hundreds of children in care in nottingham were sexually abused by the people who were supposed to be looking after them. a damning report says the abuse was widespread over a period of more than four decades — one woman who was in care at 11 says she still suffers nightmares. you learned very quickly that you were basically just their entertainment. we were there for their entertainment. whatever they wanted to do. also on the programme tuck heavy rain brings flash flooding in parts of northern england — of northern england — in north yorkshire a months worth fell in just four hours. parts of greater manchester and cheshire are under water after 20 hours of torrential rain, with more to come. sweeping into stormont — the prime minister arrives for talks on brexit

and restoring power sharing. and preparing for the ashes which get under way at edgbaston tomorrow — can england continue their winning streak? and coming up on bbc news, adam peaty‘s called on swimming's governing body to be tougher on doping after protests over a chinese swimmer who'd previously failed a drugs test. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. an inquiry has found that hundreds of children were sexually abused while in council care in nottinghamshire by the very people who were supposed to be caring for them. and the abuse went on for more than four decades. 350 people came forward and said they had been physically or sexually abused — but the inquiry says the true number of victims is likely to be much higher. the damning report said the councils had failed in their duty to protect

children in their care and still hadn't learned from their mistakes prompting concern about some children in care now. 0ur midlands correspondent sima kotecha reports. for some, it was here where the nightmares began, at beechwood children's home, where vulnerable people who were supposed to be protected were instead abused. i was petrified. i was absolutely... there were a few times actually peed myself. claire was one of them. she was 11 at the time. i still suffer flashbacks. i'm 42 now. my children have witnessed me sleeping and fighting in my sleep. i have never been able to cuddle with my children at night when they have been ill, because if i fall asleep and i have one of my nightmares, i can't risk them being there. so, no, it's not any easier.

and having no help to try and get over what happened isn't any easier, because there still isn't anything. today's report says that from the late 19705 to earlier this year, 16 staff were convicted of sexually abusing children. some of the detail in this report is incredibly difficult to digest. it concludes that child abuse was widespread in fostering residential care during the 19705, ‘80s and ‘90s. and it says all of those homes were run by nottinghamshire councils. i think this was probably, in terms of scale, the most shocking we have seen. and if you think about it, we're not talking here about one individual that either blocked or actively participated in the sexual abuse of children, we arejust talking about a regime

that over many years, they didn't recognise what they needed to do to protect children. the enquiry received 350 complaints, dating back to almost 60 years ago. police say the true scale is likely to be considerably higher. the perpetrators were allowed to carry on working with children, even though there were doubts about their conduct. both councils have apologised. it causes me professional embarrassment. we can see from the report that children and young people in our care were failed by the county council and other agencies over a long period of time. of course that causes me embarrassment. but the chair of the enquiry has said that neither of the councils have learned from their mistakes, despite more than 30 years of evidence of failure to protect children in care. i think the people that were in charge need to be held accountable. they knew, and they hid it.

that was a survivor speaking to me earlier today. this is one of several investigations taking place into a broad range of institutions in the light ofjimmy savile. it is particularly alarming because the scale of it is so large and the survivors are calling for more scrutiny around those that work with children, and they also want local authorities like this to look at the risks posed that people could commit child abuse. studio: thank you. more heavy rain is causing disruption across parts of northern england with flooding tonight in cheshire and south manchester. yesterday a months worth of rain fell in just four hours in parts of north yorkshire. bridges collapsed and roads were washed away. there are 14 flood warnings in place across parts of scotland, the midlands and northern england. and in manchester some road and rail travel has been disrupted by flooding — more on that in a moment, but first our correspondent judith moritz is in bellerby in north yorkshire

some train services have been cancelled because males are underwater. there is a sense of disbelief here not at the experience of flooding, because that has happened before in this village, but disbelief at the speed of eight. it was flash flooding in the truest sense of the words, a deluge that came down in the time it takes to make a t. today they had sandbags out because the risk of flooding has not yet passed. it is notjust here in yorkshire, over the pennines in manchester this evening waters have been rising, particularly around the south of the city near manchester airport. problems on the 60 at some major congestion and issues and transport routes in manchester. in terms of the forecast ahead, on both sides of the pennines, here in bellerby and joanne north yorkshire, they are crossing their fingers it will not get any worse, but there is

still the possibility of thunderstorms going ahead over the next 24—hour is. pulled out of the flood, this toddler was carried out of raging water. his family were in the car when rescuers reached them. they came at the fields and waded through to the back of our car and rescued us to the back of our car and rescued us and a few others from the boot of oui’ us and a few others from the boot of our power. the boot, yeah, i guess we we re our power. the boot, yeah, i guess we were on a slope, it seemed like the water was lowest in service that way. this is a deluge, a flash flood which submerged cars and washed roads away and destroyed bridges. five years ago the to a difference rode here, now it is gone. hailstones handed down on this housing estate in leyburn. you could not believe what you were filming? no. allison was in disbelief as she

videoed the storm on her phone. today she was left to clear up and reflect on the speed with which the flood took hold. there was a carpet of hailstones, it was like winter, like it had snowed. the next thing i heard was gurgling up my plughole in the bathroom, i have never heard that before. and the rain started andi that before. and the rain started and i went downstairs to make a cup of tea and realise the water is coming through the door. down the wrote the fire station was underwater. whilst the firefighters we re underwater. whilst the firefighters were working hard to help those affected, their own cars were flooded and written off. the fire station was one of the first victims of the flash flooding, largely because the crews were out and about, helping the local community. the carlisle to qatar settle railway line was affected by landslip. train services disrupted as a result.

soldiers from patrick garrison volunteered to help with the clean—up. —— from catterick garrison. there was flooding in the south side of manchester. this is the new bypass road near manchester airport. tonight the region is dealing with the aftermath and hoping there is no more to come, but the environment agency said heavy downpours and flash flooding were the result of climate change and more intense weather events are likely in future. judith moritz, bbc news, north yorkshire. the flash flooding comes less than a week after the uk's hottest day on record. while such weather events can't be attributed to climate change with any certainty, the rising frequency of extreme weather can. data released today by the met office shows the uk's ten hottest years on record have all happened since 2002. scientists say it's the latest example of unmistakably rising temperatures. our science editor

david shukman reports. by the end of the first week injanuary, the sea had begun to freeze and our coasts and rivers began to look exactly like the arctic. the punishing winter of 1963. deepfreeze conditions gripped the country. in one of the chilliest years in britain for more than a century, would this train make it through? but since then, we haven't had a year quite as cold. instead, scenes like this in the heat wave last week are becoming more familiar. trains stopped as power lines sagged, thousands of passengers left stranded. scientists say it is more evidence of our climate changing. we have noticed that the warmer years we are seeing are happening on a much more regular basis in the recent decades, and the colder years, the extreme cold, you have to go much, much further back in history to find the coldest years. this is creating winners and losers. air conditioning is

now in huge demand. new met office figures make clear why. what is really striking about this analysis, stretching back to 1884, is how dramatically things have changed. air conditioning was hardly thought of when britain had its ten coldest years. here they are, and the last of them was in 1963. but now look at the contrast with things more recently. this is britain's ten warmest years and they have all happened since 2002. air conditioning, of course, becoming a lot more common. it is absolutely manic. on any holiday where the temperature is 27, 28 or higher, we are probably taking, we are probably fielding somewhere between 5000 and 10,000 calls a day. —— on any hot day. we are set for more extremes of weather. this was richmond in yorkshire yesterday. the met office says our summers are becoming wetter as the average temperature keeps rising.

david shukman, bbc news. police in essex are investigating after a sixth person has died in what are thought to be drug—related deaths. the victims are all believed to have taken class a drugs. the three men and three women who have died so far were all found in south essex. police are trying to establish exactly what they all took. the prime minister has been meeting northern ireland's five main parties at stormont. borisjohnson promised to do "everything in his power" to help restore the power—sharing government. he also held talks on brexit. the dup said a deal with the eu on keeping the border with ireland open was possible if there was a willingness on both sides. sinn fein told the prime minister a no—deal brexit would be "catastrophic". our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. drifting towards brexit as deepening chasms form. the uk and ireland now a relationship under strain, and nervousness here, with borisjohnson treading

a new, harder line. hard border, no deal, no backstop. no, no, no. naughty, naughty boy. i would like to put him on that island and leave him there. you've got to give the guy a chance, haven't you? i'm a dairy farmer from southern ireland, i would be concerned about what the outcome will be. so important steps ahead, then? a bit like us right now. big steps ahead, and we don't want to make a false one. and for any prime minister, at the best of times, northern ireland is tricky ground. borisjohnson must bring together bitterly divided parties. progress to restore power sharing has been slow. clearly the people of northern ireland has been without a government, without stormont for two years and six months, so my prime focus this morning is to do everything i can to help that get up and running again. you wouldn't come to us, boris, we've come to you!

there's a cacophony of divisive issues to resolve. a row over the irish language has become the biggest dispute. the democratic unionists were the only party to dine with borisjohnson last night, welcoming his plans to ditch the so—called backstop, the insurance policy negotiated with the eu to avoid checks on goods across the irish border. what we want to see is a sensible way forward that recognises that the whole of the united kingdom are leaving the european union, the republic of ireland are staying in the single market, and therefore we have to find a way of dealing with that. we can do that, i believe firmly we can do that, but there has to be a willingness on both sides to be able to achieve it. borisjohnson‘s cosiness with the dup has deepened the divide with sinn fein. he tells us that he will act with absolute impartiality. we've told him that nobody believes that. nobody believes that because there are no grounds to believe that there is any kind

of impartiality, much less strict impartiality. there was no breakthrough in the talks today and many feel borisjohnson leaves this island with its economic future in his hands. no deal is predicted to bring 50,000 job losses to the irish republic alone. communities north and south face nervous months ahead. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. as emma was saying, the relationship between the uk and ireland is a vital one, notjust politically but also in terms of trade. the uk is ireland's second biggest export — it's worth some 16.5 billion euros a year. ireland also imported 21 billion euros of goods from the uk in 2017 — more than from any other country. in a no—deal scenario, tariffs could increase prices for irish consumers. our europe correspondent, adam fleming, reports from dublin on the effects

of a no—deal brexit on ireland. ireland's booming economy will boom a lot less if there's no brexit deal, which means a phone call between the two prime ministers yesterday is a subject over coffee today. i think the relationship already is strained. boris has only yesterday made contact with the taoiseach of ireland. the british have chosen to come out, and we are only defending our interests, they are defending theirs, so i wouldn't particularly want to blame anyone. hopefully it won't come to that, we'll sort something out. hello, what do you think of brexit? if something isn't sorted out, farmers like raymond will be hardest hit. most of his beef goes to the uk. he's worried there would be a further fall in the pound, and about tariffs, the taxes that would be charged on imports by the uk. both would make his beach more expensive. both would make his

beef more expensive. in the unthinkable event of a crash—out brexit, this farm would have to cease beef farming, we're going to have to do something else with the land. disruption to transport is another potential problem because lots of irish products go to the continent via britain by what's called the land bridge. today, the central bank of ireland warned of lost growth, lostjobs and a hole in the government finances. there's a huge amount of work going into our next budget, which will happen in october. we have two budgets prepared, one is in the event of a deal, the other in the event of no deal. we've already had two budgets where we've put specific funding measures in place for industries like agriculture, the agri—food and drink sectors. and what will the relationship be like with northern ireland on a range of issues, especially the border, which will technically be an external frontier of the eu, like poland's or latvia's? but there has been a deal in one area, at least.

right now, british and irish people can cross the irish sea and work in each other‘s countries, thanks to a series of arrangements called the common travel area. both governments have agreed that will continue no matter what happens with brexit. a bit of certainty before a possible dive into the unknown. our top story this evening: two councils in nottinghamshire are condemned for failing to learn from mistakes after hundreds of children in their care were abused. and still to come — warming up — the world cup champions now have their eyes on the ashes. coming up on sportsday on bbc news, defending champion england's georgia hall says she is looking forward to the home support and feels no pressure ahead of the start of the british open at woburn. more than a million people were admitted to hospital in england last year with alcohol—related problems. some of them had been drinking

heavily for such a long time that they were suffering from alcohol—related brain damage — a condition that can affect your balance and memory. one charity, alcohol change uk, says the condition is poorly understood, under—diagnosed and often unrecognised. in his second report looking at the harm alcohol can cause, here's our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan. the hospital to have my family, he's not going to make it. he is not going to wake up. i was in hospital for six months. couldn't walk, i was ina for six months. couldn't walk, i was in a wheelchair. i had forgotten everything. by the time roy realised he had a drink problem, it was too late. his daily intake for several yea rs was late. his daily intake for several years was eight cans of cider and a bottle of vodka, which left him unable to recall the most simple details. i didn't know my mum, i didn't know my sister. disappointed myself. ashamed of myself. how it

affected other people. this is what affected other people. this is what a healthy brain looks like. but look what happens to the same brain after the person has spent several years drinking heavily. there are more white areas, gaps where the brain has shrunk. it means that this is definitely going to affect their ability to function on a day—to—day basis around things such as planning, organising, sequencing tasks, making decisions. this doctor says another consequence of the brain injury is that the patient sometimes can't remember being told that continuing to drink could kill them. people with alcohol related brain injury suffer a particular difficulty not being able to understand information which is useful and help for that is being relayed to them. having drunk up to 12 pints a day for years, christopher is in danger of developing a brain injury. wejust wa nt to developing a brain injury. wejust want to make sure your brain is healthy as it should be. at the

royal livable hospital, they have developed a dementia test for problem drinkers. just follow in a logical area where it goes next. christopher starts well, but then begins to struggle. but his brain is fine. he has cut down to about five pints daily. i havejust fine. he has cut down to about five pints daily. i have just tallied up your score , pints daily. i have just tallied up yourscore, 0k? pints daily. i have just tallied up your score, 0k? there is nothing to worry about. but last year, this hospital treated 79 people with an alcohol related brain injury. while the effect on each person varies, there was a common thread — there is not enough help for them when they leave hospital. at the moment, the patient can be excluded from certain services. equally, the services are not specialised. so they might not look alcohol addiction in relation to how someone will function, or their health. one consequence for roy is that he forgot how to cook. but two years of rehab have helped the 43—year—old to improve some lost

skills. but there is more hard work ahead of him. i think i am skills. but there is more hard work ahead of him. i thinki am perfectly 0k. ahead of him. i thinki am perfectly ok. but obviously, i won't be in the brain damage unit being sent to another one if i was perfectly ok. soi another one if i was perfectly ok. so i don't know how bad i am. his fervent wish now is that others recognise the damage that alcohol can cause. michael buchanan, bbc news, liverpool. talks have resumed to try to avert a strike by british airways pilots over the summer. the pilots' union and british airways are trying to resolve the dispute over pay. iag, which owns ba, lost its latest legal attempt to stop strike action this morning. the airline says its offer of 11.5% over three years is "fair and generous", but the union wants its members to get a share of profits. ryanair has warned its staff to prepare for up to 900 job losses over the next year because the airline has too many pilots and cabin crew.

our transport correspondent, tom burridge is at stansted airport for us. why has this happened? sophie, the profit losses at ryanair in recent months are partly down to the dog eat dog world of being a european budget airline. putting bums on seats at cheap prices and fuel costs. but rya nair says bums on seats at cheap prices and fuel costs. but ryanair says there are two other factors at play here. firstly, the increased likelihood of britain leaving the european union without a deal. ryanair says it's worried about the impact that would have on its uk irish bases. and the second factor is the grounding of the boeing 737 max. that is the aircraft which crashed twice in similar circumstances in a matter of months. ryanair has ordered more than 200 of that aircraft, but boeing's bid to get the plane back in the sky convince regulators that it is safe is not going to plan. it keeps being pushed back an airlines like ryanair don't keeps being pushed back an airlines like rya nair don't know keeps being pushed back an airlines like ryanair don't know when they will have the aircraft. that is why it says it needs to make the job cuts. tom, thank you.

fresh from their world cup triumph this month, england's cricketers are preparing to face australia in the ashes. the 71st series begins at edgbaston tomorrow. as our sports editor, dan roan, reports, hopes are high as england haven't been beaten in a home ashes series since 2001. the world cup is theirs, now england have the chance to get their hands on the ashes, too. cricket‘s oldest rivalry about to resume. it's an opportunity for everyone involved now to further that, to make it as good as you can imagine, in terms of a summer of cricket. all the players are very excited and we are just hours away now so we just want to get out there and get things going. the hosts' first ever world cup win was english cricket's biggest moment since 2005. that was when ashley giles was part of the team that finally regained the ashes. now england's md, he told me this summer could be even bigger. a world cup and ashes together, i think, is a0 years ago or something like that, so it would be

a magnificent achievement. it's great to see a love of cricket out there again, and if we win the ashes, that will only help that. that certainly seems to be the case here in nottingham earlier at the street cricket national finals day. the hope that sustained england success can help reverse a decade of decline in numbers playing and watching the sport. you can only live off the world cup momentum for so long and eventually i do feel it will peter out, so if england's ashes success can be achieved, then that will keep that going into the winter months. if england can now also regain the ashes, it will surely go down as the greatest year in their history, at what is a pivotal moment for the sport here. but standing on their way, their archrivals australia, who will need no extra motivation. after all, they haven't won an ashes series here in england for 18 long years. australia is still recovering from its gravest ever controversy, the three players banned for last yea r‘s ball tampering scandal are now back, and one former legendary captain,

here as the team's mentor, believes the overhauling culture could be a strength. there has been a lot said about australian cricket. they pushed the reset button, a new coach, new captain, they have done very well and this is a huge opportunity to show, showcase to the rest of the world that this is a really good australia cricket side. he may have trained earlier, but pace bowlerjoffre archer's test debut will have to wait, left out of the ashes opener by england as he recovers from injury. but having been thrashed in australia in the last series, the hosts will be desperate for a strong start and to complete what would be a dream summer. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. we were reporting some extraordinary rainfor we were reporting some extraordinary rain for earlier. and a second day today of localised flooding. torrential downpours in places, particularly affecting parts of greater manchester and cheshire, with flash flooding also reported in the glasgow area. is there more to come? things are slowly improving now, sophie, because the showers will start to fade and things will

slowly dry up, but it will be a slow process. this picture came for us from a weather watcher close to stockport. you can see the extent of the flash flooding. this is the radar picture today, lots of heavy downpours across northern england and slow moving thunderstorms which have been affecting the western side of scotland. these areas will continue to see heavy downpours through the first part of this evening. if you're planning to head out and about on the roads, there could be poor travelling conditions. but the improvement begins tonight. the showers will fade for most of us. drier weather and some clear spells, perhaps the odd mr patch in scotla nd spells, perhaps the odd mr patch in scotland and a fresher night than of late. this is what has been the culprit for the wet weather, this area of low pressure. but where it was quite a strong and intense feature, it is weakening and sliding away. so we were probably not see as many showers tomorrow and the ones we do see on the whole will not be as heavy. there will be some in scotla nd as heavy. there will be some in scotland and northern england. maybe

the odd one into the midlands, which could affect the cricket at edgbaston. the showers are potentially heavy, but most places will avoid them and will stay dry. and with the sunshine, lighter winds, it will feel warmer. on friday, you can see a scattering of showers, but not the ferocious downpours that some places have been contending with. it will feel warm. then we head into the weekend, high pressure trying to keep things fine and dry. there could be the caio on saturday and a bit of rain on sunday, but not the torrential downpours we have been seeing. thank you. that's all from the bbc news at six, so it's goodbye from me , and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are.

hello, this is bbc news. the hard—line a damning report says the abuse was widespread over a period of more than four decades and 11 and in care at 11 says she still suffers nightmares. you learn very quickly that you were basicallyjust nightmares. you learn very quickly that you were basically just their entertainment. you read their entertainment, whatever they want to