they wiped the door handles before we entered. everything was absolutely perfect. la rochelle is preparing for a second wave of this pandemic, without ever really being hit by the first one. but with more than 140 active clusters in france, the risk of a wider spread is real, and predicting waves is no easy task, as any surfer knows. lucy williamson, bbc news, la rochelle. that's it. 00:00:38,774 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 newsnight is coming up

hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. hello to viewers in the uk joining those around the world. it's now time for us to take a first look at the national and international front pages in the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be

bringing us tomorrow. with me isjournalist from the wall streetjournal, anna isaac — and the editor of london playbook at politico, jack blanchard. tomorrow's front pages, starting with. .. the mirror carries a warning from scientists that the uk's test and trace system is not good enough to prevent a second — and worse — coronavirus wave in the winter. british people have been more willing to take part in the government's meal discount scheme, which started today, than to return to the office. that's according to the the daily mail. the telegraph focuses on claims that russian hackers stole trade papers from the email account of liam fox, a conservative mp. the same story makes the front page of the guardian. but the newspaper also carries a picture of the nobel peace prize winner and prominent northern ireland politician, john hume, who has died aged 83. the financial times leads on a slump in profits at hsbc, as europe's biggest bank grapples

with the coronavirus crisis as well tensions between the us and china. a different story in the new york times. it looks at how the return home of thousands of ethiopian migrant labourers, is putting a strain on the country's medical system. and, according to the daily express, gps are to be told not to prescribe common painkillers to millions of people. so let's begin... welcome to you both again. anna, let's start off at the figaro, along with other international papers picking up on the new battle really, between china and the united states over tick—tock. and donald trumps targeting of that company. yes absolutely. tick—tock of course

being the video app where you post short videos that's wildly popular particularly amongst younger people. now there's app belongs to a company, a chinese company called bite dance. and there are concerns among us officials that the company may be sharing data from its us users with the government. they tried to find a solution for this. and the solution is to potentially sell the us arm of tick—tock to microsoft. but this deals come under a lot of scrutiny from the white house. a very mixed messages out of the white house this weekend about whether or not they would support a deal with microsoft or not. the latest story is that president trump would support a deal and he's given a deadline of i think, 15th of december the two parties to arrive at wand that he might find acceptable. there's a couple of very big things to bear in mind. china may not like this bifurcation of a an important social media company

and there are signals to suggest there may be opposition from the chinese government. secondly, donald trump said there needs to be a significant win for the us government. money generated from the deal us government needs to benefit from that as well. which raises the question how he would legislate for that. jack, this could be another i’ow that. jack, this could be another row between london and washington. because apparently number ten might be prepared to allow tick—tock to have their headquarters in london. certainly a conversation that's been happening for some time. because it rather feels like the whole uk, china relationship is in flux right i'iow. china relationship is in flux right now. was a very long ago the government were recommended allowing hallway to pass our g network. now they've come at the sands are shifting. geopolitically in this relationship. tick—tock seems to be the latest on the battlefront in

this much bigger cold war. so whether the uk wants to press ahead with this proposal or idea of having tick—tock headquartered in london it remains to be seen. we haven't had a very clear answer out of number ten today. but it's pretty clear that the uk did go ahead they will definitely feel the wrath of washington. as we saw with wally reeves sustained pressure from washington —— while way. that quickly force a u—turn from the government. you can certainly imagine that happening after what we've seen this year. anna, when you look at the two companies while way and bite dance, is bite dance seem more benign for want of a better word. as far as number ten is concerned. i think that may be a by—product of the way we think about it in terms of media coverage or in terms of what we traditionally would associate with international espionage. of course, as were looking at other stories in the

paper we are seeing social media play an increasingly important role. we should regard that as part of our telecommunications infrastructure this same way we consider sg. certainly from a security point of view they absolutely do. we look at russia in terms of the spread of misinformation on social media according to the recent reports. we should also regard tick—tock in the same way for topic you talk to people within on both sides of the atla ntic people within on both sides of the atlantic and across the network. of course problems for companies caught in the crossfire. let's move the ft, jack. hsbc profits plummet 96% for top across hsbc based in london that isa top across hsbc based in london that is a vertiginous drop, is in a? yes it is. although i'm sure there will be tiny violins playing out in the country for not making big profits. as you might expect it this year it has pretty serious implications. it's a real canary in the coal mine

for the sake of the rest of the uk economy. a lot of this appears to be down to potentially default in the year and next year. a pretty big recession hits home this is not a good sign for the uk. as you say, it's also an interesting story. because hsbc is absolutely at the nexus of this west versus china issue which is clearly going to dominate much of the century. we saw hsbc come out in support of china's new laws in hong kong last month. which was widely condemned by western government, western customers. hsbc is in a hugely difficult position trying to sit between these two warring sides. anna, so much for a v—shaped recovery. i think the bank itself looking to make 35,000 job cuts itself. yes. jack is absolutely

right when he talks about banks being the ca nary right when he talks about banks being the canary in the coal mine here. that's because when this loan d efa u lts here. that's because when this loan defaults people might just here. that's because when this loan defaults people mightjust think very rich bankers there. those are businesses going under. those are people not being able to pay their mortgages. when it's a bad time for banks that is often the metric that investors consider when they are looking at the wider state of their portfolio. they are going to move assets because they know the banking sector is thinking of what's to come. so when banks are setting a large amount of money aside for loa ns large amount of money aside for loans that is often much more important for investors than the actual profits themselves. that 96% drop is quite troubling. i kind of expected. what investors are really looking at is the side of bad loans. when seeing a string of bank earnings over recent weeks. those figures have been in norma's and very, very worrying for the future of lending. let's move onto the daily telegraph. we've all been told to lose weight. this coinciding with

the economic stimulus, eat out to out. would you like economics and the list serve with that as well? that is a huge burger. jack. it is a huge burger. you can also get the discounts on green salads and fruits and things like that. although how many people are doing that remains to be seen. it does feel, it was a well—received idea when veggies soon act announces the last month that you'd be able to get big discounts on dining out through the month of august on days when people often don't eat out, monday, tuesdays and wednesdays. it was well received by the sec. it was an imaginative idea by the treasury to encourage people to start going out again. problem is, in the weeks that have preceded sense that announcement we've seen the virus coming back in this country, for the lockdown, new quarantine announcements and that optimism has suddenly drifted away. we've also seen borisjohnson

touting as all that we need to lose weight was up suddenly there's announcement now but it's finally kicking in fails rather like it jars with everything else. that'sjust a sign of how fast—moving this crisis is. it's very difficult for the government to keep up. actually the metro pointing out rishi, to snacks. hunters scoffing, fantastic words, double meals on eat out deals. including one in newcastle, jumbo burger, fries, chicken strips and an ice cream dessert. you can get two for 20 quid. yeah, i thinkjobs absolutely right when he points out the contradictory messages you're getting. equally it's a fine balance. there was a bit of fuss about this when it was first announced because the treasury refused to sign are saying it wasn't quite value for money. it was kind of controversial policy from the off. now were seeing people boasting

about it in terms of social media saying i can't believe my luck i can get to portions for 50% off. i guess it's a difficult line. for some people this will be a morale boost, this will be feeling like everything has been pretty bleak for quite a few mods here's something that's a bit of a park that i feel like it's also helping my local restaurant. 0n the other hand, you have people that are dealing with shielding at the moment and some quite conflicting advice depending on the area they are living in. that might feel that it's sort of literally and figuratively bad taste. because they are still not quite sure how safe it is for them to go about what would've been doraville activities. versus they are neighbours who are celebrating the fact that they can get two burgers. jack, let's go on to the eye. the main photograph on the front page people eating out on that scheme today. about that, the headline having virus may earn the right to roam. they are quoting government scientific advisers saying that perhaps if you had it

the antibodies suggest europe must lead slightly to be infectious. but i wasn't clear. i don't know how clear you were having read this for so many weeks and months now. whether these antibodies to give the protection that seems to be suggested here? and for how long? the truth is we don't have a final answer on that yet. this of course isa answer on that yet. this of course is a new virus that's only been around for seven or eight months. we are still learning about it all the time. nota are still learning about it all the time. not a scientific consensus yet on how much if any immunity having had the virus perhaps gives you for how long? there is no consensus on that. we just don't know. what they do now is what happens with other coronaviruses in almost always it confers some level of immunity on you for at least a short time. so the scientists are now discussing, could there be a case that tested positive in the past? now we have much more testing and more reliable testing what those people don't have

to quarantine a second time. i think particularly as we look into the winter, at the moment there aren't very