hello. it's thursday. it's 10 o'clock. i'm victoria derbyshire. good morning. a deliberate attempt to cause chaos at gatwick and it's worked. flights are suspended as a drone is causing deliberate disruption at the airport. at least 20,000 people have had their travel plans disrupted, dozens of flights have been diverted and others have been stuck on the tarmac for as long as six hours. chaotic, to be honest. there's people passing out in the terminal where it's hot. yeah, it'sjust a bit of a shame really. you'd think that an airport of this size would have some sort of contingency plan to cope with a drone. police are hunting for the drone operator. we'll hear from stranded passengers. if you're at the airport and watching this, get in touch. send me a message on twitter using the hashtag victoria live. and this

is shocking. nearly 600 homeless people died in england and wales last year, according to figures released in the last half hour. that's an increase of 24% over the last five years. most of them were men. this 35—year—old man has been sleeping rough in central london and earlier this year a man sleeping next to him died on the streets of the capital. we will talk to neck in the next few minutes. and we have been given exclusive access to one of the only nine refuges in the country to male victims of domestic abuse. she'd be shouting at me, taking money off me. if i was five minutes late to get home, i'd come in the house and she'd be shouting at me, "why are you late?" i did actually get plates chucked at me. i got a dent on my head from what she was doing. i just didn't feel safe. the refugee is and has been open for less tha n the refugee is and has been open for less than a year but is now a threat of closure. we will bring you the story after 10:30am. hello and welcome to the programme.

we are alive until 11 o'clock this morning. after 10:30am we will talk to the man tasked by the government for coming up with solutions to stop the decline of your high street. tell us where you live and what your local high street is like. is it managing to survive or are empty shop front the main feature? if you runa shop front the main feature? if you run a business or you lease a shop, let us know how your business is doing. send us an email. 0bviously we will do loads on the chaos at gatwick. if you have been affected, do let me know. thank you to those who have already got on touch. amanda said: despite the inconvenience, i have nothing but praise for how quickly the airport authorities got everyone to save destinations. we came into land at 9:15pm last night just destinations. we came into land at 9:15pm last nightjust after the

drones were spotted. we circled and we re drones were spotted. we circled and were quickly diverted to stansted. and this tweet: what staggers me is that a major international airport has no defences against drones. god forbid somebody use them to deliberately bring down an aeroplane. annita mcveigh has the latest on what is happening at gatwick with her summary of the day's news. that is right. thank you and good morning. all flights in and out of gatwick — britain's second busiest airport — have been suspended after two drones were seen flying near the runway. many passengers have been left facing long delays and flights have been diverted as far away as paris and amsterdam. gatwick has apologised for any inconvenience but said safety was its foremost priority. firstly, i'd like to apologise to all of the passengers who have been disrupted by this irresponsible act. at nine o'clock last night, a drone was seen by two different members of staff, and since then that drone has appeared and reappeared all through the night. we reopened at 3am for 45 minutes, but then the drone reappeared again, and so the airport is closed now. there is a drone on the airfield, as we speak, and the police,

20 police units, are looking to bring that perpetrator to justice. five years imprisonment is the punishment for this act. it's thought 597 homeless people died in england and wales in 2017, according to figures just released. the data, released by the office for national statistics for the first time, shows an increase of 24% over five years. the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, has suggested that a second referendum could become a plausible way forward if parliament remains deadlocked over brexit. ms rudd said while she did not personally support another vote, the case for one would grow if mps could not agree another solution. the government has repeatedly ruled out holding another referendum, saying it was the government's duty to implement the result of the 2016 brexit vote. 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 timpson‘s, says local authorities across england don't have enough money and central government needs to contribute more. victoria will have a discussion on this later in the programme. 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 flight‘s 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 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. that's a summary

of today's main news. back to you, victoria. thank you. what can be done to save britain's ailing high streets? do let us know your ideas by email and twitter. let's talk about gatwick. it is deliberate according to police. tens of thousands of travellers at gatwick airport are facing major disruption after at least one drone was seen flying near the runway last night and early this morning. dozens of arrivals have been diverted to other airports, and some planes have been stuck on the tarmac for up to six hours. this map shows the areas where there are restrictions on drone flights. the red area is where there are restrictions on flying drones. you can see that is the case for much of central london and near to airports. gatwick is marked towards the bottom of this map. the areas close to the airport are heavily restricted and require

special permission to fly in. it is against the law to fly a drone above 400 feet or within one kilometre of an airport boundary. the police officer in charge of this activity is police superintendent justin burkinshaw. he told us the latest situation. so at the moment we're still getting sightings of the drone in and around the airfield. i've got over 20 units from surrey and sussex and from the airport searching for the drone operator to try and locate him. and we are exploring other options at the moment to try and bring the situation to a close. this appears to be a deliberate act. absolutely, this has been going on for ten hours now. it's time... we believe we get close to the operator, the drone disappears. when we look to reopen the airfield, the drone reappears. so i'm absolutely convinced this is a deliberate act to disrupt gatwick airport. do you know why anybody would want to do that? no, not at all, and actually there has been no intelligence that this is going to happen.

this is just a random act that has happened overnight. are you confident that you will locate the operator of that drone? i'm convinced we will. it's a painstaking thing. with the new drones, and the bigger the drone, the further the reach of the operator, so it's a difficult and challenging thing to locate them but i've got teams now and i've got investigators looking at how we do that and locating him, and i'm confident we will. if they find whoever is operating the drones, we will let you know. 0ur correspondent navtej johaljoins us now from gatwick. what's the latest? 110,000 passengers were supposed to be using this airport today with 750 flights scheduled to arrive or depart from gatwick. this period this morning was supposed to be the busiest part of the day, so you can imagine the scale of the disruption. latest is that the runway currently remains closed and there was review done by the airport bosses and authorities at eight o'clock this morning when a drone was still spotted flying above the runway. we

heard from the police officer in charge of the investigation that 20 police teams are currently out searching for the operator of the drone. sussex police don't believe this incident is terror related but they have described it as a deliberate act. the airport has called it irresponsible and of course it has caused huge queues and disruption. i was inside about an hour ago, disruption. i was inside about an hourago, and disruption. i was inside about an hour ago, and you could see huge numbers of people with queues snaking everywhere from check—in desks and people sitting there for hours, waiting for the next piece of information. and extra staff who normally would not be working with passengers have been drafted in by the airport to help passengers. we have heard of passengers who have beenin have heard of passengers who have been in flights diverted to as far away as amsterdam as a result of the disruption over the last 13 plus hours. we were speaking to a woman

earlier whose honeymoon to new york has had to be delayed. she was meant to be flying out with her husband this morning. that is one of dozens, hundreds, thousands of plans that currently lie in tatters due to this disruption, which will likely take days to undo. days? thank you. joining us now from gatwick airport is aaron truss who was due to fly to sicily at 7am and is still awaiting news on his departure. hello. and tanya stewart who was due to fly to lapland with her 8 year old son to visit father christmas. hello to you. richard lee and tamy lee flew from america this morning. they are currently stuck on the plane in paris. how do you feel about the fact your trip to lapland is cancelled ? about the fact your trip to lapland is cancelled? we are so upset,

really sad. i wanted to see father christmas. he wanted to see father christmas, didn't you, darling? we are devastated that it has been cancelled. we booked it a year ago and we have been planning and looking forward to it all year. that we could have been waking up to a different story this morning so we are thankful that everybody is safe and we are back home in one piece and we are back home in one piece and that is the main thing. but we are upset, aren't we? who could have predicted that? absolutely. teddy, how did you hear? the man gave daddy a letter, didn't he? my dad, he walked up to the front desk of the airport, and he asked what was going oi'i airport, and he asked what was going on and the lady gave him a letter and it said that all the flights would be cancelled. and when your dad told you, what did you say?”

wasjust sad dad told you, what did you say?” was just sad and dad told you, what did you say?” wasjust sad and upset. you were very upset, won't you? that he has been really brave at the moment. very upset, won't you? that he has been really brave at the momentlj can been really brave at the moment.” can tell that you are emotional, ta nya. can tell that you are emotional, tanya. it is just not what you planned. ijust feel so bad. i wanted it to be a day to remember for teddy, a day to remember. we can do it next year. i like that spirit! good morning, aaron. i can see you there and it looks very busy. what do you think about what has happened? it is weird because we don't really have access to information about what is happening outside. to be honest, i have been here since early this morning, so not as long as a lot of other people have been here, and in that time i have been here, and in that time i have had a couple of breakfasts, i

have had a couple of breakfasts, i have had a sleep on the floor, that kind of thing. everybody is sleeping on the floor, listening to music, and just trying to keep yourself occupied. there are so many people still here. it is like a music festival except there is no music. everybody is huddled together, like they are in a cramped left. do you mind moving your phone around 360 degrees so that we can get a better view? then we can see parents, young children, babies and pushchairs, people standing around. as you say, having a second breakfast. people looking at the boards, hoping. can you show the board? what does it say for all of the flights on the board? the same thing it has been saying all morning. you will have to read it for me. it has frozen. we will

come back to him in a moment. richard and tammy, you are stuck in paris on a plane. how long have you been sitting on it for now? just over two hours. the people here are relatively calm. but we are relatively calm. but we are relatively tired. some people have missed their connecting flights. i am expecting to pick up my daughter from the airport today, from sweden. i don't know who will pick her and the kids up now. it is really upsetting and quite disturbing for some of us. we are very tired but we are remaining calm. what do you think about the fact that according to the police this is a deliberate act? it is obviously very disturbing but i am sure they will get to the bottom of it. we hope to get off this plane very soon because the temperature is rising and the air conditioning has been turned down.

we are all fatigued and really tired. we need to get off the plane. you can tell that you are going stir crazy. i will go back to aaron because his phone is working again. what do you think of the people responsible for flying a drone over the runway of the uk's second busiest airport? it has frozen again. that is so annoying.” busiest airport? it has frozen again. that is so annoying. i think it is ridiculous. go ahead, aaron. we can hear you. it is ridiculous, com pletely we can hear you. it is ridiculous, completely selfish and it has caused panic and delay. gatwick is an airport. there are people on planes as well, and there are no windows at gatwick. everybody is here together and it is horrible and nobody knows what is going on. what do you think, ta nya, what is going on. what do you think, tanya, that someone would do this deliberately? it is madness, isn't it? they need to catch them! the

police are searching for them now, teddy. they are absolutely confident that whoever is behind this will be caught. thank you so much for talking to us and i will say happy christmas because you have been very pragmatic and stoic on our programme. thank you. happy christmas. chris tarrant is a former pilot and spokesperson for the british airline pilots association. hello. how dangerous is this? —— chris hammond. happy christmas, u nless chris hammond. happy christmas, unless you are at gatwick of course. there seems to be very stupid that this is done as a deliberate act. some of the drones are quite large and they are made of plastic but also metal, the battery, and an aircraft could be travelling at anything up to 250 mph, plus the speed of a drone, that could cause a lot of damage, apart from the

distraction of the guys and girls trying to land and take off in an aeroplane. some people are quite astounded that a drone can get access to just above the runway. why don't international airports have defences against them? well, they arejust big birds, really. you can't stop birds coming in. the operators of these... well we don't know. they are probably outside the boundaries of the airport. the british pilots association has been calling for some time to increase the control we have over them. registration is one thing. geo fencing would keep them out of the flight fencing would keep them out of the flight paths and boundaries of airports, in other words something built into the drone. it is easy to do and it has been done already. it isa do and it has been done already. it is a system which does not allow certain parts of whichever territory you are into be invaded by these

things. in other words, they will not go across an airport boundary. this is possible at the moment and it should be mandatory. there is a maximum five year prison sentence for illegal drone use. is that tough enough? i don't think the problem is the length of the sentence or the fine of £5,000. the problem is catching the people and publicly prosecuting them and stopping them doing it, because they know they will get caught. 0k. thank you for talking to us and we appreciate your time. chris hammond from balpa. thank you. it's a shocking thing that in britain, the fifth richest economy in the world, not only are more people living on the streets in the uk, but more are also dying on the streets too. around 597 people died last year in england and wales, official figures published in the last half hour show.

that's an increase of 24% since 2012. people like kawal singh, who was 61 when he died on the steps of redbridge council in ilford. he'd been sleeping rough for around nine years. and tracey patsalides, whose body was found in a beach shelter in eastbourne. she was a ao—year—old mum whose family said she had a generous and loving nature that was sometimes taken advantage of. a man was later convicted of her manslaughter. and just yesterday, a homeless man who collapsed outside westminster underground station in london, just yards from parliament, died in hospital. gyula remes is understood to be hungarian and he'd been sleeping rough for months. he was a5. we can speak now to paddy burke, who was homeless for five years and is now a peer mentor for the charity shelter. risha lancaster,

whose brother craig died after sleeping rough in 2013. she has since set up a charity in his name in manchester. lorraine tabone fundraises money to pay for rough sleepers to go into b&bs in newham in london, where she says she's seen 12 homeless people die this year. we can also talk to nick. he has been sleeping rough in central london. that is not his real name and he doesn't want us to show his face because he doesn't want his family and friends in his hometown to actually know that he is homeless. they will also talk to some politicians in a moment as well. nick pollard, the labour mp and shadow environment minister. —— luke pollard and we might be talking to grant shapps from the conservative party later on. thank you very much for talking to us, nick. can you explain why you don't want your family and friends to know that you

are sleeping rough on the streets of central london? when i first became homeless i thought i could work and work my way out of it but with the work my way out of it but with the work situation where everything is agency and everything is too much and too often, it is very hard to get out of it, especially with the cost of getting into a place in london. it is very hard to achieve that when you are in and out of work. you have had constructionjobs and they just work. you have had constructionjobs and theyjust come to an end? you are used for the task you are needed for and then you are moved on. when you are moved on, sometimes there are little delays in getting something else or whatever. it is just not easy to maintain a stable income. most people watching will not know what it is like to sleep on the streets of london, with all that they own around them. can you tell them what it is like? for me, i don't mind. it's all right.

seriously? do you mean that.” don't mind. it's all right. seriously? do you mean that. ijust wa nt to seriously? do you mean that. ijust want to fix my life. it is not nice and it is uncomfortable at times and sometimes you don't meet the nicest people. i don't know. it is survival mode, isn't it? when you have got to survive, you survive and you adapt. it is just the way it is. i would love to be in a home with my tv and playstation and whatever, but i will have to delay that until i get the right kind of job have to delay that until i get the right kind ofjob and i get things going right. figures in the last hour show that almost 600 people died in the last year. —— homeless people. how do you respond to that? i think it is shocking. i think there are better ways to look after people and things like that. i did have one homeless guy guy beside me

earlier this year. —— dying beside me. it was quite sudden and shocking at the time. what happened? it must have been unbelievably upsetting. yeah, it definitely was. he was a very nice guy. he was actually quite a happy person. for people that you can meet on the street, he was morally quite cool and he was good to people around him. he wasn't a bad person. it was definitely shocking. i am going to talk to our guests here and i will be back with you. dojoin in the conversation. let me ask how you react to these figures. almost 600 people died who we re figures. almost 600 people died who were homeless in england and wales, those are the most recent figures. how do you respond to that?” those are the most recent figures. how do you respond to that? i have been street homeless. 0ver how do you respond to that? i have been street homeless. over the last five years i have been in 50

hostels, myself. it is hard to get out of it once you are in it. it is ha rd to out of it once you are in it. it is hard to get out of it and get a place. virtually impossible, you know. for a single man as well. i have got out of it but i have come out of addiction and all that stuff. i have started doing voluntary work with shelter. they help people in a similar position to what i was in. it isa similar position to what i was in. it is a struggle. it is a struggle with benefits, the benefits system. to be on benefits you have got to have a bank account and access to wi—fi. it is a bigger thing than just being homeless. it is all the stuff that surrounds it. it adds to the stress? people haven't got doctors so there are lots of needs.

tell us about your brother craig. he died in 2013 on his own in a car park. he took a heroin overdose. i'm not surprised at the figures, to be honest, unfortunately. iwish not surprised at the figures, to be honest, unfortunately. i wish i was. you are not surprised that 600 homeless people died in england and wales, the fifth richest economy?” think it is shocking and we are in a humanitarian crisis at this minute in time. so much more needs to be done, but no, i in time. so much more needs to be done, but no, lam not in time. so much more needs to be done, but no, i am not surprised. in time. so much more needs to be done, but no, lam not surprised. i work seven days a week with people who are homeless and we have had so many deaths in manchester. no, the figures don't surprise me at all. i actually think there are probably lots more people who have died, that are hidden. so the figures could be higher? definitely. ithink so

are hidden. so the figures could be higher? definitely. i think so as well. there's other ones they know about. one is too many and 600 is shocking, you know what i mean? for people who don't work with the homeless, they are shocked by 600 but we hear it every day. you know of at least ten people? i know of 12 but ten actually died on the streets and two somewhere else. in one borough in london? in the three and a half mile radius where i work. ten oi'i a half mile radius where i work. ten on the streets and two who had just got into accommodation. how do you help support them? we feed and support them and i found a local b8b with nobody in it and it is now full up. itake with nobody in it and it is now full up. i take them to hospital and doctor appointments. not just me. up. i take them to hospital and doctorappointments. notjust me. i have a team of beautiful people with me who helped me. we all need them, don't we? it is not me, it is us.”

am going to talk to luke pollard from the labour party, the shadow environment minister. labour pledged 100 million to make emergency accommodation available to all rough sleepers when temperatures fall below freezing. that was announced this week and the government also pledged 100 million earlier this year. how does your strategy differ from theirs? it is looking at those severe situations and what can be done to get people off the street but that is only part of our policy and we need to look at housing throughout the year. there is a lot of attention on homelessness in the lead up to christmas, we know that january is actually a worse month for people sleeping rough on the streets than december. if we had two planes crash which would roughly cause the 600 deaths that we have

from homeless people dying on the streets, there would be a national outcry on this but it is simply not the focus and there is not a priority in westminster, said the reaction does not fit into a neat sound bite. it is not only that we need more affordable accommodation, better leases for people, more support for drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation, more support for people leaving the care system, present and the armed forces as well. there are a multitude of actions that we need but at the moment my real concern is that westminster is effectively broken and the political priorities of the country are not being reflected in the debates in the comments. you can see that from the pantomime that was yesterday. we need to make sure there is a greater debate on the issues that matter people are dying on our streets every day. it is not just a big city problem. i represent plymouth and in plymouth we had a homeless person dying on the streets this year. these are individuals and everybody dying on the streets as a person with a story and a family who deserves better. at the moment society is failing them and government and that is why we not only need more resources but we need to correct the system faults that are producing this, be that the

five—week wait for universal credit pushing people into poverty, be that the lack of affordable housing, the lack of support for drug and alcohol rehabilitation. an awful lot of actions are required but at the moment westminster has taken its eyes off the ball and the government is not putting its money where its mouth is all year—round. if anything we are seeing many of those services that homeless people rely on each year being defunded all year—round. so we need more than just one announcement every now and then. pete has got in touch on twitter to say what is the homeless minister doing? how many times has theresa promised action? we asked for the releva nt promised action? we asked for the relevant minister to come on the programme and! relevant minister to come on the programme and i think we invited 30 conservative mps. we felt we had one but it is not happening now. but the government has brought in homelessness reduction act, which is one of the biggest changes to the rights of homeless people in england for a decade and a half. that

effectively bolts two new duties to the original legislation when it comes to local authorities. they have a duty to prevent homelessness in the first place and to relieve it. do these figures today suggest to you that legislation is not working? the legislation was a private member's bill rather than legislation in itself. when local authorities have had their budgets cut, in many cases 60% lost by local authorities since 2010, they don't have the resources to actually provide the support they need. that's why so many people on the streets, not only rough sleepers but the thousands of people that are in temporary accommodation without a secure roof over their head, sofa surfing or insecure ten years. they needed the support that is currently being failed. it was a step in the right direction having another law that provides more duties but unless the resources are put in place, in westminster, we are just passing

legislation but we need resources to go along with that commitment, especially for our cash—strapped local council so they can make the difference in our communities all over the country. nick, what do you say is the solution? i wouldn't know, because there's so many different variations. it's like it's not going to be the easiest to fix. i suppose you canjust take it case by case. but it's not something that ithink... by case. but it's not something that i think... it is that big that it's not easy to fix. what would you say, briefly? it is a complex issue but it is all very well having the legislation go through. if the accommodation isn't available then it's... accommodation isn't available then it's. .. exactly, there is no accommodation, services and we have an enormous amount of accommodation, services and we have an enormous amount of people with mental health, there is no mental health services. it is vast. there are mental health services, there is accommodation, there'sjust are mental health services, there is accommodation, there's just not enough of it. no near enough. there's not enough supported accommodation, that's a big thing. people are living in it not getting

supported. they can't even go to work, because they couldn't afford to pay the rent. £300 a week rent to live in a room. you just got a job and ironically, now, you can't afford your supported accommodation. i'm nota afford your supported accommodation. i'm not a street homeless, i'm sofa seven because i can't afford the rents. it's absurd. he's gone back to work and has become homeless because he can't afford it, it's a vicious circle just going around and around. it's disgusting. thank you all. mr pollard, if i may, briefly, as you are a shadow environment minister, i want to ask you the pantomime, use that word earlier, of yesterday. you used that word. what are you going to do about the fact that some people in this country thinkjeremy corbyn is a liar.“ i'm honest, i hate pm queues, i think it shows our democracy at its very worst. 2p and 0s. whether jeremy said it or not, whether he said silly people all the words

attributed to him, to make the whole political sphere look rubbish at the moment. there are so many important issues we should be dealing with as a country rather than having repeats of that pantomime from yesterday. it will put more people off politics at a time when the decisions that the house of commons should be taking around brexit and our housing crisis and homelessness are so much more important than he said, she said type of bickering we saw yesterday, it simply not good enough. we need a better form of politics. it simply not good enough. we need a betterform of politics. frankly, that means all politicians need to up that means all politicians need to up theirgame and that means all politicians need to up their game and we also need to make sure that the issues that westminster is debating are actually the ones are reflective what of what people outside in the real world wa nt to people outside in the real world want to see. we saw a homeless man die on the steps of parliament yesterday and we had no debate on that in the commens yesterday. we had that utterly embarrassing pantomime go on in the commons around what jeremy was pantomime go on in the commons around whatjeremy was alleged to have said but didn't say. it is

disappointing and we've got to do better. thank you all of you for coming on the programme and we appreciate your insight and time. thank you. it's almost eight years since the bloody civil war in syria began. hundreds of thousands are estimated to have died. us president donald trump announced this week that he is to withdraw all us troops, because he believes islamic state has been defeated. but the situation in the last area in syria which is not yet under government control — idlib — is becoming increasingly desperate as everything from food to medical supplies runs dangerously low. idlib is in the north west of syria. we have reported on it a number of times. it's about the size of the isle of wight, and is home to three million civilians, half of whom have been displaced by war. the charity commission warned, earlier this month, that sending

supplies to the province could contravene uk counter—terrorism laws, because the main supply route into the area is controlled a group the uk government regards as a terror organisation. charities are warning of a humanitarian catastrophe with families reliant on aid that is running out. i've been speaking to hamish de bretton—gordon, who is the director of doctors under fire, which has worked with aid workers on the ground in syria and doctor david nott, a consultant surgeon who has travelled to syria many times to provide medical support. i also spoke to "dr ahmed", not his real name, a consultant surgeon working in idlib with syria relief. he's one of around 100 doctors looking after a population of three million people. thank you very much for talking to us, dr ahmed. i wonder if you can tell our audience back here in britain what it's like for you trying to work in a hospital in idlib treating injured patients.

0k, yeah, currently we have here about 20 hospitals in the liberated area and reached 30% of our capacity only, serving a population of 4 million here. we have a lot of challenges. one of these challenges is the lack of sufficient medical necessities and support and equipment, and lack of any ability to prosper. yet we are still here and trying to do our best. what is the hardest thing about your job? 0k, as i said, the challenge and the difficult things that we are facing every day as doctors is a lack of sufficient medical support and the main challenge we are facing is turkey now allowing just intubated patients to enter their land,

leaving many patients in critical need of service dead. sorry to interrupt, dr ahmed. what kind of injuries are you treating? now, we are facing a lot of cases, actually. of critical cases, actually. there is lots of... epidemic in the liberated area. like pneumonia in children. 0k. i'm going to bring in hamish, who is sitting alongside me, hamish de bretton—gordon, director of doctors under fire. we have reported on the crisis in idlib a number of times on our programme. it is even more acute, though, now. what is the issue, today? explain to our audience. well, it is anarchy in idlib, at the moment, as dr ahmed

said, 4 million people in an area about the size of the isle of wight surrounded and with so—called islamic state fighters amongst them, and also al-qaeda who are ruling the roost and really committing horrific crimes. so, on top of that we've got the syrian regime and the russians on the outside waiting to come in and retake this area. we've got the hard border with turkey with no aid getting in. and trump's decision overnight to withdraw american troops because isis have been defeated in syria, to me is... so he says. ..is desperate. isis is all over idlib and what it could be is a precursor for the final battle. we know that the regime and the russians want to take idlib and this could be an open door for them to do that. although they will kill isis, no doubt, they usually kill hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands, of civilians as well. and this is creating a breeding ground for isis in idlib. dr david nott, you were there,

i think of the last time six weeks ago. you've been there many times. the issue, as dr ahmed says, is, look, they arejust not getting supplies. he cannot treat people, he is born to do, you know? i know dr ahmed very well. we have worked together in aleppo and we were one of the... i was trying to get him out of aleppo in december 2016 and he is one of the people that had ended up in idlib, as are 4 million people waiting in idlib now for help and security and everything else. but at the moment there's no evidence that there's any aid getting into idlib. the aid that goes into who and un, we understand, goes through to the syrian regime and there's very little aid then from them go back into idlib. so they're suffering a lack of medical supplies, a lack of any sort of provisions to help the wounded that you can hear. i think dr ahmed, we were speaking the other day, he's scared stiff, as are all the other people, that there's going to be an assault starting soon.

and without international help, without medical aid and support, it's going to be a disaster. you know earlier this month the charity commission warned aid agencies that they might actually be breaking counterterrorism legislation by delivering aid across a particular crossing if it ends up in the hands of isis or al-qaeda. how do you respond to that? and is that the reason why aid seems to have stopped? well, i think it is, and i do understand it, but as the discussions we've had at diffident recently to try and explain to them the situation... that's the department for international development. absolutely. ..is that if a bit of aid, you know, some medical supplies, some food, does get into the hands of al-qaeda and isis, you know, so what? what we are doing is preventing the 4 million people who really need our support getting aid. so, we understand it but it'sjust unrealistic in this situation and we've been imploring them to try and relax the rules, because at the moment we and others are not putting aid in there because we do not

want to break the laws of this country and support any counterterror groups. but we don't think that's the case in this particular situation. right. so, in terms of that warning from the charity commission, what do you say to them, david nott? well, i think they need to relax the rules. it is not a terrorist act to try and get aid into a country. we have to really understand that these people are suffering, there's a lack of education, there's no schooling, the children don't get any education, there's a lack of funding, there's a lack of medical support for poor dr ahmed who's trying his very best. but the problem is, if there's an assault going to occur within the next few months, what on earth is going to happen to those 4 million people? when you say an assault, you mean president assad and his troops coming to to retake it from rebels, as we call them, and isis, and al-qaeda. it could be one horrific battle. it could. it could be the worst battle we have ever seen. and so there is also a possibility, perhaps, of getting the civilians out

of idlib, if that is going to happen. and again, un humanitarian corridors might be helpful. so i think discussions need to start now and we should stop sitting on the fence about just watching what is going on and just waiting to see what happens. is your high street in terminal decline, or can it be revived? it's a big issue as more retail shopping is done online, and empty shop fronts seem to be a feature of almost every town centre. today, the government's independent town centre expert panel, chaired by sirjohn timpson — who runs the shoe repair chain timpsons — have published their proposed solutions. they say each town centre should have a taskforce to remove obstacles, like planning rules. a future high streets fund of £675 million will help local teams set up schemes in their area and connect people from across the country to share success stories. they also suggest measures to tackle about the cost of parking. let's talk to sirjohn.

let's talk to sirjohn, who chairs that panel on the future of the high street. also with usjoel adebayo, who owns two fashon stores. vin vara, director of the tool shop group. and sheila tims, recently closed her business in the village of crowthorne in berkshire, which has seen a number of shop closures. thank you for coming on the programme. sirjohn timpson. are those measures that i have read out to the audience, will they turn our high streets around? this isn't a magic wand to change the situation you have been seen for several yea rs. you have been seen for several years. it's been particularly bad this year with a lot of retail formats coming to the end of their life and more and more pressure from online shopping. you can't change this, we won't go back, but what we're finding and it's becoming more and more evident that there is a

certain local towns where, actually, things have been getting better, footfall is up, fewer closed shops and there is a common factor. it is where the local community, led by an inspired leader, reimagine their town centre and make it different and put their plan into practice. and scraps car parking charges? well, that's part of it. the most important thing, this isn't totally about shopping. it's creating a community hub, which includes sometimes a medical centres service centres, certainly entertainment and leisure facilities. lots of things for people to go to. we are thinking 20 years ahead. sure. we owe it to our children to have community centres and places where they can meet. because in the digital age, communication is a pretty lonely thing. humans need face—to—face contact. it's a complete

reorganisation of what we do. and one of the things obviously is going to be more housing in town centres. we haven't got a massive amount of time. joel, you are making your effo rts time. joel, you are making your efforts to make your store appealing to high street shoppers, how? we wanted to revive and reimagine the high street. we believe having a store like not just high street. we believe having a store like notjust another store where consumers can come in, appreciate art, interior design and then look at the clothes is a way of engaging with the local community as a whole. it is about looking beyond shopping. using your imagination? coming in, having great coffee, listening to great people doing well being workshops, yoga classes in the morning, ways we can bring communities together is really important. what do you say? 100% fully important. what do you say? 10096 fully support the report by sirjohn timpson. i agree with what jol is saying. we have been saying this for the last four or five years. we need communities involved in our high

streets. look at people, parking, planning... what is the fourth? property! with flats and office planning above. sheila, is that not happening or is that not happening where you are? crowthorne is a slightly different aspect, we are a small village and we have a good high street. the ones that are surviving is people that can't be hit by the internet. this is what is hitting a lot of the small businesses. sorry to interrupt, give me an example that can't be hit by the internet. surely, most can. hairdressers, charity shops, restau ra nts, hairdressers, charity shops, restaurants, things that people can't get over the internet. my business was fancy dress. it was hit huge by online selling, online

buying. i mean, people were buying stuff that i couldn't even buy at that price from my suppliers. hence, why my business doesn't exist any more. there are lots of businesses within crowthorne that will survive, because we have a very, very strong community hub. we had a late night shopping event two weeks ago for christmas and the high street was open until eight o'clock. you've never seen so many people. that is good to hear. why is it important that we sort this out and we make sure we have a high street in 20 yea rs' sure we have a high street in 20 years' time? sure we have a high street in 20 yea rs' time? because sure we have a high street in 20 years' time? because i don't know if my kids are going to be going down a high street. they might get a coffee but most of their shopping will be done online. you say online but 8096 of retail selling is still done by brick and mortars. at the moment. but even 20%, 10% of that is done by

shops and businesses with online and bricks and mortars. it's the other 10% only. it will catch on. sirjohn is 100% right, we need communities involved and we need to get the obstacles between the government and local councils removed, to make life easier for communities to participate and the change of law in planning. so that communities can change and do other things in properties in the high streets. why do you bother with the store, why not sell clothes online? you still need that physical contact. we sell niche emerging brands where people need to feel the garment and try it on and people still want that human contact, they need that experience day—to—day, not another store allows us to engage with people in a way they won't be able to engage online, it's simple, you need it. sirjohn, what would our high streets look like in 20 years? i prefer to look

like in 20 years? i prefer to look like town centres, they would be much more buzz wine. the things we've done with this report is persuade the government their role is to help, not to tell people what to do and i call that upset and government which leaves the people who have got the initiative to get on and do it. the government is there to clear the obstacles out of the way and one of the big obstacles is planning and i am pleased to see they are getting on with it. we will see, thank you for coming on the programme, good luck with your businesses. a couple of updates about gatwick airport. in the past half an hour the police have reiterated that they belive the drone—flying was a deliberate act to disrupt the airport. but they have said there are absolutely no indications to suggest this is terror related. the last reported sighting was at around 8.45am this morning. gatwick airport have also said 760 flights are being cancelled or delayed. around 110,000 passengers

are being affected by the drones. that is astonishing. gatwick airport have also said 760 flights are being cancelled or delayed. around 110,000 passengers are being affected by the drones. one of only nine domestic violence refuges in the uk exclusively for men may be forced to close less than a year after opening, because of a lack of funding. it's estimated that one in six men will be the vicitm of domestic abuse in their lifetime. the northamptonshire domestic abuse service says it needs to raise £100,000 to save it and four women's refuges. james melley is the firstjournalist to have filmed in the refuge — this is what he found. she is quite controlling, she always used to take money out of my bank account, when i got paid. she threw stuff at me. i got a dent on my head, from what she was doing

and she basically kept me away from my family, for the last ten years. we need to raise £100,000, by next march. it's that important, for us to keep these refugees open. if the refuge is closed, it's an absolute travesty for domestic abuse victims. worst case? you're going to look at deaths. follow me. this ordinary—looking house, in a town in northamptonshire, is, in fact, something very rare. another one of the residence' rooms, also there, both with locks on. it's a refuge for male victims of domestic abuse, one of only nine exclusively for men in the country. we have three rooms, so three males here with the potential of having a child, if needed. it estimated one in six men will be a victim of domestic abuse in their lifetime.

the men here are considered at serious risk of harm, so it's location is kept secret. so its location is kept secret. matthew cunningham works at the refuge. we have to make sure there's a safety plan put in place, before the victim actually comes here, analyse the risk, have a number of risk assessments to make sure that the victim is safe. lots of victims don't recognise that they are victims. but, men especially, because it's not seen and it's not heard of, as much. and it's so underreported that males don't recognise that they're victims, sometimes, at all and don't see what domestic abuse is or understand what it is and have never known the right path to go down, to get help. i know it sounds silly, but if someone hurts you, "man up and get on with it".

i didn't realise there is actually people out there to help males and females. dean is one of the men living in the refuge, we're hiding his identity for his safety. he says he lived with an abusive female partner until one day he collapsed at work. they don't know if it was a fit or if it was through dehydration because i wasn't eating and i wasn't allowed to eat at home. why weren't you allowed to eat at home? because all the food we were getting at home, my partner was taking. your partner was stopping you from eating? yeah. a lot of it was mental abuse. so, she would be shouting at me, taking money off me. if i was five minutes late at home, she would start to come in the house and be shouting at me, "why are you late?" and i would say, "well, i've onlyjust finished work", and she would be quite aggressive towards me. you've experienced physical violence, as well? yes, i did get plates chucked at me. i got a dent on my head, from what she was doing.

ijust didn't feel safe. had you heard of male victims of domestic abuse before? no, i hadn't, no. i thought it wasjust part of being in a relationship. she was the first person i've went out with and i thought that's what it's supposed to be in a relationship. but now i know she was doing it wrong. the male refuge only opened seven months ago and is run by the northamptonshire domestic abuse service or ndas. zoe tatham is their business manager. i think it took probably three or four weeks for it to be full. just to get the word out there that we were available. since then, it's been full for the whole time that we've had it. we've helped 16 men in refuge, since we opened. but we've turned, i think it's, 50 away.

but despite there not being enough space in the refuge to meet demand, it, and four other refuges for women, also run by ndas, are facing possible closure in the spring. we need to raise £100,000 by next march. not a small amount of money. but, you know, we can do it. we will be speaking to all the district and borough councils to see what funding they can you know, give us to support it and also our mps. because, you know, it's an important issue that affects the county's most vulnerable people. so it would be a real shame for us to lose it. ndas had been hoping to win government funding that northamptonshire county council had applied for but the authority failed in its bid. separately, the council is now facing a multi—million pound hole in its finances, forcing it to cut services. ndas has been forced to look elsewhere for money. last week, northampton borough councillor terrie eales tried to convince her authority to help out. we've got a motion going to cancel tonight.

if that passes, it's basically requesting that the council supports financially ndas in getting the 100 grand they need to keep the refuges open for a further 12 months. do you think you are likely to win tonight's vote? honestly, no. i will do my best in the debate, to try to convince them to vote our way, but i don't think it's likely. but, hopefully, they will listen to the debate and the arguments that we've got, to fund this a little bit further. what with the consequences be of the refuges closing? if the refuges close then it's an absolute travesty for domestic abuse victims. we've got one of only nine in the country male refuges that ndas provide. if that's not... their best case, borough council has to pick up the slack for their emergency accommodation.

worst case? you're going to look at deaths. they're not going to get the help they need. northampton borough council did vote to help keep the refuges open but it's not yet clear how much money they'll be able to contribute. northamptonshire county council told us it still takes domestic abuse very seriously and continues to fund services to deal with it. the government has increased funding to domestic violence services by £19 million this year, in england. but ndas is still trying to secure the money it needs to prevent its refuges closing. dean is hoping the funding can be found. for him, going into refuge has given him hope for a new life, safe from domestic violence. i'm hoping i'm going to get myself back into employment. and hopefully get myself into a place, my own little place and just live a simple life for myself. ijust want to be on my own, living how i want to live, not be dictated. are you more hopeful, now? yes, i am, a lot more hopeful.

this viewer says i would like to thank your programme for covering a story on male victims of domestic abuse, iam story on male victims of domestic abuse, i am a survivor and i was a serving police officer throughout the abusive relationship. thank you for your programme. we are back tomorrow at 10am, have a good day. we've had plenty of sunshine across the uk but towards western areas, it's been a bit more showery but we have had rainbows spotted by weather watchers, you can make this one out in shropshire. any showers moving through, you will see some sunshine breaking out of the cloud. the showers will continue across wales, south—west england and more in the north, western scotland and northern ireland this afternoon, largely dry in southern and eastern areas. even

here, you could see the odd shower moving through at maximum temperatures 7—11. tonight, a few showers in the north but clear skies in the far north of scotland that temperatures could get close to freezing. in the south, this next batch of rain moves its way in but that will keep temperatures at about a 6—8d. that rain will continue to move north during friday and it will not reach scotland, largely dry in edinburgh. quite cloudy with outbreaks of rain in belfast, cardiff and london, some morning rain but it should clear up later. temperature is about 12—111. goodbye. you're watching bbc newsroom live — it's11am and these are the main stories this morning:

all flights in and out of gatwick airport remain suspended after two drones were seen flying near the runway. 10,000 passengers have been affected. i have a drone on my field. as we stand here now, we will not be able to reopen until that drove is brought down. flight remain grounded here at gatwick, with no indication as to when the runway will reopen. that is causing huge disruption here and beyond. nearly 600 homeless people died in england and wales last year — a rise of 24% over five years according to official figures published for the first time the work and pensions secretary amber rudd says a second brexit