restricted to people over 100 years old. i'm not quite adult. —— that old. with me isjonathan charles — who is managing director of communications at the european bank for reconstruction and development. the irish times has been devoted to this issue for weeks now, the irish backstop and the fact that there seems to be no movement on this. and it is now the key issue, given what happened in parliament last week. the clock is ticking, and there is not much time to go. the irish times was discussing what we talk about the little while ago, this new working party. this "alternative arrangements working group", which sounds like something from a factory in the 1960s. brexiteer is steve baker, marcus fish, tojoin the remain as damian green and nicky morgan, what alternative arrangements will bake come up with? this is a fantastic idea of ui

theresa may because it allows you to pretend to bring both sides of the debate together, those who would like a soft brexit, hard brexit, levers and remain as. it is a displacement activity, it wastes time over the next week before she goes back to parliament on the 13th and then a possible vote on valentine's day. alternative arrangements, there is not a single alternative arrangement that has not been studied in great detail by the uk and eu officials over the last two years amid all the negotiations. it is very hard to see how this can make progress. we are hearing time and again, not just make progress. we are hearing time and again, notjust from irish politicians, as the irish times says, but also from politicians also all over the eu to be seven, officials in brussels, that theresa may's deal is the deal, they are not prepared to renegotiate. at the very best they might be prepared to have some more words which explain it, but not a dramatic change. steve

baker, one of the people who will be attending to this meeting in downing street has said over the weekend, that if the irish backstop is not withdrawn, then there is no way they can back theresa may's deal. so it just seems to be more discussion, which is not really going to get anything done. where did you think we are headed in that case, given what you have just said and what this article discusses, the fact they are talking about technological solutions, which ireland has discounted and says they will not accept. they don't really exist. what are you think will happen, because something has to happen or will we just be leaving on march 29 without a deal? personally i do not leave we will be leaving on march 29. when it comes to it, unless there is an accident, and accidents do happen, which will automatically mean we leave, i think that probably in the weeks ahead, and especially when she comes back to parliament next week, we are either looking at

mps really do have to decide to back her deal, because it is the best thatis her deal, because it is the best that is available, all we probably have to move towards an extension of article 50. but that was... mps had not get behind that idea, if it could put that amendment —— effect to the put forward that amendment but it was not voted on. time is really running out. bye next week we will be six weeks away. the nearer we get to march 29 is the mirror at the moment that mps have to decide tobacco deal or agree on an extension. i think we are getting close. one reason that it not back an article 50 extension the other week, was because they were promised they could have another bite of the cherry in mid—february, on the 14th of february or thereabouts. i think we are getting to the point where even government ministers who want to leave are saying, one way or the other, privately, we have to have an extension. it is inevitable we are

going that way. i know how i am going that way. i know how i am going to spend valentine's day, that's for sure. i'd am not sure theresa may knows how she is going to spend valentine's day. when you talk about execution concentrating the mine, the financial times are many other papers have the decision by nissan to not build the x—trail at its sunderland plant. the ft‘s business section —— business secretary greg clark talking to theresa may and saying how disappointing this is. and saying you have to get no deal scenario off the agenda, because companies like nissan are having to make choices, and while that is still there, the fa ct and while that is still there, the fact that we could leave on march 29 without a deal, global companies are saying they are not going to stick around. these political discussions have real—world consequences for workers in companies like nissan, for people all over the united kingdom and indeed other eu countries. what we are seeing now is

japanese countries —— companies, they are voting with their feet because they came to the united kingdom to have frictionless raid, —— trade, they wanted to be inside the single market. it is not clear to them whether the uk will remain inside the single market or what the situation is. they have also taken this as a business decision around a falling off of demand further diesel cars. they do not want to produce another diesel car in the united kingdom. but they have made it clear that brexit uncertainty as part of it. we should also not rule out what is happening in the eu—japan it. we should also not rule out what is happening in the eu— japan trade deal, they signed this a few days ago. this also allows, or makes it much easier to export richly from japan into the eu. they say they are going to produce the x—trail in japan, they know full well the ta riffs japan, they know full well the tariffs on exports from japan into the eu will be falling, so it makes it potentially profitable to do it

there. there are many things happening here, this is not the only companies can't compete —— company —— japanese company who is warning about the future if they can not have frictionless trade. let's move on to france, micron to hold a referendum in a bid to hold a referendum in a bid to hold a referendum in a bid to hold a referendum in may —— emmanuel macron. he too is finding this a very difficult situation to resolve, isn't he. these yellow vest protectors are isn't he. these yellow vest protectors a re not isn't he. these yellow vest protectors are not going away, the protests are smaller in terms of scale, but it is not resolved. and we see this populist anger all over europe, we will see it playing out probably in the parliamentary elections for the european parliament which are coming up soon, whether yellow vests, it will be in may, a month of lots of action. he is trying to quell this yellow vest

anger by saying, we will have a referendum, but is not a referendum on the things that worry them, because they are economic issues about how they are being hit in their pockets. he is saying a referendum would ask voters if they wa nt to referendum would ask voters if they want to reduce the number of mps and limit the number of terms could serve. he is saying that you will have some say on democracy. do i think that will be enough to settle the people who say financially you don't care about us? audibly not. he offered a change in the pension, changes in all sorts of policies that he thought would quell the angen that he thought would quell the anger, but they are not going away. one interesting thing is that france has a very rough, at it like the referendum result in the united kingdom, they have rough history of the referendum going the wrong way. there was the shock of the referendum on the new eu constitution being rejected by the french, in 1992 the vote on the

maastricht treaty, which onlyjust got over the line, just over 50%. when people are offered the vote in a referendum, it is never always about that issue, it is a chance to whack the government if you don't know what is going on. just briefly, the new apple smart watch, if you colla pse the new apple smart watch, if you collapse and fall over it alerts the authorities. when it was announced that also was brilliant for people with alzheimer's, and it seems to work. it works in norway. if you are fallen, if you are over 65 it sends a signal to the police. it happened in norway, it called the authorities and they found this guide dizzy killer bloody with fletcher ‘s on his face. —— fractures on his face. we are hearing about alexa, you can

soon say "alexa, call the police. " this is a great story from hawaii. hawaii became the first sale of —— first aid hawaii became the first sale of —— firstaid in hawaii became the first sale of —— first aid in the us to ban the sale to anyone under 21. by 2022 know one will be able to buy cigarettes under 30. you probably —— it will be raised to 100. if you are 100 years old, fantastic, if you are younger than that, too bad. that is the briefing, we will see you soon. hello. after the coldest, snowiest week of the winter so far, there was only a gradual thaw over the weekend,

but that is going to pick up pace in the coming days. but this is going to be disappearing away from the higher hills and mountains, as temperatures are heading up across the uk. but monday still starting on a chilly note across northern scotland, where there's some snow around. several centimetres into the hills here, above 150 metres or so, but a bit to even lower levels than that. it could be icy in places around this area of low pressure, which has also pushed this band of rain east across the uk through the night, though lingering for a time in the morning, particularly, across east anglia and south—east england. so the snowfall in northern scotland could be causing a few problems as the day begins. that's slowly going to fizzle during the day. it's quite windy for a time in scotland, as well. the rain pulls away from the south—east. it's going to drag its heels, certainly, in kent. a lot of cloud behind this weather system, so we're not going to see much in the way of sunshine for east anglia and south—east england. elsewhere, though, some sunny spells, one or two showers around, and already temperatures are going up, and towards parts of wales and south—west england in particular, could be as high as 12 celsius.

but, with the wind easing further under clear skies, there's another frost on the way on monday night and into tuesday morning. now, there could well be some fog developing, particularly through parts of southern england, that could be quite dense as tuesday begins. so here the temperature may not fall too far. but elsewhere, yes, there's that widespread frost, and we haven't had one of those for a while. so a frosty and in places foggy start to tuesday, but some sunshine around, before the next atlantic weather system start to feed in thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain moving north—east during the day, with a freshening south—westerly wind. it will be, the further north—east you are, you'll hold onto the drier, sunny conditions for longest on tuesday. so we will see outbreaks of rain spreading further east on tuesday night, and into wednesday, most of that clears. but this weather front mayjust linger close to parts of east anglia and south—east england. still something to play for in the detail, but if it does, expect further outbreaks of rain. whereas elsewhere, there's a few days to come of sunshine and showers on a brisk breeze, but you'll notice the temperatures.

they are at or even above normal for the time of year. and that is the big weather change for this week. it's the feel of the weather. as temperatures recover, it'll be much milder. still unsettled, with low pressure close by, so some rain at times, not all the time. there'll be some sunshine occasionally, too. often windy, but mild south—westerlies. good morning — welcome to breakfast, with dan walker and louise minchin. our headlines today: wreckage from a plane carrying the cardiff city footballer emiliano sala has been been discovered near the channel islands conservative mps who voted leave and remain are to begin talks to try to find a compromise on brexit. researchers say younger people are being exposed to the dangers of being overweight earlier and for longer and are at greater risk of getting an obesity—related cancer. labour calls for ministers

to answer serious questions after nissan pulls out of making its new car in sunderland. i'll have more on what it means for the uk car industry. history is made in atlanta as tom brady wins