hello there. the next spell of wet and windy weather is pushing into western parts of the uk this evening and overnight, gradually spreading eastwards as we head through tomorrow, but it'll be a dry and a fairly chilly start to the night across eastern areas under clear skies. further west, we've got gales and outbreaks of pretty heavy and persistent rain. here it will be mild, 10—11d to start tuesday here, but further east a bit of a chilly start. it starts dry, maybe a little early sunshine across the east, but the clouds, wind and rain will increase. further west, though, a very wet morning. in fact, a pretty atrocious morning commute. through the afternoon, that wind and rain becomes confined to eastern scotland, much of england and wales, and further west it'll brighten up. maybe a few showers, but it will be a mild day with temperatures of 10—12d. that rain continues to move eastward, pushing on into the north sea for tuesday night, and behind that we will see some blustery showers. it stays pretty similar for wednesday and thursday, with the weather coming in off the atlantic. fairly mild at times in the south, with some showers and fairly strong winds. hello, this is bbc news.

the headlines... the prime minister sets a date in the new year for mps to vote on her brexit deal — saying hers is the best on offer. i know this is not everyone‘s perfect deal — it is a compromise. but if we let the perfect be the enemy of the good, then we risk leaving the eu with no deal. but labour'sjeremy corbyn says the commons vote should be sooner — and calls for a no—confidence vote in the prime minister i am about to table a motion that says the following, that this house has no confidence in the prime minister, due to her failure to allow the house of commons to have a meaningful vote straightaway on the withdrawal agreement and framework for future relationships between the uk and the european union, and that will be tabled immediately, mr speaker. a man who stabbed to death his estranged wife and her mother in solihull in august is jailed for at least 32 years after admitting murder. shares in several leading fashion chains fall in value,

after the online retailer asos issues a profits warning. and after a hull hotel cancels a christmas booking for the homeless — organisers say another has stepped in to help. this now on bbc news — the first of our special programmes looking back at 2018 — and it's a year in which britain's farmers have faced unusual weather and tough conditions. our correspondent danny savage takes a look at a challenging 12 months for the countryside in review 2018: the rural year. it was the year which had a summer to remember, long hot days basking

in glorious sunshine. long before that came a few weeks of unusually severe winter weather. some remote rural communities had to be supplied by airdrops. but the pressure on farmers was immense, animalfeed was in short supply for much of the year, because of the extremes of the british climate. and those extremes had alarming consequences. the roof of england caught fire and farmers acknowledged they may have to get used to new parameters if their businesses are to survive. this she has been a wake—up call, it has been extraordinary, especially the long hot summer and we should expect more of this in the future, and farmers need to adapt and be aware of this, too forward plan and make sure they won't be taken by surprise in years to come. and what a year it was, for

surprises and consequences, linked to our climate. winter 2018 did not get going until the end of february, it was high ground which was affected first, in north yorkshire traffic struggled on the heels but it did not seem like a big deal, as everybody did their bit. to keep going. but a second day of snowfall hitting lower more populated areas started to cause more widespread problems. farmers we re more widespread problems. farmers were worried because this was nearly the beginning of march and lambing was imminent. the problem in this weather is that the weaker lambs will freeze to death in it, and that is where most of the problem will lie, and the farmer himself getting round the sheep to find which ones are ina round the sheep to find which ones are in a corner, they don't always a aware you want. you would have to be

out looking? yes. airports are warning of more delays and cancellations... by the end of the day, the severe weather was the top story in the uk. our reporter is in durham tonight. the infrastructure of the uk has taken a real battering in the last 24 hours, this is the east coast main line, there are trains coming through which are more than four hours late. right across the country there was chaos with lorries unable to gain traction and move. some places were gridlocked with that short journeys taking hours. they are still unsure, they have been there since 730 last night and no one can get in. we should have stayed on, ready, but someone has got to keep the world running. the following day the weather front which had been named the beast from the east had a vast swathes of britain in its grip. the difference todayis britain in its grip. the difference today is the wind and the immense windshield which comes with it. it

is whipping the falling snow and the stuff lying around into these huge drifts. behind the front door of this icicle covered home in county durham was a snapshot of life across the country. schools were closed and it was too cold to play outside. childcare is an issue for a lot of pa rents childcare is an issue for a lot of parents and we end up with a house full of children and we have old people and vulnerable people who can't get out. it is hard, to dig each other out, but a lot of community spirit goes on. in between the snowfall all ages helped to dig out foot parts. here in teesdale the unofficial snow depth is... 33 centimetres. by the friday morning of the worst week of the winter, more and more people were having a bad day. this was a motorway in greater manchester, poor visibility and ice were factors in scores of accidents, but thankfully there were no fatalities here but the insurance bill was huge. thousands were

stranded overnight on the m62 and it was eventually cleared but it did not reopen. we landed in manchester airport at two o'clock yesterday and we have been trying to get home since then. i've been stuck for five hours since last night ten o'clock. from yorkshire to scotland, every route linking east and west was close, this was the a 66 on the border between county durham and cumbria. even the gritters are not venturing out this far, this should normally be a busy dual carriageway over the pennines but it has been shut for days and it probably won't open four days yet and that is all because of these gale force gusts blowing across the carriageway. in wales the drifts were so deep that three people had to be rescued after getting buried in their car and they had to sound their horn to guide the searches in. in the frozen hills of

the north, feeding livestock was a priority. getting them something to drink wasa priority. getting them something to drink was a problem. the water is frozen, that is the main thing, so watering animals is a big chore at the moment and just trying to feed and getting to the sheep that are three miles away. fine and games at the moment! in the countryside in cumbria, special vehicles were brought into reach outlying farms, as the snow covered the features of the land. that weekend and saw the situation improved slightly, but by the first monday of spring it was clear that many communities in northern england were completely cut off. drastic measures were needed and this raf helicopter was sent to cumbria, it patrolled the frozen uplands, dropping in on isolated communities. and for some it was just to check all was well, but others were fast running out of fuel and needed help. what is the

reaction when you drop in? quite surprised, but we are here to reassure them that help is on their way. we are working with the police and the mountain rescue. what are you giving them 7 and the mountain rescue. what are you giving them? food from one of the leading supermarkets and also wood and coal. the helicopter stopped for just wood and coal. the helicopter stopped forjust a few minutes at each location, before setting off again. leaving residents grateful. a bit of excitement, really, a bit unusual, we never thought that was going to happen. it is a lifeline for us, really, we haven't had any contact for us, really, we haven't had any co nta ct for for us, really, we haven't had any contact for over a week now. it means that we can heat the place to the temperatures we want and need. but in many rural areas it was the barmy army who kept roads open and kept suppliers coming through —— the

farming army. it wasn't bad news for everyone, though, the skiing slopes in the kegel mountains had weeks of good conditions. —— cairngorm mountains. it was worse last year but this is boom, fantastic, and when we saw the weather forecast with the beast from the east, we thought, yes, here it comes. fairly late winter gave way to a textbook spring, and by april you would have been forgiven for despairing at the conditions which is what we found when we went to talk to farmers over a wide part of england. upland farming does not get much more remote than amanda's fields on the border between north yorkshire and cumbria. spring was hard work. things are desperate. we are quite used to spring coming late in the hills, to be honest, but it is

really so unforgiving. usually we bmb really so unforgiving. usually we lamb outside and we are having to bmb lamb outside and we are having to lamb inside. it is all about doing the best for your stock and it is tough. we should have grass but it hasn't come, it's cold and wet, and muddy, very tough on the animals. few miles away on the other side of the mall, nikki was down to her last bags of feed, they should have been eating grass but spring shoots were nowhere to be seen. the people that started lambing at the start of march have been dreadful, they couldn't cope, they were picking up dead lambs, they are not able to turn lambs out and they have got to keep them in, it is the cost of feeding inside. you need right shoots to come through for the lambs to grow, they can't reduce the amount of milk when they have no grass and that means the lambs are struggling to grow. this is what lots of low—lying farmland now looks

like, the heavy snow was followed by heavy rain, leaving many fields flooded, and where they should be livestock at the moment, instead there are ducks and geese. many miles further east in the yorkshire worlds, paul temple's cattle herd was inside and being fed to the expensive way. 2018 was already proving wearing. it is mother nature and if there's one thing farmers are used to, they know what food security is about because you try to make sure you have more than enough for the worst winter which is why this is pushing us. you just have to get on with it but it is tiring after six months of it. by the end of april going into may, reservoirs including this one in cumbria were brimming, but then the british weather went from one extreme to another. it stopped raining, for a very long time. for the first few weeks of dry weather britain made the most of it. warm temperatures

and good conditions that lasted for more than a fortnight, were a novelty. this was the lake district at the beginning ofjune. then, the problem started. tinder dry moors above manchester were in some cases deliberately satellite. whatever the cause, they spread exactly like the cliche, and within a few days a large area above saddleworth was burning along with the top of winter hill near bolton. the effect downwind was terrible, thick smoke hanging over large parts of greater manchester, trotting out the sunshine, and schoolchildren were given masks to help breathing. 0n the third night, the out—of—control fire at saddleworth raced across the heather and bracken, down a hillside towards people's homes, it threatened these houses, bought for their moorland views, they were hastily evacuated. i kept looking

out the window, having something to eat, and then there was a knock at the door, after eight o'clock, one of the special police officers, he said, you have got to get out. you have got to evacuate. the last thing isaid to have got to evacuate. the last thing i said to him, don't let my house burned down. from dawn to dusk, fire fighters made use of every hour of daylight to tackle the flames. but fire on ground made of peat soil is a tough opponent and 0suna was one source tackled, another would quickly appear —— and no sooner.m burns like tobacco and so it smoulders slowly and that is why we need the water to get in there. it is fine knocking the fire on the surface but it burns underneath, so we need the water to soak into the ground, completely saturate the area. this is not something that will end today by any stretch of the imagination. the list could go on for days, even weeks. as the fire

spread over several square miles, helicopters were brought in to help. there was plenty of water around but they were needed to get it to the right place, time after time the aircraft dipped and dropped. after a few days the army was called on to help, soldiers were sent out with the firefighters to beat flames on the firefighters to beat flames on the remote hilltops, very unusual sight, because of the extraordinary conditions. the focus then moved to the second major fire at windsor hill near bolton, again a large area of moorland was destroyed, and the mayor of greater manchester reacted angrily to reports that fires had been started deliberately. angrily to reports that fires had been started deliberatelym beggars belief, to hear that people may have been coming on to this land over the weekend, adding to the burden of the emergency services. i'm basically taking risks with

people's land, property, it's an unbelievable state of affairs. the moorland fire smouldered for weeks and cost the public purse a fortune to deal with. then asjune ended and we headed into july, to deal with. then asjune ended and we headed intojuly, we started to hear more about hosepipe bans. northern ireland saw one put into force first, and the republic of ireland, even the lorries that moved the black stuff were filled with water instead, and asjuly progressed the sunshine kept beating down and the reservoirs in north—west england started drying out. the english lake district which has so many lakes because it usually rains so much was parched. a source of water here for manchester was emptying it fast, along with here where the ancient settlement flooded to make way for the reservoir and became visible again. united utilities gave notice of a hosepipe

ban to millions of customers, to the surprise of no one. i'm not cross that we are short of water, but i'm happy that we have had such sunshine and ifa happy that we have had such sunshine and if a shortage of water is a by—product we have got to be careful. does it make you cross? no, it is the right thing to do. we all have to do our bit. look at how low the reservoir is, we clearly don't have enough water. throughout the summer have enough water. throughout the summer months parallels were drawn with 1976, a year when standpipes appeared in the streets and people shop their neighbours for using water when they shouldn't. sprinkler system where? 0perating where? a riding school? you feel something should be done about that, of course. this summer farmers were also worried, near york paul webster took us out into his dusty fields where his cattle should have been

eating the grass but instead were having to be fed with the bay was. it was only three months ago it was too wet for this cattle to be on this land but now i don't think we have out any significant rain for about six weeks, i would think, so now we are having to feed the winter forage we have kept back for winter. and there will be a shortage of straw. it could be quite an expensive winter, i've never known anything as dry as this in all my time farming. this is an irrigated crop, it is wilting, just not growing. a few miles away, this crop was taking a hammering, the vegeta bles was taking a hammering, the vegetables were not getting big enough. the business consequences, we have less crop and we are letting our customers down and we have less income coming into the business and the longevity of that means we won't have the money to grow next year's crop unless we completely revisit our models with our customers and

our models with our customers and our price because we are in a critical condition. in the yorkshire dales this is what some of the streams and waterways looked like, the river scare scurf air inlet and i was typical of the upper reaches of inland valleys. if you have a closer look at the river bank you can see the debris and it shows where the water got two in the winter and early spring, where it has left is just how high the water got, and now compare that to now and the difference is extraordinary. mile after mile of this river bed is com pletely mile after mile of this river bed is completely dry, and an awful lot of rain will have to fall over these hills to get the water flowing again. summer rainfall in catchments meant the hosepipe ban was never implemented in august but it was a time to reflect on the damage caused over the summer. claire uses her quad bike on a daily basis. but one expedition it sticks in her mind, herfamily farm

expedition it sticks in her mind, her family farm is above stalybridge which was destroyed by the summer fires and with it went a lot of their livestock. it was quite shocking at the time because the fire was raging, worse than any fire i've ever seen, and we had a big tea m i've ever seen, and we had a big team of farmers come from miles away to help get the sheep off at the time and still now we are getting phone calls from farmers saying, we have a few more of your sheep, they are turning up in various places. just devastation. the area looks desolate nine weeks after the fires, richard is the gamekeeper up here and he now has to manage a fire damaged moorland. very depressing, yeah. to pick yourself up and go forward , yeah. to pick yourself up and go forward, so sad. the only thing that is keeping me going is that this is all coming back, the heather is reshooting and if we can get this back together it will be good. how many years will it take? four years. 0ther

many years will it take? four years. other bits, probably 20 years. many years will it take? four years. other bits, probably 20 years. that long? yes. a few miles along there was more optimism from the rspb which manages different parts of the land. the fire jumped over these areas here and they are really still growing grain and there has been a patchwork of areas unaffected really. although there was some rain in august it wasn't enough to replenish the reservoirs and it may have been a good summerfor replenish the reservoirs and it may have been a good summer for holidays but it wasn't so good for people who rely on our usual climate to make a living. late summer and early autumn saw the consequences of the weeks of dry weather. in the fertile fields east of york, harvest time highlighted the lower yields that many farmers were seeing. it should bea many farmers were seeing. it should be a lot greener, as you can see, the plants are dying now, as you can see. stuart looks in dismay at his

crop, potatoes are 80% water, so a lack of it caused problems. the potatoes have stopped growing, there is so much stress that they have not recovered from it. normally i would be looking at 18 tonnes per acre and last year it was a good wet summer so we were averaging 20 tonnes but this year i have fields which are doing only ten in this field will probably do 13—14 tonnes, but it has been one of the worst seasons i've come across. but it was a different story for stewart in a nearby field, which he was able to irrigate because of access to a borehole, regular watering meant a much better crop and much bigger spuds and the contractors bought into harvest were busy. putting an inch of water on about eight times so it is never actually getting dry, and so you get the quality and the yield. we are

supplying supermarkets that want nice bright skinned baking potatoes. dairy farmerjonathan has had an expensive year, as well, poor grass growth in the summer heat means he might have an off —— might not have enough forage to see him through the winter. we did enough to see us through to the 5th of may, so if we don't have enough forage we can't feed all the goodies. that means they will be slaughtered, not at the end of their productive lives, they will go for meat earlier than they have to do, and what happens is that next year when we have the forage we then won't have the livestock because it takes two years before an animal starts producing milk. so farmers have acted as a community and worked out a solution to jonathan's problem, his friend tom is converting a poor been cropping to animalfodderfor the is converting a poor been cropping to animal fodder for the first time.

the year has been unbelievably in terms of the weather patterns we have experienced all in one year. some tremendous difficulties with people not getting the yield from their grasses and so the winter feed is massively short and we have got to get there. some people will still be short when we get there but we are trying to work with the livestock farmers to balance that out, that is what we are trying to achieve. this is how it is harvested, the whole bean plant is gathered, finely chopped and then fed into a huge airtight bag to be used as needed through the winter. it is not all problematic in the countryside, though. the weather has been good for this vineyard in york. 2018 could be a vintage year, it's the best crop they have ever had. fruitful, plenty of fruit, and the year we have had so far has been one

of the best we have experienced in terms of picking fruit and the grapes and apples and pears, the whole lot. so looking back, perfect conditions, another few years like that would be great. it hasn't been bad for a place which describes itself as britain's most northerly commercial vineyard. this is arguably the future of agriculture. doctor mike hardman has focused his career on farming and how climate change will affect it and he believes things will have to be done differently. we could see new pests a new diseases coming into the uk as well as affecting agriculture in ways we haven't seen, especially southern farmers, they will be affected mostly negatively in the future, and we could see northern farmers who could prosper through some of the warmth of the climate but there will be opportunities, as well, we can grow new types of produce and higher yields in the

future. vital research is needed, he says, to adapt to our changing weather. the beast from the east, we will see more of that over the next decade, these extreme weather patterns and unpredictable weather patterns and unpredictable weather patterns are likely to be part of human induced climate change and so the severe effect it had on the agricultural industry, that is something we will have to deal with in the years to come. that doesn't mean the beast from the east will reappear annually from now on, but a pattern of extreme weather events is developing and scientists want eve ryo ne developing and scientists want everyone to change our lifestyles to reduce the impact of these weather events in the future. and the widely accepted climate forecast means there is now big pressure on farmers who produce our food to deal with these extremes. this upcoming week is looking

relatively unsettled with the weather coming in off the atlantic so we will have spells of wind and rain at times, and temperatures should be around normal, may be a little above in places. for tonight, this area of low pressure will be making inroads across western parts of the country, turning wet and windy here with gales developing, 40-60 windy here with gales developing, 40—60 mph in exposed areas and the rain will be heavy and persistent. after a dry start to the night with clear skies and quite a chilly spell for a time across the east, temperatures will rise as the breeze picks up but it will be a mild start in the west of the country to start tuesday. we are in this wedge of milderair tuesday. we are in this wedge of milder air across most of the country, especially across england and wales and scotland. it starts very wet across western areas

through the morning, atrocious road conditions for the morning commute, and after a dry start in the east, the wind and rain will push from the west and some of the rain will be quite heavy at times, but there will bea quite heavy at times, but there will be a clearance of that weather front moving through some may be sunshine in the afternoon for western scotla nd in the afternoon for western scotland and northern ireland but the wind arrows show it will be a very windy and blustery day across the board. temperatures pretty good for the time of year, 10—12. the rain continues to march gradually east, during the course of tuesday evening and overnight, eventually clearing away, but we will see blustery showers following on. it is down to the next area of low pressure which will bring a fairly u nsettled pressure which will bring a fairly unsettled day for wednesday and again the isobars are quite close together so it will be a windy day especially in western areas. the best of the sunshine in northern and eastern areas and the best way to describe wednesday is sunshine and blustery showers. some of the shower is quite heavy, but a bit wintry

over the scottish mountains. 7—8 in the north and 9—11 further south. the high—pressure sequence through thursday and friday, the weather will continue to come in off the atlantic, these weather fronts bringing spells of wind and outbreaks of rain a time, so it remains similar to end the week as we started it, with temperatures into double figures in the south and nearer normal across the north. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is 0utside source. another chaotic day in westminster. theresa may says a vote on brexit will happen in january, and this is the opposition leader's response. and this was the opposition leader's response. so, mr speaker, as the only way i can think of ensuring a vote takes place this week, i'm about to table a motion which says the following. that this house has no confidence in the prime minister, due to her a new report exposes the scale of russian efforts in the 2016 us elections, saying moscow used every major social media platform to help elect donald trump. we've got a new development in one

of the biggest financial scandals in history — malaysia has filed criminal charges against goldman sachs. and as of today tumblr is banning porn — we'll hear why