we discussed on this programme before christmas the noisy disruptions of live broadcasts outside parliament, but since then, protesters for and against brexit have become more numerous and more distracting, as we saw elsewhere on monday's programme. what does the irish backstop mean? man shouting. this is central to theresa may's problems, at the moment? it's meant to be an insurance policy. a lot of reassurance in the words there but the trouble is it doesn't alter the fact that the backstop is still there in the withdrawal agreement and there is no unilateral exit. i should make the point, they are not shouting at you — they are shouting at colleagues not far away. but, unlike with correspondent chris morris there, the offstage comments heard during an interview with anna soubry, conservative mp, and passionate anti—brexiteer, were most definitely directed at her. this could go on for a while. that's the other thing that now has got to happen. we have to do absolutely. shouting: soubry is a nazi!

i do object to being called a nazi, absolutely. right. well, apologies if you were offended. ijust think this is astonishing. this is what has happened to our country, actually. this is what has happened to our country. shouting: soubry is a nazi! anyway, let's try and move on and be positive about things. anna soubry has received death threats because of her stance on brexit and was laterjostled by protesters shouting abuse on her way into the house of commons. following the programme, simon mccoy took to twitter, to describe that chanting as "disgraceful." but others thought that some of the blame should be laid at the bbc‘s door. donald mccallum contacted us to say: peter atkins wondered: and mick tonks suggested: well, to discuss this,

i'm joined from the bbc newsroom by sam taylor, executive editor of the news channel. sam, what was your reaction to seeing anna soubry called a nazi live on air? well, let's be clear, no—one working in the media, in politics, members of the public, no—one should be exposed to any kind of abuse or intimidation from people. and in that regard, the events of this week were shocking and, you know, not something we would support in any way. what i'm pleased to see is that the response from parliamentarians and the police has been very clear. there's a clear desire to ensure things like this don't happen again and there have been enhancements made to the policing moving forward. although it's a tricky incident, i do think changes are in place now which should allow us to continue with the important work of reporting parliament from this location.

this wasn't an isolated incident — viewers have been complaining for quite some time about protesters on college green really distracting from interviewees. why are you still there? well, look, there's a very clear and simple reason why all the broadcasters, over many years, have interviewed people from that location on big parliamentary occasions. and that's because of the access you get to parliamentarians and your ability to interview them. they're in the house during the day. they are not able to travel to studios in the way they might when the house isn't sitting. and there's a long tradition of people coming out and being open and speaking to the media about what's going on. it's also one of the few locations in westminster where you can bring together parliamentarians with people who aren't members of the house, which you can't do inside the palace of westminster itself. and it allows us, therefore, to have a debate and bring different points of view together. so from a kind of helping viewers understand what's happening with the story and bringing them real—time insights from the guests, it's long been a good place to do that. and having our presenters front and centre on the story and having those discussions

also helps them to see the way the story is moving. so that's been the long—term reason for being there. you'll know that there is a real concern now about safety, the safety of mps. viewers are worried. could you simply stop this by broadcasting from your millbank studio instead of college green? would you do that? we do carefully consider when to broadcast on location. but in the same way, i think there's a very careful balance to be struck between respecting the rights of peaceful protesters and the approach to policing. it's also very important that the media's right to report, which is another form of freedom of expression, is protected as well. so we do want to be working in an environment in which parliamentarians and the media can talk to each other without disruption. and i have some hope that this week's discussion and the changes being made to procedures on the ground will allow us to continue that important work. you know, this could get worse. and some viewers think the bbc has to take some responsibility for allowing the situation to arise. what's your response? well, i think we have to be clear

that this week's events were very unusual. they have prompted a serious response and a proper response. some of that is still being considered in a legal context. we need to allow that process to continue. we have done many, many hours of broadcasting from that location and it has brought some of the most—watched elements of our coverage in recent months. we often gain interviews on location that we simply wouldn't be able to get via other means. so, i would have a reverse concern that viewers may lose out if we're not able to get that first—hand contact with politicians when it really counts. more generally, there's clearly been a poisoning of the general political discourse that's fuelled these ugly confrontations. do you think the bbc has a role to play in calming things down again? the bbc is an impartial broadcaster. it's not ourjob to get into policing anything or telling people what to do. that's not the role we play at all, as i am sure your viewers will well recognise. i do think in terms of the style

of our programming, though we've thought quite a lot in recent times of how to bring people together, how to trigger more conversations. on the donald trump story, actually, the challenge has been in our beyond 100 days programme, for example, to bring different views together and avoid that polarisation where you're watching a show that gives you potentially one point of view and not the other. so that's an example where we try to promote conversation, and, to some extent, being at college green is also part of thatjigsaw. where simon mccoy, huw, anita, joanna, they are down there and they are actually trying to bring people together to have a discussion which generates more light than heat. and i think that is one thing that we can do to try and ensure that people get to understand the issues. and some of the stronger views expressed on social media and even in the street on occasions don't dominate the reporting of the news. sam taylor, thank you. just time for a couple more of your reactions to bbc output this week.

and on friday morning, andy murray's announcement that he was retiring from tennis drew huge attention on social news media. during the day, bbc news frequently showed clips of the news conference he gave, where murray's raw emotions were clearly apparent. reporter: does that mean that this might be your last tournament? sniffs. exhales deeply. um, yeah, i think — i think there's a chance of that, yeah, for sure. clearly uncomfortable viewing. and some viewers objected to the prominence given to that on bbc news, with lawrence foster wondering: finally, thursday night saw the start of a new era as fiona bruce kicked off her stint

as only the fourth permanent presenter of question time in the programme's ao—year history. among the guests were the deputy chairman of the conservative party, james cleverly. what is your plan b? i'm explaining, i'm explaining. ok, i'm still waiting. the idea that you can magic up some alternative plan is not an option... so, you don't have a plan b! hang on, you said you have got a plan b, but you haven't got a plan b. delaying... ..to have a second referendum is not an option. what's your plan? my plan... our plan is on the table. no, ijust asked you what is your plan b, and you said, "i'm going to tell you what my plan b is". have i missed it? no, no. our plan is to deliver the agreement that's been negotiated with the 27... audience groans. do you really think that's going to go through on tuesday? do you really think you're going to win the vote? fiona bruce's performance, stepping into david dimbleby‘s shoes, was greeted warmly, with steve fuller writing: the left wing uk agreed:

and brian phillips also voiced reservations about the programme, but not the presenter. well, we hope to raise your thoughts about question time with a representative from the programme at some point over the next few weeks. thank you for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions on bbc news and current affairs or even appear on the programme, you can call us on: ore—mail us. have a look at our website, the address for that is: that's all from us. we will be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye.

hello. the weekend is upon us and there will be some spells of sunshine around, like there was to end the day on friday in portsmouth. it will also briefly be feeling a little bit milder, but also increasingly windy and there will be a few showers around as well. in fact, for western parts of scotland, some persistent spells of rain. and that comes courtesy of this cold front which we can see here, already delivering some persistent rain across the western isles through the early hours of saturday morning and slowly sinking its way south and eastward. so for much of the uk, it will be a fairly cloudy day on saturday. increasingly windy, a few showers sinking their way southwards but tending to dissipate as they do but the showers will give way to a more persistent spell of rain initially across the east of northern ireland and later in the day across northern and western scotland and some of that rain just arriving into the far north of england as well. quite a windy day, particularly across scotland. that's an idea of average strengths

but gusts could well touch 30 or a0 miles an hour. but for many, a milder—feeling day, temperatures into double figures, around 10 or ii celsius. 0vernight, it's cloudy, it'd windy, a bit damp in places with some patchy drizzle but more persistent rain pushing its way across northern —— 0vernight, it's cloudy, it's windy, a bit damp in places with some patchy drizzle but more persistent rain pushing its way across northern scotland and then slowly sinking its way southwards to arrive perhaps into the far north of england by dawn on sunday, but it will be a mild night — temperatures not much lower than seven or eight celsius. so here is how sunday shapes up. notice how the isobars are really quite close together. it's an increasingly windy day. this cold front will be sliding its way southwards, tending to weaken as it does, just bringing a few showers. we'll see plenty of showers, though, piling into northern and western scotland. a much cooler feel to the day here. further south, some bright or sunny spells. increasingly windy, though, and this is an idea of average gusts through sunday afternoon — quite widely 30 or a0 miles an hour. for northern and western scotland, gusts of up to 50 or 60 miles an hour and a slightly cooler feel here during sunday afternoon with some blustery showers. further south, still quite mild — ten or ii celsius. but not for long, because as we go into next week, we start to lose

the milder yellow colours. they become confined to south—western fringes and elsewhere, it turns colder again. now, on monday, the winds will slowly ease down, so lighter winds, a mixture of variable cloud and sunny spells. but aside from one or two showers across northern scotland, it should be a dry day. but everywhere starting to feel cooler — temperatures up to between five and nine celsius. and that's how the week continues in the week ahead. the temperatures will be starting to slide away. here is an idea of our city forecast over the next five days. by the end of the week, temperatures not much higher than six or seven celsius. so, for the week ahead, it will turn colder, a return of the overnight frost and some of the showers could be wintry. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is reged ahmad — our top stories: when the united nations made the request of us that we grant ms alqunun asylum, we accepted. the prime minister of canada confirms his country has offered

asylum to the saudi woman who'd fled to thailand in fear for her life. the partial government shutdown is about to become the longest in us history — but president trump says he won't declare a national emergency. it's the easy way out. but congress should do this. this is too simple, it's too basic, and congress should do this. a teenager from wisconsin, held captive since her parents were murdered in october, has managed to escape. a man has been charged. and heavy snow causes more widespread disruption across europe