this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 8pm. president trump confirms he will invoke emergency powers to pay for a border wall with mexico. we are going to be signing, today, and registering national emergency and registering national emergency and it's a great thing to do. the family of the british teenager shameema begum, who ran away to join the islamic state and now wants to come home to have her baby — call on the government to help her return to the uk as quickly as possible. thousands of pupils skip school, and take to the streets, in protest against climate change. how our personal data has been manipulated for political influence, sometimes at the highest levels of power. that's the subject of a report by mps into disinformation and fake news expected out next week. award—winning author, andrea leavy,

whose works chronicled the windrush generation, has died aged 62. rosamund pike stars as war correspondent marie colvin in a private war — we'll hear what mark kermode thought of that on the film review at 8.45. good evening. donald trump has defied his critics, many in his own party, by declaring a national emergency to bypass congress, to get the billions of dollars he says he needs to build a border wall with mexico. at a news conference at the white house, he said a barrier was needed to stop

an "invasion" of drugs, gangs, human traffickers and undocumented migrants. however democrats say the move is unconstitutional, because the president has exaggerated problems on the border, to try to fulfil a rash campaign promise, and they'll fight him all the way to the supreme court. but what is the truth on the ground? our correspondent dan johnson is in san diego, on the us/mexico border. donald trump's basic plan is that by building a wall, securing the border, you can focus the drug, the goods, the people who are crossing, whether they are criminals or asylum—seekers to points like this, the official border crossings, and you can free up border agents to focus their energy here too. but there will be disappointment from people and politicians on donald trump's own side, that he's failed to get the $5 billion he wanted for the wall, and his democrat opponents are saying this is a manufactured crisis and an illegal declaration. i should warn you, there

are flashing images coming up. this dividing line this dividing line's become the defining issue of donald trump's presidency. it's split american opinion and gridlocked government like never before. the president of the united states. now there is a funding deal but it falls $4 billion short of donald trump's target. so today, he raised the stakes. we're going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border, and we're going to do it one way or the other we have to do it. they say walls don't work. walls work 100%, i'm going to be signing a national emergency. we're talking about an invasion of our country, with drugs, with human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs. these are the final footsteps of that human trafficking trail.

whoa, whoa, whoa. after a two—and—a—half thousand mile journey, where the fence runs out, this mother and her daughter fall into the arms of us border patrol. my little girl is hungry, she says, and i don't have any money. there are over 1,000 more who cross illegally every day. there's already a fence of one kind or another along a third of the 2,000 mile border. 18 foot, steel slatted, concrete filled barrier, with anti—climb plates on top. here, it's already being upgraded and it is making a difference. this barrier takes significantly more time to penetrate, to cut through. it takes ten, 20, up to 30 minutes depending on the type of blade you're using. this border barrier can be compromised in about a minute and 20 seconds. so the chief here shares

the president's ambition to extend this fence across these hills. we have to have a barrier, or we'll never win that time distance game. the smugglers are using those people that are trying to claim asylum as a distraction to overload my resource, so they can run drugs in other areas, that is a huge threat. but the numbers are way down, aren't they? i wouldn't say it is nothing like it was, i would say it's changed. after spending time here it would be easy to question the president's rhetoric, his talk of a crisis, and the threat these people pose, how simple he makes a wall sound as a solution. but it is clear there is a complex game of cat—and—mouse being played here, and the border patrol agents say it is unsustainable. manpower, horsepower, all of it is stretched. donald trump's staked so much on defending this border and seeing this fence go further. now, it looks like this fight will go to court. danjohnson, bbc news, san diego.

let's get some reaction from washington with our correspondent tara mckelvey. thank you for speaking to us. very quickly, just take us through this argument that everybody is talking about surrounding presidential powers. presidential power is the kind of think in washington when the political party that is not in power they are very critical about the way they are very critical about the way the president manages his responsibilities. the other party will accused him of overreach for insta nce will accused him of overreach for instance during the 0bama administration they were very critical of president 0bama for his executive action but now president trump is asserting his authority republicans are supporting what he's doing and democrats say he is guilty of overreach. they say that president trump is trying to bypass congress. essentially this is become much more than a political dispute over policy. that's right. it's a

philosophical dispute if you want to go that far in terms of what the president is actually able to do. and what kinds of powers he's going to use while he's in office. with each president they tend to expand the presidential authority and is definitely a trend in that direction and americans will have to see how far it goes and how they feel about it. practically he is hoping to get all of this money and who is going to lose out the most when it comes to lose out the most when it comes to their budget? president trump with this executive authority if it goes through with the declaration he has made if they are not able to stop him he would be able to draw on about $3 billion that have been originally designed for military construction projects. it will also draw on money that have been designed for counter narcotic programmes and use designed for counter narcotic programmes and use these funds along with the money in the spending bill to reinforce the border security and go towards the bill. thank you very

much we will leave it there for now. we can speak now to william galston, senior fellow at the brookings institution — a us think thank. thank you for speaking to us here. i wa nt to thank you for speaking to us here. i want to throw that question to you too. talking about the fact that this is developing more thanjust too. talking about the fact that this is developing more than just a dispute over policy. it has become constitutional as well. it's a legal dispute and also a constitutional dispute. there is a background here namely that the congress of the united states has given the president of the united states more than 128 separate grants of emergency authority in recent decades. that's like dynamite. lying around on the field and the president has picked up one of the sticks. he is citing specific legal

authority to do what he's doing and it's not entirely clear that he is wrong to do so. there will be a big fight through the courts and there will be questions about the appropriateness of his use of this particular statute and also the constitutionality of congress's tra nsfer of constitutionality of congress's transfer of legislative power to the executive. he has even made light of the legal challenges coming his way. he seems to think that he will win if it goes to the supreme court. it's possible that he is right but when constitutional issues arise the justices don't always follow along consistent ideological lines. there may be some staunch political conservatives on the court were also very dubious on constitutional

grounds on the sort of exercise of emergency authority of the president is trying to carry out and vice ve rsa . is trying to carry out and vice versa. the fact that supreme court allegedly has a five to four conservative majority is not a very solid basis on which to predict the outcome of this struggle if it reaches the supreme court which most people expect it well. he's really setting a precedent here, isn't he? herfuture american setting a precedent here, isn't he? her future american leaders with all sides of the political divide to essentially circumvent congress. i'm really interested to know what sort of reaction has there been to the fa ct of reaction has there been to the fact that the he has basically undermined himself by saying i don't really need to do this? what sort of reaction has there been to that statement? well it's not entirely clear to me with the president means by that statement. i'm quite sure the white house lawyers have told

him a simple truth, namely that the constitution of the united states, unlike the constitutions of many other democracies does not have a provision for a general emergency power and that the executive can invoke in particular circumstances may require it. if the president is not citing statutory authority for his actions than he has no grounds on which to perform it and i'm quite confident that that claim would be rejected as it was famously when president harry truman seized the steel mills during the korean war citing general executive emergency powers which the supreme court rebuffed quite forcefully. and very quickly what can we expect to happen next? well, there is a legal process that something called the national emergency act. both houses of

congress will have the opportunity to disapprove of the presidents actions. if that happens the president could override that disapproval end of two thirds of the house and the senate do not vote to override the override than the action stands until it is challenged in court. i would expect house democrats and others very quickly to ta ke democrats and others very quickly to take the president to court if things play out as ijust take the president to court if things play out as i just suggested. thank you very much from the brookings institution. and we'll be speaking to gregory lee — a former special agent with the us drug enforcement administration — just after 8.30. and later tonight, we'll take a look at how all these stories, and others, are covered in tomorrow's front pages in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are the broadcaster, john stapleton, and benedicte paviot, who's the uk correspondent for france 2a, and the president of the foreign press association. the family of shamima begum — the teenager from east london

who ran off to syria four years ago to join the jihadi group that calls itself islamic state — has called on the government to help bring her back to the uk. earlier this week, she was interviewed saying she wanted to return to the uk for the sake of her unborn baby. but in the interview she claimed she was unrepentant aboutjoining i.s. in a statement issued this evening, herfamily said: they added: they said she deserved to be dealt with by british justice and would welcome an investigation into her activites in syria. and they went on: inside the al—hawl camp in northern

syria, and the women and children who fled from the fighting in one of the last strongholds of the islamic state group. filmed earlier this month, this is where the former bethnal green schoolgirl shamima begum is staying, along with other british women who've been with is for four years or more. today, alex younger, the head of the secret intelligence service, mi6, said... some 850 people left the uk tojoin is, and around half have already returned. but this morning the home secretary, sajid javid, said... we have to be clear that people

who leave this country to support that regime are people who, if they do return, have to answer for their actions. so what does that mean for shamima begum, who left the uk aged 15, has lost two children and is pregnant with a third? could she have her citizenship taken away? if she doesn't have another nationality, as i believe to be the case, then it is morally unacceptable to refuse her entry, as well as legally unacceptable, because otherwise she would be stateless, and no person in the world can be stateless under the law. so if she can make it to the uk, she might get in, but she still seems hardened and radicalised. but rashad ali, who is an expert in de—radicalisation,

says is supporters can be turned round. we know, in the uk, we have worked over the last ten years with fairly hard—line, violent extremists who have renounced their ideology, have remorse for their actions, and have taken part, actually, in helping others move away from extremist tendencies and violent ideologies. the kurdish red crescent says there were over 1,000 new arrivals at al—hawl just this morning. decisions will have to be made soon about what to do with the british is supporters among them. daniel sandford, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news. president trump confirms he will invoke emergency powers to pay for a border wall with mexico. the family of the british teenager shameema begum, who ran away to join the islamic state and now wants to come home to have her baby — call on the government to help her return to the uk as quickly as possible.

thousands of pupils skip school, and take to the streets, in protest against climate change. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's (pres) more fa cup action this weekednd — qpr hosting watford in their ffth round tie this ev looking to cause an upset as so far just approaching 30 minutes into the game no goals so far. the chances of leigh halfpenny making his long—awaited return for wales in the six nations match against england look slim after he was ruled out of playing club rugby this weekend. the full back has been out since november with concussion issues... and although he's returned to training and was selected

in wales' initial squad for the match in cardiff next saturday. he was released back to the scarlets. but the wru say he wasn't considered for their pro14 game against benetton... and so he'll carry on training instead. wales and england have both won their first two six nations matches. johnny sexton is expected to be fully fit in time for ireland to face italy next weekend. he was taken off in the first half of their win over scotland and did not return. he resumed full training today and ireland defence coach andy farrell says he will be ready to go for the game against italy. staying with rugby — there are two games in the english premiership this evening — gloucester lead against exeter chiefs and wasps are leading away from home. and there are three games in the pro 1a. dragons leading edinburgh 17 points to 1a. it is currently pointless between 0spreys and ulster. and defending championjohn higgins has been knocked out

of the welsh 0pen snooker. he was beaten 5—3 by world number 102 joe 0'connor in their quarterfinal. the 23—year—old will now face stuart bingham for a place in the final after he beat china's zhou zing—tong. the south african government has accused the iaaf of a gross violation of caster semenya's human rights. and said that their proposed rule to restrict testosterone levels in female athletes is ‘targeting' the two time olympic champion. semenya is challenging the rule at the court of arbitration for sport next week. the iaaf wants to reduce levels of the hormone through medication. 0r compete against men. and it would apply to women who compete in the 400 metres up to the mile. the south african sports minister has asked the whole country to support semenya in her fight. the body of football player emiliano sala has been returned to argentina the striker‘s body arrived in buenos aires from london.

and the funeral cortege will make its way to progreso where a vigil is scheduled to take place at a gymnasium near to where sala played youth football. cardiff city manager neil warnock and chief executive ken choo are among those who will attend sala's funeral on saturday. ferrari have unveiled the car they hope will win them the formula one title for the first time in ten years. they say it's not a revolution. but a development of last year's model, which came close to matching the mercedes but fell short after a series of errors by sebastian vettel and the team. vettel is joined by charles leclerc this year. after his impressive debut season for sauber. i have always been looking at the red car hoping to be one day in this car, so it's a very emotional day for me. i've been part of the

academy for some years now and that's helped me massively to develop as a driver and with the final goal to obviously have one day this so it's happening and it's a very proud day for me today. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in sportsday at 10:30. schoolchildren across the uk, have been taking part in a a day of protests, calling for action on climate change. 0rganisers say pupils walked out of schools in more than 60 towns and cities, to highlight what they see as a lack of action by the government. manchester, is one of the places where children took to the streets, from where frankie mccamley reports. we are angry that the government's not doing anything, but we also see it as important to fight for our futures. to all the politicians, listen to what we have to say. you failed at saving your own future, so now can you try and save ours? there's no time to rest.

we have to do something to save the planet. chanting: this is what democracy looks like! different voices, one clear message. today was a day led by the children, for the children and their future. thousands campaigned in dozens of protests across the country. they say you don't have a voice! a call for action in sheffield... what do we want? climate action! chanting in ullapool. .. marching in brighton... a real sense of urgency in cardiff and, in manchester, there was music. # born to love in everyone... before nine—year—old lilia had her say. i'm worried about climate change because of the animals. would you like it if your home was disappearing in front of your eyes? this is clearly the first time many of these pupils have ever walked out of school and, just by looking at the age of some of these, the first time they've ever been on a protest, but their message is clear. they want to protect

the future of the planet and safeguard their future. the action is part of a much wider global movement, inspired by 16—year—old greta thunberg from sweden. she's been striking from school every friday, calling on her government to lower its carbon footprint. you are not mature enough to tell it like it is. even that burden you leave to us children. her persistence later sparked protests across the world, from australia to belgium and ireland earlier this week. the government has said today's protests are a waste of lesson time and increasing teachers' workload, but the threat of school disciplinary action pales in significance to the danger these youngsters think the planet is under from climate change. frankie mccamley, bbc news, manchester. welljoining me now is george and scarlett who are 15, and both have been taking part in climate change protests today.

how was it for you both? it was incredible. it was extremely affirming for our movement and our cause to see so many young people voicing their concern at the total in action by the government to reform our climate policies. a lot of people have been saying you should have been in school. with your response to that? my response is that i value my education incredibly highly and cares much about school and have every intention of catching up and have plans to catch up for the work i've missed but the reason i and the fact that i value my education so highly is linked to the fact that i value my future so highly and this isjust another way that i am fighting for my future. how do you see my future? at the moment it's extremely

unpredictable and unstable and we are taking action for our future that will hopefully not be devastated by the climate crisis we are facing. at the moment we cannot be certain for what the consequences will be. there is apathy because people don't know how to start looking at climate change but do you both appreciate that there are so many pressures on governments around the world in terms of tackling climate change? i think we can both understand that it's incredibly intimidating to deal with an issue like this that is notjust social and cannot be fixed from a conversation. it's about our whole world but we have to unite on this. this is the existential threat of our generation and must deal with it in less than 12 years. what would you like the government to do? we have four demands. the first thing is the government to immediately

declare a climate crisis and our second and third demands evolve reforming the national curriculum to inform students about the urgency and informing the public in our fourth is the centralisation on youth and student voices inc. climate dialogue with is essential in the voting age of 16 in order that our voices are heard on this releva nt that our voices are heard on this relevant dialogue. who do you think needs more education in this? you see the curriculum has to be adjusted to include climate change at school. is the children or adults that need educating? i think it's definitely all of us. it's an issue that we all need understand more but i think to an extent it certainly our government that needs educating because we can see that the issue is there and we will have to deal with it but they seem to be blatantly ignoring the severity of it. what do you both make that since 2015

essentially no policies have been implemented? it's shocking but perhaps unsurprising to many. we understand that often greed and lack of political will translates into a lack of political action and that's why it's so important that we stand up why it's so important that we stand upfor our why it's so important that we stand up for our voices and say that we won't allow or lie down and allow governments to trap on the security of our futures. how would you implement that? would be an immediate cut to our emissions of greenhouse gases. the point i was getting at is you will i don't take this quietly how would you do that? we intend to continue to demonstrate to write to mps, to lobby, to make as much noise as we can until we are not only heard about this and to our government. and does that mean more days off of school? absolutely. we

are coordinating an event on march 15 or rear clapboard with 20 countries around the world for global strike day and we will continue this regularly until we feel listened to. what do your pa rents feel listened to. what do your parents make up what you are doing? my parents are clearly supportive. they probably feel some guilt about their generation having entirely let me down and so they are so proud that i am empowering myself. mind of the same. i've had nothing but support for my parents. thank you. you are watching bbc news. next week, mps looking into disinformation and fake news, are expected to publish their final report into the way our personal data has been manipulated for political influence, sometimes at the highest levels of power. at it's happening right around the world. here's our media editor, amol rajan. when you report fake news, which cnn does a lot, you are the enemy of the people. in just a few years, the phrase "fake news" has

entered mainstream culture. then they've got the nerve to say we're fake news. you and your colleagues have fallen into this trap of fake news. it's a calculated and corrosive term, often deployed by those trying to discreditjournalism, but the term fake news captures an urgent issue confronting modern democracies — disinformation in the digital age. in america, authorities are investigating social media's role in russian interference in the presidential election of 2016. the nearest thing in britain is the house of commons select committee enquiry into disinformation and fake news. over the past year, it has taken evidence from regulators and tech companies and those at the centre of allegations around the targeting of voters during the brexit referendum. the enquiry is looking at four areas in particular — first, whether social media firms are neither platforms nor publishers but a new kind of company which has legal liability for harmful or illegal content.

then there's the issue of electoral law. the committee wants new rules for digital campaigns, not least around the issue of shell corporations being used to hide identities. next, what was the precise role of cambridge analytica? the committee has looked at the impact of the british data firm and has said its ceo misled them. finally, there's the kremlin question — to what extent, if any, did russia weaponise information during the brexit referendum, and why is there such a gulf between the government's warnings about security and the response of tech companies? facebook is taking disinformation more seriously and has appointed the charity full fact as its first independent fact—checkers in britain. one thing i'm aware of is it might not be facebook in ten years' time, or it might notjust be facebook. we're going to need to write rules through open, democratic, transparent processes that apply to all these companies. last year, facebook was fined the maximum half a million pounds by the information commissioner for serious breaches in data protection law.

have you seen satisfactory evidence that they've learned and changed? i am hopeful that we'll see more of that change. that suggests we haven't so far. i haven't so far. i think it's yet to be seen. what do they need to do to comply with this regulatory regime which they are currently not doing? it's not good enough to say, here's what we're doing. we need a proof point and we need... facebook can't mark their own homework. social media platforms like to think they're a benefit to democracy. across the west, that's in dispute. amol rajan, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich good evening. it's been another spectacular spring—like day for many of us even though it is still only mid—february. north—west part of the uk had some extra cloud. here we could see some rain at times over the weekend. not all the time, for many more it will be dry, mild, if rather breezy, through tonight, some rain moves across the north of scotland.

elsewhere it will be largely dry but we will see more cloud tending to feed in from the west and as a consequence of that extra cloud temperatures won't drop as far as they did last night. the vast majority staying above freezing. we get on into tomorrow, it will be a milder start but the price we pay is more in the way of cloud. certainly in the south and south wales, some of that extending into the midlands as well, cloud bringing the odd spot of drizzle in western scotland. best of the sunshine, parts of north east england, north east scotland, again highs of 1a or 15 degrees. similar temperatures on sunday, most of us dry, but there will be a bit of rain in the west, and it stays pretty mild, as we head into the start of next week. hello this is bbc news. the headlines. president trump confirms he will invoke emergency powers to pay for a border wall with mexico. we are going to be signing today,

and registering national emergency. and, it is a great thing to do. the family of the british teenager shameema begum, who ran away to join the islamic state and now wants to come home to have her baby — call on the government to help her return to the uk as quickly as possible thousands of pupils skip school, and take to the streets, in protest against climate change. how our personal data has been manipulated for political influence, sometimes at the highest levels of power. that's the subject of a report by mps into disinformation and fake news expected out next week. award—winning author, andrea leavy, whose works chronicled the windrush generation, has died aged 62. let's get more now on the news

that president trump is to declare a national emergency to fund the building of a wall along the border with mexico. his action is designed to bypass congress, which has refused to approve money for the project. speaking at the white house — mr trump said the wall was needed to tackle "an invasion" of drugs, human traffickers and criminals. gregory lee is a former supervisory special agent with the us drug enforcement administration — hejoins us now from pebble beach in california. do you agree with donald trump that there is an invasion of drugs, human traffickers and criminals is that what it is like? that is a very accurate description of the

situation at the time. in terms of drugs, tell us, what is coming through and how it is getting through. virtually all the drugs with the possible exception of marijuana, have to be smuggled into the united states, they originate from a foreign country. those countries exported through mexico which is the easiest way to get it through is the southern border and thatis through is the southern border and that is been going on for decades and because we do not have a barrier, it is easier than you might think in order to infiltrate the border and get into the united states. what would make the difference to this so—called invasion? it would be a significant difference, if you had a border wall, as much of the border is necessary except for you have

terrain that is impossible, just common sense tells you that is going to cut down on the number of illegal immigration, and to tear them from wanting to come, it will force the drug smugglers to come up with other methods in which they introduce drugs into the united states. there isa drugs into the united states. there is a variety of methods and you're only limited by your imagination if you're a smart one, so you do have the ports of entry to use, but it is impossible to measure exactly how many drugs are coming through an unprotected border. the best guess that they had was that they have been able to get about 10% of all drugs entering into the us. you would assume that where drugs are concerned, violence would follow because they will protect their product, the smugglers i'm referring to here. i imagine it must get

pretty hairy along that border. even if you have this wall, will it need to be policed 2a hours a day, all year—round? to be policed 2a hours a day, all year—round ? the manpower that to be policed 2a hours a day, all year—round? the manpower that would needed. think of the manpower that you need without a wall. you will cut down on the manpower necessary if you have an effective wall and yes, you are going to still have to monitor it, and you're going to have to have drones that moderate to make manpower multiplier with the border patrol, but it is not sufficient, you need all the other means necessary in order to enforce the laws. in the wall is a significant factor in increasing the ability of law enforcement to stop drugs and

illegal immigrants from coming into the country. so what else is needed, the country. so what else is needed, the democrats have given more funding for increased security along the border, what else needs to be put in place to work alongside this wall? i think that everything the democrats have suggested is a good idea, but it has to be coupled with a physical barrier. you can't have one without the other and if you have the option between the two take your pick between the electronic virtual wall in the real wall, i will take the real wall every time. this is also the consensus of all the other agents that have communicated with, it's just common sense, it makes perfect sense and i think that is money was spent in order to secure the southern border. the walt would only work against those on foot, it won't be 100%

intact proof, will it was macm also works against vehicle trafficking, vehicular traffic coming through, that will be stopped as well. it is a win—win for the country because you are going, first of all you discourage people from one to do it to begin with, and they'll have to find a different way in order to penetrate the country. you're going to have to force them into more ports of entry where you may not have that luxury before. the ports of entry are very effective in finding drugs because of the manpower that is there and all of the surveillance and electronic equipment, everyone is screened, or virtually no one is screened on an open border. if you're lucky, you catch them and you've created a person that you have to deal with,

court system and everything else, the wall would certainly did tear in prevent that and it would be a tremendous manpower multiplier for the border patrol. thank you very much there. the award winning british author andrea levy has died. she was 62 and had been receiving treatment for breast cancer. the daughter of windrush generation parents who came to britain from jamaica in the late 1940s, her books chronicled the highs and lows of the black british experience, most notably in her celebrated work, small island. lizo mzimba, looks back at her life. the empire windrush brings to britain 500 jamaicans in 19118, andrea levy's father arrived on the empire wind rush, it was the inspiration for her novel which charted the hopes and struggles of the generation, small island. it went on to win multiple awards and be adapted for tv and the stage. when it first came out, i sort of said to them the publicist, just give me a basket, take a door to door, every thought

nobody was going to be interested. you think your white skin makes you better than me, don't you? we both finished fighting a war for a better world, we were on the same side. if anybody wants to have a look at how the wind rush generation arrived here and how we, the sons and daughters of the wind rush generation survived, and are surviving, they have to refer to andrea's work. that's why for my generation of black people in this country, there is always an andrea book on her book shelf. andrea levy had grown up in london and in her 30s, began to write, her work was driven by her own curiosity about where she had come from, it was a story that eventually took her back to britain's role in the caribbean slave trade. for every one slave that went to america, 12 went to the caribbean.

it was massive, it was massive. i have seen books on british history that don't mention slavery. and you just sort of... the character she created was a house slave who bore a child to an estate master and then later, she discovered that was the story of her own great, great grandmother. andrea levy whose life and work was rooted in the story across generations of two small islands, britain. and jamaica. welljoining me now is jackie kay, the national poet of scotland who knew andrea levy. just your reaction to the news of

her death. is a great loss when someone her death. is a great loss when someone like her passes, she was only 62 so that's very young. for the last 15 years, she had cancer and she knew that she was dying and so she moved against the clock and a different kind of way, kind of a heightened reality and life can somehow be paradoxically even more rewarding those times because every moment is a precious moment and you are not wasting time. you knew her, how did you meet her? on a small island, i met her that night and then she came to newcastle university where i am a professor and in 20110ctober

university where i am a professor and in 2011 october and the campus was reading that book, and the northern stage theatre, everybody in the university gave out free copies of the book and the idea behind it was to get everybody reading the book, whether they were english graduate students or physics students, and that initiative was really nice after she came with people from the booker and i interviewed those people that night and which struck me about her was how down to earth she was, successive come to her and she said to me, i hope i don't get really academic questions, because i'm a bit sick. my neck she came across a such a charismatic lady. what was she did not even of the publishers

will publish it, it had been critically well received but they we re critically well received but they were not sold foreign issues, so she was really staggered by the success of small island and was able to pay off her mortgage and allowed her to live in a much more free way and not have to have that terrible anxiety that many writers have all the time of their writing. in your conversations with her, did she ever discussed her feelings of the literary world had presented other black authors today? what were her thoughts on that? she, these books that she wrote were in the 1990s and she said that the attitude then and when you're thinking about 20 odd