good morning. welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and louise minchin. our headlines today... just one day before a—level results are out the government has rewritten the rules for pupils in england. students are told they can use their mock exam grades if they're unhappy with their a—level scores. the deepest drop in to recession for hundreds of years. in the next hour, we expect confirmation that the economy shrunk by more than 20% between april and june. what does that mean for you? the first black woman to run for vice president of the united states. kamala harris is chosen to be joe biden‘s running mate for this year's election.

he's walked 700 miles with no shoes and socks, but today major chris brannigan can finally put his sore feet up as he completes his epicjourney. it's european heartbreak for wolves. they were knocked out of the europa league in the quarter—finals by spanish side sevilla. good morning. it's been another hot, humid night. we've had some big showers and thunderstorms. in the heatwave is set to continue for at least another day. temperature is set to continue for at least another day. temperatures again expected up in the mid—305. but be prepared for some severe dowi'ipoui's. in the mid—305. but be prepared for some severe downpours. i will have all the details throughout the programme. it's wednesday 12 august. our top story: just 2a hours before a—level results are released students have been told they might be able to use their mock exam scores if they're unhappy with the grades they receive. after coming under pressure to follow scotland's lead in upgrading the results, the government has come up with a range of options for those

pupils in england who feel they've been treated unfairly. our education correspondent dan johnson explains. with exam hall standing silent this summer, the life chances of a generation are instead to be determined by estimated grades, awarded by teachers but then moderated, standardised and potentially downgraded. listen to the worries of those who are expecting their results tomorrow. my biggest fears are that e grades i get will not be a representation of what i would have been capable of, had i sat the exams. i'm concerned that universities will not take me in. my independent ability is going to be underestimated by the standardisation method. what we want... scottish students protested after 75,000 had their results

downgraded last week. when it became clear the poorest were hit hardest, the man in charge apologised and reinstated the original estimates. we set out to ensure the system was fair, we set out to ensure it was credible, but we did not get it right for all young people. before i go any further, i want to apologise for that. it makes a big difference going forward because i can focus on schoolwork this year and university, rather than being doubtful of my results in the past. it's really motivated me for this year. and without putting scottish results overall up 14% on last year, there we re overall up 14% on last year, there were calls for the same to apply to stu d e nts were calls for the same to apply to students in the rest of the uk. the u—turn from the scottish government shows us the system was flawed and was further entrenching education inequality and it was the right

move. i hope to see it reflected across the uk. last night, officials in northern ireland promised broader grounds for appeal. students in england will now face three choices. sticking with the estimated moderated great tomorrow, sitting an exa m moderated great tomorrow, sitting an exam in the autumn are appealing to get the results from their mock exams instead. these are major last—minute changes, further complicating a pivotal moment for many young people who already face difficult decisions, clouded by uncertainty. dan johnson, bbc difficult decisions, clouded by uncertainty. danjohnson, bbc news. joining us now is our political correspondent jonathan blake. so many questions. more on the detail later, but why the late change? good morning, louise. i think the fact the government has made this change and made it now gives us the sense they are scrambling to head off a crisis and that was real concern that the

situation we saw unfold in scotland we re situation we saw unfold in scotland were so many students had their grades revised down and the outcry over that could well have happened in england as well. and this has come after significant political pressure on the government as well. the labour leader sir keir starmer warning last night that the government risks robbing a generation of their future unless changes were made. now they say this might help but it won't go far enough to ensure students get the grades they deserve. students in england will only be able to add their mock exam grades used as their final grades if the appeal against the grades they are given. pleasing everyone, being fair to everyone, is ha rd everyone, being fair to everyone, is hard enough at the best of times with exam results. all but impossible given that students haven't taken their impossible given that students haven't ta ken their exams impossible given that students haven't taken their exams this year due to coronavirus. and at every stage, with the government's response to the pandemic, whether it's over public safety or the economy, the actions of ministers

have had a huge impact. here, they have had a huge impact. here, they have the career prospects and potentially life chances of entire groups of young people in their hands. the stakes could scarcely be higher. absolutely. jonathan, thank you very much indeed for that. we are conscious that there are lots of things people want to know this morning. how this will work and what the impact is. at 7:30am we'll hear from schools minister nick gibb. the announcement came late last night. more on that story as we get it. there's more negative economic news expected this morning and lots of talk of the r—word — recession. nina is with us. the figures don't look good. 7am, we will get an update

on the state of the economy. it's called gdp — and it's the value of all of our goods and services, everything we make and do. in healthy economic times, it continues to grow every month, when it gets smaller for two sets of three months period in a row then we are in recession. today's update covers april. june, peak lockdown, it won't surprise anyone —june, peak lockdown, it won't surprise anyone that the economy is expected to have shrunk significantly, by more than 20%. it makes sense we weren't making or doing or spending anything. to give you some context over the recession that followed the 2008 crash the economy shrank by 6%. a 20% dip would be the sharpest for hundreds of years but the severity of a recession is often judged by length rather than depth. but there are so many unknowns at the moment — local lockdowns, perhaps second spikes, socially

distanced working — really ha rd to predict how it will end. the numbers are at 7am. i'll be hearing from businesses at 6:30am. thanks, nina. the us democratic presidential candidatejoe biden has named california's senator kamala harris as his running mate for the forthcoming november election. the 55—year—old former state prosecutor is the first black woman to run for vice president in us history. we can speak to our north america correspondent david willis who is in california. david, good morning. tell us more about kamala harris. and how significant this appointment is? well, it significant for a number of reasons, not least the fact that if joe biden wins the presidential election here in a couple of months' time then kamala harris will be the first female vice president in us history. and given thatjoe biden

will be 78 at the time of the inauguration next year, a lot of people are saying that he probably won't choose to serve a second term and that would leave kamal harris is one of the frontrunners, perhaps the front runner, to lead her party into the election four years from now. i understand we are getting a bit of ahead of ourselves just now. what she brings to the ticket right now isa she brings to the ticket right now is a chance to build support amongst the african—american community, a community that has traditionally been very loyal to the democrats, at a time when there is growing concern about racial inequality in this country. african americans are seen as crucial to some of the key battle ground states that will decide the outcome of the election. she is also, of course, had the benefit of also, of course, had the benefit of a yea rs also, of course, had the benefit of a years worth of campaign experience. she ran for the democratic nomination and proved herself a feisty debater, at one stage locking sword withjoe biden herself. she is a former public

prosecutor, a political centralist, already the trump campaign are seeking to portray her as a radical left winger. she will appear injoe biden's home state of delaware later today. thank you very much. new zealand's largest city has gone back into lockdown after four new coronavirus cases were recorded in auckland. it marks the end of a 102—day streak without a local infection in the country. we can get more on this now from our correspondent shaimaa khalil in sydney. tell us about these cases first of all. good morning, louise. four community transmission cases confirmed in auckland, enough to put the whole city back into level three lockdown. these numbers globally are minute but in a new zealand context, they are a big setback for a country

that only marked the 100 days without covid—19 transmitted to cases only last week. those four cases only last week. those four cases are confirmed in one family and now we also have four probable cases linked to them as well. two major things are concerning health ca re major things are concerning health care workers in new zealand at the moment, one is that they don't know the source of the infection at the moment which means more cases could be detected. the other concern is that two members of that family have travelled to a tourist town in the north island. health officials are scrambling to find out where exactly they went. all of the city of auckland is in level three lockdown. people are being told to stay at home and wear masks if necessary. police have set up roadblocks. we know the country is gearing up for elections. that is still up in the air. the prime minister has told her

tea m air. the prime minister has told her team of 5 million not to be disheartened, but this is a disappointing turn for a country that was seen as curbing the virus and at one point eliminating it. thank you. a third night of demonstrations has rocked the belarusian capital of minsk as protesters clashed with heavily—armed police. the rallies began after president alexander lukashenko won a sixth term in office in a disputed election on sunday. 0ur correspondent abdujalil abdurasulov followed the protests on the streets of the capital. another night, another protest in belarus. it's day three of the disputed presidential elections. and this is how authorities here respond to any kind of dissent. riot police are using tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd that has gathered here on the streets of minsk. people refuse to leave even though

it's very tense here. people continue to gather spontaneously for nightly rallies despite the total internet blackout. alleged fraud in sunday's collection is fuelling anger here. translation: i want all of our votes to be counted. votes shouldn't just disappear. people shouldn't just disappear. the riot police are coming. we have to leave. earlier in the day, our team was attacked by men dressed in black who appeared to be security forces. we showed our media accreditation in one of the officers ripped our colleague's card from around her neck. when we demanded it to be returned, one of them lashed out with his baton. protesters were constantly changing locations to make it harder to disperse them.

but riot police chase them wherever they went. and when they caught up with three protesters, this is what happened. people in apartment blocks booed and swore at the officers. someone even threw a piece of furniture at them. after several hours of cat and mouse, the streets turned calmer. the protesters are gone but they vowed to return again tomorrow. abdujalil abdurasulov, bbc news, minsk. the american ice cream company ben and jerry's has been caught up in a row with the home secretary over her response to migrants crossing the english channel. the brand urged her and others to show humanity to those making the journey, adding that people

cannot be illegal. a home office source said ms patel is working night and day to end small boat crossings, and called the ice cream company overpriced junk food. an army major whose daughter suffers from a rare genetic disease will complete his barefoot walk — sometimes run — from lands end to edinburgh today. major chris brannigan set off on the 700 mile hike without wearing shoes and socks to raise funds for research into his daughter's rare illness. he says he's raised over £480,000. if you were watching yesterday, you'll have heard us talking about ethel the emu, who was on the run in doncaster. well, the six—foot bird is now home safe and sound, according to a friend of her owner. after eluding police and the rspca for six days she was found near a primary school in doncaster. if you had spotted ethel, you really

would have done a double—take! is this a proportion thing? is chicken thatis this a proportion thing? is chicken that is very close! all is safe and well, so that's good. we're due to hear more this morning about the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, and it's warned that young people could be some of the hardest hit. breakfast‘s tim muffett has been getting the thoughts from some of those who could be impacted, as they consider their options for the future. being a young adult in 2020 is no walk in the park. looming recession, cancelled exams, a shrinking jobs market. jowon hopes to start an apprenticeship with an investment bank in september but she will need the right a—level grades tomorrow. with the grading situation, we are graded on something we didn't do. and if we take that to an employer, unless it was a really bad grade,

that's not a representation of me and my abilities in my capabilities. there are some grim predictions over levels of unemployment. even if she gets her apprenticeship, juwon worries for her friends. i'm hoping that the whole labour market will change but i know it'll be very hard right now, and my fears is it'll be four fears he will be in my year and they're trying to go to university, it's going to be very difficult for them. it sounds an anxious time. is it? definitely. some adults pity us but they're not understanding the effect it is having on us. literally at home and i've been sitting at home thinking what grades will i be getting? creative industries are facing enormous challenges. catherine is studying make—up for film and television. her btec exams have practical elements and have had to be to spend her btec exams have practical elements and had had to be postponed, so no results for her tomorrow. it is frustrating that we are young and going through this. very frustrating. barber shops and stuff,

they're all allowed to open, they've got clear guidelines, wearing visors and stuff like that. whereas, being a make—up artist, you have to touch the face, don't you? so... they are unclear on how we can actually perform safely. a lot of the girls in my class, they are supposed to be coming out, doing jobs now they should have started jobs now but obviously because of the situation we are in there is probably not going to be manyjobs for them at the minute anyway. it's a weird kind of nervousness because we haven't done exams so we can't be worried about anything we've done. it's more stressing about how we've done throughout the whole year and how our teachers are going to predict our grades come thursday. with the right a—level grades, ciaran will be studying law at university college london. i'm quite worried because the legal industry is becoming more and more saturated. and entering into recession, i'm not sure whether firms will keep taking the same number of interns as they usually do. if i struggle to find an internship, then i might struggle to find a job in the city in future. as a teenager, adam had dreams of becoming a professional footballer, but it wasn't to be.

i'm currently looking for work, didn't go the educational route. my interests are to get into the media industry. i haven't quite found my niche yet. i'm still on a journey to find what exactly i'm most passionate about because i do have a lot of passions. all the jobs i want specifically, i feel like i don't have any guidance to get there. if i could wave a magic wand, if there was a miracle, i would love to have a stable job that i love, just like everyone else. i want to be doing what i love to do. first steps into adult life are rarely trouble—free but, in 2020, thatjourney seems more challenging than ever. tim muffett, bbc news. as we've been hearing this morning, things are changing for results in england, apparently? so we will get more details on that throughout the morning here on breakfast. let's take a look at today's papers. the front page of the scottish mail

asks if anyone will pay for what it describes as exam chaos, as the scottish education secretary john swinney defies calls to quit. even though they have changed the way that exams will be assessed in scotla nd way that exams will be assessed in scotland and are changing certificates. the guardian leads with a picture of senator kamala harris, who democratjoe biden has named as his vice—presidential running mate. mr biden describes her as a fearless fighter for the little guy and one of the country's greatest public servants. she is the first black woman and asian—american to run in the post. pupils given second shot at success in a levels, is the times headline. the paper reports that education secretary gavin williamson announced last night that students would have their a level grades improved if their mock results were better. 1 million jobs lost and worst to come, is the daily mirror's top story, which reports that official figures out today are expected to confirm that britain is in recession for the first time since 2008.

a couple of thoughts that might have resonance with a lot of people at the moment, we're talking a lot about the weather in the past few days and the heat, the night—time heat particularly, so this is a picture, it's from susannah constantine, she took a picture of herself sleeping out in the garden in order to stay cool. everyone is trying to work out how they can stay cool in what have been exceptionally warm night—time temperatures. and very still and very warm, despite the recent storms. so a lot of people are struggling with sleep at the moment. we will try to get some pictures of the electric storms later. any tips on how to get to sleep in the heat, let us know. new species of dinosaur has been

found related to the fearsome tyrannosaurus rex, found on the isle of wight. four metres long. four bones were discovered last year at the seaside resort of shanklin, after they were told not to bother because there will be nothing to find. persistence pays! stick to yourguns! for the first time in us history, a black woman has been chosen as a presidential running mate ahead of this year's election in the states. the democratic candidatejoe biden announced he'd appointed the role to senator kamala harris meaning she would be the vice president if the democrats defeated donald trump and the republicans in november. julia manchester, political correspondent for the hill, joins us now from washington. good morning to you, julia. joe

biden has made a significant appointment, hasn't he? can you give us appointment, hasn't he? can you give us the big picture as to why this person at this time with her character and what she's done in the past and the way the polls are, why is it such an important appointment? this appointment is incredibly significant because kamal harris, the senator from california, significant because kamal harris, the senatorfrom california, is significant because kamal harris, the senator from california, is the first black woman in history to be ona first black woman in history to be on a vice presidential ticket. she is the first indian american woman to have a place on a presidential ticket. history making in itself. she is the daughter ofjamaican and indian immigrants, something that i think speaks volumes at the moment as we see a lot of debate in the united states over the issue of immigration. so definitely a historic choice. going forward and looking at kamala harris's history with joe looking at kamala harris's history withjoe biden, looking at kamala harris's history

with joe biden, i looking at kamala harris's history withjoe biden, i think it significant because we saw them spa just a year ago on the debate stage over the issue of desegregation in the 1970s and his then stance on that issue. joe biden's late son, beau biden, served as attorney general of delaware at the same time as kamala harris served as attorney general of california. what does she bring to the democratic campaign that was missing? quite a bit of experience, i would say. 0bviously vice presidentjoe biden does have that experience, but she has experience from a legal side. she was a prosecutor in california, then attorney general, she served as senator from california, attorney general, she served as senatorfrom california, being elected just four years ago in 2016. so she has that legal experience she is bringing. initially, iwould so she has that legal experience she is bringing. initially, i would say this is a big generational boost to

the ticket. vice president biden is 77 years old, senator harris is 55 yea rs old 77 years old, senator harris is 55 years old and are seen as one of the fresher faces of the party. joe biden is approaching his 80s. there isa biden is approaching his 80s. there is a lot of doubt that if you were to win in november whether he would run for to win in november whether he would runfora to win in november whether he would run for a second term, so she is being seen as an heir apparent. run for a second term, so she is being seen as an heir apparentm has been claimed that the campaign from joe biden has been a low profile. do you think she will take a bigger profile in the democratic campaign? i think it depends on what you mean by bigger profile. kamala harris has proved to be a vital fundraiserfor vice president harris has proved to be a vital fundraiser for vice president biden and has worked with other democratic

candidates. when she launched her campaign, thousands of people came to her event. she has the star power. but i don't think you will see the same kind of rock star event on the democratic side in the age of coronavirus. they preach the idea of caution and paying attention to public health guidelines. instead, i think you will see kamala harris being put on a number of virtual campaign events, whether that is zuma fundraisers. she is scheduled to appear with one tomorrow. she has been able to connect over a virtual platform. julia, good to talk to you. speaking to us from washington. you are watching bbc breakfast.

still to come... reaction to the latest changes for students expecting their a—level results. we'll hopefully get some clarity and answers to your questions from the schools minister nick gibb just after 7:30am. i know so many of you will be really concerned about getting the facts on what is happening. we'll also bring you the latest news and sport. if you are just waking if you arejust waking up, you if you are just waking up, you will be aware that it was very hot overnight! in the south, it was another tropical night. temperatures have not fallen below 20 degrees for some have not fallen below 20 degrees for some others. with all that heat come some energy some others. with all that heat come some energy in the atmosphere which has created some big thunderstorms around. the recent heatwave is continuing for at least one more day. we've had five consecutive

days, with temperatures over 34 celsius. that is believed to be unprecedented here in the uk. we had five of those tropical nights so far this year with temperatures above 20 degrees all night. not only has it been very hot, it's also been very dry. some parts of the south have seen no rainfall at all for two weeks, combined with very high temperatures as well. thunderstorms have been rattling overnight. this picture comes from one of our weather watchers in stoke—on—tre nt. many of us have herd rumbles of thunder overnight and it has been very hot and humid as well. torrential showers have been particularly heavy over eastern scotland. here, the met office have issued an amber warning for thunderstorms over the next few hours until 9am. those storms could well bring a risk of flash flooding as well as power cuts across the region. large hail and torrential showers and thunderstorms as well, particularly for the east of scotland. many of us will see

thunderstorms through the course of today. it will feel hot and humid as well. some sunshine on offer. like re ce nt well. some sunshine on offer. like recent days, things will heat up. low cloud, mr and recent days, things will heat up. low cloud, mrand park recent days, things will heat up. low cloud, mr and park drifting recent days, things will heat up. low cloud, mrand park drifting in over north—eastern coast. the heaviest of the thunderstorms would be easing from north—eastern scotland through the afternoon, but some scotland through the afternoon, but some heavier ones further south could prop up. northern ireland looking mostly dry through the day. temperatures could be a degree so lower than temperatures could be a degree so lowerthan in temperatures could be a degree so lower than in recent days, but one or two spots could see temperatures up or two spots could see temperatures up to about 34 celsius. so another hot day. heading on into the evening hours, more heavy showers and thunderstorms. you can see the green colours over southern england and wales overnight and into tomorrow morning. we are expecting temperatures to fall to about 20 degrees, so another tropical night and fairly uncomfortable for sleeping tonight in the south.

tomorrow, something slightly cooler on the cards, but still quite a humid day. some mist and work in the moist air mass with heavy showers and thunderstorms, especially over southern england and we are is, so expect flash flooding and large hail as well. temperatures probably staying just below 30 degrees for many of us as we head through the day tomorrow. things stay unsettled and turn cooler towards the end of the week. hello, this is breakfast with charlie stayt and louise minchin. it is 6:30am. we will bring all the latest news and sport in a moment but also on breakfast this morning... a 700—mile walk without shoes and socks sounds gruelling but that's what major chris brannigan has done to fund the research into his daughter's rare illness. we will hear from chris and his family on his final stretch just before 8am.

as thousands of scottish students have their exam results upgraded, we will speak again to straight—a student olivia whose dreams of medical school are back on. 12—year—old olympic hopeful emma has found a unique way to keep figure skating while the ice rinks are shut, by practising herjumps and spins on a retail car park. we will see her in action just before 9am. she looks very good! oh, spoke too soon. right let's get you up—to—date on the main news. just 24 hours before a—level results are released, students have been told they might be able to use their mock exam scores if they are unhappy with the grades they receive. after coming under pressure to follow scotland's lead in upgrading results, the government has come up with a range of options for pupils in england who feel they've been treated unfairly.

students in northern ireland will also be able to appeal and use their mock exam results, while the welsh government said they will not be upgrading marks. in about half an hour we are expecting confirmation in about half an hour we are uk's economy will be in recession for the first time since the financial crisis. nina will have a look ahead. we have half an hour until the official figures but the picture that has been painted is bleak. it is indeed in so many economic phrases and predictions around at the moment. 7am is really important. that is when the uk's top statistics teams will confirm the country is in recession. of course thatis country is in recession. of course that is no surprise but it'll be the first time in over a decade. what does that mean? we start with gdp or gross domestic product which is the sum of money that represents the

size of our entire economy. we calculate the value of all goods and services we produce and make and sell and what we are interested in is whether that is growing or decreasing. put simply, a recession means decreasing. put simply, a recession m ea ns two decreasing. put simply, a recession means two quarters or three month periods where the value of the gdp is going backwards. so, two make three—month periods in a row when the economy gets smaller. we already know the economy shrank by 2.2% between january and march which know the economy shrank by 2.2% betweenjanuary and march which was way before we felt the full force of lockdown and we already know april was the worst month ever and that may was bad but not as bad. we think there might have been a bounce back injune, we will find out at 7am. all in all we expect the fall to be at around 21%. the numbers are important, they are symbolic, but it doesn't explain what a recession feels like two businesses and people who have been through it. we spoke to two com pa ny

who have been through it. we spoke to two company bosses about what the recession has been like for them so farand recession has been like for them so far and how they feel about the future. when we started and the lockdown was happening, we were incredibly worried about what was going to happen. we had to stop trading since march, we haven't been able to open the doors for any events or weddings since then. we have a diversity of products which has helped us through this crisis and the benefit of that, exporting to different countries, we've managed to keep our turnover going. we have had a good year for us so we realise how lucky we are. we had from this year over 110 weddings that have postponed now already and obviously there are still some weddings hoping for better news for the end of the year but they are now not filled with confidence the situation will get better for them so it may be the fa ct better for them so it may be the fact that out of 150 weddings we will end up doing five. the cash

flow is the main point at the moment because we are not getting the cash m, because we are not getting the cash in, comedy revenue for the weddings, we would have had the venue hire, the bar sales and none of that is happening so it is having a big impact on business at the moment. the next year we are predicting this recession like everyone else and with the aerospace industry and the car industry which rely a lot on lubricants, we can see further slowdown coming so we are working ha rd slowdown coming so we are working hard to look at other markets to innovate to see it through but for our industry that can take 3—5 years. there's got to be a change at some point in the fact of the matter is not knowing we can't business plan effectively because if we knew something was going to improve, we've got the ability to move the business plan forward to see where we've got to go and where we need to be so we do need a route map for the

future to show where and how we can move forward. we actually acquired the business after the last recession in 2008. history told us from that side it went quiet for several months and then it picked up again. we will have to take it on the chin. in what rob has said is we have been here before. the question now is how long it'll last and how deep it'll be. the last two recessions, black wednesday in the 19905 recessions, black wednesday in the 1990s and the 2008 crash, there were five quarters of shrinking. in the last week we talked about the bank of england's predictions, a less deep but longer recession, at the moment they predict a return to growth in the autumn. what about getting back to the ground that has been lost? experts disagree. the bank of england is positive but other economists think it'll take shapes. the economy, will it go up a

hill slowly, or go into altitude quickly or could be a rocket heading to the level it was before? there is doubt around that. the answer is we just don't know. there are far too many variables and we will bring you the numbers at 7am and talk to some experts throughout the morning. you are easily led into a full sense of security because so many people on the furlough scheme, restaurants packed on monday and tuesday evenings but the prediction is the economy will start to grow again in the third quarter of the year which is when we will feel the full impact on unemployment, so not until the autumn time. charlie: that is a key issue and the statistics are one thing but what it feels like for people in the real world is a different thing altogether, thank you very much, nina. although many lockdown restrictions have eased in the past few weeks, some close contact beauty treatments — like facials, eyebrow threading and face waxing — still aren't allowed in england. but for some people going

to the salon is about more than just looking good and for those with medical conditions being unable to have these treatments is affecting every part of their life, as graham satchell reports. this is natasha. she's had alopecia, total hair loss, for 15 years. natasha was due to get new permanent eyebrows at her local beauty clinic but covid—19 regulations means no work can be done on any area of the face. as you can probably see, i've got none, hardly any left of what i had, but it was just the strip. but now they've developed into beautiful, natural—looking eyebrows with hair strips and things like that, which is what i was hoping to get done. some people might think, oh, you know, it'sjust eyebrows, just get on with it, it'll be fine. but it would personally make me feel a lot more confident about myself, and being confident does help your mental health, and it personally makes me feel a lot better. linda, natasha's beautician, says it has been heartbreaking not to be able to treat clients with serious conditions. cancer patients, you know,

who are undergoing chemotherapy, they come, they know they're going to lose their hair and their eyebrows and the one thing they want is eyebrows, you know? when they walk out of the door, we make them feel whole again. nicola and toria both have polycystic ovary syndrome. one of the symptoms is excessive facial hair growth. i am very, very self—conscious about the fact that you can see hair along the side of my face, under my chin, along the neck. it is very... it has impacted quite a lot. you almost don't feel like a woman inside your own body. because if you leave this hair to grow, you will grow a beard. both woman would normally have laser or wax treatment at a beauty clinic every two or three weeks. instead, they've been trying to manage their condition at home. i have resulted in shaving my face,

which has caused the hair to grow back worse. it's thicker, it's darker. so, it's not pleasant. i do feel it has impacted my anxiety levels a lot, and my depression has reared its head again. i got into such a deep, dark place mentally that i couldn't cope. you walk down the street, someone looks at you and they go, she's got a beard, she's got a moustache. that's very difficult. hi, darling, lovely to see you! take a seat on the bed. in manchester, paye davis reopened her clinic last month when some of the lockdown restrictions were relaxed. she has taken extra hygiene and safety precautions but says she doesn't understand why men can get their beards trimmed but facial treatments for women are still not allowed.

when we laser somebody‘s face, it takes under two minutes and we stand to the side of them, as opposed to, for example, a beard trim, where the barber stands directly in front of their client and trims and it can take up to 20 minutes to do that. to me, it is sexist. and that is a word that i've not used for about 20 years. and i can't believe that in 2020 i am sat in my clinic talking about being discriminated in a way that is clearly sexist. the government in westminster will decide next week if clinics will be allowed to start facial treatments. for thousands of women like natasha, nichola and toria, it is not a frivolous luxury but a vital service. graham satchell, bbc news. the time now is 6:41am. it is time to catch up with the sport.

good morning! 383 days, that is how long wolves season has been. it is finally over, it didn't finish the way they would have liked, beaten by sevilla in the europa league quarterfinals last night. they had a great chance to go ahead early on after their play was brought down but the penalty was saved, and with two minutes of normal time to go the spanish time scored a winner to set up spanish time scored a winner to set upa spanish time scored a winner to set up a semifinal against manchester united. it is 14 months almost of hardware, competing in the europa league, competing in the premier league, competing in the premier league, achieving really good things. disappointment is something that... cannot take away all the good things that we have been doing. commiserations to wolves fans this morning but what a season they've had! scott dann's first minister

nicola sturgeon has given football a yellow card saying she will not hesitate to show them the red card if there are any more breaches of covid-19 if there are any more breaches of covid—19 restrictions after eight aberdeen players broke the rules, a celtic defender admitted he had flown to spain, failed to quarantine on his return and then played in a league game on sunday all without the club knowing. celtic and aberdeen's next two matches have been postponed into to is fair to say neil lennon is furious. we were absolutely... livid, appalled. the clu b absolutely... livid, appalled. the club have been at the forefront of maintaining good practice. the protocols all in place, trying to get the game up and running, and we have been bitterly and sorely let down by the selfish actions of one individual. on the pitch, hibs have maintained their 100% start the season to go top after a 1—0 win dundee united.

macclesfield town have been relegated from the football league after a points deduction which was imposed on appeal. they've been docked a total of 17 points over the season for a series of charges including failing to pay their players. the decision means a reprieve for stephen if she will now remain in league 2. it was only ten days ago the super league season eventually got under way which has been thrown into case after six hull fc players have tested for covid—19, five of those played against salford and two members of the coaching team also returned positive results in the routine testing that took place a day after the game. all of those people are in quarantine, both clubs have been ordered to cancel training over the next few days and the results of salford's tests haven't yet been returned so lots of concern around the return of rugby league. snooker, ronnie o'sullivan produced a brilliant comeback to reach the

semifinals of the world snooker championship in sheffield. he was 7-2 championship in sheffield. he was 7—2 down against mark williams, eventually winning13—10, his last appearance in the crucible final was six years ago when he was beaten by mark selby, his opponent in the last four this year so he isn't confident. i don't expect to beat him because he is a real test, nobody can beat him over that distance, either. that isjust nobody can beat him over that distance, either. that is just my personal opinion, that isn't me trying to take the pressure off because i will be trying their ha rd est. because i will be trying their hardest. i've nothing to prove and all that. just as an insider, a bit of inside information, for me, i can't see how anyone can beat him, you know? is it runny with the mind games? the crucible curse has struck again, no first—time winner has retained their title at the famous venue. retained their title at the famous venue. this time, it was the return ofjudd trump, beaten 13—9 by kyren

wilson. serena williams has played herfirst competitive match for six months, fighting back from one set down against another american in kentucky. it's all part of her preparation for the us open and the rearranged french open, to make chances for her over the next two months to claim grand slam title number 24 months to claim grand slam title number24 and months to claim grand slam title number 24 and equalled the record. next, a matchup against her sister, venus. we always enjoy watching them. rolling back the years! a drive for inclusion in sport has been halted by the effects of coronavirus, it is feared. the special olympics, for competitors with intellectual disabilities, has been cancelled and globally the organisation is worried its athletes might be left behind. what are you drawing today? nile had an idea as a young boy and it grew. missing sport in lockdown he began depicting some of the world's most

famous grounds and selling the images for charity. which has been the most difficult one to do? wembley. because it is so big? it took the longest. nile one basketball gold at the world's special olympics, sport for people with an intellectual disability. he didn't have friends before special olympics because the connections at school were not there. it took you yea rs school were not there. it took you years to convince you to go to the games, now i can't stop him! there is the problem, sheffield, the guide home city hosted the last british games but it isn't clear where, when or if they will next happen. liverpool were supposed to host the city pulled out, finances hit by covid, the calendar crowded with other rescheduled events. globally, these pressures are going and so is

these pressures are going and so is the concern in the special olympics about their athletes. these are people who are often marginalised, they are not included, not respected, and they are just not valued for what they can bring to society. our revolution, we say, is inclusion. covid-19 cases have spiked most people with an intellectual disability. there are various intellectual disability. there are various reasons intellectual disability. there are various reasons for that but fitness is crucial. so, now we are doing this indoors. so, nile is training and hoping for another chance to compete. joe wilson, bbc news. there is real concern about disability sports across the board with the world focusing on the return of sport, there is worry disability sports are being left behind and as we heard in that report, disabled athletes often quite isolated anyway, often marginalised and disabled people

have been badly affected by the pandemic anyway so, fingers crossed there is some way that event can be staged and people can return to competition. thank you very much, see you later on. you are watching breakfast. stu d e nts on. you are watching breakfast. students in england could appeal to use their mock exam results if they are unhappy with the a—level grades they receive tomorrow. the move has been criticised by head teachers and follows a u—turn in scotla nd teachers and follows a u—turn in scotland where thousands of exam results have been upgraded. let's speak to geoff who joins us now. jeff barton, good morning to you. these changes announced in england, this is important to say in england, they were announced at 10:30pm last night and it is important to go through what's been announced. there are three options for students as they open their results tomorrow. one is they use their moderated grades based on the teachers

predictions, the ones which have caused all the problems in scotland. let's go through the other two. they can if they appeal go back to their results from their mock examinations. what, in your view, results from their mock examinations. what, in yourview, is the problem with that? i'd say two points. i think the first thing i would say is that result still to be a day where we are celebrating what stu d e nts a day where we are celebrating what students have achieved and the work of their teachers, and it's so frustrating that here we are with further swirling distraction from what is supposed to be a celebrate easter is a let's hope we can put it to bed today. the second point is, asi to bed today. the second point is, as i understand from what i heard last night, the mock exam will count in some way if a student feels the grades they finally get isn't the final grade. last night it sounded like the mac result trumped what they were going to get tomorrow. i understand this morning what the bbc reports is that they can if they wa nt to reports is that they can if they want to say my mock exam was high go toa want to say my mock exam was high go to a kind of appeal which would seem

to a kind of appeal which would seem to me more understandable than saying a mock exam, which is a very subjective result in many cases and many young people won't have done their mock exams this year, that seems to me more problematic. can i be clear, are you saying that the ability, the opportunity for young people to opt to have the results based on their mock exams, is that a good thing? i probably wouldn't start from here. i think the system we have in england has a very clear sense of standardisation which means the grade you get tomorrow from your school, let's say you get a grade a would have an equivalence with a grade a from last year or another school, that is why standardisation is important, to keep a rigger. however, in response to what has happened in scotland, what the government is saying is we ought to give another form of appeal to young people, and if that means they can say point to my mock result which shows i am better than my final

result. so long as that isn't automatically guaranteeing they will get that result which adds another inequality, then i can understand the thinking and i suspect it is the government wanting to show it, too, like scotland, is being sympathetic to children and young people in unprecedented times. that gets your approval, the possibility you can go back to the mock exam. what about number three in these options, the notion that you can resit an exam in the autumn? what do you make of that? i think there is a sense of natural justice about that for a—level students. there is an issue because if you are going to go to university and your university was starting in october, this is going to be in sometime in october, this resit but at least it allows you to i got resit but at least it allows you to igota resit but at least it allows you to i got a grade b resit but at least it allows you to i gota grade b in my resit but at least it allows you to i got a grade b in my exam but i wa nt to i got a grade b in my exam but i want to test it again. this allows

people in england to prove themselves in an exam and i think probably in the circumstances that will prove helpful for some young people, not all of them but for some of them it will allow them to test themselves out against an examiner. given the strains on schools and sixth form colleges under the current restrictions, they are currently trying to work out how to deal with covid in school so is it in any way realistic to have, i don't know, hundreds of thousands of stu d e nts don't know, hundreds of thousands of students wanting to retake exams coming back into the system? is it realistic on a practical level? the logistics of this are incredibly difficult. you knew the way you could run exams in the summer was because you had young people who are going to be doing their exam is not there, you had space, well you're not going to have the space but you have to do some kind of social distancing whatever it looks like in october and november, it is going to be incredibly challenging. i'm looking at this through the lens of

what we can do to help young people. the logistical stuff will be a big challenge for school and college leaders and we will work through that. there word challenging is often used to say it isn't possible so is it realistic to say that tens and possibly hundreds of thousands of stu d e nts and possibly hundreds of thousands of students could go back to school in october to retake their exams, is it possible? what i think is happening today, 24 hours before children get their results at a—level, we are catastrophe rising those results. the regulator has said the vast majority of children will get the grades the teacher assigned to them and what we will see, i think from universities and employers is a spirit of generosity that they will recognise the strange circumstances and the majority of young people will end up getting on to the course they want and grades will then as they have all of us we re will then as they have all of us were older, full into perspective and they will realise that the most important stuff is getting into the next phase of your life and enjoying your future so i suspect the numbers

we are talking about doing resits will be far fewer than we might have thought. that in a way as outside the government's control. they've written to the university is asking to be more lenient but that is outside their control. the thing in their controllers tomorrow morning young people know exactly where they stand and come on the face of it, having these three possibilities, none of which fuels particular good, seems to have confused things, possibly even further, certainly further than the clear position. if you compare and contrast in scotland where they say we go with teachers predictions, that is one rule and thatis predictions, that is one rule and that is it, does it not look complicated by date—mac by comparison? it might look complicated but looking at scotland, none of this is to take away the work of teachers, and save while that was a bold decision it was also pretty risky because if what you are going to do is to say to the general

public ina going to do is to say to the general public in a year way young people haven't done revision and exams and results across the country are going to go up10%, results across the country are going to go up 10%, many people would say the risk in that is that a grade a this year doesn't feel like a grade a last year. the english system is determined to do that which is why there is teacher predictions are not teach predictions. they've been worked through rigorously across a tea m worked through rigorously across a team of teachers, then standardised by the exam boards and moderated by quual to make sure your grade, as i said before, is the same whichever school you went to and to do the best in a system which this year is proving critically difficult. which leads us to another position which is how can young people from scotla nd is how can young people from scotland be compared with young people from england in terms of their results, if, as you say, the scottish results now are unnecessarily... higher than they would be, and those to make students, one from scotland and one from england, might well be applying

to the same university? that's right and that's why that spirit of generosity i talk about, people recognising... so, be more generous to english students compared to scottish students, is that what you're saying? you could argue it either way. what you would say is that what we will see tomorrow because of the way quual will work is that what a grade a looks like this year is what the grade looks like last year which will not be the case in scotland because more young people will of god a. people will say i will go for this one or that one and that is unhelpful but at a time when we will or should be celebrating success we are in this discussion which is why that sense of generosity from universities will be important tomorrow. very briefly, looking ahead to tomorrow morning, it is almost exactly 24 hours' time, there was chaos in scotland when stu d e nts there was chaos in scotland when students looked at their results with great dismay and trauma so do you think what has been decided by

the government late last night will change that? do you think this will work? there will be dismay from school and college leaders who get the results today, they will be working through those. we will keep all of that, whether it is chaos or dismay behind the scenes tomorrow and the main focus will be to try to celebrate the success of young people and my guess is young people get the places they want and what has become a storm today will look like something we can put behind us. good to speak to you, jeff barton, general secretary of the association of school and college leaders, representing head teachers and the heads of those colleges. we will talk about this a lot this morning. yes, speaking to the schools minister at 7:30am, nick gibb. stu d e nts minister at 7:30am, nick gibb. students in northern ireland will be able to appeal and use their mock exa m able to appeal and use their mock exam results if they are higher but the welsh government says they will not be upgrading a—level results as it believes it can accurately predict grades. it is worth saying you can find out

more information on a—level results and any changes as well because the changes announced will be administered 10:30pm last night, so it'll be new to a lot of people. go to our website. as we heard this morning, lots of you witnessed dramatic or heard dramatic thunderstorms overnight, some of you or woken up to sounds like this... carol film is that in edinburgh last night, compared to being in the tropics. charlie: bridgnorth as well. louise: and these pictures were taken byjenny in stoke—on—trent. it was a dramatic night, wasn't it? evenif was a dramatic night, wasn't it? even if you didn't have these storms, it was very warm. i don't know if you saw any of those pictures but there's a few more storms ahead as i understand them!

it has been described as a tropical night by many people which is defined by the temperatures which stays a bove defined by the temperatures which stays above 20 all night and that has happened again last night so we have had five of those tropical nights and also those big thunderstorms as well because there is so much heat and humidity in the atmosphere that is providing the energy to drive these big thunderstorms. we had another tropical night, we might see another one tonight, so not only hot and humid by day but also overnight as well. in fact, humid by day but also overnight as well. infact, could humid by day but also overnight as well. in fact, could be unprecedented situation as well in regards to this heatwave we are seeing at the moment. five consecutive days when daytime temperatures have peaked over 34 celsius, that is believed to be unprecedented in the uk. and a fifth tropical night as well, we could see a sixth one of those once again. also it has been very dry, in some places, no rainfall for the past two weeks. that is about to change with the arrival of these huge showers

and torrential thunderstorm some of us will see, not everywhere. this picture was taken in stoke—on—trent overnight, storms rattling their way northward so this is the past few hours, behaviours and most persistent showers and thunderstorms are across persistent showers and thunderstorms a re across parts persistent showers and thunderstorms are across parts of eastern scotland. in fact, the met office haveissued scotland. in fact, the met office have issued an amber weather warning valid until 9am for those thunderstorms across eastern scotla nd thunderstorms across eastern scotland bringing not only rain with flash flooding, also large hail, winds and a chance of power cuts. another hot, humid day today, there will be a threat of thunderstorms but they will be hit and miss. the heaviest of those downpours across eastern scotland tends to ease away as we head through the morning and then you can see further showers cropping up further south across parts of england, wales, central scotland, northern ireland having a dry day probably. lots of hot sunshine with mist, and fogginess along the north—east coasts. look at the temperatures, in the low 30s, we could see some spots up to 34 in the

south—east. in the mid 20s across scotla nd south—east. in the mid 20s across scotland into northern ireland as well. through this evening and overnight, heavy showers and thunderstorms across parts of southern england and wales, you can see the green colours indicating torrential bursts and temperatures overnight tonight up at about 20 degrees down towards the south—east. as we head through the next few days, it'll be a little bit cooler, still showery but things stay humid. good morning. welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and louise minchin. our headlines today: confirmation the uk has fallen sharply into recession as the full impact of the pandemic on the economy is felt. between april and june, the economy shrank at its fastest rate in modern history.

20.4%. i'll have more on what that means for you, and when we'll see a bounce back. just one day before a—level results are released the government has rewritten the rules for pupils in england, students are told they can use their mock exam grades if they're unhappy with their scores. he's walked 700 miles with no shoes and socks, but today major chris brannigan can finally put his sore feet up as he completes his epicjourney. it's european heartbreak for wolves. they were knocked out of the europa league in the quarterfinals by spanish side sevilla. in the last few moments, it's been confirmed that the uk is officially in a recession for the first time in over a decade. nina is with us now. this isn't a surprise, but what more do we know? it's a bit like the bank of england figures, just looking at the top

numbers at the moment, things are bad but not quite as bad as predicted. at seven o'clock, we got an update on the state of the economy. it's called gdp — and it's the value of all of our goods and services, everything we make and do. in healthy economic times it continues to grow every month, when it gets smaller for two sets of three months period in a row then we are in recession. today's update covers april—june, peak lockdown, it won't surprise anyone that the economy shrank significantly — by xxxxxxx. significantly — by 20%. it makes sense we weren't making or doing or spending

anywhere near as much. to give you some context over the recession that followed the 2008 crash the economy shrank by 6%. it is the sharpest for hundreds of years but the severity of a recession is oftenjudged by length rather than depth. injune there was a uptick, which suggests recovery could be quicker than in 2008 — but so many unknowns at the moment — local lockdowns, second spikes, socially distanced working — really hard to predict how it will end. we'll be speaking to the chamber of commerce shortly. nina, thank you. just 24 hours before a—level results are released students have been told they might be able to use their mock exam scores if they're unhappy with the grades they receive. after coming under pressure to follow scotland's lead in upgrading the results, the government has come up with a range of options for those pupils in england who feel they've been treated unfairly. joining us now is our political correspondent jonathan blake. jonathan, how much difference will this change make? jonathan, why are things changing so

late? it's changing right up to the wire. i think the fact the government have made this change and made it at this point suggest they are scrambling to head off a crisis and do not want a repeat of what happened in scotland were so many stu d e nts happened in scotland were so many students saw their grades revised down and the outcry and eventual apology from the government there about that. last night, the education secretary for england, gavin williamson, in the face of political pressure from labour who say the boris johnson political pressure from labour who say the borisjohnson government wrist robbing a generation of the future unless changes were made outlined some changes to how gcse and a—level grades will be awarded. as before, students will get a grade based on a prediction from their teachers and adjusted in line with their school results in previous

yea rs. their school results in previous years. there is then an appeals process that schools can take advantage of, on behalf of pupils. on the grounds for appeal have been widened, so that mock exam results taken by students before the coronavirus lockdown can be taken into consideration. pupils also have the option, as before, to sit an exa m the option, as before, to sit an exam in the autumn and take those grades if they prefer. reaction to this announcement, labour have dismissed it as an afterthought and say it has been rushed. from teaching unions as well there is surprise. the head of the school and couege surprise. the head of the school and college leaders associationjeff barton says it beggars belief the government is making changes at this late stage but says it could help some pupils in england. there is an issue because if you are going to start at university in october, the series is going to be some kind in

october, resits will be in november for gcses, but people can test what they think they can do against an examiner. in scotland you can't do that. i think in these circumstances that. i think in these circumstances that test will prove helpful for some young that test will prove helpful for some young people. to be clear, these changes are taking effect in england. in northern ireland, the government there is making a similar change but it's not yet clear if the system will change at all in wales. also unclear if individual students will now be able to appeal their results, so questions for the government today. absolutely. we'll try to get answers to some of those from the schools minister nick gibb in 20 minutes. yesterday the welsh government

said they will not be upgrading a—level marks. we will try to get some clarity on the situation in england at 7:30am. get in touch with your questions for it nick gibb later. the us democratic presidential candidate, joe biden has named california's senator kamala harris as his running mate for the forthcoming november election. the 55—year—old former state prosecutor is the first black woman to run for vice president in us history. we can speak to our north america correspondent david willis who is in california. good morning. tell us more about the lady who will be running alongside joe biden. this is a significant appointment for many reasons?m joe biden. this is a significant appointment for many reasons? it is. significant for a number of reasons, charlie, not least the fact that if joe biden wins the election in

november then kamala harris will be the first female vice president in us history. and given thatjoe biden will be 78 by the time of the inauguration next year, there is thought to be every chance he would not stand for a second term, which would mean kamala harris is one of if not the front runner for leading the democratic party for years from now. but what does she bring to the ticket this time around? well, building on the support amongst african americans who form a key pa rt african americans who form a key part of the democratic constituency and also her campaign experience. she herself ran for the democratic nomination. politically, she is a centrist like joe nomination. politically, she is a centrist likejoe biden, nomination. politically, she is a centrist like joe biden, even nomination. politically, she is a centrist likejoe biden, even though the trump campaign has already sought to portray her as a radical left winger. she is due to appear alongsidejoe biden at an event in

mr biden's home state of delaware later today. thank you. the uk is officially in recession for the first time in 11 years. nina is here with more on this. i'mjust i'm just looking at the figures on my phone, i'm not on social media, i promise! the latest figures... good morning. in the last few minutes, it's been confirmed by the office for national statistics that the uk is officially in a recession. of course, that is no surprise but it will be the first time in over a decade. but what does it mean? it's all about gross domestic product — that is the sum of money that represents the entire value of all the goods and services we actually produce, make and sell. a recession means two quarters, or three—month periods, where the value is going backwards.

the economy shrunk by 2.2% between january to march, way before we felt the full force of lockdown. and this morning it's been confirmed that for the three months tojune, the economy shrunk by 20.4%. that's the biggest drop for a quarter in modern history. we also learned that in june the economy recovered by 8.7% compared to the month before. a sliver of encouragement there. last week we talked shapes when it comes to recovery. will the economy be a car slowly going up a hill? will it be a plane taking off and getting to altitude quickly or will it be like a rocket heading straight back up to the level it was before? we can speak now to suren thiru who is the head of economics at the british chambers of commerce. good morning. when you look at those

figures, it's hardly surprising the reduction in the size of the economy, but not quite as bad as was feared? slightly less than feared, but there's no getting away from the fa ct but there's no getting away from the fact this hit to the uk economy is unprecedented. looking at the sector economy, pretty much all sectors took a massive hit. servicing took a massive hit. how do you see the trajectory of their recovery? in some ways, trajectory of their recovery? in some ways, there is a false sense of security due to pent up demand? we think the uk economy is going to exit recession in the third quarter of this year, but the recovery is going to be pretty uneven. construction and manufacturing is likely to recover more quickly than types of firms relying on customers,

such as retail and hospitality. that's because social distancing can be more easily implemented in construction and manufacturing. but the big question is what happens with the virus. if local lockdown is become more significant, that could meana become more significant, that could mean a second hit to the economy. the government at the moment are trying to walk that fine line between unlocking the economy but not risking a second spike. how do you think they are doing? well, i think what we are seeing at the moment is some support measures which have been put in place are starting to wind down in the next couple of months. businesses are struggling with a sense of cash flow. business confidence is being

hit with local lockdown is. when you talk to members about the furlough scheme ending in the autumn, how significant is that? are something that will be the end of their business? it will be a cliff edge for a lot of businesses. it's a perfect storm of rising costs, reduced cash flow and uncertainty. there are things the government could do, such as cut national insurance contributions. that's what many people will be asking, what will the support for businesses look like? the government have already

pumped extra money into the system through the furlough scheme. they have said it will have to end come the autumn. in some ways, this is the autumn. in some ways, this is the calm before the storm. people on the calm before the storm. people on the furlough scheme and people spending in restaurants because of the monday — wednesday deals. we won't feel the full force of this potentially un—till september or october. nina, thank you. bars, restaurants and other nonessential businesses in auckland have closed their doors again after four coronavirus infections were detected in the city. it's the first time in more than 100 days there's been cases of community transmission in new zealand. prime ministerjacinda ardern has also reintroduced social distancing measures throughout the rest of the country. i know how hugely frustrating this current situation is for every single member of our team of 5 million, but if we get our immediate response right in this critical

phase, we have the opportunity to lessen the time we will have those heavier restrictions, and that is a lesson we have all learned together. so, please, as always, stay kind, look after one another and please stay tuned as we update you on the situation as it continues to unfold. let's speak now to gill higgins, who is a reporter for tvnz in auckland. what have people made about the changing situation in auckland? it's a huge disappointment, i think. changing situation in auckland? it's a huge disappointment, ithink. the same kind of reaction as last time. it was announced last night at 9:15pm. by half past, people were stockpiling goods in the supermarket. the same kind of reaction but this time a bit more down and depressed because it feels like we've been here before and we we re like we've been here before and we were really hoping this wouldn't come again. businesses had started

to build up customer bases again, people were going on staycations and we re people were going on staycations and were going out for meals, but now businesses have had to close doors again. it feels like you being kicked when you are already down. new zealand has had an exceptional record really on coronavirus. is there any indication where these cases came from ? there any indication where these cases came from? not yet. that's kind of the critical question. at the moment they've said a level three alert, so businesses and schools are closed. at the moment they have said that is for three days until midnight on friday. they wa nt to days until midnight on friday. they want to identify the source. if they can do that and block the chains of transmission by isolating all the people, they will look at whether they need to stay in alert level three. but that's in an ideal world and we know 2020 is not much of an ideal world, so it's quite unlikely they can identify all the chains of

transmission. they might not find the source by then. there is no link to border restrictions or foreign travel. this is really unexpected. and the four cases are in one particularfamily? and the four cases are in one particular family? that's right, a family in south auckland. a family of six and four of them have tested positive for covid. they had symptoms for quite a long time. they travel to another town and have been to tourist attractions. they have both been to work so there is one refrigeration company and a finance company, 300 colleagues affected overall in both workplaces, so there isa overall in both workplaces, so there is a big job of contact tracing to try to lock this down. this also affects the whole country. there are particular restrictions in auckland, but others across the whole of the country? that's right. auckland is in alert level three, the strictest

level. rest homes across the country have been put into alert level four, that complete lockdown. and the rest of the country is alert level two. social distancing, wearing masks if you can but restrictions not as heavy as they are in auckland. thank you. with a day to go before students get their a—level results the government has announced that they could use their mock grades if they're unhappy with what they receive. it comes after the scottish government decided to upgrade scores after pupils claimed they'd been treated unfairly. joining us now is the shadow education secretary, kate green. good morning. thank you for your time this morning. so the change in england announced at 10:30pm last night, can you give us your reaction to what has been announced? well, i don't think this is a perfect answer at all to what is now becoming a really chaotic situation and very,

very worrying for students. the day before they are due to get the results, finding the situation is changing again. the problem with the mock exams the government has now said students can point to if they have concerns is they won't bring consistency, which has been one of the concerns about the process. not all students will even have taken mock exams. and what we have now got isa mock exams. and what we have now got is a situation which clearly is not looking fit for purpose. but the solution they are now proposing really is not strong enough and that's why we think that students absolutely need to have a proper robust appeals process so that they are not dependent on systems which may not fairly reflect the work they have done. it's very important we get absolute clarity. are you saying the idea of going back to the mock exams is a nonstarter and that should not be part of the solution

to this problem? i don't think the mock exams are a sufficient answer, if that's the basis on which are greatest to be awarded. teachers may well have used the mock exams as pa rt well have used the mock exams as part of the teacher assessment process that is feeding into the system, but the problem with the mock exams as they won't give consistency, not all students will have even taken a mock exam, we won't know how schools have graded those exams... i don't want to waste time and you did say that before. the labour position is that is a nonsta rter the labour position is that is a nonstarter and shouldn't be on the table. let's move onto the other options, which is the idea of reta kes. options, which is the idea of retakes. you options, which is the idea of reta kes. you could options, which is the idea of retakes. you could be given the opportunity to elect to retake your a—level exam in october. is that a little -- a—level exam in october. is that a little —— legitimate possibility? that has been on the table for a while. while it's useful to have it

asa while. while it's useful to have it as a backstop, there are some concerns that that will come too late in the day for students who wa nt to late in the day for students who want to start a college course in september, for example. they won't get the results on time. the other concern we have is, how are these reta kes concern we have is, how are these retakes going concern we have is, how are these reta kes going to concern we have is, how are these retakes going to be organised? schools are already having to make a lot of changes to the school day, to the premises, to how they organise school when children return next month because of the need for social distancing, so we're still waiting on more information as to how schools will be supported with these reta kes. it is schools will be supported with these retakes. it is not an adequate response. you retakes. it is not an adequate response. you are retakes. it is not an adequate response. you are saying that is something that should be on the table, legitimate possibility that should be available to students, yes? it's always in the system and it should stay there, but we wouldn't want to put all our eggs in that basket. and the third option which remains is the pre—existing

option, the moderation of results based on teacher predictions which have then gone through the system and been adjusted. do you think, given what has happened in scotland, do you think that should still be one of the three options that is on the table? i think the core of the option is the right one to have on the table, especially at this 11th hour. changing the system again is not welcome, but it needs to be made significantly more robust. labour has suggested we need a much more at robust appeals process so that individual students can appeal if they think their work has been wrongly assessed. we need to understand exactly which students are affected, we haven't even seen the model that has been applied to doing this standardisation yet, and what we do know from scotland is that there is a risk that it could be students from more disadvantaged communities who are disproportionately affected. the

universities minister has asked universities to be more flexible in looking at students results when deciding on submissions, but we think that needs to be put into a much firmerfooting think that needs to be put into a much firmer footing with statutory guidance. and crucially next week we get the gcse results, we are saying that nobody should be downgraded below a level four, which used to be a grade c, in english and maths because those subjects are so crucial for future study. given the disruption children have suffered this year to their education, we think it's important we protect this covid generation from further damage. would it have been better if the westminster government for english students had done what scotla nd english students had done what scotland have done? just gone with that one decision which is, we go back to what your teacher predicted is what it will be? would you have

done that? i think we can't say that today. well, i am asking you that question. people would expect you to have an answer. would you have done what scotland has done? my answer today as we do not know that that would be the right answer and of course we can look further tomorrow when we see the a—level results. but as of today, what we're saying is the system that is in place needs to be significantly improved and works for students, with the backstop of ana for students, with the backstop of an a system where students feel the results have come out wrongly. —— backstop results have come out wrongly. —— ba cksto p of results have come out wrongly. —— backstop of an appeals system. are we in backstop of an appeals system. are weina backstop of an appeals system. are we in a similar situation to scotla nd we in a similar situation to scotland where the government should apologise? people might be saying, why so late, why do these questions

remain? i think that's fair enough but i think you are right to say that what students and their families and teachers are concerned about is getting a fair assessment process and having work fairly assessed tomorrow so that they can move forward in life, towards their career and further study. we need reassurance that their lives will not be damaged by this chaos we have seenin not be damaged by this chaos we have seen in the past few days in relation to the results. i think that's what students are really looking for, confidence they can get on with their lives and the hard work they've put in is going to be properly recognised. thank you for your time this morning. kate green, the shadow education secretary. we will speak to the schools minister nick gibb shortly. you can find more information on a—level results on the bbc news website.

it's probably worth saying 24 hours ahead of the results, good luck. even in the best of times, it's a difficult time. with everything, you know, just stay calm. you know, it will work out. that's my little thought. i love the optimism! you are watching bbc breakfast. you are watching bbc breakfast. still to come... a 700—mile walk without shoes and socks sounds gruelling. but that's what major chris brannigan has done, all to fund research into his daughter's rare illness. we'll speak to chris and his family on his final stretch before 8am. we'll be discussing that shortly and bringing you the latest news, but the time now is 7:28am.

another sultry night? very warm and humid. it was a tropical night. temperatures in the south did not drop below 20 celsius, so it's been really warm, we've had some big thunderstorms. if you look at the re ce nt thunderstorms. if you look at the recent heatwave, there's now been five consecutive days where temperatures have peaked over 34 celsius, that is believed to be unprecedented in the uk. the fifth tropical night we've seen this year. and very dry, especially in the south—east. no rain for the past two weeks, in combination with those high temperatures as well. this is the picture this morning in paris. a lot of sunshine, but also some mysterious because the air is moist and humid. and a lot of fuel for those big thunderstorms we've seen. they've been rattling their way northwards overnight. looking at the re ce nt northwards overnight. looking at the recent radar and lightning, this is where they are most intense at the moment, over parts of eastern

scotland. the met office have issued an amberweatherwarning scotland. the met office have issued an amber weather warning valid until nine o'clock this morning for eastern scotland. torrential downpours and flash flooding is likely. also power cuts are likely. today, another hot and humid feeling day with the risk of thunderstorms. very hit and miss, so we won't all see very hit and miss, so we won't all see them. the heaviest of the downpours clear away from scotland, then there will be some more heavy showers cropping up over england and wales. northern ireland should be mostly dry. still some mist and marked around. temperatures still generally in the mid 205, but marked around. temperatures 5till generally in the mid 205, but we could see as high as 34 degrees again in the south—east. thi5 evening and overnight, heavy 5hower5 and thunderstorms, most likely to be focused over southern and

south—western england and wales. you're likely to hear some rumbles of thunder. don't take the positioning too literally. temperatures not likely to drop below 20 degrees over southern england and south wales. still quite muqqy england and south wales. still quite muggy and humid further north as well. tomorrow, thing5 muggy and humid further north as well. tomorrow, things are more cool than they have been recently. quite a lot of misty nur5e than they have been recently. quite a lot of misty nurse and forked around north—eastern coa5t. heavy 5hower5 around north—eastern coa5t. heavy showers and thunderstorms later in the day over southern england where they could beat particularly torrential. temperatures ju5t they could beat particularly torrential. temperatures just about remaining below 30 degrees. the low 205 further north. thing5 turn gradually more fresh, remaining settled, but still quite humid towards the end of the week as well. i'll have more details for you in about half an hour. hello, this is breakfast with charlie stayt and louise minchin.

the time is 7:31am. as we've been hearing, students in england waiting for their a level and gcse results could end up with the grades from their mock exams if they're unhappy with the marks they receive tomorrow. let's speak to the schools minister nick gibb. good morning and thank you for joining us. we have lots to get through, lots of questions to get to the bottom of. 24 hours to go before people in england, students, get their a—level results and things have changed so what exactly will they be able to do tomorrow? they should have confidence in the grades they receive tomorrow. we took a difficult decision back in march to cancel exams when schools were closed and no students but we didn't wa nt closed and no students but we didn't want young peoples careers to be put on hold for one year, we wanted them to go on to university or college or an apprenticeship. we had to have in place a system that gave them the qualifications that were as accurate as possible so we implemented this

calculated great system based on the teacher assessment of what the student would have achieved had they sat the exam. the teacher put them in rank order within each grade boundary, they are sent to the exam board and to make sure we have a level playing field and consistency, there is then the regulator quual apply through the exam boards a standardisation model and that is based on the historic data for the school and so on. as a consequence of that, we all make sure there is no inflation in the system and that stu d e nts no inflation in the system and that students can value the qualifications they get. so, on top of that, we have these appeal processes . of that, we have these appeal processes. because it is a formulaic system, we want to make sure if there were students who felt that there were students who felt that there is didn't reflect the ability of their work, the school could appeal if the date on which that standardisation is based doesn't reflect the current circumstances of the school. today we have announced another safety net for a smaller

group of pupils were even that won't help those students of their mock result is higher than the calculated grade they are awarded tomorrow, that will also form the basis of an appeal. the third safety net is being able to take that exam in the autumn. can ijust take being able to take that exam in the autumn. can i just take you being able to take that exam in the autumn. can ijust take you back being able to take that exam in the autumn. can i just take you back to this sudden change with 24 rows to 90, this sudden change with 24 rows to go, you are now seeing mock exams they might appeal on their mocks, why has this changed? you've known about standardisation since april. we continually enhance the system to make sure we are dealing with any student, any outlier for him the standardisation doesn't work and we looked at what happened in scotland, we we re looked at what happened in scotland, we were worried about that, we are not changing the fundamental system here. there are differences between the scottish standardisation models and hours, we consulted widely on ours. we publish the details of the model as well, how it works. the

unions were able to advise teachers how to submit fairly accurate, as accurate as possible, grades for their students so we are confident in the model... can ijust go back, you listen to what happened in scotla nd you listen to what happened in scotland in one of the particular concerns in scotland is the result is disproportionately affected stu d e nts is disproportionately affected students from poorer backgrounds. was that going to be the case with these results in england? no, it wasn't. quual have already said that the system will not disproportionately affect children from disadvantageous backgrounds. they've said that. the gap will not widen tomorrow as a consequence of this calculated system. we believe in no stone unturned to make sure that no student, in whatever circumstances, every student gets the grades that reflects their ability, which is why we've added this extra safety net for a smaller

group of people for whom the other safety nets may not have worried. group of people for whom the other safety nets may not have worriedlj will come back to mock exams in a moment. one woman says, why don't you follow scott and's lead and use that predicted grade? don't presume the teachers have been inflating the results. understand the rigours we went through to give those grades, there was no chance of inflation. we know our children, we are professional so we should be trusted to predict their grades. why not go with the teachers grade like in scotland? i agree with trusting the professionals, they've done a tremendousjob in a professionals, they've done a tremendous job in a short space of time to submit those grades and they we re time to submit those grades and they were helped by the head teachers union who are able to look at the model be published so that they could advise those teachers how to do it accurately but you still need to have a standardisation model because quual have said the aggregation of all those assessments would have led to a 12% increase in grade inflation this year. to eliminate that, we've had the

standardisation model but the majority of pupils tomorrow, stu d e nts majority of pupils tomorrow, students tomorrow, will get the grade the teacher put in for them. for those for whom the grade is adjusted as a consequence of the model, the adjustment will be about one grade. tomorrow students can be confident in the grades they receive and we are confident the model works but you have to have the safety net appeal processes in place for those outliers, those students for whom it hasn't worked. can we talk about the appeals process? who does the appeal? is it the school, is it the individual? it is the school. the individual? it is the school. the individual can talk to the school, the school submits the appeal to the exa m the school submits the appeal to the exam board and the exam boards have told us they will do this very rapidly. and the universities have said they will hold open places until this appeals process is completed for those for whom this grade, their entry to universities

dependent on this grade. with regards to universities, the universities have said that they haven't been consulted. we consulted very widely on the model... have you consulted on this new change? no, not on this precise change because it only affects a very small group of people. we wanted to swiftly act to make sure we had a safety net for every pupil. i know the universities are very every pupil. i know the universities are very flexible, the universities minister has written to universities asking them to be flexible because, you know, with the best will in the world, this isn't students taking an exam, this is a calculated assessment of what we think they would have got. it isn't students taking the exam. the best system is for them to take the exam so we want to universities and colleges to be flexible and they will be in terms of the offers they are giving to students. how can you be sure, you keep saying it is a small number of

pupils, but how can you be sure? because most students will get the grades the teacher put in for them, and those that are changing will be one grade. the mock, it would be unusualfor a one grade. the mock, it would be unusual for a teacher to put in, one grade. the mock, it would be unusualfor a teacher to put in, a grade in for unusualfor a teacher to put in, a grade infora unusualfor a teacher to put in, a grade in for a student that was lower than the results they achieved in their mock exam. let's go back to mock exams. there are so many questions coming in. this is, for example... i will get their name and a second, if you are saying, "how can nick gibb ensure standardisation of exa m can nick gibb ensure standardisation of exam results in mock raids are used? this of exam results in mock raids are used ? this could of exam results in mock raids are used? this could be extremely unfair considering different students took different mock exams at different times, there are so many variables so how can it be fair? that is a great criticism. it isn't standardised. the standardisation applies to the model i have described, and most students, the

vast majority, will get their grades through that standardised model. this is just through that standardised model. this isjust a through that standardised model. this is just a form of appeal for stu d e nts this is just a form of appeal for students for whom the evidence of the mock is the only evidence they have to demonstrate, through the appeals process, that they haven't been awarded the grade that reflects the ability of their work. just on the ability of their work. just on the appeal process, schools can appeal on a technicality before, so how is this different now? well, there are three forms of appeal, there are three forms of appeal, there is the technicality that the wrong data is submitted, there is a biggerform of wrong data is submitted, there is a bigger form of appeal by the historic data of the school, how they performed in previous years, thatis they performed in previous years, that is used in the standardisation model. where it is clear and the school can provide evidence that it is clear that that historic data doesn't reflect the school in its current form, there's been a big change in leadership or something of a particular cohort of students in that year is very different from previous years or there are one or

two or more students who are exceptional in their ability in that school, that is the second form of appeal. and this new form of appeal based on the mock exam the student will have taken. the vast majority of stu d e nts will have taken. the vast majority of students will get their results tomorrow. they will be content with those results, they will enable them to get on with the next phase of their career, either university, couege their career, either university, college or apprenticeship. this is not the best system. the best system is for young people to take the exam but we had to deal with the consequences of cancelling the exams, which we cancelled as a consequence of the pandemic but we don't want young people to suffer a delay in their careers as a consequence of the pandemic which is why we've created the system, and we believe it is a robust and fair system in the circumstances. to go back to the point about the appeals and fairness. you say it is down to the school whether or not they will be an appeal. is that fair?|j

the school whether or not they will be an appeal. is that fair? i think it is. it requires submitting evidence of the school's historic data, and it requires, and quual will have more to say about what is a mock exam, because they set up exa m a mock exam, because they set up exam conditions. so, the school will convey to the exam board what the result was of the mock exam taken by the student and that it was sat under exam conditions, and all the other regulatory conditions that quual will be talking about later. right, so, let's move on to the other option people will have available, these are students in england, about re—sitting exams. do schools have to allow resits? can you guarantee that? yes and we announcing a £13 million package of funding to help schools with the cost of resits and to help them, if they needed, for facilities, invigilators, rooms to sit exams and so on. one example for you, i expect this is not alone. both of my daughters have been told by my

school and college they will not be offering resits until the autumn as they cannot accommodate them. we are helping schools to accommodate them. ifa helping schools to accommodate them. if a school is struggling with room for those exams, then we will help them, we will support them, which is what this announcement is about, this new guidance plus a £13 million package. can you guarantee students like those they will be aloud like others to resit their exams if they wa nt others to resit their exams if they want to? yes, we've been very clear that appeal process applies to all stu d e nts that appeal process applies to all students in all subjects. briefly, a couple of other things. we are talking specifically about a—levels because they are, but the same rules apply to gcses in england? yes, they will do because that is based on the same standardisation method. what about btec? yes, those exams as well, vocational exams. so they can look back at their mock exams and do

resits? more to say about the detail of that, quual will publish the detail of how the mock issue applies to all the different qualifications, we'll have to wait for quual to publish those details. do you want to apologise to students and teachers for confusion? there is no confusion. we've been clearfrom teachers for confusion? there is no confusion. we've been clear from the beginning. we publish all the details of the model. we had to have a system in place to award qualifications to young people, given we cancelled the exams. this the best system of a number of approaches the regulator looked at. we consulted widely on this model and achieved a lot of support. our concern is to make sure that with the best model in the world there will be students who fall outside it. and we didn't want any students to suffer disadvantage and we apologise to nobody for finding solutions even at the 11th hour to stop any student been disadvantaged by the system and this is what we've

been doing the last few weeks, we have an appeal system, and with this new route of appeal, based on the mock exam. i know you've got other media commitments to let you go. thank you very much, nick gibb, minister for schools. just worth saying, because the devolved nature of the uk, we need to tell you that stu d e nts of the uk, we need to tell you that students in northern ireland will also be able to appeal and use their mock exam results in the same way if they were higher. but the welsh government has said they will not be upgrading a—level results, as it believes it can accurately predict grades based on teacher predictions. you can find more information on a—level results on the bbc news website. i know tomorrow there will be lots of information for people trying to get the results are navigating their way through. 7:45am, time for the sport! lots of screen around cat!

we like to keep ourselves busy! we like to keep ourselves busy! we are starting with the headlines, wolves players, a well earned rest starting for them now, and their fa ns starting for them now, and their fans who have been supporting them for the longest season, 383 days it lasted. most of them will be waking up lasted. most of them will be waking up this morning feeling disappointed because it didn't end the way they wanted. beaten by sevilla in the europa league quarter—finals. they had a great chance to go ahead early on after adama traore was brought down. but rauljiminez‘s penalty was saved. and, with two minutes of normal time to go, the spanish side scored the winner, to set up a semifinal against manchester united. it is 14 months almost of hard work, competing in the europa league, competing in the europa league, competing in the premier league, achieving really good things. disappointment is something that... cannot take away all the good things

that we've been doing. nuno espirito sa nto speaking to that we've been doing. nuno espirito santo speaking to wolves fans. celtic manager neil lennon was absolultely furious after defender boli bolingoli admitted he'd breached covid—19 rules, putting the rest of the scottish premiership season under serious threat. he flew to spain, failed to quarantine on his return, and then played in a league game on sunday, all without the club knowing. that came after eight aberdeen players had broken the rules. both clubs' next two matches have been postponed and scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon said no further breaches would be tolerated. we were absolutely... livid, appalled. the club have been at the forefront of maintaining good practice, the protocols all in place, trying to get the game up and running, and we have been bitterly

and sorely let down by the selfish actions of one individual. on the pitch, hibs have maintained their 100% start to the season to go top, after a 1—0 win against dundee united. christian doidge with the goal. the rugby league season is also in turmoil/ the super league eventually got underwayjust 10 days ago but six hull fc players and two members of their coaching staff have tested five of those played against salford on sunday and all are now in quarantine. the league is looking at the match to determine how many players from each team will also be required to self—isolate under test and trace procedures. ronnie o'sullivan produced a brilliant comeback to reach the semi—finals of the world snooker championship in sheffield. he was 7—2 down against mark williams but he eventually won by 13—10. his next opponent is mark selby, who beat him the last time he made the final,

six years ago. i don't expect to be to him. i can't see anyone left in the tournament able to beat him over that distance either. that is just my personal opinion, that isn't me trying to ta ke opinion, that isn't me trying to take the pressure because i'll be trying my hardest. i don't need to ta ke trying my hardest. i don't need to take the pressure off, i've nothing to prove and all that butjust as an insider, bit of inside information, for me, i can't see how anyone can beat him, you know? i think that might be runny with the mind games there! and judd trump is the latest victim of the crucible curse. the defending champion was knocked out in the quarterfinals by kyren wilson. no first—time winner has managed to retain their title at the famous venue. serena williams has played her first competitive match for six months. she fought back from a set down against another american, bernarda pera in kentucky. it's all part of serena's preparation for the us open and the re—arranged french open.

two chances over the next two months to claim grand slam title number 24 and equal the record. up next for her — a match up against her sister venus. coco gauff also threw in kentucky yesterday. that is all the sport, back to you. thank you very much. a third night of demonstrations has rocked the belarusian capital of minsk as protestors clashed with heavily—armed police. the rallies began after president alexander lukashenko won a sixth term in office in a disputed election on sunday. our correspondent abdujalil abdurasulov followed the protests on the streets of the capital. another night, another protest in belarus. it's day three of the disputed presidential elections. and this is how authorities here respond to any kind of dissent. riot police are using tear gas and stun grenades to disperse

the crowd that has gathered here on the streets of minsk. people refuse to leave even though it's very tense here. people continue to gather spontaneously for nightly rallies despite the total internet blackout. alleged fraud in sunday's collection is fuelling anger here. translation: i want all of our votes to be counted. votes shouldn't just disappear. people shouldn't just disappear. the riot police are coming. we have to leave. earlier in the day, our team was attacked by men dressed in black who appeared to be security forces. we showed our media accreditation in one of the officers ripped our colleague's card from around her neck. when we demanded it to be returned, one of them lashed out with his baton. protesters were constantly changing

locations to make it harder to disperse them. but riot police chased them wherever they went. and when they caught up with fleeing protesters, this is what happened. people in apartment blocks booed and swore at the officers. someone even threw a piece of furniture at them. after several hours of cat and mouse, the streets turned calmer. the protesters are gone but they vow to return again tomorrow. abdujalil abdurasulov, bbc news, minsk. we're being encouraged to eat out to help out, but did you know even early humans enjoyed socialising over food? archaeologists in sussex have uncovered bones from a horse they believe was enjoyed as a community meal, half a million years ago.

dr matt pope, from university college london, has been involved in the dig and joins us now. good morning to you. so, tell us the basics, what did you find and what did you deduce? what prehistoric man had is the ability to communicate whereas we, all these years later apparently do not. is that progress? let's give it another go, good morning to you! sorry! what we have is a group of early humans in front of a 50 metre high chalk cliff who half a million yea rs high chalk cliff who half a million years ago were butchering completely a horse carcass, smashing it down into smithereens, extracting fat, marrow. it wasn't just a into smithereens, extracting fat, marrow. it wasn'tjust a hunting group there, we think the whole

community, including small children, through two elders were all involved in this activity. so, what i am thinking is, in my own head, i'd a lwa ys thinking is, in my own head, i'd always thought that might have happened. what was the picture you had before? this site has been looked at before in quite a lot of detail and it showed eight places where early humans were making these camps, and traditionally we thought it was a hunting camp, where adults had butchered an animal, and taken the food elsewhere. what we are showing is that actually it wasn't that fragmented. all the people were there, they could all be fed there in the open in one place. what we know about their eating habits? well, it is possible they were not that interested in meat. the kind of thing we'd go for if we were butchering a horse or a cow. they

are definitely interested in fat and they are interested in greece, the stuff you get in spongy bone because they are breaking apart the carcass. my they are breaking apart the carcass. my colleagues in the natural history museum have spent a long time putting together these horse bones and found some of them have been turned in two tools, some of the earliest tools found in the archaeological record. what now? what is the thing, the holy grail for archaeologists now, in terms of learning more? in this landscape, and we have been funded by historic england to map this archaeology to see how far it goes, we know it extends 26 kilometres through west sussex. there's got to be other sites like this, other locations have produced fossil material. what we'd like to find is a place where these early humans are living, where they are sleeping. one of their home basesin they are sleeping. one of their home bases in that landscape. and we've

got lots of other sites to bring stories to life, and to showjust how human these very remote people really are. to complete the picture, in one word, how tall was he, that man or woman of that time? well, we think they were quite tall, well over six foot, an adult male at that time. there we go, we have a picture in our heads right now. i thought they would be shorter, i don't know why. louise: things we don't know! as we've been hearing this morning plenty of you witnessed dramatic thunderstorms overnight. and some of you were even woken up to sounds like this... carol signori filmed this in edinburgh last night, comparing it to being in the tropics. this was the scene in bridgnorth, as filmed byjohn bray. and these dramatic

pictures were taken byjenny in stoke on trent. that was extraordinary! that was taken byjenny in stoke—on—trent. an eventful night faults of people! yes, eventful! quite a lot of people out there probably got a little bit ofa out there probably got a little bit of a deficit in sleep in the sleep bank because it has been loud with those thunderstorms, it's been hot, humid as well so pretty uncomfortable over the last few nights for sleeping and we are much more likely to see those big thunderstorms during this time of year because of the heat, the days are longer, more time for the heat to build and hot air rises in that rising hot air is what creates those thunderstorms so electrical charge within clouds giving those spectacular thunderstorms we've seen overnight. for many of us, more storms on the cards through today and tonight as well. last night was

another tropical night which means temperatures in some places in the south didn't fall below 20 degrees all night. it is the fifth time so far this year we've had one of those tropical nights and also by day temperatures have been over 34 celsius for the last five consecutive days, we could even see a six day possibly of temperatures over 34 degrees believed to be unprecedented in the uk. not only has it been very hot but we've had no rain across parts of the south for two weeks. this is the scene this morning in wolverhampton with blue sky, sun shower clouds already building. this was a picture taken la st building. this was a picture taken last night but one of our weather watchers showing the spectacular lightning. those showers and thunderstorms were rattling their way northwards and they've been particularly heavy and persistent across eastern scotland with reports of flash flooding across parts of perthshire, north lanarkshire. the met office have issued an amber warning for quite a bit of

disruption due to those thunderstorms across eastern scotland particular cross the next few hours. they could be some significant disruption there. a hot, humid feeling day, further thunderstorms here and there. we won't all see them. the downpours will clear away from scotland in the next few hours than a lot of sunshine on the cards with mist and fog in the north. further the showers cropping up through england, scotland and wales. northern ireland staying dry through the day. temperatures in the north in the mid 205 but towards the south in the mid—to low 305. another hot and humid and uncomfortable day. the humidity stays with us tonight as well with further torrential showers and also thunderstorms across southern parts of england and wales and another tropical night. that is where temperatures are not likely to fall below 20 in the south. tomorrow, some slightly fresher

conditions but it'll still feel humid and we've got quite a bit of mist and fog around with further heavy showers and thunderstorms particular in the south during the day on thursday, should be cooler later in the week. the headlines next. good morning welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and louise minchin. our headlines today... confirmation that the uk has experienced the biggest economic slump on record as the full impact of the pandemic is felt. between april and june, the economy shrank by more than a fifth. i'll have more on what that means for you and when we'll see a bounceback. just one day before a—level results are released the government has rewritten the rules for pupils in england, students are told they can use their mock exam grades if they‘ re unhappy with their scores. he's walked 700 miles with no shoes and socks, but today major chris brannigan can finally put his sore feet up

as he completes his epicjourney. the longest season ends in heartbreak for wolves. they were knocked out of the europa league in the quarter—finals by spanish side sevilla. it's wednesday, the 12th of august. our top story... in the last hour it's been confirmed that the uk is in the biggest recession on record. nina is with us now. this is confirmation of something people probably would have guessed? not a massive surprise. yes we've had an update on our gdp — the value of all our goods and services. everything we make, do, spend, and earn. between april and june that value shrunk by 20.4%. because it shrunk by more than 2% in the first three months, that means we are officially in a recession for the first time since 2008. nobody will be surprised at how

damaging those months were — remember most people were barely leaving their homes. but the damage looks set to be worse than injapan, worse than the us, worse than most european countries apart from spain. one thing to note — the economy picked up by 8.7% injune, suggesting a recovery could start quite quickly, but to get back to pre—march levels there is a long way to go. big concern though about whether that recovery will be allowed to grow within the confines of social distancing and local lockdowns. just 24 hours before a—level results are released, students have been told they might be able to use their mock exam scores if they're unhappy with the grades they receive. after coming under pressure to follow scotland's lead in upgrading the results, the government has come up with a range of options for those

pupils in england who feel they've been treated unfairly. joining us now is our political correspondent jonathan blake. clearly, the government in westminster has looked at what happened in scotland and they made an announcement last night. just ta ke an announcement last night. just take us through what has changed.- you say, charlie, the education secretary for england, gavin williamson, announced last night that students would be able to potentially use their mock exam grades as the basis for an appeal against the grades they are given, which have, of course, been predicted by teachers and then adjusted slightly using what the government calls a standardisation model, which takes into account results from individual schools in the last few years. now, having seen that crisis unfold in scotland, the level of anger at so many children having to have their grades reduced,

the government here was keen to avoid that at all costs. i think that was the reason we have seen this last—minute change, which will allow students extra grounds for an appeal, if the grades they receive are somehow lower than those they received in their mock exams. this change came after political pressure from labour. sir keir starmer warning that boris johnson from labour. sir keir starmer warning that borisjohnson risked robbing an entire generation of stu d e nts of robbing an entire generation of students of their future if he didn't intervene. and, in response to the changes that have been made, this morning the shadow education secretary kate green has told bbc brea kfast secretary kate green has told bbc breakfast they don't go far enough. we need a much more robust appeals process, so individual students can actually appeal if they think their work has been wrongly assessed. we need to understand exactly which students are affected. we haven't even seen the model that has been applied to doing this standardisation yet. what we do know from scotland is that there is a risk that it could be students from

more disadvantaged communities who are disproportionately affected. also speaking on the programme this morning, the schools ministerfor england, nick gave, he admitted that the government tracker had seen what had happened in scotland and wanted to make this change. he denied the system to make this change. he denied the syste m ha d to make this change. he denied the system had been fundamentally changed and described it as a safety net for a small number of pupils. our concern was to make sure that, with the best model in the world, there will be students who fall outside it, and we didn't want any student to suffer disadvantage. we apologise to nobody for finding solutions, even at the 11th hour, to stop any student being disadvantaged by the system. and that is what we have been doing in the last few weeks with the appeal system we announced last week, and this new route of appeal, based on the mock exam. the minister said the details of exactly how these appeals would work would be confirmed by the exams

regulator in the coming days. people waiting for their exam results, pa rents waiting for their exam results, parents as well, will be keen to know that, i'm sure. he did confirm the change would apply to btec as well as gcse and a—levels, but it would still need to be the school that appeals on the student's behalf. some changes perhaps allaying concerns from those getting their exam results tomorrow and next week, in the case of gcses, but still a lot of uncertainty around it. students in nothern ireland will also be able to appeal and use their mock exam results if they are higher. but the welsh government has said they will not be upgrading a—level results, as it believes it can accurately predict grades based on teacher predictions. the schools minister nick gibb willjoin us at 7.30. the metropolitan police has said "trial by social media" is damaging to officers,

after labour mp dawn butler accused police of racial profiling. it's after the former equalities minister was stopped when travelling in a car in east london on sunday and posted the footage online. metropolitan police deputy commissioner sir steve house said the officers had acted properly, and it was "unfair" that police should have their actions scrutinised on social media. new zealand's largest city, auckland, has been put back into lockdown after recording the country's first coronavirus infections in 102 days. the four new cases are all members of one family, but none had travelled recently. bars, restaurants and schools there have been closed — and workers are being told to stay at home. social distancing measures have been reintroduced across the rest of the country. a new species of dinosaur has been discovered on the isle of wight. palaeontologists have namd the dinosaur vectaerovenator inopinatus.

iam i am probably the first person to say that on the telly. i think you did very well. i think what we needed was it to be written down in big words so people could work it out for themselves. can we go back and look at it again? or shall we just leave that out there. you go for it! shall i give just leave that out there. you go for it! shalli give it just leave that out there. you go for it! shall i give it a try? vectaerovenator inopi.... that one! it's estimated to have been up to four metres — or 13 foot — long and would have lived around 115—million years ago. its bones are now on display at the island's dinosaur isle museum. i will go home and practice the new dinosaur name. let's go back to the lead story. the uk is experiencing a record recession in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown, that's according to official stats out this morning. it's the first time that the uk

has been in recession since the financial crisis. nina has more on this. a lot of people saw this coming, the top line is a simple, more simple than that dinosaur name. as expected, we are deep into recession. this is the measure of gdp, the gross domestic product. that is the value of everything we make, do and earn. in april and may we we re make, do and earn. in april and may we were almost completely economically inactive. at seven o'clock, we learned the extent of the damage. the largest recession on record. the economy shrank by 20.4% over the three months tojune. after shrinking by more than 2% in the first three months, that means we are officially in recession, a deep recession. the uk economy has been worse hit than any european nation apart from worse hit than any european nation apartfrom spain, worse hit than any european nation

apart from spain, and this is quite interesting, in june the apart from spain, and this is quite interesting, injune the economy recovered by 8.7% compared to the band before, as there was a piecemeal unlocking, a sliver of encouragement. but a long way to go before the economy is anywhere near back pre—pandemic size. last week, we talked about shapes when it comes to the recovery. will it be a car, slowly going up a hill? it could be a plane, taking off and getting to altitude quickly. or we can dream, will it be like a rocket heading straight back up to the level it was before? we know these numbers are really important, they are symbolic, but it doesn't explain what a recession actually feels like to the businesses and to the people living through it. we have been speaking to two co m pa ny through it. we have been speaking to two company bosses. one is the head ofa two company bosses. one is the head of a machine lubrication firm and the other is a wedding planner, to see what the recession has felt like so farand see what the recession has felt like so far and how they are feeling about the future. when it started and the

lockdown was happening, we were incredibly worried about the business and what was going to happen. we had to stop trading in march and haven't been able to open the doors to the public for any events or weddings since then really. we have a diversity of products which has helped us through this crisis, and with the benefit of that and exporting to different countries, we managed to kind of keep our turnover going. we've had a good year for us. we do realise how lucky we are. so, we had from this year, over 110 weddings that have postponed now already. and obviously there are still some weddings hoping for better news for the end of the year, but they are obviously now not filled with confidence that the situation is going to get any better for them. so it may be the fact that out of 150 weddings, we have ended up doing five. with us, cash flow is the main problem at the moment because we are not getting the cash in. the revenue for the weddings

we would have had had at the end of the year, we are obviously would have had the venue hire, food and drink, bar sales and receptions, and obviously none of that is happening so it's happening a big impact on the business at the moment. with the next year, we are predicting this recession like everyone else, and obviously with the aerospace industry and car industries which rely a lot on lubricants, we can see a further slowdown coming. so we're working hard to look at other markets and innovate and try and see it through. but for our industry, that can take five years, three to five years. there's got to be a change at some point, and the fact of the matter is not knowing we can't business plan effectively because if we knew that something was going to improve, then we've got the ability to move the business plan forward and see where we have got to go and where we need to be, so we need a route—map and road map of the future to show where and how we can move it forward. we actually acquired the business after that last recession in 2008 and from what history tells us, from that side, it went very quiet

again for several months and then it picked back up again. so, i think we're just going to have to take it on the chin. we're joined now by chief executive of vitabiotics and the former dragon tej lalvani. unprecedented shrink over the economy. not unexpected ? unprecedented shrink over the economy. not unexpected? yes, i think we have all been expecting this sort of figure coming in. with the forced shutdown of the economy, i think we expect the second quarter as well to be negative. but the impact of that won't be felt for some months, will it? businesses that you speak to, they are probably more fearful of the future than the present? yes, a lot of business owners, small businesses, we have a new season starting filming in the next month or so, it will be interesting to see how businesses are affected from the point of view.

of course, with the advent of a shutdown, a lot of businesses have been forced to go online. and consumers have sort of taken that friction away, because people are afraid of maybe buying groceries, furniture or clothes online, they have had to do that. so moving forward , have had to do that. so moving forward, i think it will change buying patterns and businesses will have to adjust to that. on one side, you have businesses like amazon, asos, thriving in this area, and others that are devastated, areas like hospitality, restaurants, events, exhibitions, all of those are going to take a long time to recover. that is where the biggest proportion of unemployment is going to result in, i think. therefore, stimulus packages that are being offered, i think they have to be a bit smarter and focused on these particular areas, because that is the key to unemployment, and we are not sure how it is going to play out

but we know it is going to be quite bad. so the more that can be done in those areas, focusing on particular industries, i think we need to act in that sort of area. is the chancellor wrong, then, to wrap up the fellow scheme in autumn? look, it isa the fellow scheme in autumn? look, it is a huge expense to the economy. i think it definitely did an importantjob, i think it definitely did an important job, but i i think it definitely did an importantjob, but i think now, if it is to be extended, it should be focused on particular sectors that are going to be the hardest hit, where it is going to be difficult. businesses need to try to innovate. first, they need to figure out how to survive, the second is how to thrive. you know, one of the businesses i invest in, a photographic platform, videography, where you go online and you order a photographer to come and cover your event, photograph menus in a restau ra nt, event, photograph menus in a restaurant, turnover went down to almost zero because of the lockdown. but then the entrepreneur figured out how can you pivot this business

and reposition products? as people are going online a lot more on setting up shops, may be provide a service to e—commerce companies where they need a product catalogue, then approach amazon, shopify, the bigger platforms, and it has had a massive turnaround. it's figuring out what your business can supply going forward. commercial real estate will be significantly hit. your advice to businesses would be to look in a different direction? finally, what you make a bank of england prediction is that we will be in full recovery mode by the end of next year? is that optimistic? look, it's an unprecedented situation and difficult to guess what is going to happen. things are very different now to previous recessions and the reasons for it are different, too. what we need to watch as the unemployment. if that gets worse, the economy will get worse, without a jobs on certain sectors which are completed wiped

out. it's about getting those sectors back into play that is really going to have an effect overall from travel, and getting people confident enough to start travelling and let them feel safe enough, a vaccine or whatever needs to be there. many thanks. absolutely right, the issue at the moment is not where we are now, but how unpredictable the future is. if we are still working in conditions where we have to socially distance, if there are local lockdown is, second spikes, we go back to square one in many ways. the problem compared to the last recession is conducting what comes next. let's go back to our other main story this morning. a—level pupils have been told they may be able to use their mock exam results if they are unhappy with the grades they receieve tomorrow. after coming under pressure to follow scotland's lead in upgrading the results, the government has come up with a range of options for those students in england who feel they've been treated unfairly. joining us now is tarun kapur, chief executive of the dean trust

which has six gcse schools and one college offering a—levels. good morning, thanks so much for joining us. the government says this also applies to gcses in england and btec as well. what do you think of pupils being able to go back, if they are not happy with their results tomorrow, go back to the dock results? is that the right way forward ? dock results? is that the right way forward? well, there is a bit of panic in the system at the moment. they have seen the scottish situation, and that has caused havoc, i think. situation, and that has caused havoc, ithink. what situation, and that has caused havoc, i think. what is happening with us is that we are usually really excited this time in the morning, ready to receive the results. but now we have a little bit of trepidation, because we are not sure what is going to happen, especially in the gcses, when we have improving schools, we tend to ta ke have improving schools, we tend to take on schools that are having some difficulties. we have improving schools. if they base the results on last year, it is a real difficulty.

mock exams are there to see where children have gone wrong or right and to improve. so we would expect a situation whereby... what a shame, we have just lost our guest. situation whereby... what a shame, we havejust lost our guest. if situation whereby... what a shame, we have just lost our guest. if we have time, we will try to go back to him. lots of people getting in touch this morning, particularly talking about mocks and whether or not but would be a good way ofjudging pupil performance. that refers to what is going on in england. and in northern ireland as well. in amongst quite a bit of confusion and dismay behalf of stu d e nts bit of confusion and dismay behalf of students trying to work out where they are, in scotland and particularly there is some good news coming out of this. tens of thousands of students in scotland who had had their exam results downgraded have had the original marks reinstated. one of those students was aspiring doctor olivia biggart, a straight—a student who had her hopes of applying for medical school dashed when her results were lower than predicted.

olivia biggart and her dad david join us now. tell us what has happened to your grades? i have managed now to get all as. it must be a huge relief, you wanted to go to medical school, is your place now assured? not yet, there are still different things like interviews and a test, but it means that my dreams are still alive. well, congratulations, number one. you, like a of other students, have done a lot of work and these have done a lot of work and these have been very, very difficult times. i'm just looking at an e—mail that you and your family... good morning to your dad as well. you receive this e—mail from john swinney. this was actually to you, from john swinney. it says when i read your daughter's story, i realised we would have to act.

please let your daughter know that her experience had a profound impact on my thinking, and encourage her to make her voice heard. as a dad, and olivia, you must feel very proud that you said what you needed to say, and the government responded? yes, i'm very glad. it's a pity that it took so long to come to that. but i wrote to mr swinney last night, andl i wrote to mr swinney last night, and i had said to him, it takes a lot to say sorry to your kids, i've got four kids, but it says a lot to say sorry to all the peoples of the nation. so i did feel a bit sorry for him yesterday. so i wrote to him. i know olivia is sitting next to you, david, maybe you could give us your take as a dad on what it has been like for olivia, her friends, people of that generation, going through everything they have gone through everything they have gone through and then the issues around

the results? yes, well, obviously, pupils like olivia and so many others had lost the thrill of opening up the envelope to see what they got. but since we got the results last week, it has been a co nsta nt results last week, it has been a constant battle of trying to engage councillors, msps, the press, everybody i could to get the story heard. notjust everybody i could to get the story heard. not just olivia's everybody i could to get the story heard. notjust olivia's story, but every other people that has been treated with the same injustice. it's really interesting, we'll talk about it in a moment, the differences between scotland and england. just give a little bit of an assessment, what were your friends talking about yesterday, what were your reactions when they heard what was going to happen? they we re heard what was going to happen? they were all delighted too, because so many of them, every single one of my friends were also downgraded. they we re friends were also downgraded. they were all delighted and over the moon that they got that, they were

feeling they had a fair result. can you paint the picture? the bbc practised audiences lived through this with you a little bit. where you watching on tv when the announcement was made? give us the picture. he was in the room?m announcement was made? give us the picture. he was in the room? it was myself, my mum and dad, we were sitting down in the living room, watching tv, listening to it all. what did you do? we went and celebrated, we went and got a curry afterwards. that is the perfect response. did i see dad to do an embarrassing fist pump? we did that yesterday. some things don't change. we are glad it has worked out for you, thanks for sharing the experience. in scotland, they are going back to the predictions from the teachers, not the same in england.

let's go back to our guest. tarun kapur, chief executive of the dean trust. you were just giving us your assessment of being able to go back and have the mocks used?|j assessment of being able to go back and have the mocks used? i don't think many children will want to use those results, because they were about to improve the performance for the main results, you would expect a 10% rise from mocks to the gcse results. it's a bit of a red herring. we would like to see our estimated grades, we have spent hours and hours looking and ordering the rank of children to make sure it is fairfor the children, their the rank of children to make sure it is fair for the children, their best day, how they do? that is what you would want for your child. i think if the government want to avoid massive appeals from parents, in particular from schools like ours whereby we are improving schools,

which don't always have the best background, the best results, we would want to improve year on year. if they take last year all the year before, we are in trouble. we heard from the schools minister on brea kfast from the schools minister on breakfast earlier, he said there is no confusion. what about from your point of view, is there?” no confusion. what about from your point of view, is there? i think there is panic, rather than confusion in the system. we are looking forward to having results that reflect the hard work of the teachers. you can't believe the amount of work since lockdown that teachers have done to carefully predict the grades. then we have moderated them. we have moderated the mock results. we have made share what we put in was fair. actually, we moderated down some head teacher results because we felt, actually, thatis results because we felt, actually, that is a little bit too generous. we have already done that moderation exercise. an algorithm will not take into account someone like me, when i took my o—levels many years ago, i

wouldn't have done very well based on coursework and predicted grades, because i was good at the examinations. we have a lot of children like that who could have their university careers ruined, or future prospects ruined. so, we believe that the teacher predictions should be those that are used this year. it is an unprecedented year, so let's just get on with it. briefly, are you most concerned about your a—level students or next week when we get the gcse results? gcse,by week when we get the gcse results? gcse, by a country mile. there are so many children, thousands of children doing gcses, and it will be really difficult next week. thank you for your time, we might have to speak to you again, i guess. thank you. you are watching bbc breakfast, still to come... 12—year—old olympic hopeful emma has found a unique way to keep figure skating while the ice rinks are shut — by practising herjumps and spins on a retail car park. yes, practising does involve falling

over. ouch! we will be asking if it is better on ice or tarmac. you will know it has been very warm, very you will know it has been very warm, very warm you will know it has been very warm, very warm at night time as well, sarah. what are they calling it? tropical nights? that's right, when temperatures don't fall below 20 degrees all night. with the heat and humidity, it really does feel like we are in the tropics at the moment. notjust the tropics at the moment. notjust the heat, but the thunderstorms we have seen as well. if we look at this recent heatwave that we have been seeing, during the day, for the past five consecutive days, temperatures have reached over 34 celsius. that is thought to be unprecedented here in the uk. it is the fifth time this year that we have seen a tropical night. last night, across parts of the south, temperatures didn't fall below 20 degrees and they are picking up again really quickly as we head through today. not only has been really hot, but also really dry.

some parts of the south have seen no rain and over two weeks. that is about to change with a bang. we have some big showers and thunderstorms around. we have them overnight. this was macclesfield earlier in the night. most of those intense showers over the past few hours have been across parts of eastern scotland. this is the picture of some fairly dramatic —looking cloud in angus. so, let's look at the radar. where we have seen the really frequent lightning over the last few hours, you can see it across the east of scotland, we have had reports of flash flooding across parts of north lanarkshire, perthshire as well, the m8 was closed for a while. the met office has issued an amber warning over the next hour or so. we still have some downpours to come, so disruption lightly. another hot, humid feeling day with scattered to around. we won't all see them. fairly hit and miss. those storms gradually sting elite easing away from the east of scotland. later we will see more storms cropping up across parts of finland and wales.

fairly hit miss. scotland could see one thunderstorms developing through the course of the afternoon. long spells of hot sunshine for many parts. some mist and fog around, particularly in north—eastern coast. temperatures possibly 32 or 34 celsius again. typically the mid 20s further north. into this evening, we will keep a rash of thunderstorms across parts of southern england and wales in particular. you can see the green colours showing heavy bursts. heavy rain in those thunderstorms. quite murky with low cloud and mist in this further north. again, 20 degrees is the overnight low for the likes of london and cardiff. tomorrow we still have humidity, moist air. it won't be quite as hot as it has been over recent days. quite a bit of mist and low cloud, but some warm sunshine breaking through. that is going to spark more heavy showers and thunderstorms on the cards. temperatures stay below 30 degrees. quite warm and muggy,

typically the low 20s further north. things looking a little bit cooler and unsettled as we look towards the end of the week. hello, this is breakfast with charlie stayt and louise minchin. picking up on what sarah was saying about the weather... if you're in scotland then you would have just had an update on some storm disruption. overnight thunderstorms and lightning strikes have caused travel problems and flooding across parts of scotland. all flights due to land at edinburgh airport are being diverted or delayed and some schools in fife won't reopen today. scotrail has also said heavy rain and flooding on the railway has called delays and cancellations on services across the country. there's also been flooding in aberdeen city and aberdeenshire. matty gale filmed these pictures from his hotel room near falkirk.

you get an idea of the extent of the rain that has come down there. and also in falkirk, mary—beth tweeted these images of the scene where she is this morning. clearly they have had some very heavy downpours which are causing some serious flooding in specific areas, particularly in scotland. those images just areas, particularly in scotland. those imagesjust coming in areas, particularly in scotland. those images just coming in this morning. he's had to brave the elements and hike over glass and stones, but today major chris brannigan completes a 700—mile walk — without any shoes and socks on. chris set off barefoot from lands end 38 days ago to raise money for his eight—year—old daughter, who has a rare illness. we'll catch up with him in a moment, but first let's take a look at what's been an epicjourney. so here i am in lands end in the south—west of england, about to take my very first steps on a 700—mile barefoot march.

he's 17 days into his 700—mile walk. smashing it at the moment. so challenging. so painful. 0h. hip—hip! hooray!

what a journey. chris joins us now from the town of lauder, just south of edinburgh good morning to you. first of all, how are your feet? they are not great, to be honest. i've been walking for 34 days now. i've had infections in both my feet. they are battered and bruised and cut but the end is in sight. i don't know if you have any control over your camera at... i'm not sure if it is suitable for breakfast viewers, what we are going to see, but can you cast the camera down so we can see the feet? can we do that? yeah, the tops don't look too bad, the undersides are not too great. hopefully you can see. they are pretty battered and because of the floods in scotland, some of the road has been washed away on our route so it will be challenging. even seeing you standing there on

the thymic service you are on, i am starting to think ouch —— on the tarmac. you have been through some ordeals, including visits to a&e.” have had to go twice. once because of open wounds and infections on both feet and again last night in the scottish borders because i have a back problem. the whole journey has been really punishing on my body. just remind people who don't know why you decided to do this.” am doing this 700 mile barefoot march for my little girl hasti, because she has a rare condition and we are raising money for other kids with cdls. we have some special guests that hopefully you will be able to hear. amir, navid and hasti join us. have you got a message for your dad?

who wants to speak first? who wants to give the message to your dad? we are really proud of him. what he is doing is amazing and i can't wait to see him. hasti, have you got anything you would like to say to dad? you will anything you would like to say to dad ? you will see anything you would like to say to dad? you will see and later but what about on his last day? what have you got to say to dad? anything you like. dad is giving you a big wave right now, hasti, would you like to wave back? there you go. chris, you have three very proud children there andi have three very proud children there and i know that is what it is all about for you. along the way, i dare say you had some quite extraordinary support from people, may be from the most surprising places as you have gone down at the route. what are the moments that stand out for you?”

have had incredible support from all over the country. i have walked through 19 counties and everywhere i've been from start to the end, the kindness we have received from total strangers, whether it be donations ora strangers, whether it be donations or a food or water or a hug and say hello, it's been amazing. the thing about this is its the relentlessness for you. every morning having to get up, but there was delicate feet on the tarmac again. yeah, exactly. every morning my feet are swollen and are more damaged than the day before it. the truth is that children with rare diseases in the uk don't get the treatment they need and one in three don't live to see their fifth birthday. we and one in three don't live to see theirfifth birthday. we are fighting so that kids have cdls can get treatment to live a long and happy life. we want hasti to reach her dreams are. your lovely children don't want to talk to us and i understand but maybe they will talk to you. have you got anything you

would like to say to the kids?” love you guys and i haven't seen you in sucha love you guys and i haven't seen you in such a long time. it's been 35 days on this journey and i cannot wait to see you this afternoon in edinburgh city centre. i love you. maybe you don't want to tell us what what plans do you have when you first see your dad? we will buy him some shoes. laughter that's a great idea. i will ask this of all three of you, how big is the hope going to be when you get to see dad? how big were that hubby? really big. that's big. that is a proper hug. —— how big is the hug? that is your support team. i think some people think i have a car or some kind of support behind me, but it is really just kind of support behind me, but it is reallyjust me, my phone and all my stuff in my bag. it is really difficult but i can't wait to see the family at the end of the day. to

keep you going on your last day, people spot you, what do you want them to do? wave, give you a foot massage? i don't think anybody will wa nt to massage? i don't think anybody will want to touch my feet. if people can give mea want to touch my feet. if people can give me a beat, a wave, or put a donation in my pocket it all goes to create a gene therapy which will change the lives of these kids and hasti forever. kids, give us a big wave and give your dad a sendoff, a wave and give your dad a sendoff, a wave ascend off because he's about to set off. goodbye. thank you, guys, lovely to see you all and good luck on the last bit of your journey, chris. all and good luck on the last bit of yourjourney, chris. i'm pleased to see you have some blue skies for that last bit of the journey, notwithstanding the problems we were talking about a moment ago. he has raised a huge amount of money. 8:38am. we're due to hear more this morning about the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, and it's warned that young people could be some of the hardest hit. breakfast‘s tim muffett has been getting the thoughts from some of those who could be impacted, as they consider their

options for the future. being a young adult in 2020 is no walk in the park. looming recession, cancelled exams, a shrinking jobs market. juwon hopes to start an apprenticeship with an investment bank in september but she will need the right a—level grades tomorrow. with the grading situation, we are graded on something we didn't do. and if we take that to an employer, unless it was a really bad grade, that's not a representation of me and my abilities in my capabilities. there are some grim predictions over levels of unemployment. even if she gets her apprenticeship, juwon worries for her friends. i'm hoping that the whole labour market will change but i know it'll be very hard right now, and my fears is it'll be four fears be very hard right now, and my fears is for people in my year and they're trying to go to university, it's going to be very difficult for them. it sounds an anxious time. is it? definitely. some adults pity us but they're not

understanding the effect it is having on us. literally at home and i've been sitting at home thinking what grades will i be getting? creative industries are facing enormous challenges. catherine is studying make—up for film and television. her btec exams have practical elements and have had to be postponed, so no results for her tomorrow. it is frustrating that we are young and going through this. very frustrating. barber shops and stuff, they're all allowed to open, they've got clear guidelines, wearing visors and stuff like that. whereas being a make—up artist, you have to touch the face, don't you? so... they are unclear on how we can actually perform safely. a lot of the girls in my class, they are supposed to be coming out, doing jobs now they should have started but obviously because of the situation we are in there is probably not going to be manyjobs for them at the minute anyway. it's a weird kind of nervousness because we haven't done exams, so we can't be worried about anything we've done. it's more stressing about how we've done throughout the whole year and how our teachers are going to predict our grades come thursday. with the right a—level grades, kieran will be studying law at university college london.

i'm quite worried because the legal industry is becoming more and more saturated. and entering into recession, i'm not sure whether firms will keep taking the same number of interns as they usually do. if i struggle to find an internship, then i might struggle to find a job in the city in future. as a teenager, adam had dreams of becoming a professional footballer, but it wasn't to be. i'm currently looking for work, didn't go the educational route. my interests are to get into the media industry. i haven't quite found my niche yet. i'm still on a journey to find what exactly i'm most passionate about because i do have a lot of passions. all the jobs i want specifically, i feel like i don't have any guidance to get there. if i could wave a magic wand, if there was a miracle, i would love to have a stable job that i love, just like everyone else. i want to be doing what i love to do. first steps into adult life are rarely trouble—free but,

in 2020, thatjourney seems more challenging than ever. tim muffett, bbc news. so people are talking about how their futures will look. 8:42am, looking at the sport. lots of talk about how sport will look but there is quite a bit going on which is good. there has been a lot of sport going on to kill if you are a fan of wolves. this season has lasted 383 days. what a season they've had. so many positives but the manager and the fans to reflect on and plenty of time for them to enjoy it over those 383 days but it didn't end how they wanted. beaten by sevilla in the europa league quarterfinals. they won a penalty early on, when adama traore was brought down — but rauljiminez missed the chance to put them ahead. and with two minutes of normal time to go, the spanish side scored the winner, to set up a semi—final against manchester united.

scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon says the football season will be halted if there are any more breaches of covid—19 restrictions. after eight aberdeen players broke the rules, celtic defender boli bolingoli admitted he'd flown to spain, failed to quarantine on his return, and then played in a league game on sunday, all without the club knowing. celtic and aberdeen's next two matches have been postponed. the rugby league season is also in turmoil. we're waiting to hear if this weekend's super league fixtures involving hull fc and salford will be called off, after six hull fc players and two members of their coaching staff tested positive for coronavirus. five of those played against salford on sunday and all are now in quarantine. the league is looking at the match to determine how many players from each team will also be required to self—isolate under test and trace procedures. the delayed season only started ten days ago. ronnie o'sullivan isn't confident of making the final of the world snooker championship,

despite a superb performance that took him into the last four. he dragged himself back from 7—2 down against mark williams to win by 13 frames to ten, but his next opponent is mark selby, who beat him the last time he made the final, six years ago, and o'sullivan doesn't expect to get past him. where so he's saying! iveagh ronnie o'sullivan's mind games? and judd trump is the latest victim of the crucible curse — the defending champion was knocked out in the quarter—finals by kyren wilson. no first—time winner has managed to retain their title at the famous venue. the crucible curse, it sounds like something arthur miller would dream up. it really does. thank you very much. i noticed the waiver earlier on, you showed the tennis wave instead of a handshake, a distant wave. where they tap their rackets, that is the future. thanks very much. although many lockdown restrictions

have eased in the past few weeks, some close—contact beauty treatments — like facials, and eyebrow threading — still aren't allowed in england. but for those with medical conditions it can be about more than just looking good. as graham satchell reports. this is natasha. she's had alopecia, total hair loss, for 15 years. natasha was due to get new permanent eyebrows at her local beauty clinic but covid—19 regulations means no work can be done on any area of the face. as you can probably see, i've got none, hardly any left of what i had, but it was just the strip. but now they've developed into beautiful, natural—looking eyebrows with hair strokes and things like that, which is what i was hoping to get done. some people might think, oh, you know, it'sjust eyebrows, just get on with it, it'll be fine. but it would personally make me feel a lot more confident about myself, and being confident does help your mental health,

and it personally makes me feel a lot better. linda, natasha's beautician, says it has been heartbreaking not to be able to treat clients with serious conditions. cancer patients, you know, who are undergoing chemotherapy, they come, they know they're going to lose their hair and their eyebrows and the one thing they want is eyebrows, you know? when they walk out of the door, we make them feel whole again. nicola and toria both have polycystic ovary syndrome. one of the symptoms is excessive facial hair growth. i am very, very self—conscious about the fact that you can see hair along the side of my face, under my chin, along the neck. it is very... it has impacted quite a lot. you almost don't feel like a woman inside your own body. because if you leave this hair to grow, you will grow a beard.

both women would normally have laser or wax treatment at a beauty clinic every two or three weeks. instead, they've been trying to manage their condition at home. i have resulted in shaving my face, which has caused the hair to grow back worse. it's thicker, it's darker. so it's not pleasant. i do feel it has impacted my anxiety levels a lot, and my depression has reared its head again. i got into such a deep, dark place mentally that i couldn't cope. you walk down the street, someone looks at you and they go, "she's got a beard, she's got a moustache." that's very difficult. hi, darling, lovely to see you! take a seat on the bed. in manchester, paye davis reopened her clinic last month when some of the lockdown restrictions were relaxed.

she has taken extra hygiene and safety precautions but says she doesn't understand why men can get their beards trimmed but facial treatments for women are still not allowed. when we laser somebody‘s face, it takes under two minutes and we stand to the side of them, as opposed to, for example, a beard trim, where the barber stands directly in front of their client and trims and it can take up to 20 minutes to do that. to me, it is sexist. and that is a word that i've not used for about 20 years. and i can't believe that in 2020 i am sat in my clinic talking about being discriminated in a way that is clearly sexist. the government in westminster will decide next week if clinics will be allowed to start facial treatments. for thousands of women like natasha, nicola and toria, it's not a frivolous luxury but a vital service. graham satchell, bbc news.

we're nowjoined by beauty salon owner neel chandara na. good morning, thank you forjoining us. you really can see the difficulties people are having. what about your clients, how tough have they found it? it'sjust been so tough. we were expecting to open last saturday on the 1st of august, though we had a flurry of appointments booked in. when the government announced the delay on friday, giving us less than 24—hour is noticed, obviously a lot of customers are still came in for their treatments. i had one customer andi their treatments. i had one customer and i will never forget her words, they will stay with me for ever. she was in tears in the salon when she entered and, you know, we had to turn her away because we couldn't carry out her face wax and she literally said to me, "i've been waiting for you to open. i've just got such a low self—esteem, i just cannot go out looking like this."

she said she had been trying to do the treatments at home, but can't do it like us and she hasn't got the confidence to go out. it's just such a shame because it'sjust confidence to go out. it's just such a shame because it's just affecting millions and millions of women across the country and really the question i would ask to the government is please tell me, is this an essential service or not? we are having trouble with your camera because it's wobbly so i don't know if you are holding it... brilliant, it's my study. thank you. one of the people in our piece talked about it being discrimination. is that how you see it? yeah. do you know what? you know, i could go to the right now and get my beard trimmed if i wanted. you can get your beard trimmed, moustache trimmed and the word sexism comes into play a lot and really there isjust word sexism comes into play a lot and really there is just so word sexism comes into play a lot and really there isjust so many inconsistencies. that is why it is

causing so much frustration and emotion in the entire industry, across women across the country. a couple of weeks ago there was a photo posted on the social media and it was harry redknapp getting his hair cut it was harry redknapp getting his haircut ina it was harry redknapp getting his hair cut in a buy—back‘s and in the background, the by bit was threading a guy's eyebrows. there is a lot of inconsistencies, black market of people doing things they shouldn't. really it is the businesses and women who are actuallyjust trying to look themselves, who are suffering here. we know the uk is officially in recession. you have a five beauty salons, are you managing to keep people on? it is really, really tough. at the moment we have had to close two of our salons because we can't carry out many treatments. we have 30 members of

staff and have had to let three go already following boris' announcement. we are expecting another announcement this friday and thatis another announcement this friday and that is when the next set of decisions i think we will have to make. clearly because the furlough scheme is starting to wind down and we simply as a small business cannot afford to be paying wages when we don't have any money coming in and the therapists are not working. that is the reality. when you hoping you will be able to do all the treatments you would like to able to? we are hoping for this saturday, the 15th of august. there is a news conference with the prime minister is scheduled for friday lunchtime, soi is scheduled for friday lunchtime, so i think we will have very little notice but, to be honest, you can tell me on saturday morning if you wa nt tell me on saturday morning if you want and we will be ready to open. thank you very much indeed. it is 8:52am, charlie, you spotted the clock... i have clock envy because i

like that clock, it is huge. i think it says 8:55am but it is 8:52am. it is 8:52am, isn't it? a lot of people set it'sjust... is 8:52am, isn't it? a lot of people set it'sjust. .. i is 8:52am, isn't it? a lot of people set it's just. .. i have is 8:52am, isn't it? a lot of people set it'sjust... i have mine a couple of minutes fast because otherwise i might miss the six o'clock headlines! let's move on. 12—year—old figure skater emma lyons was being tipped for the olympics but when covid—19 forced ice rinks to close, her dreams of glory hit the skids. farfrom letting the pandemic scupper her chances of turning professional, however, emma — seen here at last year's british championships — came up with a novel idea to keep her ambition on track. she swapped the ice for a car park. emma joins us from chester now and she's got some moves, as we're about to see. with her dad. good morning to you both. thank you forjoining us. emma, there's question, falling on an ice rink, falling on a car park, how different are they? they are very different. well, its very hot

right now and when you are in an ice rink it is quite cold. of the other thing... go on, dad. she does happen to have a fall, the surface is quite abrasive so it's not kind on the skin. what is the difference in principle? you are on roller blades on at the thymic there. what is a difference in feel between that and being on skates as you would normally be? well, when you are on the skates, it is more grippy because when you're on the ice you can dig in my for the edges and because you have wheels on concrete it is like that. david, you are at full on commentator mode. you have headphones on, ready to go. and i

think it will give us a talk through while emma shows us a few moves. can you do that for us now? no problem. 0k. get you do that for us now? no problem. ok. get the camera out and if you speak us through what emma is doing. just skating into position, i think she will take us through her step sequence. she is just she will take us through her step sequence. she isjust doing some twizzles. david, what do people think? it is extraordinary watching her with a car in the background. what do people think when they come past and she appears to be dancing in the car park? we have had a really good response, to be honest. as you can see, people have been very considerate, packing out of the way. john lewis, they have the car park, they have been good and all

the stuff. the biggest thing we have noticed is people get out of the car and watch for a while.” noticed is people get out of the car and watch for a while. i don't blame them. we are having a little look at them. we are having a little look at the skates. i don't know if emma can hear me, but took us through these escapes because they are different to your ice skates. yeah, very different. out the main difference is because of the wheels, obviously she hasn't got the sharp edges so when she does edge jumps, if the tarmac is a wet it makes it more slippy and more susceptible to falling. what is special about these blades is they have an adjustable rocker in the middle so that allows her to rocker in the middle so that allows herto doa rocker in the middle so that allows her to do a spin. do you want to demonstrate a spin? how did you to come up with the idea when the ice rinks were closed of using a car park? look at that! it was the only

solution we could possibly find because the conservatory wasn't big enough and it was a bit like an organ, so too hot. it was the only solution we could find —— it was like an oven. it was 100% secure, no ca rs like an oven. it was 100% secure, no cars here whatsoever. the only thing that was holding us back was the weather. david, can i get you to do a twizzle so you are facing towards us? oh, sorry! i am trying to use ice—skating terminology to do a bit of choreography. are you part coach in this scenario? no, i'm not a coach whatsoever. head coach is over there, hayley. keeping her distance. couldn't have done it without her. can we see... does she may wants to stay out of the camera? can hayley give us a little wave? when you are

practising, hayley is on the scene so you can do it as a proper practice? yes, yes. she is a big inspiration because before she did coaching she did disney on ice as a snow—white. coaching she did disney on ice as a snow-white. that absolutely fantastic. are your hopes the olympics one day, you a big help? yeah. listen, well done. continuing to carry on with your training, absolutely brilliant. i hope lots of people come to watch you today. thank you. the weather, so in contrast to normal ice—skating because we don't yet know when ice rinks are yet open. wait and see. thank you for watching today. we will keep you in touch with those results especially in england. we'll be back tomorrow from six. we are looking out of the window and it might be a one day to day. have a

good one. goodbye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines. the uk is officially suffering its biggest recession on record, the fall in output caused by the coronavirus pandemic is thought to be one of the worst among major economies. today's figures show that hard times are here. hundreds of thousands of people have already lost theirjobs, and sadly many more will. students in england may be able to use their mock exam scores if they're unhappy with their a—level grades, ahead of results being released tomorrow. we are just leaving no stone unturned to make sure every student, in whatever circumstances, gets the grade that reflects their ability. what we have now got is a system

which clearly is not