you're watching bbc news at nine with me annita mcveigh. the headlines: flybe passengers are told "do not travel to the airport", as europe's largest regional airline goes into administration. absolutely goes into administration. gutted. and again i didn't absolutely gutted. and again i didn't realise that they are not at all protected, so we some have to find some way of getting our money back. with 2,000 jobs at risk, the government says its ready to help employees but blamed a weak company and the coronavirus for the compa ny‘s collapse. and we really tried to do everything that we possibly could back at the turn of the year and, unfortunately, though, with the situation that has developed with corona, an already weak company, i'm afraid, just hasn't been able to survive.

a new report says the nhs doesn't have enough nurses, as health officials warn we're likely to see a coronavirus epidemic california declares a state of emergency, after a cruise ship passenger arriving in san francisco dies of the virus. retail giantjohn lewis announces a 23% plunge in profits and cuts staff bonuses to the lowest payout for almost 70 years. the charity save the children is accused of ‘mismanagement‘ in its handling of claims of inappropriate behaviour against two former executives. as school children celebrate world book day, we talk to booker prize winner bernardine evaristo about the importance of reading. england are out of the women's t20 cricket world cup after their semi final against india was abandoned due to heavy rain.

good morning, and welcome to the bbc news at 9. the regional airline flybe has gone into administration putting thousands ofjobs at risk after talks to try and save it failed. its website now advises customers to "not travel to the airport" unless they have arranged an alternative flight. the carrier had tried to secure a rescue package from the government during a day of crisis talks. writing to staff, the company said the coronavirus had put additional pressure on an already difficult situation. our business correspondent, theo leggett reports. we'd like to thank you for your patience and understanding on what has been a very difficult evening. thank you and have a very

safe homeward journey. as the last flights of the evening landed at flybe‘s exeter airport home, company insiders were already admitting the game was up. the carrier, which, just weeks ago, seemed to have been saved from collapse, had finally run out of runway. passengers who had flown in from manchester were shocked by what was happening. it's very sad. i feel sorry for all the staff — the situation they have been put in is really difficult. there was confusion on wednesday evening as rumours about flybe‘s fate spread rapidly. for a while, its website was accepting bookings, while reports emerged of aircraft being impounded. bbc reporter holly hamilton was on a service due to fly out from manchester. we started to taxi away from the gates and we thought — even though we could see on social media there were some flights being cancelled, in glasgow, etc. but, unfortunately, we did feel the taxiing was taking a little bit longer than normal and a few of us realised it was indeed heading

back to the gate again. so, unfortunately, that is where we heard. flybe‘s collapse will be keenly felt. it was the biggest operator at many regional airports and carried 8 million passengers a year on routes within the uk and to a number of european destinations. just weeks ago, it looked as though flybe had been saved. its owners — virgin atlantic, stobart group and cyrus capital — agreed to pump money into the business and had been hoping the government would provide a £100 million loan. but the money didn't arrive and the coronavirus outbreak took a heavy toll on bookings. the transport secretary, grant shapps, insisted the government was not to blame. we are all absolutely gutted, really. flybe, a household name, people have been flying them for a0 years. and we really tried to do everything we possibly could back at the turn of the year and, unfortunately, though, with the situation that has developed with corona, an already weak company i'm afraid

just hasn't been able to survive. now, more than 2000 staff at flybe, along with many workers at regional airports, face a deeply uncertain future. it looks as though passengers, meanwhile, will have to fend for themselves and try to recover their costs from debit and credit card providers or their travel insurance policies. transport secretary grant shapps said the government is working with other airlines to get passengers to where they need to be. we did absolutely everything we could working with flybe to try and get the rescue packaging place, but a weak company on the coronavirus together have just proved to be too much for them. we will though and have been speaking to the airports and we will speak to them again to the regional places where they fly to and from and we are working with other airlines to try and make sure we get those roots filled just as

quickly as possible. it will take some time to do. we'll be talking to correspondence around the country in the next few minutes. our business presenter, ben thompson is at birmingham airport this morning. duncan kennedy is in southampton and katie austin is in exeter. ben, the government has been talking so much about levelling up and regional connectivity, so what does the colla pse connectivity, so what does the collapse of flybe mean in birmingham? yes, welcome to a rather quiet birmingham and you might be able to make out that the check—in desks that would normally be very busy, looking at the board there are 12 busy, looking at the board there are i2 flights due to leave here that are cancelled and all sorts of destinations, belfast, dusseldorf, guernsey, stuttgart, all cancelled and connectivity is the key. flybe flying 20 airports around the uk and many airports rely on the passengers

they bring in for their business so big questions about their future and, as you touched on, the 2000 staff who work there. with me is the travel editor at the independent. that connectivity is so key and that is what flybe did well. where do people stand this morning?m is what flybe did well. where do people stand this morning? if you are travelling this morning, as i was supposed to be, i bought a ticket to edinburgh last night, you're not in a bad position because the train operators, first group, gwr, avante, the train operators, first group, gwr, ava nte, they the train operators, first group, gwr, avante, they say if you have a boarding pass you can take it to a ticket office today and they will allow you to travel and make that journey for free via any reasonable route. they are also offering that deal to any flybe staff member on production of their id and easyjet are giving staff free trips today and tomorrow. looking further afield, later into the month and

into the spring and summer, i'm afraid if you have got a booking it's just a matter of claiming it back on your card if you possibly can, credit cards are better than debit cards, especially if you've spent more than hundred pounds but you should be up to get it back and then extra expenses, accommodation, car rental, that will be a struggle u nless car rental, that will be a struggle unless you have travel insurance. 0ne unless you have travel insurance. one of the things that is astonishing about flybe is that it was virtually unopposed, there were no other regional competitors and yet the last six or seven years it has made a loss. why can it not make this work? it's really, really tough being a regional airline at the best of times because you have a route like birmingham to belfast and then the next thing you know, one of the big boys has moved in and taken half of your traffic, so it's no fun at all and about a decade ago flybe made some big strategic mistakes,

ordered too many planes, and that has been dragging them down. 0ver the past year they've been losing £2 million a week and that presents £i2 for every single passenger they have flown and that is unsustainable. that is where we —— why we are where we are. and so, birmingham airport tell me they are in negotiations with other airlines and can put on those routes to get people to where they want to go to but there will be so they want to go to but there will be so many examples over the coming days of how difficult that is. i was talking to one passenger this morning due to fly out at 616 to amsterdam and then to singapore and then singapore to cairns in australia. his entirejourney then singapore to cairns in australia. his entire journey hangs in the balance and he's struggling to get any answers from the airline oi’ to get any answers from the airline or the travel insurance firm he is with so real difficulty for staff and passengers and also for many of those regional airports. a lot of questions still to be answered. and news correspondent duncan

kennedy is in southampton. nine out of ten scheduled flights from there were flybe flights. this is going to have a huge impact and replacing that, surely that will not be easy either. you are absolutely right. nine out of ten flights are flybe flights and you can see it's pretty deserted this morning. there isa pretty deserted this morning. there is a phrase locally that southampton airport is flybe and flybe is southampton airport, absolutely reliant on the airline for it to be a reliable and viable airport. i spoke to a number of people who turned up to catch flights and one chap from birmingham did not know he was out going out of business and i spoke to the airport here and they had a meeting with staff which was described as very raw, not least because he could not answer all the questions. the airport itself has a

thousand people working for it, of which 200 or so are flybe, but because of that 90% rate being flybe, all the other 800 jobs rely on flybe for the operation, so it is all knitted into one and i asked the managing director what the options we re managing director what the options were and he said, really there are two, either in the short term they try and get other airlines like easyj et try and get other airlines like easyjet that has a limited surface here to have picking up the slack but the trouble is some of these routes are not very economical, so other airlines might not want to do that and the other option is a bit more long and that is extending the ru nway more long and that is extending the runway here that will allow bigger jets in to take more passengers to more destinations and the problem with that is that the council has not yet given position —— permission and even if it did it would take something like six months to build and the problem with that is people object to the runway being extended are the environmentalists who say

all of these newjets would create pollution so i said to the managing director, that will present a real dilemma. it will either be jobs and a viable airport, or the environment and he said yes, that is the case but they are going to have to make that to the local council and the local council has a difficult decision coming up. all of those jobs, or the environment and it will not be a circle they can easily square. in the meantime, the airport is on square. in the meantime, the airport isona square. in the meantime, the airport is on a holding pattern, just not quite knowing where it is going on there were all those viable options that would have kept it going which are some way down the line yet. duncan, thank you very much. katy austin is outside flybe's headquarters in exeter this morning. a double blow for exeter because obviously you have flybe tied up with that airport, but also company headquarters just down the road from where you are and i think you've been speaking to someone from there. what answers do they have on a morning of many questions? as you

say, it's a morning of many questions and the airport here is very quiet. not much going on and if i show you the departure board you can see why, this is one of three screens where nearly everything is new nearly cancelled, amsterdam, paris, manchester, jersey, you name it, they are not running and if passengers do turn up even if the advice is not to they will find check—in desks that are vacant. flybe has just vanished from exeter at the moment. this is a huge blow for staff as the headquarters is up the road, nearly 2000 staff across the road, nearly 2000 staff across the country wondering what they will do and whether they will have a job andi do and whether they will have a job and i spoke to one member of the cabin crew who has worked for the company for a long time and was com pletely company for a long time and was completely devastated. it's just really sad. just really sad. completely devastated. it's just really sad. just really sadlj completely devastated. it's just really sad. just really sad. i take it from your outfit you are cabin crew. yes, cabin crew. how long have you worked for flybe? 13 years,

straight out of college, really. i'm not sure what i will do now. when did you first hear? early hours of the morning. quite a shock? yes, i thought we would be saved, but not this time. sorry. and some are very difficult day for staff and passengers who turned up this morning who had not heard the news of the collapse or were just hoping there would be an option to get where they wanted to go and they will find it very hard to find other options because exeter is relatively out of the way and if you are going somewhere like glasgow, for example, it is so much quicker to fly rather than take the train, so a lot of passengers, as well as the airport itself, which is the departure board shows is heavily reliant on flybe, they hope that other airlines will come in and replace at least some of the roots that flybe is leaving vacant. not all of those may be moneymaking enough for other

airlines do want them, but everyone here is just waiting and watching and hoping the future can be secured for this airport and those routes. thank you very much. as ben, duncan and katie were reflecting, many questions surrounding the collapse of flybe and later on we will be trying to answer as many of them as possible. do send them into us by tweeting to the hash tag bbc your questions or email yourquestions@bbc. co. uk. that's coming up at 1230 here on bbc news. mps are to question england's top doctor, on how well prepared the uk is, to deal with the impact of a possible coronavirus global pandemic. with the number of confirmed cases here rising to 90, after three new cases

were announced in scotland this morning, officials are now warning that a uk epidemic is looking "likely". it comes as a new report published today claims that the nhs in england doesn't have enough nurses. elsewhere, california has declared a state of emergency after announcing its first coronavirus death, and a cruise ship with around 3,500 people on board is being held there. schools and universities across italy are shutting from today, for the the next ten days to try to curb the spread of the virus. more than 3,000 cases have been confirmed in the country — and there have been 107 deaths, including the first south of rome. the united arab emirates has also closed its schools and educational institutions for four weeks. authorities have confirmed more than 92,000 cases of the virus worldwide, of which more than 80,000 are in china. more than 3,000 people have died globally, the vast majority in china. jon donnison has the latest.

mps are currently questioning the top doctor chris whitty on how well the uk can deal with it. let's listen in. washing hands is the key and this is a very big difference. people remember the advice we gave with the ebola virus and that was a touch transmitted virus, so the routes of transmission, the primary routes of transmission, the primary routes we re very routes of transmission, the primary routes were very different. this is primarily a respiratory one with a secondary touch thing but from respiratory droplets. to be more specific because a lot of people are concerned about surfaces, if somebody had the virus, if they hold a handrail on the bus or the tube and you touch that same handrail two or three hours later, is there a risk of transmission? there will be some risk of transmission and it peaks some risk of transmission and it pea ks immediately after they've some risk of transmission and it peaks immediately after they've done it and then goes down over time and

it's probably largely from 48 hours and it's almost completely gone by 72 hours and hard surfaces, viruses last for a shorter period on them, so there is a difference. but you could tap —— catch it by touching the same surface quest but this is the same surface quest but this is the key intermediate step. just touching it will not give you the virus. it is if you touch it and then touch your face not having washed your hands between them. if you go to the tube and touch the rail, that is fine but be aware of what you do with your hands. don't touch your face, what your hands and then do what you like. so just translate that advice, if i may ask you, to someone who is living in the same house as someone who has the virus. in that situation providing you wash your hands regularly, you are not going to catch it through breathing the same someone else? washing your hands will prevent the route by touching a surface you have

coughed over, you won't go into your mouth, but it won't deal with respiratory droplets in the environment and its widely known that one of the first routes of transmission in the uk was in a ski chalet, lots of people living close together and that will be a prolonged exposure to a relatively sealed environment. that is the other route. that is the reason why summer months are better. people open the windows. moving on to some questions if i may about prevalence and mortality rates. you said at the press co nfe re nce and mortality rates. you said at the press conference in downing street that there was a 1% mortality rate and the who and i think you are thinking about the uk, but the who has said that to date it's about 3.4% mortality rates. that's globally. i wonder if you could talk us globally. i wonder if you could talk us through the modelling that gets

you to that 1% figure. i have a reasonably high degree of confidence that 1% is the upper limit of the mortality rate. what the director—general is reporting was dividing the reported deaths by the reported number of cases and getting toa numberand reported number of cases and getting to a number and that is not a mortality rate, that's just a percentage of people reported to have died. what you need to do for this, and there are several problems if you do it that way, and to be clear, i'm just saying the rate is reported might sound rather different to what he meant by it. if you are missing all the mild cases or the asymptomatic cases, you inevitably end up with an exaggerated view of what the mortality rate is and in many countries people are picking up the severe cases and the people who sadly died, and if you just divided one by the other, that does not give you a percentage of mortality rate,

it just gives you you a percentage of mortality rate, itjust gives you a percentage of people who have died who have been identified, which is a different thing completely, and how it's complicated as —— calculate it as a complicated as —— calculate it as a complicated issue. in terms of the u pwa rd complicated issue. in terms of the upward and downward curve which i can go into detail if you want, but the modelling in the uk is the best in the world or some of the best in the world and having looked at the data carefully, i think we are all convinced that the upper end of the mortality rate, in terms of people infected is 1%. my own view is that it might be lower than that because there might be a lot of people who have no symptoms and we cannot identify and if anything it will go down rather than up. in your modelling, what is your mortality rate for the over 80s? let's look at both sides of the equation, in a sense. for people who are at the

lower end of the age spectrum, it is well below 1%. it does start to increase above 60, a bit more above 70 and by the time you get to 80, on chinese data, mainly from wuhan, with a health service that was very strict, and they are big caveats, but let's report the numbers, the mortality rate looks between eight and 9%. but the other way round, that means more than 90% of other 80—year—old survived it, even in a stretched health service in china in this epidemic, so it is clear that the risk is heavily weighted towards older people but i think people translate that to if i'm old and i get it, i'm likely to pass away, but actually the great majority of people will survive this even if they are in their 80s. thank you. cani they are in their 80s. thank you. can i move on to prevalence rates. you mentioned that in china it is starting to go down. what is the

overall prevalence rate for the disease in the province in china? what proportion of the population have got it so far? the reported numbers and you made the point very well on the radio five may say so a couple of weeks ago, the reported proportion is probably around 20% and that contrasts to our reasonable worst—case scenario of 80% of people getting infected which again we might want to come back to. i think this raises three possibilities. the first possibility, which i think are not mutually exclusive, but the first one is there is a large iceberg of people who have asymptomatic infection, so a large number of people who have been infected in hubei who are not detected and we cannot detect them because we do not have a test to say this person had been infected even though they never had symptoms. the one thing that would help me more

than anything else in terms of planning for this along with all my other colleagues in the nhs and public health england is to know what proportion of people get this infection and have no symptoms at all because that would change the way, potentially, we think this will go and that is one possibility. the second possibility is the extraordinary efforts of the chinese state have pushed it down to about 20% but when they take their foot off the brake then the epidemic will surge back and that's the second possibility and the third possibility and the third possibility is that it tops out at less tha n possibility is that it tops out at less than 50% or for a number of reasons, and any of those are possible. my own view is it is a combination of the first to a combination of the first to a combination of the first to a combination of some of the people who are counted as not having had it have had it with no symptoms and some of it is to do with the remarkable efforts of the chinese state and people but we won't know u nless we state and people but we won't know unless we get a serial logical test

and unless we know what the number is in wuhan and hubei, that will change the way the world use it in one direction or another. is there any reason you would expect a higher proportion of population to get the virus in the uk than in hubei province, or is 20% the most likely upper end projection? the caution i would have is remembering that the chinese state and people are still doing some pretty extraordinary things and therefore we might not have reached the end of this particular outbreak and it might be when they stop doing those that the percentage will go up again. we need to be careful. the straight answer to be careful. the straight answer to your question is i see no reason why, in theory, the uk would go higher than china would. but, the third caveat, if you are doing a reasonable worst—case scenario planning you know this having been

secretary of state having been foreign secretary and many other senior roles in government, you start off with the highest number that could be plausible for planning because you don't want to be surprised and then the numbers gradually come down and the highest number ofany gradually come down and the highest number of any new virus which has come out of essentially nowhere is going to be about 80%. every time you get an infection you get are surrounded by people who are immune so we would always put 80% as the starting point and then it turns out in fact that it's not so much that 80% might not be infected but of those, 70% of the 80% actually get it without any symptoms at all, but at this point, we don't know and for that reason we are doing a more conservative planning assumption. that reason we are doing a more conservative planning assumptionlj just conservative planning assumption.” just wanted to ask about what the impact on ordinary people is likely to be. if wejust

impact on ordinary people is likely to be. if we just dial back from the 80% reasonable worst—case scenario to say 20% of the population, the levels in hubei province today, we are talking at that kind of level, and if you are a cancer patient who needs to go in once a week for chemotherapy or radiotherapy, how is your experience going to be different? in a sense there are three sets of impacts and there is the impact on the very small number asa the impact on the very small number as a proportion but a large part of the relation could still see a large number of people who die as a result of it, so that is the high end, so we know the impact on the health service and the point here is that for those people who get the disease severe enough to need hospital fortu nately severe enough to need hospital fortunately not to kill them, they will still need nhs and health care and one of the things that is clear,

if you model out the epidemic, we will get 50% of all the cases over a three week period and 95% of the cases over a nine week period, if it follows the trajectory we think it's likely to, so if all of those were spaced out in the nhs over two or three years, that would be easily manageable but it's the fact they are so heavily concentrated. that has pros and cons and therefore there will be a period and people will see no major impact. and after it the nhs will be back to its normal state, but there will be a period in the middle if it goes to the top end of the range, and it may well not, but if it does, the nhs will have huge pressure on it for a relatively short period of time. so if you needed a weekly chemotherapy appointment in that three week period, what will be different? what doctors and nurses will be trying to do, we will be able to model that

out and as it starts to accelerate with a fair degree of confidence and before the peak hits or after the pickets, they will try to do that and there will have to be some life—saving issues where we just have to carry on in the middle but very large numbers of things can in reality be flexed either way with relatively little impact on peoples health. it doesn't mean they won't be worried about it and i fully understand the distress but in terms of actual impact on physical health in the long run, the impact for many people will be relatively small, but thatis people will be relatively small, but that is not to say there will be no impact. depending on how high the peak is, this could be anywhere from a rather bad winter, spring and summerfor the a rather bad winter, spring and summer for the nhs through to huge numbers, way over topping the ability of the nhs to get enough

beds and that would have big pressure on the surface. let me ask about another thing, if you're an older person who gets pneumonia and you have to go for urgent treatment or to accident and emergency and you're in that three week period, with there be anything different with there be anything different with your experience in that situation? what we would try to do, and already we try to do as much managing things in the community, as outpatients and walking services as we can, we will try to shift as far as possible out of the main hospital system and a bit of the system that will come under pressure first will be those conditions that require people to have oxygen and particularly to have critical care beds, and that bit will come under pressure at quite an early stage if we have a high end of the range epidemic. wider general services

will be less affected than children services less affected so it will depend on the situation people find themselves then. that is the chief medical officer for england talking toa medical officer for england talking to a committee of mps at the house of commons. but is continuing on bbc parliament but we are going to continue to discuss coronavirus. let me bring you a couple of key lines. he said the one thing that would help him most in planning coronavirus planning would be to know what proportion of people get the virus but show no symptoms at all. he said there could be a large iceberg of asymptomatic people in china so that would be really useful if you knew what proportion of people get the virus but show no symptoms at all. he also said in terms of the response so far to coronavirus in the uk it was already moving into a second delay phase

rather than seeking to simply contain the disease. let's explore more what that means. we can speak to the professor of public health at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine and he is working on research to prevent epidemics. moving from containing the disease to the delay phase, what does that mean exactly? the contain phase is actively identifying cases and making sure that they are hospitalised and isolated so they are not transmitting it to other people in the community and also identifying their contacts and following them up to see if any of them are infected, so that is the containment phase, to find people, get the night of the community so it doesn't transmit any further. as the number of cases increases, that

becomes increasingly unfeasible to admit everybody in those kind of cases, so people who are in this mild or asymptomatic state are people who could self—isolate at home and don't need to be admitted to hospital so that you are not overburdening the health system, so it isa overburdening the health system, so it is a question of the flexibility of your system manager response so you don't overwhelm either your public health system and identifying cases and contacts or the health services and having people who are well occupying hospital beds. as we enter a phase where the numbers seem to be growing exponentially, where it's harder to trace the root cause of that person having the virus back to someone who has been abroad and contracted it in italy, iran, china, elsewhere, do you think the government response at the moment is correct, is the response is

appropriate or is there something more the government should be doing? i think it is appropriate at the moment. it is a very fast—moving situation so they don't need to keep flexible and we need to titrate what we actually do according to the situation. would it be useful for there to be more data on where cases are? as we look at community transmission and therefore add responsibility, individual responsibility, individual responsibility, community responsibility, community responsibility, to try to stop the spread of the virus, would it be useful to have more information on where cases are specifically?” think there are two sides to that but in general yes i would think it is useful to know that and i think the more transparency there is the better. i think it helps the public to be able to respond and contribute to be able to respond and contribute to dealing with this outbreak to know where the cases are. professor,

thank you very much for your time, as we continue our coverage of coronavirus. a piece of breaking news, and god's six nations game against italy on march the 14th in rome has been postponed —— england's game. this is what you need to know about reducing your risk. wash your hands regularly. scrub the palm on the back of your hands in between your fingers the back of your hands in between yourfingers and the back of your hands in between your fingers and do the back of your hands in between yourfingers and do not the back of your hands in between your fingers and do not forget the thumbs. it should take about 20 seconds. you should avoid touching your face with unwashed hands as this can spread disease and stay away from people who are clearly ill. the symptoms of coronavirus are a cough, fever and shortness of breath. if you think you have coronavirus do not go anywhere, especially the doctor or hospital.

instead phone 111 and they will be able to tell you what to do next. you can keep up with the latest developments, symptoms to watch out for and how to guard against the virus and what it means for you on the bbc news app and on our website. flybe has gone into administration. the carrier had tried to secure a rescue package from the government during a day of crisis talks. we can get reaction from the shadow transport secretary. 0bviously get reaction from the shadow transport secretary. obviously a very grim day for the staff of the airline. all those people who use it and rely on it. could moore have been done to save it?” and rely on it. could moore have been done to save it? i think it

could and you are right, the concern is for passengers. we are not dealing with the levels of repatriation we have had before with thomas cook and monarch but there is great concern about notjust the airline staff but also the airports that depend upon flybe services so much and that includes ground crew, other airport crew and the supply chain, so the ramifications for this are huge, but importantly flybe is the only provider on such a scale of intra— uk domestic flights so there isa intra— uk domestic flights so there is a lot of regions, and we hear the government talking about levelling up government talking about levelling up and its love of the regions, are no not going to have that essential means of connectivity. this was known. that is the major bugbear for

me. with thomas cook and flybe itself the government knew about this and were taken by surprise the first time this came to the fore and their response hitherto has been woeful. this is about the owners, about structural issues with the airline. it is not all about the government was not response. no, but the government is aware of that and they know how important this airline service is to our economy and specifically to our regions. it is not simply good enough for them to sit on their hands and do next to nothing. they should have taken much more proactive steps and intervened to ensure those public service obligation routes. you think an exception should be made in this case because there is an argument do

governments intervene when a key business is in financial difficulty or do they let market forces follow their natural path? but you think this is a case where the government should have intervened ? this is a case where the government should have intervened?” this is a case where the government should have intervened? i have the scars on my back from their failure to intervene in the steel industry auntie said. ministers imposed at the time say the government should have intervened and they are right. we know that then and it applies here. there were things that could have been done, this government could have stepped forward and taken a much more positive approach to flybe and not waited for them to come to talk to government but demand information because the connectivity is critical and it is the preservation of those rates which is under threat. there isn't anybody about to step in to take these on and we have to have action from this government today, so i am hoping the government minister well outlined today exactly what steps

are proposed. shadow transport secretary, thank you very much for your time today. good morning. we have more information on the breaking news that england's six nations match against italy scheduled to take place on march the 14th has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. italian governments have ordered all sporting events to be played behind closed doors until april the 3rd in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. it had already been said the italy england match would be played behind closed doors and we are being told that it will be played... it will be postponed instead of played behind closed doors. more breaking news and the former president of

european football michel platini has lost his appeal to the european court of human rights over his four—year ban from the sport handed to him in 2015. he was given a £1.3 million payment from the former fifa president sepp blatter who is also banned from football. the payment took place when sepp blatter was seeking re—election as president. both men have denied wrongdoing. the football association is to investigate the incident in which tottenham midfielder eric dier ran into the stands to confront a fan. he had to be restrained by security after challenging a supporter, who had allegedly insulted him and his family. it was after their fa cup defeat at home to norwich. managerjose mourinho said dier shouldn't have done it but that he understood the england international‘s frustrations. this person insulted eric. the family was there. the young brother was not happy with the situation and then eric, i repeat, did what we professionals,

we cannot do, but did something that probably we would do. norwich will play derby or manchester united in the quarterfinals. manchester city, meanwhile, beat championship side sheffield wednesday 1—0 and go to newcastle in the next round while leicester are home to chelsea and sheffield united visit arsenal. well, that match in the fa cup will see now derby player coach wayne rooney come up against his former club united. well, this is how he's been getting ready for the game.

he went to see lewis capaldi and tweeted this picture with the singer, saying: "unbelievable concert at the apollo in manchester. thanks for a great night, lewis capaldi." england's women are out of the 2020 world cup. heavy rain meant the match could not go ahead and with no reserve days in place india will progress to the sandy‘s final because of their better record in the group stages. no chance of us getting out today. we are gutted we didn't have the chance to fight for a place in that final. there's not a lot we can do. we lost that first game against south africa which ultimately cost us but our aim was to reach the semi—finals and play our best cricket and we have had that chance ta ken our best cricket and we have had that chance taken away from us.

india won the toss. we will have a comprehensive round—up on sports day including a interview with rory best this evening. that's all the sport for now. there are more details on the website especially the breaking news that england against italy in the six nations will not go ahead. it has been postponed because of the coronavirus. retail giantjohn lewis has cut its staff bonus to 2% of annual salary in the lowest payout since 1953. it follows a 23% fall in full—year underlying profits to £123 million. this our business correspondent emma simpson is here.

motive behind this drop in profits? the numbers are poor but they could have been a lot worse. we have a new chairman and this is the only figure she has no responsibility for. some people were expecting it to be a far worse picture than today. profits down by nearly a quarter. waitrose feeling better. the damage has been done atjohn lewis department stores and if you look at their figures their profits have collapsed by about half, down to 40 million for the year. in 2016 they were making about 260 million so a combination of things going on. weaker sales in homewares, electrical products, rising costs, the impact of discounting, and they have had some big exceptional items, accounting measures, to take into account, producing a picture which they see is weaker than they would have hoped

for. it is a john lewis partnership. those partners, its staff, have enjoyed a healthy bonus but not so this year. a much cherished bonus and it has been a seventh consecutive year in a row that that percentage of salary has gone down. last year it was 3%, this year to percent, but they want and january they might have to scrap it altogether. they said 2% was prudent and affordable. it is a bit of a dilemma because they need the staff to be motivated because whatjohn lewis is pushing is experience and customer service so they have to keep staff january they might have to scrap it altogether. they said 2% was prudent and affordable. it is a bit of a dilemma because they need the staff to be motivated because whatjohn lewis the staff to be motivated because what john lewis is the staff to be motivated because whatjohn lewis is pushing is experience and customer service so they have to keep staff on board to do that. payment of about 300 and equates to an average payment of it is better than nothing. what is she going to do to try to turn things

round? she has launched a strategic review. she has said the business is going to remain employee owned. the two brands will remain but it is going to be wide—ranging. store closures where necessary. looking at store space, cutting costs. expect a lot of change to come at this reviewer which will take six months. thank you very much, in simpson. the charity commission has criticised save the children this for the way it handled claims of sexual misconduct. has three more cases of coronavirus

are confirmed in scotland, fears that there are not enough nurses to deal with the epidemic. john lewis announces a 23% cut in profits and the lowest staff bonus for 70 years. he's known as one of manchester united's best players, but now marcus rashford has swapped football training for sign language lessons as he takes on a new challenge off the pitch. in honour of world book day, he's judging a poetry competition for children with hearing loss — and it all came about after a fan wrote him a letter asking him to do it. sally nugent went to meet him.

this you very recently posted a picture of yourself reading. reading. yeah. and what were the responses to that like? i don't know, it was probably a mixed response. probably because people don't know that i enjoy reading. but, yeah, that was just one time, i thought i'd let everyone know. the children who have entered this competition have varying degrees of hearing loss. some of them are profoundly deaf. what are you hoping to see in the poems, what do you want to see from them? for me, i want to be able to understand, a little insight on what each individual is like. so for me, if you can sort of get your personality across, in writing a poem, it's good. so, that's what i'm looking for. i have to say, you remember the boy that wrote to you, sheryar? yeah. now, this is his poem here. i've already read this, i know you haven't had a chance to read it. he's written about "my family". he's also put some very important pictures on it which looks like chicken and chips,

xbox, fireworks and venice. so, that's pretty creative, isn't it? yeah, very creative. this is from the infant school. my family. "my mummy is happy, my daddy is big." it's great, isn't it? one of the things that's really moving about them is they're so honest. yeah. and there's no kind of awkwardness or sense that it's different. i always found that in school as well. when you're at that age, sometimes saying things is difficult. so, it's a lot easier to write it down. and you can bring that emotional side out of you. so, one of the things that you're definitely going to have to learn in the next couple of weeks is sign language. you ready? yeah, i'm ready. what we are going to do is we're going to start with good morning, because hopefully you're going to come and give the prizes to the three winners. so, what do you think the sign for good is? yep. you got it right, you're a natural! even i can do that.

so, good, and then morning is a bit like blessing yourself. so, good morning. the sign for footballer? yes, go on. i like that. cos we're running. tina, thank you very much. and we will hopefully see you soon because you have got some work to do. yeah, i know. plenty of homework. manchester united's marcus rashford — playing his part for world book day. well, joining me now here in the studio is the author bernardine evaristo, who made history when she became the first black woman to win the booker prize for fiction in october. her winning novel — girl, woman, 0ther — was also picked by barack 0bama as one of his best reads of 2019. year as one of his best reads of 2019. are now on the l( the

year are now on the long list for the women's prize for the book as well. congratulations. butanyone who doesn't know what it's about to begin by telling us what it is about that story and what inspired you. begin by telling us what it is about that story and what inspired youm isa that story and what inspired youm is a novel about 12 primarily black british women and their lives. they have different occupations. some of them are immigrants and some not. it is about their lives and how they get to where they go. 0ne is about their lives and how they get to where they go. one is 19, won his 93, so it spans 100 years old most of british history, but it is also about how their lives intersect with each other. broadly what has influenced you as a brighter? like many writers i am a big fan of the nobel laureate pointed out a few yea rs nobel laureate pointed out a few years ago. i also wanted to put lots of black women into a novel because we are not present very much in

british literature so i thought how many characters can i put into one novel and make it a cohesive whole? let's talk about some of the accolades you have one. the booker prize jointly with margaret atwood. the women's prize, long listed for that. and barack 0bama putting you on his list of recommended reads. that. and barack 0bama putting you on his list of recommended readsm was amazing. i was getting texts late the day before the end of the year from people and late the day before the end of the yearfrom people and i late the day before the end of the year from people and i was like, why are people sending me texts when i am in bed? it said i was one of his top books of 2019 so i was so shocked. it was almost as good as winning the new car because i have so much respect for barack 0bama sort of him in bed reading my novel was too much. it was incredible.

world book day, the focus, i associated with costumes, children going to school in their costumes, and we want children to learn from a very early age to have that love of reading. does it matter whether they are reading physical books or on a tablet? it is good they are reading at all. i have a preference for a physical book. i do not really read electronic books although i know they are popular although audiobooks are incredibly popular these days but it is important for children to hold a book in their hands and turn the pages because so much of what they do is through a screen and online and i think nothing beats the physical reality of a book and i think they read slower than perhaps pay more attention when it is a physical book. we have been talking a lot today about coronavirus. the london book fair has been cancelled because of that. what does that mean

for the industry? is that a concern? it isa for the industry? is that a concern? it is a huge concern. books do not need to be transmitted by hand as such so that is quite reassuring. people are still going to get books whether or not this epidemic spreads. but i think nobody knows what's going to happen so we don't know if schools are going to close our universities. briefly, iwant know if schools are going to close our universities. briefly, i want to ask about a list you have created for women's day, international women's day, of black british women authors, who are your top picks?” cannot see at the moment because it hasn't been revealed but there are 20 black women writers who have published in the last few years who are primarily writing about this country. we need to look out for that list. yes. thank you so much for coming along and good luck with the women's prize and congratulations on the other winds.

katy perry has revealed she and her fiance are expecting their first child. she revealed that in her video for her new song. here she is revealing a baby bump in the final frames of the video. after the reveal she tweeted i am so glad i do not have to suck it in any more or carry around a big purse. i think she might be carrying around a big bag baby supplies. we have had frost across scotland, northern ireland and northern parts of england but further says it has been a very wet start to the day. pretty strong whence and heavy rain not only in northern france but also across the south of england. the rain particularly heavy at the

moment and parts of hampshire and dorset. you can see that rain throughout this morning and it is going to gradually move further eastwards so far south—west england, south wales the rainbow clearly and there will be brighter skies but the rain will last for much of the day. that could lead onto some problems. away from that there could be the order together across the midlands and one or two showers elsewhere but sunny spells elsewhere and maximum temperatures seven to eight or nine celsius. tonight there rain will eventually clean away from the south—east and we are left with clear skies going into tomorrow morning. like the last few nights, temperatures will fall close to if not below freezing so a bit of a thrust going into friday morning. the lowest temperatures in northern england and scotland. we have a week where the front living gradually east and that is going to bring some cloud and the enhancement of showers

so western area starting quite cloudy with some showers. west of scotland, wales, the south—west, those will gradually move eastwards but they will die those will gradually move eastwards but ti {juill die - dry weather those will gradually move eastwards but ti if“ be iie - dry weather those will gradually move eastwards but ti if“ be ii: degrees weather those will gradually move eastwards but ti if“ be ii: degrees in father those will gradually move eastwards but ti if“ beiil degrees in london. nine, may be 11 degrees in london. into the weekend, it is going to turn windier and there is rain at times particularly late on saturday and into sunday. for most of us on saturday it is going to be dry. the wind picking up. rain spreading to northern ireland and scotland by the afternoon. slowly moving into the far north—west of england. temperatures coming up a bit on saturday so a mild day. then through the night that weather front moves eastward and as it does so it introduces some colder air but there could be some rain first thing in the morning across the far east of england before it clears on sunday and then we are left with a mixture

of sunny spells and showers during sunday. some of those could be on the heavy side and it will be chillier on sunday than saturday. watch out for the rain across southern areas. that is all from me for now.

hello, it's thursday, it's 10 o'clock. i'm victoria derbyshire, and we're live from new broadcasting house. flybe has collapsed — 2,000 jobs are at risk, all planes are grounded and passengers are stranded. we didn't pay any attention to the tickets because it said air france on them and we did not realise they we re on them and we did not realise they were tied in with flybe so we have to find a way of getting back home. just not sure what i'm going to do now. when did you first hear? early hours of the morning. i thought we would be saved, but not this time. what do you do next? no idea. how are we going to pay the bills?