good morning. welcome to breakfast with louise minchin. our headlines today: anger over hospital parking charges as more than a third of nhs trusts in england put up their fees. ash erupting from the krakatoa volcano in indonesia forces flights to be rerouted, days after it triggered a deadly tsunami. a british entertainer on one of the world's largest cruise ships is missing after going overboard on christmas day. president trump defends his decision to pull us troops out of syria as he makes a surprise trip to iraq. from sp to 10p — the price you pay for your plastic bags could soon be going up in england and this time notjust in the big supermarkets. i'll have the details. it was a dramatic day in the premier league. champions manchester city suffered another shock defeat — this time to leicester. which means liverpool go six points clear at the top. good morning. the‘s another cloudy

day ahead for most of us. the cloud thick enough for drizzle —— it's. i will tell you more in 15 minutes or so. good morning to you. it's thursday the 27th of december. our top story: more than a third of nhs hospitals in england have raised the cost of parking over the past year, with some patients and staff now paying double the price. several trusts have defended the higher costs, saying some or all of the money went back into patient care or maintaining car parks. our correspondentjohn donnison has been looking at the figures. paying to park at hospitals is a bugbear of both patients, visitors, and staff. the press association gathered data from 124 nhs trusts across england, 43% of them admitted

prices had gone up of the past year, for visitors or staff or both. the most expensive was royal surrey cou nty most expensive was royal surrey county hospital in guildford, charging £4 for a stay ofjust one hour. airedale nhs foundation trust in yorkshire saw the cost of a 24 hours a day more than double to £8. analysis of data published by nhs digital in october shows that nhs trusts made more than £226 million last year from parking, trusts made more than £226 million last yearfrom parking, including penalty fines. the royal college of nursing said its members were being overcharged for doing theirjobs. a department of health spokesperson said the government had been very clear that patients, their families, and ha rd—working staff clear that patients, their families, and hard—working staff should not be subject to unfair parking charges. those charges have been abolished in wales and most of scotland. labour has pledged to get rid of them in england as well. john donnison, bbc

news. all flights around an erupting volcano, that triggered a tsunami in indonesia over the weekend, have been rerouted. authorities in indonesia have also raised the alert status at mount anak krakatau to the second highest level, after a series of eruptions spewed out lava. on saturday, tsunamis hit coastal towns on the islands of sumatra and java, which killed at least 430 people. hundreds more are still missing. this morning, the country's disaster management agency said a three mile exclusion zone had been imposed. indonesia is prone to tsunamis because it lies on the ring of fire, an area which sees frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. we will have more later on bbc brea kfast. the 5p fee for plastic carrier bags in england will be doubled to 10p under plans set out by the environment secretary. sean has got more on this. good morning. lovely to see you. and

you. and particularly the tie. i wasn't around at christmas. it is not too late, is it? so, plastic bags, we were talking about it in the summer when theresa may were saying there might be some consultation by the end of the year. today we have a bit more detail on what those plans are going to be. it is not like it it will be implemented tomorrow. you have 5p charge introduced in england in 2015. key to say in england. it a lwa ys 2015. key to say in england. it always is. but england was a bit behind scotland, wales, and northern ireland on these charges on bags. at least 250 employees need to be at the retailer for them to discharge in place. part of this consultation today, that says that actually it will go up to 10p, that would be pa rt will go up to 10p, that would be part of the plans for single use carrier bags in england for all businesses. that is a key part of

this. it would roll out to smaller retailers. it is a consultation, so they will be putting the question is out there. the id would be to whimper is by 2020, january 20 20. —— the idea would be to roll this out. they are supportive of this. they say a lot of doing this already. it is interesting, we have heard a lot about bags for life, yesterday, about the number. the average number of bags for life a household is using per year, 44. the maths of alwi using more plastic or not in these carrier bags overall is still an interesting one that they have not got to the bottom of yet. nothing in this consultation is about this —— the mass of our wee using. thank you very much. people may be seeing some of our schools. the education secretary is saying he

wa nts the education secretary is saying he wants schools to go to no single use plastic in the next three or four yea rs, plastic in the next three or four years, straws, plastic in the next three or four yea rs, straws, cartons plastic in the next three or four years, straws, cartons forfood, that sort of stuff. that might be something perras will be looking at as well. sean, see you later. thank you. a search is taking place for a british cruise ship entertainer, who went overboard in the caribbean on christmas day. the us coastguard was alerted after 20—year—old arron hough failed to turn up for his shift on harmony of the seas where he'd been performing in a musical. monika plaha reports. it's one of the world's largest cruise ships, longer than the eiffel tower, with the ability to carry 8000 passengers. one of them was 20—year—old dancer and musical theatre graduate arron hough, who was working on board the harmony of the seas before he went missing on christmas day. injuly, his talent agency tweeted that he would be joining the cast of grease the musical. harmony of the seas is currently sailing on a seven night

itinerary, which departed from florida last sunday. the ship was 267 miles north—west of puerto rico at the time arron went overboard and is due to call at haiti before returning back to florida. a spokesperson for the ship's operator, the royal caribbean, said that after a review of the ship's camera footage arron was seen entering an area on deck by the drug for i was not seen again. they say their team is providing support for arron‘s family and friends through this difficult time. the harmony of the seas will complete its scheduled itinerary as the us coastguard continue to lead the search. the foreign office say they are providing assistance to arron‘s family. monika plaha, bbc news. president trump has made a surprise visit to us troops in iraq. he defended his decision to withdraw us forces from syria which prompted his defence secretary, james mattis, to resign last week. our washington correspondent

chris buckler has more. president trump travelled with the first lady to iraq to spread some christmas cheer and to thank troops for their service and sacrifice. we came to al—assad this year, our eternal gratitude for everything you do to keep america safe, strong, and free. last week, in a sudden surprise decision, he announced that american forces would be leaving very, causing concern in washington and several corners of the world. but mrtrump said and several corners of the world. but mr trump said he believed that a lot of people were going to come round to his way of thinking. he went on to insist that it is time for us to start using our head. one person remains unconvinced as the outgoing defence secretary, james mattis, who resigned over the president's plans. mr trump says he is in no hurry to find a permanent successor to general mattis, a sign that he intends to push forward with

what he believes is right. it's reported that the pentagon has been asked to draw up plans to severely reduce the number of american troops in afghanistan. many in the military feel there is still much work to be done that and in syria. and there has been widespread criticism of mr trump's suggestion that the so called islamic state group have been defeated. even with those questions about his foreign policy, mr trump may well feel that that trip to iraq has been a brief break from the battles he is facing year in washington. there are concerns about the economy, the stock market, and the economy, the stock market, and the partial government shutdown which left hundreds of thousands of federal workers over christmas either on unpaid leave or not knowing when they will be paid. mr trump insists he will only accept a funding deal if it gives him $5 billion for a border war with mexico. and democrats insist that is not going to happen. it has left many believing that this shutdown will last for some time to come will

stop chris buckler, bbc news, washington. black and ethnic minority workers are consistently paid around £3.2 billion less than their white colleagues. that's according to a report by the resolution foundation, a thing tank focusing on people on lower incomes. it used data from a survey of a 100,000 people over ten years. the government says it's brought in new laws to help companies make sure their management is representative of their workforce. we might not have experienced a white christmas but a two giant pandas have been having a great time playing in the snow in a chinese safari park. the attraction hasn't experienced a big snowfall since last winter, so the white stuff had to be created artificially. zookeepers here have been working hard to build good environment to make sure the pandas are happy and healthy. lovely to see pandas. it is 11 minutes past six.

you're watching breakfast from bbc news. time now for a look at the newspapers. the daily mail leads with our top story this morning it's headline calls nhs hospital parking increases in england ‘a sickening betrayal‘. many trusts are defending the decision to raise charges which they say goes back to patient care. meanwhile, the daily telegraph reports that parents will be told not to wrap their children's sandwiches in cling film, under plans to make all schools plastic—free within three years. it says the education secretary damian hinds is urging head teachers to opt for sustainable packaging. the front page also carrying a picture from a traditional boxing day hunt in the midlands — many of those yesterday were also said to be attended by animal rights protestors. the times leads on comments from the defence secretary gavin williamson, reporting that he has "very deep concerns" about the chinese company huawei providing technology to upgrade britain's internet to superfast 5g. another picture there

from a hunting event yesterday, that one from bawtry in yorkshire. the sun says prisoners at swaleside prison in kent are being allowed to stroke pygmy goats in nhs—funded therapy sessions. "you've goat to be kidding," reads its headline. the most read story on the bbc news website this morning is about us pop star miley cyrus, who has confirmed her marriage to her logn—standing partner, the actor, liam hemsworth. she shared images from the ceremony, which is reported to have taken place on sunday, on her twitter account. shall we look at one inside page? papers talking about who was watching what over christmas eve and christmas day. this is the way the times have written it up. bbc‘s lays

rivals with dragons and dance and top ten, number one the queen. it 6.3 watched the queen's speech. closely followed by stickley come dancing, call the midwife on the bbc, eastenders, and it goes on —— stickley come dancing. other newspapers talking about how the christmas viewing figures really have dropped over the last few years as well. you are watching bbc brea kfast. as well. you are watching bbc breakfast. thank you for watching us over christmas. somebody who has been here all the time, thank you carol michaels to good morning to you. how was it going? it is an action replay. the past few days we have been talking about large amounts of cloud. for the next few days that is what we will be talking about again. today is the case. there will be a loss of cloud around. the cloud picken up here and therefore the odd spot of drizzle. what we have is high

pressure in charge of the weather —— the cloud picken. not doing much more than producing this cloud. at times it will produce drizzle as well. through the day we will see brea ks well. through the day we will see breaks develop. rates across north—eastern scotland, eastern england, southern england, and parts of wales and northern ireland —— breaks. the emphasis is on a fairly cloudy day. breezy in the north, not much wind as we push further south. temperatures today, low in the south than they were yesterday, but still pretty high in the north. the average temperatures at this time of year, six in the north, eat in the south. you can see how much we are above them, especially in scotland —— eight. through this receiving an overnight we hang on to a fair bit of cloud. we will see fog forming in the south, some of that will be dense. then a weather front coming in from the west is going to introduce some rain. not a particularly cold night. not anticipating problems with frost. as we start the day tomorrow, murky

conditions, some fog and dense fog in parts of the south. as the cloud comes from the north into the south it will break up. tomorrow, behind that, a fair bit of sunshine for scotland, northern england, northern ireland, and north wales. the temperatures again pretty good for this time of year. as we move from friday into saturday, you can see this weather front coming our way, introducing some rain, a breezy day on saturday. high pressure still firmly in charge. still quite a bit of cloud around. there will be brea ks of cloud around. there will be breaks across england and wales. as the front comes in it will introduce some bands of rain, turning lighter and more patchy for most of us as we go through the day. temperatures, six is the average, eight is the average, above what we would expect. into sunday, more of the same. a fair bit of cloud around. some rea kes fair bit of cloud around. some reakes here fair bit of cloud around. some rea kes here and fair bit of cloud around. some reakes here and there. —— some breaks. we are chasing where we will

see be breaks. not much difference. we have this patchy light rain or drizzle coming away. on new year's eve or hogmanay, depending where you are, still a eve or hogmanay, depending where you are, stillafair eve or hogmanay, depending where you are, still a fair bit of cloud around. breezy in the north, temperatures not bad for the end of december. if you are going out at midnight, well, it will be cloudy, it could be murky for some of us, but not particularly cold. it could be murky for some of us, but not particularly coldlj it could be murky for some of us, but not particularly cold. i love that. if you are going out. i certainly won't be. thank you very much. see you soon. fewer of us went to the boxing day sales, with figures falling for the third year in a row. what is going on? i am not sure what is going on, apparently there were still some people out at 4am, but not the kind of scale we have been seen not the kind of scale we have been seenin not the kind of scale we have been seen in previous years. the boxing day sales used to be a big deal, with people camping out in the streets to bag a bargain. but, on the whole, that isn't happening anymore.

according to the latest figures from springboard, which monitors high street visits, overall visits to the shops on boxing day were down 3.1% on the same day last year. interestingly it was the traditional high street that didn't do too badly — visits only down 0.3% on last year. but the number of people hitting retail parks and shopping centres was down a lot more. all of this means it is the third year in a row that boxing day is seeing few people in stores. we can talk to kate hardcastle, a retail expert from insight with passion. good morning. good morning. were you one of those at 4am yesterday morning? you knowl one of those at 4am yesterday morning? you know i wasn't. it is not for me, there are better bargains to come if you are a bargains to come if you are a bargain hunter and the discounts are already bigger than we have seen at this time of year before, because we have had this continued discounting from black friday. do shoppers know

that, or is there a feeling that there will be a discount at some point in the year? i think that is a salient point, this mentality of co nsta nt salient point, this mentality of constant discounts is driving customers and doing damage to brands out there, because if you know a brand is in perpetual discount, why do you have an incentive to buy at full price at any time of year? so they are trying to add extra value but there is a dilemma in terms of how retailers can get the full price and full glory amidst all of this challenge we have in terms of online versus offline shopping, and also the experience of economy, which is people buying experiences like spa treatments and drumming lessons for christmas. and in the next couple of weeks we will start to hear from retailers about how they have done. how do you think it has gone? is at a bloodbath or survival? my gut feel is that it will be a really

challenging time for all those midmarket rands. i think the discounters will perform well, some of the higher end shops and unique brands will do well, and some independent retailers who are the saviours of the highest treat will have had a reasonable time. but i think generally the middle market will be carved once again, and what isn't surprising is that news, but the consistency of that message for eight, nine or ten years, whereas the hope and change? a different topic we are talking about this morning, plastic bag used in shops. there has been a huge move in the number of single use carrier bags used in our supermarkets, 15 billion odd to 3 billion odd, but still a large amount being used, 3 billion is still a lot. do you think the move from 5p is still a lot. do you think the move from sp to 10p will make a difference? what i am confused about, and you are right that the charges made a big difference, is that we have so many other battles to fight within plastic and excess packaging, for instance, within supermarkets. a banana with its own

packaging, why do we need that access there? so while the bag campaign has been brilliant and if you average of more than might be a marginal difference, there are much bigger battles to fight in terms of how we can fight packaging and retail. and who is fighting it? is it the supermarkets, or do they still need to be told by the government you need to do more, you need to be charged more, you need to be using certain containers. need to be charged more, you need to be using certain containerslj need to be charged more, you need to be using certain containers. i think the more pressure there is, the change will happen sooner. well, still discounts out there. it is very interesting what she says about full price, as well. olivia colman, dominic west and lily collins — just some of the big—name actors starring in the bbc‘s new adaptation of les miserables, but not one of them is singing from the rooftops about it. the six—part drama leaves the songs from the musical to one side, and as breakfast'sjohn maguire has been finding out, the series goes back to basics and explores the story of love and revolution. action. taking les mis from the

page, and there are almost 1500 of them, to the screen requires a huge number of people. it starts with the writer. andrew davies's cv includes house of cards, happy cat pride and red—shirt is, and war and piece —— prejudice. i have kind of got a taste for some of these great big books now. so onset, is he nervous about watching his words come to ught? about watching his words come to light? yes, you can get a bit anxious hoping that they will get it right, in fact you are really hoping they will do more than that, but they will do more than that, but they will do something better than you even imagined, and a lot of the time that is happening here. the clothes help to tell the story. it isa clothes help to tell the story. it is a costume drama, after all. and i am shown items that are created new and then distressed to make them

look old and worn by relentlessly tough lives. edney is ours, it really needs a long time to get this kind of texture into it. so i think they have done an amazing job. it is beautiful. much of this new adaptation has been filmed in belgium, from high society paris to toulon prison, the locations help to transport the audience to the fronts of two centuries ago. so with the story, the script, the actors, the director and vitally the costumes in place, it comes time to choose the locations. what about this place? and original napoleonic jail. locations. what about this place? and original napoleonicjail. it is atmospheric and it is certainly quite spooky. of course, hair and make up play a transformative role. not a bad match at all, there you go. that's transformed you straightaway into a dandy. go. that's transformed you straightaway into a dandym go. that's transformed you straightaway into a dandy. it didn't ta ke straightaway into a dandy. it didn't take much, did it? here you go. so you are the most famous movie make—up artist in the world. you are the most famous movie make-up artist in the world. why? because of that picture with aidan

turner. that one? i always get cut out of that one, don't i? we used facial head to denote class distinction. it is the icing on the ca ke distinction. it is the icing on the cake with costumes. that is something you would get, like that. very dignified. so, from the beards to the barricades, ‘les miserables' is set to blow you away. that is an image i am not sure i am going to get out of my head, john is a dandy. 'les miserables', a brilliant film, but i have to say, one football team who are certainly 'les miserables' this morning, manchester city. another defeat yesterday, on boxing day. it is a lwa ys yesterday, on boxing day. it is always a very busy day on boxing day, in the premier league. oxime day for me is two things, football and chocolate, and that was pretty much it for me yesterday, but

liverpool, another story. they remained unbeaten this season and have extended their lead at the top. manchester city have now dropped down to third, which is definitely the story of the day. well, the premier league certainly looks a lot different this morning. another big win for liverpool over newcastle and that defeat for manchester city to leicester means thatjurgen klopp's men are even further ahead at the top, six ahead of tottenham, who went second, and seven ahead of champions city. austin halewood rounds up the best of the action. and dagger as the final whistle. a christmas to forget for guardiola. some had begun to think it was impossible, but the second defeat for manchester city in five days has in the premier league wide open. the champions had plenty of chances at leicester, but they can often be magic in the air at the king power. it has come as far as ricardo, and

what a hit. a dollar dropped the city down to third, and with liverpool still undefeated, a turning point in the season? we played man city and still in... what is it, a daze, in a week. so if i will be at man city, i would think it was only format. so that means absolutely nothing. so liverpool aren't getting ahead of themselves, but when your defenders start doing this, things are going pretty well. a missile from lovren lifting liverpool even farther above manchester city. a four goal demolition of newcastle means they are now firmly the team to beat, seven point ahead of the champions. but a new contender is emerging down south. tottenham thrashing bournemouth 5—0. 11 goals injust four days for spurs, another ruthless display taking them into second. while talk of the top four may still be premature, smiles were finally back at old trafford. the new manager managing his first home

game, and just seven days into the job, the turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable. and then pogba! already the celebrations becoming familiar, his side playing with the talent they had all along. pogba a p pa re ntly talent they had all along. pogba apparently happy once again. finally, at old trafford, things could be starting to look up. elsewhere, everton thumped burnley 5—1 at turf moor, brighton and arsenal played out a 1—1 draw, and chelsea won 2—1 at watford, to move two points clear of the gunners in fourth. the games at fulham and crystal palace both ended in draws. in the scottish premiership, scott sinclair scored a hat—trick as leaders celtic beat aberdeen 4—3 in a thriller at pittodrie. the game was poised at 2—2 going into the final five minutes, before goals from odsonne edouard and sinclair sealed the win, to extend their lead at the top to three points. elsewhere, rangers were held to a 1—1 draw at home to hibs. there were also wins for hearts, kilmarnock and stjohnstone. clan des obeaux was the surprise

winner of the king george vi chase at kempton. the 16:1 shot ridden by harry cobden narrowly beat veteran thistlecrack in a dramatic finish, giving trainer paul nicholls his tenth win at the boxing day showpiece. the gold cup winner native river came in third. india remain in a strong position on day two of the third test against australia in melbourne. the tourists resumed on 215—2. cheteshwar pujara hit 106, while skipper virat kohli added 82 to maintain their control of the match. however, the australians have fought back to take three wickets since lunch, including those of pujara and kohli, to leave india on 432—5. the series is currently tied at 1—1. and, just before we leave you, let's see what happened when a footballing legend surprised a group of schoolchildren by dressing up as who else but santa claus. this is paris st—germain goalkeeper

gianluigi buffon donning the big red suit and white beard, joined by psg players angel di maria and thiago silva, spreading some christmas cheer and presents for the youngsters. they looked delighted. they got some presence, as well. you love a good christmas jumper. some of them might have been hoping for the real santa claus, but somehow, i don't think they are too disappointed. i don't think so, though. they look absolutely thrilled. what a nice surprise. i tell you, i didn't absolutely thrilled. what a nice surprise. itell you, i didn't get an italian footballer underneath my christmas tree this year. i will keep on wishing. still to come: i know if there are any problems they can come and tell me, and they

really a m they can come and tell me, and they really am a little best friends. —— they really are my little best friends. a snapshot of life for one single—parent family, as a new report suggests that being part of one doesn't have a negative impact on a child's wellbeing. stay with us, headlines coming up. hello, this is breakfast with louise minchin. here's a summary of today's main stories from bbc news. more than 40% of hospitals in england have raised parking fees over the past year. the figures came in response to freedom of information requests by the press association. some nhs trusts defended the higher charges, saying some or all of the money went back into patient care or maintaining car parks. but there's anger that patients, visitors and staff are paying more.