the independent, like many other papers, is following the current saga of whether uk labour leader jeremy corbyn was filmed uttering the words "stupid woman" whilst taking part in a commons debate with uk prime minister theresa may. mr corbyn has denied using the sexist slur and insisted he said the words "stupid people" instead. and finally, the vox celebrates 175 years of charles dickens‘ a christmas carol. over the years, the book has been renacted for the stage and screen countless times making it an iconic christmas favourite. and i recently saw it at the old vic, playing the a christmas carol, it is superb. with me is nina trentmann from the wall streetjournal. let's look at the new york times, and its analysis of the decision that president trump tweeted, the news that they were withdrawing

troops from syria and many even in his own party were shocked to read that week. it seems to be the way he tells people what he is up to. give us tells people what he is up to. give us your take on the move. it is interesting to see this came from twitter, which of course mr trump would be expected to do, but for something as large as troop movement, i would something as large as troop movement, iwould have something as large as troop movement, i would have expected... more official statement from the white house. more briefings from people like the defence secretary and people involved who have tried to talk him out of that before. it was interesting to see that the story was explaining the opposition from within his own party, where people were saying, if barack obama, donald trump's predecessor, had done this, in this fashion, people would have criticised him, whereas now mr trump is saying we have defeated the islamic state, so we can do this, and of course there are concerns that the situation is not stable and

that the situation is not stable and that it could be another situation similar with iraq, where troops are pulled out and the situation deteriorated hugely afterwards, especially of course the kurdish allies are concerned, because turkey has announced that it would start a new major offensive in syria and the kurdish, who are being oppressed in turkey, have been saying that they are concerned by the move. president trump is saying he is delivering on a pre—election promise. he has been criticised not just in a pre—election promise. he has been criticised notjust in the us, but outside as well, the uk has criticised this move, and many have said it is extremely worrying, what this could mean in the future, how destabilising this could be for syria, and how it would change who has power in what's going on within syria itself, the likes of russia, iran and various players in the war. and the interesting point is the question of how reliable this makes

the us look as an ally and that is also one of the points of the story, that the us is relying on local partners and other areas of conflict in the region. and the fact that this was relatively unexpected, even though it was a campaign promise, might shed light on that and might make people wonder whether the alliance with the us and other parts of the middle east is as strong as it should be. we have analysis on the website as well, analysis of what this means for syria, and for the players in the war, the likes of russia and iran, so look at that. let's look at the financial pages of the guardian. the fed shrugs off donald trump's pleas. it increases rates again. donald trump tweeting he doesn't think is the right time to increase the cost of borrowing. jerome powell, the head of the fed, it is an independent central bank, it is an independent central bank, it cannot been dell might be seen to

react from news from the white house. —— it cannot be seen to react from news from the white house. give us from news from the white house. give us your reaction. interesting to see that he did directly address the concerns that people have had about the comments from mr trump, because of course it is relatively unusual for presidents to make direct comments on what the federal reserve is doing because, as you've said, it is doing because, as you've said, it is supposed to be an independent institution that is making its decision based on economic indicators rather than just politics. i think it remains to be seenin politics. i think it remains to be seen in how far the rate rises that have been pencilled in for 2019, the two outlined by mr powell, and whether or not the fed is adjusting its policy based on economic outlook for the year, which is of course uncertain at this point in time, after we have seen the market drops, you have mentioned them today stop white interesting to see howjerome powell manages the next couple of

yea rs powell manages the next couple of years as the fed chair. it won't be easy. 2020 is an election year in the us. if the economy isn't doing as well, if it isn't growing at a strongly, which is what president trump says he has promised to voters. mr trump has already said that he is very unhappy with his toys as mr powell as the fed chairman —— with his choice.|j wonder what janet yellen is thinking, she's at home watching closely at imagine, i wonder what thinking. let's look at city am, eu olive branch is as city fears, what is the olive branch? the eu's response to regulation the bank of england has already implemented a few months ago for the case of a no—deal brexit scenario. the regulations saying that the current regulation, which means london based banks can trade in the eu will continue for a certain amount of time, about 12 months. business as

usualfor a period of time. time, about 12 months. business as usual for a period of time. only a period of time, that is important, this is something the european commission hasn't aimed for, they would have wanted to settle this, not with a no deal contingency plan, but with something real in the settlement, concerns about... that trillions of derivatives contracts could be moved in a very short amount of time, and have now been found to be unfounded. but, as you said, it is something which is only covering a certain amount of time, and it might be that, well, in a couple of months from now, it might be the same concerns again in the city about how to continue trading with the eu. watch this space. let's look at the leader of the opposition party, jeremy corbyn, and many of the papers have this on the front page, he denies calling theresa may" stupid woman" at pmqs, they have professional lip readers

investigating what he was saying and when with the cameras and microphones etc. i guess we will never know. yeah, well, according to the commons speaker, even though they had professional lip speakers it wasn't 100% clear whatjeremy corbyn said. he's adamant that he said, "stupid people". so mr bercow said, "stupid people". so mr bercow said you have to take his word. many of the papers, looking at the front pages, talking about pantomime politics, you know, they are using that phrase a lot, just a sort of illustrate how ridiculous become within parliament. yeah, i guess it's an interesting situation, because of course there are much more important things which parliamentarians should be discussing at this point in time, but... yeah. let's move on, shelby? laughter. -- shall

but... yeah. let's move on, shelby? laughter. —— shall we? a christmas carol, are you a fan? i have to admiti carol, are you a fan? i have to admit i haven't seen it. have you seen it on screen? no, i haven't. nina, ican‘t seen it on screen? no, i haven't. nina, i can't believe that! it is 175 years old and you haven't seen an adaption. i wonder if anyone else out there... there are certain gaps in information which i might want to fill up. it's a fantastic story. i recommend it. it is a great read. 175 years old. so many different adaptions, so many movies. as i say, i saw it at the old vic. maybe you should go there. it is a sort of iconic christmas story that many associate with christmas. interesting, it sounds more like a ghost story and it turns into a christmas story, which makes it sound... this headline, incredibly cosy and incredibly creepy, which i thought, yeah, it is a little bit

like that, depending on which version you see, which move you what, even the muppets have had a go ata what, even the muppets have had a go at a christmas carol. thank you so much for coming in for the business briefing. just to say, we are keeping a close eye on gatwick airport. usually the uk's second busiest airport. the runway remains closed for now. it has been since 90 and last night. 50 flights diverted so far. —— since 9pm last night. i will see you soon. hello there. well, as you've probably already heard, the run—up to christmas is set to be a fairly mild one, with ouraircoming in off the atlantic. now, it's not going to be completely settled, though. there will be quite a bit of cloud and also some rain or showers at times. but a little bit of sunshine, too. now, for thursday, we've still got low pressure in charge

of the weather. it'll be anchored to the north—west of the uk. and we'll have a fair old breeze blowing in from the west, and that will continue to feed in showers, most of them across southern and western areas early on thursday, the odd heavy one, with many central and eastern parts seeing the longer dry spells to begin thursday. so we'll have a split in temperatures. where you get the showers, a bit more cloud. southern and western areas, then, temperatures around five to seven degrees. something a bit cooler, though, further north. around scotland, maybe a touch of frost in some of the glens, and maybe a little mist and fog, too. but, for thursday morning, it's going to be a largely dry and a bright one across many northern and eastern areas. showers, though, will get going across the west, and they may merge together to produce some longer spells of rain, some of them could be quite heavy. and, again, it's going to be fairly blustery, particularly near southern and western coasts. mild in the south, 10—11 degrees. further north, these are pretty typical temperatures, in fact, for this time of year. now, as we head through thursday night, it stays quite breezy, quite showery. for a time, the showers ease down, and then we start to see some wetter and windier weather arriving across the south—west. that's because this next frontal system will move into the southern half of the country during thursday night into friday morning.

so it could be quite wet for some. but what it will do is import even milder air across the southern half of the country, as you can see, the yellow and orange colours there. so, although it's going to be a really drab start to friday, a lot of surface spray, standing water on the roads, that rain should eventually clear eastwards. although its northern extent may linger on across parts of northern ireland, northern england, maybe southern scotland. so a bit of a grey day here. to the north of here, again, quite cool with a little bit of sunshine. and sunshine will move in across england and wales. and very mild, 11—14 degrees. now, into the weekend, it looks like saturday will be the driest day with that ridge of high pressure. and then these weather fronts move in on for sunday. so i think it is a bit of a tale of two halves. there will be one or two showers across northern and eastern areas to begin saturday. 0therwise, with that ridge of high pressure building in, it should turn a little bit drier. the winds a bit lighter, too, still coming in from the west, and we should see a good deal of sunshine around, particularly further south and east where you are. ten to 12 degrees, very mild again in the south. around nine or ten in the north. sunday looks wetter

and windier across the board. and, as we head on into monday, it looks like it could turn a little bit cooler in the north. good morning. welcome to breakfast, with naga munchetty and jon kay. 0ur headlines today: gatwick closes its runway after two drones were spotted. hundreds of passengers were stuck on planes or diverted to other airports. and the runway is closed again after more drones were spotted overnight. that means travel misery for people arriving here this morning. fire safety checks across england have fallen by more than 40% in a decade. a new report says we are being put at risk. accessing money when a loved one dies. santander has been fined nearly £33 million for serious failings in the way it handled accounts. i will have advice on where you stand. the bad behaviour of football fans is in the spotlight again,