covering some covers is incredible. covering some we re covers is incredible. covering some were almost the size of england at the moment. it is absolutely devastating. there are multiple people dead, thousands homeless, and it is so out of control that, for instance, there are lightning strikes that are causing even more fires. because it is tinder dry. australia have had a drought for three years and the fires are so enormous they can be seen thousands of miles away. in the south of new zealand they can see the smoke and the fires have turned the sky orange at this point. and obviously australians are up in arms but the prime ministerjust doesn't seem to be taking it seriously at all. this is scott morrison who keeps saying things like previous generations have had to deal with stuff of this and we will get on top of it. we have to remember australia is still a big exporter of coal. yes, exactly, and there is a lot of money in australia being made through minerals and fossil fuels. that has

beena minerals and fossil fuels. that has been a really booming sector of their economy. but temperature records are being broken constantly in australia. they have already recorded the hottest ever decade. records are being broken. my husband is australian. the temperatures are through the roof. yes, it has always been hot but this is beyond. he is saying the spirit of australians, the spirit we can celebrate as australians. yes, sure, it is great to be resilient, but this is horrendous and he made the speech making no link with climate change at all. and you think, come on, really, this is not normal. sure, there has always been fires but this is beyond. let's look at the ft, any boost from election likely to fizzle out soon. this is a pole from economists that a survey the ft carries out each year. yes, surprise

surprise, they had quite a positive leader yesterday about brexit saying 0k, leader yesterday about brexit saying ok, we will make the best of this, let's go for the opportunities. about 85 leading economists surveyed have said that any election boost from borisjohnson's have said that any election boost from boris johnson's landslide have said that any election boost from borisjohnson's landslide is going to be very short lived, and in fa ct, going to be very short lived, and in fact, someone has said, "ratherthan a bounce, the economy will experience something more akin to jump by experience something more akin to jump by someone wearing lead boots." that is diane coyle who is a very respected economist at cambridge university. boris johnson, though, saying this will be a decade of prosperity. but it's not going to start straightaway according to this survey. no. it is in stark contrast to the message borisjohnson put out but he would get brexit done, and then they could focus on making britain brilliant and find all these free—trade deals. economists have said actually there is still a huge amount of uncertainty about what this means. obviously, britain will

have to find all these trade deals, put them all together, but there is absolutely no detail at the moment, nobody is sure exactly what britain will be able to thrash out, whether oi’ will be able to thrash out, whether or not they will be seen as competitive, or has said whether anybody is seeking to make a trade deal, or realise that because we left the eu we are standing on our own and could easily be taken advantage of. and the no-deal brexit is still on the cards. it is, absolutely, and there will be a huge number of people like nigel farage and his party who will be pushing for a much harder brexit. so even though boris johnson has for a much harder brexit. so even though borisjohnson has his deal on the table and has a majority now, things are still up in the air and nobody is sure what will happen. the daily mail, shocked surge in child anorexia, entering a new decade gives us an opportunity to look back on the previous decade and quantify various issues, and this is where the daily mail has chosen to go, the number of children being admitted

for eating disorders. children under the age of 18, that number has doubled since 2010. so in 2010, 1700 people under 18 were admitted, that has moved to 4500. but perhaps the most shocking fact is that children under 13, we have seen that triple from 74 up to 229, and a lot of this, experts are putting down to pro—anorexia websites. so, for instance, there are a lot of websites where children can go on, speak to other people, they are set up speak to other people, they are set up as forums, to learn how to starve themselves and get encouragement from other people. it is a bizarre sex of circumstances, isn't it, because at the same time we have an obesity crisis as well —— bizarre set of circumstances. it also children who are not eating enough. yes, it is dreadful. you just think, what are we doing to our children and young people? there also ties in

with the surge in the mental health crisis, anxiety, the pressure that young people feel under in all sorts of ways exacerbated most certainly in my opinion and as it says here by social media. and ijust think that these big tech companies have very serious questions to answer because they are allowing these sites to proliferate and they are not doing anything about it and it isjust really not good enough. they are making huge amounts of money. dreadful. let's look at the metro. revolt at the latest rise in rail fa res. revolt at the latest rise in rail fares. new year, new price for your ticket, it seems. i can't remember a year going by when the price hasn't gone up for a lot of people if not everybody. 2.796 on average, and as you say, it happens every year but ata time you say, it happens every year but at a time when wages haven't really risen for people over the last decade, 0k, they have gone up slightly over the past year or so

but it feels dreadful. i've just had a month's train strike on my local train company, and that's nothing to the hell that is travelling on trains in the north of england. train travel is expensive, getting more expensive, and i don't think a lot of passengers feel they are getting value for money. and while it is so expensive, people will still choose their car at a time when we are trying to get cars off the road. absolutely. if you look at rail fares, the road. absolutely. if you look at railfares, and the road. absolutely. if you look at rail fares, and anybody who has the road. absolutely. if you look at railfares, and anybody who has been ona train railfares, and anybody who has been on a train in britain, knows that you have to spend a huge sum of money and it is awful, but also often when you get on it is cancelled, it is delayed, your seat reservation isn't upheld. it is not a very enjoyable experience anyway. and clearly, because there are so many strikes, the profits are going somewhere but they are not being given to the people who run our trains. it is being given to people higher up. so it is going to be more and more difficult and the number of people i know who want to help the

planet, they don't want to drive, but sometimes realise that their tickets are so expensive it is cheaper to fly. we really need to be stopping these rises but also putting money into green transport. if it keeps rising over and over again people can't afford to travel and they will choose much more environmentally damaging modes of transport instead. the daily express. job boom for older workers. is it because they want to work or they are going to have to work? there is very little detail in it. i think that if people want to work over the age of 65 they should be and they should be given protection so and they should be given protection so they are not forced out. when i went to university, a lot of my professors we re over went to university, a lot of my professors were over the age of 65 and they had a lot of knowledge they we re and they had a lot of knowledge they were able to impart to us that was really valuable. i have equally spoken to a lot of pensioners who are in poverty who feel they cannot stop work because if they do they will earn too little. the other

worrying thing is that this report says that more than half ofjobs growth in the next ten years will come from over 65s, which doesn't speak very highly of what will happen for employment for younger people. i think if people want to work over 65 they should be given protection is to do so, but equally, we need to make sure that people can retire without fear of poverty and we also need to make sure that younger people still have jobs growth that they can take advantage of. age is a protected characteristic of the equality act of 2010 but it is enforcing at that is the difficult bit. it is and i think ageism is still completely rife. i think it is still considered fine tojoke rife. i think it is still considered fine to joke about older people. i actually think this is a positive story. i think a lot of older workers are working partly because they need to financially, also of course, the retirement age is going up, but also because they want to and they have the energy and the

drive and something to offer. and i think it would be much better if we all worked more flexibly, were able to take time off early in our careers, change careers, whatever, work more flexibly, rather than working ourselves to death until we are 67,68, working ourselves to death until we are 67, 68, and then contributing nothing. i think we should have a much more fluid way of working, and i think if you can work and you want to work with you are 70, 80, why shouldn't you? so we will still be here in 20,30 years? laughter the times, sales of beef and pork plunge as britons choose vegan diet. we are being told to eat less meat because it is more environmentally friendly, red meat in particular. and indeed, more people are turning vegan, oi’ and indeed, more people are turning vegan, or at least choosing to eat some vegan vegan, or at least choosing to eat some vegan meals. vegan, or at least choosing to eat some vegan meals. yes. it says the number of vegans in britain has doubled between 2016 and last year up doubled between 2016 and last year up to 600,000, and 800,000 people have cut back up to 600,000, and 800,000 people have cutback on eating animal

products for at least a month last year. so, sales of red meat are going down. meat free alternatives have gone up 18%, which is astonishing. in my own family, two of my three boys have decided to go vegetarian, one announced it today, one went a month ago, so we are working our way through all of these meat free alternatives. there is an opportunity for food manufacturers in that. yeah, absolutely. whenever igoto in that. yeah, absolutely. whenever i go to the supermarket i see a huge proliferation of interesting things. i have tried some of them. we are also entering veganuary and i was thinking about it but then i had a blood test and suddenly became aware that i had become anaemic and i've done the opposite and started eating a lot of red meat. the farmers who produce livestock will thank you for that because it is worrying for them and their loss of livelihoods that depend on us eating the range of foods we have always eaten. depend on us eating the range of foods we have always eatenm depend on us eating the range of foods we have always eaten. it is important as well that when people try and do this they think about the

full nutritional value as well because obviously vegan diet is very low in b12 because obviously vegan diet is very low in b 12 and you need that to stay alive. i think as long as people make sure they get the nutritional value they need it can only help the planet and probably their waistlines. absolutely and we are all conscious of that at this time of year. but dawn and catherine, foster and forster will be back at 11:30pm for another round. and don't forget you can see the front pages of the papers online on the bbc news website. it's all there for you — seven days a week at bbc.co.uk/papers — and if you miss the programme any evening you can watch it later on bbc iplayer. thank you to you both. i'll be back ina thank you to you both. i'll be back in a second. the network bulletin will be on bbc one as well as here because huw has gone home! the new year brokers in quite gently, a lot of cloud around but

through the day today we are going to see an increase in wind and they will be rain around for some of us they will be rain around for some of us but not for all. it looks as though the heaviest rain is likely to be that so far north of west, the isobar squeezing together where the strongest winds are likely to be. these weather fronts, strongest winds are likely to be. these weatherfronts, behind it introducing something a bit cooler, that will arrive on friday. but i had wrecked, with a southerly flow meaning today it will be quite a cloudy start and a relatively mild one and that will be the theme throughout the day. the first batch of rain pushes through scotland and northern ireland in the morning and it will be replaced by another one as we move into the afternoon. the winds are quite a feature here, gusts in excess of 50 mph on exposed coasts. the rain pushes into north west england and wales, but for much of england and wales, yes it is going to be a blustery afternoon but should be relatively dry. and relatively mild for the time of year. temperatures will probably peek widely into double digits,

10-12d. as peek widely into double digits, 10—12d. as we move out of thursday into friday, those weatherfronts pushed south and east allowing the door to open to this cooler weather. but the isobar is open up so lighter winds on friday. we could start cloudy and damp in the south—east early on but that eases away quickly and there will be brighter, sunnier weather around, i suspect come on friday, so despite it being a bit cooler, i'm sure that will come as welcome news. a few scattered showers in the far north—west, 6—8d here, further south we are likely to see here, further south we are likely to see highs of eight up to possibly ten or 11. moving see highs of eight up to possibly ten or11. moving into see highs of eight up to possibly ten or 11. moving into the weekend, high pressure is set to build from the south, so this quite theme of weather is set to continue. weather fronts always threatening across the top so more cloud here and a few outbreaks of showery rain up into the far north—west, but generally speaking saturday is going to be a dry, sunny day across much of eastern scotland, england and wales, but cooler with a 6—10d at the hive. on thursday, it is almost a case of

spot the difference but as the wind swing down to a southerly again, a bit milder on the west facing coasts but here it is likely to stay rather cloudy. the best sunshine in sheltered south and eastern areas. that's it. take care.

this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 11:00: bushfires have killed at least eight people in south—eastern australia, since monday, and destroyed more than 200 homes. two men and a woman, who all worked for british airways, are killed after a lorry collides with a car in stanwell in surrey on new year's eve. the mother of the british teenager found guilty of lying about being raped in cyprus, backs calls for tourists to boycott the country. in their new year messages, the prime minister says brexit will mark a "new chapter" forthe uk, while the archbishop of canterbury urges people to heal the divisions of recent years.