good morning welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. our headlines today: two weeks until some pupils in england are due to go back to school — parents and teachers demand more reassurance that classrooms will be safe. we will also be looking at transport. you should see many more staff at your local train station if more people than expected to travel to work. —— do travel. unions demand further safety measures as more building sites reopen. making it in the premier league but struggling off the pitch. former manchester united player luke chadwick tells us how constant insults about the way he looked

affected his mental health. i wouldn't want to go out, people knew who i was. obviously i played for man united and i was assuming they would be saying horrible things about me, potentially they were all the time. some of the warmest weather is on its way this week. it doesn't mean its way this week. it doesn't mean it will be sunny and it doesn't mean eve ryo ne it will be sunny and it doesn't mean everyone will remain dry. i will have all the details here on brea kfast. it's monday the 18th of may. our top story: with two weeks to go until some primary school pupils in england return to the classroom, the government insists plans are in place to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils. ministers want children in reception, yeari and year 6 to go back to school, as part of the next step to ease the lockdown. but unions and some parents fear the move may cause a second spike in coronavirus cases, as john mcmanus reports. when is the right time to send

children back to school? and how will the safety of them and theirfamilies be guaranteed? in england, some younger pupils will be back at their desks onjunei. ministers say measures including staggered breaks and class sizes of 15 will reduce the chances of pupils transmitting coronavirus. but not everybody is convinced. with my children, my youngest, bronwyn, she has asthma, she's on two inhalers. charlotte, she has full—on learning difficulties and she has had pneumonia when she was five years old. i don't want her getting a second bout of pneumonia. the government has acknowledged it can't eradicate all risk, but the evidence shows children with the virus rarely develop serious symptoms, though their transition rate isn't yet known. we measured the amount of virus

in their nasal samples and that looks pretty similar to adults. what we don't know is whether these children then are able to pass on to other adults or to other children. one initially sceptical teachers union has now backed the plans to return with some qualifications. it's easy to talk about what opening a school in place a might be compared to place b. so we already know that liverpool, for example, hartlepool are saying they're not going to open their schools from june i. there's still a lot more thinking to do as to what do social distancing mechanisms mean in schools, how does that work? other european countries are facing the same dilemma. germany and denmark are slowly reopening classrooms using social distancing, but italian pupils will stay at home until september. meanwhile, the latest daily death toll was 170, the lowest figure since the day after the lockdown began on march 24. however, numbers are typically lower at weekends. the total number of people who have died in the uk after testing positive

for the virus is now 3a,636. the only permanent solution of course is a vaccine. some scientists believe one may not come for at least a year or perhaps never. but the pharmaceutical company astrazeneca has signed an agreement to make 30 million doses available in the uk by september if it can find a vaccine that works. john macmanus, bbc news. our political correspondent chris masonjoins us from westminster. as ever, there is so much to talk about. we know some pupils are due to go back into weeks but there is a lot of discussion about what safety will mean. is it safe? there are a huge number of ifs. the government has committed themselves to this date for schools in england, within a couple of weeks, but there has been an acknowledgement that that is conditional on the science where the

government would be comfortable to press go on schools reopening, in other words, ensuring the virus has dampened down efficiently stop we are still two weeks out and that might not be the case. then this round has been rumbling all weekend to tween the teachers‘ unions and the government. yes, we saw in the report, there are some sense that unions might be willing to compromise a little bit. there is a desire for mothers to find some sort of compromise, but at the heart, there is still real concern from plenty of teachers and from plenty of pa rents plenty of teachers and from plenty of parents about, monthly, can enough be done to ensure that children are as safe as possible. there was an acknowledgement from michael gove that the risk can‘t be removed entirely, pointing from the government to statistics that suggest they might be a small level of transmission amongst children. but still a lot of anxiety was about

the heart of this, government message that for so many weeks was as blunt as "stay—at—home close quote. and now has had to morph into something else and it is for that reason that it is might take people quite some time. to adjust to that message. thank you. if you have any questions around transport or schools, let us know. efforts to get commuters safely back to work by train are being brought in this morning. more security guards are now in place at several railway stations, and some seats on board will be blocked off to allow social distancing. passengers are still being advised to use public transport only if it‘s essential and they have no alternative. here‘s our transport correspondent, tom burridge. social distancing really isn‘t a

problem a lot of the time, but there is concern as more people commute again. worried, i need the bus to go to work. busier than i thought it would be. yemen, there was only about two people in each carriage so it was fine. good morning, welcome aboard. -- yeah. more staff directing you around. please keep to your left. they will also limit passenger numbers. if theyjudge there is already enough people on board a particular train, they might lock the gates of here and other people will have to wait for the next service. and when numbers rise, you might have to queue to get into a station. we have done the calculations and analysis to ensure that we can have a certain amount of people on the concourse at any one

time and yes, there will be closures to entrances as —— and exit. time and yes, there will be closures to entrances as -- and exit. it is reserved seats only to control numbers. that is intercity numbers. they are worried about how they‘ll manage if more people travel. the main message is don‘t use public transport if you can. tom joins us now from euston station. what‘s it like this morning, tom? the good news is it is really, really quiet, as you can see here at euston station. that is what we want, that is what rail bosses need. they are genuinely worried about how things will pan out. more people on the board, —— more trains on the board, heading up to glasgow, et

cetera. we will show you into the concourse. half of the people you can see down there are staff. security guards trained in crowd control if necessary because some trains which came into this station from birmingham last monday were overcrowded at times, certain times. it isa overcrowded at times, certain times. it is a really collocated matrix. it is hard to predict exactly how many people will arrive at a particular station at a particular time to get ona station at a particular time to get on a particular service will stop thatis on a particular service will stop that is what they are dealing with and that is what they are planning for and that is why they are looking ata for and that is why they are looking at a slightly more extreme measures in the future. one option on the table, iam in the future. one option on the table, i am told, is possibly you will have to book and arrival slot time for your station, the time you will be able to turn up to get your train. but it is relatively quiet, the other important voice is of course only use public transport if you have no other option. use your car instead, it is rare that we say that, and also of course have something to cover your face if you are going to get on a train or

above. if it is really quite, you don‘t have to wear it but you should haveit don‘t have to wear it but you should have it on hand just in case. we will be back with tom throughout the morning. we have a number of experts coming up later on if you are commuting by train today, please let us commuting by train today, please let us know how you are going. this if you‘re commuting by train this morning, please do let us know how it‘s going. you can email or get in touch on social media. the republic of ireland is today beginning the first stage of its plan to ease the country‘s lockdown — and some restrictions are slowly being lifted in northern ireland. our ireland correspondent chris page is in belfast. chris, what will change today? on both sides of the irish border, some normality being taken today. the first fears of that accident plan. there are five stages of that strategy. the last one to begin with

according to plan in the middle of august. in the republic,, tennis is returning and groups of four people can meet up outdoors. here in northern ireland, garden centres will be opening up as well household recycling facilities angling will be polec —— permitted in public fishing areas and the stormont executive will be meeting here in belfast to decide what restrictions to lift next. one of the things they could decided to open up churches for private prayer, to allow drive—in cinemas to open and also most significantly, allow up to six people you don‘t live together to meet up again. what ministers on both sides of the border, north and south, are saying, is although these moves south, are saying, is although these m oves a re south, are saying, is although these moves are welcome to some people, they will be giving some people hope, people should be really cautious was not the viruses are still very much there, it is still dangerous and above all else, people

must adhere to social distancing at all times. testing for coronavirus is to be offered to all care home residents and staff in northern ireland. the announcement follows criticism of a mounting number of deaths in the sector. it‘s hoped the rollout of testing will be completed next month. software to help trace those who may have been in contact with someone who has coronavirus, will be rolled out in three areas of scotland from today. it‘s the first step towards an extended "test, trace and isolate" system, which the scottish government hopes to have in place by the end of the month. the tracing software is different to the mobile phone app which is being tested on the isle of wight. the uk will move closer to a points—based immigration system today when a flagship bill is debated by mps — but labour says the home secretary priti patel should "think again". the immigration bill would make it harder for workers described by ms patel as ‘low—skilled‘ to live in britain.

but labour says it‘s lower—paid workers like carers and retail staff who have been keeping the country running during the current crisis. a canadian military displayjet has crashed into a house in british columbia — killing one person and severely injuring another. the jet was part of the snowbirds display team and was on a cross—country tour to salute canadians working to fight coronavirus. a video posted on twitter shows two planes taking off before one circles back and bursts into flames. one of the pilots managed to eject and parachute to safety. detectives have launched a murder investigation after a woman died following a suspected shooting in blackburn. the 19—year—old victim was injured in the town centre at around 3:00 yesterday afternoon. lancashire police say the area was busy at the time, and appealed for witnesses to what officers called a "senseless crime". a man has been interviewed by detectives for allegedly spitting at a railway worker who later

died of coronavirus. belly mujinga fell ill shortly after the alleged incident at london‘s victoria station in march. british transport police say a 57—year—old man was interviewed under caution and the investigation is ongoing. the us air force has successfully launched its atlas 5 rocket, carrying a space plane for a secretive mission. a satellite is being sent into orbit as part of a classified programme. and very little is known about it. tim allman has more. mission control: seven, six, five, four... this is no ordinary rocket launch. it is something just a little bit historic. ..and lift off. taking off from cape canaveral, in florida, this is a mission for space force. ..a mission dedicated to america strong. there was plenty of symbolism about this launch, one of the first to take place since the new agency was established by president trump,

and it is happening in the middle of a global pandemic. with challenging times, it has never been more clear the importance of first responders in our whole society, and i would also like to add a thanks to the women and men in uniform, because our us defence posture has not changed and they have not backed off of it either. not changed and they have not backed off a bit it either. on board the rocket is the x—37b, a top—secret space plane that, up till now, the pentagon has kept mostly under wraps. we have been told this much — it will carry out a number of experiments, including a test on the impact of radiation on seeds. mysterious yet versatile. x—37b is a really interesting machine. it is a reusable spacecraft. it is autonomous, it flies without crew. it can be rapidly reconfigured to coast a wide variety of experiments. previous missions have lasted up to two years, and officials say more experiments will take place this time than ever before.

the ongoing mission of space force has well and truly begun. tim allman, bbc news. let‘s take a look at today‘s papers: the times says it‘s unlikely that we‘ll be able to enjoy foreign holidays this summer, without having to enter a 14—day quarantine on our return. according to the article, lorry drivers will make up the majority of those exempted from the new measure, which is due to begin next month. the telegraph leads on a study which claims coronavirus does not spread widely in schools. it found 18 infected students and teachers across 15 schools only passed the virus on to two others. the daily mail says half of all people in the uk could be vaccinated against the coronavirus, if an oxford university trial succeeds. it reports business secretary alok sharma‘s comments that 30 million doses could be made by september, if the vaccine is shown to work. and online, one of the most read stories on the bbc news website says that the health system in brazil‘s largest city,

sao paulo, could collapse under the pressure of the coronavirus. the city‘s mayor has said public hospitals are 90% full, and could run out of space in two weeks. saw an article over the weekei saying i saw an article over the weekend saying that could be one of the coronavirus hotspots. we have been talking about so many different things people have been doing since lockdown. do you need a new hobby? climbing the bowls. setting up diy courses as part of a new home faltering trade. i would like to say, do not try this at home but they are obviously trying it at home. this proper one has crash mats as well. amateur climbers can be

seen climbing walls, moving from room to room and even upstairs without touching the ground. room to room and even upstairs without touching the groundlj room to room and even upstairs without touching the ground. i am not built for i don‘t think. without touching the ground. i am not built for i don't thinklj without touching the ground. i am not built for i don't think. i have not built for i don't think. i have not lied so i cannot do it, luckily. —— tried it. great great grandmother raising money for the nhs and she is knitting a hospital. margaret seaman, who lives in north fork, known as north fork‘s knitting queen, i believe she did the seafront, at one point, and she‘s hoping to raise £5,000 by doing this great knitting project. she has four

sections and she has been working until midnight. marking 30 year career by walking with her daughter. they made a laughed shift special by going out on the beat together. they made a laughed shift special by going out on the beat togetherlj going out on the beat together.” watched some live golf last night, a charity event with rory mcilroy, nikki fowler, carrying their bags, no crowd, and raising money. it was a very strange... it is quiet anyway, golf. we will be talking german football is well. it is

just... the crowd... it brings something to the game. this dog ta kes a something to the game. this dog takes a backseat while the cyclist does all the work. i have seen this picture. wait for it... i just cannot believe it is real. it does put a smile on your face on a monday morning. it‘s the start of a new week of home schooling for millions of children and parents across the uk today. how is it going? but, for some families in england, the end is in sight. the government wants certain primary school pupils back in the classroom in a fortnight, despite concerns over safety and social distancing. breakfast‘s graham satchell has been speaking to two families with very different views on whether they‘ll be packing the kids off to school from june the first. two families in england both facing

an agonising choice. do they send their children back to school? we wa nt their children back to school? we want the absolute best for them but we have to weigh up the risks and what is happening with their education. joe is 11, energy six, the last year of primary school. most of the information we get is that covid—19 is not as severe a friend to children as it is to adults but at the same time i am diabetic and there is an added risk ifjoe goes back to school but having said that, i do not think this situation is healthy for children in general. joe is a strong, beyond belief. at times he is isolated and i think it is quite lonely. emma has done her best to

homeschool her son. she was a teacherfor homeschool her son. she was a teacher for 12 years and understands the safety concerns of teaching units but she says for her son it is the right time to return. if they leave it until september, it is a completely new school and we have had no transition yet. although i feel veryjohn and i do think my opinions may have been different if joe was younger. chelsea's month is horrified about the prospect of sending her back to school. when they announced it, i cried. i do not ca re if they announced it, i cried. i do not care if they find me, if the council comes knocking on my doorfor attendance, she is not going back to school. my main priority is her health. her brothers have down's syndrome so they are more

vulnerable. if i send my syndrome so they are more vulnerable. ifi send my daughter out to the outside world to school, obviously, there is a chance that she could come in contact with the virus and then bring the virus inside our house. do i want to take that risk is a mother? no, i do not. lc's that risk is a mother? no, i do not. lc‘s dad, a farmer, has been working through the lockdown but to protect the family he has been living in a caravan. he sees his children once a day through the window. across the uk, families of main extraordinary sacrifices to stay safe. in england, many are now wrestling with whether it is safe enough to send their children back to school. we will be putting your questions to

our education editor. if there is anything you would like to us, get in contact. you can also e—mail. we will do that with bronwyn jeffries you can also e—mail. we will do that with bronwynjeffries later. you can also e—mail. we will do that with bronwyn jeffries later. every family is an individualfamily. it should have been the first day of chelsea flower show today. for many gardeners, it‘s one of the highlights of the year, but, because of coronavirus, the event has been cancelled for the first time since the second world war. instead, the show has gone online, as daniela relph reports. the chelsea flower show, a gardening and social highlight for many. flowers and plants timed to grow to perfection. but this year, coronavirus means there is no chelsea.

event florist, simon lycett, would normally be showing at chelsea. his world is usually filled with glamorous parties and weddings. instead, he is now confined to his small south london garden, making the most of what it has to offer. he will be a contributor to the online version of the chelsea flower show. oh, the cancellation of chelsea flower show is the saddest, saddest thing, because it was going to an nrhs flower show when i was seven that inspired me to become a florist. and now aged 50 something, i still adore working with flowers. it is all i have ever wanted to do and it is such an inspiring place. and the effort that would have gone into prepping the showgardens and, ok, the plans can go back into the plan chest until next year, but all those plants that had been being grown — that is beyond tragic. salve isjust coming out,

the euphorbia, the allium... gardening in lockdown has been a safe haven for so many, a support both mentally and physically. normally i'm just leaving for chelsea now so normally the weeds are about to engulf the garden. the organisers of chelsea knew cancelling would be devastating for a horticultural industry already hit hard. we should all he really proud of british growers. they do and what an amazing job for all of us who are gardeners, who buy cut flowers. and that timing of the lockdown could not have been worse for them. indeed, even though garden centres have just reopened, they have already lost an estimated £500 million worth of stock, that just hasn‘t survived. but in the gloom, the virtual chelsea flower show is also an opportunity. garden designer, tom massey, has moved his display to his front garden. he will be doing his own show and tell from home, during virtual chelsea. hi, tom, can i drag you from your garden for a quick chat? yeah, of course. have you had to think about how

the garden looks virtually? yeah, i did have you think about the kind of shots. i‘m not a director, i‘m not a film person. so trying to think about the right shots to capture, the right plants to show, how to tell the story of this kind of dull space and transforming it into a chelsea—style planting, you know, it took a bit of thinking about to get that right. it won‘t be the same but maybe virtual chelsea, with its private garden tours, its school gardening clubs, and its surprise guests, has something to fresh to offer. the bustle, the smell, the feel won‘t be there. but you don‘t need a ticket this year — virtual chelsea will be a flower show for everyone. daniella ralph, bbc news. what a shame in some ways. but we will be looking at those gardens. and we‘ll be chatting to the gardener‘s world presenter, monty don, at around 8:a0. did you see the lovely tribute to

nigel on the show? someone said it was like a member of the family... and someone in corrupted that it interrupted and said, he was part of the family. here‘s matt with a look at this morning‘s weather. it would have been chelsea week and a pretty warm one. a few spots of 27 and 28 degrees. it does not mean it will be sunny and warm. we will see some rain, particularly in the first half of the week. thanks set to get cooler and windier later on. it all links to this swell of cloud, the first named storm of the atlantic season, after. for the time being, plenty of cloud around. arthur.

patchy rain across northern england, north wales, northern ireland. also through shetland. northern scotland brightens up later. a bit more sunshine across the southern half of england and wales. in between, we stick to the cloud and rain for northern ireland, scotland and other areas. quite mild for the time of year. it could hit 2a in the south—east corner. rain across the same sort of areas overnight. some clear skies in the top and tail of the country. temperatures holding up in double—figure is as we head into tuesday morning. the tuesday, we almost do it all over again. cloud, patching rain and drizzle, some dry weather as well. best of the

brighter breaks top and tail of the country. an southern parts of england, temperatures already on the climb. they could reach 26 degrees by tomorrow. the big change comes tuesday into wednesday. we start to drag in the airfrom the near continent, ringing clear skies. the morning cloud breaks up, lots of sunshine developing. the sunshine will boost temperatures even further right across the country, widely into the 20s, potentially 27 or 28 degrees in some parts of eastern england. things will gradually turn cooler. still warm on thursday. thunderstorms in the south—east but then the big question about how wet and windy things get towards the end

of the week. we will keep you updated. thank you very much. hello this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. we‘ll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment, but also on breakfast this morning. it‘s the start of another week of home schooling but some children in england will be back in the classroom in a fortnight. so, is it safe to re—open primary schools on june the first? is attendance compulsory? and when will other parts of the uk follow suit? we‘ll be putting your questions to our education editor, bra nwen jeffreys after eight. we‘ll meet the mum who had to endure the worry of her two sons, aged 1a and 11, receiving intensive care treatment for covid—19. thankfully, jacob and issac are now back home and on the mend. we‘re used to seeing the actor turned film—maker ross kemp meeting soldiers, militias and mercenaries. but his latest documentary is about a different kind of fighter — the army of volunteers

doing whatever they can to battle coronavirus. good morning, here‘s a summary of today‘s main stories from bbc news. the government has defended its plan to reopen primary schools in england in two weeks time, insisting plans are in place to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils. ministers want children in reception, year1 and year 6 to go back to school, as part of the next step to ease the lockdown. but unions and some parents fear the move may cause a second spike in coronavirus cases. security guards will be on duty at some major railway stations this morning, as more of us are expected to go to work following the easing of the coronavirus lockdown in england. rail companies are planning to limit the number of passengers boarding trains, and some seats may be blocked off. we are still being advised to work from home if we can, and to use public transport only if there‘s no alternative.

groups of up to four people from different households can meet up in the republic of ireland from today — as long as they do so outside. garden centres and larger shops can also re—open as the country starts the first phase of its strategy to lift the lockdown. in northern ireland, garden centres and recycling facilities can re—open from today. we always speak to a gp at around this time — and today it‘s the turn of doctor zoe norris. zoe is perfectly placed to answer your questions about the re—opening of schools in england because she‘s a mother of two primary aged children and her husband is a teacher. she joins us from east yorkshire. that not you are not normally qualified, though, but you are very much on topic this morning was not very good morning to you, thank you for being with us. just to start off with, i always like to find out how things are going at your practice at the moment. how are things at work?

it is getting busier in primary care. we are seeing an increased demand, patients getting in touch a little bit more, and a real mix of things from the very serious to conditions that could probably wait a little bit longer but we are obviously stalled by the fact that secondary care still isn‘t working as usual because of the pressures they have there, referral is not going through and the changes that would be needed in hospitals to keep doctors and patients safe to get back to normal aren‘t in place yet so very much not business as usual yet. i was speaking to a gp last friday who was saying quite a few people they are seeing or having consultations are asking their gps about the sort of precautions they should take when they are going up. are you getting those as well? queries particularly for patients who do have other health conditions and are concerned. those who perhaps

haven‘t been in the shielding category but have considered themselves relatively higher risk and are anxious about what they should be doing and what precautions actually help. lots of questions about schools, we have the culture secretary with us at 730 this morning so we will go through quite a lot of those with him. from your own perspective, we mentioned that your husband is a teacher. you have two primary aged children yourself. what sort of concerns do you have about them returning to school, first of all? i think as a dock everything we are trying to do is guided by evidence —— as a doctor. everything with coronavirus is very new because it is such a new condition. i am concerned that government advisers are looking at one small study done in australia to guide theirjudgement. that does not count as evidence, as far as i am concerned, that is good enough to put in place. the other concern is

wildly different to that in the uk. australia have had less than 100 deaths from coronavirus and we have had 34,000 deaths from coronavirus and we have had 311,000 so it is very difficult to compare populations when you have such a difference in virus figures andi such a difference in virus figures and i am worried they are basing everything on that study. what do your two girls think of it? jelinic they want to see their friends, like all children do. —— they want to see theirfriends. all children do. —— they want to see their friends. the eldest has a different perception of things. they are getting great support from school, school has been brilliant, resources , school, school has been brilliant, resources, making sure teachers are available, and i think if i said to them, look, you are not going back until september, they would be ok with it. what about your husband, he isa with it. what about your husband, he is a teacher, what does he think about the possible return? he is frustrated, like a lot of teachers,

that schools have been open. there isa that schools have been open. there is a lot of talk about more vulnerable groups and they should be given the opportunity to be in school but they have throughout, children in those vulnerable groups, are eligible to be in school now and a lwa ys are eligible to be in school now and always have been and that is where the efforts should be focused to make sure they are able to take up those places, to make sure that the food voucher scheme works and people are food voucher scheme works and people a re left food voucher scheme works and people are left dead —— people are not left stood at tesco‘s. and you don‘t open the floodgates for everybody in a system which is simply not designed to deal with coronavirus. so as a gp with a husband who is a teacher and two children in primary care, you seem very well—placed to ask a question to our covenant minister in an hour‘s time to what would you ask and we will make sure that we put that to him? i would say what is the benefit of my children going back to school for five or six weeks in

terms of their overall health and education at the moment. what benefit can he guarantee me there will be, compared to the benefit of them remaining off school in a safe environment until september? we will make sure we put that question to the minister. on another big issue, on the issue of care homes, i am unaware as to whether you are a gp who visits care homes, do you do that? i do, yes. what has been your experience of those visits and some of the claims you have seen made over the last 48 hours? the majority of care homes i am going into our working extremely hard, working extremely well. there continues to bea extremely well. there continues to be a challenge in care homes with the way that patients present there and they often don‘t present with

the fever and the cost, they are presenting in lots of different ways so it can sometimes be difficult for ca re rs so it can sometimes be difficult for carers to identify potential covert cases. the challenge about getting swa bs, cases. the challenge about getting swabs, getting swabs process continues. and of course everyone is still in ppe which is what they will not have in schools. had a question from john who has just sent one in. i think from john who has just sent one in. ithinka from john who has just sent one in. i think a few weeks ago we just ask this, about whether it is possible to catch coronavirus twice. do you know what the latest findings are on this? it has been changing quite a bit. it has and initially the response was no, it wasn‘t possible. then we had one or two cases reported in china and now the world health organization seem to be saying actually yes you can catch it more than once and that is really to do with the antibody levels. we still don‘t fully understand whether this is something where you generate enough antibodies so if you do get

exposed again, you can fight it off and if so, how long does that last for? it may last for a few weeks in which case you can easily get again, it may be that the antibody slip last for a year or more —— the antibodies last for a year or more. we‘re far enough into know it yet. you can catch it again, that is the line, but we‘re not sure at what point. good to talk to you. if you are able to watch at 730, we will put that question to oliver down. he isa put that question to oliver down. he is a government minister who will be speaking here. we will try and get through as many questions as we can. there has been sport played. morning! can you believe you can say that? good morning to you and eve ryo ne that? good morning to you and everyone at home. one little update about the premier league. premier league clubs meet again

today for their latest talks on project restart. the speculation is that they‘ll agree to a return to team training. and when matches begin again, it could look a lot like this. empty stands, subsitutes wearing facemasks and socially distancing, as bayern munich, the leaders in the german bundeslige, played union berlin in the capital. bayern won 2—0, although players had to control their instincts for celebrations. we could hear today that the scottish premiership season is over, which would give celtic their ninth straight title. the board is expected to bring the top division to a close, so they can focus on planning for the game‘s return. arsenal say they are taking seriously a report that striker alexandre lacazette inhaled nitrous oxide. he was pictured with a balloon in his mouth and is said to have sent a video to friends. the frenchman has already been in trouble for breaking social distancing guidelines during the lockdown. professional golf has returned for the first time in over two months, in the form of a charity match in the united states.

rory mcilroy and dustinjohnson beat rickie fowler and matthew wolff in florida, raising over four million pounds. players had to observe social distancing rules, and carry their own bags. they were tied after 18 holes so it went down to a ‘closest to the pin‘ finale — and world number one mcilroy made it. as a teenager who had just broken into the treble—winning manchester united side, luke chadwick was living many young footballers‘ dream. but whilst things were going well on the field, it was a different story off it, as luke became a figure of fun because of the way he looked. and the insults went beyond the stands, and onto prime—time tv. i spoke to him to find out more about that. it was a golden era and a glorious

time for manchester united. beckham, scholes, giggs and a young name —— man named luke chadwick but his time in the spotlight wasn‘t always made easy. he was vilified not for the way he played but for the way he looked. it was quite childish, he's around spots on my face, teeth sticking out and all that sort of thing. although, ithink sticking out and all that sort of thing. although, i think it is more the repetition of being said over and over again more than one specific thing which in the end, it sort of lowers your self—esteem a lot and feels like that‘s all that i‘m known for or spoke about, is the way that i looked, really. it wasn't just fans at the game, the humiliation went further in online forums, doctored pictures and national television. there forums, doctored pictures and nationaltelevision. there is forums, doctored pictures and national television. there is a tv called —— tv show called, "they think it‘s all over" i think i

became a picture of a fine on most episodes. it is not the first time a manchester united photo was wrecked, this photo of luke chadwick was ruined when luke chadwick showed up. the number of the beast and if you wa nt the number of the beast and if you want to know the number of the beast, luke chadwick wears number 36. laughter. that was one of the ha rd est 36. laughter. that was one of the hardest things because i think because it was such a popular tv show, it sort of intensified and magnified and that is what i was seen as by everyone off the back of that, whoever watched that show. obviously i am pretty sure they didn‘t know how it was making me feel because i‘m sure they are good people and they wouldn‘t have done it but it is the fact that it used to be on there every week, i used to dread it coming on the telly, i wouldn‘t watch it but then i would get a text from someone saying oh, you have been on that show again, as if it was sort of a joke, people would find it funny but it was eating me up inside as it would

happen. commentator: a great ball from chadwick! you were managed at the time for one of the greatest managers we have ever known, do you think he was aware of what has —— what happened to you?” think he was aware of what has —— what happened to you? i am not sure. i think what happened to you? i am not sure. ithinki what happened to you? i am not sure. i think i was aware that people spoke —— he was aware that it will spoke —— he was aware that it will spoke about me like that but anyone who didn‘t support manchester united didn‘t team —— seem to like them very much, back then. people would cop abuse and stick and all that kind of thing and i think it became an issue and a problem for me when it was all people would talk about, whenever people heard my name it was talking about the way that i look and my appearance which obviously, i don‘t think you realise it as much back then but looking back, it probably affected me a lot more in terms of being really anxious, i didn‘t like talking to people, i was quite a shy boy anyway back then i

wouldn‘t go and tell people what i was feeling at the time so it was a difficult time, i think it affected the way i lived my life off the pitch not so much on it but certainly off the pitch. and how did it affect you off the pitch?” certainly off the pitch. and how did it affect you off the pitch? i think just being anxious. i wouldn‘t go out, people knew who i was obviously, i played for manchester united, and! obviously, i played for manchester united, and i thought they were saying horrible things about me, potentially they won‘t, but i think it has given me more resilience and that sort of thing but at the time, it probably wasn‘t right for a young boy of 19, it probably wasn‘t right for a young boy of19, 20, even it probably wasn‘t right for a young boy of 19, 20, even though i am an adult, to have to deal with that. commentator: its a good save! chadwick is going to score! chadwick‘s career took him for manchester united where he won the premier league to west ham, stoke

and mk dons before finishing his playing career back home at cambridge united. despite what he went through, he holds no grudges. the most important thing to me is how i am as the most important thing to me is howiam asa the most important thing to me is how i am as a person so obviously not all these people knew me as a person that i do like to think i‘m quite a nice guy, someone easy to talk to, but obviously a footballer as well. might not have been a brilliant footballer but i was a footballer and obviously must have had some really good qualities of a footballer to have a career in the game so obviously i would rather be remembered as someone who was quite good at football than just by the way i might have looked at a certain time in my life. i think what luke wants to stress, he is not better or holds grudges, but he wants to encourage people who are holding something back, feeling anxious, to talk to someone because he has found help through just

simply talking about what happened to him at that time which, when we look back at it now, was awful.m is fascinating and in a full circle pa rt is fascinating and in a full circle part of the story, you have nick hancock, he will come on breakfast later and explained. nick hancock is joining us after 8:30am and he probably has some things about what he said, publicly. really looking forward to talking to him atjust after 8:30am. thank you very much. the process of moving into new homes was put on hold because of coronavirus. now, slowly but surely, developers are getting back up and running. sean‘s at a building site in manchester.

good morning mr hi viz.” good morning mr hi viz. i am a grade. it feels a bit more normal, finally, after a couple of months but it is not normal on these sites. we have familiar signs but here in central manchester they have these one—way sides. you cannot be coming and going the way we were before. a big few weeks for the construction industry. in england and wales, it has not been told to close but companies had concerns about safety on site. in scotland it is essential work only. some businesses have been unable to start and get the work going on site which over the course of the day, they will have more tradespeople on site at n centric, developing 120 flats. that has been

slow down at the moment. the housing market slowing up and so has the building. the boss of the development is here. plenty of things in place to keep us apart. this is not going to be what you are used to seeing on this site? normally, on a monday morning, there would be about 100 people turning up. you start to get the noise, the vehicles, the jackhammers going. this morning it feels a bit like a cemetery. you have staggered arrival times. i have had my temperature check. all ok. what will it be like midday? will it be full blast?m

will not be full blast. we are operating at about 20— 25%. maybe 25 people on site here today. within a large building site as well so it will fill quieter but we are still going so there is progress being made. good morning to lincoln, he has managed to get up there on the one—way system. what other things if you had to say to workers that they have to do every single day that may slow things down but makes it safe? hand washing, social distancing. construction is still quite hands—on with moving materials around... you have a big board behind you. are there certain things you are not doing? some jobs are fine but other

jobs, like moving plasterboard which is quite heavy tend to be more difficult. if you can lifted by mechanical instruments is all right and they are not too interrupt about things like hanging doors, you normally have two people hanging a dog but people are not within the two metres so it is slowing us down. thank you for having us on site. lots of prep put in place so we can keep our distances. later we can have a look at what else is going on. this has slowed the economy down so much and why people think it will not be at 100% quite a while because businesses are taking steps to getting back to what they worked many months ago. nice to see out and

about today. for several weeks back in february and march — when it was the worst affected country outside china — italy was a symbol of the devastating threat posed by covid—19. today, it offers a glimmer of hope. shops, restaurants, hairdressers and churches are re—opening from this morning. from milan, mark lowen reports. milan is dressing up for its reopening. its chic shops have been closed for ten weeks in the world‘s first national lockdown. with a final touch, comes strict hygiene controls. a screen at the till, a reminder of the new rules. customers here will be by appointment to limit numbers. the sparkle has been dulled by the virus but they are raring to go. it has been hard actually, very hard, because nothing was sure. so we kept on listening to the news and we didn‘t know what to expect, when we would open again and we really hoped and were looking forward to coming back in our store. was there ever a moment where you thought are we ever

going to be ever able to come back to work? no, never. italy‘s capital of fashion, industry and finance was at the centre of the outbreak. the first cases in february nearby, it was overwhelmed. with sites closed, tourists cancelling and business suffering, there was talk of it... we were in the city as the corona storm hit. ten weeks on, we are here again and milan is still struggling to comprehend what has happened during that time. more than 15,000 people killed in this region, almost half of all of the italian deaths, and economic pain is intense. one in three businesses here don‘t plan to reopen today. so, milan is coming back to life but the wounds run deep. now we‘re getting better, we feel better. we can take a walk, take walks out home. he was born two months ago so this is one of his first walks. we're very happy.

this too is helping italy‘s recovery, a hotel used to quarantine less serious cases as they wait to test negative. with the outbreak more under control, it is now also admitting people through contact tracing, those in touch with victims, further halting the spread. after 20 days here, jacqueline is ready to be discharged. a step closer to this country healing.

mark lowen, bbc news, milan. it is interesting seeing how other countries are trying to find a way out as we are here in the uk. it is one of those dull things but haircuts are essential for lots of people. earlyjuly was the early promise. we will have to wait and see but we do not have to wait for glorious weather because matt has some on the way. dry sunny weather on the way and the warmest weather of the year so far. you probably have noticed how dry it is, some of the plant in my garden are turning brown. in april it was very dry. well below average

rainfall particularly scotland and northern england and that trend has continued. some really struggling in parts of the south—east we have only had a few drops of rain throughout the month and, for others, only 15% of what we would normally expect this time of year. that rain will still be missing for some in the southern half of the country. some of the wettest weather further north but we are set to see what whether to go with it before things turn cooler and windy out later. just how cooler and windy out later. just how cool and windy a bit uncertain because of what is happening in the west atla ntic. because of what is happening in the west atlantic. the first named atla ntic west atlantic. the first named atlantic storm of the season, tropical storm arthur, just north of the bahamas. it will stir up the

atmosphere and provide a question to proceedings later. plenty of cloud around at the moment. producing splashes of rain in north wales, northern england, parts of scotland and northern ireland stop some heavy rain north, in shetland. it does allow the sunshine to come out in scotland. in england and wales, it will stay dry. the breeze coming in from the west or south—west. even with the cloud around, temperatures above the level they should be for this time of year. that leads into a warm night. at least to begin with. some rain across northern england, northern ireland, central and southern scotland and north wales. clear skies to the south but across

the board temperatures in the double figures. for tuesday, the board temperatures in the double figures. fortuesday, plenty of cloud around. similar data today. cloud breaking towards the south of england and wales and parts of scotland. some light rain and drizzle here. temperatures continuing to climb. more widely into the 20s across england in particular. then, the real warm speu particular. then, the real warm spell comes midweek. pressure nudging its way in and dragging out from the continent which helps to clear the sky of some of the cloud. turning to begin within scotland but even the sunshine will develop widely and temperatures uk wide will ta ke widely and temperatures uk wide will take a boost, picking at 22 celsius. up take a boost, picking at 22 celsius.

up to 25— 28 degrees across some parts of the southern and eastern england. one to watch and the warmest of the year so far. the headlines are next. good morning. welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. our headlines today: two weeks until some pupils in england are due to go back to school, parents and teachers demand more reassurances that classrooms will be safe. new safety measures on trains with social distancing on board as more services start running today.

yes, more staff on duty at train stations, including security guards in case more people use public transport than they expect. more of our builders get look to get up more of our builders get look to get up and running on building sites. how they can keep workers safe ridiculous and narrow spaces like these and still get the job done. making it in the premier league, but struggling off the pitch, former manchester united player luke chadwick tells us how constant insults about the way he looked affected his mental health. i wouldn‘t want to go out, i would a lwa ys i wouldn‘t want to go out, i would always sort of... people knew i was playing for manchester united and i assumed they would be saying horrible things about me, potentially they were all the time. that full interview coming up a little later in the programme for you.

it‘s monday may 18. our top story: with two weeks to go until some primary school pupils in england return to the classroom, the government insists plans are in place to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils. ministers want children in reception, year1 and year 6 to go back to school as part of the next step to ease the lockdown. but unions and some parents fear the move may cause a second spike in coronavirus cases as john mcmanus reports. when is the right time to send children back to school? and how will the safety of them and theirfamilies be guaranteed? in england, some younger pupils will be back at their desks onjune1. but no date has yet been set for schools in wales, scotland or northern ireland. ministers say measures including staggered breaks and class sizes of 15 will reduce the chances of pupils transmitting coronavirus. but not everybody is convinced. with my children, my youngest, bronwyn, she has asthma, she‘s on two inhalers. charlotte, she has

full—on learning difficulties and she has had pneumonia when she was five years old. i don‘t want her getting a second bout of pneumonia. the government has acknowledged it can‘t eradicate all risk, but the evidence shows children with the virus rarely develop serious symptoms, though their transition rate —— transmission rate isn‘t yet known. we measured the amount of virus in their nasal samples and that looks pretty similar to adults. what we don‘t know is whether these children then are able to pass on to other adults or to other children. one initially sceptical teachers union has now backed the plans to return with some qualifications. it‘s easy to talk about what opening a school in place a might be compared to place b. so we already know that liverpool, for example, hartlepool are saying they‘re not going to open their schools from june 1. there‘s still a lot more thinking to do as to what do social distancing mechanisms mean in schools, how does that work? other european countries

are facing the same dilemma. germany and denmark are slowly reopening classrooms using social distancing, but italian pupils will stay at home until september. meanwhile, the latest daily death toll was 170, the lowest figure since the day after the lockdown began on march 24. however, numbers are typically lower at weekends. the total number of people who have died in the uk after testing positive for the virus is now 34,636. the only permanent solution of course is a vaccine. some scientists believe one may not come for at least a year or perhaps never. but the pharmaceutical company astrazeneca has signed an agreement to make 30 million doses available in the uk by september if it can find a vaccine that works. john macmanus, bbc news. let‘s get a bit more detail from our political correspondence chris mason whojoins us from

political correspondence chris mason who joins us from westminster and we will ask you about your tyenna moment. —— tie in a moment. chris, it‘s now more than a week since the prime minister announced his plan to reopen primary schools in england for some pupils, and many people are yet to be convinced that it‘s safe. what can he do to persuade them? good morning. all sides really trying to grapple, to find some sort of solution, but there is a real worry, real concern, and i think what we are seeing here is the same thing we will see in all sorts of different sectors of the economy and our way of life as we go through this all would process of the long road back to something like normality, which is that at every stage, we arrive at an unprecedented situation, so school and college leaders, teachers teaching assistants, parents and indeed government ministers have never had to grapple with this kind of situation before, and there is a huge amount of uncertainty. the government is emphasising that as far as the evidence goes, there doesn‘t seem to be a vast amount of it that suggest there is a lot of transmission of the virus between

children and between children and adults, but at the same time, this has not been done on a grand scale in many places before. yes, there is bits of evidence that can be pointed to internationally, but not a lot because this is a new virus in schools and only started going back inafew schools and only started going back in a few places around the world. the language seems to have softened on both sides with perhaps an attempt to find some sort of compromise and perhaps an increase in recognition that what might be right in some parts of england might not be right in others. and on the issue of the tie, whose have you pilfered? i was desperate to avoid getting toothpaste on my tie and i left it on the table. i have been rooting through drawers, i found a bottle of whiskey and some tinsel before i managed to chance upon this which i believe may be from david

from bbc wales. i don‘t think i have ever looked smarter. it suits you. well done. thank you to david as well for the loan on the tie that he probably doesn‘t know about. he does now! efforts to get commuters safely back to work by train are being brought in this morning. more security guards are now in place at several railway stations and some seats on board will be blocked off to allow social distancing. passengers are still being advised to use public transport only if it‘s essential and they have no alternative. here‘s our transport correspondent tom burridge. social distancing really isn‘t a problem a lot of the time, but there is concern as more people commute again. worried, but it needs must, gotta go to work. busier than i thought it was gonna be. yeah, there was only about two people in each carriage so...it's fine. announcer: good morning. welcome aboard the 8:30 service. new messages... please follow social distancing advice and spread out throughout the train.

..and more staff directing you around. please keep to your left. they will also limit passenger numbers. if theyjudge that there is already enough people on board a particular train, then they might block the gates off here and other people will have to wait for the next service. and when numbers rise, you might have to queue to get into a station. we have done the calculations and analysis to ensure that we can have a certain amount of people on the concourse at any one time, and, yes, there will be closures to entrances and exits should those numbers increase and grow. on intercity services, it‘s reserved seats only to control numbers. train companies say they‘re doing all they can, but they‘re worried about how they‘ll manage if many more people travel. so the main advice is don‘t use public transport if you can. tom burridge, bbc news.

if you‘re commuting by train this morning, please do let us know how it‘s going. you can email or get in touch on social media. and lots of you have been. thank you. spain isjust one of the european countries easing its lockdown today. people living outside madrid and barcelona can now meet in bars in groups of up to ten. and in belgium, some schools are reopening. our europe reporter gavin lee is in brussels. gavin, there‘s a sense of the continent slowly coming back to some kind of normality. yes, there is. let‘s begin with italy because this was the first country to begin a nationwide lock down ten weeks ago, now significantly easing the down across the country. restaurants are reopening again, shops are reopening as well with social distancing measures in place. you go into some of the main shopping centres in

rome, security guards are monitoring the people to keep numbers low, there will be clothing and changing rooms, trying things on, those clothes will be quarantined for a period of time. in spain, quite interesting today that 70% of the country will have shops reopened, bars, cafes reopened, you will have to drink and eat on the terrace, not inside. madrid and barcelona, they are keeping them at phase zero, not allowing them to reopen yet. greece, some of the big attractions, tourist sites are reopening. the wonders of the modern world, tourism won‘t start until next month. so for those inside the country only. in belgium, schools reopening, museums, theatres, sport, up to 20 people. notable this weekend, there are some pictures of a protest, a guard of

dishonour on the prime minister. these are doctors and nurses at a hospital in brussels who basically we re hospital in brussels who basically were protesting about the pay conditions and they all turned their backs on the motorcade. lots of people have seen those pictures over the weekend. thank you very much for bringing us right up to date with all of that. a big powerful protest. groups of up to four people from different households can meet up in the republic of ireland from today as long as they do so outside. garden centres and larger shops can also reopen as the country starts the first phase of its strategy to lift the lockdown. in northern ireland, garden centres and recycling facilities can reopen from today. testing for coronavirus is to be offered to all care home residents and staff in northern ireland. the announcement follows criticism of a mounting number of deaths in the sector. it‘s hoped the rollout of testing will be completed next month. software to help trace those who may have been in contact with someone who has had coronavirus will be rolled out in three areas

of scotland from today. it‘s the first step towards an extended "test, trace and isolate" system, which the scottish government hopes to have in place by the end of the month. the tracing software is different to the mobile phone app which is being tested on the isle of wight. the uk will move closer to a points—based immigration system today when a flagship bill is debated by mps, but labour says the home secretary priti patel should "think again". the immigration bill would make it harder for workers described by ms patel as "low skilled" to live in britain. but labour says it‘s lower—paid workers like carers and retail staff who have been keeping the country running during the current crisis. we are looking at two big issues for you this monday morning. one is schools, speaking to oliver downton about that at 7:30 a.m., so many questions about that. the other is transport, travel and return to work with more of us returning to work in england. rail operators are trying to make things safer both passengers

and staff. that means the way we buy tickets and move around the station and board trains are all going to be slightly different. our transport correspondent tom burridge is at london euston to tell us more. good morning. morning, everyone. it is pretty quiet here this morning. that is good news, that is what rail bosses want. they are nervous about how things will pan out. i will step right back and show you down into the concourse. flows of thousands from the platforms to the right of your shot across the concourse at certain points this morning, and i think that is the point, really. you might not realise how complicated it is to the manage the flow of passengers on the railways, working out exactly how many people are going to go on a particular service ata going to go on a particular service at a particular time at a particular place is really complicated indeed. that is why they are bringing all of these measures into stations like houston. let‘s have a look at some of the measures that are now in

place. —— euston. is yourjourney necessary? you come into the station and over here, messages of support and over here, messages of support and appreciation for the nhs. i will keep my distance as i go through the station. yellow arias over there, have a look at that as we go through. metal gates, they can put those across the entrance of the station if too many people come in. normally, euston, there are about 200,000 people travelling through this station in one single day. at the moment, last week, there are about 10,000 people going through the station, about 5%. a lot of the seeds roped off so people can keep their distance. if you come down here, on the floor you can see those signs there, stayed to me apart, save lives. and if you want to wash your hands, you can come over here and do it —— two metres. more trains running today. if you look onto the

departure board, more services, more capacity from today. the message really is only use public transport if it is absolutely necessary and you have no other option. but they are bringing in lots of measures in the station here, both some entrances and exits. 1—way systems through some stations around the country today. and they will, if you look down towards the platforms, they will close again using those yellow metal gates, close the platforms if theyjudge that yellow metal gates, close the platforms if they judge that too many people are going towards a particular service. the other really important message as well as only using public transport if it is absolutely necessary and you have no other option is to have something to cover your face if you are going to get on board a train. even a scarf like this will do. you do not necessarily have to wear it, i am told, in

stations, if they are not easy, like here at the moment but you should have something with you. many people are wearing a mask or covering the face with a scarf and many people are not. the message from government and the rail industry is that they really need people to do this and they count on people to do their bit, not only with this type of thing but also in terms of whether they travel on the trains, on the buses or whether they do not because they need that to keep passenger levels low. they need people to make sense of the decisions and only go on the trains if it is really necessary for up last monday, some services coming in from birmingham into london were too cloud at certain points and it returns to the point i made earlier, it is really complicated working out exactly how many people are going to turn up at a particular station at a particular time and that is what rail losses are time and that is what rail losses a re really time and that is what rail losses are really grappling with at the moment and that is why we see all of these measures. they are forecasting

that passenger numbers are not really going to rise significantly several weeks but they are working towards that and are not taking any chances because they do not want uncomfortable scenes on our public transport network in the near future. they do not want it in the medium term either and that is why they are in about bringing in even more extreme measures. for example, iam more extreme measures. for example, i am told in the future that you may have to rival slot time at your local station when you can pick up to get on a particular service. good to get on a particular service. good to have a look around a deserted london houston station this morning. we can speak now to the chairman of network rail, sir peter hendy. good morning to you and thank you for joining good morning to you and thank you forjoining us. so many things to talk about. starting with facial coverings and saying, for example, that some people did not have them. what would you be saying to them? the transport department issued guidance to passengers last tuesday

and the guidance says maintain two metres distance where possible and use the face covering if you can when you will be close to others. so you can see that it is not mandatory but obviously we would all like to know that we are not likely to affect anybody else if we get close to them. so we are all very keen in our industry for people to wear face coverings when they are out and about. i suppose the question is, really, if people are not doing that, for example, or are unable to or wanting to stay two metres apart, how will you enforce it? this is a bargain. the passengers are sensible. this is a national crisis of unprecedented proportions and we rely on people to be sensible. we do our best as well. we want people to stay apart, if they can, and if they

cannot ina stay apart, if they can, and if they cannot in a face covering is a sensible thing to do for the brief moments when you may be getting on or offa train moments when you may be getting on or off a train leaving through a station. but as that report shows, what we have done is put the most enormous amount of effort into organising stations so that the likelihood of being two, less than two metres is less than it was. the secretary of state asked me on the same day that we publish this advice on tuesday to look through the railway industries arrangements and i have been through dozens and dozens i have been through dozens and d oze ns of i have been through dozens and dozens of station plans. many places have been turned into 1—way systems to lessen the likelihood of people coming close to each other. a huge amount of work being done on signage and we have worked really hard to try and reduce that to the lowest proportion. but we know that passengers are sensible and they will do their best. nobody wants to get this terrible virus, do they?

for example, if a train or a station ora for example, if a train or a station or a concourse, wherever it is, becomes overcrowded, what are the plans in place to keep staff and passengers safe? what happens? many of your viewers will have been on the tube in cloud times. i used to run transport for london. we have processes to close stations if they become too full and my railway collea g u es become too full and my railway colleagues have been rehearsing those processes on the national railway network if that becomes necessary. we do not to become necessary. we do not to become necessary so the starting point is where i started, the advice to passengers about whether they should travel or not. and there has been a huge amount done on that. millions of e—mails from transport for london, from train companies to their customers a lot of work with employers to ask employers to work out who they really need at work and who should still be working at home. in order to avoid the situation that you are talking about. will you stop

people getting on trains if you have to? too many people... i mean... we have seen over the last week when the prime minister made this broadcast one week ago yesterday we saw last week an increase of maybe eight or 9% and entailed off on wednesday thursday friday. so we do not expect lots of people to come back. people are profoundly sensible. what i have been doing is reviewing the arrangements of government so that the railway industry can play its part in keeping people as safe as they can if they have to travel. thank you very much for your time. it is one minutes past seven. —— 21 minutes past seven. labour is urging the government to publish the scientific guidance behind the decision to reopen primary schools in england to certain year groups in two weeks. teaching unions and some parents have expressed concerns about safety and called for the plan to be stopped. we will be speaking to the culture

secretary about this in ten minute time. let‘s speak now to the shadow home secretary, nick thomas—symonds. thank you forjoining us i believe you are home this morning and it is good to have you on the programme. would you please clarify labour position on this? do you want schools to reopen in two weeks time? we certainly want schools to reopen when it is safe to do so and what we have been urging the government to do is, firstly, to publish the evidence and be transparent. that is very important. but secondly, and importantly, to build a consensus. there is no point pitting different groups against each other in this. everyone wants pupils to go bad but eve ryo ne everyone wants pupils to go bad but everyone wants there to be a safe environment as well for that is so important. and the government also needs to have its test track and trace strategy up and running as soon as it possibly can. that is what the education secretary has said and that really does need to be pushed forward. the point is this,

the government has to get this right, the government has to get confidence from all sides, that is the only way that this will work and i really hope that over the next couple of weeks they will do that. if that programme was up and running you would be happy withjune one? if that programme was up and running you would be happy withjune one7m is about a variety of different issues, though that is obviously a central one. and we see, for example, in wales where the wealth labour government has published a decision framework and in it is is asking all the groups, formally, together around the table so whether it is teachers, officials, commissioners including, for example, the children‘s commissioner. so that collaborative repose —— approaches what is important to give reassurance about safety because that is the only way this will work and the government also needs to make sure that once it has given that reassurance, that people are sure that that will be

implemented in our schools and eve ryo ne implemented in our schools and everyone can then proceed on the basis of consent and safety which is how it should be. michael gove was asked this question yesterday about guaranteeing safety. surely it is impossible to guarantee the safety of anybody at the moment and if there must be a guarantee, then asking for the publication of the science and making sure those guarantees are in place, there cannot be that guarantee of absolute safety, can they? the issue with this, and! safety, can they? the issue with this, and i heard what michael gove said, at the same time we have to do all we reasonably can. surely that must be the sensible way forward. and there is no reason whatsoever why the government cannot have all parties together to do that, why they cannot be transparent and why they cannot be transparent and why they cannot be transparent and why they cannot through a situation where everybody moves forward as one with the reassurances about safety which i think is absolutely essential to you wrote to the home

secretary urging her to think again about the immigration bill. can you run us about the immigration bill. can you run us through what your issue with that bill is? labour will not support the bill today because it is a threat to our national hills service and our care sector. we have 180,000 eu nationals who are here who are, frankly, helping to keep our services going. there are other workers as well, of course, in other sectors. retail for example, all of whom the government wants to send out a message to them, with their new immigration system, that they are new immigration system, that they a re low new immigration system, that they are low skilled. i do not think it is right to be clapping our frontline workers on tuesday night and then, today, on monday, sending out a signal that they are unskilled and unwelcome in the country. it is not there are not in the national interest. priti patel says the new system will make it easier for the uk to attract people from all over the world. i do not accept that at

all. in fact, take these social care sector, for example. what will happen under this system is that many people who wish to come to work in social work just will many people who wish to come to work in social workjust will be unable to any more. there is no system in prospect of social carers, given the average wages that they earn. so thatis average wages that they earn. so that is why the government needs to think again. we are in this coronavirus crisis. we are relying on workers to keep the country going full do not reward those workers by sending out a signal that they are unskilled and it is not in the national interest to put our hills and social care sector at risk. thank you very much for being with us thank you very much for being with us this morning. good to spend time with you on breakfast. shortly we will speak to oliver from the government in a few minutes time. at first, matt, your temperature chart matches my suit. it does indeed. a very good morning. things are

warming up very good morning. things are warming up across very good morning. things are warming up across the country. the warmest area of the year so far on its way. does not mean it will be sunny and dry all week but this is the peak of the heat on wednesday with temperatures reaching 20 to 23 around the murray firth, widely into the mid to low 20s for some across central east england could see attempt to speak at 27 or 28, that is 82 fahrenheit. even though the warmth is on the way it will not be com pletely warmth is on the way it will not be completely dry. wettest weather will be across the northern half of the country so somewhat weather across parts of scotland yesterday and then later on things will take a turn for the cooler and windier. the exact extent of that and how windier will get will all be determined by what is going on in the west atlantic. this little swell of cloud is tropical storm arthur, the first storm of the season. it is going to stirup storm of the season. it is going to stir up the atmosphere a little bit, putting it? on what happens later this week. certainly a change from how we start. cloud around at the

moment producing some light four she rain across much of scotland northern ireland north england and north wales. cloud clearing from mainland scotland pushing towards orkney. that allows the sunshine to come out on the mainland later on, such a breaking up more widely, southern counties of england and wales in between it stays fairly cloudy with some rain at times and with the breeze coming in from the west or south—west it is a mild breeze and even with the cloud, temperatures above levels that they should be for this time of year. 18 or19 should be for this time of year. 18 or 19 across aberdeenshire and 22 in the south—east of england. overnight still simmering at times across the same sort of areas, clear starry skies for some the north of scotland, a little bit of the weather to come towards the south—east and temperatures dropping away not not a lot. a lot of cloud across the rest of scotland, northern ireland, northern england, north wales, southern ranges at times, not too

much until later in the day and towards the south we will see sunshine by which time temperatures will peak at 26 degrees. for most, however, temperatures are similar to the values today. the big search comes into wednesday. i pressure moving eastwards and in doing so will tap into the warm air across continental europe and clear skies so after morning cloud that cloud will start to dissipate, breakup and even scotland and northern ireland, a brass that make vastly greater data come on wednesday and with winter coming in from the south we will see the temperature continuing to rise. we seven, 28 across some parts of eastern england, 22, 23 in the north of scotland. and of the week, a little uncertainty with thunderstorms on thursday and then watching what happens with this area of low pressure and exactly where it goes because it could ring us a wet and windy end of the week with not a lot of rain on those parched gardens. we just want to show you some

helicopter television from east croydon this morning. these are the platforms there. you would expect them to normally be packed but you can see people listening to the advice that make advice to try and avoid public transport. that is a live shot from east croydon this morning. quite clearly, the social distancing being observed at this point. there are many measures in place. 1—way systems in place, lots of signage and at the moment it is definitely working. very quiet. it is 7:30am. let‘s get you up—to—date on the news. the government has defended its plan to open primary schools in england to more pupils in two weeks time, insisting plans are in place to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils. ministers want reception, year1 and year 6 children to go back to school as part of the next step to ease the lockdown. but unions and some parents say they‘re concerned about the spread of coronavirus.

let‘s speak now to the culture secretary, oliver dowden, who joins us from hertfordshire. good morning to you. thank you for joining us. we are focusing on schools this morning. two weeks to go until some pupils in england are expected to return. there are real concerns from unions, parents and teachers about safety. will the government publish its guidance? good morning. yes, i do understand that people have those concerns, and of course we will provide further details as we approached during the first which is the earliest date we have said that schools could return. i think that if we can get children back to school, we should try to do so in back to school, we should try to do soina back to school, we should try to do so in a cautious way —— june one. back to school, we should try to do so in a cautious way ——june one. my daughter is in year 6, about a transition into year 7. if she can get to school, it will help with the transition. similarly children in reception and year 1, those crucial early years, it is good for them to get into school and not going back

to school isn‘t free, it doesn‘t cost that may come without a cost and a health risk for those children, particularly from those most deprived amenities. can i ask you that question again, because there is concern, why not publish there is concern, why not publish the guidance and wished you are basing their decisions? —— on which you are basing their decisions? we routinely publish evidence and we will continue to do so, but we have been clear throughout all of this but with public safety, it will be the number one consideration. for me asa the number one consideration. for me as a parent and the number one consideration for all your viewers, but if we can do this in a way that is safe, we should start cautiously progressively trying to get children back to school and to return to normal. the question people keep asking is can you do it in a way thatis asking is can you do it in a way that is safe? this is why we are looking at innovative ways, when children go back to school, it won‘t

be as they experienced it the day before they left school for the so—called lockdown period. for example, we are looking at reducing class sizes in half to 15, staggering arrival times and essentially each of the children in those groups from the groups of 15 will be the little family unit in themselves so they will go out to play at different times, go out to lunch at different times to try and minimise the contact they have with others, we are looking at a very vigorous cleaning regimes for the schools, obviously reinforcing the hand washing message, so looking at all these measures to improve safety as we go forward. we have had lots of questions about all of this. can i put to you a question from a gp, zoe norris, she had this question. what benefit can you guarantee me there will be compared to the benefit of the remaining of school ina benefit of the remaining of school

in a safe environment until september? could you answer her question? yes, first of all, i have great sympathy with her position because my wife is a teacher as well. the big benefit, particularly from children in deprived areas, is the advantage they have from being ina the advantage they have from being in a school setting. there are some children from the most deprived backgrounds who may not see any children of the same age as them. for children who come from difficult families, it may be a real respite for them to be able to get into school. of course, as they get into school, they are learning those social skills, they are learning the reading and the writing and that is why we are starting with the earliest years. it is really not the case that is risk—free for the children to remain at home, particularly from those deprived communities. when will you make a decision? at the moment as i understand you say depends on the science. when is the final decision?

there is only two weeks. we have said the earliest possible date would be the beginning ofjune. as you say, we have said we were based on the science and evidence. we also said the most we would start with would—be year and a reception and year1, and bad would—be year and a reception and year 1, and bad looking at some sort of co nta ct year 1, and bad looking at some sort of contact for the year ten and year 12 because they will be facing their exams next year. we continue to engage with the concerns, i understand that teachers have their man parents have them to do this in a way that is sensible, but start to get children back to school. can i just get a bit more information? say the earliest is the first ofjune. it may not be that happens on the first ofjune. it may not be that happens on the first of june. people it may not be that happens on the first ofjune. people will be sitting at home going, when is the decision going to be made? when will they know? we will let people know as soon as we can, but we have already indicated the direction of travel, we are aiming for the beginning ofjune, aiming for year1

and year6, so beginning ofjune, aiming for year1 and year 6, so those parents of children in those age groups should be looking ahead to that potentially happening from the beginning of june, they will get further communications from their schools and we are working with the schools about how we do this. peter says, cani about how we do this. peter says, can i ask the government, if they are making available ppe for teachers who will be on the front line? we don't believe we will need ppe in these situations because of the other measures that i discussed, so for example, the hygiene hierarchy in terms of proper cleaning of schools, the hand washing, the social distancing, and it is already the case that teachers are teaching at schools as we speak because children of key workers can go into schools, and my wife has been teaching at a school over this period of time. they haven‘t had ppe equipment because of the other measures being taken, particularly

social distancing. there is a conundrum, attention is going to school, ask to wear a facial covering on public transport, but they‘re not in the school environment. how does that stack up? i think environment. how does that stack up? ithink in environment. how does that stack up? i think in relation to public transport, there is more a risk of getting closer to a lot of other people in the confined space of a bus or a railway carriage, so in all of this, we are basing it on the scientific evidence and the scientific evidence and the scientific advice, and we don‘t believe that in that setting, ppe would be necessary, and i say, peter is already teaching at school as we speak without ppe because we don‘t believe it is necessary in that setting —— teachers are already teaching. hartlepool are saying for example that too many people are getting the virus. they don‘t want to open schools. can you see a point where some parts of england, and we‘re only talking about england on june one least, may not be open ——

not able to open, and it would be the right thing? possibly, but i think, look, first of all, we want to get the whole of england moving together. the so—called reinfection rate is varying overtime, so we will bear that in rate is varying overtime, so we will bearthat in mind rate is varying overtime, so we will bear that in mind and we will look at it. if we there is a real public health, if we don‘t believe we can do it in health, if we don‘t believe we can do itina health, if we don‘t believe we can do it in a way that is consistent with public health, and of course we wouldn‘t do it, but i think we should be able to get to a point where we can get all schools in england starting in this very cautious and progressive way that i described the number of limited yea rs described the number of limited years starting. can we also talk about vaccine? we are hearing that there is work being done on the vaccine and there seems to be so much resting on it. this is being done at a superfast feed. there has never been seen made in such a short period of time. can you guarantee, first of all, it‘s safety? period of time. can you guarantee,

first of all, it's safety? of course we wouldn‘t have any vaccine if we we re we wouldn‘t have any vaccine if we were not sure of its safety. ijust think i would be really quite cautious on this, and speak to you and your viewers, we are trying our best to get this vaccine, we are making progress with the oxford study, also making sure that if we do succeed with this vaccine, that we have got the capacity to manufacture it rapidly. but we are still some way from getting that vaccine. we may not get a vaccine, and of course it could fall before we get to the stage of production because of safety concerns in the way you describe. so we are trying our best with it, but we just need to bea our best with it, but we just need to be a bit cautious about this. 0k. we are hearing yesterday from the government saying there could be a vaccine available by september. are you going back on that, are you? no, of course we are aiming to get the vaccine as quickly as possible, and it is possible we could get it by

september, and what we have said is if we get it by september, we need to make sure we can manufacture this very quickly, and that was what the announcement was about yesterday, that we can get it out there, but of course it forms part of a range of measures that we are looking at stop obviously that would be the best outcome and countries around the world a re outcome and countries around the world are working at pace to try and do that, including the uk, and we have two very promising leads. that is why we are looking at tracking and tracing and we are making a lot of progress with that as well. we are looking on all these fronts. can we talk about track and trace? the timetable on that seems to be moving as well. when is that going to be ready? first of all, in terms of the traces, the health secretary announced that we would be aiming to get 18,000 commencing this week, we got 17,000 —— get 18,000 commencing this week, we got 17,000 -- 17,200 get 18,000 commencing this week, we got 17,000 ——17,200 yesterday and there will be a state —— statement from the health secretary on that.

the second element is a testing and you have seen the most recent numbers on that, slightly below 100,000 yesterday but well above 100,000 yesterday but well above 100,000 on previous days. on the app, which is the other element, have the track and trace app, the app has been rolled out in the isle of wight and we are working for nationwide rollout over the course of this month. can we talk a little bit in your role of the culture secretary about the premier league? there are some high profile players talking about real concerns about their own safety, whether or not they are fit enough. are you listening to them? yes, of course we are listening to them. the first thing to say is we will only have return to premier league if it is safe to do so. the earliest date will be the first ofjune but it is likely to be lighter than that, probably mid june at the earliest. to be clear, this would be behind closed doors and we are working with public health england, the medical

experts, not just with public health england, the medical experts, notjust with premier league, but with other sports, for example horseracing, formula 1 and others and looking at doing this behind closed doors to look at the safest possible way of doing that. if we can sort out that safety, and the government will say, look, you can go ahead and that it will be up to each, the premier league and other sports and the clubs concerned to determine whether they want to proceed. so we would look to give that green light. it would be a good thing to do if we can. i am also looking at increasing the number of matches that could be free to air so that people wouldn‘t be tempted to leave their homes to watch it, which is clearly a important consideration. this season would finish, would it? yes, if it is possible to do so safely, what we would look to do, and i had a conversation on thursday with the afl, the premier league and the faa, we would look from around mid june to have a behind closed doors

resumption of this season to conclude this season —— efl, the premier league and the fa. how would the free to air work? there are various options and it would all be free to air, but for example there isa free to air, but for example there is a rule at the moment that at 3pm you can‘t show matches on tv because people were watching it in the stadiums. clearly that is not going to be the case anymore so some of those slot may be available for free to air, so we are looking to see whether we could do that as part of the wider broadcast package. so not all of it, but some of it? a lot of these already have the rights...” appreciate your time. i know you have other interviews to do so i have other interviews to do so i have to let you go but thank you very much for your time this morning. and thank you for all the questions you sent through this morning, particularly about the possible return to schools, which was the main focus of the interview. i know sally and many others listening very

carefully, not only the return of the premier league but potentially help some of those matters being free to airon help some of those matters being free to air on saturday at three o‘clock. wasn‘t that fascinating? i thought, what might he say now? lots of them, the rights are sold, but some of those might appear, they are going to appear on free to air television. one of the questions louise asked was concerns over players fitness, which is really connected to something i will tell you about now. manchester city striker raheem sterling says players will need at least a month of full training before they can return to match action. premier league clubs meet again today and the speculation is that they‘ll agree that team training can resume as they look towards a restart date ofjune 12. sterling has been speaking to the usa women‘s captain megan rapinoe on his youtube channel.

this what wendy you not going to come back in with one or two weeks. you need a full four or five weeks. especially if you return to competition, this is not a friendly. you do need preparation, definitely. interesting thoughts there. we could hear today that the scottish premiership season is over, which would give celtic their ninth straight title. the board is expected to bring the top division to a close, so they can focus on planning for the game‘s return. arsenal say they are taking seriously a report that striker alexandre lacazette inhaled nitrous oxide. he was pictured with a balloon in his mouth and is said to have sent a video to friends. the frenchman has already been in trouble for breaking social distancing guidelines during the lockdown. professional golf has returned for the first time in over two months in the form of a charity match in the united states. rory mcilroy and dustinjohnson beat rickie fowler and matthew wolff this in florida, raising over £4 million.

players had to observe social distancing rules and carry their own bags. they were tied after 18 holes so it went down to a ‘closest to the pin‘ finale, and world number one mcilroy made it. as a teenager who had just broken into the treble—winning manchester united side, luke chadwick was living many young footballers‘ dream. but whilst things were going well on the field, it was a different story off it, as luke became a figure of fun because of the way he looked. it was quite childish, things around spots on my face, teeth sticking out and that sort of thing. although, i think it‘s more the repetition of being said over and over again more than one specific thing which probably, in the end, it sort of lowers your self—esteem a lot and feels like that‘s all that i‘m known for or spoken about, is the way that i looked, really.

that was definitely not right. we‘ll hear more from luke just after 8.30, and talk to one of the people who mocked him. we will hear what he has to say all these years later. it should be an interesting chat. that isjust these years later. it should be an interesting chat. that is just after 830 this morning. thank you. the process of moving into new homes was put on hold because of coronavirus. now, slowly but surely, developers are getting back up and running. sean‘s at a building site in manchester. he is out and about. good morning. good morning. i have my hard hat on and a load of material. this picture will have resumed —— seemed normal. materials not being used annual houses and apartments not been

worked on. but the industry is trying to get back to somewhere near where it was before in england and wales it has never been closed com pletely wales it has never been closed completely but this week we are seeing more builders putting maureen to get people safely on—site. this doorframe is a classic example of the type of apartment they are trying to build. but you can‘t hide hangar door without two people. so if you‘re going to breach the rules, which are obvious here. there are plenty of these 1—way signs scattered around the place here so people can see where to go. if you are going to breach you need full ppe and that makes heavy lifting hard. other things they have to put in place where we start to see people come on site this morning, at the entrance ordinarily there may be a fingerprint for people to login. it is now scrapped, people are manually signing in so there are fewer points of contact. hand sanitiser and people in charge adding to rethink how they go about their day‘s work, i have the man in

charge of the site, adam here with me this morning. we are seeing people coming in now and getting to work, you have 120 flats you are trying to build here for how far behind schedule are you? how much lower capacity do you have? we are only offering about 20, 20 5% so we don't know how much longer it will ta ke don't know how much longer it will take to finish because this has never been done before in our history of book clinic building sites. so there is undoubtedly a delay. it will be five or six months, who knows. we have seen people keep their distance doing work here but when you need to breach the two metre guideline that we spoke about so often, the government said that is allowed but you need things in place. what will you need things in place. what will you have in place to enable getting everything done? it will be things like some contractors wearing respirators and full masks, bubbles

and masks so they can operate close by because somejobs, and masks so they can operate close by because some jobs, they are 2—man jobs and there is no way around it. some people have their names on some of these flats and they are expecting to move in at some point. we spoke about the housing market reopening in the last week or so. are you seeing people being put off? the interesting thing is that the sales slowing down so since lockdown began we sold about £3 worth of apartments so the sales thing to be healthy and i think we have a unique product here but there is still a lot of confidence around as well so hopefully that will continue. thank you for having us here this morning, adam. interesting right from the get go with the new world, having your temperature checked when you walk in. pointing

at at your head to make sure you are 0k. at at your head to make sure you are ok. we are good. we are keeping distance but you can see it is not easy. with all measurements in place they think they can get 80% of productivity but that still leaves people off where they were before. thank you. it is nine minutes to eight. good morning. we have heard many stories over the last few months that it —— about the impact coronavirus has had on families. but this next scenario is perhaps one of the most shocking. back in march, both of dianne tayel‘s sons were rushed into intensive care within 24 hours of each other. they are just 14 and 11 years old. her older boy, jacob, was so ill that doctors treated him with an anti—ebola drug, which isn‘t normally approved for use in the uk. thankfully, it worked, and both jacob and his brother isaac are finally back home and on the mend. we can speak to them now, along with dr karyn moshal from great ormond street hospital who helped to treat jacob.

good morning to you all and thank you so much forjoining us. let‘s start with deanne. you were the one originally ill and then the boys got extremely ill stop tell us about how it affected them. it was very much, initially, we thought they had chest infections and it is difficult because you think that not many people in the area were being diagnosed so you just think that they must‘ve had a chest infection andi they must‘ve had a chest infection and i really felt, because we could not get to the gp, that they needed antibiotics and if not they would go into sepsis. initially this is what led me to dial 999. jacob, you were more ill than your brother and you both had the virus. how worried were you and what sort of circumstances we re you and what sort of circumstances were you going through?”

you and what sort of circumstances were you going through? i did not know what was going on because everything happened quickly. you just get ill and then within a short amount of time everything happens so it was like i was feeling that i almost was not there while everything was happening. it was really confusing and i did not know what was going on. i sat, it was at the same for you? yeah, but i was really worried about everyone.” the same for you? yeah, but i was really worried about everyone. i am sure you were. whenjacob got to the hospital, he was extremely ill but can we have your assessment of how he was? jacob was admitted to intensive care unit by my colleagues and one of my infectious disease co nsulta nt and one of my infectious disease consultant colleagues was the first one to get a call about him. and the way we work is that the intensive ca re way we work is that the intensive care unit stabilised jacob and then

did the relevant tests including the pcr test looking at his viral load and how much piracy had any system at which point we, as a team, got involved, met with the intensive ca re involved, met with the intensive care unit consultants together with our immunology and rheumatology collea g u es our immunology and rheumatology colleagues and also colleagues from another trust to discuss jacob‘s case in—depth. we looked at his viral load and his results and make a decision about what the best treatment forjacob would be. in preparation for children becoming unwell, prior to the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, we had drawn upa the coronavirus pandemic, we had drawn up a guideline for precisely this scenario. therefore we discussed the potential drugs that we could use injacob‘s case and we felt as a team that the consensus was that we should try and use a

drug that has been used and was developed for thes in west africa. so you use the drug onjacob and diane, what was going through your mind at this moment because jacob was very mind at this moment because jacob was very ill in hospital and the medical team were trying to think about how they could best treat him. you need to understand that at the point that jacob left and was transported to great ormond we thought we had lost him so we thought, you know, it was the end and we felt like we were being prepared for that. so when he got to ormond street and within 12 or 13 hours the infection team had made contact with me and started to talk to me about the possibility of the drug then i felt a bit more hope at this point. so my husband and i were

both grateful and really astounded that so many people of such calibre will having these conversations about jacob in order to will having these conversations aboutjacob in order to make him well. at this point it was giving us hope which is something that we had lacked just days prior to this. and not just hope lacked just days prior to this. and notjust hope that the return of your boy which is an incredible thing. karen, presumably using this drug is not something you can do lightly, presumably you had to do a lot of permission and stuff like that to be able to do it. we had to work the risk and benefit of using a drug that is an investigational drug, a compassionate use drug. we needed to present jacob‘s case to the pharmaceutical company that provides this drug in order to ask permission to use it and we needed to provide justification for why we wa nted to provide justification for why we wanted to use it. once we had their permission we needed to go to the

ethics committee the great ormond and discuss the case with them and explain why, as a group, we had decided that this would be the best possible treatment. can i ask you, is that the drug that made the difference, do you think in his case? the drug did make a difference in terms that it brought down his viral load. his supportive care and intensive care which was meticulous and excellent made the difference. it was a combination of different teams and different drugs that made the difference forjacob. but in bringing down his viral load we were able to decrease the information that was driven by his increased viral load and assist in managing the process and decreasing his inflammation. thank you for filling us in on that. it is interesting to

see how it was held and how it helped jacob. jacob, i wonder, were you aware how serious the situation was? no. not really. when i started to come out of my coma and i had just woken up i was very confused about where i was. i was wondering why was i here? why can‘t i go home? and everything was really confusing because i was not really allowed anything. you cannot eat in intensive care so i wondered why i was not eating. i was not told anything so you are very confused. and issak, what is it like to have your big brother home? amazing. dianne, for you as well, you have articulated from a mother‘s point of view what it is like, that worry and concern, to sit now alongside both your children who have come through

the virus and jacob in particular ill with it, you can see the smile on yourface this ill with it, you can see the smile on your face this morning. it must be lovely to have the family back together. it is amazing. in both my husband and i cannot thank everybody who was involved in this care enough because they have all been phenomenal. from the minute that the ambulance crew turned up here to him being clapped out of ipswich hospital and even now ipswich hospital and even now ipswich hospital are still very much involved in his after—care so it is just great. you know, thank god every day that we were able to get our boys back. jacob, we saw those pictures of you being clapped out of the hospital which must have been quite a moment. thank you all for telling us how important that special drug was. thank you all for your time special drug was. thank you all for yourtime and it special drug was. thank you all for your time and it is great to see you smiling full up karen, thank you for thejob you smiling full up karen, thank you for

the job you and many others are doing as well. what a lovely heartwarming story. imagine that situation when you are so worried about your family and through the great care from nhs doctors you can come out the other side. i think we will look at some pictures now. this is central london again this morning. we know that obviously more people are beginning to make way back to work. we have been talking about transport this morning, social distancing on public transport and as you can see it as monday morning but it is pretty quiet. the weather also looks nice. matt has the weather for the next few days for us. what is happening was to mark dry across southern areas this week and any rain mainly towards the north once again, a spell of mid week warmth and sunshine on the way for all but potentially something cooler and windy and later. that is tied into what is happening in the western atlantic. this is arthur, the first named storm of the year. and afterwards things will change. at the moment, a lot of cloud on the satellite imagery, we will see some rain and drizzle

across parts of scotland northern ireland northern england and north wales, that will come and go through the day and of the rain through orkney and shetland the four things turned sunny across northern scotla nd turned sunny across northern scotland later. sunshine at times across the south and temperatures here could reach the low 20s. that even with the cloud and the rain at times, because there is a westerly wind it does mean temperatures will be above where they should be. full forecast will come up in 30 minutes. good morning, welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. our headlines today. two weeks until some pupils in england are due to go back to school. parents and teachers demand more reassurances that classrooms will be safe. new safety measures on trains with social distancing on board, as more services start running today. more staff, including security guards, on duty at our railway

stations, encase more people to travel is expected. making it in the premier league but struggling off the pitch. former manchester united player luke chadwick tells us how constant insults about the way he looked affected his mental health. i wouldn‘t want to go out, i was always sort of looking at people. people knew who i was, obviously, i played for man united, and i always assumed that they‘d be saying horrible things about me when potentially they probably weren‘t all the time. and it‘s a virtual chelsea flower show as britain‘s biggest gardening event of the year goes online. it‘s monday the 18th of may. our top story. with two weeks to go until some primary school pupils in england return to the classroom, the government insists plans are in place to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils. ministers want children in reception, year1 and year 6 to go back to school, as part of the next step to ease the lockdown. but unions and some parents

say they‘re concerned about the spread of coronavirus, as john mcmanus reports. when is the right time to send children back to school? and how will the safety of them and theirfamilies be guaranteed? in england, some younger pupils will be back at their desks onjune1st. but no date has yet been set for schools in wales, scotland or northern ireland. ministers say measures including staggered breaks and class sizes of 15 will reduce the chances of pupils transmitting coronavirus. but not everybody is convinced. but labour says guarantees want to be in place. everyone wants people to be back but we want a safe environment as well. the government wa nts to environment as well. the government wants to have its test, track and trace strategy up and running as soon as it can.

the government has acknowledged it can‘t eradicate all risk, but the evidence shows children with the virus rarely develop serious symptoms, though their transmission rate isn‘t yet known. we have indicated the direction of travel, we are aiming for the beginning ofjune, we are aiming for year one and year six. those parents of children in those age groups should be looking ahead to that potentially happening from the beginning ofjune. other european countries are facing the same dilemma. germany and denmark are slowly reopening classrooms using social distancing, but italian pupils will stay at home until september. meanwhile, the latest daily death toll was 170, the lowest figure since the day after the lockdown began on march 24. however, numbers are typically lower at weekends. the total number of people who have died in the uk after testing positive for the virus is now 34,636. the only permanent solution of course is a vaccine. some scientists believe one may

not come for at least a year or perhaps never. but the pharmaceutical company astrazeneca has signed an agreement to make 30 million doses available in the uk by september if it can find a vaccine that works. john macmanus, bbc news. our political correspondent chris mason joins us from westminster. you will have been watching the interview with oliver dowden. so many concerns from unions, parents and teachers about schools being safe, what you make of the government‘s position? safe, what you make of the government's position? we have seen the debate raged on breakfast in the last hour, first from labour and then the government. where are we? there is a lot of uncertainty. you put repeatedly to oliver dowden about the publication of evidence, what is the modelling, as far as the effect of opening schools is concerned? the effect of opening schools is concerned ? the government effect of opening schools is

concerned? the government says it has done it, there was no specific direct answer as to when that might be published, when we will get to see it. there was also no direct a nswer to see it. there was also no direct answer to your question about when the government will make a definitive decision. we have been told throughout that the reopening plan for the 1st ofjune, as limited as it is, is conditional on the data, the science, on how things look near the time. obviously we are trundling towards that date and at some point prior to that date a decision one way or the other definitively has to be taken. we learned nothing new about when that moment will come. meanwhile, real concern from the teaching trade unions, some more than others, but real concerns that they would like to see addressed and obviously some concern from some parents as well. so the debate continues. we have not yet got to definitive answers. and neither side, either those most

vociferous amongst the trade unions all the government, yet in public, at least, willing to concede and compromise. thank you, chris. the republic of ireland is today beginning the first stage of its plan to ease the country‘s lockdown and some restrictions are slowly being lifted in northern ireland. our ireland correspondent chris page is in belfast. chris, what will change today? it is the first steps on what‘s going to be a long journey back towards some kind of normality. in the republic of ireland, they are moving into the first stage of a five phase plan, scheduled at the moment to be completed by the middle of august. so some sports will resume, like golf and tennis, larger retailers and hardware stores will reopen, and perhaps the most significant for most people, small groups will be allowed to meet up outdoors. here in northern ireland,

garden centres will open again, household recycling will be opened, anglers will return to the river banks and marriage ceremonies can go ahead when one partner has a terminal illness. ministers in the stormont executive are meeting today to decide which restrictions to lift next. maybe drive—in cinema is, opening larger retailers, and again, this will be what most people will be interested in, groups of up to six people might be able to get together outdoors provided they adhere to social distancing rules. good to talk to you, thank you for letting us know about those changes. testing for coronavirus is to be offered to all care home residents and staff in northern ireland. the announcement follows criticism of a mounting number of deaths in the sector. it‘s hoped the rollout of testing will be completed next month. software to help trace those who may have been in contact with someone

who has coronavirus will be rolled out in three areas of scotland from today. it‘s the first step towards an extended "test, trace and isolate" system which the scottish government hopes to have in place by the end of the month. the tracing software is different to the mobile phone app which is being tested on the isle of wight. efforts to get commuters safely back to work by train are being brought in this morning. more security guards are now in place at several railway stations, and some seats on board will be blocked off to allow social distancing. our transport correspondent tom burridgejoins us now from euston station. it looks pretty quiet compared to what it would be on a normal day at 8:10am. very quiet, very quiet indeed. there have been flows of passengers off the platforms, the platforms are along that edge of euston station. that has been at certain points this morning but generally it‘s very quiet. look down into the concourse, i will step out

of the way so that paul can give you a better view, and you can see more staff tha n a better view, and you can see more staff than passengers down there at the moment. there are security guards on duty, officers from british transport police, in a place in case of passenger numbers are higher than expected and they need to manage crowds in some way. we can show you some pictures of what euston looked like before the pandemic, how busy this session would normally be, giving you a sense of where we are at now. let‘s come back to me and just show you, let‘s get some clarity, i guess, from the station manager, joe hendry. he is going to stay away from me, obviously. quiet this morning. how complicated, this station on a normal day is not well designed, i don‘t want to be rude about your station, but it is not a well—designed station. how complicated is it managing social distancing in a session like this?

euston normally has 200,000 passengers per morning, that is a lot of people to move through a small space. for us, social distancing is quite difficult. it provides an extra layer of challenge to an already completed operation. just like most stations across the uk. it's a bit strange having to tell people to stay away, normally we are expecting this would be the high peaktime, we are expecting this would be the high peak time, it's a we are expecting this would be the high peaktime, it's a bit we are expecting this would be the high peak time, it's a bit strange. apologies, a little bit of a problem with your sound, not your fault. apologies, a little bit of a problem with your sound, not yourfault. i think it‘s worth clarifying, face coverings, you should wear one on a train ora bus coverings, you should wear one on a train or a bus anywhere on the uk at the moment, that‘s the advice. if you are in a busy station, you should also wear one, you should have won at hand. last monday, some services from birmingham into euston we re services from birmingham into euston were overcrowded at certain times of the day. they are managing it, it is

a complicated dynamic working out how many people will be on particular services at particular times, and station managers will have to manage that. that is an extraordinary sight, so quiet on a monday morning, euston station. the uk will move closer to a points—based immigration system today when a flagship bill is debated by mps, but labour says the home secretary priti patel should "think again". the immigration bill would make it harder for workers described by ms patel as "low—skilled" to live in britain. but labour says it‘s lower—paid workers like carers and retail staff who have been keeping the country running during the current crisis. detectives have launched a murder investigation after a woman died following a suspected shooting in blackburn. the 19—year—old victim was injured in the town centre at around three o‘clock yesterday afternoon. lancashire police say the area was busy at the time, and appealed for witnesses to what officers called a "senseless crime". it‘s the start of a new week of home schooling for millions of children and parents across the uk today. but, for some families in england,

the end is in sight. the government wants certain primary school pupils back in the classroom in a fortnight, despite concerns over safety and social distancing. breakfast‘s graham satchell has been speaking to two families with very different views on whether they‘ll be packing the kids off to school from june 1st. two families in england both facing an agonising choice. do they send their children back to school? we all love our kids and we want the absolute best for them but we have to weigh up the risk against what‘s happening to their education. emma‘s son joe is 11, he‘s in year six, last year of primary school. most of the information we get says that covid is not as severe a threat to children as it is to adults. but at the same time, i‘m diabetic, so there is an added risk ifjoe goes back to school. but that said, i don‘t think this situation is very helpful for children in general,

particularly if, like joe, they‘re an only child. joe‘s world has shrunk beyond belief. to me, at times, he‘s very isolated and i think it‘s quite lonely. so what is 10%? 460. 460, brilliant. emma has done her best to home—school her son. she was a teacher for 12 years, understands the safety concerns of teaching unions. but says for her son, it‘s the right time to return. if they leave it till september, it‘s a completely new school. we‘ve had no transition yet. so although i do feel very torn, and i do think my opinions may be different ifjoe was younger, i have said that i will be sending joe back. elsie lives on a farm near lancaster with her four brothers. she‘s in reception. her mum, horrified by the prospect of sending her back to school. when they actually announced it,

i cried, i cried and i don‘t care if they find me, i don‘t care if the lancashire county council knock on my door for attendance, she is not going back to school. my priority is that little girl‘s health. elsie‘s twin brothers arthur and alfie have down syndrome. they‘re more vulnerable to the virus. so the family have been shielding them under a strict lockdown. if i sent my daughter out into the outside world, to school, obviously there‘s a chance that she could come in contact with the virus. and then bring that virus inside our house. do i want to take that risk as a mother? no, i don‘t. who is it? elsie‘s dad, a farmer, has been working through the lockdown. to protect his family, he‘s been living in a caravan. they laugh. he sees his children once a day through the window. give him a kiss. across the uk, families have made extraordinary sacrifices to stay safe.

in england, many are now wrestling with whether it‘s safe enough to send their children back to school. graham satchell, bbc news. we‘re joined now by sir michael wilshaw, the former head of the schools inspection service ofsted, and peter ca nsell from the national association for primary education. hopefully you can both hear us ok. we will come to you first of all, peter. hopefully you have been able to hear and see that, what if you think of it? —— what did you think of it? i think... did think of it? —— what did you think of it? ithink... did you think of it? —— what did you think of it? i think... did you hear the question, apologies? that was to you, michael, sorry. ithink obviously, very concerned about what‘s happening at the moment, very

concerned about the welfare of children. and of course children... even when secondary school pupils are supposed to return, it will be donein are supposed to return, it will be done ina are supposed to return, it will be done in a very phased and gradual way. so significant, large numbers of children are missing out very badly on the education, and particularly the poorest children are suffering the most. there has been a report published yesterday, i believe, from the institute for fiscal studies, which shows that evenin fiscal studies, which shows that even in this short time, when people have been educated at home, the poorest children have lost out the most and have regressed the most. so the sooner we do get children back into school, under very strict safety guidelines issued by the government and accepted by the teacher associations, and particularly the head teacher association, the better. we will

come back to you in a minute. so you hear that message, peter, about some pupils, particularly losing out, do you think it is right that there should be schools, at least some pupils going back on the 1st of june? i think that the message that we are getting is a very mixed message, with a very strange scientific evidence to back its come very little, actually. but the thing is that it seems to be targeting the wrong group of children. if michael says we need to help vulnerable children, we need to get them back to school, they could be at school at the moment, they should be at school. schools are open, vulnerable children should be there, 90% of them are not. if we targeted those children getting back to school, that would be much to their benefit and it would solve most of the problem is that michael is talking about. this all seems to be based on

full set evidence, or at least very little scientific evidence, false evidence, very little educational evidence, very little educational evidence, mostly driven by economic drivers. a tiny proportion of those children are going to school untouched, and they tell me those vulnerable children are not going to school. the big challenge for the education system and head teachers in particular is to give confidence to parents that when they do send their children into school, whether they are vulnerable or not, that they are vulnerable or not, that they will be safe. the big challenge for the system is, for parents to feel, and families to feel and children to feel that the school is a safe environment. and head teachers now have two weeks in primary schools and secondary schools, longer than that, to really make sure that classrooms are a safe

place and persuade parents that they are. peter, from primary school point of view, we heard from the government today talking about class sizes of 15. how practical is that? it does raise serious questions, talking to some head teachers on friday, they said that this is causing a great deal of stress to try to work out the best way of doing this, and that is to six of it. if you have 15 children in a class, —— and the logistics of it. if you have 15 children in a class, where will you put the furniture that their children are not using? it seems like a minor issue but if it isa it seems like a minor issue but if it is a small school, it's a major problem. if you have all the children in early years and year one, those children actually wants to work together, so it's very difficult to social distance then. i think in the dfe guidance, it says it is unrealistic to expect their children to socially distance so you keep them in a group of 15, so you ta ke keep them in a group of 15, so you take them out to play in one group,

one play time, your other group of 15 has another playtime, and another group has another playtime, who will be supervising these break duties? you have to have two people in the playground at the minimum to supervise 15 children. it all has a great deal of difficulty in the logistics of it. it doesn't seem to have been thought through very well, to me. to come back to you on an alternative, sir michael, we were speaking to our guests earlier about this, maintaining that monitored online and home learning which has been working well for quite a few people. it has been working well for some children, particularly children from more prosperous backgrounds, but you will have noted the report from the sutton trust a few weeks ago or a few days ago, which really showed that there is a huge differential between the outcomes of the online learning programmes with

those from more prosperous backgrounds and those who do not come from advantaged backgrounds. that is my real concern. we have to ensure that when children do go back, when most of the children go back, when most of the children go back, that head teachers put into place all sorts of recovery programme so that youngsters can catch up, particularly if they are in examination year groups. going back to the logistical problems of furniture, etc, any half decent head, knowing they have to go back to school by a certain date, will make sure all these problems are resolved. these are not insurmountable problems, they are logistical problems that any common sense and intelligent, hard—working and committed head teacher will resolve. very good to hear your opinions, both of you. it looks like peter wanted to come back on that half decent head point? it is nice to be described as a half decent head. to be honest, i don't think michael has ever walked into a small

victorian village school, he cannot possibly have done, has he ever been in the primary school... excuse me, i was the head of the inspector and for five years and have been into hundreds of schools and met lots of them. it is a different thing when ofsted comes in. gentlemen, thank you for your time this morning. on theissue you for your time this morning. on the issue that is concerning many people. there is no doubt there are lots of different opinions on this, every household is a different opinion, depending on the age of your children and your views, thank your children and your views, thank you to all of you getting in touch with your questions, particularly for our education editor who joins us now. good morning. we have had a few questions for you. mike asks, please explain how many reception children can be in class at one time, what the pupil teacher ratio should be?

well, the maximum number that is suggested as safe is 15 pupils. of course in many cases, that will mean splitting a class in half which means you need twice as many classrooms, twice as many teachers to manage it. there is no clear ratio set out in the government guidelines, so that will depend partly from school to school. if in one school you have a couple of teachers who are pregnant or who have a very serious underlying health condition, they may need to work remotely. so to some extent, schools will have to work this out for themselves. as we had there, smaller village schools may have physical constraints, they might choose to go to slightly smaller groups. a question from peter now, asking about the making available of pp for teachers who will be in his word on the front line. public health

england‘s advice to government has been that there is no need for teachers to have ppe. of course, they have not had it over the last many weeks whilst schools have been open to key worker children and vulnerable children. those have been very small numbers in many cases going on, but teachers have been working with social distancing, hand washing and all the other precautions. it is on the list of worries from the teacher unions, they suggest that there should be some clearer government guidelines around this and then it needs to be negotiated locally. and i know it is of particular concern for some teachers working in special schools where children might need more hands—on help, going to the bathroom. before our next question, of course, we are only talking about england, the possibility of more

children going back? that‘s right, i am actually speaking to you from wales,. they will not be going back in this area. the rate of infections isa in this area. the rate of infections is a worry for ministers here, and they want to see it come back further before making a judgment call, in their view, further before making a judgment call, in theirview, it further before making a judgment call, in their view, it is too soon. only england is planning or hoping to ta ke only england is planning or hoping to take this step at the beginning ofjune, provided the government‘s tests are met and a final decision will only be made literally three or four days before. talking about that decision being made, i‘m sure you we re decision being made, i‘m sure you were listening to oliver dowden earlier on, there is still a lack of clarity about when that decision will be made and what it will be based on because the 1st ofjune is only a proposal at the moment? that‘s right, they have to give schools some notice and schools are

preparing, moving desks around, managing corridors and trying to manage it, and also talking to pa rents manage it, and also talking to parents asking how they would feel about sending their children back, so they have some idea of numbers. we understand the final decision could be made on may 28, based on the advice from the government‘s scientific advisers. they met for the teaching unions last friday, still lots of unanswered questions. this is a new virus so although we know that young children seem to be more mildly affected, that means they could have symptoms for less times, there are lots of questions about the transmission rate. we had from one parent about the anxiety of transmission back into the home, if you have someone at home who is vulnerable. thank you very much for running through those questions and trying to get answers for people, thank you. this is a quick shot from our

helicopter, of the liberal thames —— the river thames, beautiful pictures. we will be showing you pictures. we will be showing you pictures from stations to london showing you that according to what we are seeing, people are avoiding the public transport. that is a glorious view, looks like they could be good weather on the way for most people. yes, not long ago we had scenes like this, flooding in parts of the uk. since then the rain has stopped and not come back, april was unusually dry and during may, some spots had barely a drop of rain. even keswick in the lake district, 3% of what we normally see through this stage in may. in southern areas, very little rain this week, your best chance is

later in the week as things turned cooler and windier and that is after quite a warm spell. the wettest is the northern half of the uk, more rain here through the end of the week. that will be determined about what is happening in the west atlantic, this is tropical storm arthur, unusually early out there in the west. that will stare up the atmosphere and bring us something potentially windier later on. elsewhere, we have ploughed across the country, best sound shine in the south and east, some in mainland scotla nd south and east, some in mainland scotland as the rain cleared through, orkney and shetland. northern ireland, northern england, north wales staying cloudy for the vast majority. rain or drizzle at times, heavier burst into the second half of the day. even here given the fa ct half of the day. even here given the fact that the wind is from the south or south—west, temperatures above what they should be for the time of year, could be up to 24 celsius in the south—east this afternoon. this

evening and overnight, more rain to come across parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern england, a few heavier burst mixed in. clear skies across mainland scotland, clear skies towards the south of england. these are the lowest temperatures, but clear of the frost, very little if any. this week. temperatures foremost in double figures tomorrow. it will be a cloudy start, misty and murky in northern england, northern ireland and wales. the cloud breaking up with some sunshine, the better the sunshine further south and east, 25 or 26 possible in the south—east. the big change is tuesday night into wednesday, high—pressure bills, nudging eastwards, tracking in air from the near continent, clearer skies so morning cloud will break up, scotland and northern ireland will see sunshine through the day on wednesday. so temperatures will start to shoot up, possibly as high

as 28 degrees across parts of central and ace in england, 22 or 23 across the north—east of scotland. thank you, mad. look at those numbers. i know. hello, this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. the government has defended its plan to open primary schools in england to more pupils in two weeks time, insisting plans are in place to ensure the safety of teachers and pupils. ministers want reception, year1 and year 6 children to go back to school, as part of the next step to ease the lockdown. but unions and some parents say they‘re concerned about the spread of coronavirus. security guards will be on duty at some major railway stations this morning, as more of us are expected to go to work following the easing of the coronavirus lockdown in england. rail companies are planning to limit the number of passengers boarding trains, and some seats may be blocked off. we are still being advised to work from home if we can, and to use public transport

only if there‘s no alternative. groups of up to four people from different households can meet up in the republic of ireland from today — as long as they do so outside. garden centres and larger shops can also re—open as the country starts the first phase of its strategy to lift the lockdown. in northern ireland, garden centres and recycling facilities can re—open from today. you may remember a few weeks ago we brought you the story of a war veteran, ken benbow, and his very thoughtful carer, kia. kia surprised ken with a cushion which had a photograph of his late wife ada printed on it. that prompted a very emotional reaction from ken — and this lovely moment was widely shared on social media. now kia‘s family have been involved in a house fire. it was at the house where kia‘s two sisters live with their mum. thankfully, no—one was badly hurt, and a fundraising campaign has been launched to help the family.

that‘s tough, isn‘t it? sally is here to talk about glimmers of hope for a people who would like to see the football back. yeah. we definitely have some hopeful things to talk about this morning. premier league clubs meet again today for their latest talks on project restart. the speculation is that they‘ll agree to a return to team training. they‘re still working towards resuming matches in mid june and some of those could be show on free—to—air television, as the sport secretary told us earlier. we would look to give that green light. it would be a good thing to do if we can. i am also looking as we do it, for example, to increasing the number of acts —— matches that would be free to air so people wouldn‘t be tempted to leave their homes to watch it, which is clearly an important consideration. there is an important consideration. there is a rule at the moment of that 3pm you can‘t show matches on tv because

people are watching it in the football stadiums. clearly that is not going to be the case any more. so some of those slots may be available for free to air. we are looking to see if we could do that as part of the wider custom package. as a teenager who had just broken into the treble—winning manchester united side, luke chadwick was living many young footballers‘ dream. but whilst things were going well on the field, it was a different story off it, as luke became a figure of fun because of the way he looked. and the insults went beyond the stands, and onto prime—time tv. i spoke to him to find out more about that. it was a golden era and a glorious time for manchester united. beckham, scholes, giggs and a young lad called luke chadwick. but his time in the spotlight was not always easy. he was vilified not for the way he played but for the way he looked. it was quite childish,

things around spots on my face, teeth sticking out and that sort of thing. although, i think it‘s more the repetition of being said over and over again more than one specific thing which probably, in the end, it sort of lowers your self—esteem a lot and feels like that‘s all that i‘m known for or spoken about, is the way that i looked, really. it wasn‘t just fans at the game, the humiliation went further in online forums, doctored pictures and national television. there‘s a tv show called, they think it‘s all over, it was on years ago and it was really popular and i sort of became a picture of fun on that, on most episodes. still, it's not the first time a man united photograph has been wrecked. this photo of luke chadwick was ruined when luke chadwick turned up. laughter and applause incidentally, iron maiden's biggest hit is the number of the beast, and if you want to know the number of the beast, luke chadwick

wears number 36. laughter and applause that was probably the hardest thing because i think that, because it was such a popular tv show, it sort of intensified and magnified so that was what i was seen as by everyone off the back of that, that sort of watched that show. obviously, i‘m pretty sure they didn‘t know how it was making me feel because i‘m sure they‘re good people and they wouldn‘t have done it but it‘s the fact that it used to be on there every week, i used to dread it coming on the telly, i wouldn‘t watch it but then i‘d get a text off someone saying oh, you‘ve been on that show again, as if it was sort of a joke, ‘cause obviously people were finding it funny but it was sort of eating me up away a bit inside while that was happening. commentator: a great ball from beckham, chadwick! fine goal! you were managed at the time by one of the greatest managers we‘ve ever known, sir alex ferguson. how did he handle you, do you think he was aware of what was happening to you? i‘m not sure. i couldn‘t...

he probably was aware that people spoke to me about that, but then, i was playing for the biggest club in the world where everyone that don‘t support man united don‘t tend to like them that much, so everyone would receive a lot of abuse, a lot of stick and that sort of thing. i think it became an issue and a problem for me when it was all people would talk about, was about me, whenever i heard my name it was talking about the way that i looked and my appearance, which obviously, i don‘t think you realise it as much back then but looking back, it probably affected me a lot more in terms of being really anxious, i didn‘t like talking to people, i was quite a shy boy anyway back then, i wouldn‘t go and tell people what i was feeling at the time, so it was a difficult time, i think it affected the way i lived my life off the pitch. not so much on it but certainly off the pitch. and how did it affect you off the pitch? i think like i say,

just being anxious. i wouldn‘t want to go out, people knew who i was obviously ‘cause i played for man united, and i always assumed that they‘d be saying horrible things about me, potentially they probably weren‘t all the time. obviously getting past that has given me more resilience and that sort of thing, but at the time, i do think, um, it probably wasn‘t right for a young boy of 19, 20, even though i‘m an adult, to have to deal with that. commentator: sheringham, scholes. .. it's a good save but chadwick's going to score! chadwick‘s career took him from manchester united where he won the premier league to west ham, stoke and mk dons before finishing his playing career back home at cambridge united. despite what he went through, he holds no grudges. the most important thing to me is how i am as a person so obviously not all these people knew me as a person but i do like to think i‘m quite a nice guy, someone easy to talk to,

but obviously a footballer as well. i might not have been a brilliant footballer but i was a footballer and obviously must have had some good qualities of a footballer to have a career in the game, so obviously i‘d rather be remembered as someone who was quite good at football than just by the way that i may have looked at a certain time in my life. one of the people you saw in that report is nick hancock, who presented the panel show they think it‘s all over. hejoins us now from stoke—on—trent. we can also say hello to the former nottingham forest strikerjason lee, who was widely mocked during his playing days for his hairstyle. jason is now an equalities officer with the professional footballers‘ association. nick hancock, if i can come to you first this morning. thank you so much for talking to us about this today. what is it like for you to watch that footage back now? well,

listening to luke first of all is incredibly humbling. i mean, he showed so much more generosity and understanding and good judgment than i think we did at the time. i was unaware of quite how badly this has affected him. until in fact bbc brea kfast affected him. until in fact bbc breakfast contact me on friday and asked me to come onto the show. i am appalled really for him and myself. but when i hear him speaking, i am full of admiration for the present luke chadwick, and full of sympathy for the young luke chadwick. personally i feel a great deal of response ability and a shame, which ido response ability and a shame, which i do accept and have do hold up my hands to. nick, one thing i think

luke would want me to make clear right now is that he absolutely holds no grudges. he is completely fine. one of the reasons he wanted to talk about this was he wanted to encourage people who might be feeling anxious or self—conscious or not particularly confident to talk about their feelings. i think that is something he would want me to make very clear to you. having given that full apology that you have just now. but he also talked about signing an autograph for you when he was playing for stoke and the circumstances around that. do you remember that? i had forgotten it. but i read one of his interviews about this. and it did come back into my mind. obviously you are a lwa ys into my mind. obviously you are always slightly aware when you do a programme like they think it‘s all over. there are lots of it i am very proud of. and definitely this is an incident that i‘m not so proud of. you worry about these things. you

know you are going to meet mike gatting, you know you are going to meet will carling, all these people you talk the mickey out of. luke came to stoke city and did a wonderfuljob. and i remember saying to some of the lads that sit around me, i always wonder how he felt about that? some decide to me, why don‘t you just go and speak to him and if he is fine with you, it‘s probably fine. and if he says something, then you‘re not. so i went and asked him for an autograph for my son. and he was charm itself. signed the autograph. shook my son because my account etc. and i think ifar because my account etc. and i think i far too because my account etc. and i think ifar too readily talk because my account etc. and i think i far too readily talk that as letting me off the hook. —— shook my son‘s hand. all it was with him being a bigger man than me. nick, stay with us. i am going to chat

with jason. jason, you had a similar experience in a way but with a different programme, fantasy football. tell everybody what happened to you when you were playing? good morning. yeah, the disappointment regarding this story is there are probably ten years between the two players, myself and luke, and what was happening in fa nta sy luke, and what was happening in fantasy football, there were similarities. it was a friday evening, i think luke mentions, similarities. it was a friday evening, ithink luke mentions, and you are preparing for the game on saturday. it would have been fresh in people's memories. now we have moved on. it is about social media and stories will get rehearsed and retweeted etc. but yeah, i think there were no lessons learned really from my period of time to luke a's period of time. sorry jason. there was a particular thing, you were made fun of because of your hairstyle ? made fun of because of your hairstyle? yeah, of course. it was my appearance at the end of the day.

yes people criticise durability. but at the end of the day you are a professional footballer. you wouldn't be where you was if you didn't have any ability. to criticise you for your appearance does not help the situation. it kind of compound is the fact you are trying to do well in your chosen profession. —— compounds. you talk about resilience when you comment to football. if you're not taught resilience wouldn't last five seconds. it made you feel like you are more fired up on a saturday? yeah, because you had no choice. i had a young family to support. it was my chosen profession. what did people expect me to do? as much as i didn't enjoy it, there were times when i left because i thought some of the sketches might have been quite funny. sometimes you just think, look, i need to get through this period of time and i did, the same as luke did. you have a career before, during and after. and if you

haven't got that resilience, and we assume that every person, and every footballer in particular, has that in—built resilience. we know some guys will struggle. here at the pfa we are having to support a number of players to ensure that they are getting the right counselling and the right support they need. nick, ifi the right support they need. nick, if i can come back to you, comedy show really tread a fine line. at the time when you are preparing for aso the time when you are preparing for a so you might not know and have particularly —— particularly who luke chadwick us. someone would have found the photo and it would have gone on from there? that's exactly what would have happened. i don‘t wa nt to what would have happened. i don‘t want to back off my apology but that is exactly what would have happened. someone would have found a particularly bad photograph of luke and said, have you seen this? we should use this. and of course the terrible thing about comics, comedians, doing comedy shows is you

tend to be under the tyranny of the laugh. if you are getting laughs you think you are doing a good job. the worst thing from luke was it became a running joke. but worst thing from luke was it became a runningjoke. but to worst thing from luke was it became a running joke. but to us it was a photograph. that‘s not good, obviously. we should have been thinking about the person. that is what can happen. nobody should expect luke to have called us up on it. but it would have been effective if say the pfa or his club had said something. that said, look, here is a young lad, you should leave him alone. still our response ability, absolutely. but i think you find we would have done. that‘s not to backtrack. it‘s just to say, would have done. that‘s not to backtrack. it‘sjust to say, please say if you have problems. i‘ve got young children. any sort of bullying like that, it‘s best to say something if you possibly can or get somebody to say it on your behalf. have you been in touch with luke since that day that he signed an autograph for you? do you feel you

might be in touch with him now?” autograph for you? do you feel you might be in touch with him now? i am desperate for to be in touch with him. and if he would be happy to pass his address along i would write to him and be happy to meet him, and hopefully we could put it to bed. and if he feels he couldn‘t forgive me, although he sounds like you might be able to, i would understand that too. jason, one of the things i know you said at the time, when talking about the situation that you are in, people poking fun at you because of your hair, you actually kept that hairstyle for longer than you wanted to because you refused to have, to be bullied into changing the way you looked? yeah, of course. you have that stubbornness about you. idid you have that stubbornness about you. i did keep it there probably for another year. to try to weather the storm, so to speak. at the end of the day i believe there was more to me than simply a hairstyle. it

was one of the hairstyles i was proud of wearing. a lot of people, especially a lot of black guys, they wrote dreadlocks. i know a lot of people feel anger towards the fact i have been ridiculed because a lot of people are wearing hair styles and it kind of cut a lot deeper than maybe it was meant to. but for me, i was never going to listen to what two people particularly want to say about my appearance. and if and when i was ready i was going to make that choice, and i did make that choice. i try to not let it define me. jason lee and nick hancock, thank you both so much for talking to us about this this morning. thank you, gents. your interview with luke chadwick is brilliant. really interesting to see how he is looking back on what happened to him. and! looking back on what happened to him. and i suppose how he has grown from that and how he can now speak to nick hancock and we can hear from jason lee about a really interesting subject, i‘m sure many people

appreciate listening to that. put them in touch. thank you for that. that was fascinating. it should have been the first day of chelsea flower show today. for many gardeners, it‘s one of the highlights of the year. but because of coronavirus, the event has been cancelled for the first time since the second world war. however, it is still taking place online. the gardeners‘ world presenter monty don can tell us more. he‘s at home in herefordshire. good morning. thank you for coming on the programme. an online chelsea flower show, how is it going to work? well, we've got programmes all week, which we have all made in our homes. we are doing one every night this week. i have never been closer tojoe this week. i have never been closer to joe swift than about 150 this week. i have never been closer tojoe swift than about 150 miles of the making of it, but it works. we‘ve got our family is doing it. we are looking back at the best of chelsea over the last ten years. we have got a competition for show garden is the public are sending in.

so actually, it is a real event. it is happening but not quite as we know it. i spent a lot of time watching the chelsea flower show on the telly. it‘s devastating for viewers, also those many, many people involved in the show, in the gardens as well? it's micro... i mean, you really cannot underestimate what an impact that has in their working lives. chelsea consumes people for the best part of a year. and to prepare for it what we see is the tip of an iceberg. for every plant, there are probably 99 others and they have just chosen one. the amount of work and the amount of effort that goes to creating those show gardens, the displays, every aspect of chelsea, let alone the rhs preparing for it and all the rest of it, yeah, that a disaster. but under the circumstances everybody understands. we can accept it but i really like the way that we are making the best

of it. it‘s very british. we are putting something together. we are putting something together. we are putting the show on. monty, can i ask you as well about the reaction to the passing away of your lovely dog, nigel? there was a beautiful tribute on friday‘s programmes. have you been amazed, surprised by the outpouring of affection for you and for him and adjust the interest in this story, this dog that was such a pa rt this story, this dog that was such a part of your life and so many people recognise him as well? well, i mean i have sort have not been amazed in a way, because wherever i went, and towards the end anywhere in the world, people always said, where is nigel? why haven‘t you got nigel? i remember getting on a plane in the midwest last year and filming it in america and the guy said, hey, you‘re the guy with the dog! and that was the case. i wasn‘t surprised that people were moved. i think filming it was very tricky because he actually died the morning that we filmed, so i had to do the programme, which wasn‘t a lot of

fun. but in a way i think that under the circumstances it channels people‘s sense... we have all been spending much more time in our gardens, we have been feeling very fragile. and pets, any pet, that we share that space with are a sort of symbol of all that is true and all that we love, all the sort of co nsta ncy that we love, all the sort of constancy that the outside world isn‘t providing. so i think that all the people loved him anyway, and he was just a lovely dog, i think it‘s a sort of outpouring of a reminder of what really matters, what we really wa nt, of what really matters, what we really want, which is domestic peace and harmony and love and constancy. and i‘m afraid that‘s not something we have at the moment. so i think it was all to do with that as well. but it was very moving. 0h, was all to do with that as well. but it was very moving. oh, gosh, lots of people will be really feeling your words at home. they are so

truthful in so many ways. really briefly, you find gardening provides you with a huge amount of solace? yeah. i mean, i‘ve written about this a lot and spoken about it. the mental health aspect of gardening. the whole mental health situation in this country is chaotic at best and disastrous at worst. and under the present circumstances it has rather taken a back—seat but it is not going to go away. more and more people are finding that gardening is really helpful. it reduces anxiety, it helps depression. and it is to do with that nurturing something on a timescale that is different to our own. that you plant a seed and the seasons pass and then it comes micro —— comes to flower. and it gives you backin —— comes to flower. and it gives you back in beauty and in food, whatever it might be. but it is more than that. you are literally tapping in, plugging into a circuit of life that

is steady and flows and is wise and is steady and flows and is wise and is constant, and just pushing around at the back garden can do that. and that‘s great. certainly i find that. seriously, what an absolute pleasure to speak to you. you will inspire people to get out in their gardens. i hope so. thanks a lot. apm denied bbc two, chelsea flower show in a slightly different way this year. one of the little successes of lockdown are my little lettuces. he was the eastenders hard man who went on to make documentaries about gangs, armed police, and british service personnel deployed in afghanistan. but ross kemp‘s latest show is about a different kind of fighter, as he meets the army of volunteers doing whatever they can to battle coronavirus. let‘s take a look. how much of your own time are you actually dedicating to this? it‘s a full—time job, really. you could do 40 hours a week, easily. i‘ll be doing this until it‘s needed to be done.

if it takes me three, four, five months to carry on doing this, i will be doing it. ross, we need to get a move on, mate. cracking the whip, mate! i‘ve got a delivery that‘s got to go out to the air ambulance, so if we can get a move on, that‘d be great. you‘re doing a greatjob. cheers, mate. only another thousand to do. so how many have you made so far? we have made in excess of 13,000 now. 13,000? 13,000 of them, and still going strong. we had an order put in by reading borough council, who want 7,000 a month. so that's our goal, to try and keep up with the demand at the minute. let‘s speak to ross kemp now. we are sort of use to seeing you go to far flung places, we are sort of use to seeing you go to farflung places, but we are sort of use to seeing you go to far flung places, but you we are sort of use to seeing you go to farflung places, but you had just a really close to home to do this, didn‘t you? just a really close to home to do this, didn't you? yeah, a radius of about 40 miles from where i live, but i was just blown away by, not just where i live, across the country, because i was speaking to

people via facetime etc, just across the country how many people have been motivated to volunteer themselves to help people who were less fortu nate. themselves to help people who were less fortunate. it‘s quite emotional, actually, just to see the generosity of spirit. we‘re not necessarily the biggest geographical country in the world but we have a massive heart and that is really on display in these five programmes. tell us about some of the amazing volu nteers tell us about some of the amazing volunteers you met? i know it‘s really ha rd to volunteers you met? i know it‘s really hard to pick somebody out. yeah, i mean, iwent into really hard to pick somebody out. yeah, i mean, i went into a church in beaconsfield and it was basically food donated by the whole of beaconsfield for people who needed food, wouldn‘t necessarily have needed it may be a month ago. some people didn‘t expect to be out of work and are suddenly out of work and without food. i walked into this church. a good world. it is producing a thousand bales for everybody in the community. i walked

into this church and i basically started cheering up. a lady called caroline who hasn‘t got access to social media, she is 80 years old, and we helped to get a message, a video message, to herfrom her granddaughter. it doesn‘t have to be big stuff. two girls, honey —— where hannah and sophie in birmingham, who write letters to people in a care home around the corner. they write little jokes like, why did the sea get wet? because the sea weed. and you can‘t put a price on somebody —— and what that will need to somebody who is maybe on their own and may be doesn‘t have a family. also the great things like the making of facemasks or glorious scrubs, thousands of them for wrexham hospital. there are so many different things. i love that joke by the way. do you think we have

learned some good things from the situation that we have all been in? i definitely think that. we are far from through this thing but i think it has brought people together that may never have come together. via social media or at a social distance to help others. i spoke to one lady in the street he was doing a dance every 11 o‘clock. i said, you must have known people in the street? she knew two, she now knows 30. i think we may have learned, because it was so busy. i‘m as guilty as anybody else running around, trying to get to the next goal post. maybe because we have been a lot done it‘s slowed us down a bit and i think i have learned to be a bit kinder. if we can retain some of that after we are through this awful time, then that isa through this awful time, then that is a positive in a very negative time. what a lovely message to levon. that‘s fantastic. it sounds like the sort of programme to lift spirits. i hope so.

ross kemp and britain‘s volunteer army starts this morning at ten o‘clock on bbc one. that‘s all from us today. we‘re back tomorrow from six. until then, if you can, have a great day.

good morning, welcome to bbc news, i‘m victoria derbyshire. here are the latest headlines. new measures on trains and at stations as people return to work in england. security guards with crowd management training are on hand. it is quiet here this morning, but preparations are being made for when more passengers do return. with two weeks to go until some primary school pupils in england return to the classroom, the government says plans are in place to protect teachers and pupils. for the first time since covid—19 hit italy ten weeks ago,