h “a fi it‘a'fi fi it‘uié: don't think the answer should be that if you are looking at. salah charges in towards him to score! here we are, in early february and liverpool are 22 points clear. it is a procession. does that concern you? it doesn't. my view is that last year we had the most incredible title race and i always back the premier league to provide a story, if you like, that gets fans excited. we are seeing one of the premier league's great sides and we should celebrate that. liverpool's long wait for the title now looks all but guaranteed, but for the premier league there is plenty of issues to be resolved. dan roan, bbc news. time for a look at the weather, here's ben rich. things is remaining calm until

friday and then a big change for the weekend. for the time being high—pressure is in charge. some sunshine around and some cloud also around in parts of northern ireland and scotland. that could produce some rain. some spells of hazy sunshine in the south of england. two the evening and tonight high—pressure is still with us. still a lot of cloud in scotland and northern ireland. further south and east some clear spells and some frost for some. and some fog patches developing through central and southern parts of england and into parts of wales as well, some of that could be quite dense and slow to clear. but tomorrow another largely fine day. a bit more sunshine across parts of northern scotland. and temperatures typically seven, 9

degrees. friday is a breezy date which should break up more of that cloud then slowly things begin to change and showers move into the west and more persistent rain behind that. just starting to turn a little milder as well than two friday night we had these outbreaks of rain moving east. we have slightly clearer weather for the first part of saturday and then here comes a band of heavy rain and some sales across northern and western parts of uk. and that is not all of it. sunday the weather currently in development a long way from our shores in the south of the usa. we have an area of rain and snow there at the moment and that will be picked up by a powerfuljet stream. potentially winds of up to 270 miles an hour which will supercharge the atmosphere. it is likely to spin up

atmosphere. it is likely to spin up a very deep area of low pressure. you can see a lot of white lines on the chart and it does have already been named by the met office as storm keira. it has the potential to bring damaging winds just about anywhere in the uk. a reminder of our top story... president trump says his time in office has produced ‘a great american comeback‘ — in his state of the union address mr trump set out his case for another four years in office. that's all from the bbc news at one — so it's goodbye from me — and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s good afternoon. you're watching bbc news. i'm ben croucher with an update from bbc sport. super league clubs have been meeting today to discuss catalan dragons signing of controversial austrlaian player israel folau.

they've come together in salford with several clubs, backing a letter from hull krs owner to the dragons, warning them of potential legal action if they suffer financially as a result of the signing. catalans owner bernard gausch was not in attendance. folau was sacked by rugby australia for his homophobic comments. england winger anthony watson will miss saturday's six nations match with scotland. he was forced out of the opening defeat in paris with a calf problem but suffered a setback in training and missed today's session. former tottenham playmaker christian eriksen feels that he was blamed for their slump in recent months and paid the price for being honest about his desire to leave the club. he told a danish newspaper last summer that he wanted a new challenge elsewhere and after being linked with real madrid and manchester united, completed a £17 million move to inter milan at the end of the january transfer window. if you have a short contract, you will be the black sheep, and of course i did the interview. i was very honest. i felt that i had to be honest.

i did not want to hide stuff like a lot of players do. and they work in their own way, everybody is different, but i was honest — i wanted to try something new and i said that out loud. i did get the blame for a lot of stuff, for being the bad vibe. i didn't read all of the bad stuff. i did read something about being the bad person in the changing room and "ever since he said he wanted to leave he is no good." after picking up an achilles injury in training, mo farah has withdrawn from next month's london half marathon. he's won the race for the last two years but said he'll focus instead on getting fully fit for the summer. he added that he hoped to be back at the race in 2021. the international olympic committee have tried to allay fears over the coronavirus, after the organisers of the tokyo games said they were seriously concerned about its effect on the games this summer. the ioc said they were in contact with the world health organisation and had full confidence that tokyo 2020 were in control of the situation.

the organisers admitted they were worried that the outbreak may dampen enthusiasm for the olympics and paralympics, due to be held in tokyo from july to september. there have been 20 confirmed cases of the virus injapan, with nearly 500 people killed in china, where it first emerged. translation: i am seriously worried that the spreading of the infectious disease could throw cold water on the momentum towards the games. i hope that it will be stamped out as soon as possible. the tokyo 2020 organising committee will coordinate with the ipc, ioc, the japanese government and the tokyo metropolitan government to tackle this issue thoroughly. those running next year's women's rugby world cup say they are hoping to build on the success of the last tournament in ireland in 2017, which set records for attendance and television viewing. it comes with organisers confirming the dates and venues at an official

launch in auckland. it's the first time the event has been held in the southern hemisphere and from the semi—finals onwards, the matches will be played at the 50,000 seater eden park, which hosted the men's final in 2011. all match and training facilities, and accommodation, will be on parity with international mains tournaments, and the 2011 event. the tournaments, and the 2011 event. the tournament and its associated celebrations of rugby and women's sport will take place over 30 fantastic days, from september 18 to september16, 2021. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport gavin will take you through all the sport in afternoon live after 2pm. good afternoon. you are watching bbc

news. the metropolitan police commissioner has said the convicted terrorist sudesh amman was able to stab two people in streatham while under surveillance because the operations are not ‘man—to—man marking'. giving evidence to the london assembly police and crime committee, dame cressida dick spoke about the general tactics used by counter—terrorist police. they are not, of course, providing a man—to—man marking, if i could —— put it that way for they are there covertly a nd put it that way for they are there covertly and that is a deliberate thing. so, it is inevitable that there could be a time delay while somebody totally unexpectedly does something. you know, it is in the nature of their work, they are following people doing unexpected things, they never know what is going to happen next, and they are

highly flexible, of course, but i think to... in general terms, to be able to respond so fast is an extraordinary achievement. i wish i could assure the public that everybody who poses a risk on the streets could be subject to some sort of thing which would stop them being able to stop anybody ever, but it is clearly not possible. let's get more now on prime minister's questions which took place this lunchtime. let's find out what reaction is filtering through after that session. norman smith, assistant political editor, did ijust demoted? how long i known you? norman smith, anyway. the master of it all.

to be honest, a bit of a mixed bag today. we have a little bit on the argument over the climate change conference, a bit of clarity, i suppose, on the new emergency legislation on counterterrorism. borisjohnson legislation on counterterrorism. boris johnson saying legislation on counterterrorism. borisjohnson saying he wants to bring an end to the automatic early release. we had a little bit on buses, a little bit on huawei, signs of trouble ahead for borisjohnson on the tory backbenchers over that but, let's be honest, nothing particularly stand out. perhaps the most interesting thing, we had nicky morgan saying she would go in the reshuffle expected next week, launching this review into the licensee and in particular into decriminalising the licensee. what will that mean for the bbc? we shall find out. let's ask three people, one from the labour party, one from the conservatives and one from the liberal democrats. damian, it is a

little bit out, here we have a government with an awful lot on its plate, brexit, trade deals, levelling up, social care, so what do they do? they hold a consultation on bbc, what is going on?” do they do? they hold a consultation on bbc, what is going on? i am not sure, the government can explain better than i can. clearly, there are issues with the new, you know, a huge amount of change in the broadcasting landscape, i hope that the consultation does not lead to anything that actually weakens the bbc‘s ability to be, if you like, britain's voice in the world. if you look at it globally, one of the british institutions that is most admired around the world as the bbc, for all the rotations we may all have with that, even its own employees have it sometimes. i know you will look askance at that. i am a number of the bbc and i can see why they're having this consultation. ——i am an admirer. had ita consultation. ——i am an admirer. had it a few years ago and it may well come to the same result. do you the argument that what is going on is a

bit of a punishment beating for the bbc because of what some of government view as its hostile role during the brexit referendum and the general election? i hope not because the bbc are clearly news, current affairs, it is always controversial and has to be forced but the bbc‘s impotence is a national institution is much wider than that. it is much more of a cultural institution. —— importance. i profoundly hope that is not the motivation of this. easy, let me ask you, the licence fee, it is, frankly, a bit of an anachronism in an age where we all pay for netflix or whatever, to have this mandatory tax on people who may not watch the bbc anyway, particularly younger viewers. younger viewers to watch the bbc 80% of 16—25 —year—olds watch the bbc every single week and when we ask the question about how it should be funded, that is the wrong question. we should be asking, do we want a public broadcaster that is owned and paid for by the british public to be

a beacon of independentjournalism? if we do, what is the best way of funding it? a review was commissioned by a sceptic of the bbc, shall we say, five years ago. the government commissioned it, it was conducted and it concluded that of all the available models, the licensee was the best model for now. the subscription model is quite frankly untested. we know that netflix is surviving as a subscription service right now but we are about to see the advent of apple and peacock and other challengers and we might find that it isa challengers and we might find that it is a very competitive, hostile environment within which the bbc can survive. for now, we must keep the licensee. tracy, why should the bbc survive? you could argue, in many countries, the market provides perfectly adequate broadcasting environment. why do we have to have, in effect, a state funded broadcaster? it is a public service broadcasting. this is the question. do we believe in public service broadcasting? it is the varied offer

from the bbc. we are actually in agreement on this. we have a jewel in the crown here. what is the government's motivation? is this pa rt government's motivation? is this part of, i would say, a landscape of a tax on the bbc and certainly journalism? we saw number ten dividing journalists about who can come in, who cannot, civil servants getting involved in all of that. can ijust say, i am hugely disappointed that nicky morgan chose to announce this really important investigation outside this building. i know she is and has of lords could have easily send somebody to the chamber. it is anti—democratic, i think, send somebody to the chamber. it is anti—democratic, ithink, tojust reduce us to buy standards. —— buy standards. it is important that we look at bbc radio, their talent and beta, their global reach in bbc one news and journalism, the standards are really high. to be honest, in the world of fake news, here we going to turn to with the bbc? we own it, all of us, and are entitled

to have that public service broadcasting at the heart of our broadcasting at the heart of our broadcasting offer. you mentioned the current spat between downing street and the media over access to some briefings. we have seen the today programme being boycotted and a number of other sort of instances. is this a new development or is this just normal friction between government and the media?|j just normal friction between government and the media? i think there is an intensification, and certainly the new chair of the dcms select committee, gillian, has got his seat only mandated that he is going to investigate the bbc. as we have just heard, there has already been that look at the licence fee, the qc that looked into it said it is the barest, most equitable way to do it. if you are going to decriminalise it, as, the public, will lose out, and the bbc will decide massively. we cannot compete with netflix and do not want to because we are not netflix. how do

you read this under current tensions between number ten and the lobby? is itan between number ten and the lobby? is it an attempt by number ten to change the terms of trade, orjust pa rt change the terms of trade, orjust part of the normal to—and—fro?m doesn't feel very abnormal to me. when you remember that regimes of alistair campbell and so on at number ten... damien, ifi could just say alastair campbell never banned anybody from coming into the building. no, but people around tony blairand building. no, but people around tony blair and gordon brown is to phone up blair and gordon brown is to phone up newspaper editors are saying is that your political editors, he has being hostile but this is unprecedented. the handling of a specific press conference is one thing but there has always been this. governments with big majorities, particularly in their early years, majorities, particularly in their early yea rs, have majorities, particularly in their early years, have always behaved like this. no! there is outrage attempted to be created over and above what it is worth. what happened was not handled right at that press conference but the idea that press conference but the idea that this is something new and

sinister is not true. i am related concerns that the government has dismissed this and said there is nothing to see here. we heard yesterday both from the news media association and from the national union ofjournalists, association and from the national union of journalists, both association and from the national union ofjournalists, both calling on the government to consult about these changes in the way that journalists were being dealt with, both saying that this represented a threat to freedom of the press and asking for an urgent meeting to deal with this. the fact is, it is not about whether labour or conservative or liberal democrat or other mp5 think this is a good or bad thing, the industry themselves, journalists themselves and their representative bodies, have said this is a potentially a threat to freedom of the present i think we should be listened to. does it matter or is there is a very westminster spat?” think it does matter. we are now living in a new age of information where we get fake news, misinformation, and it is incredibly important that all members of parliament, and particularly those in government, abide by standards in public life, to be accountable and transparent, and it is important

that the press are able to hold us to account for substance you appeared ina to account for substance you appeared in a number of the papers this morning over, what shall we collect, the off the shoulder couture controversy at the dispatch box and your top showed your shoulder and you got a lot of flak on twitter... i mean, how do you read that? were you surprised by the reaction it provoked and does it matter? i was slightly startled, it isa matter? i was slightly startled, it is a shoulder. everybody has got overemotional about a shoulder. but what is important is that i have got the privilege to brush it off. there are lots of women around the country and in the world that have not got that freedom to brush it off, and it is important that i called it out because it is everyday sexism. it is always a great way to diminish a woman, especially a powerful woman speaking about something really important. to talk about what she looks like, her hair, her weight, whatever. certainly, we are politicians, female politicians, we are sick of it and i will continue to call it out but will also remind

people why there is a bit of a destruction going on, because i was asking a point of order specifically about access to number ten post it works per some sections of the media that we have a bit of a distraction. look over here! thank you very much, folks. i should say, jane, it was not so long ago, if you wanted to get antidepressant gallery, you had to be wearing a jacket and a tie. how times change. interesting. just 3% of councils are happy with government progress on local finances, forcing nearly all councils to raise council tax and increase charges to make ends meet. councils say it's to pay for things like children's services and adult social care. my colleaguejoanna gosling spoke to drjonathan carr—west — he's chief executive of the local government information unit — which provides advice and ideas on economic problems facing councils. 97% of councils tell us to be putting up council tax and 90% of those are going to be putting it up by the maximum amount they are allowed to. on top of that...

that is 3%. it's 2% for all councils and if you are a council with social care responsibilities, it is an additional 2% as a pre—care preset. so many will be seeing their council tax bills go up by 4%. and is it unavoidable? i think it is unavoidable. we have seen over the last ten years that government funding to councils has been cut by 40% or more. and at the same time, the way in which councils are funded has changed. instead of being funded by central government by a grant, they are funded by local council tax and retaining business rates. how much does council tax going up or down impact on residents in terms of satisfaction with what they are getting in return? it is notjust council tax, because as well as council tax, charges are going up. 97% of councils say they will be increasing fees from everything from parking to swimming pools to cremations. and at the same time, service levels are being kept

absolutely cut to the bone. councils barely able to provide the statutory services they are legally obliged to like adult social care children services. so many people will feel they are paying more but seeing less in return for it. and what is being cut? what has been cut? over the last ten years, we have seen councils make huge efforts to absorb massive cuts, whilst protecting front line services. we have seen huge numbers of front line staff laid off, back office mergers, buildings sold, assets disposed of. there has been a huge effort to make councils as efficient and lean as possible. we are getting to the end with what can be done with that. we now have one in ten councils saying they are worried they won't even be able to cover those basic statutory services. one in seven councils say they anticipate some sort of legal challenge as to whether they are providing the services at a sufficient level. what would that look like, then, if one in ten councils couldn't cover the statutory services? we have never got to that position before.

councils have made a huge effort to avoid it. in reality, what you will see is people getting fewer hours of care, people, you know, fewer social workers working across more vulnerable children, so really stretching the system to its limits. what do you think should happen? i think we need to look at this again. the government's plan is that councils should be funded by a locally retained business rates, but we don't know how and we don't know when that system's coming in. we have a one—yearfunding settlement to patch it together. 75% of councils tell us they don't think business rates are sustainable as a solution. i think we need to look at this afresh. there are loads of ideas out there in local government and local government's talking about having a local share of income tax and the new digital sales tax, could that replace some business rates? could we have hotel taxes?

can we look at different forms of commercial investments? 75% of councils are bringing in commercial investment to bring in money. could we have different rules around borrowing? there are a whole range of ideas out there, all of them, by the way, done in comparable economies in the us, france, and germany, they are not on the table. we have a new government with a new mandate, majority, here for five years, they need to step back, look at this, listen to councils and take a new vision on this. the metropolitan police have confirmed that an officer has been taken off operational duties and is being investigated, after reports that a gun was left in an aeroplane's toilet by a bodyguard for the former prime minister, david cameron. the pistol — reportedly loaded — was found by a passengerjust before the transatlantic flight was due to take off, along with mr cameron's passport. my colleaguejoanna gosling spoke to the former head of royal protection dai davies. obviously, like everyone else, i was concerned at the lapse in discipline, if you like, of the fact that this officer, for some reason, forgot...

obviously he was doing his business at one point, for some reason took his gun away from whatever he was doing and i amjust astonished, really, that in a really small, confine such as a toilet on an aeroplane that this could have happened, but clearly it did. it is concerning and no doubt my colleagues, or former colleagues, in the met will be investigating it. it is fair to say we are all human, but unfortunately being a police officer and being human don't always go together when you're carrying a gun. clearly, this is unacceptable. it has happened, in my understanding, at least once or twice in the past, but it is obviously embarrassing, particularly after his colleagues on the other side of the surveillance did such a magnificentjob tackling the terrorist in streatham. it can make the mind wander as to what might have happened if it got into the wrong hands, but it didn't. somebody picked it up, handed it in,

and according to reports, the pilot explained what was going on and some of the passengers on the plane were really uncomfortable about travelling with a loaded gun, so the gun was taken off the plane. we have not had confirmation of that in the british airways statement but they say it was dealt with before the departure. "the flight continued as normal". how unusual is it for a loaded gun to be allowed on a plane? is that something that you have done in your work previously? well, i have never carried a gun on a plane, that is for sure, and certainly, when i was responsible, at that time, guns were normally handed over to the captain. again, each airline has a different policy but my understanding is since 9/11, that policy has been amended by the civil aviation authority and clearly now they are allowed to carry guns, and clearly the passengers would be even more upset if there had been a terrorist on—board and somehow somebody was attacking mr cameron and there was no defence mechanism.

you cannot have it both ways. clearly, this was a mistake, it will be looked at, and i would be looking at who the officer was, his experience, has he got problems? all kind of manner of things would go into it before i hung him out to dry, frankly. what is the potential sanction? well, again, it is a discipline offence to lose any item of equipment, but particularly so if you lose a glock 19, as i understand it. it is a lethal weapon. my understanding also is it was fully loaded. but, again, these factors as you have said in your earlier report, we are still waiting confirmation whether not the captain authorised the gun to go off. that would leave mr cameron, and let's face it, all ex prime ministers are at risk because of the actions they have taken whilst in office. i would be very surprised if that was the case. i would also be surprised if there is just one officer. i would have thought

there would be at least a team of officers with him. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. some very turbulent weather is on the way for the weekend so enjoy the relative calm of our weather over the next few days. at the moment we have high pressure in charge and it is down to the south of us. this is where we saw the clearer skies, some mist and fog. winds coming clockwise around, so we will see some cloud coming in from the atlantic through scotland and northern ireland. that could bring the odd spot of light rain into the evening. elsewhere this evening it is dry, partly clear, temperatures will start to take a dip and through the night it is going to turn out to be quite a chilly one. away from the far north and north—west of scotland that is. quite a breeze blowing here and lots of cloud in place. with lighter winds further south, we will see temperatures very close to freezing again. much like we did last night. a few spots below. and to go with it as well, particularly across england and wales where those winds

are lightest, we will see some mist and fog form for the morning commute. some of that will take a while to shift. a fair bit of cloud across the northern and western areas, variable amounts of cloud for many, so some sunny spells also possible. the mist and fog lingers, temperatures around four or 5 degrees. most though around eight to ten. it will be still cool on friday morning, but more of a breeze friday morning, it means more sunshine developing to break up the cloud. a few showers into the west late in the day for friday, but actually not a bad day at all for many and temperatures starting to lift up a little bit, especially towards the west. and then we head towards the weekend. the first batch of rain goes through friday night, not too much on that. it as we go into saturday, saturday morning looking like a nice sunny one for many, but by the end of the day, heavy rain spreading its way across northern ireland and western scotland. 50,60 miles an hour gusts, preceded by a little bit of snow and those winds strengthening. and then through saturday night through sunday, this is the real turbulent spell. widespread gales, if not severe gales, across the country. mixed in amongst that, some heavy rain too. it all looks back to what is happening, believe it or not, in texas at the moment. this big jet stream is going to pick

up an area of cloud and rain and develop it and push it quite markedly across the atlantic, continuing to develop further dips in thatjet stream, that could fire into a potent low pressure system. this low—pressure system is a fairly widespread one as we go through into sunday. we could see wins anywhere between 60 and 80 miles an hour. quite widely across the country. storm ciara, already been named by the met office, likely to do some damage and could cause some trouble disruption. we will keep you updated. the latest weather updates available on the app and online.

hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2. state of disunion — as donald trump tells america how well his presidency is going — speaker nancy pelosi makes her feelings clear. jobs are birmingham, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting, crime is falling, confidence is surging and our country is thriving. china takes further steps to control the spread of the coronavirus as the death toll nears 500 — while10 people on a cruise ship test positive — and hundreds of other passengers are quarantined. all we have been informed is 14 days quarantine on the ship, that means we have no interaction with other passengers, food is brought to the

room, it