isa is a n’mon’men'ft leave him on his own. it is a moment for us. it'sjust what happens leave him on his own. it is a moment for us. it's just what happens from here. because this is really about better journalism. here. because this is really about betterjournalism. this is about mcgeehan sure there are more thorough processes. if discussions we re thorough processes. if discussions were made about raheem sterling's gun on his leg and if there were debates before that was published, maybe it would have been published. i had maybe it would have been published. ihad an maybe it would have been published. i had an experience i was working for a mainstream newspaper when antonio grisman blacked out for the party and one the editors there because they had someone there that was of colour, because it was someone was of colour, because it was someone who had gone through a personal experience who have had a personal experience who have had a personal experience who have had a personal experience on the black face, they asked me was a racist, how do you think we should work this headline, should we accuse them of being a racist? if you don't have anyone there who has that personal experience, how can you create the correct story, the correct headline and tell it with the correct prospective? and a lot of sports journalists a it is not them that write the stories, they come from the front page, the news dallas. in that something that maybe members of

the public, understand. there are still no excuse for some of the language, some of the writing and reporting of the some of these players. i think it is the front pages of the newspapers, they're the ones that are writing negatively about raheem sterling. i've seen some backaches page headlines about raheem sterling as well, so they has to be accountable too. the words you write about the bar very, very powerful and i think now we're going to watch and read with extreme scrutiny about how going forward football writers will write about black players in particular. football writers will write about black players in particularlj football writers will write about black players in particular. i think evenif black players in particular. i think even if it is different parts of the newspaper, if you're not calling out your neighbour... —— you're enabling it. i think the narrative of why foot ball it. i think the narrative of why football is is that they work hard. i think the narrative around black footballers is they are naturally gifted. one suggests you work where you get to, and the others adjust yourjust giving a because you're going to mit do more of the? that is the narrative thatjohn part had to live through, ian wright had to live through. let's hope things get better. there's a lot of talk, a lot of talk. you know, but no one is

backing their chap. everyone says oh, we understand our newsroom is a diverse, we understand we don't have enough women, enough non—white people, or enough people of a certain age and a second sociodemographic. and you see them for years later and they repeat the same thing to you. and nothing has changed. this is an uncomfortable moment for the media. for our industry. but this discomfort that my journalists are industry. but this discomfort that myjournalists are feeling right now that this conversation, it is the discomfort that many of us black sports journalists, journalists have feltjust going into sports journalists, journalists have felt just going into wide environments and doing ourjobs every single day. they need to consider that. they need to consider, you know, the sensitivities around the situations that we've been put in over the years and the way that they have been responded to. there is a lack of diversity in our industry. enes to be addressed. and we need to see some action. if you love football and if you love sport and support and if you love sport and support and football to be better, make the

industry more diverse pool because the more diverse the football is, the more diverse the football is, the more diverse football media is, the more diverse football media is, the better it will be. you will see plenty more on that on the bbc sport website. in the scottish premiership this evening, for 70 minutes it was livingston 0, hearts 0. at the full time whistle, it was livingston five, hearts 0. an extraordinary last 20 minutes at the almondvale stadium, hearts were 1—0 down before they had arnaud djoum sent off for a second yellowjust moments later. dolly menga doubled livi's lead with an impressive effort, shimmying his way through a sea of hearts defenders. ryan hardie scored twice in three minutes before shaun byrne completed a crazy match. livingston climb to fifth. hearts miss the chance to join celtic at the top of the table. west bromwich albion are up to third in the championship after coming from behind to win 2—1 at promotion rivals sheffield united. the blades had led 1—0 in the first half but an equaliser from gareth barry and then this strike from the former arsenal and england full—back kieran gibbs turned it around for west brom who move above sheffield

united in the table now, and are within three points of the automatic promotion places. exeter chiefs will live to fight another day in the european champions cup after coming out on top in their must win match at gloucester. it was the first victory for the premiership runners up in europe this season. the chiefs scored four tries to gloucester‘s three. elsewhere scarlets remain winless and pointless losing at ulster. it's been a golden day for great britain at the track cycling cup that rupert and. laura kenny and katie archibald, leah evans and elinor dickenson smashed the world champions. america and 18%. remarkably an unusually catching them with more than a kilometre remaining. the race ended in confusion. the captain only signals the end, but nobody told the writers straightaway. we wanted to go out to

doa straightaway. we wanted to go out to do a good time. ifeel like straightaway. we wanted to go out to do a good time. i feel like that we we re do a good time. i feel like that we were on for a good time. we set ourselves up and we only had six la ps ourselves up and we only had six laps left. so it was a bit frustrated. there was not a flag. we we re frustrated. there was not a flag. we were lucky not to crash, to be fair. soa were lucky not to crash, to be fair. so a little bit frustrating, but obviously bad that we won that. there were four paracycling golds, kadeena cox and neil fachie took top honours. jody cundy won individual and team sprint titles too. the verdict injess varnish's employment case against british cycling and uk sport will not be revealed until mid—january at the earliest. after four days of hearing evidence thejudge has told the tribunal she will now retire to deliberate. here's our sports correspondent david ornstein. well, it is here at the manchester employment tribunal that jess varnish's case against british cycling and uk sport concluded this afternoon. jess varnish alleged that bridges the cycling exerted extreme control over her during more than a decade in the national setup. the

28—year—old said that despite being self—employed, the governing body influenced her life to such an extent that she was effectively an employee, and so should have benefited from worker rights. british cycling and uk sport vociferously rejected her claims and argue that athletes much like students, received tax—free grants and therefore are denied implements that is. ifjudge ross ruled in favour ofjess varnish, she will be able to step up her tent to sue british cycling for wrongful dismissal and sex discrimination. while there could also be major repercussions for the way olympic and paralympic repercussions for the way olympic and pa ralympic athletes repercussions for the way olympic and paralympic athletes are funded by uk sports in the future. adjustment is expected by mid—january. let's rattle through a few more stories for you this evening. former england spinner ashley giles is england's new managing director of men's cricket. he will be responsible for the strategy, coaching and management. giles replaces andrew strauss, who stepped down in october. justin rose's hopes of ending

the year as world number one are looking good. he needs a top 12 finish at the indonesian masters — he's currently tied for fifth on eight under par. liverpool and egypt striker mohamed salah has won the bbc african footballer of the year award for the second year running. after scoring 41 goals so far in 2018 for club and country, salah saw off competition from four other players to win the award. our reporter mimi fawaz is at anfield. mohammed thilo winning the double for the bbc african footballer of the year. and the only other player to have done that was nigerian football legend back in 200a. more than 650,000 people voted to ground mohamed salah as the king of african football. he beat off sadio mane, toledo coulibaly and thomas. i went

on early on to training ground and presented him at the awards. sign here with the winner. congratulations, mohammed. thank you. take it, it's all yours. last year when i presented you with the will toward you said he would like to win it again this year. you have done it. what does it feel like being the first player since 2004 to win this back—to—back?|j being the first player since 2004 to win this back-to-back? i think it is great for me. a great feeling. i would like to win it also next year. so i'm looking forward from now. but it isa so i'm looking forward from now. but it is a great feeling to when another award. two years in a row. so i'm happy to wing it. when you look back at your 2018, what have been for you some of the individual moments where you feel you are at the top of your game?|j moments where you feel you are at the top of your game? i think there we re the top of your game? i think there were many moments in 2018. i can say the game against tottenham was top, game against rome here. each moment

i feel like i game against rome here. each moment ifeel like i am game against rome here. each moment i feel like i am supporting game against rome here. each moment ifeel like i am supporting goals and helping the team to contribute to points. to do well in the league. that is always a great feeling. anything that you will be looking forward to in the coming year, for you overall? i thinki forward to in the coming year, for you overall? i think i want to win something with the club. so everyone is excited, everyone is happy about that. so i also try to push myself, to help the team to win something. this season everyone has come i don't want is a motivation, but eve ryo ne don't want is a motivation, but everyone wants to win something. so i think we will carry on like that. and graduations. the winnerfor the 2018 bbc african footballer of the year. thank you very much. thank you. very delighted mohamed salah. liverpool are top of the table. mohamed salah is hoping to have a good year ahead. hopefully winning

some titles. and as well for club and country, for each of a happy african cup of nations coming. the last time that egypt one —— won it was back in 2010 so homicidal is hoping for any the better your head. as mohamed salah is hoping for an even better year ahead. that's all from sportsday. we'll have more sport throughout the weekend. hello. this is bbc news. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment, first the headlines. with this, welcomed to you both.

many of tamara bob baffert pages are already in. brey cook dominates most of them. the ft reports that theresa may has threatened to crash our own brey cook deal unless you leaders agreed to discuss the changes necessary for mp5 to support it. meanwhile, the times says theresa may's deal is dead. most of her cabinet conclude that it will not be passed by parliament. the telegraph describes the prime minister as having a public meltdown after she allegedly accused young carter younger of calling her nebulous —— jean—claude juncker. the same altercation make the front page of the express, which leads with the headline "why the hell do we bother?" by the headline. well done, express , bother?" by the headline. well done, express, you win the prize for the longest headline. the guardian carries pictures of the apparent argument between theresa may and jean—claude juncker, saying the prime minister returns home in the had it with no hope of further

reading associations. in other news, nhs cuts are putting patients lives at risk, says the i begins. did. they say plans to close maternity services will endanger hundreds of patients. he merely told the woman who allegedly lied about having terminal brain cancer, netting a quarter of £1 million in the process. let's start with the guardian. angry and bruised. theresa may returned in the handed. on the front page of the guardian we have got these pictures of this altercation am at this robust discussion as theresa may described it with jean—claude juncker. today was theresa may described it with jean—claudejuncker. today was a good day to be a lip reader. we had a pretty fun day at evening standard, i have to say when this came through. we had already been working for a few hours, we had our story set in stone. then this footage cancer from brussels of this altercation between the prime ministerand altercation between the prime minister and jean—claude juncker, the european commission president. she seems to have marched over to

him and was saying "did you call me nebulous" and he was saying "no, no, ididn't nebulous" and he was saying "no, no, i didn't close quote but it's a good hour and so we could get a lip reader to tell us exactly what was being said. i think itjust shows how strained relations are, that they were having this ridiculous argument on the floor of this meeting. about the work nebulous. and the prime minister was extreme enough ended by this summary of her brexit negotiations.” enough ended by this summary of her brexit negotiations. i think there has been a statement that has been seen has been a statement that has been seen suddenly by some bbc correspondents that suggests that you need —— eu negotiators think that any future suggested that burton might have are a bit on the lakeside. but it did not appear to what i was reading from last night that he had been personal about about theresa may. everyone is a bit tired and emotional. that is certainly the case. it seems to be unclear whether he was talking about the plans already he was talking about the prime minister specifically. but it makes for good

pictures. most of the paint is on their front pictures. most of the paint is on theirfront page pictures. most of the paint is on their front page have this view. from a public opinion point of view, i don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. it is christmas so inevitably we are thinking about love actually, and this could be that moment, hugh grant stelling —— standing up to billy bob thornton. i think it's obvious we far more serious than that. all of the papers talk about whether this is a failure for theresa may, whether she will be able to get anything out of it. certainly the noise coming out of brussels is that there really is not much room for legal agreements to be changed, which is of course the dup's changed, which is of course the dup‘s redlined. changed, which is of course the dup's redlined. why does he go back at all? to brussels? we've been saying that as long as we have the withdrawal agreement, that is eight, don't come back for anything different. it was very clear. i think she went back because she had to. i think she felt she had to go. it was planned. and we did hear that

even it was planned. and we did hear that evenif it was planned. and we did hear that even if she had lost the leadership of conservative party on wednesday night, she was the one to go to brussels on thursday morning. she had this land. i guess to do it to try and save face to show members of her own party that there are still a lot more than she can do. some idea that so much of this is about show and it is about negotiations being kind of theatrical and taking it to the wire. and that theresa may is pa rt of the wire. and that theresa may is part of this game. so many of the papers have said how completely humiliating it was for her to come back completely empty— handed. humiliating it was for her to come back completely empty—handed. for some people, ithink back completely empty—handed. for some people, i think that alternate —— altercation she had with jean—claude juncker was almost a show of strength in my opinion. i think she looked quite strong. i think she looked quite strong. i think it might be that i am a lone voice in all of this, but some people would interpret that as of this handbag in kind of moment, that thatcher comparison that this strong