good morning. welcome to breakfast, with naga munchetty and jon kay. our 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, as tottenham's dele alli is hit on the head by a water bottle during their league cup win at arsenal. good morning from edinburgh zoo, and the giant lanterns of china display.

we will be showing you more throughout the programme. the forecast today is one of right spells, sunshine and showers, and still quite blustery. i will be back with more in 15 minutes. it is thursday 20 december. our top story: there is major disruption at gatwick airport after reports that two drones were being flown over the airfield. the runway has been closed since around 9:00pm last night. flights were grounded and inbound planes were diverted elsewhere. andy moore has this report. early this morning, and gatwick airport was full of hundreds of people trying to rearrange flights, orjust find a bed for the night. so you need to speak to the reception to get your taxi booked back to the airport... the airport apologised to its passengers, but said their safety was its foremost priority. all flights into and out of the airport had to be suspended after there were multiple sightings of two drones over the runway. more than two dozen inbound flights were diverted to other uk airports.

at gatwick, many passengers sat waiting in planes on the runway, before finally being offloaded. it's ridiculous. how many mil... it must be costing tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds in delays. it's absolutely ludicrous. we were travelling from glasgow to gatwick, and we were diverted to luton, because we obviously were not able to land. and after being held on the plane for a long two hours, we eventually got off back and got a bus, which took us here to gatwick. the problem of drones near airports is a worldwide concern. in the uk, the authorities say the number of near misses has trebled in the last three years. there were 92 incidents last year alone. gatwick will be hoping to operate as normal today, but the christmas travel plans of thousands of people have been severely disrupted. andy moore, bbc news, gatwick airport.

and andy moorejoins us now from gatwick. it seems a bit confusing, because we knew that they were two drones, but now they have been reports of more. what more can you tell us? that's right, about 3am in the morning, gatwick said the airport was open again after a six hour closure. within 45 minutes they had to say u nfortu nately within 45 minutes they had to say unfortunately there have been more sightings, and the airport or at least the runway was closed again. that remains the situation. so all these people arriving at the moment can't get on flights. as far as we know, sussex police have had the helicopter up overnight trying to locate the operators of these drones without success. they have not been located. so at the moment this incredibly busy airport at a very busy time of year, the runway remained shut. inbound flights diverted to other airports, and

these people arriving here could potentially have a very long wait. let's hope it gets resolved soon. we will be hearing from some of those passengers as the morning goes on. the fire services watchdog is warning that people's safety is being compromised, both at home and in the workplace, due to a decline in the number of checks being carried out. fire safety inspections in england have fallen by almost 50% in the past decade, according to the report. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds has more. firefighters — fewjobs attract as much public support as they enjoy. and the number of emergencies they deal with has been falling steadily. but this, the worst residential fire in living memory, shows that disasters can still happen. it has put firefighting firmly in the spotlight. meanwhile, the system for inspecting fire services has been revamped. cheshire fire and rescue is one 01:14 services to be scrutinised as part of the new system.

it got a good rating for its emergency service, and for the fire safety checks it carries out. but today's report says, when it comes to protecting the public by inspecting buildings, eight out of 14 fire services required improvement. in fact, the number of safety audits carried out by fire services across england has fallen by 42% in eight years. if fire services don't know where their high—risk premises are, and if they haven't been in and done safety audits of those high—risk premises, then there is clearly a danger that there are risks that aren't being addressed, and therefore the public are at risk. the reason it is not happening, she says, is funding fire services have prioritised the emergency response over the fire safety checks. but there are other issues — a general shortage of on—call firefighters able to interrupt their daily lives to respond

to fires, and what was described as an outdated working culture, where fewer than 6% of firefighters are women, and fewer than 5% from an ethnic minority group. more inspections, including big city fire brigades, are planned. tom symonds, bbc news. mps begin their christmas holidays today, but the rows over brexit continue. a senior cabinet minister, amber rudd, has suggested another referendum could become a plausible way forward if parliament stays deadlocked. our political correspondent iain watson is in westminster. iain, is amber rudd breaking ranks on this? she made similar kinds of noises when she was on the back benches again. we might expect now that she has returned to the cabinet that she would stick to the party line. that's right, as you know, a week is a long time in politics but it was

actually only three days ago when the prime minister stood up in the house of commons and said a second referendum would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics. now, we had quite a different tone from a member of her own cabinet. let's see what she had to say last night. i have said that i don't want people's vote, or a referendum in general, but if parliament absolutely fail to reach a consensus, i parliament absolutely fail to reach a consensus, i can see parliament absolutely fail to reach a consensus, i can see there will be a consensus, i can see there will be a plausible argument for it. but i think it is incumbent on mps to find the centre ground in parliament, and to try and find where the majority is there. because quite frankly i don't think the majority of people, wa nt don't think the majority of people, want to be asked how to vote. amber rudd, the work and pensions secretary, saying it is plausible to have another referendum, nothing about damaging the integrity of our politics. you will know what render from bristol things, but she is in favour of another referendum. nonetheless, what i think is

interesting is that now that theresa may has made it very clear after that leadership challenge last week that leadership challenge last week that she will not be contesting the next election, there is almost a licence from some of her cabinet members to say what they think. amber rudd had also previously said that perhaps a closer relationship to the eu, like norway, was a possible outcome if there was a vote injanuary, and possible outcome if there was a vote in january, and the possible outcome if there was a vote injanuary, and the home secretary, sajid javid, has articulated party policy about ringing immigration down to the tens of thousands. so although they are roughly staying on message and technically backing the prime minister's deal, they are also to some extent ploughing their own furrow with an eye to the future. to some extent ploughing their own furrow with an eye to the futurelj dread the day we will have to knock on brenda's door again, but it may happen. do you? yes, we keep in touch, but she knows it is coming, andi touch, but she knows it is coming, and i know it is coming. later we

will talk about the rows that brexit could prompt over christmas dinner. we will talk about that a little later on. we would love to hear your thoughts, whether you think brexit could cause rumblings over the brussel sprouts. can we take brussel sprouts in that context? we can. britain has distanced itself from president trump's declaration of victory over the islamic state group in syria. the white house announced yesterday that the us had begun to withdraw its remaining 2,000 troops from the country. but here, the foreign office said there was still much to be done in syria, and the defence minister, tobias ellwood, said he strongly disagreed with mr trump's assessment. president trump's decision has also been heavily criticised by senior republicans in washington, who have called it a colossal mistake. australian investigators have released the final pictures taken by a group of british tourists before the seaplane they were travelling in crashed in sydney last year. businessman richard cousins, four of his family members and the pilot were killed when the aircraft came down on new year's eve. authorities are yet to publish

their findings on what caused the crash, but say the photos have helped them to reconstruct the flights final moments. thrill—seeking tourists are putting themselves in danger by heading towards volcanoes when they erupt, according to the royal geographical society. a report warns that volcano tourists underestimate the risks and create dangerous problems for rescue services. the dangers posed by eruptions like this one at mt etna last year include poisonous gases and falling rocks, as well as the extreme heat. people will do anything for a good picture, won't they? now, here is an incredible moment of sporting prowess that even professional rugby players would find tricky. six—year—old 0scar managed to kick a rugby ball through a basketball hoop, after he was promised £10 if he could achieve the feat

at his local park. his dad, gary herbert, says he was left stunned when he did it at the second attempt. second attempt! yes, he says. that is impressive, isn't it? i will try that later, i will never achieve that. i loved his celebration, no wild screaming. it is amazing what a financial incentive can do. at any atany age, at any age, it is a lot of money. next time you speak to rugby players, you have to put that challenge to them. they will be there all day, i'm sure. could he do it? iam there all day, i'm sure. could he do it? i am sure dele alli crude. we are concentrating on less savoury matters, unfortunately. this is dele alli being hit on the head by a

water bottle thrown by a fan last night, but the fact that it comes only a few weeks after pierre—emerick aubameyang had a ba na na pierre—emerick aubameyang had a banana thrown at him, and they were incidents involving raheem sterling and some anti—semitic chants. spurs may be through to the semi—finals of the league cup, but their 2—0 win at north london rivals arsenal was overshadowed when the scorer of their second, dele alli, was later hit by a water bottle thrown by a fan. arsenal say they are looking at cctv footage to find out who threw it. spurs will face chelsea in the last four after they beat bournemouth at stamford bridge, eden hazard with the only goal of the game. the other semi—final will see burton albion of league one facing holders manchester city. celtic are back on top of the scottish premiership, after a 3—0 win over motherwell.

elsewhere, rangers were held to a goalless draw by hibernian. and olympic champion adam peaty has dared swimming's governing body to ban him after hejoined some of the world's top swimmers in backing a breakaway international swimming league. this has been a bit of a hot potato for a while now. first of all that happened with the football, they wa nted happened with the football, they wanted the super league, and that didn't happen, the bigger clubs all wa nted didn't happen, the bigger clubs all wanted to play in a european league which was criticised. another sport did it, and now is swimming trying to do the same thing? they want to create a platform and a competition for a lot of the top swimmers around the world, but does interfere with their training for international competitions for their countries? it has been a talking point, and he has

saidi has been a talking point, and he has said i want to do this, i will face the consequences of it. for now, thank you very much indeed. we will see you again a little bit later. carol is continuing her festive trip around the country as part of breakfast‘s special series carol's carols. this morning she is at edinburgh zoo, with a festive soul choir who will be singing some of our christmas favourites. morning, carol. amazing lanterns. good morning both and good morning to you. we are at edinburgh zoo where you can see the giant lanterns and china display. look at this i. the dragon gate you see gives hope to the carp suffering below in the polluted waters and legend goes any carp that can leap over the gate will become a mighty dragon with the power to fly away to a place unspoiled by human hands. it's a lovely story and lovely tranquil music playing in the background. we'll show more. in edinburgh, it's nice and dry and the

many of us, for the rest of the week, the forecast is i that is going to be relatively mild but there is the chance of some showers and they will be heavy and boundary. the pressure chart, we have a weather front moving towards the north sea. if you look at the isobars, in the southern areas, quite blustery. they will blow the showers and it will dry up later on. the ist thing this morning, there area the ist thing this morning, there are a lot of showers around. a lot of cloud as well. some of the showers in the west will be thundery at times. we'll also see some bright skies. especially in eastern areas. it is going to be quite blustery as i mentioned. temperature wise more or less as you would expect them to be in december. 0vernight, a lot of the showers will fade and will be replaced by weather from the south—west. fringing into southern

scotland. along with this rain will come some milder conditions. it's not going to be a cold night in parts of the south—west. at that weather front, especially across scotland, ? the skies that will be. also some patchy mist and fog. tomorrow what you will find is that will tend to lift and we still have this rain weakening the course of the day. lying across parts of northern ireland scotland and north east england before we are done with it but brightening up nicely behind. ahead of it, still a fair bit clout around. call ahead. ahead of it, still a fair bit clout around. callahead. 0n ahead of it, still a fair bit clout around. callahead. on saturday, high pressure comes in. still some showers which could be quite pokey. still not bad to this stage in december. 0n the lose some rain,

things will certain that settle down, especially on christmas day. it just looks brilliant. looking forward to seeing much more of where you are this morning. the music in the background is beautiful. carol calming everything down as well, that's what she does. let's take a look at some of the stories making today's front pages. the row over whether jeremy corbyn called the prime minister a "stupid woman" is labelled an end—of—term panto for mps in the daily telegraph. continuing with the panto theme, the guardian also reports on mr corbyn's denial with the headline "oh no he didn't". jose mourinho has been mentioned as

well. mike and nina are with us. a letter from sirjohn timpson, the chair of the company. we will be talking to him later and has written a report for central government about how to help the high—street revive itself and that is the key. it must revive itself and be specific to each town rather than being a top—down approach. he says is true that some of the findings are brutal. we have to accept the high—street will never be what it was ten years ago. it's been completely regenerated. sticking with food, do you fancy for your christmas dinner and vegan hotdog or no chicken nugget? we know that vegetarianism and veganism has been increasing and unilever, the global brand, has taken over a vegan butchers company in holland. how does that work? we are all confused.

they make things out of plans that have the same taste and structure of meat. the products are sold in 17 countries. why has of egan butcher got blood on his apron? it's carrot juice. —— vegan butcher. got blood on his apron? it's carrot juice. -- vegan butcher. for a global brand company like that to ta ke global brand company like that to take it on means it must be catching. the whole idea of the link to the environment. that's the thinking. the impact on your carbon footprint if you're a big meat eater. they are talking about the sport. i tell you who's been helping

the high—street, jose mourinho. sport. i tell you who's been helping the high-street, jose mourinho. he was out spotted with the shopping bag. his replacement in the caretaker role, {50,000,000 to spend 4 ole gunnar solskjaer, a lot of money to give someone who might only be there until the end of the season. doesn't really necessarily work. jose mourinho spent nearly {400,000,000 and they are outside the top 4. here in the papers, it's claimed manchester united will have to pay a world record fee to take pochettino from spurs. wood yesterdaywomen have's had any in to do with the speculation? no, it's more his long—term vision and how he brings young players through. it was a close game. if ole gunnar solskjaer has £50,000,000,

pochettino is £42,000,000. you can buy his own replacement. spurs fans do not want this to happen. if they do not want this to happen. if they do want pochettino, they will have to pay £42,000,000. gareth southgate being put through his paces in various bear grylls type challenges but he is asked by bear grylls about his waistcoat. the story as it was pa rt of his waistcoat. the story as it was part of the kit for russia. we asked his son, that she asked a son, will get away with this? he said, nobody will notice. he is descending the rock face in dartmoor. he thinks he has paid his national debt to the country after being haunted by 2 decades for the penalty miss was involved in in 1996. i love this story in the times. there is a

professional body that represents the people who do captioning and subtitling on screen is called the british institute of verbatim reporters. they came up with a list of the most mispronounced words of the year. the princess who got married, the royal wedding after that. eugenie... how do you say it? yoo—janey. chinese technology company. huawei. its wah—way. and so it goes on. geraint thomas, you struggle with that. i got a lot of stick and maybe trying too hard with

ger—aint. stick and maybe trying too hard with ger-aint. thank you very much. when a child becomes seriously ill, they understandably become the focus of attention within the family. but there's a warning today that we should also be doing more for the child's siblings. according to the rainbow trust, the brothers and sisters of seriously ill children risk being left with long—term mental health issues, unless there's more funding to support them. the charity says more and more siblings are seeking professional help in england. as part of our who cares? series, our disability news correspondent nikki fox has been to meet one family who've been affected. cancer is a terrible thing to have to deal with. childhood cancer is so aggressive and it's such a nasty disease. around 4 years ago, the finch familyworld was's turned upside down when adam was diagnosed with a brain tumour and aggressive spinal cancer. they had to be with her son in hospitalfor 9 months. you are interested in christmas

stuff? family life for megan com pletely stuff? family life for megan completely changed. what paintbrush are you going to use? the tiniest paintbrush in the pack, okay. are you going to use? the tiniest paintbrush in the pack, okaylj really noticed that megan was becoming more withdrawn from me, more distant. i felt like i'd lost my little girl. not wanting to burden her mum with her own fears, megan did everything she could to help out. you've got a wet sponge 1st. it's quite wet, yes. do ijust rub it? we come here all the time. do you? it's fun, isn't it? megan and had a help to bite only support workers sean ann kelly. for megan, just having someone to talk to is invaluable. it must be a difficult time for you. yeah. having a person to talk to. yes, you don't give everything bottled up, you get it out in the open. yes. what kind of

feelings? sadness in there and stuff and there was, like, sometimes a bit of jealousy of your and there was, like, sometimes a bit ofjealousy of your peers. for mum claire, knowing somebody was there to support their daughter when she couldn't was a huge relief.|j to support their daughter when she couldn't was a huge relief. i was really aware that things were going on at school, she was struggling with own lessons on homework and she wasn't telling me about it, she wouldn't tell her grandma and grandad about it either because she didn't want us to worry yet she could speak to kelly, get it off her chest and then come into the hospital and just enjoy time with us. according to the rainbow trust, an estimated 32,000 families in england have a seriously ill child with 1 or siblings. the charity says some will have little to know access to the kind of support that megan and adam have received. we understand councils are trying to focus on what they are provided ——

obliged to provide by law and that leaves less money for early intervention support and family support services but we think it's a false economy because in the long term these children and their families and parents, they are going to need more mental health support potentially if crises aren't nipped in the bud. here, we have a really nice. the aymack. how have you felt having her through this rough patch? has she helped you? she cheered me up has she helped you? she cheered me up and annoyed me in a nice sort of way. can ijust say, i don't know how you've managed this but you've painted my arm. i didn't do that! with more sick children surviving but then living with compaq ‘s conditions, the need for sibling and family support workers will always be in demand. nikki fox, bbc news, stockport. it's an interesting thing to talk about. we don't want parents to talk about. we don't want parents to feel guilty but it's just another

thing that perhaps needs to be considered and that needs the support outside the family as well. it is 6:27 a.m. we'll have the latest from gatwick on a moment after those apparent drone incidents overnight. there are delays. also, in the regional news you can find out what is happening where you are. good morning from bbc london news. the metropolitan police has released 7 genuine audiotapes of 999 calls we re 7 genuine audiotapes of 999 calls were the incident was not an emergency and police time was wasted. good morning. hello, police. what's your emergency. wasted. good morning. hello, police. what's your emergencylj wasted. good morning. hello, police. what's your emergency. i set the chicken about half an hour waiting my breakfast. the met has warned while some people find the call is funny, they take away police

resources at a time when funding is stretched and the call is potentially put lives in danger. the met recorded nearly 22,000 hoax calls. if i worried about how much money will be spending over christmas, you might want to consider joining christmas, you might want to considerjoining a growing number of people on a budget plan which could see them retire in their 405. an a ccou nta nt see them retire in their 405. an accountant is pioneering a new scheme where people save mo5t accountant is pioneering a new scheme where people save most of their income to the future rather than spend it. aged 34, this man now says he is mortgage free. than spend it. aged 34, this man now says he is mortgage freelj than spend it. aged 34, this man now says he is mortgage free. i wouldn't go down the shops and have a need to buy something, i'm going to actually assume that the money i make is meant to stay and do something for meant to stay and do something for me rather than by default key —— be given away to a shop or given away to something else. extra seats will be made available on great anglia trains into london is 1st—class carriages are phased out under new plans, the company replacing every train carriage with new longer rolling stock from the middle of

next year and only the new intercity trains between london and norwich will owe —— will offer 1st—class seating. let's look at the travel situation: gatwick remains closed after the drone sightings yesterday. 0n the roads: let's get the let's get the weather. let's get the weather. hadow, let's get the weather. hadow, good let's get the weather. hadow, good morning. with some showers and the forecast, you probably want to have an umbrella close to hand today. but those showers do come with some sunny spells but it will be fairly breezy. starting up this morning with some bright spells, 1 of 2 showers and temperatures in the mid— single figures, gradually brightening as we move through to the best of the sunny spells into

the best of the sunny spells into the afternoon and will be fewer showers but that's not to say there will be any into the afternoon, still the risk of one or two and temperatures at a maximum of 11 in the south—westerly breeze. still one of two showers that time this evening and a prefetch of high pressure brings something drier. more clouded outbreaks of rain sweeping from the south—west. 0vernight lows around seven, eight celsius. that does mean tomorrow sta rts celsius. that does mean tomorrow starts off on a fairly soggy note in the rain will clear towards the east fairly quickly through the first half of the morning. drier and brighter into the afternoon and it will be milder temperatures at a maximum of 14 celsius although it's fairly breezy. that's it from us, we will be back in an hour. good morning. welcome to breakfast, with naga munchetty and jon kay. it is 6:30am. but also on breakfast this morning: we will meet the landlady of one of the uk's only makaton friendly, pubs, where regulars have recorded

a sign—along rendition of something inside so strong for a five—year—old boy with down's syndrome. places of learning, reflection and culture — something you could say describes both libraries and churches. we have been to visit a building in lichfield that happens to be both. # we built this city on sausage rolls... and after 9:00am, we will be joined the man who could take the christmas number one spot with a parody song about sausage rolls. here is a summary of today's main stories from bbc news: there is major disruption at gatwick airport after reports that two drones were being flown over the airfield. the runway has been closed since around 9:00pm last night. flights were grounded and inbound planes were diverted elsewhere.

passengers due to fly to or from gatwick today are being told to check the status of their flight. a statement on the official twitter page for gatwick airport says: we will be speaking to some of the people caught up in that. the fire services watchdog is warning that people's safety is being compromised, both at home and in the workplace, due to a decline in the number of checks being carried out. fire safety inspections in england have fallen by more than 40% in the past decade, according to the report. the home office says urgent

action needs to be taken, while the national fire council says it will continue to work on this extremely important area. fire and rescue services also need to do checks in high—risk premises, to do checks in high—risk premises, to make sure things like fire doors, evacuation routes, fire alarms, fire extinguishers are working. and if they are not doing those checks, then there is an unknown risk to the building, and in effect, to members of the public. mps begin their christmas holidays today, but the rows over brexit continue. a senior cabinet minister, amber rudd, has suggested that while she doesn't personally support another vote, a second referendum could become a plausible way forward if parliament stays deadlocked. ms rudd said she hoped mps would back the prime minister's deal next month, but acknowledged it would be very difficult. britain has distanced itself from president trump's declaration of victory over the so—called islamic state group in syria. the white house announced yesterday that the us had begun

to withdraw its remaining 2,000 troops from the country. but here, the foreign office said there was still much to be done in syria, and the defence minister, tobias ellwood, said he strongly disagreed with mr trump's assessment. the decision has also been heavily criticised by senior republicans in washington, who have called it a colossal mistake. more money should be spent on changing the layout of our town centres, an independent report into the state of the high street has recommended. an expert panel chaired by the owner of timpsons says local authorities across england don't have enough money, and central government needs to contribute more. thrill—seeking tourists are putting themselves in danger by heading towards volcanoes when they erupt, according to the royal geographical society. a report warns that volcano tourists underestimate the risks and create dangerous problems

for rescue services. the dangers posed by eruptions like this one at mt etna last year include poisonous gases and falling rocks, as well as the extreme heat. the photo may be good, but it may not be worth it in the end. football, mike. great news forfans, terrible behaviour by some fans. how do you stop fans misbehaving? a month ago we saw pierre—emerick aubameyang being the target of a ba na na aubameyang being the target of a banana skin thrown towards him, and the spurs fan was banned for four yea rs the spurs fan was banned for four years and fined. pochettino said in a different country they may close the stadium. and dele alli was hit bya the stadium. and dele alli was hit by a water bottle. it seems to be contagious, what is going on? yes, so at the moment we are seeing the

rise of it again, the ugly side of the game. spurs are through to the semi—finals of the league cup after they beat arsenal 2—0. but the win was slightly overshadowed after a bottle was thrown at the spurs star dele alli, as patrick gearey reports. are cup tie marred by bottle thrown, the moment dele alli were struck by what appears to be a water bottle a p pa re ntly what appears to be a water bottle apparently launched by a water bottle apparently launched by spectators have already rows back. arsenal say they are reviewing cctv to find the culprit, the behaviour of supporters again in the headlines. dele alli's response was to reference the scoreline. 2—0, he had got one himself and set this one up had got one himself and set this one upfor had got one himself and set this one up for son had got one himself and set this one upfor son heung—min, had got one himself and set this one up for son heung—min, this exactly the sort of calm finishing arsenal have lacked. and when they got one right, as aaron ramsey did here, they found the goalkeeper inspired as well is in luck. when spurs fans isa as well is in luck. when spurs fans is a bit of insurance they brought out their premium. harry kane has not played in this competition since

2015. it took him just a minute to spot dele alli. dele said what happened later made the goal sweeter. unlike bats, this took real bottle. —— unlike that. spurs will play chelsea in the semis after they beat bournemouth 1—0. a late, deflected goal from eden hazard was enough to put chelsea through. manchester city play league one side burton albion in the other semi. it is burton's first major semi—final. it has been musical chairs at the top of the scottish premiership this season. we have got another new leader this morning, as celtic go back to the top. they beat motherwell 3—0 thanks to goals from anthony ralston, scott sinclair, and this from mikeyjohnson, his first for the club. they overtake old firm rivals rangers, who were held to a goalless draw by hibernian. 18.5 years ago, 0le gunnar solksjaer scored the goal which won the european cup for manchester united, and now he is back as their caretaker manager. you might remember solksjaer as a baby—faced striker with united. well, since retiring, he has spent time managing cardiff city — not very well, according to their fans,

and the norwegian side molde. he is in charge until the end of the season. so what can united fans expect? i think we will see some of the players happy, smiling, and back to more energy, playing closer to their best level. but, again, they have to find the best way of playing together with this team. the way 0le likes to play is different to what it has been, and is closer to what united are used to from earlier. next to a growing row in the world of swimming. the olympic gold medallist adam peaty has dared those who run the sport to ban him after he backed a new competition. peaty and other top swimmers in the world want to compete in the break away international swimming league. they can earn a lot more, but swimming's governing body, fina, says it will ban them if they do so. i don't care, you know. banned me,

if you've got to. i'm not bothered. at the end of the day they are going to have the backlash from that. they know they can't, they know they can't get away with it. you lose all the respect of the athletes, and you can't will be athletes into racing. you need to listen to athletes to start working together. it shouldn't be take on the take, take or give, give, give, it should be a gift— ta ke give, give, it should be a gift— take relationship. for the international swimming league they can get a pot of £10 million, plus enhanced sponsorship opportunities as well —— international swimming league. there has been a concern and swimming over the years that maybe some swimmers have dropped out because of the lack offunding, and have dropped out because of the lack of funding, and so some of the top swimmers are seeing this as an opportunity. 0bviously they still wa nt to opportunity. 0bviously they still want to be in the olympics and european competitions as well, and the fans of course would want to see them as well, they wouldn't want the likes of adam peaty missing.

them as well, they wouldn't want the likes of adam peaty missingm them as well, they wouldn't want the likes of adam peaty missing. it is interesting, we talk a lot about breakaway leagues in different sports. it seems that this has a lot more legs. it seems a bit like oxen, all the different titles and belts. it is getting to that busy weekend getaway, and what are you thinking of turning? going to the airport today? some people have not managed today? some people have not managed to get away yet. let's return to our top story now. thousands of airline passengers are waking up far from where they expected to be this morning, all because two drones were reported to be flying dangerously close to gatwick airport. flights were halted just after 9:00pm last night, causing more than 50 arrivals to be diverted. you can imagine what that departures board looks like. let's get more from our correspondent andy moore, who is at gatwick this morning. and there must be many frustrated

people around. that's right, and gatwick airport is trying to get that airport open and will update passengers when it came. at the moment it isjust passengers when it came. at the moment it is just not safe to open it. with me at two passengers trying to get away, trying to get away to italy at 9:30am this morning. what have you been told by your airline? we have just been told that there are drone problems, but this morning we checked and everything seems fine. we are not sure about what is happening. what do you think about people who fly drones near airports? i think it can be very dangerous. we are just going to go inside and find out what happened, but yes, it can be quite dangerous to... to think of are drone in flight. it looks unlikely you will be getting away at

9:30 a.m., what effect will that have on your travel plans? well, we just don't really want to be here for christmas. we have family there, we don't want to be here for christmas, so we had better be able to fly. we would be very angry. thank you very much. so as i said, the airport here is trying to keep passengers updated, at the moment that runway still closed. thank you very much. how frustrating is that, especially at christmas time. lots of you getting in touch this morning about this, and the departure board looks like a mess. delayed, diverted, delayed, delayed, delayed... it is hopeless. christopher has got in touch, he said his flight to gatwick was due to land just after 9:30pm last night, when this kicked off. in the end he was diverted to birmingham and when he got in touch with us at 4am, he was still hundreds of miles

from gatwick, starving, hungry and exhausted. freddie has been talking about his grandmother's flight diverted to liverpool airports, someone decided to fly drones at gatwick airport, indeed! whereas the customer service, freddie wants to know. heather has said she was delayed in dubai due to those drones. she was told it would reopen in two powers to three hours —— tee—3 hours. in two powers to three hours —— tee-3 hours. and that lack of notification can annoy people as much as the delayed —— 2—3 hours. travel expert simon calder has been watching developments overnight and can bring us the latest on possible disruption. morning, simon. 0ne one only wonders how the airport will cope with this now. dealing with the people diverted last night, 8000 9000, i calculate, on 50

flights. if you are waking up and watching this you are in a good position, you are not far away from where you need to be —— 8000 or 9000. others diverted to paris or even bordeaux in south—west france, meaning the planes out of position, they are not around for the first wave of flight this morning. easyjet have cancelled 44 flights to and from gatwick airport, they did that in the middle of the night before the runway had closed again, and i am afraid it will get worse before it gets better. those 44 flights carrying something like 7000 passengers. those have simply gone, and when your flight is cancelled, u nfortu nately, and when your flight is cancelled, unfortunately, you go to the back of the queue and you are trying to get seats. and that this time of year, of course, all flights very fully booked. it will be absolutely miserable. someone has just booked. it will be absolutely miserable. someone hasjust tweeted easyj et, miserable. someone hasjust tweeted easyjet, we were due to fly to gibraltar, you have cancelled a flight, gibraltar, you have cancelled a flight, nothing until after

christmas, what are we going to do? luckily the law is on your side, easyj et luckily the law is on your side, easyjet needs to buy flights on other airlines, maybe fly you into malaga and get your flight from there. that is one tiny example of there. that is one tiny example of the thousands, and ifear there. that is one tiny example of the thousands, and i fear by the time you are off the air, tens of thousands of passengers who are not where they need to be and their options are closing down rapidly the closer we get to christmas. thank you as ever for keeping us up—to—date and keeping us across what is happening. carol's continuing her festive trip around the country as part of breakfast‘s special series carol's carols — this morning she's at edinburgh zoo with a festive soul choir who'll be singing some of our christmas favourites. morning carol. it looks gorgeous, those lanterns. absolutely. good morning to you at home as well. the choir will be with us home as well. the choir will be with us at seven o'clock before you go, you can see lots of unicorns behind me. do you know what you call a

group of unicorns? multicorn. a delight. a miracle. it's officially called a blessing. did you know that the unicorn is scotland's national animal. i didn't know that. carroll, what was your pet you nick warner called? —— your pet unicorn called. thank you for that, moving on. i had a pet goldfish called samson. we are here at edinburgh zoo to look at the giant lanterns and here is where you will find two giant panda bears. they are fast asleep at the moment but if we make enough noise, hopefully we will wake them up. this morning, not a hopefully we will wake them up. this morning, nota bad hopefully we will wake them up. this morning, not a bad start to the day that over the next few days, what we

will look at is bright spell and showers. it's going to turn milder, especially in the south. 0n the pressure chart, you can see we do have some isobars. that means the showers in the west will blow quickly over the east to the north sea. we started and a cloudy note. we have some cloudy showers. some of them all they'd come all we will hang on to them in the west and some of those could be heavy and bunbury. bright spells or indeed some sunny spells. quite blustery wherever you are but particularly the south. dump —— temperatures roughly where you would expect them to be. as you push down, through this evening and overnight, many of the showers will fade. in the south—west, we have

this rain coming in. pushing northwards, getting through much of england. with it comes milder air. tens and 11 is overnight. still quite cold. tomorrow we start off at all that rain but it will clear the south—west quite quickly and will lighten up initially and you can see how it lightens up for many through the day. remnants of the rain through northern ireland but it's fizzling. to the north of that, we will see some brighter skies. a mild day tomorrow. 14 we could hit in parts of the south. saturday, a lot of dry weather. you can see the showers conglomerated in the north—west and some of those are likely to be heavy. we have some rain to clear the temperatures in

single figures on christmas day itself. i'm off to find myself a pet unicorn after that comment. if it's the national animal, you missed out. ididn't the national animal, you missed out. i didn't even know. you can think up a name to your pet unicorn. maybe brya n a name to your pet unicorn. maybe bryan adams? thank you very much indeed. we are talking about how banks are dealing with accounts held by customers who pass away. and how those families can access those accounts. it's come under big scrutiny after santander was fined this week. nina's got more on what people's rights are around this. nina? it can be the last thing on your mind after a loved one dies, but making sure you can identify — and access — their bank accounts

is really important. yesterday sa ntander was fined for failing to properly transfer more than £183 million to their customers' beneficiaries. it did things like failing to communicate properly with relatives, and not identifying all the accounts of those who'd died. sa ntander has apologised, given most of the money out, and changed its probate services. but what are your rights? duncan bailey is a lawyer with brabners who specialises in this. to say i've been really well organised, what would be the chain reaction. if you were well organised, he would have taken time to draw up a will. executors will deal with your estate. they will contact the financial institutions, ascertain what accounts you hold,

find out what their requirements are for releasing the money and take the necessary steps to collect. what if i hadn't? if you haven't been organised, one of the problems is identifying what assets you do actually have. there is no national register of assets so if you've not kept any paperwork, your executor laws might find it hard to work out what investments or accounts you had. a matter of going through paperwork and bank accounts and state m e nts paperwork and bank accounts and statements to try and find what those assets are. there is no onus on the bank to find any relatives or beneficiaries? there is a lot of money out there. billions in unclaimed assets which are most the bank has been notified that you've passed away, they will continue to count as normal. even when you do have details for the bank, they've provided me with bank account

details, they've mixed up the account details and it was tens of thousands more than we were expecting. there can be confusing, it's not just sa ntander. expecting. there can be confusing, it's notjust santander. what should we do to make sure everything is in order? secondly, if there is some money trapped somewhere that belongs toa money trapped somewhere that belongs to a relative has passed away. the first thing we suggest is to keep a list of assets. but first and foremost. the other piece of advice is, do as much research as you can before detecting any bank there might be an account with. also, make sure you include as much detail as you can, full names, dates of birth, address is. as many maiden names and details as you can. the final point is to try and keep an eye on the

post in the next year or two. you can sometimes find there will be communications from the bank. increasingly tricky with on line banking. there is less paperwork. santander banking. there is less paperwork. sa ntander have accepted banking. there is less paperwork. santander have accepted the fca's findings and are doing everything they can to make sure the right people are receiving the money. something you don't often think about. when somebody has passed away. it's something we all have to deal with. libraries across the uk have dealt with some big changes lately — with many facing budget cuts and having to find new ways of providing a service. well, this week one council in the west midlands has opened the doors of a new library in a rather unusual venue. places of learning, reflection and

culture. something you could say applies to both libraries and churches. this building happens to be both. this is st mary '5 church here. it's been here really for 800 yea rs. here. it's been here really for 800 years. st mary 's in the centre of lichfield hasn't been used as a church since the 19705. now it's been restored to its former glory for a new purpose. litchfield's main library has now closed to make weight of this, a new home for its 15,000 books. as well is the library here there will be a tourist information point, a cafe and this performance space. we are walking into what was a chapel. this is going to be used as a very quiet space seed can study. it might be an ancient building but it's been kitted out with everything a modern library needs. this is what church is used to be used for. in the past, church is used to be used as meeting

places, community case —— places, places, community case —— places, places where people would gather to talk. where are you going to talk now ina talk. where are you going to talk now in a library? they are no longer quiet any more talk, you can explore things. staffordshire county council has spent £1.4 million creating this bespoke space and say it's actually a much better fit bespoke space and say it's actually a much betterfit than bespoke space and say it's actually a much better fit than the old premises. it will save the money in the long—term and they're expecting more people to use it. the benefits you will bring to the people of lichfield with the increased footfall and the overall facilities in this building and the fact there isa 30— in this building and the fact there is a 30— year tenancy will ensure and guarantee this building is here for the next generation. and people in the city think it's a nifty solution. i'm a big believer in books so that means people going into a library to have books, that's fine. i think it's a superb idea, bringing it into the centre of the town, making it easy for everybody town, making it easy for everybody to get through. i think churches

aren't always fully occupied these days unfortunately and that people can come into the centre, it is really good. we got problems with some of the bigger stores closing down in the centre and whatever can bring people in will be really good for the town. around 130 libraries closed across the country last year and more and more local authorities are getting creative when it comes to the future of the service. whether that's help from cash help from volunteers, sharing premises or, like you, coming up with a different plan altogether. the library opens this week. a new beginning of this church at christmas. you could say, a marriage made in heaven. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news in lichfield. a beautiful place. time to the news, travel, and weather around the uk. headlines soon. good morning from bbc london news.

the metropolitan police has released a number of genuine audio tapes of 999 calls where the incident was not an emergency and police time was wasted. i've been catching a bus in the driver has been whistling all the police. my chicken, i set it about an hour, waiting for my breakfast. there is no police emergency, you just didn't get your breakfast as quickly as you wanted it. whilst some people will find these calls funny, they take away police resources at a time that police numbers, funding is stretched and we must continue to make savings across the service. if you're worried about how much you'll be spending over christmas, you might want to considerjoining a growing number of people on a budget plan which could see them retire in theirforties. a london accountant is pioneering a new scheme called fire, where people save most of their income for the future, rather than spend it.

aged 34, this man says he's now mortgage free. i would go down the shops and have a need to buy something, i'm going to actually assume that the money i make is meant to stay and do something for me rather than by default be given away to a shop or given away to something else. let's take a look at the travel situation now. 0n the underground, there are minor delays on the 0verground, a good service on all other lines. as you've been hearing flights are suspended at gatwick airport and the runway remains closed, after the drone sightings yesterday, the advice is to check with your airline before you travel to the airport. 0n the roads, traffic is building on the a406 north circular on the staples corner approach towards brent cross. the a201 kings cross road remains closed northbound between frederick street and great percy street for burst water main repairs. weather with lucy martin.

hello, good morning. with some showers in the forecast, you'll probably want to have an umbrella close to hand today. but those showers do come with some sunny spells but it will be fairly breezy. starting off this morning with some bright spells, 1 of 2 showers and temperatures in the mid— single figures, it will gradually brightening as we move through the day so the best of the sunny spells into the afternoon and there will be fewer showers but that's not to say there will be any into the afternoon, still the risk of one or two with temperatures at a maximum of 11 degrees in the south—westerly breeze. still one of two showers that time this evening and a brief ridge of high pressure brings something drier. more cloud and outbreaks of rain sweeping from the south—west. 0vernight lows around seven, eight celsius. that does mean tomorrow starts off on a fairly soggy note. that rain will clear towards the east fairly quickly through the first half of the morning. drier and brighter into the afternoon and it will be mild, with temperatures at a maximum of 14 celsius although it is fairly breezy.

i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. 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 still closed after more drone sightings 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. keeping our high streets alive. could the founder of timpsons hold the key to reviving the traditional town centre? he is behind another government report into the issue. i will be asking him what his plan is.

the bad behaviour of football fans is in the spotlight again, as tottenham's delle ali is hit on the head by a water bottle during their league cup win at arsenal. #0 # 0 come all ye faithful. # o come all ye faithful. the forecaster today is for sunshine and showers and bright spells, albeit quite lost three. we will be back with more in 15 minutes. —— quite blustery. it is thursday 20 december. our top story: there is major disruption at gatwick airport after reports that two drones were being flown over the airfield. the runway has been closed since around 9:00pm last night. flights were grounded and inbound planes were diverted elsewhere. andy moore has this report. early this morning,

and gatwick airport was full of hundreds of people trying to rearrange flights, orjust find a bed for the night. so you speak to the reception to get your taxi booked back to the airport... the airport apologised to its passengers, but said their safety was its foremost priority. all flights into and out of the airport had to be suspended after there were multiple sightings of two drones over the runway. more than two dozen inbound flights were diverted to other uk airports. at gatwick, many passengers sat waiting in planes on the runway, before finally being offloaded. it's ridiculous. how many mil... it must be costing them tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of pounds in delays. it's absolutely ludicrous. we were travelling from glasgow to gatwick, and we were diverted to luton, because we obviously we weren't able to land. and, after being held on the plane

for around two hours, we eventually got off back and got a bus, which took us here to gatwick. the problem of drones near airports is a worldwide concern. in the uk, the authorities say the number of near misses has trebled in the last three years. there were 92 incidents last year alone. gatwick will be hoping to operate as normal today, but the christmas travel plans of thousands of people have been severely disrupted. andy moore, bbc news, gatwick airport. so many people affected by this. we just had a message from heather who is trying to get home and fly into gatwick, she has been delayed in dubai and there is no chance of getting moving. and andy moorejoins us now from gatwick. and you have been talking to people throughout the morning who are understandably quite worried about what is happening there and what

will happen next with their journeys. that's right, people last night were complaining about the lack of information. they are also very angry about these people who appear to be operating drones near the airport. 0ne appear to be operating drones near the airport. one man told me anyone caught doing that should be jailed. some people arriving here this morning are philosophical about it, they are saying we would rather be stuck on the ground waiting for it than potentially in the air colliding with a drone. no good news from the airport, they say the ru nway from the airport, they say the runway is closed, they will open it when they have reassurance that it is safe to do so. but at the moment these people arriving at the airport are not going anywhere, and that means travel chaos for thousands of people. never a good time to close the runway of a major airport. just before christmas is a very bad time. the fire services watchdog is warning that people's safety is being compromised, both at home and in the workplace, due to a decline in the number of checks being carried out.

fire safety inspections in england have fallen by more than 40% in the past decade, according to the report. the home office says urgent action needs to be taken, while the national fire council says it will continue to work on this extremely important area. mps begin their christmas holidays today, but the rows over brexit continue. a senior cabinet minister, amber rudd, has suggested another referendum could become a plausible way forward if parliament stays deadlocked. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is in westminster. iain, is amber rudd breaking ranks on this? it is interesting that she has sort of suggested another referendum might be an option, because that is not necessarily the mood that is coming out of her boss in downing street, is it? far from it, they say

a week is a long time in politics, three days seems like an absolute era at the moment. it was on monday in the house of commons that theresa may said the second referendum would ra ke may said the second referendum would rake faith with the british people and would undermine the integrity of our politics. quite a different tone from the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, when she spoke about the same issue last night. i have said that i don't want a people's vote, ora referendum in general. but, if parliament absolutely failed to reach a consensus, i could see there would be a plausible argument for it. but i think it is incumbent on mps to find the centre ground in parliament, and to try and find where the majority is there. because, quite frankly, i don't think the majority of people, let alone brenda, want to be asked how to vote. 0bviously obviously you know a lot about brenda from a still and where she stands. she said what she would like to see as parliament having a vote ona

to see as parliament having a vote on a range of different options if the prime minister's dealfails. the vote has been delayed until mid—january but some mps around the cabinet table like various options, perhaps staying closer to the eu, like norway, leaving without a deal or perhaps having another referendum, those options put to mp5 as well. we are basically seeing the fallout from theresa may's decision last week, under pressure, facing a vote of no—confidence, to say she wouldn't take the conservatives the next election. although people are broadly supporting a deal, they are also to some extent ploughing their own furrow and trying to carve out a distinctive territory for themselves between now and the next election. we all know how brenda would react to that, exactly what will word she would say. one day we will have to go back to see her —— what word. australian investigators have released the final pictures taken by a group of british tourists before the seaplane they were travelling in crashed in sydney last year.

businessman richard cousins, four of his family members and the pilot were killed when the aircraft came down on new year's eve. 0ur correspondent hywel griffith is in sydney this morning. of course, this happened on new year's eve, ago now. at the pictures still need to tell a story, don't they? absolutely, and we have learnt a lot more factual elements to this story today, in his interim report. what we haven't learnt yet are really a ny what we haven't learnt yet are really any findings as to why the plane crashed. what we know is that richard cousins, his two sons, his fiance and her daughter went on a sightseeing plane north of sydney planning to come back here to take in the views. their pilot, gareth morgan, had done thatjourney several times, there were no known mechanicalfailures but several times, there were no known mechanical failures but sadly we know within a few minutes the plane

plummeted into the water, landing those first, almost vertical, we are told by one of the witnesses in the report, and vitally, investigators found a camera and using photos taken by that camera they have been able to retrace and recreate the flight able to retrace and recreate the flight path so they understand a lot more about exactly what happened. however, we are still no further down the line, it still remains a bit of a mystery, so they will look even more into the health and well—being of the pilot and even more into what happened with the engine. we expect a final, conclusive report to be published in the next six months. thank you very much. britain has distanced itself from president trump's declaration of victory over the so—called islamic state group in syria. the white house announced yesterday that the us had begun to withdraw its remaining 2,000 troops from the country. the uk foreign office said there was still much to be done in syria, and the defence minister, tobias ellwood, said he strongly disagreed with mr trump's assessment. the decision was also heavily criticised by senior republicans in washington, who called

it a colossal mistake. thrill—seeking tourists are putting themselves in danger by heading towards volcanoes when they erupt, according to the royal geographical society. a report warns that volcano tourists underestimate the risks and create dangerous problems for rescue services. the dangers posed by eruptions like this one at mt etna last year include poisonous gases and falling rocks, as well as the extreme heat. 0ne quick update for you from gatwick airport, who have told our collea g u es gatwick airport, who have told our colleagues at edc sari that the ru nway colleagues at edc sari that the runway is expected to stay shut until at least 8am, so for another 50 minutes or so, at the very least. they have been trying to locate a drone which is still in the skies, they said. two drones have been seen several times. so ongoing problems at gatwick this morning, apparently

more drones flying around, or perhaps the same ones flying again. and this is a legal issue because it is illegal to fly a drone within one kilometre of an airport runway, so this is a problem that the police are looking into, civil aviation authority is looking into as well. back to one of our top stories now. an inspection into fire and rescue services in england has raised concerns about some outdated working practices, but has praised the force for their bravery and response to emergencies. it is the first review for more than a decade. 14 of the 45 services have been looked at so far. let's discuss this with zoe billingham, the lead inspector, and chris kenny, chief fire officer from lancashire fire and rescue. good morning to you, good morning to you both. zoe, let's talk about what exactly. . . you both. zoe, let's talk about what exactly... it has been awhile since an inspection this has taken place. what is the theory behind this happening now and what is the hope, i suppose, when the results come in?

so the good news is that when the public really need the fire service, so in an emergency, the fire service turns up quickly, has well—trained and skilled firefighters and does a good job, and that is ourfinding across good job, and that is ourfinding a cross m ost good job, and that is ourfinding across most of the 14 services that we have looked at. but we are concerned that some of the elements that fire services do like the rejection of the public, making sure that buildings are safe, is not happening in the way it should. there has been a 42% reduction in safety checks in buildings that are high risk over the last eight years, and we are very concerned about that, because obviously if the fire service isn't checking the safety of buildings, we don't know for certain that those buildings are safe. chris, from lancashire fire and rescue, yours was one of the ones which was deemed to be good. 0r outstanding. we got good across—the—board outstanding. we got good across—the— board with outstanding. we got good across—the—board with an outstanding in promoting cultures and values. can you explain, because i'm sure

you still faced challenges regardless of how you have been categorised or ranked, why the safety inspections of public spaces as well as domestic properties, why these perhaps falling down in terms of priority? well, there are a numberof of priority? well, there are a number of reasons. for example, now, rather thanjust try number of reasons. for example, now, rather than just try to maintain large numbers of checks, we will target at risk groups, vulnerable groups, or buildings that reflect a particular risk, so the fact that numbers are going down does not necessarily mean we are doing less of the service. having said that, reductions in funding have some sort of consequence. everyone faces challenging decisions, and when you look at the standards in the fire service, the reduction in in funding must have some sort of consequence. difficult decisions have to be made. at the results of this seemed to suggest that, while some forces like your own are coping with the

changing financial circumstances well, others are not. why is it so mixed across the country? what are you doing right and others not doing right? two it is quite difficult when you look at how funding works, because every service is funded in a slightly different way and in a slightly different way and in a slightly different way and in a slightly different position. that is why the hm! inspection, giving each service a different rating, has been helpful. everyone wants to provide the best service possible. ithink from the lancashire perspective it is trying to get that balance of protection, prevention and response. secondly, we are only as good as our staff, and when you look at the contribution our staff has made over the years, the achievement regarding coming top of the pile in this first inspection trench, is due to everyone. so would you agree, it is a very mixed picture across the country. why do you think that is? is that chris wright, is it partly money? it is a mixed picture. the

important bit for the public is that the fire service turns up in an emergency, and that is generally good everywhere. in terms of protection, what we have seen is that when austerity kicked in in about 2010, some fire services simply looked to their protection staff to reduce their cost, so they cut those staff. 0ther fire services, good fire services, have protected that area of work on a like lancashire, and made sure they have the dedicated workers to go in and do those checks. so it is a question partly of resourcing, partly of the way decisions around resourcing have been made, and it comes down to leadership of the fire and rescue service, so that that protection, that prevention and that response work which is expected of the fire service, can all take place. chris, can i bring up another finger up by this report. fundamental cultural problems in many services, i want to get your

opinion on this. no fire service is close to being represented at of its community in terms of disability, gender, and black, asian and minority ethnic diversity —— representative. all too often they are an echo chamber for those of the same age, gender and ethnicity. what is being done to tackle that? i think that affect i think that's a fair criticism in some ways and we are trying to change that. in lancashire, we had 23% women and 10% from black and minority groups in our recruitment and we did that, being proactive in attracting more applications from those underrepresented groups. having said that, once beget the point of entry, everyone sinks or swims. try to get the right blend of candidates is something we put a lot of effort into it. thank you very much as

well. carol is continuing her festive trip around the country as part of breakfast‘s special series carol's carols. this morning she is at edinburgh zoo, with a festive soul choir who will be singing some of our christmas favourites. morning, carol. she is at edinburgh zoo with a festive soul choir. and she has got a dodo. carol and dodo, what more could you want? i am at edinburgh zoo and we are looking at the moment at the giant lanterns of china display. this is the end of the trail. it shows animals have become extinct, like the dodo you've seen, like a sabretooth tiger as well. it is sadly part of a circle of life that animals do become extinct. now, we are accelerating that without human behaviour. this isjust to show that we have to change our behaviour to stop this happening. i would like to change the weather today but sadly i can't. we're

looking at a day of sunshine and showers and blustery winds and a forecast over the next few days is a mild one but some showers. heavy and boundary. the front moving pop into the north sea. if you look at the isobars, they are closer together the further south you travel. this is where the blustery winds will be strongest in weather showers will rattle from the west towards the east, clearing the east. a lot of showers this morning and a lot of cloud around as well. there are some brighter spells. some of us will see some sunshine. as i mentioned, driven along quite quickly on the blustery winds. campus today, roughly where they should be at this stage in december. about seven in the north to about 10 degrees as you push further south. through this evening and overnight, many of the showers will fade across scotland. patchy mist and fog and also some

frost in the sheltered glens but in england, wales and northern ireland, we have a weather front coming in and it's going to introduce some heavy rain at times moving steadily northwards. with that, you will find who will dragon mildly out. temperature—wise, we are looking at ten, 11 in the south but colder than that in the north, especially where the cloud remains broken. we start ona drab the cloud remains broken. we start on a drab note but the weather front producing all that rain tends to fizzle the rain turns much lighter and patchier. a lot of sunshine to england and wales. check out those temperatures for december. the head of the weather front in scotland, the best of the sunshine will be in the best of the sunshine will be in the north—east and a bit cooler. a lot of dry weather. a good day to do your last—minute christmas shopping but in the north—west, a lot of showers. longer spells of rain and temperatures just down a little bit. that is the end of this forecast.

hopefully not the end of my career. i don't know, with a mammoth and dodo and your pet unicorn named brya n dodo and your pet unicorn named bryan adams, i don't know, carol. skating on thin ice. we might see in the next half—hour. 20 past seven. we will look at the front pages in a moment. the papers are dominated this morning by one moment that took place in the house of commons yesterday afternoon. did he didn't he? let us look atjeremy corbyn. they are not impressed and neither is the country. what was he seeing there? watch again. so the debate about this is whether or not he said "stupid woman which

was brought up in the house. watching parliament was thrilling viewing. it's not necessarily what they should be talking about. he has put out a statement saying he said stupid people. you watch the first time you think did he say this or that. a lot of the headline writers are making political capital. 0pposition parties as well. there is the telegraph with a screen grab from that parliament channel debate. they describe it as an end of term pantomime for mp5. and with a pantomime for mp5. and with a pantomime theme, the guardian reports on his denial with the headline, oh, no, he didn't. the main story claims that some ministers believe theresa may may have to back down on the plan to hire skilled immigration by dropping the salary requirement to £21,000. lots of people saying this is not

what the commons should have been debating in terms of thisjeremy corbyn argument when there is so much brexit stuff. a time when politics is in question generally by voters not happy with what is going on. whatever party you support. the times talking aboutjeremy corbyn's comment and a story about facebook giving companies nike netflix and spotify access to users private messages. the paper's campaign to continue funding free television licences for those over the age of 75. 7:22am and we talked about this a lot. when we all doing our shopping christmas, it for is a key issue. the future of our high street and it's back in the headlines. this is what nina is taking a look at. a busy morning. it's always a busy morning. that's right. another day,

another report in how we can revive our town centres. the founder of timpson ‘s has released his plan which really was asked to write by the government. he says high streets need local ideas rather than a top—down, one—size—fits—all solution. sirjohn timpson also thinks more could be done on parking and planning laws. i'll be speaking to him at about 7:50. some breaking news this morning. the former boss of renault—nissan could be released from jail soon, after a court injapan rejected a request to extend his detention. carlos ghosn has been charged with financial misconduct — he is accused of under reporting how much he was getting paid. finally — this is a shocking story. a bbc investigation has found more than 1,000 people who accepted charity places in the great north run last year did not raise a penny for the good cause that paid for their entry to the race. 0rganisers have called the runners "fraudulent". nor t. very naughty. thanks very

much. the brothers and sisters of seriously ill children risk being left with long—term mental health issues unless there is more funding to support, according to the children's charity, the rainbow trust. it says it's seen an increase in demand for services to support a sibling in england in the last three years. as part of our "who cares?" series, our disability news correspondent nikki fox has been to meet one family who've been affected. cancer is a terrible thing to have to deal with. childhood cancer is so aggressive and it's such a nasty disease. around four years ago, the finch family's world was turned upside down when adam was diagnosed with a brain tumour and aggressive spinal cancer. they had to be with her son in hospitalfor nine months. you are interested in christmas stuff? family life for megan completely changed. what paintbrush are you going to use? the tiniest paintbrush in the pack, okay. i really noticed that megan

was becoming more withdrawn from me, more distant. i felt like i'd lost my little girl. not wanting to burden her mum with her own fears, megan did everything she could to help out. you've got a wet sponge first. i've got to wet, this, yes. it's quite wet. do ijust rub it? we come here all the time, don't we? do you? it's fun, isn't it? megan and adam are helped by family support workers sean and kelly. for megan, just having someone to talk to is invaluable. it must be have been a difficult time for you. yeah. and having that person there to talk to. yes, it helps because you don't give everything bottled up, you get it out in the open. yes. what kind of feelings? there was sadness in there and stuff and there was, like, sometimes a bit ofjealousy of your peers. for mum clare, knowing somebody was there to support her daughter

when she couldn't was a huge relief. i was really aware that things were going on at school, she was struggling with her lessons and with homework but she wasn't telling me about it, she wouldn't tell her grandma and grandad about it either because she didn't want us to worry, yet she could speak to kelly, get it off her chest and then come into the hospital and just enjoy time with us. according to the rainbow trust, an estimated 32,000 families in england have a seriously ill child with one or more siblings. the charity says some will have little to no access to the kind of support that megan and adam have received. we understand councils are trying to focus on what they are obliged to provide by law and that leaves less money for early intervention support and family support services but we think it's a real false economy because in the long term, these children and their families and parents, they are going to need more mental health support potentially if crises aren't nipped in the bud. you have a really nice relationship.

yeah. how have you felt having her through this rough patch? has she helped you? she cheered me up and annoyed me in a nice sort of way. adam, can ijust say, i don't know how you've managed this but you've painted my arm. i didn't do that! with more sick children surviving birth and living with complex conditions, the need for sibling and family support workers will always be in demand. nikki fox, bbc news, stockport. the latest on the drone disruption in gatwick soon. good morning from bbc london news, i'm sara 0rchard. as you've been hearing gatwick airport remains closed after two drones were spotted

overnight near the runway. an airport spokesman apologised for any inconvenience and said staff were working alongside sussex police to investigate the drone sightings. it is illegal to fly a drone within1km of an airport or airfield boundary, or above 120m. the advice to passengers is to check with your airline before heading to the airport. the metropolitan police has released a number of genuine audio tapes of 999 calls where the incident was not an emergency and police time was wasted. all the trip. i've been catching a bus and the driver has been whistling all the trip. what's the emergency. my chicken, i set it for about an hour, waiting for my breakfast. so there is no police emergency — you just didn't get your breakfast as quickly as you wanted it? the met has warned, whilst

some people will find the calls funny, they take away police resources at a time when funding is stretched and could endanger lives. this year the met recorded nearly 22,000 hoax calls. if you're worried about how much you'll be spending over christmas, you might want to considerjoining a growing number of people on a budget plan which could see them retire in theirforties. a london accountant is pioneering a new scheme called fire, where people save most of their income for the future, rather than spend it. let's take a look at the travel situation now. 0n the underground, there are minor delays on the 0verground, a good service on all other lines. 0n the roads, traffic is building on the a13 into town from the movers lane junction at barking. the a201 kings cross road remains closed northbound between frederick street and great percy street for burst water main repairs. and the a3 kingston vale — lane three is closed at the robin hood interchange due to water mains work. now the weather with lucy martin.

hello, good morning. with some showers in the forecast, you'll probably want to have an umbrella close to hand today. but those showers do come with some sunny spells although it will be fairly breezy. we start off this morning with some bright spells, one or two showers and temperatures in the mid—single figures, it will gradually it will gradually brighten as we move through the day so the best of the sunny spells into the afternoon and there will be fewer showers but that's not to say there will not be any into the afternoon, still the risk of one or two with temperatures at a maximum of 11 degrees celsius in the south—westerly breeze. still one of two showers that time this evening and a brief ridge of high pressure brings something drier. more cloud and outbreaks of rain sweep in from the south—west. 0vernight lows around 7, 8 degrees celsius. that does mean tomorrow starts off on a fairly soggy note. that rain will clear towards the east fairly quickly through the first half of the morning. drier and brighter into the afternoon and it will be mild, with temperatures at a maximum of 14 celsius

although it is fairly breezy. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. bye for now. good morning. welcome to breakfast, with naga munchetty and jon kay. here is a summary of this morning's main stories from bbc news: there is major disruption at gatwick airport after reports that two drones were being flown over the airfield. the runway has been closed since around 9:00pm last night. flights were grounded and inbound planes were diverted elsewhere. passengers due to fly to or from gatwick today are being told to check the status of their flight. lets speak to one of those

passengers who has been affected. christopher leicester is trying to get to london from birmingham after his flight get to london from birmingham after his flight was diverted. it sounds like an absolute nightmare of a night. talk us through how it has been. good morning, yes, we got a little bit unlucky with al flight. we were due to come into gatwick at 9:45 p.m., which is when i think the trouble started kicking off. we essentially circled for about an hour until the captain came on and said we had been diverted to birmingham. it wasn't until we landed that we got any further details as to why we had been diverted, that is really when the fun started. we then spent another six hours on the plane, on the ru nway six hours on the plane, on the runway in birmingham, without any notice. they originally said we could take off at 3:30 a.m., i think it was briefly open for a few minutes and they closed it again. we

are now at the terminal at birmingham, waiting to get to gatwick. six hours on a plane, that sounds horrific. does this affect your christmas plans? you are still miles from home. yes, i am coming back from thailand, so it has been fairly disrupted. there is a whole flight fairly disrupted. there is a whole flight of people waiting, as well. it has been difficult, but i sympathise mostly with women and children on the plane, there are a lot of small babies, and i think they are running out of milk and eve ryo ne they are running out of milk and everyone is leaving on the floors. and when you are there, trapped on a great big aeroplane, it must be quite hard to get your head around the fact that this disruption and all this chaos is caused by tiny little drones flying over gatwick.

yes, i know what you mean. if you board a plane and you know you will be on it for 11 hours, that is one thing, but when you are expecting to disembark in 30 minutes' time, and then there is sort of no information but one—hour turns into six hours, thatis but one—hour turns into six hours, that is quite difficult psychologically. but equally, at least we have had no plane crashes and everyone is safe. i think they did the right thing at gatwick in taking the precaution. and hopefully they will find out who is flying drones, hopefully it is just a careless teenager. what do you think of whoever did this? well, i am a drone pilot myself, so it is the story of a tiny minority probably ruining it for story of a tiny minority probably ruining itfora story of a tiny minority probably ruining it for a lot of people. it is very odd that there was a second drone flying at 4am in the morning.

if you made a mistake and got caught out and then it is inconceivable that someone went back out there, because the battery life is only 20 or 25 minutes. it is possibly something a bit more unusual going on. we will learn more as the investigation continues, once they reopen it. we wish you well. thank you for talking to us this morning, and when it happens and you get home, happy christmas. what a lovely natured man, even though he is going through all of that. and someone else also saying be mindful of the ground staff. they are trying to keep everyone safe and often they can bear the brunt. the fire services watchdog is warning that people's safety is being compromised, both at home and in the workplace, due to a decline in the number of checks being carried out. fire safety inspections in england have fallen by more than 40% in the past decade, according to the report.

the home office says urgent action needs to be taken, while the national fire council says it will continue to work on this extremely important area. mps begin their christmas holidays today, but the rows over brexit continue. a senior cabinet minister, amber rudd, has suggested that while she doesn't personally support another vote, a second referendum could become a plausible way forward if parliament stays deadlocked. ms rudd said she hoped mps would back the prime minister's deal next month, but acknowledged it would be very difficult. lets find out what is happening in the sport. yes, a bit of deja vu, and not the right sort, a league cup match between arsenal and tottenham marred by another incident involving fans. the metropolitan police say they are working with arsenal

to find out who threw a bottle at dele alli in spurs' 2—0 win over arsenal in the league cup quarter—finals. patrick gearey reports. a cup tie marred by a bottle thrown — the moment dele alli was struck by what appears to be a water bottle, apparently launched from a spectator several rows back. arsenal say they are reviewing cctv to find the culprit, the behaviour of supporters again in the headlines. dele alli's response was to reference the scoreline, 2—0. he had got one himself and set this one up for son heung—min, this exactly the sort of calm finishing arsenal have lacked. and when they got one right, as aaron ramsey did here, they found paulo gazzaniga inspired as well is in luck. when spurs fancied a bit of insurance, they brought out their premium. harry kane has not played in this competition since 2015. it took him just a minute to spot dele alli. alone in a moment of tranquillity

amid the froth of derby. dele said what happened later made the goal all the sweeter. unlike that, this took real bottle. spurs will play chelsea in the semis after they beat bournemouth 1—0. a late, deflected goal from eden hazard was enough to put chelsea through. manchester city play league one side burton albion in the other semi—final. it has been musical chairs at the top of the scottish premiership this season, and celtic are back on top. they beat motherwell 3—0 thanks to goals from anthony ralston, scott sinclair, and this from mikeyjohnson, his first for the club. they overtake old firm rivals rangers, who were held to a goalless draw by hibernian. he is a manchester united legend, and now 0le gunnar solksjaer is back as their caretaker manager. solksjaer was the baby—faced striker who made a habit of scoring important goals. since retiring, he has spent time managing cardiff city and the norwegian side molde. he is in charge until the end of the season. so what can united fans expect? i think we will see some of the players happy, smiling, and back to more energy,

playing closer to their best level. but, again, they have to find the best way of playing together with this team. the way 0le likes to play is different to what it has been, and is closer to what united are used to from earlier. next to a growing row in the world of swimming. the olympic gold medallist adam peaty has dared those who run the sport to ban him after he backed a new competition. peaty and other top swimmers in the world want to compete in the breakaway international swimming league. they can earn a lot more, but swimming's governing body, fina, says it will ban them if they do so. i don't care, you know. ban me if you've got to, i'm not bothered. at the end of the day, they're going to have the backlash from that. they know they can't. they know they can't get away with it. you lose all the respect of the athletes, and you can't will the athletes into racing. you need to listen to athletes, to start working together. it shouldn't be take, take, take, orgive, give, give. it should be a give—take relationship. staying with swimming,

and the multiple olympic champion missy franklin has retired from the sport at the age ofjust 23. the american says she is ready not to be in pain every day, after struggling with a shoulder injury and depression. and the british rider guy williams shared the big prize at the horse of the year show last night. he was the joint winner of what is called the puissance event. if you don't know puissance, it is mainly aboutjumping over a big red wall that keeps getting taller. if you don't make it, like this pair, then you're out. both horse and rider were 0k. guy williams and his horse, mr blue sky, successfullyjumped a whopping seven foot four for a share of the prize. that is a huge, huge height. not quite the world record for puissance, which is seven 410, achieved in belgium. a big obstacle

that you have to get over somehow, the challenges ahead, it could be a metaphorfor brexit. it seems like brexit is all we have been talking about this year. but should the political chatter continue over christmas dinner, or should the only mention of brussels be the sprouts? in a moment we will be joined by someone whose family is divided over brexit, and a psychologist who can tell us how to avoid a festive fallout. but, before that, let's find out what you think. we are joined now by psychologist professor cary cooper, and adam bradford, who is hoping to avoid any brexit—related arguments with his family over christmas. good morning to you. adam, why are you hoping to avoid... what is the reason you hope to avoid any arguments? it isjust a hugely explosive issue in our house, and it is kind of like what you see in parliament happening at home. i have two brothers who are younger and my mum and dad who are older than me, obviously, and they all voted to leave and i am the lone voice of the remaining camp. i am leave and i am the lone voice of the remaining camp. iam kind leave and i am the lone voice of the remaining camp. i am kind of firing on all cylinders. does it get a bit jeremy kyle? it is immigration, it is money, it is the ecj. they are

very strong about it, and they are all northerners. there is nothing wrong with having a strong point of view, absolutely, but what i suppose this brings up is, regardless of the subject, in many ways, discussion, it is how as a family you approach a time of year when you are all kind of in each other‘s faces anyway. the pressure is on to be a happy family. you have the blues, the cabin fever of being with your family for two or three days. some families avoid conflict, they did even before the b word. some families absolutely love it, my family absolutely loves talking politics. this year it is kind of different because of the intergenerational conflict. if you think about it, if 70% of over 65 is voted to leave and 70% of the young and millennial is voted to remain, you have real potential conflict particularly in families. it is com pletely particularly in families. it is completely mixed in adam's family. it is not just let

completely mixed in adam's family. it is notjust let younger and older, is it? there is a huge generational thing. when we went into europe, my mum and dad remember that as something hugely related towards trade, but now a few unpeeled the onion there are so much more to it, about law, about freedom of movement. there are so many things in there, which i think millennial is understand more because we have travelled a bit more, we are a bit more international, a bit more freethinking, i think. international, a bit more freethinking, ithink. hearing you say that, they would say, your pa rents would say that, they would say, your parents would say, what do you mean? how dare you. we have got the experience, we know what we are talking about. that is exactly what is going to happen. in families that talk about it... by the way, where there are problems, they don't. some families don't like conflict. so what is the trick? if you want to debate, which a lot of people do enjoy debating and discussing, how do you guarantee that you disagree agreeably? you know what i thought, i thought of an interesting game.

what if you had a game where half of the family who are leavers on the other half of the family, problem lee young and old, who are remainers, and another group is in the middle, and the leavers have to argue the case for remaining, and the remainers have to argue the case for leaving. in other words, what are the advantages and disadvantages, that way you make it more neutral. and put yourself in someone else's shoes. two and if you put yourself in someone else's shoes it becomes more rational, because if you have a major debate, what is going to happen as all hell is going to break loose. could that happen in yourfamily, to break loose. could that happen in your family, adam? we would need to bring johnny and as an intermediary. and you will sit there and examined. ijust and you will sit there and examined. i just watch behaviour, and you will sit there and examined. ijust watch behaviour, i am a psychologist! is there an argument for saying no politics around the table? however much you might like it as table? however much you might like itasa table? however much you might like it as a family, it can't happen? you can't get away from it, can you,

adam? you can watch the snowman or elf. no news on television might be an answer. it is not something we would necessarily advocate, but at least at christmas time. we wish you a peaceful christmas. the time to reflect, thank you very much indeed. carol's continuing her festive trip around the country as part of breakfast‘s special series carol's carols. unicorns, dodo birds, mammoths, and acquire. as you do. —— and a singing choir. look at this phoenix behind me. the phoenix was used as an ancient chinese symbol of weather and it symbolises summer. 80,000 led lights used in over 450 fabric la nterns lights used in over 450 fabric lanterns right here at the zoo. it

is spectacular. the weather today isn't particularly spectacular and neither will it be over the next few days. the forecast is one of showers. some of them will be heavy and possibly thundery at times. it is also going to turn that bit milder. especially in the south. you can see we have quite tightly packed isobars on the south. showers in the west will blow to the east. the wind, not as strong when you move further north. this morning, it's a fairly cloudy start. there are some brea ks fairly cloudy start. there are some breaks mcleod. it's a chilly start as well. we do have a lot of showers. many of them in the east will fade but we hang on to them in the west and some of those are the ones likely to be heavy and thundery at times. in between, some brighter skies. it's a blustery day. temperatures today roughly will be

about seven in the north to up to ten, maybe 11 further south. through this evening and overnight, many of the showers will fade but they will be replaced by a band of rain coming in from the south—west of england moving across the rest of wales, northern ireland. temperature will be 11, quite unusual for overnight lows at this time of year. still cold in scotland. patchy mist and fog. that will lift tomorrow and tomorrow, a rain band starts to weekend, turning much lighter and patchier. much of england and wales, a sunny day and milder, up to 14. ahead of the weather front, the north—east will see the sunshine and the rest of us, a fair mcleod are not as warm. saturday again, most of us having a dry day. a great day for

doing some last—minute christmas shopping. you can see a lot of showers gathering in the west and temperatures if anything just down, looking up to about ten. there we are, let's talk to somebody who knows a lot about it. the chief executive of the royal zoological society of scotland. how do you get all that onto a business card? tell usa all that onto a business card? tell us a wee bit about the lanterns. the second year that we have put on the giant lanterns of china inspired by our relationship with china, the home of the panda bears. the chinese la nterns home of the panda bears. the chinese lanterns are made by sichuan artisans and it is the myths and legends inspired by the scottish tradition of storytelling and folklore. absolutely stunning. we can see it beautifully in the dark. is it on all day? it's just in the

evening. the zoos (at is it on all day? it's just in the evening. the zoos ( at christmas and new year. the lanterns open at 4:30pm. bless you for sharing it with us. it's fabulous. we have a treat because we are about to listen to this singing choir which will perform christmas, baby come home. christmas, lots of people around. they are singing deck the halls. but it's not like christmas at all. because i remember when you were here. and all the fun we had last year. christmas. i hold back these tea rs. year. christmas. i hold back these tears. its christmas day. please,

please, please, please, please, please. christmas. christmas. christmas. christmas. christmas. wow, that was pretty good. that has woken us up. that's what carroll gets to do, she gets to see unicorns, dodo birds and mammoths. we were talking about brexit dividing us over the christmas dinner table. chris has said the only b word we will be mentioning at my house is beer. not bad. how can we revive our high streets? it's a subject we've returned to lots on breakfast and today there is another report out

on what the solution could be. nina's been looking into this for us. nina? that's right. we've been here before, haven't we? everyone from mary portas to former iceland boss bill grimsey have had their say on what needs to happen to help the high street. but — despite that — we are still seeing a record number of town centre businesses shutting up shop. so — the government asked the founder of shoe repair and key cutting shop timpson's to take a look, and his report is out today. his key message is that high streets need to help themselves — local leaders need to work out what works best for them. he's calling for each town centre to have a task force to remove some of the obstacles: like planning rules. a future high streets fund will help local teams set up schemes in their area and will connect people from across the country to share success stories — like altrincham which is just down the road from here which has been transformed by a food market. finally — he suggests doing something about the cost of parking and having one day a year when high streets have a big spring clean. good morning to you, sirjohn

timpson. let us talk about altrincham. it's where i served my first customer. talk is that how they've done it. they are in a pretty poor state. in 2010, over 30% of the shops were empty. it was indeed from the community and the local authority that they got together and they came up with a brilliant scheme to revive the market. altrincham was a market town originally. they developed this fantastic food court. and it

happened from the community. when i went to school there in the 905, it was on the decline and it's com pletely was on the decline and it's completely thriving. the onus is on the local community in each town to regenerate from the bottom. you call it upside down and governance. isn't there an inherent problem and that in that relying on local impetus these are places where it means there are these problems in the first place. you are quite right. i hope i persuaded the government and in this case, they should let people get on and do it for themselves. the government is there to help along the way by providing information, clearing away obstacles which are mainly to do with planning, making it easier and simpler and quicker. you are right. the most difficult places to solve will come at the end of the line. you have to start with people who have the ideas and the energy. andy burnham recently said

talking about greater manchester, we had to accept that some high streets will deteriorate into nothing. let's focus on making them really good residential areas. has the time come to a cce pt residential areas. has the time come to accept that some perhaps wanted survive? i prefer to talk about town centres rather than high streets. this is just about shopping. it's about creating a hub. medical, social services, entertainment, all these other things and housing. it's pretty obvious if you go around, there are twice as many shops as we needin there are twice as many shops as we need in this country and we are short of housing. there is an obvious message that. in this digital age, we do need social contact. it's part of being human. if you want our children have a place without going to meet, in every community needs to create it's

ha rd every community needs to create it's hard and do that by putting things together in a way that is attractive. we miss that human interaction, don't we, with automation. and the town centre signed talking about are not carbon copies of the shopping mall down the road, it is providing something difference. get a chance for independent shops to open up and create something really exciting. you supported britain leaving the european union. you are pretty confident it wouldn't impact business. i use still but confident, not just for business. i use still but confident, notjust for timpson business. i use still but confident, not just for timpson is business. i use still but confident, notjust for timpson is but the high street? hindsight is a great thing. i think it was a mistake to have a simple majority. 60%. you've changed your mind. i haven't changed my long—term mind. i don't think anyone envisaged what a torturous process we we re envisaged what a torturous process we were going to go through. not doing any damage as far as i can see

in our business but i can see the loss of confidence isn't doing people any good in the short—term. the sooner we can get through that and get on with it and see, in five yea rs' and get on with it and see, in five years' time, we will be fine. i do see now that its been a pretty rocky road. we will see what the impact is on the high street and indeed your high seat ——or high street report. many thanks. all the latest from gatwick, the terrible disruption there this morning because some drones were spotted over the runway. that had to close it all down. first, the news, travel, and weather where you are. as you've been hearing gatwick airport remains closed after two drones were spotted overnight near the runway. an airport spokesman apologised for any inconvenience and said staff were working alongside sussex police to investigate the drone sightings. it is illegal to fly a drone

within1km of an airport or airfield boundary, or above 120m. the advice to passengers is to check with your airline before heading to the airport. the metropolitan police has released a number of genuine audio tapes of 999 calls where the incident was not an emergency and police time was wasted. good morning, emergency. i'm catching a bus and the driver has been whistling all the trip. what's the emergency? my chicken, i set it for about an hour, waiting for my breakfast. so there is no police emergency — you just didn't get your breakfast as quickly as you wanted it? the met has warned, whilst some people will find the calls funny, they take away police resources at a time when funding is stretched and could endanger lives. this year the met recorded nearly 22,000 hoax calls. if you're worried about how much you'll be spending over christmas, you might want to considerjoining a growing number of people (00v) on a budget plan which could see them retire number of people ——

on a budget plan which could see them retire in theirforties. a london accountant is pioneering a new scheme called fire, where people save most of their income for the future, rather than spend it. let's take a look at the travel situation now. 0n the underground, there are minor delays on the 0verground, a good service on all other lines. the a201 kings cross road remains closed northbound between frederick street and great percy street for burst water main repairs. now the weather with lucy martin. hello, good morning. with some showers in the forecast, you'll probably want to have an umbrella close to hand today. but those showers do come with some sunny spells although it will be fairly breezy. we start off this morning with some bright spells, one or two showers and temperatures in the mid—single figures,

it will gradually brighten as we move through the day so the best of the sunny spells into the afternoon and there will be fewer showers but that's not to say there will not be any into the afternoon, still the risk of one or two with temperatures at a maximum of 11 degrees celsius in a south—westerly breeze. still one of two showers that time this evening and a brief ridge of high pressure brings something drier. more cloud and outbreaks of rain sweep in from the south—west. 0vernight lows around 7, 8 degrees celsius. that does mean tomorrow starts off on a fairly soggy note. that rain will clear towards the east fairly quickly through the first half of the morning. drier and brighter into the afternoon and it will be mild, with temperatures at a maximum of 14 celsius, although it is fairly breezy. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now though it's back to john and naga. bye for now. good morning.

welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and jon kay. 0ur headlines today: gatwick has closed its runway after two drones were spotted above it. hundreds of passengers were stuck on planes or diverted to other airports. fire safety checks across england have fallen by more than 40% in a decade. a new report says we're being put at risk. keeping our high streets alive. could the founder of timpson's hold the key to reviving the traditional town centre? he's behind another government report into the issue but tells me a top—down approach won't work. the bad behaviour of football fans is in the spotlight again, as tottenham's dele alli is hit on the head by a water bottle during their league cup win at arsenal. # i don't want a lot for christmas.

you are listening to the choir at edinburgh zoo. the weather today is a mixture of sunshine, bright spells and showers, some of them heavy and blustery. more in 15 minutes. good morning. it's thursday 20th december. our top story: there's major disruption at gatwick airport, after reports that two drones were being flown over the airfield without permission. the runway has been closed since around nine o'clock last night. flights were grounded and inbound planes were diverted elsewhere. andy moore has this report. early this morning, and gatwick airport was full of hundreds of people trying to rearrange flights orjust find a bed for the night. so you speak to the reception to get your taxi booked back to the airport. the airport apologised to its passengers, but said their safety was its foremost priority.

all flights into and out of the airport had to be suspended after there were multiple sightings of two drones over the runway. more than two dozen inbound flights were diverted to other uk airports. at gatwick, many passengers sat waiting in planes on the runway, before finally being off—loaded. it's ridiculous. how many mil... it must be costing them tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of pounds, in delays. it's absolutely ludicrous. we were travelling from glasgow to gatwick, and we were diverted to luton, because, obviously, we weren't able to land. and after being held on the plane for around two hours, we eventually got off and got a bus, which took us here to gatwick. the problem of drones near airports is a worldwide concern. in the uk, the authorities say the number of near misses has trebled in the last two years. there were 92 incidents

last year alone. gatwick will be hoping to operate as normal today, but the christmas travel plans of thousands of people have been severely disrupted. andy moore, bbc news, gatwick airport. and still lots going on at gatwick. and andy moorejoins us now from gatwick. we understand that flights are suspended until about ten o'clock. it was initially eight o'clock. but what is happening with drones in the airor if what is happening with drones in the air or if there are some in the airspace? we have just had an update from the airport authorities and the police. they say they are investigating reports of a single drone, but they say it is still in the vicinity as we speak. there are about 20 units of surrey, sussex and airport police out, trying to locate the operator of that drone. but

apart from a brief intermission, it has been up for about 11 hours now, and they believe it is a deliberate act. the motive is unknown but this is not somebodyjust act. the motive is unknown but this is not somebody just with a act. the motive is unknown but this is not somebodyjust with a drone that has drifted into the flight path of a runway or trying to take pictures of incoming aircraft. it has extended now for such a long time that they are convinced this is somebody who, for whatever reason, is deliberately trying to sabotage the work of the airport. and it is having a huge effect here. we heard that 10,000 people at least were affected last night. many more people now arriving at the airport and they are not going to get away for some hours at least. embeddable problems here at the airport which are going to last for some hours to come at least. and you can understand how frustrated the passengers are when they hear this. thank you for keeping us updated. we know that flights at gatwick are not

going to continue for at least two hours. we will keep you right across that. now some other news. the fire services watchdog is warning that people's safety is being compromised both at home and in the workplace due to a decline in the number of checks being carried out. fire safety inspections in england have fallen by more than 40 percent in the past decade according to the report. the home office has said urgent action needs to be taken. our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds, has more firefighters — fewjobs attract as much public support as they enjoy, and the number of emergencies they deal with has been falling steadily. but this, the worst residential fire in living memory, showed that disasters can still happen. it has put firefighting firmly in the spotlight. meanwhile, the system for inspecting fire services has been revamped. sirens. cheshire fire and rescue is one of 14 services to be scrutinised as part of the new system. it got a good rating for its emergency service, and for the fire safety checks it carries out. but today's report says

when it comes to protecting the public by inspecting buildings, eight out of 14 fire services required improvement. in fact, the number of safety audits carried out by fire services across england has fallen by 42% in eight years. if fire services don't know where their high—risk premises are, and if they haven't been in and done safety audits of those high—risk premises, then there is clearly a danger that there are risks that aren't being addressed, and therefore the public are at risk. the reason it's not happening, she says, is funding. fire services have prioritised the emergency response over the fire safety checks. but there are other issues — a general shortage of on—call firefighters able to interrupt their daily lives to respond to fires, and what was described as an outdated working culture, where fewer than 6% of firefighters are women, and fewer than 5% from an ethnic minority group.

more inspections, including big city fire brigades, are planned. tom symonds, bbc news. mps begin their christmas holidays today but the rows over brexit continue. a senior cabinet minister, amber rudd, has suggested another referendum could become a plausible way forward if parliament stays deadlocked. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is in westminster. amber rudd, she is going against what the prime minister herself has said here, isn't she? she is certainly striking a different tone, i think it is fair to say. they say a week is a long time in politics. my a week is a long time in politics. my goodness, these days just three days it seems to be an absolute aeon, because in the house of commons theresa may said a second referendum would do irreparable damage to the integrity of our politics and it would break faith

with the british people. but amber rudd at the top table, their work and pensions secretary, said if theresa may '5 deal goes down to defeat in january when mps theresa may '5 deal goes down to defeat injanuary when mps vote on it, then other options perfectly plausible. i have said i don't want a referendum in general but if parliament failed to reach consensus, i can parliament failed to reach consensus, i can see parliament failed to reach consensus, i can see there is a plausible argument for it. but it is incumbent on mps to find the centre ground in parliament and try to find where the majority is there. quite frankly, i don't think the majority of people, let alone brenda, want to be asked again how to vote. what amber rudd was saying was that the house of commons could find some kind of compromise, may be something closer to the eu like norway, another referendum, perhaps no deal at all. and over the christmas period i am very much looking forward to finding brenda from bristol again and running her

through each option. wto rules? 0r somebody who prefers membership of the eea? things are breaking down around the cabinet table. theresa may has promised not to stand again at the next general election and i think we will see much more of that between now and the meaningful vote. brand it will probably give three words in response. not another one! —— brenda. australian investigators have released the final pictures taken by a group of british tourists before the seaplane they were travelling in crashed in sydney last year. businessman richard cousins, four of his family members and the pilot were killed when the aircraft came down on new year's eve. authorities are yet to publish their findings on what caused the crash, but say the photos have helped them to reconstruct the flights final moments. britain has distanced itself from president trump's declaration of victory over the so—called islamic state group in syria. the white house announced yesterday

that the us had begun to withdraw its remaining 2000 troops from the country. the uk foreign office said there was still much to be done in syria, and the defence minister, tobias ellwood, said he strongly disagreed with mr trump's assessment. the decision was also heavily criticised by senior republicans in washington who called it a colossal mistake. thrill—seeking tourists are putting themselves in danger by heading towards volcanoes when they erupt, according to the royal geographical society. a report warns that volcano tourists underestimate the risks and create dangerous problems for rescue services. the dangers posed by eruptions, like this one at mount etna last year, include poisonous gases and falling rocks, as well as the extreme heat. volcano tourism ? would volcano tourism? would you believe it! 8:10am, thursday morning. let's return to our top story now, which is changing all the time. gatwick airport has been closed

since nine o'clock last night after two drones were reported to be flying dangerously close to the airfield. in the last hour a spokesman for gatwick has described it as a deliberate act designed to sabotage the work of the airport. chris woodroofe, chief operating officer at gatwick, spoke to our correspondent andy moore. firstly i'd like to apologise to all the passengers who have been disrupted by this irresponsible act. at 9pm last night, a drone was seen by two different members of my staff and as a result, we had to close the airfield to operating aircraft, because that's the only thing you can do to ensure the safety of those passengers who are flying. since nine o'clock last night, that drone has disappeared and reappeared all night. we have 20 police units looking for the operate of that drone to bring them to justice but in the interim i have a drone on my airfield. as we stand here now, gatwick will not be able to reopen until that drone is brought down.

any idea why someone would do that? it wouldn't be appropriate for me to speculate. what you will appreciate is that my focus is on the passengers and trying to provide them with as much welfare as we can given the situation and working with the police to bring down that drone and get gatwick airport back open again, so people can carry on with their christmas travel plans. eurocontrol, the safety regulators say the airport is closed until at least 10am, is that correct? the airport is closed now and until the drone is brought down. we are having a review at eight o'clock where we look at the weather and we hope daylight will make it easier to bring down the drone and we will review the situation but there is no opening time as i stand here now. what about the effect on passengers and the airport? it must be disastrous, especially at this time of yearjust before christmas. i feel terribly sorry for those passengers and, as i said, i

reiterate that apology. an irresponsible act. last night's passengers, there are 10,000 people, 6000 of those people were diverted to alternative airports, 2000 never left their origin airport and 2000 of them were here and couldn't fly out, that's10,000 from yesterday and the disruption mounts as the day progresses. travel expert simon calder has been watching developments. you are listening to that interview. an irresponsible act with a disregard for safety and thousands of people affected. have we ever seen anything like this, deliberate act to sabotage? there has been a large number of drone near misses reported in the last year and the airline pilots association is very worried about that and so is the civil aviation authority. up until the end of november, there were 117,

one every three days. what is happening at gatwick goes way beyond some idiot wanting to get some pictures of arriving planes. this is clearly, as chris woodruff from gatwick airport was saying just now, a premeditated, organised attempt, which has been very successful, i am sorry to say, at disrupting the travel plans of tens of thousands of passengers. we heard about the 10,000 disrupted last night and u nfortu nately we have 10,000 disrupted last night and unfortunately we have now lost the entire first wave of departures of british airways, easyjet and norwegian, thomas cook airlines, and so on. we have had the inbound long haulflights from so on. we have had the inbound long haul flights from the caribbean, from florida, from hong kong, all landing at different airports. even if the airport opened this minute, you would still find that there were well over 100 cancellations and very long delays. the big problem is that

your flight gets cancelled, that means you go to the back of the queue for seats on flights which are going to depart, and sadly at this time of year there is very little slack in the system and very few spare seats. exactly because it is just so busy because people are trying to get away. are there any alternatives on offer? any other airports or airlines offering to help or rail and coach services? there are very few alternatives. i am just looking at the list of cancellations here. to the canary islands, the alps. there is no alternative really, to flying. there may be some seats available from other airports, and there could well be a number of people getting involved in slightly long and convoluted journeys, and it must be stressed that the airline that cancelled your flight is responsible for getting you to your destination

as swiftly as possible, even if they have got to pay money to another airline to do it. i have had reports of people saying help, no flights until after christmas. that is not the case. there will be a way of getting there but every minute that the airport, the world's biggest single runway airport, remains closed, that is another couple of hundred people whose christmas travel plans are in tatters. simon, a lwa ys travel plans are in tatters. simon, always good to talk to you. just to recap, at gatwick they have been drones flying in the air space and gatwick airport's chief operating officer has described this as a deliberate act designed to sabotage the work of the airport. flights are now delayed and we don't know for how long because the drone is still in the vicinity and causing problems. the reports we are getting say it went into the air at nine o'clock last night, came down and then went up again and it has been going on through the night, so they have been intending to reopen and thenit have been intending to reopen and then it has been halted. lots of people getting in touch, trying to get away for christmas. this one: i

have been at gatwick since five o'clock. i was excited because they said the gates would be released. then it said nine o'clock. i can see where my christmas is going. at least they can understand why it is happening now. stephen has been at the coffee shop: professionalism from all the stuff i have spoken to. it will be a tough day for them. and this one: thejoy it will be a tough day for them. and this one: the joy of crowds and no flights leaving gatwick. total chaos. unsettling. you would think there would be better security in place to prevent this happening. i suppose the perimeter of the airport is massive that it only takes one individual. and this one: be patient with the staff at gatwick. they will be doing their best to get the best for customers. sometimes they bear the brunt of customer anger. but it is your safety they are looking after. if people are flying away for christmas from other airports, there could be knock—on effects, because people will have to go from somewhere other than gatwick. full

coverage of this major story continues on bbc news outlets throughout the day. keep in touch. somebody who managed to get to edinburgh last night was carol for her carols, and he is keeping us in the christmas singing spirit. i am glad you are there because you have got lanterns, music and sunshine and 25 degrees! it was all going so well until your last sentence. but it is fabulous here at edinburgh zoo. we have this magnificent lantern of the monkey king, the tale of a great magician and a master trickster. but you can also see other lanterns and there are 450 also see other lanterns and there a re 450 of also see other lanterns and there are 450 of them at edinburgh zoo. we haven't seen any live animals yet. they are being woken up by the zookeeper is now apart from the hippos, who need to be prodded to get their breakfast. and the other thing we haven't seen yet are the penguins. every day, except christmas day when the zoo is closed, the penguins go for a waddle

around parts of the zoo. the zookeepers will open the penguin enclosure and those that want to come out all come out. if you are watching them, you could be lucky and you could see 60 of them. or you mightjust see and you could see 60 of them. or you might just see two. and you could see 60 of them. or you mightjust see two. it depends on how they are feeling and on the weather. santa could be seeing them but of course he lives in the north pole and penguins are in the south pole! we have not got north pole weather today. it will be milder for many of us that there will be some showers and some of them could be heavy and boundary. the isobars are quite tightly packed across the southern half of the uk, meaning any showers will rattle quickly from the west to the east and it will be blustery. we are starting up quite cloudy with a lot of showers already. the focus today is simple. bright spells, sunshine and showers. brightening up and eased through the day where we have got showers at the

moment, but in the west, the showers will be heavy and potentially thundery. —— brightening up in the east. in the south, blustery with temperatures coming up to ten maximum, but in the north, seven, eight, maybe nine. in the evening and overnight, the showers will fade and overnight, the showers will fade and it will be cold in the sheltered glens of scotland with a touch of frost and mist and fog. for england, wales, northern ireland and southern scotland, where the front comes in introducing heavy bursts of rain but also mild conditions. look at those overnight temperatures, 11 in parts of wales and the south—west, but much lower than that further north. tomorrow we start off on a grey node across england, wales, northern ireland and southern scotland but through the day, the weather front produced in the rain fizzles out, so it gets brighter. sunshine behind with high temperatures of 14, but ahead of it cloud across the west of

scotla nd ahead of it cloud across the west of scotland except in the north—east where we will see sunshine. a lot of dry weather around and a lot of sunshine on saturday, so nice weather for finishing sunshine on saturday, so nice weatherforfinishing off sunshine on saturday, so nice weather for finishing off the christmas shopping. in the west we will see a fairfew christmas shopping. in the west we will see a fair few showers and some will see a fair few showers and some will merge to give longer spells of rain. you can hear some lovely gentle music, very calming at edinburgh zoo this morning. that in half an hour we will be introducing the fabulous choir again and they will be singing it maybe went 0utside. something to look forward to. it certainly is. thank you. on saturday morning we had pictures from new york of the lanterns and people got in touch at the time and said they were better in edinburgh andi said they were better in edinburgh and i think they are right. it showed. it is 8:21am. a high courtjudge has taken the unusual step of naming a three—year—old boy, who has gone missing with his mother. 0lly sheridan disappeared with his mother injuly, shortly before a family court hearing.

they've not been seen since, and mrjustice williams says he has serious concerns for the boy's safety. we can talk now to 0lly‘s father, patrick sheridan, and to his lawyer, jenna lucas. they're in central london. hello to you both and thank you for joining us. patrick, tell us what you as a family are going through right now, please. it is an extremely distressing time for myself and all the family. in particular his brothers miss 0lly greatly. they continually ask for him, and more so in the run—up to christmas. they are asking if they are going to see 0lly over christmas. it is a lot to deal with obviously, as a parent. as you can

imagine, i have had a lot of sleepless nights. more so recently. it is highly distressing for everybody involved. of course. jenna, you are patrick's lawyer in this. it is highly unusualfor a judge to allow the details of a child to be publicised. can you explain why that has happened in this case? it is highly unusual and there has only been a handful of cases where this has never happened. but there have been extensive efforts to try to find this child. the high court which oversees this matter has made a series of orders which have been defied by the mother and the child has not been returned and the child has not been returned and there have been extensive efforts by the police with ongoing

investigations which have not found this mother. it is extremely rare for a child to be missing for this period of time. the court is appealing to the media and to the public to provide any information they might have about where 0lly might be. anything, however insignificant, has he seen father christmas for example? had he been taken to see a doctor? there must be some sighting of him for him to disappear for five months. it is just so rare that the court has had to take this unprecedented step. you can see why courts don't normally allow that to happen because nobody knows what happens behind the front door of any family. a child's privacy is usually sacrosanct. yes, these are private proceedings and it is because the court wants to protect the privacy of the people involved and the child, but in this case we have reached the point by the court had no choice but to make

this order. mr sheridan, patrick, does not want the child's face to be everywhere, all over the media. does not want the child's face to be everywhere, all overthe media. he wants to protect him but the safety concerns for this child are such that the court has had to make him an award of the court and to drop the veil of privacy so that he can be found. patrick, you and olly live in essex normally, but i believe there have been possible sightings elsewhere. what do you know or suspect about where he could be? there has been a possibility of links to various areas, in particular huddersfield and surrounding areas in the north of england. possibly norfolk and suffolk. those areas. it could also be the case that he is local, still in essex. the short answer is that we don't really know and that is why we don't really know and that is why we are asking the public to provide any information which might help us to find out where 0lly is, with his mother ellie. patrick and janet

lucas, thank you for getting in touch with us. the method is to get in touch with the authorities if you have seen 0lly or his mother. please call essex police on the non—emergency number, 101. we will keep you updated with what is happening at gatwick airport as well. there are delays and no flights in and out of the airport at the moment because of their own activity which is being described as activity which is being described as a deliberate act to sabotage the work done there. —— drone activity. and we will also have the sport as well as this. # sausage rolls! for those of you who like sausage rolls, that sounds great. we will be joining them for

their big performance on breakfast. they are in a make up. that is the family trying to get christmas number one with their parody song about sausage rolls. why not? time to get the news, travel and weather where you are this morning. lots coming up. see you soon. hello, there, good morning. grab your umbrella because there will be quite a few showers about this morning. through the rest of this week, really, we're going to keep quite a few showers, but it'll be turning milder from the south—west, as we go through tomorrow. this is the satellite picture, this morning. we've just got some speckled cloud here across the uk, the bright lights of the cities beneath. showery conditions quite widely this morning and as we go through the afternoon, a lot of those showers continuing across northern ireland, scotland, northern parts of england. showers across wales, the south—west continuing as well, but for the midlands, eastern and southern parts of england in general, a bit of a drier afternoon with some sunny spells. quite blustery

conditions here, though. maximum temperatures again up to 7—11. but it's through tonight where we will start to see more significant rain pushing its way in from the south—west. now, a lot of that rain comes in overnight, so, by tomorrow morning, it will have already pushed its way up into northern parts of england. temperatures here staying up about 6 to 8 degrees, a touch of frost perhaps in northern areas, with some clear spells. that's that weather system bringing the rain as we go through friday. it's going to push its way northward but what it will also do is bring in milder conditions from the south—west. you notice the oranges and yellows across southern areas, northern parts, however, will stay a bit on the chilly side. so, for scotland, northern ireland, we could see a few spots of rain moving their way in here, but some brighter skies in the far north. and eventually the rain clears from wales, the midlands, eastern and southern parts of england and that's where you will have the highest temperatures, during friday. 13, 14 celsius up towards scotland, those temperatures more like 6 or 7 degrees. into the weekend, still

quite messy, really. a ridge of high pressure on saturday and more rain moving its way in by sunday. sunday is the worst day of the weekend, but it will stay relatively mild throughout. bye— bye. this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and victoria fritz. stock markets give the fed a thumbs down as it raises interest rates — despite warnings from president trump and concerns over slowing growth. live from london, that's our top story on thursday the 20th of december. fed bossjerome powell says pressure from mr trump played no role whatsoever in the decision and that the strength of the us economyjustified a rise. also in the programme:

another surprise from tokyo. former nissan boss carlos ghosn could soon be out ofjail,