as the uk's coronavirus death toll rises above 28,000 the prime minister describes preparations to announce his death when he was in intensive care for coronavirus. there are warnings of a uk shortage of specialist renal support equipment, as a fifth of coronavirus intensive care patients suffer kidney failure. doctors say a surge in demand has led to some patients having to share machines. churches in germany are reopening for sunday services for the first time since the coronavirus lockdown was imposed there in march. but strict regulations are in force and singing is forbidden. and the duchess of cambridge has shown her support for new parents and maternity staff with a virtual visit via video call.

hello, and welcome to our look at what's in the papers this morning. with me are journalist and author, shyama perera and david wooding, the political editor of the sun on sunday. a warm welcome to both of you. let's take a look at the front pages. the sun on sunday has an exclusive interview by by david wooding with the prime minister, borisjohnson, who told the paper he was given, "litres and litres of oxygen" to keep him alive. the sunday telegraph reports on the government's aim to reopen primary schools at the start ofjune. that story shares the front page with a picture of borisjohnson's newborn son. the mail on sunday has the same photo splashed across its front page — wilfred johnson being cuddled by his mother,

carrie symonds. the sunday times focuses on the debate over strict lockdown rules for the elderly. the british medical association is arguing for restrictions to be relaxed for healthy people over 70. the sunday express looks at the prime minister's plans for getting people back to work post—lockdown. it says the government is drawing up 11 new rules to help make the workplace safer. and finally, the sunday mirror continues its campaign for people working on the coronavirus frontline to receive bonus pay. it also reports on drug trials in the uk that could help ease the suffering of some victims. so let's begin. let's look at that interview that the prime minister had given to the sun 0n the prime minister had given to the sun on sunday and specifically to david wooding. david wooding, a great interview for you and a great interview with boris johnson, great interview for you and a great interview with borisjohnson, it

really bares his soul about what it was like being in hospital in those very difficult and dangerous days. yes, we all knew how serious it was, looking back to the time when he was first admitted to hospital and then the following day when the shock news came through that he had been moved into intensive care. we all realised how serious it was, but it is only when you sit down his office and talk to him and look him in the eye and see how it has affected him and tell him in graphic detail, —— but he tells you in graphic detail what his experience was that you realise how dangerous this is. it is not just another flu, it realise how dangerous this is. it is notjust another flu, it has attacked a man in his 50s like this and it can attack any others. and how did he seem to you, dave? because the news conference the other day, he was a bit reckless at the beginning because of the walk to where the press conference was. what did you think of his physical condition? i interviewed him several

times, both has london mayor, and as prime minister, and as an mp, and i noticed a distinct change in him. i don't know how deeply this has affected him, but there was something different about him. his emotions looked a little bit more role, he was clearly aware of how close he came to death and there was a mixture of elation at the birth of his son, joy, but also of seriousness and a bit of relief and a little bit of exhaustion, i would think. and in your interview he does talk about, quite astonishingly really, about being aware that preparations were being made about how to handle the announcement if it came to his death. yes. what is striking is that throughout his lockdown, and remember he was in self isolation for just lockdown, and remember he was in self isolation forjust over a week and his condition was described to us and his condition was described to us all at the time as mild symptoms,

but he never really accepted that he was ill. hejust kept soldiering on, saying going to meetings and saying he felt a bit groggy. wasted was a word he used. he said he felt wasted at times. even when he went to hospital it never really dawned on him and he was in a serious condition. he said it only became apparent to him just what a bad state he was in when they move him to intensive care. he saw all this scary surroundings, the machine and he was wired up to a machine and all the monitors kept going down and he couldn't understand why all the grass and the figures were dropping. he was going through litres and litres of oxygen and there was a ventilator on standby and it was 50-50 ventilator on standby and it was 50—50 whether they inserted a tube down his trachea and put him on that machine. and he was fully conscious throughout and aware that people we re throughout and aware that people were discussing how to present his death, should the worst happen. he

described it as a death of stalin scenario. and shyama, the mail on sunday focus on the picture of the newjohnson, wilfred sunday focus on the picture of the new johnson, wilfred lawrie sunday focus on the picture of the newjohnson, wilfred lawrie nicholas johnson, saying he has got daddy's hair. it has been quite an astonishing new days for the prime minister to have that near death experience and then to have a new baby. well, it is, and it is lovely... you know, how can one not celebrate a new baby? it is fantastic, it is lovely on the front of the mail0n fantastic, it is lovely on the front of the mail on sunday not to see china mentioned for a couple of weeks, so i'm very glad to see that photograph there, but then ijust have to ask one thing of david wooding, that which is that in the death of stalin scenario, he was christian? i'm not sure dave can a nswer christian? i'm not sure dave can

answer that. no. there is quite answer that. no. there is quite a queue there. there is no immediate person. dominic raab is acting as a first and secretary of state, who was the stand—in, and matthew hancock has been managing the crisis, so it would be a right old bun fight, wouldn't it? you didn't ask him, then? i am surprised that borisjohnson ask him, then? i am surprised that boris johnson might see ask him, then? i am surprised that borisjohnson might see himself in any way as a comparative figure to stalin, but let's move on. the mail 0n stalin, but let's move on. the mail on sunday talked a bit about the new and johnson baby, but we have also got the sunday times talking about all the significant decisions ahead for the government and advisers and scientists as well about how and when to ease the logjam. we know we are going to get some sort of announcement on thursday. the sunday times focusing

on the debate about strict rules for the elderly. yes, and it is a really interesting debate because i suspect it touches every family in some way, whether you are over 70, if you're parents are still working, you know, i always make that joke about the house of lords and indeed many mps, who are in their 705. these house of lords and indeed many mp5, who are in their 705. these days to have a look of age doe5 who are in their 705. these days to have a look of age does feel like discrimination and the sunday times doe5 discrimination and the sunday times does say that. they are saying that the bma and the royal college of gp5 have intervened to say that age alone should not be the determinant. you know, it is very hard. i think quite clearly we have 1.5 million people who are at risk and therefore need to be shielded, but of the rest surely there must be some rule of thumb that says if you do not have any underlying condition and are fit and well you canjust underlying condition and are fit and well you can just go about your business with the usual caveats of

maintaining a distance and generally just making sure that you behave intelligently. dave, what do you make of this? one at the headlines in the sunday times says that the wholesale lockdown of people over 70 is discriminatory. yes, i have spoken to a number of mps and peers who are in that age bracket and they are privately quite furious at that any suggestion that this will happen. matthew hancock has, to clarify this this morning, the health secretary, and he is saying that there is no suggestion that the 70s, would all be ordered to lockdown. it would be that they don't all necessarily have clinical conditions which would require that. now, that suggests that the government may be thinking only those with health conditions. the truth is, though, that when you are over 70 are much more likely to have a medical condition because, as a doctor once said, the warranty runs out when you get to that age. so

there will be a higher proportion of people who may have to self—isolate oi’ people who may have to self—isolate or stay indoors to be shielded. but never the less, the elderly are the people who are suffering a lot in this because some of them are widowed and living on their own, others are complaining that they wa nt to others are complaining that they want to see their grandchildren, which is the one greatjoy and pleasure in their lives, and they are being barred from doing that. so i think this will become a government priority to work out what they do about the elderly, who are a substantial community in our society. shyama, the sunday telegraph is talking about what is happening with the schools and suggesting that they might go back on the 1st ofjune. primary schools to reopen as soon as the 1st ofjune as part of borisjohnson's blueprint for gradually unlocking britain. the issue of schools is sensitive, isn't it? certainly i know a lot of teachers are quite concerned about implications for them. absolutely, and funnily enough i was listening

to any question yesterday and a lot of people didn't want their children to go back to school because the children of front line workers have been at school the last few weeks and therefore may be contaminating the space, so it is very interesting. i think there are concerns from all areas, but at the end of the day i think what the telegraph as saying that people are clearly the cabinet is —— the telegraph is speculating, i don't think it is it any more than that, that primary schools could be open as soon as the 1st ofjune. the other into the story, it says the date could be pushed back as a result of data due to be delivered to ministers by the 0ns this week, soi to ministers by the 0ns this week, so i think what all the newspapers are doing is trying to push that national debate that is saying, the goodness' sake, give us an exit strategy? and this is that contribution today. they did, did

you get any sort of hint about a timetable for the easing of lockdown? people want to know dates now, don't they? yes, he is playing all the details and holding his cards close to his chest, but before i met on friday evening they had unpacked been discussing schools with scientists. there is some evidence that children aged 5— are much less likely to be infected by coronavirus and therefore less likely to pass it on and the science is being looked at very closely. this telegraph story is on the money because that is something the government wants to do. getting children back to school well three upper parents in those work groups —— will free up parents so that we can —— will free up parents so that we ca n start —— will free up parents so that we can start to get them back to work and start to get britain recovering from for the economy. what is your

guess that gas when things might be relaxed? we guess that gas when things might be relaxed ? we have guess that gas when things might be relaxed? we have seen lots of dates being thrown around, 26th of may, ist being thrown around, 26th of may, 1st of being thrown around, 26th of may, ist ofjune, being thrown around, 26th of may, 1st of june, etc. being thrown around, 26th of may, 1st ofjune, etc. yes, iwouldn't have put a date on it. i would guess it wouldn't be happening imminently. it is one issue that will be dealt with pretty soon, and it will be a top priority for the government to do it, but they are not going to let themselves be tied down with a date just yet. i think mid—june is probably a good guess. 0k, ok, let's go to the sunday mirror. this is pa rt go to the sunday mirror. this is part of theircampaign go to the sunday mirror. this is part of their campaign to reward our brave front line heroes, says the headline, and campaigning for a cash bonus for health care workers. what you make of that? i think it is interesting that nobody else is really picking up and running with this and the fact that the sunny day mirror is continuing to ask for a bonus and other people aren't really speaks to that general feeling, certainly in the area where i live,

which is that when you go out on a thursday and you are clapping the nhs, you're not capping the fact that these are heroes on the front line, because they trained for these jobs and they applied for them. what you are clapping is the fact that they stayed in those jobs after years of under resourcing, underpay and understaffing. i think the bonus would be for the government to continue throwing resources at our nhs in the same way that they have been doing over recent weeks. i don't think we are getting to the story of the college being picked out for the nightingale, over estimating the number of beds in the nightingale hospitals etc. as the imperial college runs a lot of hospitals, i wonder if 0livet is of an attempt from the back office to force this government and future governments to think intelligently and seriously about what the nhs needs because it is not the front line workers that... they can't work

magic without all of the rest of the stuff that holds them up, so you know, bonuses, lets put those bonuses into machinery and drugs and staff. shyama mentioned the nightingale hospitals and that is one of the stories on the front of the telegraph, saying that nightingale hospitals are largely empty after they overestimated, almost calculator depending on your point of view, how many people would need treatment for covid—i9. many people would need treatment for covid-19. yes. you could look at this as one of the success stories because if you turn the clock back to when the coronavirus crisis started just before lockdown, the big issue was how are we going to get a hospital bed? how are we going to get enough ventilators? and there was this big national work with all the companies who made other things, formula i, dyson hoovers, were asked to produce ventilators and in fact i

asked at a press conference the other week on how they are in delivering ventilators and they actually said we don't really need any now. part of that is because they have created enough space in hospitals and created enough ventilators, and part of it is that as we have developed and the medical services have looked at this disease they have found other ways of dealing with it. in fact, they don't really go to put people on ventilators quite as quickly as they thought they might need to. the critical element of the story is that the government paid perhaps too much attention to those doomsday scenarios from imperial college. about a third of 80s would be infected and there would be a 71% of them would be put on critical bed units. of course, the way it has been treated, a lot of these elderly people don't go on to ventilators and infact people don't go on to ventilators and in fact anybody who is in the medical profession would know you... i beg your pardon? they are busy

dying in care homes, aren't they? yes, and it says in the story that medical people, experts, know that you don't put an elderly person on a ventilator because a lot of them can't take the trauma of the insertion of the tube and putting them into an induced coma, so it wouldn't have happened anyway. shyama, another story in the telegraph and it is also about decision—making and a lot of controversy has been about not only ventilators, but ppe, personal detective equipment, and the telegraph as saying almost half of doctors have had to buy their own personal protective equipment or you supplies donated by charities or local firms. absolutely and of course the telegraph are reporting it because it is the bma, the british medical association, who are actually saying it. they said that over 16,000 actually saying it. they said that over16,000 members and actually saying it. they said that over 16,000 members and over 40% said they had to buy their own ppe

items. that doesn't mean that they necessarily bought all of their ppe items, but it means they didn't have sufficient for what was required. there is a bit of me that thinks, well, if you weren't expecting a pandemic, why would you have sufficient quantities of ppe? but i'm sure we do the postmortem of that whole event, we will be asking why, when coronavirus started spreading from china towards europe, we didn't actually do enough thinking ahead and risk assessment to start buying that stuff in long before lockdown. david, in some ways the postmortems had already begun, haven't they? lots of newspapers haven't they? lots of newspapers have done investigations into the government's handling of this in the early days. what is your sense of what they got right and what they got wrong? yes, i think ppe will be the big critical element for the government when this is all investigated. funny talking about ventilators a second ago, that was one issue where we fought the government would be found wanting

and they clearly thought there was and they clearly thought there was an issue there. and beds, the nhs being overwhelmed. they have done valley well on that side, but they have been caught out on ppe. a bit of planning by the health authorities unless they have alleviated it. however, the whole of the planet was looking for ppe and of course the chinese make most of it, so that is something that is going to have to be looked at and investigated and got to the bottom of. it is the one thing that the government have consistently been unable to address. they seem to have got their act in gear on tests recently, but that was the other one that was causing some brain pain. all right, let's go onto the back pages, the sun on are talking about football and when it will resume, especially the premier league. they are talking about an uproar as clubs

tell players they can opt out of whether or not to play again. what is your view? it is quite controversial base, but whether or not with national football in particular should begin again? the government seem to think it will be a morale boost for the country, but then others are saying, is it bad taste to be watching professional football while people are still dying in such large numbers? you know, i am trying to work out if this is a joke that the two of you, who are these mad, crazed liverpool supporters, who know everything about football, come to me first on this question. i am looking for an objective opinion! but i actually do think that the sport is, if you like, a front—line service for the well— being of the like, a front—line service for the well—being of the nation. and i think even those of us who are not in the least interested in sport will often tune in for cup finals, wimbledon finals, olympic games, and

i think sport is fantastically unifying because it is watching human beings do superhuman things, especially of course your own club. and i think it is really important that we start bringing in sporting fixtures back. telling players that they can opt out? theoretically we can tell other people that they can t can tell other people that they can opt out. i mean, if they don't feel comfortable going into the office, why should they? on the other hand, ido why should they? on the other hand, i do think that one at the health problems we are going to have to manage is acl, almost an agoraphobic fear, of going back to work or returning on to transport and returning on to transport and returning to the sporting field and may be the players in the front line need to be the ones who are holding up need to be the ones who are holding up that flag and leading us out onto our own pictures. and today, we have got not only some players like sergio aguero saying he is worried about playing a game from a safety point of view, but some clubs, like

brighton particularly, they are worried about playing a neutral venues because a lot of their remaining games were going to be home games. yes, it is a tricky one this. a lot of that is tied up with money as well, of course, because premier league clubs in particular get a lot of their income now from deals with the television companies and if they don't play the games than they are not going to get the money. so that is one issue, but i think, as shyama perera says, it would be a big step back towards normality for many others. for goodness' sake, if we are all a lockdown still and football is playing, we can sit in front of the television with a beer and watch the tv, i will be back to normal anyway for many of us! but if the government is pushing that, and we that they are, is that right? is its place to be pushing the premier league to get back into playing football to get the nation a morale boost? well, it would be enabling them. it is for the football authorities to decide for

themselves. they can decide what they do and they are in control of this, but the government says that with certain safeguards it is safe for them to play then so be it. one of the big problems is fans congregating outside grounds, as happened with the paris saint—german tea m happened with the paris saint—german team in france, which has led them to not continue with their season. but as we start moving back to normal, i think, but as we start moving back to normal, ithink, providing it is but as we start moving back to normal, i think, providing it is all donein normal, i think, providing it is all done in steps and done properly with all the safeguards, and sport resuming would be fine, i think, providing it was done without the risk of loads of fun is crowding into pubs to watch the game, which of course, would put them all at risk. all right, we have got a couple of minutes left. ijust want to say i am always intrigued by the video call backgrounds, and shyama, i think you have one today's video call background because you have got a beautiful combination of pink,

what are those kitchen cabinets, pink and red flowers, a lovely vial is full of flowers and then a lovely pink blouse. those are for my daughter, sadly, not for me. france in secret admirerand daughter, sadly, not for me. france in secret admirer and she won't tell me who it is! it is strange to think that people think i am sitting in my kitchen, which of course i am, but what you can't see is that this part of the kitchen is actually an office. so it has pink shelving with books and all sorts of strange things, printer ink, here is my screen, here is my printer... said it is actually, i am looking into a work space, but as a result of talking to you you are looking out of my kitchen. grab some lunch, come over later, i will make you some chicken! oh, if only that were possible! what about you, dave? you look like you are in your study. the study is a complete mess, but i have

books myself in on this because i have been taking the mickey out of some of my journalistic have been taking the mickey out of some of myjournalistic colleagues who have been positioning themselves in front of bookcases full of historical tones and political biographies, and i am saying, what a poser you are! i would never do that! but of course i can't do it in his room because there are too many books! they would all be about liverpool football club, rows and rows of them, and classical music as well, but i'm not going to show off. i don't even know what is behind me. iimagine i don't even know what is behind me. i imagine lots of your reviewers are buying that wallpaper that has got floor to ceiling books on to make them appear, to give and the gravitas. ijust think isn't that what it's for? is itjust for the gravitas or is it because all of these blokes and women have hidden spaces that are entirely full of books? i do actually have a shelf thatis books? i do actually have a shelf that is entirely wall—to—wall books, but that isn't here. i know both of you are massive readers and have got huge libraries. so good to have you

both with us on the papers. shyama perera and david wooding, thank you very much for being with us here on bbc news. that's it for the papers this hour. thank you to my guests — journalist and author, shyama perera, and david wooding, the political editor of the sun on sunday. goodbye for now. hello. before we start looking ahead with our forecast for the next few days, i'm just going to take take a quickjump back into april because april 2020 was quite exceptional. it turns out to be the sunniest april on record, many of us seeing 50% more sunshine than we typically would. it also, though, was very dry. the april showers were few and far between. the darker the brown on the map, the drier it was, some parts of northern england seeing less than 20% of their monthly rainfall. and dry weather will play a large part in our forecast for the week ahead. looking at the chart behind me, you might think, "ooh, "there is a weather front to the south, don't they "normally bring rainfall?" well, yes, but not that much

today for southern areas. just a lot of cloud, i think, across southern counties of england and south wales. the more significant rain today is likely where we start the day with clearer skies and will develop showers across scotland, northern england, parts of the midlands into east anglia through the afternoon. some locally heavy and thundery downpours to come here and these showers will persist on into the evening and the small hours of monday. to the south, some drizzly rain across southern parts of england, very misty and murky, but mild, temperatures in double figures. clearer skies across northern scotland and a patchy frost to take us into monday. still quite a lot of cloud across northern and eastern england through monday morning and some further rain here before the showers pull out into the north sea. come the afternoon, it is pretty much a case of dry and sunny weather across the board. still chilly along the north sea coasts, highs of 11—12 degrees, looking at 19 or 20 degrees for cardiff. but cast an eye

toward the south—west and it looks like this weather front coming in overnight monday into tuesday will be more significant in terms of rain. the exact position is our biggest forecasting headache at the moment, how far north will it run? certainly, it looks like for the south—west of england and south wales there is a wet and windy and chilly day to come on tuesday, certainly much cooler in cardiff, perhaps just the mid—teens. our hotspots on tuesday will probably be the scottish borders, where there will be a lot of sunshine. for the rest of the week, though, the high pressure will dominate and we will lose that rain from the south—west as the sunshine becomes increasingly widespread and we will also see some warmth building as well.

a this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. as the uk's coronavirus death toll rises above 28,000 the prime minister describes preparations to announce his death when he was in intensive care for coronavirus. churches in germany reopen for sunday services with strict regulations in force and singing forbidden. a rare exchange of gunfire between north and south korea along the demilitarized zone, a day after kim jong—un's also in the programme: how muslims breaking their ramadan fast virtually — to stay connected — is leading to a permanent change