this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at five: a ‘catastrophic fire warning' is issued for parts of eastern australia, including sydney, amid record—breaking temperatures following months of severe drought. these are very difficult and trying times, we are now up to date 105 of this bushfire emergency across the south wales. the community really is going to have to stay alert and understand what they have to do. the government approves the takeover of uk defence and aerospace specialist, cobham, by an american company. a man who confronted the fishmongers hall attacker, with a narwal tusk, describes his "deep hurt" that he couldn't save the 2 people who died. prince philip spends the night in hospital in london,

to be treated for what's being described as a pre—existing condition. almost 100 flood warnings are in place across england, and the situation is set to get worse, with heavy rain forecast overnight. and coming up, the bbc‘s media editor meets the editor of private eye magazine — at 17:30 a walk through the year in media with ian hislop. good afternoon. more than 100 bushfires are raging across australia's most populous state, new south wales. christmas travellers are being urged to delay theirjourneys — as record temperatures of more

than a0 degrees — and strong winds — intensify the fires. australia's deputy prime minister, michael mccormack has said his country must step up its efforts to tackle climate change. here's our sydney correspondent shaimaa khalil.( correspondent shaimaa khalil. this was said to be one of the worst days australia's most populous state has ever seen, and it's lived up to every urgent warning. huge flames spiralling out of control, moved by strong, unpredictable wind. this is the second time in less than two months that they have seen catastrophic fire conditions. firefighters have been patrolling this area throughout the day. they have been keeping an eye out on the smoke just behind that tree line. this is where villagers have fires at an emergency level and they've been told to evacuate and they're concerned that embers will blow this way.

elizabeth maclaren evacuated her house a few hours ago. she packed the necessities and a few other things she couldn't afford to lose. her family's ok, but she worries about those she left behind. i hope my house doesn't burn down but, ultimately, all of my friends stayed to fight the fires at their house. they can't get out now, so i'm just hoping that they're safe. i can replace my house — i can't replace lives, you know? helen has also evacuated her homes. taking all of her dogs and cats with their force will you stay? at the carrigan. at the car park? yes. we did at the other night. it is fine. uncomfortable, but fine. australia's prime minister, scott morrison, has cut short his holiday to hawaii, as criticism continued to mount of his leadership during the bushfire crisis. it's brought the divisive debate about global warning back to the fore. scientists have long

warned that a hotter, drier climate would contribute to australia's fires becoming more frequent and more intense. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, mittagong, new south wales. the prime minister has defended the decision to approve a li—billion pound takeover of the british defence company, cobham, by an american firm. speaking as he visited british troops in estonia — borisjohnson said he was satisfied the deal didn't raise national security issues. lady nadine cobham — part of the family which set up the uk firm which employs 10,000 people — is among those criticising the decision. she called the takeover "deeply disappointing". our business correspondent, katy prescott reports. one of the uk's oldest defence companies. a pioneer of air—to—air refuelling, cobham started life in the 1930s

as a flying circus. providing jobs at the headquarters. for the last few months, the government has been grappling with whether to allow its sale to the american private equity firm, advent. which aims to buy companies, improve them and sell them on. borisjohnson come having christmas lunch with uk troops, defended it last night's decision. a lot of checks have been gone through to make sure that that particular case, that all the security issues that might be raised can be satisfied. in the uk will continue to be a very creative and dynamic contributor to that section of industry and all others. they started life in the 1930s as a flying circus. shareholders voted for the sale. the daughter—in—law of the founder has been critical. she says: "this is a deeply disappointing announcement and one cynically timed to avoid scrutiny on the weekend before christmas.

ina in a heavily redacted document, the ministry of defence said this race national security concerns. because of access to information and ongoing defence projects. the home office said that they were concerned about access to the uk emergency services radio systems. which they said could prejudice ongoing operations. to allay the fears the government says advent has agreed to ensure that sensitive government information continues to be protected. to honour the terms of existing contracts and to give prior notice to the ministry of defence and home office if there any plans to sell the whole or any parts of the business. but critics say the sale is a mistake. this is an amazing british company. a world leading british company. it has a very important national sense of contract with the mentioned offence.

it is taken just a week after the election for conservatives to sell out to donald trump. the government says the agreement with them is legally enforceable. in any breach could be for it to the court in the low pound has made a pretty companies attracted to american buyers. and this is a high—profile example of the latest sale. katy prescott, bbc news. eric grove is a visiting fellow at the international institute for strategic studies. he told us just how significant the inflight refuelling technology is. it is very significant indeed. 0bviously in—flight refuelling is an important part of any country's aviation capability but on the other hand, we are so dependent on the americans anyway that i don't really see this makes a huge amount of difference. we are very heavily integrated already, probably even more so after we leave the eu, so i am not too concerned.

i can understand why the cobham family are a bit concerned about this because this was very much a british initiative, in—flight refuelling was very much pioneered by cobham, but i don't see this being a great problem. in fact, we are so integrated with the united states anyway that this is just an additional, just a slight change in the balance. a mother and her partner have appeared in court in belfast, accused of murdering a 5—year—old girl. nadia zofia kalinowska, was discovered at the family home in newton abbey, in the early hours of last sunday. her mother — aleksandra wahab and stepfather, abdul wahab, were remanded in custody. more now on news that nearly 100 flood warnings are in place across southern and eastern england, the midlands and yorkshire. a severe warning of more heavy rain is in place across southern england until noon on sunday. motorists embarking on the christmas

getaway are being advised to check their routes in advance — with warnings of potential travel delays and flooding — with up to 30mm of rain forecast. there are currenlty a dozen flood warnings in place across surrey, from where our correspondent, adrian harms, warns of more rain to come. the river wey itself, which is in flood. it's gone across the fields here outside of guildford. as i say, it is still raining and the situation here looks like it will get worse before it gets any better. there is a lot of water making its way down the river. there is more rain forecast for the rest of the day and overnight. the two main rivers where there are flood warnings are the river mole. this morning there were six flood warnings there. some of those have been dropped to the lowest state flood alert but there is still a flood warning in leatherhead. there the environment agency has been working very hard putting out

flood defences around the town and currently they say it seems to be working. the same is happening in guildford. there are a number of flood defences around the town, towards the bottom of guildford, around the cinema and towards the bus depot and police station where flood defences are in place. there is a flood alert here on the river wey so yet to be raised to a warning and people are hoping levels do not go higher certainly for the rest of the day, but more rain forcast during today and overnight tonight. the met office have issued a yellow weather warning, for the south of england. the environment agency warn of more rain to come. today, we have got a relatively dry period. but we have more rain coming tonight possibly up to another 20 mm. although the situation is getting better today, we will see it getting better today, we will see it getting worse overnight and into tomorrow morning. and then after

that we have more rain on sunday and more rain on monday. it is not going to get any better. i think the key thing here is it is not going to get to the severe situation where we have significant numbers of properties. it will remain high until christmas. but after that we have a dry period. hopefully things will calm down. the duke of edinburgh is continuing to be treated at a hospital in london — after being admitted yesterday. the queen remains at her sandringham estate in norfolk. 0ur correspondent tolu adeoye is at sandringham. yes. all quiet here this evening. this is where the duke has spent much of his time since he retired in 2017. this is where he left yesterday morning to go to hospital in london. we know around the same time the queen was arriving for her christmas break air. it really is that business as usual that estimate

not a huge sense of alarm around the fa ct not a huge sense of alarm around the fact that the prince has been admitted to hospital. in the palaces only said that he's been admitted for observation and treatment in relation to a pre—existing condition. they described it as a precautionary measure. the palace is not confirmed he went to hospital in a helicopter we know when he got there he did walk into the hospital. the palace have not given us any further details today. of course they would not give running commentary on his condition. 0ne they would not give running commentary on his condition. one key question that a lot of the people wa nt to question that a lot of the people want to know is will the prince be 0kfor want to know is will the prince be ok for christmas day. we know lots of senior royals already are right here on christmas day in the queen will host the cambridge is in the duke and duchess of cornwall, other senior royals and many of them will be hoping duke is well tojoin them. we live it there for now. thank you for the update. the man who fought off the attacker at fishmongers hall near london bridge, using a narwhal tusk — has given a dramatic account of how he was able to stop the knifeman,

and pin him to the ground. two people died in the attack last month. civil servant, darryn frost, has described how usman khan was running towards people with knives, raised above his head, and wearing what looked like a suicide vest. this report from rich preston. this is the dramatic moment passers—by attempted to stop convicted terrorist usman khan. his attack had begun at fishmongers' hall, where he had just killed two people. it was there darryn frost, a civil servant, took on khan, with others attending a prisoner rehabilitation event. describing for the first time what happened, mr frost told the press association that he took a narwhal task to defend himself after hearing a commotion from the floor below. he described the moment khan ran at him with knives raised above his head. he went on to recall chasing

khan onto london bridge, where a group wrestled him to the ground, stopping him attacking anyone else, or set off what they thought was a suicide vest. talking about jack merritt and saskia jones, who were both killed by khan, mr frost said he will always feel the deep hurt of not being able to save them. he said he hoped speaking out would urge people to unite against terrorism and raise money for the victims' families. president trump has signed into a law, the creation of a ‘us space force', the country's first new military service in 70 years. he described space as, "the world's newest war—fighting domain". the force's creation is part of a 738 billion dollar defence bill, voted through by congress last week. there will be a lot of things happening in space because space is the world's newest war—fighting domain. amid grave threats to our national

security, american superiority in space is absolutely vital and we are leading but we are not leading by enough but very shortly we will be leading by a lot. this space force will help us to deter aggression and control the ultimate high ground. president trump there. breaking news coming to us here. this man announced that the former west them and titled the midfielder martin peters who also scored england's second goal in the 1966 finals against west germany has sadly died at the age of 76. following a long battle against alzheimer's disease. we do have a statement from west ham united. they say it is with profound sadness that we announce that martin passed away peacefully in his sleep

at 4am this morning. a beloved husband, dad, and granddad and a kind gentle and private man. we are devastated by his allies. news coming to us here that the world cup winner, martin peters, has died at the age of 76 following a long battle with alzheimer's disease. we will of course be getting more of this on this story right here at bbc news. to give you a little bit more background and the start of the memories, bobby moore come he was pa rt memories, bobby moore come he was part of the trio of bobby moore and jeff hearst who scored a hat—trick in the 4— to victory at wimberly. more on this as and when we get it. but martin peters, world cup winner, 9066, has sadly passed away at the age of 76. —— 1966.

the headlines on bbc news... a "catastrophic fire warning" is issued for parts of eastern australia, including sydney, amid record—breaking temperatures following months of severe drought. the government approves the takeover of uk defence and aerospace specialist, cobham, by an american company. a man who confronted the fishmongers hall attacker, with a narwal tusk, describes his "deep hurt" that he couldn't save the two people who died. facebook says it's removed hundreds of accounts with ties to a conservative news outlet, that uses fake profile photos, generated with the help of artificial intelligence. researchers said the facebook and instagram fake profiles, generate thousands of personalities who emphasise support for president trump, and opposition to the chinese government. peter bowes is following

the story from los angeles. it shows what technology can achieve these days. in terms of generating these images, faces that look like the profile shots of ordinary people, but they are fake. they are generated by algorithms. there is absolutely nothing real about them. they don't represent real people. they have been generated by users in vietnam, say facebook, purporting to be americans. they have removed several hundred of these facebook accounts, as you say, along with instagram sites, and various pages, as well, that carried with their messages which were anti—china, that were pro trump, or generated conversations about family values, or elections, or impeachment, a lot of those important issues which are in the news at the moment. peter bowes reporting there. christmas celebrations in the uk, often centre on food, drink and family gatherings,

but campaigners are warning, that the party season can place additional strain on those living with eating disorders. the nhs and the eating disorder charity, beat, have issued new advice, for people with conditions such as anorexia and bulimia, on how to cope at christmas. comedian dave chawner has been sharing his story. when it first started for me, i was 17, and i remember back then, i had got exams, i had got essays, i had research, all of the stresses and strains that most teenagers have. but i didn't have a coping mechanism, i didn't have a way of dealing with it, and actually, focusing on calories, focusing on exercise and weighing myself was something that i could control. so it was something that became really important because when everything felt really unmanageable, those are the things that i could manage. those are the things that i could focus on, and over time,

that became an obsession, an addiction, it became a control that, it was something that i could focus on when everything else felt like it was completely unmanageable. one of the misconceptions about anorexia is people think that anorexics don't like food or don't think about food, but that was my every waking thought. because as soon as i say to you, you can't have anything, that is the only thing that you can think about. so i was constantly thinking about food, i was constantly totting up calories in my brain, i was constantly thinking of excuses or ways i could get out of things. and also something that we see with people with anorexia is they tend to binge and purge a lot. so i was eating whole sausage rolls and stuff, not even chewing them, just getting them down. tom quinn is the director of external affairs at beat, the charity involved in this campaign. he explained to my colleague shaun ley how people can prepare and keep themselves busy, during the festive period.

for many of us, it's a holiday that's focused on food, on eating, and so for people who have an illness that's focused on struggle with eating, it can be a really difficult time. also, it's a time, often, where usual routines and structures perhaps aren't quite in place, so it's really important that both people who are suffering and their families sort of plan ahead for this difficult time. is routine one of the things that helps people who are suffering from conditions like anorexia and bulimia, in terms of managing their condition, not suddenly throwing them into unexpected situations? exactly. so, what we'd suggest is the family get together beforehand and actually plan out the meals, so that the person suffering knows exactly what's coming. we'd also recommend that any perhaps relatives that are coming along are also sensitively spoken to about actually, let's not make it about the food, let's not make comments about how people look, or what they're eating. actually, as much as possible, let's make it a family time but not focused on the meal.

if you, or someone you know, has been affected by the issues raised in report, contact the bbc action line, via bbc.co.uk/actionline. for details of organisations which offer advice and support. from next month, around 2000 children with severe epilepsy, will become eligible for a cannabis based treatment, on the nhs in england. the charity ‘epilepsy action', said it could be life—changing, as our health editor, hugh pym reports. children with two types of severe epilepsy will be eligible for the cannabis—based medicine. they can suffer with multiple seizures each day. epidiolex has been shown by clinical trials to reduce the number of seizures by 40% in some children, if used in combination with another medicine. it will be available on prescription on the nhs in england from six january, and is already accessible

to patients in wales. epidiolex is still being appraised by regulators in scotland. the medicine contains the cannabis compound cdb, but not the compound thc. 0nly treatment with both constituents will help patients with epilepsy. after lots of campaigning, the law was changed in 2018 so that specialist doctors could write a prescription for medicines containing the cbd and the thc. even though they are unlicensed, they have the right to put those prescriptions out. but shockingly, to our knowledge, since the law changed, not a single prescription has been issued on the nhs for the medicines that contain both the cbd and the thc. charlie hughes used to have up to 120 seizures a day. but, since he has been treated with cannabis oil, that number is down to single figures. the family, though, has to spend

more than £1,300 a month to get the treatment through a private prescription. the latest announcement won't help them. we know that for many, christmas can be a lonely time, especially for the elderly. however, this year on merseyside, help is at hand, in the form of dinner and drag. josh parry has been to find out more. is the pizza hut thing over there? pizza wheel. billy has been hosting lunches for lonely pensioners for two years. usually, he serves around 30 people, but at christmas time, the number doubles. well, we're cooking for 60, cooking enough 60. best crack on and get us an apron. so, billy, how long have you been doing this for? one of the ladies who comes in here, i think it was her 84th birthday, or her 83rd birthday. they asked would i do a little

surprise birthday party for her? because it was a good day. it was full of pensioners really. 0bviously celebrating her birthday, as such. so that's when we said, well, we'll do a little thing for the pensioners here once a month. yeah. so, be careful on that butter... i'm absolutely rubbish at this, by the way, can you tell? i know, but it's all right. look at the state of it! we'lljust have to go and get another 5lb of butter! as i say, we used to do it once a month. and after speaking to one of the ladies who comes in and, as i said before, she hadn't seen anyone for 11 days. so, itjust broke our heart. 11 days? 11 days. but no—one had knocked on her door, no—one had come to check on her. it's very, very sad. the fact that they have to sit, they have to sit there on their own, you know. and as i said, all you have to look forward to is what's on telly to talk to. and there's only so much pointless you can watch. a recent age uk survey found that

a quarter of older people are not looking forward to christmas because they're lonely. but billy is hoping to change this. but these people, it's either eat or heat, or eat, isn't it really? so we try to let them be themselves in here and we'll give them some sandwiches to take away with them or whatever, so they can have something else tonight. because it's christmas, isn't it? well, not just that. we should be looking after them all year round. yes. but especially now. karen, there's a cat here! as well as cooking lunch, billy also provides the entertainment as his alter ego, kitty kitter. you can take some of this home as well, you know. you can blend it into a pate. it's notjust coming in for a free meal. i think it'sjust meeting people. it gets people out to meet one another. and we have a good time, as you see.

everyone's happy and all talking to one another. they are always asking how you are, they don't leave you out. people say, have you come on your own? i say, i came on my own, but i'm not on my own now. because i'm with everybody. it's the company. and we are all, everyone is so very friendly. can't do enough for you. there's a lot of people around christmas time that are quite lonely, aren't they? yes. what difference does something like this make? big difference. big, big difference. and for billy, that difference means bringing people together this christmas one drag show at a time. josh parry, bbc news. if you think that reversing into a tight spot can be a tricky job, then take a look at these pictures of two cruise ships in a port in mexico. the carnival glory, seen here on the right, was manouvering to dock, when it struck the carnival legend, which was already moored in the mexican resort of coza—mel. in the mexican resort of cozamel. six guests suffered minor injuries —

but the operator says both vessels are still seaworthy. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomasz shaffernacker. another mile a day out there. some of us have had some pretty decent weather, especially in the north of the uk. but the south, more rain on the uk. but the south, more rain on the way. the good news is that it shouldn't be too heavy this time but the grounds are very soggy at the moment. any rainfall, and average amount could cause a few problems. we are thinking it is the south through this evening and overnight guest most of the rain and splashes way into london in the southeast, somehow breaks the rain in the midlands but nothing too heavy. the weather is looking generally clear. probably will be a touch of frost outside of town and wanted to

places, probably some patches of mist and fog first thing in the morning and as far as sunday, looks like we are in for a bright day, a lid on the breezy side and some showers as well. from time to time, be prepared for a bit of rain. goodbye.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines:

england footballer martin peters — who scored in the 1966 world cup final — has died peacefully at home. a "catastrophic fire warning" is issued for parts of eastern australia, including sydney, amid record—breaking temperatures following months of severe drought. these are very difficult and trying times, we're now up to day 105 of this bushfire emergency across new south wales and the community really is going to have to stay alert and understand what they're going to do if threatened by fires. the government approves the takeover of uk defence and aerospace specialist, cobham, by an american company. a man who confronted the fishmongers hall attacker, with a narwal tusk, describes his "deep hurt" that he couldn't save the two people who died. almost 100 flood warnings are in place across england and the situation is set to get worse, with heavy rain forecast overnight.

and coming up after the sport, the bbc‘s media editor meets the editor of private eye magazine — for a walk through the year in media with ian hislop. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's lizzie greenwood hughe. hello, some very sad news from the world of football tonight. and that's is that the 1966 world cup winner martin peters has passed away at the age of 76, after a long illness. peters will be remembered most as one of only two englishmen to score in a world cup final. our correspondent natalie pirks looks with all eyes on hurst, the dangerer from martin peters went unnoticed. it isa

from martin peters went unnoticed. it is a goal! peters! little wonder they called him the ghost. there's martin peters, the man who scored the goal which could well win the world cup for england. it didn't of course, geoff hurst claimed that accolade. he had a different take. ifi accolade. he had a different take. if i hadn't have scored, we would have lost 2—1. it was an important goal. his journaly to world cup greatness began seven years earlier, instead of following his father's foot step, west ham came calling. he made his debut for the hammers in 63. sir alf ramsay said his style and ability was ten years ahead of his time, but he didn't receive his first cap until the may of 1966. by

1970, his legend at west ham was secure and he left for spurs in a deal that made his britain's first £200,000 midfielder. with tottenham he won the league cup twice and the u efa he won the league cup twice and the uefa cup. he left in 1975, moving to norwich. despite making his debut at the age of 31, he still played more than 200 games for the club. he lived and breathed football. there are fears heading the ball helped cause his disease. like some of his former team mates, he had been suffering from alzheimer's. in the last few years he had withdrawn from public appearances and alzheimer's robbed him of many of his memories, but he remain one of only two english men to know the joy of scoring in a world cup final.m

english men to know the joy of scoring in a world cup final. it was like being struck by lightning. it was unbelievable. peters left his mark on footballing history on the day, so the saying goes that, west ham won the world cup. next to qatar, where liverpool are playing flamengo in the final of the club world cup. roberto firmino scored a dramatic injury—time winner to give liverpool a semifinal victory over mexican side monterrey on wednesday and now they are in the final. let's bring you live pictures now from the khalifa international stadium in doha. the game has been going a couple of minutes. liverpool have thrown away two good chances to go two up. but flamengo have played liverpool in this competition 38 years ago. liverpool

going for theirfirst competition 38 years ago. liverpool going for their first silverware of the season. still 10 points clear at the top of the prmeier league, jurgen klopp will be praying there are no injuries to his star players. it isa it is a fast—paced game, but 0—0 at the moment in doha. earlier today, everton and arsenal played out a goalless draw at goodison park as new bosses carlo ancelotti and mikel arteta watched from the stands. adam wild watched the action. an early start at goodison park, an hour before the lunch time kick off there was one arrival in particular catching the eye. carlo ancelotti, one of football's most revered managers, now adding the evertonjob to his cv. today, he wasjust managers, now adding the evertonjob to his cv. today, he was just here to his cv. today, he was just here to watch and he wasn't the only one. mikkel arteta was announced as the

new arsenal manager yesterday. an opportunity for players to impress their respective new bosses, or so you would think. this everton's best chance in a first half lacking any real meaningful chances. arsenal similarly struggling to show their best. if either new manager was inspired by what they had seen, they we re inspired by what they had seen, they were not showing it. the second half was barely brighter. aubameyang forcing a save from pickford. a good block got in the way of everton's biggest moment. i said it from day one, we wanted a world class manager and we have got one. i can't wait to start working with him. with him being in the stand, that will give us being in the stand, that will give usa being in the stand, that will give us a lift. a new manager in the stand. that probably helped us. uncan ferguson reling wishes the

role, as does freddie lundberg at arsenal. there is much work to be done. well the three—time champions league winner carlo ancelotti was confirmed as everton's new managerjust before kick off today — succeeding the sacked marco silva. ancelotti has signed a five—year contract and was present in the directors' box at goodison. so what can everton expect from their new manager? michael redford's been taking a look. triumphs, titles, trophies — carlo ancelotti is a man who knows how to get success. next challenge — goodison park. everton will be the tenth club he's managed in a career that spans nearly 25 years. his first big success came in 2003, leading ac milan to champions league glory. there was also cup and league success, as well. another champions league final followed in 2005, although liverpool would famously triumph in istanbul. two years later, ancelotti had his revenge.

the same teams, a different outcome, this time ac milan would rule supreme in europe. chelsea soon came calling and success soon followed, a premier league title in 2010 became a domestic cup double, as they won the fa cup as well. a sacking at stamford bridge led him to paris saint—germain. league title won — mission completed. still, ancelotti remained ambitious. next stop, real madrid and perhaps the biggest title of all... la decima. a tenth european cup for the spanish giants. from madrid to munich and yet another trophy, league won with ease in 2017, bayern finishing 15 points clear. it would prove to be his last triumph, for now. two years at napoli followed, without major success. it would lead to his sacking and it would lead him to everton, whose fans may feel christmas has come early. to bring in someone of his pedigree is undoubtably getting everybody excited. whether it's the right fit, whether it's going to last in the long term is another matter entirely, but i think, for now, evertonians, after the season we've had, of toil, of disappointments, of underperformance,

i think we're sort of allowing ourselves to get a little bit excited. a new era awaits now for ancelotti and a new challenge. from the top tier of europe, to keeping a side in england's top division, but with a cv as impressive as his, few would rule out ancelotti bringing his magic to merseyside. michael redford, bbc news. in the rest of the day's premier league action, norwich are looking very vulnerable in the bottom three. they were beaten at home by wolves, who came from a goal down to win at carrow road. rauljimenez scored his 16th goal of the season. norwich are now six points from safety in the premier league. meanwhile, victory for wolves moves them up to sixth and gets them back to winning ways after their 11—match unbeaten run was ended by tottenham last week. a good win for southampton though, who beat aston villa 3—1. danny ings with the first two goals. villa's consolotaion goal was a stunner from jack grealish, worth a watch on motd. elsewhere, burnley won at bournemouth, another away win for sheffield united.

newcastle beat palace and the biggest game of the weekend between man city and leicester has just kicked off. it is goalless at the moment. ten minutes on the clock there at the moment. there were five matches in the scottish premiership on saturday. celtic survived a wobble at home to aberdeen — restoring their lead over rangers at the top of the table back to five points. 0dsonne edouard scored the winner in the 66th minute for the 2—1victory. motherwell moved back into third place as jake carroll's free—kick gave them all three points away to kilmarnock. plenty of action from rugby union's premiership today — northampton slipped to second in the table after losing at home to sale. instead exeter are top inflicting another defeat on leicester 31 — 22 the score.rhia chohan reports. you couldn't fault the festive atmosphere today, but the great leicester tigers were 11th in the table and needed to get their premiership act together. exeter had

one over the line, but the tigers responded through may. and it continued. the faithful welcome back sent into a frenzy. may got his second try. but if your defence is fatigued that is just not enough. almond forced his way over for his second of the afternoon. leicester's high quality play became a memory as hill silenced the home fans. two exeter tries in three minutes. steenson with the score. exeter‘s resilience left leicester empty—handed. here are the rest of the results. bristol would have gone top,

but they were thrashed by saracens who are still well into minus points after their fine and wasps lost at home to harlequins. he may have lost his job at spurs last month, but mauricio pochettino certainly hasn't lost his magic touch. take a look at this. he's got a lot of time on his hands at the moment — he's currently in qatar for the club world cup as a guest of fifa s supreme committee, but he found time for a game of footgolf. and as you can see, nailed a hole—in—one! that's all the sport for now. 0na sad on a sad evening for football, where martin peters has died at the age of 76. thank you. now on bbc news, private eye's editor, ian hislop — joins the bbc‘s media editor, amol rajan — to look back on a fascinating year of front covers, cartoons and satire. hello. ian.

come in. good to see you. now, you are everywhere. thank you for having us in, thank you so much. how do you come up with a private eye cover like those? well, this was when theresa may, who — do you remember her? she was around at the beginning of the year. um, she used to be prime minister. anyway, she left and we had to think "how can we pay tribute to mrs may?" so i thought "perha ps a blank page will be good" and so we have the theresa may memorial issue — her legacy in full. and a little thing at the bottom, saying "er, thank you". which, again, seems quite cruel, but was quite funny at the time. do you know how each of those — do you ever keep tabs on how each of those sell? yeah. yeah, that was a seller. i'm afraid that was popular! and nigel farage? nigel farage. this is great. he's always good. partly because he always does photo opportunities, so having been accused of having a party full of fruitca kes, he does a photo op eating a fruit cake. i mean, it is fantastic.

i mean, he does thejoke for us. borisjohnson's private life hss frequently furnished you with cover ideas and this one you have here. this was sort of essentially a smut special. because there was a proper public interest in this story in the public money had gone to this woman on the dancing pole, but essentially the joke was boris had yet again been called out. he is saying, "i need some technology lessons," and she is saying, "floppy disk or hard drive." there is a properjoke here. with boris saying to his new girlfriend, "i don't lie to women any more," and she is saying, "except the queen obviously." that that is not a legal problem, that is the supreme courtjudgement.

you know, this is ourjob reporting the facts. and sometimes anniversaries too. this is when boris became prime minister, which the people equate with an event as unlikely as landing on the moon. but he did and there is a picture of him just going into number 10, so we did it as a "loon" landing, a souvenir issue, one small step for man and a giant leap in the dark for mankind. and put it in black and white. when you have a year to get through and have many of these annuals of course and when you have to do a year, what you're saying moments ago is whatjournalism is about, what are you thinking about dealing with this? do you get the bestjokes or really to reflect the year? i try and get the bestjokes and if we had been told and if we had been dull about a particular subject or have not covered it well, i try and leave it out. i mean we are exhaustive, but the idea is to be entertaining. you've been personally committed to trying to reverse the decline

of the english cartoonist. why have you and private eye kept up with this cartoon? because people like them and the mag sells. no, obviously it's a much more elevated reason than that. no, i love cartoons, that i think that one of the things that print can do is reproduce sort of beautiful drawings that are funny. and the english tradition is very old and i think remarkable. so i am basically doubling the number of cartoons. and people said there are not any young cartoonists, you won't get anyone. it is funny, if you offer money, people become cartoonists. we have got a brilliant raft of young cartoonists. i mean, this is a genuine skill and a lot of people who do it really well. i mentioned politics is what we will come to. and everything to be in a state of polarisation, a genuine differences.

why has that happened? a delayed effect of the financial crash? i think the referendum was a question about whether you are essentially happy with the way britain is or not, whether it is too unequal or you have been left behind by the international world that has come into business, whether you would rather your life was structured different ways. and the referendum was not really about europe at all. the question people answered was a question for themselves. perfectly reasonable, but it did not have anything to do with the eu. we managed to politicize essentially a cultural divide. which is why we have ended up in three years people shouting at each other. the last three years has furnished your covers with some very loud characters. what about satire? has it become easier or harder when we have the stranger than life characters? i mean it does two things. one is everybody says to you satire is over now because you cannot satirize donald trump, he does it to himself. 0r boris is funny. nothing more to add. which is not true.

but you have to work harder. because you have to find the areas where they are vulnerable, the areas where they genuinely are funny and where you can get under their skin. obviously it's incredibly flattering, we have done somejoke about donald trump which turned up in a tweet saying this was unfunny and not clever and not funny and that is the ultimate prize. and to find that boris is furious about something and that's what you want. does he ever get in touch, he's been on your cover many times, do you think he is still cheesed off when he sees himself on the front page? i do hope so. what is your technique for dealing with people who are readily offended online? well, i'm not online, which helps. how have you found that is hard to sustain? over the course of the existence of the internet, you have two children in their 20s, what do they think with the fact that dad is not online?

i have no idea. i have not looked on line. no, it is very restful. i do recommend it. i could get used to that idea. unfortunately the media editor may not allow me to do that. one of the things about the age which we live is the truth seems up for grabs in a way it has not been for a long time, maybe ever in the course of your career. do you think it is fair to say these days the penalty or sanction faced by those caught lying has almost disappeared. people are getting away with lying as never before. i do think is a real problem now, the idea that fake news and that is one of the things that is why i don't put a lot of time online because i am infuriated by reasonable people who say to me, "i notice you did not run that story about hillary clinton murdering everybody." and i said i did not run it because it is not true. and they said i read it online. and the people who they say to you the mainstream media isjust full of lies.

and then they believe the biggest and stupidest lie that someone in a bedroom has written up on the internet and sent out as a blog. i mean there is a real divide between the sort of supposedly skepticism, sort of fierce refusal to believe anything you read in the normal media and then believing almost anything you read online. and this is weird and it makes it... it makes the idea of truth polluted, which we know from the history of fake news is what the original putin doctrine was and what donald trump wants, he does not want you do believe this rubbish he pumps out, he wants you to believe nothing. people watching this on bbc or listening to this via bbc podcast will think that actually the bbc is part of the problem. but there is these days if you want to go viral you say there is a conspiracy at the bbc. why are people so keen to believe conspiracy theories about journalists?

why is trust in journalism so low? we have not distinguished ourselves the past 30 years. the phone hacking thing was not good and the enquirer was not marvellous. i mean there is a reason for people to be fully sceptical. about journalism. it is not much the same way as the expenses scandal made us very sceptical about politicians. but i believe and i have said this before that being sceptical is not the same as being cynical. it does not mean you believe in nothing but you assess value. there is really good journalism going on. the alternative is literally sitting at home thinking i wonder what i believe. is it really striking about the election campaign that we saw at the end of 2019 that a lot of the fake news was actually pumped out by official channels? it was coming to the main parties. is that not really what fake news

is and is that notjust old—fashioned political spin? i think the thing that really shocked everyone in that political campaign was not the idea that hidden on the internet somewhere there were messages going out that were being paid for and we did not know about. i mean it is reasonable to criticise. it was the fact that political parties were pretending they were fact checking outputs or pretending they were another outfit in order to pump out their own messages. the old —fashioned political spin is we are the tory party and we promise you 80,000 more trees, houses, nurses, whatever it is, we are labour party, we have 80,000 and another 80,000 nurses, trees, whatever. that is old—fashioned political spin, that's what people know about. the fake messaging and then when you get caught out and you say, "oh, it was a joke." it is satire, no it is not so tired. we are doing bloody satire.

get the tory party out of it. you said in the past you don't talk much about your voting habits but you said you were a democrat and believe in democracy. look around the world, do you think we are in this sort of period democratic recession, which is a correction that has been readjusted but in order to surive, or do you have to think we are entering a darker post—democratic age? no, i don't believe that but that, i am on the whole quite optimistic. i mean we are in the middle of a cult of the strongman and a lot of leadership around the world is very autocratic. populist movements have i think done democracy no favours. in forgetting the normal checks and balances and the structures and sort of boring sets of standards and values that allow democracy to function. none of that is very encouraging. essentially i think most periods and one of the good things about getting older,

think this is a terrible start. and british politics ever been so divisive and i think the poll tax, riots, the miners strike, that was not a cohesive period. and you know, i was quite... and my mother—in—law said to me i have never been so worried as i am now about the world. and i said you were a teenager in 1939. and she said so i was. i do that you have to keep a certain amount of perspective. conscious as i say is that behind you there are endless letters. in terms of threats you have had this year, legal and otherwise, you have had many legal threats over the year. how does this year rank in terms of the threats to ruin you and your family? interesting because i think that something about brexit, people must be a bit more depressed.

we have had quite a lot of very rich people suing. what sort of stuff? mostly russian or thereabouts. about money and in london where it is going to and we've had quite a lot of that. is there ever any danger that these cases are going to end up bankrupting you and private eye? i have a wooden table. we will see. we survive on the favour of our readers. they pay up and that is where our money comes from. and you know most of our stories are about unexplained wealth. you know where ours is from and we don't know where theirs is from. so that's the difference. thank you very much indeed. hello, quite a gloomy picture, but some of us have had a decent day

with some sunshine to end the afternoon. the south however is in for more rain and there are still flood warnings in force, particularly clustered around the south—east of england, parts of midlands and also lincolnshire. this is the weather front that is across the south of the uk. you can see it approaching the south—west of the country. and then it will be spreading across the southern counties and towards the east. so this is what it looks like early evening. heavy rain will reach london and east anglia and the northern half of the uk, a different story, with clear spells and it will be dry with mist and fog early in the morning on sunday. of course it will be colder too, around three in belfast and glasgow. milder where we have the damp weather in london and norwich. around seven degrees. the front that is sweeping across the south will be out of the picture and behind it we have fresh atlantic

north—westerly winds and some showers. so this is what it looks like sunday morning. still some rain in east anglia and the south—east. but the sun should come out in london and in birmingham and sunny specimens on the way. from time to time we will have showers too. for some a changeable day. take a brolly if you're out for any length of time. 10 in london. colder in the north. here is the christmas outlook for christmas week and you can't miss this big pulse of orange and the winds from the south—west. that is heading our direction and that means it will be a mild run up to christmas. here is monday. so we have some rain in the forecast for western and north western scotland and the possibility of some rain reaching south western england and the south later on monday. but the bulk of the country on monday is looking dry, sunshine by day and clear skies in the evening. so that

is monday. how about christmas eve? it is looking fine across the uk and it looks as if we should have some sunshine also on the big day itself on christmas. bye—bye.

this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa barak. the headlines at six: england footballer martin peters — who scored in the 1966 world cup final, has died at the age of 76. a ‘catastrophic fire warning' is issued for parts of eastern australia, including sydney, amid record—breaking temperatures following months of severe drought. these are very difficult and trying times, we're now up to day 105 of this bushfire emergency across new south wales and the community really is going to have to stay alert and understand what they're going to do if threatened by fires. the government approves the takeover of uk defence and aerospace specialist, cobham, by an american company.