hello, good morning. welcome to breakfast with rogerjohnson. our headlines today: it's the traditional boxing day sales. could big discounts give shops a boost after a sluggish run—up to christmas? i live at oxford street, where they are managing the crowd. 700 people are managing the crowd. 700 people are already inside this store and there are lots more queueing to get —— i am live at. a seasonal message of solidarity. the foreign secretaryjeremy hunt orders a review to look at how britain can help persecuted christians around the world. what you do with your unwanted christmas presents? re— gifting the mark of a cheapskate? we will ask the experts. —— is re—gifting the mark of a cheapskate? premier league footballers often attract attention for the wrong reasons, but we've been behind the scenes at one charity, where a certain england star gave up christmas day to put a smile on the faces of local children. and trent alexander arnold

returns for his team 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 see some drizzle, some across the north—east of scotland. there is sunshine in the forecast. i will tell you where in 15 minutes. 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 later, with some analysts predicting bigger than usual discounts in the boxing day sales. retailers looking to make up for weak trading in the lead—up to christmas. let's go live to oxford street in central london. our reporter andy moore is there. back here behind you an hour ago was there that the shops were shut, now is open and they are still queueing up. that's wright, the shop opens an hour ago and at the time, there were several 100 people snaking around the block, so they rushed in when the block, so they rushed in when the store opened. now they have got this crowd management situation because they do not want too many

people in the store at once. —— right. this store obviously hoping to catch up on the sailors, they we re to catch up on the sailors, they were not so good before christmas. i've got some figures for you. about £4 billion is expected to be spent in the next few days. —— sales. about 70% of us will be doing the majority of our shopping online that i was chatting to some people here today and they say they want to come in person to feel and touch what they are buying. personally, i do not like to shop online. it is basically about the sizes, it is better to go and look into the sizes, so this is, and also to feel the material. to make sure that what you are getting is right, because you are getting is right, because you can get anything you can't tell because your pictures are on the phone, so it is best to come down. because your pictures are on the phone, so it is best to come downlj

like to try it on and see how it looks on the. well, i am one of the people that shop online totally but my wife, she does, she just cannot stand it completely, so this is where she wants to come, so that is why i am here and that is why i got up why i am here and that is why i got up will stopjust why i am here and that is why i got up will stop just an interesting figures from barclaycard, they say that the average spend will be about £188 over the next few days. -- just some interesting figures. they say that men will out and women, the average spend from a man will be about £170, from a woman £151. average spend from a man will be about £170, from a woman £151m average spend from a man will be about £170, from a woman £151. it is interesting. i do not know how how they predict these things, but obviously they somehow know these things. 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 muslim or buddhist and being persecuted for the same reason. israel has attacked a weapons site near the syrian capital, damascus. three soldiers were injured in the incident. israel also confirmed that it later activated its air defence systems to bring down a syrian missile. 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 would be restricted to the country's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone. the withdrawal means that japan joins iceland and norway in openly defying the international ban on commercial whale hunting.

a man has died after being hit by a police car in liverpool on christmas night. the victim, who has yet to be identified, was knocked down on scotland road shortly before 7pm. the merseyside force has reported the incident to the police watchdog, the iopc. the government says there's been an upsurge in the number of migrants being brought across the channel in small boats by criminal gangs. 40 were picked up the authorities yesterday. they were given medical treatment, before being interviewed by immigration officials. the home office says it's increasing patrols. now most of us probably spent christmas day with family and friends and loved ones, but the premier league footballer trent alexander—arnold chose to spend his with strangers. the 20—year—old liverpool player 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, he chose to bring christmas to a roomful of children who wouldn't otherwise have had much to celebrate. applause hello. the liverpool defender bought them all sacks of presents. he takes his role as a charity ambassador very seriously, understanding that though he's just 20, he's already a role model. i probably am and the kids are probably looking up to me and i think that, yeah, once you understand that you're a 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 seeing me do these type of things, hopefully they'll do it in the future, and that's something that can only benefit the whole city. though there were a few everton fans in the room, the children were thrilled with their scouse santa. it felt amazing to actually meet a football player,

and to get a present off a football player, just — i can't describe it, but itjust feels amazing. sometimes i like talking about everton, sometimes i like talking about liverpool. i just... you didn't mind meeting a liverpool player though? yeah, i'm fine. i'm completely fine with it. the player also paid forfamilies to eat christmas dinner. the whole thing co—ordinated by a charity called an hour for others, which encourages people to volunteer for the local community. he's no different to anyone else, he'sjust a normal lad. it's a genuine thing, it's from his heart. he understands the importance of sticking together in hard times because he's lived in hard times himself, and he just wants to give back to his city. after injury, trent alexander—arnold is back to full fitness as liverpool face newcastle today. he didn't get much of a christmas break, but says putting a smile on young faces was more important.

judith moritz, bbc news, liverpool. merry christmas. some good work being done by trent alexander—arnold and of course, others, this christmas. 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 the course of seven days. data released by the official charts company revealed all the artists who enjoyed the most success in 2018. and the veteran boyband take that had the fastest selling album of the year, with their reimagined greatest hits collection, called odyssey. there you go, you are up—to—date. it is almost 7:10 a.m.. many of us will have received a present yesterday that we don't really like, but is it ok to pass it on to someone else as a gift?

do you really? lots of people do. let's talk about the dos and don'ts of re—gifting with thrift blogger jane hanson, and the etiquette expert, william hanson. they both have exactly the same surname, they both have exactly the same surname, it spelt exactly the same way, but you are not related, you just met five minutes ago outside the practice studio. absolutely. thank you very much for coming in so early, especially on boxing day morning, where do you both stand on this? jane, what about you? is it ok to pass on a gift to somebody else asa to pass on a gift to somebody else as a gift? yeah, i mean personally i do not do it but i do get it. i would say in some circumstances it is, yeah, even though personally i do not do it, that he actually that i would actually does give the person that gave it to me. that happens in our family. yeah, absolute fear and dread, i think

thatis absolute fear and dread, i think that is it. i would not really encourage it. iactually, with anything you get given, the then something for liking this is cheap, nasty and awful that here, you might like this, i think that doesn't... if you do not like it, why are you giving it... with certain things, if it was a generic box of chocolates, so it was a generic box of chocolates, so the well— known box of chocolates, you can go to a supermarket or shop. 0k, you can go to a supermarket or shop. ok, you might have received several of those over the course of christmas and to give that later on or is fine. 0k, christmas and to give that later on or is fine. ok, so it often happens, someone comes down to or is fine. ok, so it often happens, someone comes down to dinner, someone someone comes down to dinner, someone will bring a bottle of wine. you don't particularly like that and many take it to someone else. that is exactly what it is really and you arejust giving it is exactly what it is really and you are just giving it to someone who may have use for it. if you can't use it yourself, then you're passing it on. they also write a lot about service and consumer rights, and there are a lot of refunds or exchanges at this time of year, but

if you can't do something, i am a blogger, and i advise those other things to have if you can't do something, you can't take it back, get a refund or exchange, and what are you going to do with it is like it is just are you going to do with it is like it isjust nice are you going to do with it is like it is just nice to be able to think such and such would really like this, it does not have to be that, it could be something really nice, we might have two or two or three at the same thing and you might think if you pass it on, it is nice for them. is it really better if you do not like something rather than to pass it on, just a throwaway? well, no, ithink pass it on, just a throwaway? well, no, i think going on in the bin is perhaps a bit wasteful, i would suggest giving to charity but i would suggest you go to a charity shop at least 30 miles away from the person's house that gave it to you initially. you do not want to offend them. they might put some effort into it. ok, they might have got your particular brand... i used to get caught, given at christmas and it is wine. i did not use the drink

for many years and so your friends turn up in the mean well but you think really, this is a slightly hollow give that you have given me. we have not put much thought into it. -- gift. we have not put much thought into it. —— gift. it is often thought of as re—gifting but you have to put a lot of thought into you give it to because you have two think he gave it to you, but also you think someone it to you, but also you think someone like this kind of thing, so it has to be thoughtful and you're passing it on kind of love.|j it has to be thoughtful and you're passing it on kind of love. i know that seems it maybe a bit bizarre but that is what you are doing. that seems it maybe a bit bizarre but that is what you are doingm you are saying, jane, that it is ok, should you, if you keep it in a cupboard or should you post a note on them so you can tell where it came from in the first place? well, you know you get so many things at christmas and various times of year, and how do you keep track of who bought what at what time? that is quite important, so yeah, post—it note in a draw might be quite a good idea. a few years ago, i noticed one of my friends, whenever she was

givena of my friends, whenever she was given a bottle of wine, she would just say i will write on it so we can remember, we can think of you when we drink it. and i notice that she was taking out a pencil and writing on it in pencil, and it suddenly clicked that she was not writing on it to remember it when she was drinking it, it was so that she was drinking it, it was so that she did not re— gifted back to us. you think it is because we are british? we are not very open about this? i think it is more socially a cce pta ble this? i think it is more socially acceptable now, if it is done appropriately insensitively. i think we feel a bit funny about we have been given that, we should be grateful for what we have been given and et cetera. i was thinking about the director saying we have got 30 seconds later and i was thinking i should say have you got the gift that you did not like that you have re—gifted? and i thought possibly thatis re—gifted? and i thought possibly that is a bit unfair to put you on

the spot, in case the person is watching. someone posted that they had actually been given from nanna a big pairof pants, had actually been given from nanna a big pair of pants, and she definitely will not be re— gifting those two anyone else. yes, don't be gift underwear, please, we don't wa nt gift underwear, please, we don't want to... there are limits to gift underwear, please, we don't want to. .. there are limits to re- gifting. will leave that there, i think. thank you so much for coming in. we really do appreciate it. jane hanson william hanson, no relation, but he got on very well on the sofa and it is nice to see you both. thank you very much, thank you. —— jane hanson william hanson. let's have a look at the weather. i'm going to stop short of asking carol whether she is found herself in the position of re— gifting something. so just position of re— gifting something. sojust do the position of re— gifting something. so just do the weather. we have some low cloud, some drizzle and some mist. a lot of that will give way to a mostly dry day. it will still be fairly cloudy but the most of us it

will be mild. across the north—east of scotla nd will be mild. across the north—east of scotland it is a cold start, some frost here. high pressure still firmly in charge of our weather, so not much is moving, and weather front draped across the north and west of scotland introducing some rain. that rain will be on and off throughout the course of the day. so some drizzle this morning in northern ireland, around somerset, hampshire, the home counties, south wales, to name a few, but through the day we will start to see things brighten up. we will see bright spells across the north—east of scotland, north—east of england, north—east wales and also later on the south—east. are not bad for late december. we are looking at between nine and 11 or 12. as we had to the evening and overnight, once again we are going to be seeing a fair bit of cloud. a weather front still with us sta rts cloud. a weather front still with us starts to slip lowly southward, and in doing so it weakens. there will still be some patchy, light rain on it, but that is about all. clear skies, patchy mist and fog forming, and not a particularly cold night. that is how we start the day

tomorrow. again, our weatherfront still with the odd spot of light rain or drizzle at. the cloud big enough for some drizzle, the figures cloud here and there, but tomorrow we will see more sunshine than today. you can see where the cloud brea ks today. you can see where the cloud breaks up quite nicely in north—east scotland, parts of wales, southern england, south—east england, and possibly at times we will see some brighter breaks in northern ireland. despite the fact we are looking at sunshine, it is going to be a little bit cooler in southern counties tomorrow. that means where we've got the clear skies overnight thursday into friday you will start to see some fog forming. some of that fog in southern england could be dense and could be quite slow to clear. there is not much to move it along. we are still under this ridge of high pressure. up to the west we have a weather front coming our way which will introduce ticket cloud and also some rain. so a bright start to the east, some fog in the south, and a weather front comes in from the west taking rain with it. as it advances eastwards it will be

a fairly weak affair, not much more than a band of cloud as it crosses england and wales. behind it, it will brighten up initially in scotla nd will brighten up initially in scotland and northern ireland, then later in northern england and west wales. that leads us into the weekend. the weekend, we have some rain in the north which will clear quite smartly during saturday morning, and a lot of dry weather over saturday and sunday, and still remaining mild. now, roger, ishould be asking you, but i won't, do you ever re—gift? be asking you, but i won't, do you ever re-gift? perish the thought, carroll. it may have happened once or twice. maybe we should ask mike. iam now or twice. maybe we should ask mike. i am now worried about the pair of socks i have on. i hope you are not going to give them away to someone else. i am rather fond of them, though i am all for recycling. we will talk about sport in just a minute, but for we do, we will talk about smartphones. —— before we do.

more and more people say they are becoming uneasy at the amount of time they spend on their smartphones. so could 2019 be the year we try to kick the addiction and keep our mobiles at arm's length? and, if so, what would that mean for the industry? here is our technology reporter zoe kleinman. i'm sitting here having a coffee, and if i'm honest with you, i'm itching to pick up my phone. but i can't — i feel too guilty. i know i've already spent far too much time on it today already. android is slowly rolling out its digital wellbeing dashboard, which shows you exactly how much time you're spending on your phone. i've onlyjust 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 la prairie developed android's digital wellbeing tool, like apple screen time, which shows users how long they're spending on their devices.

when people see this data, and they're 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, like, a little screen time competition. we challenge each other. essentially, hers is a little bit higher. hers is about three hours and 40 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's a bit of a waste of time, and we don't finally have a real social life. i've limited myself, anyway. i probably did use it too much, and then decided, yeah, to limit the use. google "how to break up

with your phone" and you'll get 1.6 billion search results. breaking up with your phone doesn't mean dumping your phone or throwing it under a bus... author catherine price decided to write a book about it. i was inspired by a personal experience i had where i'd had a baby, and there was one night i woke up really late and i noticed she was looking at me and i was looking at my phone. and it 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 the way i was living my own life. catherine 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 dating apps on your front screen. keep your phone 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 had. this can stop you coming back to see how well your posts are doing. meanwhile, the mobile phone industry's response is to sell us different phones. two examples you can see here, a feature phone from nokia and this new, tiny little palm—phone.

these devices are designed to be companion devices, perhaps we use at the weekend, or when you're out and about, which can just try and help you limit your usage. can a small phone really give you a breakfrom your big phone, or do you just need the willpower to hit the off button? perhaps there should be an app for that. a small phone and a big phone, there you go. two phones, that will keep you go. two phones, that will keep you off it. let's move on to sport. we were chatting while zoe's report was on. 28 years ago at christmas we had the same situation. we are back to 1990. yours and my era. liverpool we re to 1990. yours and my era. liverpool were top of the first division, leads united were top of the second—tier. and also we were reflecting on england being at the semifinals of the world cup. who was number one? cliff richard with... --

saviour‘s day. both liverpool and leads united went on to win the champions league, liverpool have been top since and it hasn't always gone to plan. 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 fourpoints clear of manchester city, in second, and liverpool boss has urged his team's fans not to be scared of the journey ahead in the second half of the season. the two greatest times liverpool have been top at christmas, they haven't gone on to win the league. but klopp says there is no room forfear. if you want to have guarantees, go for a another sport. if you want to be sure that it will be something really special, and you don't want

to see the way to that day, make it a holiday. we —— i don't where you will find that that is not broadcasted, but find the little country somewhere. if you want to enjoy the ride, to try everything you can, to be a successful as possible, welcome. let's go for it. that's all we can do, nothing else. 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 two great results, didn't they? i mean — they deserved it at man city, and so did leicester, really. so it shows how difficult it's going to be, and then we've got a nice easy home game with tottenham. so it's 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. australia's cricketers are playing

india in the third test. they have just finished the first day in melbourne. the tourists won the toss and decided to bat first. australia only took two wickets, both thanks to pat cummins. mayank agarwal and cheteshwar pujara both made half—centuries to take indias total to 215—2 at the close. the series is tied at 1—1. 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. another belt to go alongside this one would be absolutely lovely. all them boys, it don'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 days 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 is not exactly a beach holiday type event. the court is probably difficult to move around, and you wouldn't be playing in a bikini.

certainly no need for speedos. 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 24 hours and beat her nearesr —— nearest competitior, a man, who could only manage five miles fewer. maybe that is the secret to marathon success. various hope for me, then.|j various hope for me, then. i might struggle, a thing. the legendary commentator told me he sometimes does the london marathon but stops for a couple of points along the way. i sometimes go in the running group which follows the trail, and on that 5—mile run you do at the stock, but i struggle to get going again. in the world's booziest race isa again. in the world's booziest race is a full marathon in france and you go to 23 wind stops on that route.

they are still going by the end, some of them. one for the connoisseurs, obviously. we will have more from you in one hour's time. you're watching breakfast from bbc news. still to come this morning: my my leg's gone. don't panic, it can't be very far. they were a christmas institution for decades. now long lost footage of morecambe and wise has turned up in a sierra leone cinema. we'll find out how this tv treasure ended up on an african adventure. stay with us, headlines coming up. hello, good morning. this is breakfast with rogerjohnson. here's a summary of today's main stories from bbc news. it's thought that 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 lead—up to christmas. research from barclaycard claims men will be the biggest spenders, shelling out 50% more than women. 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.