hello, good morning. welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson. our headlines today: it's the traditional boxing day sales. could big discounts help a retail sector struggling after weak trading in the runup to christmas? i live in oxford street where the doors arejust i live in oxford street where the doors are just about to open on the sales. it is predicted men will spend more than women. a seasonal message of solidarity. the foreign secretaryjeremy hunt orders a review to look at how britain can help persecuted christians in africa, asia and the middle east. premier league footballers often attract attention for the wrong reasons but at one charity, a liverpool and england star gave up his christmas day to put a smile on the faces of local children. and trent alexander—arnold returns for liverpool today, after injury, but his manager says his team are not in a christmas mood, as they focus on trying to beat newcastle to maintain their lead at the top of the premier league. good morning to you once again, it is going to be fairly cloudy. we

will cease in drizzle, some across the north—east of scotland. we've also got sunshine forecast, i will tell you where in the next 15 hello, good morning. it's the 26th december. a belated merry christmas from me. our top story: it's thought 18 million people will hit the shops today, with some analysts predicting bigger than usual discounts in the boxing day sales. retailers will be looking to make up for weak trading in the leadup to christmas. our reporter, andy moore, is on oxford street in london. good morning to you, and you are not alone. certainly not alone, i am outside the next store here, it is due to open any minute now behind me, snaking down behind at 200, 300 people. it just looks me, snaking down behind at 200, 300 people. itjust looks like they will be going in shortly. some of the people he had been queueing since about 2am this morning. despite all

the hype about the black friday sale before christmas, this is the big day for the shops. boxing day, before christmas, this is the big day forthe shops. boxing day, it before christmas, this is the big day for the shops. boxing day, it is estimated about twice as much money is spent on this day as on black friday. something like three out of ten of us will be shopping today, four out of ten over the next few days. a lot of the shopping online of course, about 70% of us would you most about shopping online, not these people of course. they say they like to come here until the close and see what they are buying. it has been a great idea for retail, it has been a pretty bad pre—christmas period for the retail sector, although there are some signs that there was a last—minute surgejust signs that there was a last—minute surge just before christmas eve. so the retail sector is really hoping that sailors like this today will bring some sort of cheer to their balance books. roger. andy, thank you very much indeed. in fact, you we re you very much indeed. in fact, you were waiting valiantly for their shutters to roll up and for those sales to start. i will let you get the cameras into position and ready to film. andy live for us today on

oxford street in london. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has ordered a review looking at the way britain could help persecuted christians around the world. mr hunt said the uk could, and must, do more to help the estimated 215 million christians who faced discrimination or violence last year. there are people in very poor countries, themselves very poor, who can suffer terribly for no other reason than their faith and when that faith is christianity, that is not a reason to do nothing. we need to do something, just as we would if they were bosom or buddhist and being persecuted for the same reason. “— being persecuted for the same reason. —— muslim. israel has attacked a weapons site near the syrian capital, damascus. three soldiers were injured in the incident. israel also confirmed it later activated its air defence systems to bring down a syrian missile. an eight—year—old guatemalan boy has died after being detained by united states border agents.

he was taken to hospital hours beforehand, diagnosed with a cold and discharged. it is the second instance this month of a migrant child dying after being detained in the us. the cause of the child's death is not yet known. japan has confirmed that it is to resume commercial whale hunting next year and is withdrawing from the international whaling commission. a government spokesman said that the practice would begin again injuly, but it will be restricted to the country's territorial waters and its exclusive economic zone. the withdrawal means that japan willjoin iceland and norway in openly defying the international ban on commercial whale hunting. many of us will have spent christmas day surrounded by family and friends and loved ones, but the premier league footballer trent alexander—arnold chose to spend his day with strangers. the 20—year—old liverpool star volunteered for a local charity, buying presents and dinner for families who have fallen on hard times. our north of england correspondent judith moritz went to meet him.

between morning training and evening match prep, trent alexander—arnold could have been forgiven for spending yesterday afternoon at home but instead commie chose to bring christmas to a roomful of children who would not otherwise have had much to celebrate. —— but instead he chose to. the liverpool defender bought the mall sacks of peasants. he takes his role as a charity ambassador very seriously, understanding that though he is just 20, he is already a role model. —— bought them all. a note that the kids are looking up to me and i think that yeah, probably want to understand that your role model, these sorts of things are something that you want to do more often because people might want to follow in your footsteps and see me do this type of things, hopefully they will do it in the future and that is something that can only benefit the whole cities. though there were a

few everton fans in the room, the children were thrilled with their scouse santa and. it felt amazing to actually meet a football player and to get a present football player, just, i can't describe it itjust feels amazing. sometimes i like talking about eve rton, feels amazing. sometimes i like talking about everton, sometimes i like talking about little. what you did not mind meeting of the player? no, i'm fine. i am fine that. the player also paid for families to eat christmas dinner, the whole thing co—ordinated by a charity called an hourfor co—ordinated by a charity called an hour for others, co—ordinated by a charity called an hourfor others, which co—ordinated by a charity called an hour for others, which encourages people to volunteer for the local community. is a genuine thing. he's just a normal lad. it is from his heart, he understands the importance of sitting together in hard times because he has lived in hard times himself and he just wants to give back to his cities. after injury, trent alexander—arnold is back to full fitness as liverpool face

newcastle today. he did not get much of the christmas break that says putting a smile on young faces was more important. just one of the many footballers doing generous things this season. ariana grande and take that are among some of the stars who are celebrating a record—breaking year in the uk charts. ariana grande's ‘thank u, next‘ achieved the most streams in a week ever — 14.9 million times over seven days. data released by the official charts company revealed the artists who enjoyed the most success in 2018. veteran boyband take that had the fastest selling album of the year, with their reimagined greatest hits collection, odyssey. it may have been one of the stocking fillers that you received yesterday on christmas day. those are the main story this morning, you up—to—date with all the leading stories this

boxing day morning. it isjust approaching 6:10 a. m. , boxing day morning. it isjust approaching 6:10 a.m., 6:08am. here's a look at the front pages. the duchesses of cambridge and sussex feature on many boxing day front pages, the daily mirror declares that the royals enjoyed a "happy sis—mas", despite rumours of a fallout. different papers have different ta kes different papers have different takes that many of them have had that same photograph or similar. it is the police service which comes in for scrutiny on the front page of the guardian. it reports freedom of information requests, which revealed that almost a50 people have claimed that they were sexually harassed by male officers in the past six years. that figure, it points out, comes from only 28 of the 43 forces in england and wales, the ones who've responded. the times reports that more than a billion plastic "bags for life" are handed out annually by supermarkets, "undermining their claims to be reducing waste by cutting down on single—use bags".

the paper again has a photo of prince charles at sandringham with the duke and duchesses of cambridge and sussex. the daily telegraph reports that public health england has drawn up plans to see calorie limits imposed on thousands of foods sold in supermarkets and restaurants to help tackle obesity. the chances are that you or someone in yourfamily and the chances are that you or someone in your family and wrapped the chances are that you or someone in yourfamily and wrapped in new bottle of perfume, aftershave or make up yesterday morning. the beauty and personal care market in the uk is booming. it has grown by nearly a fifth over the past five years, and is worth more than £13 billion. it's thought to be largely down to online celebrities, known as influencers. radio 4's consumer reporter samantha fenwick has been

finding out more. ido like i do like to add a lot of highlighter. i later that is going to blind you, basically. that is what i like to go for. mitchell is a social media influencer. originally he was a make—up artist that his dramatic look quickly got inattention and now he has more than 800,000 followers on instagram. inattention and now he has more than 800,000 followers on instagramlj think if you're going to slap it on at any think if you're going to slap it on atany time think if you're going to slap it on at any time of year, christmas is the to do it. as his followers have grown, so has his appeal to cosmetic brands. he gets sent loads of make—up and the companies hope you will use it in some of his online film. eye guys, so it is mitchell from the instagram page... more followers you get, the more doors opens and to me thatjust gives me more incentive and more motivation to keep building a brand and keeps on growing my social media. give me that's an j on growing my social media. give me

that's anj lo in glow. social media has taken a little guy like me and made him huge and all around the world kind of nine, it is a really crazy feeling. there is a huge uplift in sales when a key influencer talks about our products and brands, we can see that product sell out within hours of the post. customers will come in, they will be showing us instagram stories or post that they have seen for that product, so it is amazing how quickly uptake is. this is very different to five years ago, isn't it? the beauty industry was one of the first industries to relapse on to influencers. the first industries to relapse on to influence rs. it the first industries to relapse on to influencers. it was in the press, it was all around print media, and now everyone is investing in influencers online in rebuilding those relationships. the thing with social media influencers is that they become your friend. you social media influencers is that they become yourfriend. you might watch them for hours online doing make—up tutorials. the problem is you do not always know when they are being impartial, and research for radio 4 suggests 82% of shoppers are

unclear about when a social media influencer has been paid to promote products. before youtube, i did not realise how to do my make—up and stuff, i thought this was really helpful, watching a make—up tutorial. i find it useful when they suggest products even just tutorial. i find it useful when they suggest products evenjust go tutorial. i find it useful when they suggest products even just go out and buy them. do you ever think about whether they are being paid to promote those products?” about whether they are being paid to promote those products? i have not actually thought about that.|j promote those products? i have not actually thought about that. i know some of them are being paid. when we looked at, we think it is nice. we never really think about the background of it, we think it is nice and we would like to get it, yeah. this issue of trust is a matter of concern to the uk's advertising watchdog. one of our key advertising watchdog. one of our key advertising rules that none of us should have to pay detective when we are working out whether what we are seeing is advertising. —— play detective. mitchell says he works ha rd to detective. mitchell says he works hard to build up trust and not mislead his followers. and now, final look, guys. that if you are unsure, then look out for the hash

hash tag that the bottom of posts. how do you feel? i feel amazing, i love it. interesting issue. you can hear more on that story on radio 4's you and yours at 12:15pm today. right, isjust right, is just approaching right, isjust approaching 6:15 a.m.. good morning, watching bbc brea kfast a.m.. good morning, watching bbc breakfast from bbc news. —— it is. it's the traditional boxing day sales. —— as the high street tries to make up for a quiet runup to christmas. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, says the uk could and must do more to help persecuted christians around the world. here is carol with a look at this morning's weather. maybe you are heading indoors, maybe you are heading outdoors. you're putting in a shift again this christmas. good morning, bless you. for some of us too, it is quite

misty and murky and we have some drizzle around through the day it will be mainly dry and it is going to be milder than it was on christmas day. we also have a weather front across the north and west of scotland, that is currently producing some rain, drizzle ahead of at producing some rain, drizzle ahead ofata producing some rain, drizzle ahead of at a cost northern ireland and some drizzle across somerset as well, the home counties as well, parts of south wales. if you're heading out, bear that in mind, there is some mist and hill fog. to there is some mist and hill fog. to the course of the day, the rain and fog will be on offer will start the season breaks developed, particularly for north—east scotland, northern england, north—east wales and then into south—east england. temperatures today widely in double figures, we are looking at nine to 11 degrees. as we head on to the evening and overnight period, once again there will be a bit of clout around, there will be a bit of clout around, there will be a bit of clout around, there will be some breaks in the cloud and we will start to see a patch of mist and fog developing. we have a front

continuing to sink slowly southwards, so increasingly turning lighter and more patchy in nature. temperature wise, you can see in the charts sixes and sevens. as we go through tomorrow, very similar in that we start off on a cloudy note, with the mist and fog to lift. we will hope to see a few more blighted brea ks will hope to see a few more blighted breaks tomorrow than we are looking at today. there is a fun producing some of that power but not really much more than that, but we also find that as a brightens up to the south to the day it is not going to be as warm. we are looking at about seven to nine. the north of scotland also sings in sunshine and also north—east england. friday morning, we've got the clear skies. you can expect fog in southern england, as some of this could prove to quite dense. high pressure still firmly in charge of our weather to thursday and friday we another weather front just showing its hands, coming into the west and introducing some rain.

—— we have another. it is going to bea —— we have another. it is going to be a bright start the further is that you are, plus a weather front moves to the east. ahead of this month, across scotland, it will be a fairly wea k month, across scotland, it will be a fairly weak affair as it pushes down to the south—east and behind it, brightening up nicely for scotland, northern ireland, and then into northern england and west wales. into the weekend, we have got the more rain to start the day in the north during the course of my leg, that will quickly put away and a lot of dry weather. and then as we head into sunday, we are getting quite a bit of dry weather and still quite mild, so the weather is fairly stag na nt mild, so the weather is fairly stagnant for the next few days. we were both listening to you, i promise, and i apologise for throwing this at you, but we were talking about christmas day games. did you play games yesterday? normally we do, but yesterday we sat and chatted the whole time, we played the traditional charades. we

played the traditional charades. we played family fortunes, which was great. and you have the buzzer. mike has something altogether more disturbing. well, it is fantastic, every christmas we come up with a new game, and this one was about werewolves, and my dad ended up the last surviving werewolf who had eaten all the villages. it is a card game, i don't know what it is called. my dad celebrated as the winning werewolf at the end of the evening. how is the sport looking? lots of reasons to hell with delightful football fans. —— how. it is the busiest footballing day of the year, and league leaders liverpool are hoping to protect their lead at the top of the premier league. jurgen klopp's men are four points clear of manchester city, in second, and the liverpool boss has urged the anfield crowd to create a special atmosphere. but says he and the team cannot let the festive spirit affect them. everybody‘s in a christmas mood,

apart from us. so we are not in a christmas mood. and everybody in the boxing day games is good, and they come in in1.5 boxing day games is good, and they come in in 1.5 hours and give all that you have, because we need again the atmosphere to beat a very difficult to beat team. because nothing is taken for granted. don't think because we have that amount of points and they have that amount of points, if you think that that is the moment when things go wrong. after a thrashing at the hands of their former manager ole gunnar solskjaer, cardiff will be hoping to avoid a third straight defeat. they are one of the struggling sides, just two points above the relegation zone, and they travel to crystal palace, who are fresh from that shock win at manchester city. palace and leicester to come, i mean, they had to make great results, didn't they? they deserve it, man city, and so did lester, really, so it shows how difficult it is going to be, and then we have a

nice easy home game of tottenham. so it isa nice easy home game of tottenham. so it is a great time to look forward to next year, isn't it? roll on 2019. elsewhere today, bottom side fulham play wolves in the early kick—off. manchester city are at leicester, and will be looking to bounce back from that shock home defeat to crystal palace. ole gunnar solskjaer‘s first home game as manchester united boss will be against struggling huddersfield. celtic will be aiming to stay top of the scottish premiership when they travel to aberdeen later. brendan rodgers's side are currently one point clear at the top, but a win for the dons would take them level on points. if celtic fail to win, second—placed rangers could leapfrog them with victory over hibernian at ibrox. bottom side dundee will be looking for a big three points when they meet livingston. rarely has a horse been more suitably named than waiting patiently. the seven—year—old is making his comeback at boxing day's big race, the king george vi chase at kempton. he has not raced, since he beat cue card at ascot in february, but he has now got his chance to finally compete again. brian hughes will be on board, trying to guide him to victory over the horse's first attempt

at the three mile distance. the big favourites, though, will be former winners thistlecrack and might bite, and the cheltenham gold cup hero native river. the race gets underway just after 3:00pm. after his thrilling victory over carl frampton last weekend, josh warrington says he wants his next fight to be a unification bout in the united states. the leeds boxer defended his ibf featherwight title on points at the manchester arena, and he says he can't wait for the challenges that lie ahead. iam about i am about to go alongside —— another bill to go alongside the sun would be absolutely lovely. it doesn't half whet my appetite, and to ta ke doesn't half whet my appetite, and to take the fans who have followed me through thick and thin stateside for one of them big crazy bouts would be something special. now, the 2020 olympics

will have some new sports. climbing, skateboarding and karate are just some that will be appearing in tokyo, and there are also new events trying to get into the next winter olympics. how about this — volleyball, but not as you will have seen it before. this is the snow volleyball european tour, which was in moscow. it was presented at pyeongchang earlier this year. most of the rules are the same as classic volleyball, but in the snow, there are three players in a team instead of two, and a special snow volleyball is used, which is heavier than the usual one. it's sort of blends into the background, they might be a bit brighter, that volleyball. and finally, there will be plenty of you who may have over—indulged yesterday, but have a look at this. this is american ultra—runner camille herron, who has set a new track record at the desert solstice invitational, in arizona, despite drinking beer and eating tacos for part of the race. she ran around a 400 metre track, for 2h hours and beat her nearest competitior, a man, who could only manage five miles fewer. maybe that is the secret to marathon success. ta cos ?

tacos? and the beer, but that is not the case for all. other races do sometimes have a beer stop, especially the festive runs, and also the world's busiest race where you have 23 wine stops —— booziest. in keeping with your action man image, you are out yesterday as well. we always late betrayal with letters, 23 letters around the countryside, in the bushes, and the rest have to go and find them. it is a 5—mile course. rest have to go and find them. it is a 5-mile course. then you have to work out what the anagram is?” a 5-mile course. then you have to work out what the anagram is? i went to bed before i could find out what it was. i ended up in a pig farm, and had a nice chat with a pig farmer. thank you very much, we will

see you later. that pig farmer will have got a surprise when the man from the telly turned up. could 2019 be the year we try and kick our mobile phone addiction? here is our technology reporter. iam i am sitting here having a coffee, and ifi i am sitting here having a coffee, and if i am honest with you, i am itching to pick up my phone. i can't, i feel too guilty. itching to pick up my phone. i can't, ifeel too guilty. i knowi have already spent far too much time on it today already. android is slowly rolling out that digital well—being dashboard which shows you exactly how much time you are spending on your phone. i have only just got it, and on the first day i was horrified to find i unlocked it 200 times and spent more than three hours on it. i need my life back. and i'm not the only one. google told me that around 70% of the

android users it spoke to wanted to change the way they use their phones. rose developed android's digital well—being tool, like apple screen time, which shows users how long they are spending on their devices. when people see this day, and they are seeing it for the first time, often you open it and it can be an element of surprise or shock. and so people might feel guilt or shame, and we wanted to make sure that people could see the data in a very objective way, and make decisions based on that. for some, it has introduced an element of competition. so me and my girlfriend every day, we do a screen time competition, we challenged each other. essentially hers is a little higher, heard as it is about three hours and a0 minutes a day, whereas mine is two hours and 15, so quite high but not as high as hers. we spend so much time on social media, or whatsapp or whatever, it is a waste of time and we don't have a

real social life. i have limited myself, anyway. i probably did use it too much and then decided to limit the use. google how to break up limit the use. google how to break up with your phone and you will get 1.6 billion search results. breaking up 1.6 billion search results. breaking up with your phone doesn't mean dumping your phone and placing it under a bus... kathryn price decided to write a book about it.” under a bus... kathryn price decided to write a book about it. i was inspired by personal experience they had when i had a baby and there was 1.i woke up really late and i noticed she was looking at me and i was looking at my phone and i was really a wake—up call, because i realised i didn't want that to be her impression of a human relationship, but i also realised i didn't want it to be how i was that in my own life. kathryn has these tips for keeping your phone at arm ‘s length. turn off all notifications apart from the bare essentials. don't have distractions like games and getting apps on your front screen. keep your phone and out of the bedroom and don't use it as an alarm clock in the morning. try a tool called facebook demetricator, which stops facebook telling you how many likes you have.

it can stop you coming back to see how will you post are doing. meanwhile, the mobile phone industry's responses to sell at different phones. two examples you can see here, a feature phone from nokia and this tiny little palm phone, these devices are designed to be companion devices, perhaps in the news at the weekend or when you are out and about, that can just try and help you limit your usage. can a small phone really give you a break from your big phone or do you just need the willpower to hit the off button? perhaps there should be an app for that. it isa it is a problem for all of us, and no doubt you possibly have teenagers in the house, and it can be hard to get them off the phone even on christmas day, so all help was gratefully received. it —— a group of endangered brown bears who were living in a small cage injapan were rehomed here in the uk, in doncaster, over the summer. they'd never seen soil or grass before and had a pretty extraordinary journey traveling over 5,000 miles to yorkshire wildlife park.

so the park wanted to make sure this christmas they got a proper treat. fiona lamdin has more. this is what like the —— life looks like now for two brown bears living in yorkshire. acres to explore and la kes to in yorkshire. acres to explore and lakes to swim in. butjust four months ago, it was a very different story. they were two of four brown bears living in a japanese museum in cages so small they could only take a few steps. and this had been their home for almost 20 years. but relocating them across the world was quite some mission. the eldest heir is sedated by vets, and despite prods from his next—door neighbour, he remained asleep —— bear. huge sheets of ice, fans and watermelon kept the bears cool in a3 degrees heat. two flights later they arrived

in the uk. i met them on theirfirst day in yorkshire. they had never seen grass before, taken a bath, or eaten anything other than rice. so how are the bears finding this slightly chilly weather? well, luckily for us, japan had a very similar winter climate, so... it is four months on, and i am going back to see how they are adapting to their new life. they will venture out, but only if there is food at the end of it and at the end they are very happy to sleep a day away. they have been separate their whole lives. they have still been able to see and smell each other but they have never made physical contact. and i don't believe think they can quite believe it themselves, my goodness, i can touch you. they have got themselves how to swim out here, which is amazing, they have never had which is amazing, they have never ha d a ccess which is amazing, they have never had access to water. so this is our fruit chiller. and one of the biggest changes is their diet. the bears will now eat almost anything. they have each put on stone. bears

like eggs, do they? bears like eggs, they are omnivorous, so they will eat anything, pretty much. sweet potato? they will have one of those each. they prefer steamed. they got a bit pressure. cauliflower? never tried the cauliflower, if you want to try it with a cauliflower. the real trick is next door. so this is our meat prep room, and when they first came here, had ever eaten fish before? never seen fish in their lives, and when we offered whole foods, like meat and fish, they generallyjust foods, like meat and fish, they generally just kicked it foods, like meat and fish, they generallyjust kicked it around the floor, they didn't really know what to do with it. if you have ever wondered what to give a brown bear for christmas, apparently this is it. christmas dinner complete, with all the trimmings. packed and ready

for delivery. so this is a very different christmas they are having from last year. and it is devoured ina from last year. and it is devoured in a matter of minutes. for these bears, now settled into their home, the new year promises to be their happiest yet. a couple of very pampered bears. stay with us, headlines the way. —— headlines are on the