear that efforts to improve response times are being undermined. the report into the state of the ambulance service in england found that paramedics are having to work with an ageing fleet of vehicles that will soon need replacing. levels of sick leave and complaints over bullying and harassment are the highest in the nhs, and there's a wide variation in how trusts use new technology to take calls, dispatch crews, and even treat patients. one idea is to allow ambulance crews to directly access online medical information. the fact we can make better clinical decisions and appropriately transport our patients to places of definitive care, keeping them out of emergency departments

where they are not necessarily going to get the best treatment. the government has already announced funding for more than 250 new ambulances. ambulance emergency, is the patient breathing? but growing demand means more money will be needed. we need to focus on the fact there's still a gap between what is required and the funding that the ambulance services receive and that the demand continues to increase year—on—year means we need to focus on the investment needed to get the ambulance service delivering what should be. today's report says that with better support for staff and by treating patients closer to the scene, savings of up to £0.5 billion could be achieved. that could improve response times and ease pressures on hard pressed accident and emergency departments. dominic hughes, bbc news. our top story this lunchtime. the head of the london fire brigade

has told the grenfell inquiry that no training could have prepared her teams for what they faced — and the fire could not have been extinguished. and coming up... why welsh is a foreign language — according to the bank that rejected a welsh—speaking customer's email. coming up on bbc news... team usa's phil mickelson has never won a ryder cup in europe but team—matejordan spieth says any perceived "scar tissue" won't affect their younger players. ten of the uk s biggest companies have agreed to publish their parental leave and pay policies online, for the first time. kpmg, santander and deloitte are among the businesses making the information public — and it comes as part of a push to make all large firms be open about their family benefits. it would mean anyone considering applying to a firm would have access to the information without having to ask, as colletta smith reports.

i don't know what i'm going to do. job interviews are always difficult. but it seems like some questions mightjust be too tricky to ask — like how much you'd get paid on parental leave, and how long for. i'd like to say i would go in and be confident and say if your policies aren't right then you're not the right business for me, but i think in reality discrimination still takes place and that for many women with bills to pay and children to feed, ultimately if an opportunity sounds good you're probably going to want to avoid that question. the liberal democrats would like to make it compulsory for all big companies to publish their policies. ultimately sometimes you just need to have regulation in place so there's a level playing field that everybody has to publish the same information, and that's what will really drive more change, so i'll encourage companies to do this on a voluntary basis. but i also think we need to have the law change, and that's why i'm asking the government to support my bill and make this happen.

it's been illegalfor a long time not to give someone a job on the basis of their family situation, but this is about a step before that — not even having to ask that awkward question before or during a job interview. ten companies have now agreed to make that information open to the public, including santander. if all corporates are signing up and giving this transparency it really lets potential employees choose who they want to work with and see the benefits that are on offerfor them. hello, matt turner. matt was able to take four weeks' paternity leave on full pay a few months ago. he thinks that for men and women it's notjust wages that people are comparing when they are job—hunting. it's important to be upfront about what provisions are available. i think employers are moving away from just being purely a source of income. people are really interested to find out what benefits are available and maybe not feel confident enough to be able to ask that question. this could be harder to implement for smaller companies, but if they see a benefit in publicising this information then

job—hunting for parents and potential parents might get a little easier. colletta smith, bbc news. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn, and the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer, are in brussels, where they're due to meet the eu's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier. mr corbyn also attended the opening of a square in the belgian capital named after the murdered labour mp jo cox. 0ur brussels correspondent adam fleming joins me now. explain more. welcome to brussels, newly renamed placed jo cox, right in the centre of town, surrounded by nightlife and that grey building as a venue nightlife and that grey building as a venue for nightlife and that grey building as a venue for concerts nightlife and that grey building as a venue for concerts wentjo cox used to go all the time when she spent six years living here in brussels when she worked for the

charity 0xfam and also as an assistant foreign mep, so she's got lots of friends and people who knew her here and brussels wanted to send a really strong powerful message of remembrance by renaming this square after her. jeremy corbyn was here to pull the curtain on the placards gave a message about his ambitions to effectively remake the world. it's a very different afternoon for the labour leader. he's headed across town to the eu quarter, where he's going to be meeting the eu chief negotiator, michelle barnier, wesley lovell opportunity to talk about labour's policy on brexit which has been clarified since the pa rty‘s conference which has been clarified since the party's conference in liverpool this week. michelle barnier‘s team are keen to stress that his door is a lwa ys keen to stress that his door is always open to people from the uk, whether it's jeremy always open to people from the uk, whether it'sjeremy corbyn, nigel farage on nicola sturgeon. they say this is absolutely not some strategy to undermine the prime minister either her chequers plan was

rejected by eu leaders at a summit in salzburg last week, or ahead of her party conference which will start in birmingham and a couple of days' time. having said that, jeremy corbyn's vision for brexit, of the eu's customs arrangements and workers' rights and the environment, is closer to how brussels sees this ending up than it is theresa may's vision of brexit. the inquest into the death of a teenager with allergies, who died after eating a pret a manger baguette bought at heathrow airport, has been hearing from the nurse responsible for overseeing medical training for british airways. she has been explaining procedures when someone falls seriously ill on a flight. sarah campbell is at the inquest in west london and joins us now. explain more about the evidence the inquest has heard today. indeed, so this is claire durand, who was responsible for overseeing the medical training on ba flights and natasha ednan—laperouse, who was 15,

died ona natasha ednan—laperouse, who was 15, died on a ba flight in 2016. ms durand explained cabin through go through three days of medical training, there's always a defibrillator on board and an emergency medical kit which contains an adrenaline injection pen. the coroner raised that the junior doctor, doctor pearsonjones, who stepped forward to help natasha when she became ill, hadn't been aware either that there was an adrenaline injection pen on board or a defibrillator. doctor shaun cummings, the coroner, asked, natasha was dying in front of the plane and i'm struggling with why the full range of kit wasn't made available to doctor pearsonjones. he said it sounded like the cabin crew we re he said it sounded like the cabin crew were having to take a quantum lea p crew were having to take a quantum leap in terms of medicaljudgments and it doesn't sound safe to me. earlier, the coroner had heard from an expert in allergies, from nottingham spire hospital, doctor alexander crew. she had said that due to the nature of anaphylactic shock, it's unlikely that a defibrillator would have been effective. her residence falcon is on the use of these adrenaline

injection pens, eppy pens. natasha was injected twice with her own pen that she brought on board with her to little effect. it was raised that the official guidelines on the resuscitating council are that the needle from an adrenaline pen should ideally be 25 million metres long, long enough to reach into the muscle tissue, but the epipen brand and other leading brands are 16 millimetres long. the doctor was asked whether stock standard injection adrenaline devices should be 25 millimetres and she said very clearly, yes. at that point natasha's father collapsed. the inquests and coroner is due to return conclusions on this case tomorrow. sarah campbell, thank you. a singer well known for his welsh verse has had a letter written to hsbc bank rejected — because it was "in a foreign language". poet and songwriter geraint lovgreen has complained to the welsh language commissioner, after his bank told him to resend his message, written in welsh, in english. hsbc has apologised and says it will offer better training to staff. sian lloyd reports.

when geriant lovgreen wrote to his bank to let them know he'd moved house, the reply came as a shock. we noticed you send an e—mail which to the hsbc website in the uk in a foreign language. i said it's a disgrace that welsh is called a foreign language in wales and it reflects very badly on the training that you give your staff, i'll be referring the matter to the welsh language commissioner but in the meantime i'd like an apology and i'd like my original message to be given an appropriate reply. hsbc have apologised, claiming that brian clough green's e—mail hadn't been identified as being in welsh so the welsh language team hadn't dealt with the issue —— geriant lovgreen. they promised training tip prevent a similar matter arising in future.

the welsh language commissioner said it was disappointing to still see exa m ples of it was disappointing to still see examples of a lack of understanding and provision by some banks for welsh language customers. she will be meeting senior banking managers in the near future to discuss these latest complaints. sian lloyd, bbc news. this time tomorrow the first pairings will be on the course at le golf national, just outside paris, having completed their first match in the ryder cup. every one of the world's top ten are included in team usa and team europe this year. will the likes of tiger woods, on a bounce after his recent championship win, swing it for the visitors? andy swiss is there. yes, welcome to le golf national here on the outskirts of paris. as you say, glorious conditions for the players as they practice for the final time before the ryder cup gets under way tomorrow morning. europe

will start very much the underdogs, but they are hoping to turn home advantage into victory. crowd sings. it's golf but not as we normally know it. cheers, chants, rory mcilroy even conducting the crowd. and this only practice — only at the ryder cup. cheering. and the hosts are on a mission. two years ago in hazeltine it was the us that was celebrating. now, for the resumption of one of sport's greatest rivalries. we all got here on monday and, you know, it's been a great atmosphere. i think that's the best thing about it — just to share the week with guys that you usually play against week in, week out, and they are now your team—mates and you are having to team up with them. yeah, it's going to be an exciting week. especially with this man here. the resurgent tiger woods heading the american challenge, ready for the biggest amphitheatre this event has ever seen. well, with their array of star names the us team will start here as favourites.

as well as being up against their opponents and most of the crowd, they're up against history. europe have won the last five ryder cups on home soil, most recently at gleneagles in 2014. more incentive for the us — not that they need it. i've never won one as a player, so it will be the thrill of a lifetime. here, there, it doesn't matter where it is, it willjust be the thrill of a lifetime. for that little trophy, that's all we're playing for — we're not playing for money or anything, playing for pride. this is already an historic ryder cup — the first to be held in france. but all eyes are now on the sporting drama. can a european team with less experience and fewer big names once again find that magic touch? the hosts are certainly hoping. yes, the waiting is very nearly over. later on this afternoon,

thousands of fans will be here for the opening ceremony and then it all gets under way bright and early tomorrow morning, three days of drama is about the only guarantee. enjoy it, thank you, andy swiss outside paris. john cunliffe, who created the much loved children's character postman pat, has died at the age of 85. john cunliffe lived in the lake district for several years, and the picturesque villages and valleys he was familiar with inspired pat's home of greendale. john cunliffe went on to create rosie and jim in the 1990s. time for a look at the weather...