lama i am a woman of w one now! grounded in london she may be, but always alert to the world beyond. this week in the uk, boris johnson changed the government's coronvirus tune: stay at home is now stay alert. according to pollsters, only a third of people think they know what it means. the first ministers in scotland and wales say whatever mrjohnson means, they prefer the old message, thank you very much, and are sticking with it. so, for now at least, it's the disunited kingdom. let me ask, how different has this week been for you? did you notice anything? did it feel different when these restrictions were eased slightly? not really. i am lucky enough to work from home sol slightly? not really. i am lucky enough to work from home so i stayed in my little haven of north london

and sol in my little haven of north london and so i might go out a little bit more than i used to, sol and so i might go out a little bit more than i used to, so i am taking two walks when i can, and i continue to see that my tube station is shot, if you people in the streets... a little more in the parks but my life has changed very little.” little more in the parks but my life has changed very little. i don't know if my life has changed but i know if my life has changed but i know that a lot of the life on the streets have changed. construction sites around where i live are coming alive, more people on the streets, fa st alive, more people on the streets, fast food outlets are opening for take—out, fast food outlets are opening for ta ke—out, but people fast food outlets are opening for take—out, but people don't really know what to do, be mixed dashed mixed messages from the prime ministerand mixed messages from the prime minister and government... how do you stay alert to a virus that you do not see? it is not like bombs or packages on the cheap. i think this confusing message has forced people to make up their own rules. as eunice said, she used the word

lucky. we are among the privileged and harvested in ourfridge and jobs and harvested in ourfridge and jobs and work to keep us busy. i think all of us would embrace the slogan in it together now, you think of those who are living in crowded apartments and who desperately need to get back to work. it is wonderful that you have more breath of fresh air. ifeel like —— there was that you have more breath of fresh air. i feel like —— there was an opera singing outside. i used to travel a lot and now i have become someone travel a lot and now i have become someone strolling the streets in london and it is a delight and i think that all of us are listening to nature more and i am discovering more bits of london that i have never seen more bits of london that i have never seen before, so there is light in the dark but using the lockdown means in easing of the darkness for more people. it is interesting that any city like london, it is safer to

look up. you suddenly realise the history of buildings is, as a bit further and further, you see the age of the buildings, seeing what is up and beyond. what about you? i have been moving about a bit more. i hope that i might be able to wave at my mum through the window down in devon for the first time this week. jeffrey, you imagine this mixed message. what you think of how the prime minister is doing?” message. what you think of how the prime minister is doing? i think this was a bad week. i think you came out of his owners and there was a huge amount of empathy and he showed some humility. —— came out of his illness. but the lack of clarity in this slogan is not what people are looking for. to state you can go back to work but you should not take the tube, public transport is now overcrowded ——

the tube, public transport is now overcrowded — — overcrowded, the tube, public transport is now overcrowded —— overcrowded, how do i behave at work? this is boris johnson exposing his weakest side, which is decisiveness and depth. there is a superficiality coming through and how that slogan got past him... what were his advisers thinking when they came up with it? and when he targets, why did you not question it? what exactly does this duty shape behaviour? i think this is that —— i think this has been an extremely bad week for him in terms of bringing the country together. people are living... this is really tough for many millions of people in this country are what you are looking for its clarity and leadership and direction. i do not think that there is a sense that we are seeing that and the polling numbers would suggest that the confidence in boris johnson numbers would suggest that the confidence in borisjohnson is slipping. what you make of the open discord between the prime minister

of the uk and be first minister in scotla nd of the uk and be first minister in scotland and in wales? is itjust a bit of party politics re—emerging?” think it is more than that. i think there are real disagreements about there are real disagreements about the way a head and the way to address this crisis. i think in scotland and wales, the governments seem to be far more worried with the impact of using the lockdown. let us say that britain has the highest rate of deaths in europe. the situation is not completely under control, those are numbers really shouldn't be, so it is far more than ideology. it is all party politics and it is about worrying about livelihoods. there might be an issue here on ideological approaches to this, and the british government, borisjohnson's this, and the british government, boris johnson's government, as we try to push forward an approach which allegedly tries to save the

economy or prioritise the economy, oui’ economy or prioritise the economy, our livelihoods, so there is this false dichotomy between you either open the lockdown slightly in order to save the economy or you keep it in restricted measures for the slightly longer and you stifle the economy. this is a false dichotomy because we have seen from the countries that have had —— that are not imposed lockdown, sweden, there are economies has been as badly hit as the economies of spain or italy or france who have imposed really tough lockdown. it has to do with, in one hand there are different ideological approaches, this is a government which does not believe in the power of state and it is immensely preoccupied with the economic impact of the lockdown, and it is trying to... it is trying to address the concerns and anxieties of the population, but at the same

time still default to the position of not believing in the power of the state to actually do good. we are all learning more about the science no “— all learning more about the science no “ we are now all learning more about the science no —— we are now learning more about science now, and fight the...‘ citizens are sacrificing a lot, but there has to be signs and has to be common sense in it. the r rates, it is higher in scotland and it is higher in wales and the north east of england but it is following in london. there was an emphasis on the formation approach, but if that rate is different then, of course, leaders who must be responsible for the people have to take difficult decisions on how fast and far you wa nt to decisions on how fast and far you want to open up. it is prevalent to

talk about the uk and potential divisions here, because mark british eurosceptics used to grumble that whenever the european union the mark european union encountered a new problem, the solution was always said to be "more europe". if that was the brussels disease, perhaps the pandemic will cure it. 27 countries have pursued 27 different policies, with the closure of borders removing one of the continent's major selling points, borderless trade and travel. covid—i9 has exposed again a deep fault line which became apparent a decade ago: the wealthier north doesn't wasn't to share the costs of the poorer south. this is something you have been going about this week, wide? very much, because if europe does not get its act together, and by this i mean be solidarity, have a european vision to address this crisis, the whole european project might as well unravel. we witnessed about ten days

ago a ruling by the german constitutional court questioning the judgment of the european court of justice on the bond buying scheme of the ecb. the long and short of this is that we have a national constitutional court questioning the authority of the european court of justice. in european union, the ruling of the european court of justice, they have to be implemented by the member states, the buck stops with that court. the national court has no say. the ruling of the german constitutional court can set a really dangerous precedent in the european practice. it can lead to countries like hungary, which is already in a state of emergency, and partly in our democracy in europe, or poland or even the countries of

greece, the government of greece, italy and portugal, questioning rulings of the ecb on the grounds that they violate the remix of the european institution —— remit. ecb being the european central bank. if you start to have many member states questioning the legitimacy of this, thatis questioning the legitimacy of this, that is the beginning of the end. the only other point you have made about the lack of solidarity between the north and south, the divisions between the alleged sense of the north and the sinners of the south, this is... this could have profound consequences. so far the european union have tried to come up with a comprehensive response to the coronavirus, there are not exactly 27 different solutions, the approaches of each state are very similar, but europe will have to come up with a marshall plan for europe, because the economic

consequences of covid—i9 will be very dire. we are going to see the impact of the closure of the tourism industry in southern europe. this is going to be catastrophic. it is predicted a doubling of unemployment in europe until the end of the year and this is extremely concerning and if europe does not come up with a comprehensive solution, it is about solidarity and sharing, and opposed to moans, and those loans have attached to it a austerity measures that will make the solution even worse. this could lead to ugly politics and pretty much the unravelling of the european project. jeffrey, are you as worried about this? like saying that financial crisis of a ago that the europeans we re crisis of a ago that the europeans were living the southern europeans, they were somehow sinners, they have not been good europeans, we had not

saved, the reality of this is is not -- it is saved, the reality of this is is not —— it is not anything to do with whether you are a good or bad country, you are a victim of this virus whatever, so that argument that the northern european countries are using, is that not we go this time? what worries me more than the virus itself is the political virus which seem to have taken hold in the world that makes it impossible... the agendas of different countries and different leaders have so divided the world at a time when the world needs to come together. it is notjust the world needs to come together. it is not just the european world needs to come together. it is notjust the european union, where is the united nations in this? look at the world health organization and the politicisation of donald trump. instead of seeing leaders come together in this, as we saw after the second world war when the world was obviously ruined and ravaged, we

are not seeing that now. i think as big a threat as the sizes, the inability of leaders to come together and to say that we need to work together and pool our scientific knowledge and creates a plan to support economies so that this does not destroy people's lives for a generation and lead to instability and fracture in ways we can only begin to imagine. globally, do you think at least there is evidence of this fracture? what is really heart—warming is that the scientists keep telling us that we are working together as never before, and we are all now focused as individuals and societies and the world on this race for a vaccine. once it is found, how will it be produced and you will get it? that will become the political question. there has to be a global response to that, but the fact is that the

united nations security council, the premier puts part of the world, created out of the ashes of the second world war, have been missing in action and largely because of the tussling between the united states and china over the who and other issues which are driving an even greater wedge between them. it is really shameful. the acting president of the security council use that. it is shameful. if there ever was a moment to stand together, it is now. often one and one for all. we will rise and we will die together. thus far, i have not seen anyone suggest that the latest anti—drum song doing the rounds on social media... ‘the liar tweets tonight', a skit on the lion sleeps tonight, first covered by the doo—wop group the tokens in the early ‘60s, is anti—trump propaganda ‘made in china'.

in what he hopes is his re—election year, mr trump wants quite a bit less of everything made there. so the us president will doubtless approve of the taiwanese manufacturer tsmc which announced friday plans to build a factory producing computer chips in arizona, hours before the trump administration outlined plans which would require companies supplying the chinese telecom giuant huawei to get permission from the us department of commerce. huawei relies on tsmc for all its high—end chips. the taiwanese firm wants that to continue, and building in the us is a strategic hedge against the deterioratinfg relationship between china and the united states. geoffrey, that is something that we we re geoffrey, that is something that we were talking about there. what is happening in the china and us relationship? how bad is that how much worse is it going to get and what are the consequences? much worse is it going to get and what are the consequence57m much worse is it going to get and what are the consequences? it is really bad and, the odd thing is, because of the mercurial nature of donald trump, it seemed to be

getting better a month ago, they we re getting better a month ago, they were friends, but in his... donald trump's very clear priority is to position himself for the election, let us not kid us —— kid ourselves there. he sees this pandemic through a partisan lens and he is looking at a partisan lens and he is looking at a way to rally his base and he is neutralising his ability to hold those mass rallies. we do to make? he looks for some kind of enemy 2.2, the virus came from china, as he possibly reminds... .2. for him there is an opportunity to vilify china, he says they inflicted it on america, they are america boss '5 a mortal enemy. what is worrisome is, one, we need to work together. china had this virus first, we have science that is advancing faster and

—— than anywhere, we need to be pulling resources and not creating animosities. the long—term consequence is that this new form of cold war could break out and undermine a world of naval cooperation and this detente that we have lived with for a last few generations. there is a lot at stake here, but what is really worrisome when you look at the united states... we have seen it and talked about it around this table before, but it is getting amplified week by week, the injection of partisan politics into everything that happens in the white house. it is undermining the need for a coordinated effort to control and ultimately solve this pandemic middle. china is very particular about the control it exercises on the messages that are expressed

about it. and merge to tie one, that isa about it. and merge to tie one, that is a notorious example of something that china insists is a part of china and one without any academic institution or country would insist that taiwan is a separate nation. an eu ambassador got into trouble in china if you weeks ago for allowing a statement about the vaccine to be altered at the chinese government was night behest. it is a really difficult thing for a lot of countries to deal with, how they handle china, is that? absolutely. in europe there is a lot of concerns about the ambition, economic ambitions of china, because over the la st ambitions of china, because over the last decade they changed many chinese state and chinese companies have been buying quite a lot of imported accent —— assets over europe. they are praying overly fragile economies that were battered by the eurozone crisis to buy

electricity countries to anything else, and now the art supply medical equipments to those european countries. the we are seeing a much more robust diplomacy coming from beijing, so there is a bit of a charm offensive but a little bit more showing of the teeth with the links to europe, so there are reasons to be concerned, but going back to the question of donald trump's dealings with china, it is clear that this is done for electoral reasons and it was something that was explored and was a winning formula in 2016. as —— president trump is worried about what is going to happen in november whether as a presidential election. he signed a law this week which mounted the possibility of cancelling the presidential election, which of course the white house cannot cancel, but this statement can be seen as a sign of

how worried trump is with the impact of covid—19 over his personal ratings and also the whole effect on the us economy. the last thing that america needs at the moment is a trade war with china. he will eventually need to tread carefully, but i do not think we can expect any careful statements coming out over from the united states at the moment. another group in his sights at the moment are inspector generals, the people who oversee the federal government and make sure it is behaving itself. another one got news late on friday that he was going to be fired? yes, reports are coming in so far, that someone in the state department who initiated an investigation into the secretary of state, mike pompeo, has been removed. donald trump says that he lost confidence. it is another alarm

bell. there is lots of reports in american including editorials, saying that this is a time winner needs to be a regulatory framework one such eye watering sums of money are being spent, when the nation boss mike is at stake, we need to behold —— hold authorities responsible. do not get rid of that oversight, because it helps keep our officials on their toes, so this is yet another example. we have seen it in the navy during this pandemic and in other parts of the us government, so yet again it is a worrying sign. geoffrey, it was —— the news was on friday night and he got 30 days notice. last month we had the removal of the watchdog, klein —— he was one of the government because my financial relief operations, and they lost the person who had it was

another —— he was fired from the health general. the intelligence community inspector general was also fired. what is donald trump's problem? he does not like to be accountable. the whole principle of the inspector general is our oversight. they are looking after the taxpayer past my interest when it comes to the billions and trillions being spent routinely and hastily, the need for this kind of oversight is massive, and donald trump does not like to be questioned and we know this. this is one of those characteristics. he hates being challenged and he wants to be able to d0 as he wants to do, whether it is above board or not. we need to know but he doesn't want us to. i think... i need to know but he doesn't want us to. ithink... i don't need to know but he doesn't want us to. i think... i don't want to site apocalyptic year, but i think that the virus of politics is as menacing

to the world right now is the pandemic. the great american experiment for over 250 years is really tested that civil rights and world wars have not tested. the resilience of its political independence —— of the independence of its political institutions are being undermined daily by this, and they have consequences. who are not simply get through if people and politicians do not stand up and hold the president and the republicans around him, who arejust the president and the republicans around him, who are just blindly endorsing him, accountable. this is a really serious challenge, fundamental to democracy, and it is ultimately about positioning him to hold onto power for another four years. this is our last few moments. the weather is warming up over the uk this weekend, the beaches of greece had opened, what one thing are you most looking forward to do

when the restrictions in england are used so much more? going to the theatre. that is one of the things i miss the most. seeing friends face—to—face. i am so over staring ata face—to—face. i am so over staring at a computer screen to talk to people. i want to see friends face—to—face at a safe distance, have a good laugh, have a good discussion, you just feel it to your whole body when you see someone because it reminds you... you in contact via skype is not the same thing. like you are very much and i look forward to helping you or when it is safe to do so. that's it for dateline london for this week, we're back next week at the same time. goodbye.

hello. for many it has been a cloudy start to the day but we have seen some breaks in the cloud. here, the rising sun got underneath this layer of cloud. slightly further north, berwick—upon—tweed looking like this. plenty of sunshine coming through. for most others it has been pretty cloudy. we pick up on the cloud on the satellite picture. we have weather front around today, encroaching on the north—west of the country, and that's where the figures cloud will be with patches of rain. the rain has been quite patchy in nature across northern and western scotland at times. slightly damp weather going into the of northern ireland. a dry start today

otherwise. as we head into the afternoon, cloud both in and break up afternoon, cloud both in and break up and we will see sunshine come through across england and wales. most of us will see sunshine at times. staying cloudy in northern ireland and the cloud is reluctant to break in scotland, with occasional sunny spells. temperatures up to 15 and 17 degrees. this evening, rain or move back into northern ireland quickly before spreading on into western scotland. england and wales will turn claudia as the night progresses, relatively mild temperature —wise. temperatures between six and 9 degrees for most. sunday's wider, rain and areas of low pressure working its way into the north—west of the country, the south east remaining dry and bright. northern ireland will start with rain, that will be extensive and will spread into scotland where it

will spread into scotland where it will be heavy at times. further south, cloud won't break up with spells of sunshine coming through, and it will be a warmer day with temperatures around 20 and 21 degrees. weather charts into the early stage of next week, an area of high pressure drifts across the continent and as that happens increasingly will start to get our wins coming from the south and south—east. that will bring warmer weather. as we head into the middle of the week, temperatures will go into the mid 20s for most. thank you.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the children's commissioner for england calls for teaching unions and the government to ‘stop squabbling' over plans for primary school pupils to return to the classroom. the whole kind of debate descended into what i would call a squabble, and the positions have really become entrenched, and i fear that actually, the best interests of children, which is what we are all meant to be looking out within this debate, are being overlooked. as one of the strictest coronavirus lockdowns begins to ease, people in italy will be able to travel both internally, and in and out of the country, from the beginning ofjune. but despite looser travel restrictions in england,