election in the us, president trump has said he does want it to go ahead as scheduled, but remains concerned that millions of postal ballots would cause problems. he says they'd lead to increased voter fraud, but there's no evidence to support that claim. the north of england has become the latest area of europe to see restrictions reimposed after a rise in cases of coronavirus. millions of people living in greater manchester and parts of east lancashire and west yorkshire will be banned from going to other people's houses. australia has reported a record number of new infections and its deadliest day since the start of the pandemic, following a spike in cases at elderly—care homes. 13 deaths and over 700 positive tests were reported in the southeastern state of victoria alone — well beyond the previous nationwide record of 549 cases set on monday. now on bbc news, hardtalk — stephen sackur

talks to the leader of sinn fein, mary lou mcdonald. welcome to hardtalk. i am stephen sackur. in ireland, all the talk earlier this year was of a political earthquake, the radical nationalist party sinn fein won the most votes in ireland's general election. they promised to smash the status quo. well, so much for that — in fact, ireland's two oldest parties formed a grand coalition and they are guiding the country through a global pandemic and brexit. my guest today is mary lou mcdonald, the leader of sinn fein. has her party missed their moment?

mary lou mcdonald, in dublin, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. after the february election, when you and your party did remarkably well — you won the most first preference votes in ireland's general elections — you talked about a revolution at the ballot box. well, five months on, what has happened to the revolution? five months on, we are into uncharted and unprecedented times, no more than yourselves with a global pandemic with the public health emergency here on our island and that has caused considerable disruption to people's daily lives but also to political life but i'm happy to report that, all of that disruption notwithstanding, the appetite for political change remains very strong across ireland, north and south, and i still hold firm of the them view hold firm in the view

that we are living through changing and changed times and times where i believe that significant movement in ireland, progressive movement, is possible and will happen and i include in that, of course, the constitutional question of a united ireland. yes, and i do not doubt for a second that you want all of that to happen but i'm looking at your words back in february after the election result came out and you talked about an era of new politics and better government and you said, "sinn fein will be at the core of that and i may well be the next taoiseach," that is, the irish prime minister. well, you overpromised, didn't you, and have under—delivered? no, i reflected the facts as they were then and the scenario, frankly, hasn't changed, and i still believe the appetite and mandate for change and for changed government, for sinn fein in government, exists, and of course you will know because you follow these matters very carefully that, after the election,

the political establishment set about their work to keep change out and to keep sinn fein out and, unfortunately, they succeeded on this occasion but they are not going to succeed on every occasion, and our commitment to deliver the type of change that we were mandated on at february's election remains absolutely strong. i lead an incredibly strong, bright, energetic young team in the parliament in the dail, the parliament in dublin, and the scene is absolutely set for big political change and i believe that will include sinn fein in government in ireland, north and south and, ultimately, it will mean a referendum on unity and constitutional change. right, but let's talk about the missteps you have made along the way and, for one, many are wondering why you did not field more candidates because there are many experts who say, given the swing to sinn fein in february's election, if you actually put more candidates up in this multi—party, quite complex constituency system that

you have, you might well have been able to form a government. so that was a big mistake? it was. i'm not pretending any differently. the context of it was quite a difficult set of elections the previous year in the european and the locals, so i suppose we were endeavouring to cut our cloth according to what we considered would be our measure, but you are right — we should have, i should have seen to it that we ran more candidates and all i can say to you is i will not make that mistake again. no, well, 0k, that is pretty frank! let's talk about a deeper issue and that is, you, after the election, you had to figure out how to form a government and you had to at least consider whether you would work the two old established with the two old established parties in ireland, fianna fail and fine gael. the truth is what we saw

is that both of those old parties regard you still, sinn fein, as still a deeply toxic political organisation and you did virtually nothing to reach out to them. so, let me take that question in two parts, with an answer in two parts. firstly, despite the propaganda to the contrary, fianna fail and finer gail do not regarded us as deeply toxic. they regard and know that, in fact, increasingly, we are a deeply attractive political option for a growing section of irish society. they wish to keep us out of government, not because they believe we are not fit for government but rather because they know full well that we are more than fit for government. they know that we are ready and we have the policy platform, that we have the people and talent in the team that i lead and, increasingly, we have the strength and mandate. mary lou mcdonald, i have to put you the words

of the current prime minister, teoiseach micheal martin, who said this at the time of the government formation crisis — he said, "a fundamental issue that we in fianna fail have with sinn fein is that they do not operate to the same democratic standards held by every other party in irish politics." well, anybody familiar with fianna fail, the party that the now teoiseach leads, will appreciate the irony of that statement. fianna fail is a political organisation that has been deeply embroiled in controversy and profound corruption, the tab for which has been picked up by the irish public and we are not likely to forget all of those episodes. let me restate the position again. the facts are that sinn fein has grown. we have grown in stature, we have grown in numbers, our mandate has grown across the island just

as it did a century ago in previously historic times and that is the thing, in all truth, that unnerves the taoiseach, and that is politics and be that as it may, it will not deflect or deter me or my colleagues from the very substantial political work that we have to do. right, but haven't you in many ways made it easy for micheal martin and other irish representatives of the old guard, the establishment, because even now, you fail consistently to come clean about sinn fein‘s relationship with the ira. that is the fundamental problem and it remains so today. no. in fact, i think the nature and origins of the conflict which of course are contested as to what happened and why it happened, much less who was right or who was wrong and in the conflict of ireland

is very, very well chronicled. i think there is no secrecy around the fact that sinn fein is an irish republican party, that we are for a united ireland. there is no mystery around the fact there was a war in ireland that the ira participated in. none of that is shrouded in mystery. i would tell you what is very clear also is that for more than 20 years now we have carved out a vibrant and enduring political pathway for everybody, people from all persuasions and backgrounds, to participate in politics. and to ensure that the political dispute, the constitutional dispute, is mediated peacefully and democratically and can i say, that along with others, as you know, sinn fein and successive sinn fein leaderships now been involved in fostering and nurturing that very valuable peace deal.

as you know, ireland has been following the fallout of the funeral of a very senior ira man, bobby storey, who was the head of intelligence for the ira in a period that began in the 1990s, an extraordinarily important figure in the irish republican army. you went to his funeral. how carefully did you consider before you decided to go to a funeral which, clearly, because we all saw what happened, it clearly broke all the regulations and guidelines in northern ireland about covid—i9 and how people should gather or not gather. you are right to record the fact that bobby storey was a very significant figure in irish political life and i think will endure as a name in irish political history and he was a person much beloved, not only in his native belfast but across the island and not surprisingly there was a very big sendoff, a huge funeral for him, as you say.

beloved by people like you, mary lou mcdonald, but not beloved by the unionist community in northern ireland in northern ireland and you know that much better than i do. well, yes, that is true but you find in any part of the world, much less a part of the world where we have deep and entrenched political conflict, you'll have public figures who are loved by one section a not so by the other. i don't think that's a uniquely irish thing. the point is this, leaving aside what you think of bobby storey and others think about bobby storey in northern ireland, do you think you are above the law because quite patently, many, many dozens of people turned up at that funeral in close proximity, broke all the rules, arlene foster, the head of the devolved administration in northern ireland said it was completely unacceptable and her deputy, the sinn fein leader in northern ireland, michelle o'neill, she says, she should not have been there and it was entirely wrong that people like you and she flouted the rules.

i do not believe i am above the law. farfrom it and, as to the virus itself, i actually have been sick myself with the virus. i was really quite ill so i better than anybody understand the value and necessity for public health restrictions and for respecting them and, for what it's worth, as you asked, on the down question, the cortege was limited to 30, as per regulations, and i was asked to read at the chapel at the requiem mass. i was happy to do so. we were masked and we were socially distanced. the difficulty arose was because bobby was a political figure, a huge number of people came out onto the streets and that was to be anticipated. in fact, the organisers of the funeral, at the family's request, live—streamed the event and it was watched by 250,000 people.

so, the numbers were big but they were potentially much bigger and i happen to think that the organisers of the funeral, working with the family, did their best to maintain the public health standards but i will accept absolutely that it is very difficult when people come out onto the pavement, onto the streets, to pay tribute to someone, and we seen it in other instances. that becomes extremely challenging, not least in terms of social distancing. let us think about what you did and the impact of it. 0ne unionist commentator said it was in effect a state funeral for gerry adams‘ loyal right—hand man at the top of the ira. he said it was a state funeral organised in a state within a state. you are the leader of sinn fein. you chose to go. you wanted to be the leader of the republic of ireland. you wanted to be taoiseach. if you had managed to become taoiseach, would you still have gone to the funeral? yes, i would. bobby was, apart from anything else, a person i counted as a friend.

he was a person i respected deeply and held in very high esteem and high affection. why would i not have gone? as to the unionist commentary... what message? what message... as for the message about it being a state in a state, that message is, quite frankly, rubbish. it was a funeral of a very well known, prominent person. it was also the funeral of a husband, father and grandfather. and there was, and remains, a grieving family in the midst of this scenario. bobby happened to be extremely, exceptionally popular and that's why people came out, notjust sinn fein people, by the way, but the people of west belfast and belfast more generally to clap him on and to give him a send off. they loved him. that's it. i'm just wondering what many people in ireland would make of a leader who wants to lead the country, who also thinks it's entirely acceptable to go to the funeral and laud and ira man, who many see as having the blood of dozens of people on his hands.

well, i'm not sure that people see that. i would challenge you on that. but i would also say to you that the entire logic of the irish peace process was to create a forum and a platform for inclusive politics, and that means everybody being involved in a political route, and that includes former combatants, republican, loyalist and unionist, and state actors by the way. so, the fact that somebody like bobby storey was involved in politics and a political programme, i would suggest to you is the measure of the success of our peace process and nothing else. i asked you if you were really coming clean about your relationship with the ira in sinn fein right now. you said you were. what do you make of the fact that the irish police chief appears to believe that actually the military command of the ira is still calling the shots over people like you, the political leadership

of sinn fein? well, that's wrong and i can assure you that anybody who knows me or has had any dealings with me will absolutely appreciate that i'm not somebody who allows others to call the shots for me or overwhelm myjudgement or my actions. the report that you refer to actually said the following: "intelligence reported from former ira persons unnamed, that they believed that that was the case." so it is... we have an expression in irish in our own language, and it goes... she speaks irish. "a woman told me that a woman told her." and that's the quality of that particular allegation. it's false, it's wrong. the commissioner stands over the report in which that content features — and i'm not surprised at that — i mean, he was in the psni

at the time, and i respect he will defend that position. but bear in mind, i'm the leader of sinn fein and i speakfor myself and i'm accountable for my actions and i'm a very clear—headed single—minded individual and nobody pulls my strings, stephen, i can assure you. well...but the point is how much authority have you got? you said that one of your own key politicians in the north of ireland, conor murphy, was going to retract words that he issued years ago about the murder of a 21—year—old in northern ireland, and he had said that 21—year—old had been involved in criminal activity and smuggling. he went on to deny he'd ever said it, but the tapes show he did say it. you, in the midst of a controversy about this this spring, said you would force conor murphy to retract his words. he hasn't retracted his words. it suggests to me that people like him don't actually take your authority that seriously. well, i think you're stretching things by quite a level there. why?

in that case, conor withdrew the remarks that he had made in respect of that unfortunate young man who lost his life so brutally many years ago... no, no, he did not retract in the way that you said he would. can ijust remind you, and if you've researched the matter, you will know this — that similarly, a former taoiseach and former prime minister in dublin had similarly made remarks similar to what conor had said, and he also withdrew them. that's where that matter stands, and i am very hopeful that the quinn family will meet with conor at some stage, because i do believe that where hurt has been caused, that those matters need to be mended to the best of our ability, and it proves challenging at times, but nonetheless, it's an important matter. well, some would say that your words are more emollient and are better at bridge building than other senior figures in your party, which again, brings back the question of your authority.

just one more question on that. francie molloy, a sinn fein mp — another senior voice in the party. he tweeted this month: "we were sold a pup with the good friday agreement. no commitment there from either dublin or ireland to deliver for nationalists or republicans. it was all just a bluff." is francie molloy‘s contempt for the good friday agreement shared by you? no, and in fairness to francie, i think he was articulating a frustration that i've heard from a number of people, from nationalists, north and south, and it's this that the political establishment, whether in london or dublin, content that now is not the time to talk about unity, now is not the time to set out, as they should, the criteria for the calling of the border poll, and i won't mislead you that has caused a level of frustration amongst people.

but it brings us back to the basic point — you're not in power. micheal martin is currently in power, sharing power with leo varadkar. they've both made it plain that they think your view of when a border poll might happen is completely unrealistic and deeply divisive, and the truth is if you look at polls today, sinn fein is no longer the most popular party in the republic of ireland, and the government is deemed to be doing well on the most important pressing issue of all, which is handling covid—i9. your moment appears to have passed. well, see, the wonderful thing about a democracy and about political life is that, you know, we set out our stall, political leaders rival, political actors make all sorts of assertions and will have their debates, and then the people decide. and that's at the core of the journey to irish reunification. the people will, ultimately, call this one. it is entirely legitimate and it is entirely in accordance with and in keeping

with the good friday agreement to say out loud we want a united ireland, we want an end to the partition of our island, which has been so injurious to our social, political and economic fortunes, and we want to talk about that, and, yes, we want a referendum. but you know better than i that right now there is more to politics than just talking about a border poll, and the irish people, like all others, have had to struggle with covid—i9. and the fact is if you look at the impact on ireland, the central bank has just warned that the crisis is going to blow a 20 billion euro plus hole in the state's finances, growth is gone, the economy might shrink by 8.3%, half a million jobs may be lost. ireland's economic crisis is as deep as most countries, and yet sinn fein is still wedded to a massive, massive spending plan on healthcare, on 100,000 new homes. isn't it time for sinn fein to wake up and smell the coffee and realise that the programme you took to the irish people is no longer

relevant post—covid ? well, we're wide awake and it's a long time since we smelt the coffee and, in fact, the covid emergency highlights the absolute imperative and urgency to deliver those very things that we discussed in the course of the election campaign. with whose money, mary lou mcdonald ? i know, you raised the issue of housing, and let me address it. we have a housing crisis on the island, we've a whole generation locked out of home ownership, we have people who can't make their rent, who have no prospect of a secure roof over their head, we've people living in awful overcrowded conditions, and one of the lessons of this public health emergency is that not alone is a secure roof over your head a human right and a democratic right, it's also a public health imperative, because your home now is your shelter, it's the place where you self—isolate. it's all about stimulus, it's about repairing economies through growth. ireland's not unique in that,

farfrom it, and sinn fein is certainly not unique, although we were very much ahead of the pack in recommending and advancing that type of economic recovery long before others. but the proposition, surely, is that a time of covid—i9 crisis with the reality of brexit and the end of the transition looming at the end of this year, what the irish people appear to believe and want right now is the stability of this grand coalition they've got rather than the radicalism and the uncertainty that might come with sinn fein. that is a political landscape you're going to have to adapt to. well, i mean, you're making an assertion there that, certainly, i would contest. i would suggest to you that the government that we got was certainly not the government that many, many people envisaged or voted for. but the truth is also that irish people expect that the basics are gotten right, they expect that they can have decent public

services to rely on, they except that they have stable, secure work and a decent level of income. not to live an extravagant lifestyle, but to live a decent and a good life, and i believe that all of those things are deliverable and i would suggest to you if they're not deliverable, if there are people in political life who say that those things are a bridge too far, that those are ambitions that are too high for working people, well, then i would suggest to them that they shouldn't be in political life, and if you're not in government to deliver those things, well, then i think you've no business in government. final very quick point — do you think your window of opportunity, your moment has slipped through your fingers? no, i think we'rejust beginning, and i think there are those who would say to you for purely self—interest that the moment of change has gone in ireland, that it's over, but i would say by response, well, watch this space because it's onlyjust beginning. mary lou mcdonald in dublin, thanks very much forjoining

me on hardtalk. thank you. hello there. the heat is continuing to build across much of the country. it's going to be a short—lived heat because the wind direction changes again by the weekend. but a southerly breeze on thursday and bags of sunshine in the south lifted temperatures to 30 degrees around london. further north, you can see much more cloud where there is some rain too, only 16 in the central area for scotland. that rain is moving away and we have clearing skies and we start with these temperatures, 17 in liverpool, 18 in london, 20 or so

in the channel islands where the heat is coming from. we are drawing all of that heat from france out over the channel, heading its way northwards across much of the country. that heat comes ahead of a weather front here, which is slowly pushing in western areas through the day. so, it is not going to be hot everywhere, northern ireland likely to miss out, for example, because on that weatherfront, we have a narrow band of cloud that is going to bring some patchy rain and some of that cloud will head into the western fringes of scotland, into the west coast of wales and the far southwest of england. but ahead of that, lots of sunshine, more of a breeze perhaps for a time, but southerly and southeasterly breeze and the heat pushes northwards in the scotland. much warmer day in scotland. 28 degrees possible, widely 29, 30 degrees across england and east wells, 3a around the london area. across england and east wales, 3a around the london area. but you may notice the cloud developing into the afternoon and late in the day and into the evening, there could be showers heading across eastern parts of england

and those are likely to be heavy and thundery too. the rain coming in from that band of cloud is very light and patchy area and it sweeps eastwards overnight and patchy and it sweeps eastwards overnight and out of the way by the start of the weekend. but we push away all of that heat towards germany and we introduce the atlantic breezes coming in and that means cooler and fresher air. over the weekend, there'll be some sunshine and a few showers, but you can see here on saturday that there are not too many showers, many places will be fine and dry. you will notice a cooler and fresher feel. still, very pleasant for the eastern side of england with highs of 25 in the southeast. for the second half of the weekend, you get a fairly gentle westerly breeze for much of the country, most of the showers in the northwest of the uk, cloud amounts increasing across england and wales. but again, it is cooler and fresher throughout sunday and those temperatures continuing to slip away and this time, we're looking at higher temperatures in the southeast, around 22 celsius.

hello there.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm david eades. president trump now says he doesn't want a delay to november's election but believes postal voting will cause problems. i don't want to delay, i want to have the election. but i also don't want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the ballots are all missing and the election doesn't mean anything. europe's coronavirus spikes — now millions in england are told they shouldn't visit other people's homes. canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, denies a conflict of interest after a charity with links to his family gets a lucrative government contract. idid not

i did not influence the public service to