a koala sanctuary. we containing a koala sanctuary. we salvaged ten koala is from this fire ground. they nearly completed the search and tell one area yesterday is now up in smoke. bushfires are common in australia. but this is a dramatic start to the fire season which scientists warn will grow longer and more intense because of climate change. the headlines on bbc news. a woman has died after being swept away by flood water — as parts of england are hit with a months worth of rain in one day. the snp launch their election campaign — saying they'd try to form an alliance with other parties — to lock the conservatives out of power. now on bbc news, it's time for a look back at the bbc‘s coverage of stories of the week — it's newswatch with samira ahmed.

hello and welcome to newswatch, with me, samira ahmed. rows about who said what and misleading editing on campaign films. how is the bbc dealing with the heat already being generated, in this general election campaign? and what do viewers want to see from the bbc election coverage, over the next five weeks? you might‘ve thought it had begun long ago already. but wednesday marked the official start of the general election campaign. and in news coverage, the initial focus was largely on the conservatives. and on boris johnson. he may have waited his life for this, but is he ready for what waits? camera shutters clicking. a cacophony wherever he goes. a leader who irritates but can inspire. good afternoon. the risk—ta ker, asking for you to put faith in him. michael mcdonald thought he knew what to expect from the audience

reaction this week. well, those complaints certainly have been coming in. this with the initial focus on the troubled start the conservative campaign. on the morning of its launch, the welsh secretary, alun cairns resigned, over claims he knew about a former aide's role in the sabotage of a rape trial. and on tuesday, the leader of the house, jacob rees—mogg, apologised after comments he made about the grenfell tower fire. the way that story was reported on the bbc annoyed maria who thought... chris wilkins agreed, writing...

that was one of the topics on the agenda for louise minchin's interview on wednesday's breakfast with the conservative party chairman, james cleverly. as was the way his party had edited interviews with shadow brexit secretary keir starmer in a version put out by them on social media. the full form interview showed the labour party position on brexit was chaotic, talking about... how do people trust you when conservative party headquarters is putting out, and you say it is humorous, but some people will not have, may not have known, at that point, that it had been edited. how do people trust the conservative party when their twitter account is putting out information like that? it is so obvious that it is edited. following that encounter, those watching were encouraged by the breakfast presenters to give their feedback and many did. david from southampton wrote...

but that was a minority view of viewers who contacted newswatch. wendy was more typical. a viewer called roger agreed. later in the week the heat was turned on the labour party with the resignation of its deputy leader tom watson being widely reported. it was swiftly followed by former minister ian austin who resigned from the party in february saying thatjeremy corbyn was, in his words, completely unfit to be prime minister. that line featured in the headlines on thursday's news at one.

"vote conservative", the call from a former labour mp who urges people to vote for borisjohnson instead ofjeremy corbyn. who he says is completely unfit to lead the country. again there were objections, this time from the other side of the political divide. that bbc news was making something out of nothing, david asked... and for patricia... let's look forward now and discuss what the bbc should be focusing on in the five weeks until polling day. with me are two viewers who have own suggestions.

keith and holly. holly first. it's going to be a christmas election. what's on your christmas wish list, in terms of the coverage you would like to see? well i feel that this election is really about brexit. that's the reason we are having an election. why it had to be called. so i think, as much as i'd like to see other issues discussed, for me, brexit is the main thing. and ifeel it is a good opportunity to hear from experts, we haven't heard a lot from experts in business, manufacturing, import—export people or retail. and other areas. the military, agriculture, fisheries. health. so the idea is that they would be the people brought on to analyse the claims that politicians are making? yes. not even to analyse the claims, but to look at the pros and cons of whether we should be in the eu or out of the eu. 0k. keith, the bbc does as you know, have a reality check team. and correspondent and fact check

team on politics live. do you think presenters could do more along these lines, with politicians and their interviews, in terms of challenging what they are promising? very much so. i come from a science background, i was a science teacher for many years, and i do get quite frustrated, frequently because people make claims — politicians in particular and journalists and the panellists — and very rarely it seems to me pick it up, although andrew neil does it more than most, what evidence have you got this? a particular example of that is perhaps with opinion polls. i have carried out opinion polls many, many times, over the decades. and a fascinating thing for me is to try and say, what range of people have you got there? how many people have been interviewed? why have you come to that conclusion? and i feel that a lot of what happened, it is improved with the reality and fact check, but i think there is a long way to go. so you are really concerned about opinion polls being phone around casually without an analysis

of the methodology. very much so. do you have a view about opinion polls holly? my only view is that they are often wrong, of course. we know that. here and in the states they have been wrong on the last few elections. but at the same time, i don't think the media can ignore them. because that is all we have got to go on. so they are important. can ijust follow—up what holly said because i am confident the reason they are so frequently wrong is because they are done so, shall i say, poorly or unscientifically. and therefore i think that would be rectified if they were to have less of them and do them more effectively. you were saying earlier that you do think in a sense, this election is about brexit but there are other issues too that you think should have more coverage? yes. we are all very excited about the eu and maybe rightly so, but actually to me there are things more important than whether or not we are in the eu. and one is climate change. so i would like to see more on that. i think the media covered it when extinction rebellion were protesting and greta thunberg was over here, it came up

it was more profile. but i think there should be more. climate change is serious. we have got to address it urgently. for me, one of the crucial parts of what has happened in this country is that we actually have a good historically democratic set of parties. but it's almost as though we have slipped into a presidential election. it's almost as if the leaders are autocrats, dictating what the party should do. well, it should not be like that. i have got a big team background, and what the party should be about his party decide the ways forward and the policies and that's what we should be voting for, not the personalities, which it seems as though often that comes across more than i think it should do. which brings me to my final question, holly, which is on friday, the bbc announced they would have a series of live debates with different combinations of leaders and one ofjust corbyn versusjohnson, one also has jo swinson and nicola sturgeon and one has the seven main parties.

do you think they are going to help voters like you? well, i think it is very complicated. i think as far as brexit is concerned, it's going to complicate the matter. the more split the vote becomes. the conservatives won't get majority, to... are you not worried about what keith was saying about this focus on the personality, maybe even the cult of the leader? no, definitely. i think, we used to more for policies rather than the personality of the leader. but now, it's shifted, it is the other way. we vote for the personality of the leader. and you would like the bbc perhaps to pull away from that approach? yes, definitely. look at policies more carefully and in detail. thank you, holly and keith, thank you both. finally, the news is full of noise, particularly at the moment. but sometimes, the most powerful moments of broadcasting can be full of silence. on friday, breakfast welcome back harry billinge, the 94—year—old war veteran who had

spoken on the programme earlier this year, about his plans to raise money to build a memorial to his colleagues, who died in the d—day landings. naga munchetty showed him pictures of the memorial under construction. the work you are doing, it is now concrete, it is tangible it is there you can touch it. marvellous. how does it feel, harry? 0k? yeah. it means so much, huh? i'm all right. terrible... mike and helen busby were among the viewers to write into newswatch straight after watching that.

thank you for all your comments this week. please do get in touch with your opinions about what you see on bbc tv news. online or bbc social media. you may even get to appear on the programme. you can e—mail newswatch at... or you can find us on twitter. you can call us and do have a look at the website for previous interviews. that's all from us, i will be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye. temperatures dropping away quickly, widespread frost on the way for most

places it will be dry, a few showers to work south across south—east england but ahead of this next rain band coming later in the night it will be dry, clear for most, that widespread frost setting in, freezing fog patches developing in some spots, chance of ice on untreated surfaces. temperatures recover in the west later in the night as cloud or rain moves in, looks at a really wet day across the eastern side of northern ireland tomorrow. 20—30 millimetres goods bring destruction. rain and hail snow, relatively modest hills in wales, the higher part of the midlands might see some snow as well. pushing east across southern england, looks like the worst of the rain while avoiding the worst areas hit by flooding, areas of the east will stay dry, hazy sunshine, chilly day, mainly dry sunday on the way.

this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 8pm: a woman has died in floodwater in derbyshire as much of northern england is hit by a months worth of rain in one day. it happened in 2007, and it's happened again and... it's just ridiculous. people have been evacuated from their homes, and there is travel disruption on the roads and the rail network. the scottish national party launches its election campaign, saying it's seeking an alliance with other parties to lock the conservatives out of government and promising to stop the nhs being privatised. ten teenagers — including two 15—year—old boys — have been named among the 39 people from vietnam who were found dead in a refrigerated lorry in essex.