good morning. welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. our headlines today: hundreds of thousands of students get their a—level results today for exams they didn't sit, as ministers prepare for a backlash over predicted grades. for those receiving vocational qualifications, hairdressing, hospitality, engineering, what would a covid job market look like? an investigation begins into the aberdeenshire rail crash in which three people died. another night of dramatic thunderstorms, after a day of record setting temperatures.

it is another warm, humid start to the day. further thunderstorms especially in the south but it should be a dry day to day across the northern half of the uk. a sensational comeback in the champions league — paris saint germain score twice in injury time to beat atalanta, and qualify for the semi—finals for the first time in 25 years. it's thursday the 13th of august. our top story: hundreds of thousands of students in england, wales and northern ireland are receiving a—level and vocational results this morning. on the eve of results day, education secretary gavin williamson issued an apology to students after coronavirus forced the cancellation of exams, meaning their grades are based on estimates. this morning on breakfast we'll hear from anxious students, their teachers, and university leaders. we'll also get the latest on the annual clearing process, which matches up students with university places. and at 7:30 we'll speak to gavin williamson. but first, this report

from our education correspondent danjohnson. after 12 years at school, it all comes down to this but the stress of results date is multiplied by the added complications of coronavirus. with no exams, teachers have estimated grades. the who is up and who is down. deep anxiety about these unusual results. help me is confident and really looking forward to getting the results but at the same time, because of what has happened in scotland, there is little bit of uncertainty about am i going to get the predicted grade? quite apprehensive but i know i have done a good job with my preparation,. i am feeling happier that have done well in my mugs and assessments. the best i could do but

i was really set on doing the exams. resulted scotland were raised after no standard marks. in wales, stu d e nts no standard marks. in wales, students have been promised at least the grade they scored in the first year exams. in northern ireland, schools will be able to appear if mugs schools will be able to appear if ngs are schools will be able to appear if mugs are lower than mock exams. and that applies in england with the option of setting an exam in autumn. the education secretary has apologised even before grades are revealed. i apologise to every single child right across the country for the disruption they have had to suffer and the fact that, as education secretary, i never expected to be in a situation where we have had to close schools, two pupils either than those of critical

workers and the most vulnerable. i would never expect to be in a situation with no exam period. signs of significant downgrades and warnings of further unfairness but the regulator in england says the system will be fed to most and overall grades might still be slightly higher. we want a robust, fair system whereby mock evidence can be brought to bear and we will be doing that urgently over the next couple of days and in terms of a student getting their results, you very much hope they will do as in any other year and they will move on and be able to take those decisions. and here is where some futures will be decided. clearing is another chance of getting into university place. lines will be busy but don't panic, more places this year because of fewer international students. will the results be fair? what to do? where to go? it is all up in the airand there is

do? where to go? it is all up in the air and there is a real possibility these grades may not be the final assessment. dan johnson, bbc news. our political correspondent, jonathan blake, joins us now from westminster. very interesting that gavin williamson is offering an apology to stu d e nts williamson is offering an apology to students and now these changes after what happened in scotland with the results. definitely something he will be defending today? results. definitely something he will be defending today7m results. definitely something he will be defending today? it is an gavin williamson is defending that model, that the exam regulator has used to standardise a level grades in england. a—level ——he sang without it, we would have seen a great shoot up and he has gone on to say in his piece in the daily telegraph this morning that it would devalue the results for the class of this year, meaning they would lose out in the future and also devalue the results of last year's students and next. worse than that, he goes on to say, would mean that students this year would lose twice over both

in terms of the results and future prospects. it is a results day like no other as the education secretary acknowledged. the nerves and anticipation are there but also the unknown because the grades are not asa unknown because the grades are not as a result of the roadwork in exams but predictions by teachers. 30% of result we are told being adjusted down from the grades predicted by teachers. that in itself it will be controversial and as the results come out in full later, i will expect more political criticism for the government because we have heard from unions that there is deep frustration in school about this process. labour have criticised it as chaotic so notjust process. labour have criticised it as chaotic so not just for the stu d e nts as chaotic so not just for the students is this going to be a testing time. it is a testing time for the government as well in terms of how these results are received.

thank you very much and will be talking to gavin williamson at 7:30am today. an investigation is underway after a passenger train derailed near stonehaven, in aberdeenshire, killing three people. the train is thought to have hit a landslide following torrential rain and thunderstorms. six other people were also sent to hospital. our correspondent andrew anderson is in stonehaven this morning. good morning to you. what more do we know at this stage about what happened? good morning. this is as close as we can get this morning to the scene of yesterday's crash. at this time yesterday morning, the aberdeen to glasgow service was getting ready to leave and we now know it had gone about 20 miles into that journey before know it had gone about 20 miles into thatjourney before the horrendous accident occurred. three people died, the driver of the train, the conduct and one other person. six other people were injured although

we do not think they sustained serious injuries. the rescue operation yesterday, very challenging but the focus date moves on to the investigation and the strong theory is the train hit a landslide which had been caused by torrential rain and thunderstorms overnight, and the force of that collision through carriages up into the air, part of the train tumbled down the embankment and it caught fire. a very challenging scene for the rescue team in what is quite a rural location. the queen who is holidaying at bell moral has sent her sympathies as has nicola sturgeon and boris johnson. her sympathies as has nicola sturgeon and borisjohnson. the chief executive of network role responsible for the track is cutting short and overseas holiday and we expect him to travel to stonehaven perhaps later today. 0nce expect him to travel to stonehaven perhaps later today. once the investigators have scoured the wreckage and the equally challenging of removing the wreckage will begin.

this carriage wake many, many times ina this carriage wake many, many times in a difficult location. the work will then begin to repair the track, make it safe and reopen the line. andrew, thank you very much. new findings from the world's largest home antibody testing programme suggest that 6% of people in england have been infected with coronavirus. more than 100,000 volunteers were tracked by researchers at imperial college london. the study also found that people living in london were most likely to have been infected, as were those working in care homes and health care settings. a revamped coronavirus contact tracing app begins public trials on the isle of wight today. the app is meant to log when two people's phones are close together for a period of time. if one person is later diagnosed with the virus, the other can be alerted before they show symptoms. it's not yet clear when the app might be rolled out across england. the us democratic presidential candidate, joe biden, and his running mate, kamala harris,

have made their first campaign appearance together. the pair attacked president donald trump, calling him an incompetent leader who has left the us in tatters. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, reports. events of this kind normally take place before large and adoring cards but normal times, these are not, and the first black woman ever to appear in a us presidential ticket was forced to make her campaign trail debut in a largely empty high school gymnasium. nonetheless, the man who appointed her said kamala harris should serve as an inspiration to others. this morning, all across the nation, little girls woke up, especially little black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities. but today, todayjust may be, they are seeing themselves for the first time in a new way, as the stuff of presidents

and vice—presidents. the daughter of an indian mother and jamaican father, kamala harris is been looked upon as someone who can energise thejoe biden campaign and extend the democrats' appeal to independent voters and even moderate republicans. this is a moment of real consequence for america. everything we care about, our economy, our health, our children, the kind of country we live in, it is all on the line. meanwhile president trump has maintained his criticism. she said horrible things about joe maintained his criticism. she said horrible things aboutjoe biden, was than i ever did and now she is running as vice president. joe biden called the selection battle for soul of america. depending on the spread of america. depending on the spread of coronavirus, his new running mate

is soon hoping to head out to the swing states with just over 80 days to go before the election. weather warnings remain in place for many parts of the uk, after a second night of thunderstorms followed record—setting high temperatures. an amber storm warning has been issued today for most of wales, the west midlands and parts of north west england. flooding, travel disruption and power cuts are expected. caroline davies reports. the report contained some flashing images. and another day of record temperatures and event of this. storm battered parts of south london with wind, rain and hail. this was inside a supermarket in telford, ceiling panels falling as the rain pours in through the roof. some parts of scotland saw almost seven hours of almost continuous rain. many errors were flooded, including here in perth. clouds

stuck in floodwaters in aberdeen. in bristol, two people were rescued by fire services after getting stuck earlier in the evening. the met 0ffice have want the current hot weather creates ideal conditions for thunderstorms. the heat is due to continue in some places with little drop at night. some in the uk will see 20 degrees at night, so—called tropical nights, with dramatic results. it is impossible to get a good nights sleep at the moment, whether it is to do with humidity or the thunder and lightning. this year so far, we have at the wettest february on record, followed by the sunniest spring on record, followed by these bursts of heat this summer. these extremes have often occurred throughout history and will continue to occur but, with global warming and climate changing, we are expecting more and more extremes to

occur. warnings have been issued for today for much of england, wales, parts of northern ireland and south—west scotland as a weeks of extreme continues. caroline davies, bbc news. a rare species of butterfly that was once declared extinct in britain is flourishing after being reintroduced here. the endangered large blue butterfly disappeared after its habitat was destroyed and people poached it for private collections. but after a successful breeding scheme, an estimated 750 have been spotted this summer. it is rather beautiful. it is a stunning thing. big results day to day. it's notjust a level students that will be getting results this morning. tens of thousands of young people studying vocational qualifications will also be finding out their grades. nina is at a college in sunderland for us.

it's that day, isn't it? in such difficult times, with such a difficult times, with such a difficult run up, not withstanding theissue difficult run up, not withstanding the issue over the run up themselves, this is a big day for a lot of people. perhaps particularly people for people in vocational training, more than 200,000 young people need tech level three qualification results, are very nervous time. let's speak to holly and lucy. you've both been trading in health and social care. how do you feel? i am all right because our work will get marked as we go. so i think so, yeah. how has it been, managing to qualify over covid? it's been quite all right. without the time to creep on with what we need to do. anytime we needed anything.

and the practical side, you had done your hours. it's ordinarily the start of the year, so very fortunate. further education after this? at eight o'clock, we will come back and find out. a different story for people like melissa, looking to go to heron beauty, how has it been on your placement? it's been really ha rd on your placement? it's been really hard because our work is quite practical so you can't really do much from home because everything is good to be vision wise and it's hard to get your theory exam is done. and you love what you do. and i love your have come jealous. how concerned you about jobs your have come jealous. how concerned you aboutjobs market? some people are quite worried about their hair getting done, they are

wearing full ppe but it is quite concerning. have you seen that drop in confidence. some people say, i don't feel safe enough yet. 0bviously, even though we are busy, still social distancing. good luck, melissa. if your hair is anything to go by, you will be fine. rob employs several apprentices and works in the supply chain. what is your concern when you look at the economy, because you really value apprenticeships. massively. we've got around 70 at the moment. we got at least another for this year. we have to look at the long—term in terms of how our workforces. you look at the economy but they have to look at the economy but they have to look at the workforce as well. we have an ageing workforce, so i got a

lot of people coming in, for people going off the top so long—term rather than short—term. going off the top so long—term rather than short-term. over the last recession, there was a dearth of people in vocational qualifications. what would you like to say to the government now, as this recession starts to bite? as i spoke to your producer, about two yea rs spoke to your producer, about two years ago, we struggle to get maintenance technicians, engineers, so the government as well as businesses has to look at the long—term and think let's look at the future and have skilled people to keep us going. you are saying to me earlier, someone who start practical course like this is far more appealing to you than university. with the stills skills they've got, 100%. they will invest specifically in young people have

been on universal credit to make sure that long—term prospects improve but as melissa said, it's a really anxious time for young people graduating today, heading into a jobs market and frankly not knowing what the future will hold. we will be back with you a little later on. get all the people down there their contributions. they are all waiting, it is one of those days. let's take a look at today's papers. the mirror leads on the aberdeenshire rail crash in which three people died. the driver, a conductor and a passenger were killed when the train derailed near stonehaven yesterday morning. a warning from the education secretary gavin williamson leads the front of the telegraph. he says boosting exam grades would harm "generation covid" for life and risk their future career prospects. students across england, wales and northern ireland will get their results this morning. the daily express claims a front page exclusive as it leads on a vow by chancellor rishi sunak to "put the foot on the accelerator"

to drive economic recovery after the uk sank into the deepest recession on record. and finally the scottish daily mail also has the aberdeenshire rail crash on its front page. a couple of things to pick out. we've been in during these record temperatures. beautiful pictures of rainbows before. have you ever seen a circular rainbow? it's been taken by helicopter passengers as they we re by helicopter passengers as they were on this trip, and it looked like they passed through a rare full circle rainbow above a volcano in maui in hawaii so if you've never seen a circular rainbow. dot looks like something that's been captured in the lens of the camera. there is

a smaller picture here. anna kim, in the helicopter. i will take you to rather more mundane matters. tender sardines. why are they mundane, they are fabulous things. sales of sardines at one supermarket during the lockdown of sword by 500%. that isa the lockdown of sword by 500%. that is a lot. a lot more sardines being bought. the popularity of sardines and the many things that can be used for, fishcakes. she is quoting the late terry wogan. apparently, terry wogan was quoted on the sardines, saying he had mixed feelings about

tinned sardines, because in the postwar years, the little fellows as he would say, they seemed to be everywhere, on toast, in sandwiches, in your salad, with a boiled egg in a slice of tomato and a dash of valid cream. i'm part of that generation, sardines on toast. maybe people are coming back to it again now stop i remember on saturday kitchen a sardine pasta dish. sarah is going to have the weather for us shortly. we're going to talk to the education secretary. yesterday's train crash in aberdeenshire has been described as a devastating and tragic incident by scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon.

three people, including the driver, were killed, after the train hit a landslide and derailed. the accident followed heavy rain and flooding. we're nowjoined by the former deputy editor of rail magazine, philip haigh. the details of been coming through. what do you understand where the main causes of the accident. from what i can tell, the severe weather in heavy rain, just before the accident, looks like a majorfactor. it seems it likely triggered some sort of landslide that locks the train's progress and very sadly derailed it. investigators will be carefully looking at what more have caused the landslide. as it struck

whatever the obstruction was. when conditions are as such, heavy rain and potential landslides. stonehaven isa and potential landslides. stonehaven is a coastal town. would they not have been restrictions in place anyway, or even cancellations along that line if there were concerns? labour there were certainly many trains cancelled on that line. many trains cancelled on that line. many trains cancelled on that line. many trains cancelled across scotland because of flooding that network rail knew about, knew that some lines were impossible. that is why fewer trains were running yesterday than ona fewer trains were running yesterday than on a normal day certainly, if network rail is aware of specific problems roots aware of likelihood problems, it will slow trains down and have them drive the drivers more cautiously so that they can check what is at the front of them but it

may be the case here, a landslide will trigger very close to a train and there is little in that situation that a driver will do to stop. i'm particularly thinking of cautions from up above. the trains just shouldn't be running. is certainly difficult to know exactly where a landslide will appear. network rail does a lot of work assessing its earthworks structures andi assessing its earthworks structures and i think it's going to be a lot, and i think it's going to be a lot, a lot more work in the near future. this throws a very sharp focus on the effect of rainfall. particularly the effect of rainfall. particularly the very heavy rainfall that we seem to be seeing more often across the whole country. i think as a result,

network rail will be looking very closely at how it deals with this extreme bit more frequent weather and how it treats its earthworks instructions, all of those sorts of things. should say rail accidents like these are very rare. they absolutely are. to hear the tragic news yesterday, that's the first news yesterday, that's the first news of its kind we've heard for 13 yea rs. news of its kind we've heard for 13 years. that's been the result of a lot of hard work by railway staff up and down the country to make britain's railways safer. so recent figures comparing britain's railways with those across europe are placed britain across the top of the list as the safest railway in europe. that does not mean that accidents cannot and do not happen as events

yesterday have so sadly shown. thank you for your time this morning. you are watching bbc breakfast, still to come: breakfast‘s tim muffett has been to meet the cast and crew of a new musical based on the film sleepless in seattle — as they hope it will be the first live stage show to open since lockdown. we'll be discussing that shortly and bringing you the latest news. the time now is 6:27am. let's find out what is happening in the weather with sarah. she is on the roof in london. we've had a record, haven't we in terms of consecutive high temperatures? that's right. good morning to you. six days now in fact we re morning to you. six days now in fact were temperatures of been above 3a celsius so that is believed to be unprecedented in the uk. certainly the longest spell of consecutive temperatures above 3a degrees since 1961. really, really hot. this

heatwave is continued, not only by david overnight as well. last night was another tropical nights that's where temperatures don't fall below 20 degrees or night. record—breaking during the day but very hot. this morning here, it is quite a warm and humid start to the day. many of us across the uk, a similarfeel as well. we have got that humidity with us well. we have got that humidity with us through the day. further heavy showers and thunderstorms in the forecast but most of them will be across the southern half of the uk. we had most of the heavy downpours and budding yesterday, things are tending to dry up the north. we have got low pressure south, giving us showers around, high—pressure holding further north. from the word 90, holding further north. from the word go, heavy showers for parts of southern england, into the midlands and wales as well, some of those heavy showers, clearing away from northern ireland in south—west scotland. claudia around the

north—east coast of england and scott and sue temperatures in the high teens downs towards the south, highs of 28 or 29 celsius, 30 celsius and wanted to spots but as hot as recent days, although it is still feeling humid. into this evening and tonight, the further threat of showers and thunderstorms across parts of southern england, into wales, should be drierfurther north through the night, again, quite a north through the night, again, quitea warm, north through the night, again, quite a warm, humid, comfortable night for sleeping but for most of us, temperatures of stay below 20 degrees tonight. through the day tomorrow, repeat performance, further heavy showers across parts of southern and central england, into wales as well, should be dry for northern england, scotland and northern ireland. temperatures a bit lower, so looking at the mid 20s, possibly the high teens further north. that theme continues into saturday, further heavy showers across parts of southern england into south wales as well, elsewhere

looking mostly dry and those temperatures by the time you get to saturday, most of us, back into the low, possibly mid 20s but it will be a bit cooler once again where you keep that low cloud and misting as across the coast of north—east england in eastern scotland so the high teens here but as we look further ahead on into next week, it does look like we will keep the u nsettled does look like we will keep the unsettled spell to the weather, those temperatures will start to gradually return to something more typicalfor gradually return to something more typical for the gradually return to something more typicalfor the time of gradually return to something more typical for the time of year. hello this is breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. it's 6:30. we'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment, but also on breakfast this morning, a nervous morning for students and parents in england, wales and northern ireland as they wait to find out their a level results. we'll hear from the education secretary gavin williamson at 7:30. from lightening storms, to tropical nights and flash floods — we'll be finding out more

about why we've been experiencing such extreme weather in recent days. and could holidaymakers face more quarantine rules? we'll discuss the countries where rates of coronavirus are rising and falling after 7:00. good morning. here's a summary of today's main stories from bbc news. a—level and vocational results are out this morning for hundreds of thousands of students in england, wales and northern ireland. students will be emailed their results, which are estimated after exams were cancelled due to the pandemic. controversy has surrounded how results have been decided, with headteachers angry at the use of mock exam grades as a basis for appeals. an investigation is still underway after a passenger train derailed on a flooded track near stonehaven in aberdeenshire, killing three people. the train is thought to have hit a landslide following torrential

rain and thunderstorms. the transport secretary grant shapps is expected to travel to the site later. six people were also sent to hospital following the incident. a revamped coronavirus contact tracing app begins public trials on the isle of wight today. the app is meant to log when two people's phones are close together for a period of time. if one person is later diagnosed with the virus, the other can be alerted before they show symptoms. it's not yet clear when the app might be rolled out across england. the findings of the world's largest home antibody testing programme for coronavirus have been released this morning. the research, by imperial college london, involved 100,000 volunteers across england, using a finger prick test in their own home. so let's take a look at what those findings show us. across england the research suggests that 6% of the population, around 3.4 million people,

have been infected with coronavirus. the study also found that 13% of people in london had antibodies against the virus. while in the southwest of england that figure dropped to less than 3%. let's speak now to one of the lead authors of the study, professor helen ward. good morning to you professor and thank you for your time. we heard of some of the barebones. let's talk about the key figure, the 6% extrapolation that you have worked out. what we did was we selected random people, adults in england, and we invited them to take part in the study and those that volunteered, and it was a really, really strong response, were sent a kit and then they told us what the

result way. this is a very new method, very efficiently getting to a large number of people. with 6% of the people reporting positive result, that means the idea that there is widespread immunity or exposure in the population is certainly not the case yet but it is a significant number of people, around 3.4 million people with exposure to the virus. we're not saying each those people is immune there is evidence they have contacted the virus and their body has mounted a response to that that we can detect. go through the discrepancies you have sent relative to geography and england, as where you live and the difference in different areas because there seems to be quite a wide difference. what was interesting is that we can tell from people who reported not only

having a positive test but we also asked about that symptoms we can track for most people, 70% of people who reported symptoms, when they think they were infected and it is that in january, think they were infected and it is that injanuary, february and right across the country. so you cannot say it started in london and spread out. right from the beginning it was quite widely dispersed but they were far more cases, particularly in london, 13%, less than 3% in the south—west with people with antibodies. without areas of deprivation, the faith most deprived areas had a higher prevalence overall, at 7% compared to 5% in the most privileged areas stop and as we expected, the most densely populated areas also had higher levels. you looked at the difference in

ethnicity and the rates in different groups. what did you discover?m ethnicity and the rates in different groups. what did you discover? it is well—known from under the data like hospitalisation and mortality, there has been an increase burden of people of black and asian ethnicity as opposed to wide. this is only in hospitals and death data but actually this people have had a higher risk of acquiring the virus so black british, black caribbean or black african people, 17% had antibodies, 4% of asians and asian british and 12% of mixed ethnicity. those are quite striking and what we found is that some of that is explained by the fact that those people are more likely to work in the essential occupations so the association goes down a little bit,

also more likely to live in deprived areas, more likely to live in areas such as london and west midlands where the virus has been more common up where the virus has been more common up to now. do you know how we compare in england to similar studies that have happened in other countries? is there a comparative chart you can look it? well, it is interesting. 0bviously chart you can look it? well, it is interesting. obviously there are some comparisons. a study in spain, for example, tested 100,000 and they tested 60000 and i had similar findings although more geographically concentrated and similar levels. most places have not found much higher than these 6—8%. we also found thatjust under 1%, 0.9% of people who were affected of

people have died. that is very similarto findings in people have died. that is very similar to findings in spain. one must question and maybe this is one for someone else to answer, what can we do with this information? very good question. a number of things. i think we can increase our investigations of why those particular groups, those minority ethnic groups and particularly those who work in care homes and healthcare, we who work in care homes and healthca re, we can who work in care homes and healthcare, we can look at how we can protect those people, whether it is in the workplace and have better ppe, for example, but also we need to look at communication, making sure that all the information is available in with the communities to identify who is at risk. the stash and work with communities. this is actually building on underlying inequalities and we have to address those. many of us have been able to

work at home whereas essential workers have had to go out and they are the ones bearing the burden we have to distribute those risks more evenly. thank you very much for your time. a fascinating study. the world ‘s largest whelled antibody testing programme. 6% of population have been infected with covid—19 in england specifically. time to speak to mike. good morning. sport is changing. the structure of competitions, everything is changing to adapt? normally you would have home and away legs in the champions but that is gone for now. it was the first night of this new format, for the latter stages of the champions league because of coronavirus. it's being played as a straight, knockout tournament in libson, and it produced some late drama. the italian side, atalanta, looked like they were on course,

for what would have been an unexpected and famous win over paris saint germain. they were winning1—0 as the game ticked into injury time, but that's when, psg, first of all found an equaliser, and then they got the winner in the 93rd minute. now psg have a team full of stars — neymar, kylian mbappe to name just a couple. but the winning goal was scored by, eric maxim choupo—moting, who was part of the stoke city side that were relegated from the premier league just two years ago. what a night for him and his team. in scotland, rangers continued their perfect start to the season with a good win over stjohnstone. steven gerrard's side were 3—0 winners at ibrox — ryan kent amongst the scorers. elsewhere last night kilmarnock drew with ross county. motherwell‘s game against livingston also finished in a draw. the second test between england and pakistan, gets underway in southampton later this morning. england lead the series after that dramatic victory at old trafford last weekend, but now they're without, their star man, ben stokes. he's flown to new zealand for family reasons, and captainjoe root

says his absence, provides others with the chance to shine. i think what it does is it does create opportunities for the guys who come in and try and show us what they can do. not necessary the role he plays but within this team because they might be periods in the future when he is injured or missing and we need to find ways of guys stepping in and feeling it is very big those of his but he is a big loss, obviously, he is vice—captain, born leader and his performances have been outstanding and we are all with him at this time. to the snooker, and after calling his quarter final performance embarrassing ronnie 0'sullivan, looked slightly happier, in the first session of his semi. the five time champion, raced into a 4—1 lead over mark selby at the crucible theatre in sheffield. it's a best of 33—frame match though so still plenty left to play, and 0'sullivan finished the day

with a 5—3 advantage. in the other semi final anthony mcgill leads kyren wilson, 6 frames to 2. and it was a tricky first day for chris froome, at cycling's criterium du dofinnay — one of the big races on the cycling calendar, in the run up to the tour de france. you might remember, it was at this event, where froome had a career threatening crash last year. he really struggled and finished the day back in 86th, and needs to perform well this week, to stand any chance of being selected to ride the tour de france, for team ineos. the re—arranged tour de france starts on 29th august. you can understand that if you have had a massive crash and your on the same track of road, it might play on your mind a little bit, maybe urge more caution in the subconscious. absolutely have to be. we will see you later. in the next few hours hundreds of thousands of students will get their a—level and vocational results, without having sat any exams.

it's caused uncertainty for many students. 0ur education correspondent dan johnson joins us from wilberforce sixth form college in hull. does this take you back to that day when you went to get your results? what are nerve—racking day even at the best of times but with everything that has gone on this year, even in the last few days, so much pressure on these young people. coronavirus has an impact on absolutely everything so the good luck messages are out here, inaudible... luck messages are out here, inaudible. .. at the luck messages are out here, inaudible... at the beginning part of the year it was ok but after that

it was a mess. i still don't know what is, what time it is. it was quite difficult because i had to not meet my friends. it has been extremely difficult, especially for motivation and self drive. it almost impossible to learn anything. motivation and self drive. it almost impossible to learn anythinglj motivation and self drive. it almost impossible to learn anything. i have just completed my diploma here at wilberforce sixth form. we had the 91 changes and i had to get my head around that. i came back to college but with the pandemic, it hasjust thrown everything into absolute...” do art and design at art college. this year it was a challenging year for me because i had to do it from home and i have really great teachers that help me through this

time. i am diligently come about results today. i have an overwhelming sense of confidence with myself which is probably misguided. the teachers at the couege misguided. the teachers at the college want you to get the best grades possible but with what has gone on, like, the teacher can only do so much. i think being a guinea pig for anything is terrifying because it is so uncertain.” pig for anything is terrifying because it is so uncertain. i am so excited for my results.” because it is so uncertain. i am so excited for my results. i am feeling nervous but excited at the same time. i hope i get the result i wanted to go from there but as a pa rt of wanted to go from there but as a part of me that thinks i will not get the results i wanted. we are all on the same boat so make light of it. i think this isjust going to be a national example of what the young are able to do and adapt to.

essential god if things went bad enough, with asked them to come in at 6am this morning. ——if things weren't bad enough. you must wonder what is going on. yes, excited to see the results. what do you think about the results today? as fair as they can be. 0ur teachers have submitted their opinions, versus more than our teachers. what next you hoping to make?” more than our teachers. what next you hoping to make? i need to 's and a b—2 study medical sciences at the university of leeds. fingers crossed. are you feeling the pressure? 100%. how do you feel being a part of this generation that's been through all of this and

all the stuff you've been through before? i think it's almost historic going through, but i think we will all be looking to come out alive, to be honest. it will be all right, i promise. what do you think about the way it's been done? it's not ideal, but was there any other good way of doing it? i think in the short time span, they came up with the solutions they did, i'm not sure it could have been done better. you did speed tech? so for me, b tech, it's all coursework, no exams, so whereas other would have sat exams, i completed some courses at home. suspending the coursework. i'm

hoping that will reflect a great today. you will be getting a great today? there were some issues with b tech so i'm hoping it will be available today. fingers crossed. do you know about options to appeal? some of those put in don't apply to b tech. my understanding the appeals process , b tech. my understanding the appeals process, it started at the centre to appeal, it will go on to market example, what you achieve, which for some courses, maim of complete coursework but i'm hoping that will not be the case. let's have a quick word with colin, the principal. 0bviously nervous, but very excited. the anticipation of the tricky

period, it's scary, it's very different but ultimately the stu d e nts different but ultimately the students will succeed, we know that. we've got great students who work hard. winners and losers, they will all be there in the end. they will be successful, i believe that.” ee, be successful, i believe that.” agree, they certainly will. it's a stressful day but we wish you all the best, even if you don't get what you predicted, things will work out well. thank you for coming in early this morning. so much pressure and complication and added anxiety. today it's all about these guys, but they won't be the only ones watching nervously, because there is so much riding on today and so many questions about how this has all been worked out. you cannot say often enough, things will work out. things will work themselves out. what we're talking

about will be part of that process. 70 questions about a level results, even the clearing process, which helps students get into university if they didn't get the grades they expected. john maguire is at the university of bristol where call handlers will try to help people find a place there. are they expecting high demand today? cani can i still come, it's always really crunched questions. absolutely. the idea of this place, and ordinarily it would be busier, social distancing for this time, you normally have more than 100 people. 0ther call centres spread around bristol. the idea of this place is to do that, to be a friendly voice on the end of the phone to give stu d e nts on the end of the phone to give students an idea of their options because some will find out at eight o'clock this morning, injust because some will find out at eight o'clock this morning, in just over one hour, they've done better than they anticipated. this is a typical

workstation, this is the key document. the clearing and confirmation manual for 2020. written by tammy who is the boss here, organising the whole system, good morning to you. it's been a challenging time for pretty much everybody involved in education over the last few months. runs through what would be a typical conversation this morning. you will be hearing from thousands of callers throughout today. we are open at 8am, we have those that have woken up this morning, ready to start in september, really excited, and i wa nt to september, really excited, and i want to know what accommodation is going to look like, social distancing. equally, we have calls from students who have woken up, found themselves in clearing and are now trying to find themselves a place in september. friendly voices

on the end of the phone. we don't quite know what is going to happen. how have you had to adapt things over the last couple of days. the key thing is we have all the information so that students are well briefed, we can talk to them. talking them through what the start of the term might look like, but also for those students who have not got the results that they want, might be wondering about the appeals process, might be wanting to get a place in clearing and whoever those students are, whatever their questions, we are here to help them today. due expected to be busier because of the uncertainty? there will be questions this year that didn't exist in previous years and thatis didn't exist in previous years and that is exactly fine. we have an army, socially distanced staff and stu d e nts to army, socially distanced staff and students to help. the key message from here and hopefully we will be reiterating this, there has been so much uncertainty over the last

couple of weeks, perhaps at eight o'clock this morning we will start to getan o'clock this morning we will start to get an idea to picture some certainty for so many of the students, to discover what the next couple of months or couple of years might look like. the key point we are trying to look like, keep calm, people like these are here to help you. we'll be back to help you. and see how it all pans out. a lot of unknowns right now. when john says keep calm, i believe him. you can find more information on a—level and vocational results on the bbc news website. 6:53. venues and theatres have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic but now there's some hope for the industry as live performances slowly return. rehearsals for the stage version of the film sleepless in seattle have started ahead of the show‘s planned opening later this month. breakfast‘s tim muffett reports.

before any acting or singing, a test for covid—19. welcome to theatre rehearsals in a pandemic in the attempt to become the first live indoor show to open in the uk since block done began. the cast will be segregated into this big foyer space. testing is done and they can receive results within 45 minutes and it's ensuring we are in this bubble but nothing can come in, nothing can come out and we are continuously tested. the show being rehearsed is sleepless, based on the tom hanks and greg meg ryan movie sleepless in seattle. it was due to openin sleepless in seattle. it was due to open in march. how does it feel to be back on stage? it feels amazing to hear people sing again, it's just made me realise the escapism of theatre and how much people will really enjoy to see it again. it has been organised so well and i think

the most important thing in these covid times as having the direction and knowing what you're meant to be doing in order to stay safe. the second we arrived, we were told exactly where to go, where to be, we got tested, after we had been tested and had a negative test. testing was and had a negative test. testing was an interesting start of the day but also one that we now been building up also one that we now been building up for so long. everyone was just really ready for it and wanted to sort of get their negative results. many theatres are old buildings which makes them very difficult to adapt but the troubadour here in wembley only opened last year. being here is an huge help. there is a much biggerfoyer, a far greater number of toilets and it's just a better atmosphere when you've got more space. and this is really what's made it possible. this, and the testing facility. what if

someone tests positive, what would you do then? we had two people test positive. this test is extremely sensitive and they were just over the border line but we sent them home. those were technicians, so far it hasn't impacted hugely on the show. theatres in england had been told they could open from august the first but that was delayed until at least august for dean. reduces are hoping to open this show on the 25th, government guidance permitted. audiences will be temperature checked on arrival and numbers limited. rather than saying there is too they are, to there, to there, to there, there is lots of trees or fours and they do it when people book. when the phone in, they see what's available and they will put them in their own bubble, as it were, in the auditorium. as well as daily testing, cast and crew will

also wear face coverings backstage. misuses say every possible safety measure will be followed. over the next couple of days we will be looking at how we can angle people so they are not sitting directly in front of each other and looking at the angles that projection might be going and eliminating as much contact as possible. how important is it that this works? the importance of making this work is huge. i had an emailfrom the schuberts on broadway who own all the big theatres in new york. i hadn't message from mti music theatre international who say, we're watching, we everything crossed for you we hope you succeed. it's quite a burden to carry. it must be an emotional time. yeah, it a burden to carry. it must be an

emotionaltime. yeah, it is. it is a huge thing we've got to achieve. rare glimpse of hope when industry brought to its knees. there's believe here that the will go on. tim muffet, bbc news. looking forward to seeing some theatre again, we will see how that goes. it's warm, sarah. 0n the south, another tropical night. temperatures did not fall below 20 degrees or night and record—breaking daytime temperatures. six consecutive days were temperatures we re consecutive days were temperatures were higher than 34 celsius. will probably not get to that temperature. quite a lot of moisture in the air. more thunderstorms on the chart —— cards, but when we had the chart —— cards, but when we had the biggest storms, things should be dried up further north through the course of the day. quite a cloudy

sort of day. low pressure sitting close to the south, bringing all those showers but high—pressure squeezing weather showers to the north. we start this morning with odd showers and thunderstorms into south wales. showers clearing for northern ireland in south—west scotland. mostly dry across parts of northern england, scotland and northern ireland through the david quite misty and murky around the east coast of scotland and north—east england but we have got that thunderstorm threat further south persisting on into the afternoon. temperatures today, not as hot as they have been but we could still see 28 to 29 degrees through the south. further north, low to mid 20s, but cooler where you keep that cloud around the east coast. through this evening and overnight, some heavy showers, it is across parts of southern england, limited limbs, into wales, drive further north another pretty warm night but temperatures just about dropping below 20 degrees for most of us through the course of tonight.

tomorrow is a similar data what we got out there. some sunny spells with heavy showers and thunderstorms across parts of southern england and into wales. northern ringwood, scotla nd into wales. northern ringwood, scotland and northern ireland drive. cloudy around the north—east coast. temperatures mostly in the low to mid 20s. a little bit cooler around the eastern coast but not quite. heading into saturday, further showers across parts of southern england and south wales as well but for the north, should be staying largely dry and settled. temperatures in the low to mid 20s. it looks like things will turn cooler as we head into sunday next week. the headlines, up next. good morning. welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. 0ur headlines: hundreds of thousands of students get their a—level results today for exams they didn't sit, as ministers prepare for a backlash over predicted grades

an investigation begins into the aberdeenshire rail crash in which three people died. another night of dramatic thunderstorms, after a day of record setting temperatures. good morning. write him off at your peril — england captain joe root backs jimmy anderson, to return to form ahead of the second test against pakistan. it's thursday the 13th of august. our top story: hundreds of thousands of students in england, wales and northern ireland are receiving a—level and vocational results this morning. 0n the eve of results day, education secretary gavin williamson issued an apology to students after coronavirus forced the cancellation of exams, meaning their grades are based on estimates. this morning on breakfast we'll get the latest on the annual clearing process, which matches up students with university places. and at 7:30 we'll speak

to gavin williamson. but first, this report from our education correspondent, danjohnson. after 12 years at school, it all comes down to this, but the stress of results today is multiplied by the added complications of coronavirus. with no exams, teachers have estimated grades, which have been standardized across the country. the who is up and who is down. there's deep anxiety about these unusual results. half of me saying, yeah, brilliant, i'm confident, and i'm really looking forward to getting the results, but at the same time, because of, obviously, what has happened in scotland, there is a little bit of uncertainty about am i going to get my predicted grade? quite apprehensive but i know that i have done a good job with my preparations, but all of my subjects are exam—based subjects. i think it is all really uncertain, to be honest, like, i'm feeling happier that have done well in my marks and assessments.

i've done the best i could do, but i was really set on doing the exams. standardized marks in scotland were erased after protests about unfairly downgraded results hitting the poorest pupils. nervous ministers have made late changes in the rest of the uk. in wales, students have been promised at least the grade they scored in first year exams. in northern ireland, schools will be able to appeal if marks are lower than mock exam results. that's also been added in england, alongside the option to sit an exam in autumn. but btec courses haven't got the same safety net. the education secretary has apologised even before grades are revealed. i apologise to every single child right across the country for the disruption they have had to suffer and the fact that, as education secretary, i would never have expected to be in a situation where we had to close schools to pupils, other than those of critical workers and the most vulnerable. i would never have expected to be in a situation where we wouldn't have an exam period.

there are signs of significant downgrades and warnings of further unfairness but the regulator in england says the system will be fair to most and overall grades may still be slightly higher. we want a robust, fair system whereby mock evidence can be brought to bear. we will be doing that urgently over the next couple of days. in terms of a student getting their results, we very much hope that they will do as in any other year, and they will move on and be able to take those decisions. and here is where some futures will be decided. clearing is another chance to get a university place. the lines will be busy and the word is, don't panic, there are more places this year because there are fewer international students. will the results be fair? will they stop anyone taking their next step? what to do? where to go? it is all up in the air and there is a real possibility,

after all those years of formal education, these grades may still not be the final assessment. dan johnson, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake joins us now from westminster. we had the school shut, exams cancel, questions about the system that would replace them, real questions about that as recently as yesterday, the apology from the education secretary and a date should be a day for youngsters thinking about the future and it seems so complicated. it is results day, with the nerves and anticipation by the added uncertainty because students have not sat exams and they are getting great in england today and wales and northern ireland based on a

prediction from the teachers which has been standardised and the education secretary gavin williamson has had to defend that process in the face of huge criticism that it is simply not going to be fed to students. yes, he has apologised to students. yes, he has apologised to student for the destruction they have seen the stash disruption. no system really can be perfect when stu d e nts system really can be perfect when students are not sitting exams themselves but this is the best the government can do and he maintains that it government can do and he maintains thatitis government can do and he maintains that it is fair so there will be though a big test for government depending on how these results are received later on and with discrepancies between england, scotland, wales and northern ireland about how the grades have been judged, i will not be surprised if we see further political criticism. an investigation is underway after a passenger train derailed near stonehaven in aberdeenshire, killing three people. the train is thought to have hit a landslide following torrential rain and thunderstorms.

six other people were also sent to hospital. 0ur correspondent andrew anderson is in stonehaven this morning. what more do we know? good morning. this is as close as we are being allowed at the moment to the scene of yesterday's crash. it is now over 24 hours since the 0638 glasgow service was due to depart and it only got 20 miles into the journey before the catastrophic accident. it killed three people, the driver, the conductor and one other person. six people were injured and taken to hospital although we understand their injuries are not serious. after the rescue operation yesterday, the focus today will be on getting the investigation under way and investigators will be looking very carefully at the weather conditions in the area. the weather conditions in the area. the weather overnight, tuesday into

wednesday, was horrendous with heavy rain and thunderstorms. 0ne wednesday, was horrendous with heavy rain and thunderstorms. one of the theory is the train hit a landslip and it hit it with such force that carriages were thrown into the air and some tumbledown into an embankment and part of the train caught fire. we know there was flooding on the line and we understand at what point the driver had stopped the train and requested to be switched to another track before continuing his journey with what turns out to be catastrophic circumstances. 0ne what turns out to be catastrophic circumstances. one of the questions investigators will be asking, given the horrendous weather and flooding, whether that train should actually have been running. the queen on holiday in bowel moral has centre sympathies has has the first minister of scotland and the prime minister. the work after the investigation will be to remove the wreckage. they will be challenging

because it is a difficult area to access. 0nce because it is a difficult area to access. once that is done, the line will have to be repaired and made safer for services can begin will have to be repaired and made saferfor services can begin running again. thank you very much. new findings from the world's largest home antibody testing programme suggest that 6% of people in england have been infected with coronavirus. more than 100,000 volunteers were tracked by researchers at imperial college london. the study also found that people living in london were most likely to have been infected, as were those working in care homes and health care settings. with 6% of the people reporting positive result, that means the idea that there is widespread immunity or exposure in the population is certainly not the case yet but it is a significant number of people, around 3.4 million people with exposure to the virus. we're not saying each of those people is immune but there is evidence they have contacted the virus and their body

has mounted a response to that that we can detect. a revamped coronavirus contact tracing app begins public trials on the isle of wight today. the app is meant to log when two people's phones are close together for a period of time. if one person is later diagnosed with the virus, the other can be alerted before they show symptoms. it's not yet clear when the app might be rolled out across england. the us democratic presidential candidate, joe biden, and his running—mate, kamala harris, have made their first campaign appearance together. the pair attacked president donald trump, calling him an incompetent leader who has left the us in tatters. mr biden will go up against president trump at the election in november. weather warnings remain in place for many parts of the uk, after a second night of thunderstorms followed record—setting high temperatures. an amber storm warning has been issued today for most of wales, the west midlands and parts of north west england. flooding, travel disruption and power cuts are expected. caroline davies has this report,

which does contain flashing images. after another day of record temperatures this. storms battered parts of south london with wind, rain and hail. this was inside a supermarket in telford, in shropshire, ceiling panels falling as the rain pours in through the roof. some parts of scotland saw almost seven hours of continuous rain. many areas saw flooding, including here in perth. while cars were stuck, floating in floodwaters in aberdeen. and in bristol, two people were rescued by the fire services from the mud along the banks of the avon new cut, after getting stuck earlier in the evening. the met office have warned that the current hot weather creates ideal conditions for thunderstorms. the heat is due to continue in some places, with little drop—off at night. so far this month there have been four nights where somewhere in the uk stays at 20 degrees, so—called tropical nights, with some dramatic results.

it is certainly impossible to get a good night's sleep at the moment, whether it is to do with humidity or the thunder and lightning. but just look at this year so far, we had the wettest february on record, followed by the sunniest spring on record, followed by these exceptional bursts of heat this summer. on their own, these extremes have often occurred throughout history and they will continue to occur but, with global warming, with climate changing, we are expecting more and more extremes to occur. yellow thunderstorm warnings have been issued for today for much of england, wales, parts of northern ireland and south—west scotland, as the week of extreme continues. caroline davies, bbc news. a lot of our time this morning taken up a lot of our time this morning taken up with a—level results. it's a—level results day today and students in wales have been promised grades no lower than those they achieved at as—level —

which is usually the first year of their course. whatever the results it will be fine. the welsh education minister made the last—minute pledge ahead of today's results. tomos morgan is at a school in bridgend for us, how are people feeling there this morning? in any normal circumstances, this is tricky for students but under the current circumstances, with all the questions about how their grades are being worked out, this is a year like no other? it is a year like no other. usually this day is filled with children queueing up outside, waiting to go to school to get the result but it will feel very different today, especially after the changes from the different devolved government. the system in place here is there will be groups

of around five pupils every 15 minutes. they will park in specific zones. minutes. they will park in specific zones. there are minutes. they will park in specific zones. there are more zones across the school. they will walk through the school. they will walk through the one—way system and get the result from the table laid out within schools. it has been a mammoth process of getting things together stop this is one of a number of schools across the country that will be open today. many schools are only giving the result to pupils on line. you are the head teacher here. you have moved on to bigger and better things seems teaching me. talk to me about how difficult it has been sorting out today. the most important part was that the learners themselves had a day to celebrate so we were lucky our local authorities were able to issue exams face—to—face and therefore the great team that we have in the school has been to

ensure that everyone can come here safely, they are in groups of five, with a 15 minute slot, to have with a memberof with a 15 minute slot, to have with a member of staff. you have plenty of room for it to be done safely with social distancing but with all the changes that have happened overnight, talk to me about how difficult that has been as a head teacher looking over your pupils. it came as a shock to us we wanted to ensure that the grades that have been allocated are the correct grades in the most important thing for us is, we know they have a progression. that they can get to university or employment and the system that's been used hasn't treated them unfairly.” system that's been used hasn't treated them unfairly. i guess that's not a concern with something to be mindful of universities, that all the people across the uk, devolved governments, given a

slightly different grades again as well. that's what universities really need to consider, that the four nations have acted differently. i hope that learners here in wales haven't been put at a disadvantage. you might good luck to you. as you mentioned, no children according to the welsh education minister will getting a result, lower than they've got. did i hear that the head teacher there was your teacher and if that's true, i'd like a quick word from him about what you we re a quick word from him about what you were like when you were at school. 0bviously he was my drama teacher and rugby coach and will tell you that i was star pupil and one of the top three rugby players. please tell

everyone. thanks for the £100 he gave me but yes, he was. a very talented individual, both on the field and in the drama studio. maybe far tried a bit harder i would have chosen a more illustrious career.” think you've done pretty well.” don't know if we got the two—storey debit thomas —— i don't know if we got the two—storey debit tomos, thank you. you look scared. if we interviewed one of your teachers, what would they say? it was a very, very long time ago, memories would be sketchy, that's what i would say. they would be sketchy. if ever anyone remembers teaching charlie stayt, get in touch on twitter and we will let everyone else know. or we will let everyone else know. or we can talk about things we can do.

there's lots of questions being asked this morning about a—level results. we're joined now by our education correspondent elaine dunkley who can try to provide some clarity on the key issues. let's begin. if students in england northern ireland don't believe their desired results, how are their mock results going to be taken into account? it's been a very difficult time for students and for teachers. at no time in history have exams been corrupted in this way so if a student is awarded a grade today, they can appeal the decision. there has been a widening in terms of the appeal process which has received a lot of criticism for being too strict. in terms of students today, the options are, they can accept the grade they have been awarded and if it's grade they have been awarded and if its lower than what they got the mock exam, they can now appeal or they can do it again in autumn. that appeal process, how will the appeal

process work? labour schools will make the appeal in behalf of stu d e nts make the appeal in behalf of students but this is where we are getting into a bit of confusion over clarity because they haven't said what the appeals process will look like. they're looking at this urgently. and there are lots of stu d e nts urgently. and there are lots of students waiting who will need to know what options they have to them. we don't know how many number of stu d e nts we don't know how many number of students are going to appeal or how long the process will take. they will try and issue guidance next week. how will the changes impact the clearing process? universities have been told to be flexible. so that they don't miss out. but there is going to be disruption because we don't know how many appeals are going to be made or how long that process will take so the russell group, and universities uk are asking for urgent guidance. there are going to be fewer international

students. universities are likely to have more places available but decisions will need to be made sooner. next week, gcse students receiving results as well. how is that being handled? already, teaching unions are asking for consideration, particularly students who do maths and english under a grade four and grade c, the difference between c and d, a pass and a reset. it can have a massive impact in terms of options and career choices, if they haven't passed gcse maths and gcse english. elaine, thank you very much. british holidaymakers in france will be hoping to hear in the coming days that they won't have to quarantine when they arrive back home.

it comes ahead of a weekly government review looking at the number of coronavirus infections in different countries. simon calder, travel editor of the independent, joins us now from poole. frankly, people are travelling much further than europe, the european center for disease prevention and control and stock form, every day they publish the rate for new infections over the previous two weeks per 100,000 population. to give you some idea, the uk wasjust below 18. what the government does, thejoint bio security below 18. what the government does, the joint bio security centre, public health england, chief medical officers from the uk nations and the

department of health and foreign 0ffice, department of health and foreign office, they all look at the absolute numbers, but they also look at the trends and that is what is particularly worrying. if you are on a level student waiting for your results and you have a whole lot tomorrow or saturday, i'm afraid the anxiety tomorrow or saturday, i'm afraid the a nxiety levels tomorrow or saturday, i'm afraid the anxiety levels are probably off the scale this morning because france's numbers are increasing and if they continue to do so, it looks more than 50% likely that france will be put on the no—go list. than 50% likely that france will be put on the no-go list. the reason there is so much focus on france —— france is because proximity inhabit, there are so many britons who travel to france, may be right now, so the same way people may have been caught out when it happened to spain, we need to see that very clearly, it would impact on a lot of people. at least half a million people who are there on kind of ordinary holidays.

probably the same number again, people who have semipermanent residence in france. were it to come m, residence in france. were it to come in, andi residence in france. were it to come in, and i stress this isjust a possibility at the moment, nothing has changed, they would have to go straight home and self isolate, don't leave the house except for any extreme cases for two weeks and anybody taking off today for a couple of weeks in france, and has to come back and go to work or school, that is going to prove extremely difficult. we are in a kind of no man's land, waiting to find out what happens and it's not just france, the netherlands have seen a very significant increase over the past few days. multi, although theirfigures over the past few days. multi, although their figures are in decline, still about three times higher than the uk. and various other countries. portugal desperate to get onto the good list. since march, it's been off the list,

unacceptably high risk to uk travellers, and eating to quarantine when you come back. that hasn't stopped hundreds of thousands of brits going and coming back. on the 25th ofjuly, and the complaint there is that certainly, there are some terrible spikes, particularly in some of the regions of northern spain but if you are on an island, hundreds of miles from the mainland, you might find the picture is very difficult. the travel industry is just desperate to get some kind of nuance so it's not the whole of country. the government meanwhile says, we just want to make this simple for everybody so a country in is either 0k simple for everybody so a country in is either ok or it's not ok. simon, thank you much. nice to see you outdoors. a little bit of cloud there? it is one of the largest

natural harbours in the world but one of the world's largest cruise ships is moored just out in poole bay and they are running sightseeing trips. the ignominy that cruise ships from taking people around the world to becoming tourist attractions in their own right. you are watching bbc breakfast, still to come, after being diagnosed with a rare illness, jackson's family were told he wouldn't see his second birthday. but this weekjackson turned six and now dad darren has written a series of children's books inspired by him. we'll be discussing that shortly and bringing you the latest news, but the time now is 7:25. a lot of talk about the weather at the moment. she had an umbrella. that's so bizarre. i was going to ask you, because the weather is being so lovely, about the circular

rainbow. i've never seen one, why do they happen? this picture would have been taken from high up, so inside helicopter. if you're an aircraft up a mountain, you will see one of the circular rainbow is that you need to have water droplets in the sky between you and the horizon. if you are on the ground, you only see that arch of the rainbow, see you only see 50% of what would in theory be a full circular rainbow every single time but the rise gets on our way. that's why that picture taken from the aircraft, you can see the entire full circle because the droplets of water were in between the aircraft and horizon. if you have a hosepipe or sprinkler and see a full circle developing, that's the way it happens. but today, it's quite a mild and murky start to the day. a lot of moisture in the air, so humid out there across the uk and after

all yesterday's big storms, we are still going to see a few showers today that they will mainly be across the southern half of the uk. the northern half should be looking dryer across the uk. some thunderstorms but hit and miss and not everyone will see those storms through today. we have had temperatures for the past six days above 34 celsius. we're not going to get quite that temperature the course of today but we could still see 30 degrees and wanted to places. low pressure sitting close to the south pushing showers and across parts of southern england, into south wales as well but higher pressure holding on towards the north, squeezing away yesterday's showers. we've already got a few spots of rain around, a few showers in london and elsewhere. southern england, into wales as well but further north, those places are looking dryer. still very cloudy across parts of north—eastern england and scotland and if you're stuck need that low cloud, mist and

merc, temperatures up into the high teens. when we see more sunshine developing, again, temperatures up to about 29, possibly 30 degrees, not as hot as it has been. 0vernight, we still have showers continuing across parts of southern england, into wales. the odd rumble of thunder. still another warm, muqqy of thunder. still another warm, muggy night but not as warm as recently. temperatures just about down below 20 degrees. further north, generally around about the midteens overnight. tomorrow, it's going to be a bit of a repeat performance. further showers moving across parts of southern and central england and wales, it's looking dryer further north. the subtle theme continues and things will turn cooler than they have been. hello this is breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. in the next half hour students will receive their a—level

and vocational results, without sitting an exam due to the coronavirus pandemic. the system for awarding grades has been criticised, and led to a new appeals process being introduced in the last few days. the education secretary gavin williamson joins us now from westminster. thank you very much for your time this morning. yesterday you issued an apology. what are you sorry about? i was sorry about the disruption that every child has suffered, the fact they have not been able to have the joy of going into school, being with their friends, having the great privilege of learning from their teachers, all the things we take for granted. as a parent, i have seen it with my children, as there is all around the country have seen it. none of us would want to see this disruption and certainly i would never have wa nted and certainly i would never have wanted to be in a situation where schools had to close and where

children were not able to take their exams but we were in a situation where we were not going to be able to run exams as we normally would stop why did you feel to apologise for it now? i have said many times in the past, actually. are you going to apologise for the chaos surrounding a—level results as people today are expecting to see 40% of results are determined by teachers downgraded? 9096 of all results awarded today are going to be either the grade the school or within a grade of that school. you will see an increase of the number of children that will get a or a stars by 2% last year. hundreds of thousands of students being in possession to move into the next stage of going into university or

couege stage of going into university or college or the world of work. we did not want to be in a situation and these are the choices we had. we could cancel exams and delay them until next year, not issuing people the grades or trying to run an exam series which would not have been feasible so we have had to create a system and we have created a system with checks and balances in place which means young people are going to be able to get their grades and it means they are able to progress to that next stage of their lives... can we break this down. i asked you about the 40% of grades that are being offered by teachers in england, 40% will be downgraded. that was confirmed by the schools minister yesterday. is that acceptable? what we did is we've got acceptable? what we did is we've got a system with checks and balances

that make sure there is a consistency of approach across all schools across the country. it is a lwa ys schools across the country. it is always going to be a situation that when you do have moderated grades, some of those to change but what is important for me... 296. it is important for me... 296. it is important that young people have the ability that if they feel they have not been treated fairly, have got the ability to make an appeal so the school can make the appeal and we have got that triple marker to put in place so whether that is the grades they have been issued which the vast majority of cases will be the vast majority of cases will be the key to opening up the next stage of going to university or going to college... -- 4096. i have got quite a few questions... or is it an exa m a few questions... or is it an exam in the autumn. the 40% downgrade acceptable to you? when

you are in a situation where you have to have checks and balances and maintain the integrity of the system and ensuring you are not in a place with rampant grade inflation, you do need to put these checks and bala nces need to put these checks and balances in place at... i am going to ta ke balances in place at... i am going to take that as a yes. you have referred to checks and balances and of call but of call does not have... they cancel of the press conference today. why has it not got a process in place? they have a process in place. the mock exam was an

important step to ensure it was fair for all pupils. northern ireland and wales followed suit in terms of taking that approach going forward andi taking that approach going forward and i think that is the right thing to do and 0ffcall i going to be issuing clarity as to how this is to be done making sure they can form the basis of that and the child can be avoided that grade... why isn't there clarity today? we wanted to be ina there clarity today? we wanted to be in a position to give as much assurance to young people that there are going to be these roots forward that, if they are dissatisfied with the result, schools will be able to be in the result, schools will be able to beina the result, schools will be able to be in a position over the next few days to put in an appeal on behalf of the school for those children and they will be doing that. we have

been working equally very closely not just with the been working equally very closely notjust with the examples who do this but also with universities stop we have asked universities to push back the date in terms of making the final assessment, we have been working to make sure there are systems in place if the appeal is put in that this can be turned around so children are not in the position of not being able to pursue going to university or different routes. you said you have a lot of respect for students and you have expressed your sympathies for what they are going through. why don't you allow students to appeal directly? why do they have to go through the school? why does the school have to represent them when it is them being affected?m school have to represent them when it is them being affected? it is a red and system we have always had in

england where the school putting the appeal and reason is, it is children, especially from more deprived backgrounds can sometimes bea deprived backgrounds can sometimes be a disadvantage if it is not the school putting in the appeal. the school putting in the appeal. the school is the organisation that holds all the evidence and information that can make the appeal the strongest it possibly can be and thatis the strongest it possibly can be and that is why we have taken that route that is why we have taken that route that the school is a one to make the appeal because it has generally be fair approach and it has tended to have a more robust and successful approach in making sure all the evidence is that that makes a strong case for the student. if i was a student and said to my school, i believe my results are not a fair reflection of the work i have put in and the school says, no, we do not ee, and the school says, no, we do not agree, what happens then? every year

schools have 14 tens of thousands of appeals on behalf of students...“ there a possibility student could be refuse to have their grade appeal to? a student does have an ability if they feel the has—been and you bias shown against them by that school, to be able to raise that as a formal complaint with the example... hang on, iwant a formal complaint with the example... hang on, i want to break this down. i am a student and i think the grade i have been awarded is too low and does not reflect my true ability. i go to my teacher and school and say will you appeal this? the school says no. i am waiting to try to get to the university of want to go to. i now have to make a formal appeal to the exams board? we

have run this system for many, many yea rs have run this system for many, many years and we have never had problems of this scenario you are out lounging. but a student does have the ability to go to the example to go and make a complaint against the school if they feel they have been treated unfairly or unjustly. we have been running this system for many years and i believe this is a system in place for a number of decades where the school is the organisation that makes the appeal and we have not had the problems you have outlined in the past and do not expect to have them this year. with all respect, we are in unprecedented times. you have many year grabs getting results when they have not been able to set the exam. -- many year groups. the question is, are you preparing for this? september

sevenis you preparing for this? september seven is the new date. do students have enough time to make sure their ha rd have enough time to make sure their hard work is truly reflected in the grades? yes, they do. four weeks. you can guarantee that every appeal will be resolved and a student will get a result by the 17th of september? if somebody lodges an appeal by the seventh of september, you cannot have the appeal on the same day or after that date but schools are putting in appeals in good time, before the seventh of september over the next week the exa m september over the next week the exam board and 0fqual have committed to turning around those appeals for

those student who need that in order to progress to university and all of the appeals will be dealt with within 41 days. can you talk to me about how valid mock exams is going to be defined ? about how valid mock exams is going to be defined? they are not... many teachers and students say they are not a true reflection of exam conditions. what quual will be doing is making clear that a mock exa m doing is making clear that a mock exam is conducted under exam conditions in terms of being ventilated, in terms of making sure stu d e nts ventilated, in terms of making sure students have been properly assessed in taking those papers. 0fqual will be putting that guidance out over the next few days and we see it as just another route for students if they do not feel they have got a fair great, if they do not feel they

have been treated in a fair and proper way, i want to give students as much opportunity to be able to appeal. i want to give them the best possible options to make sure they get the grades that they need in order to go on to the next stage of their lives. if you see the reaction that the scottish education minister saw, who was then forced to make a u—turn, mr sweeney, would you do the same thing? would you change your mind? it would be really unfair to so many students, moving to a system with no checks and balances. you have literally hundreds of thousands of people having their grades submitted and the danger is, if you move to a system where there are no checks and balances, that does create a new set of disadvantages and we do not want to see that. we have seen grades, going up by 2%

this year. youngsters will be getting better grades this year than last year. i think this is a fair system but they will be situations where youngsters getting grades that do not truly reflective of what they put in and that is why we have to have the really robust appeals process in place for them to be able to have that redressed and that is what we have done. one of the concerns of those 40% that are likely to be downgraded, those schools, the pupils in those schools would have been in deprived areas. maybe done any research into that to make sure that those who are struggling already are not going to fall further behind? struggling already are not going to fall further behind ? that struggling already are not going to fall further behind? that the gap will not grow even wider? this is the real concern and when 0fqual did their publication in terms of the system introduced, one of the

concerns highlighted time and time again, andi concerns highlighted time and time again, and i think you? on this, youngsters from the most deprived background, youngsters from black and ethnic minority communities, how they would be affected and 0fqual recently stated they have seen no evidence of disparity or an emergence of disparity and that is incredibly important. any thoughts on returning back to school? some unions said teachers could be looking at teaching one week on and one off, mornings, afternoons, when will it beat safe enough for schools to return for people to return to schools? in september, schools started to come back from the seventh of september and we are all looking forward to welcoming children back into primary schools

and secondary schools and colleges. i think that we have all seen the fa ct i think that we have all seen the fact that children have missed out asa fact that children have missed out as a result of not being in school and we look forward to welcoming them back, not least teachers. when iam them back, not least teachers. when i am having conversations with teachers, they cannot wait to see the classrooms full. gavin williamson, thank you for talking to us this morning. with saying that young people will be getting those results, if you're waiting and sitting at home, we are all on your side. these are anxious times and all will be well.

these images of the crash, we know three people lost their lives. it's a terrible incident. it's tragic, any a terrible incident. it's tragic, a ny loss a terrible incident. it's tragic, any loss of life is, and yesterday's incident is heartbreaking for everybody. what are the issues that it throws up for you. it's early days, an investigation hasjust started by the british transport police and some of the real authorities and what we are looking floor, is why it happened and what we can learn from it to ensure that this never happens again.” appreciate the speculation that the sequence of events is not particularly useful and we await the formal enquiry. i'm assuming some of

your members will have known that truck well, how difficult conditions will be, what can you share with us about that? i've driven over that piece of - myself 20 years ago. piece of track myself 20 years ago. it's a wooded area. everyone's got the necessary skill set to deal with it. we had to learn and what happened yesterday. it was particularly bad, the thunderstorms. what else is happened. until we get to see the black box, people familiar with that terminology, trains have them as well, so that will get downloaded. we will start building beyond that. to get to the bottom of the tragic event. you mentioned you yourself have driven that particular line. what can you

share with us in terms of what it throws up for a driver? sadly a driver has died. i wonder if it throws up an area of track like that and some of the hazards that may or may not have been relevant in this case? again, it would be speculation. 0n case? again, it would be speculation. on a normal sunny day, you would be driving along that piece of track, and getting on with thejob and piece of track, and getting on with the job and yesterday, i would assume the tribe would be doing the same. any issues going on around you, you are more alert but some things went wrong yesterday, and until we get to the bottom of it, it will be pure speculation and i don't wa nt to will be pure speculation and i don't want to speculate because i don't think it's helpful. it's a point well made. presumably getting a nswe rs well made. presumably getting a nswers to well made. presumably getting answers to all the issues you raise their quickly is very important. it's vitally important we get a nswe rs , it's vitally important we get answers, important we learn what is

taking place. the only thing our members want to do is deliver a safe railway. the last thing we want is a railway. the last thing we want is a railway family is any loss of life and yesterday is a tragic day on the railway for scotland and across the uk. kevin lindsay, thank you for your time this morning. sarah will have the weather for us. they're talking about tropical nights, exceptionally warm over a period of time. people saying how ha rd period of time. people saying how hard it is to sleep in the current conditions. if you're lucky enough. what about you ? conditions. if you're lucky enough. what about you? how is it working? you have the windows open and you hear all sorts of noises outside. not the best we could sleep but it

could be great weather for cricket. there is the chance of showers but i will leave that to sarah. a lot of talk about the future forjimmy anderson. not very tall, he says. by his own very high sand standards, a poor first test against pakistan. there's been a lot of talk about the future ofjimmy anderson this week, after what was, by his very high standardsm a poor first test against pakistan. but his captain says it would be "silly" to write him off. anderson is england's all—time leading wicket taker, but he's 38 years old now, and has had to deny speculation that he might retire. he says he's still got plenty to offer for england. and ahead of the second test against pakistan, joe root has backed anderson to deliver once again. to questionjimmy to question jimmy 's ability and his record, do that at your own peril. there is a reason he's got so many wickets over so many time, he is a consistent performer. i think it would be very silly of us to write someone like jimmy off. there was late drama, on the first

night of the new format, for the latter stages of the champions league. it's being played as a straight, knockout tournament in libson, due to coronavirus and so there's no second leg, for the italian side, atalanta, to make up for the injury time heart break. they were on course for a famous win over paris saint germain, 1—0 up going into injury time, when the french side, scored twice to turn the match on its head. and the winning goal, wasn't from one of the paris team's big names, but a guy who was relegated from the premier league with stoke city 2 years ago. eric maxim choupo—moting, now super sub, and champions league semi—finalist. in scotland, rangers continued their perfect start to the season with a good win over stjohnstone. steven gerrard's side were 3—0 winners at ibrox — ryan kent amongst the scorers. elsewhere last night kilmarnock drew with ross county. motherwell‘s game against livingston also finished in a draw.

i wonder and after calling his quarter final performance embarrassing, ronnie 0'sullivan would have been slightly happier, with the first session of his semi. the five time champion, raced into a 4—1 lead over mark selby at the crucible theatre in sheffield. it's a best of 33—frame match though so still plenty left to play, and 0'sullivan finished the day with a 5—3 advantage. sleep well, mike. i will try. sleep well, mike. iwill try. he sleep well, mike. i will try. he is busy rewriting and watching sport and doing all hisjournalism. when jackson garwood was just one year old, his parents were told it was unlikely he would see his second birthday. he'd been diagnosed with a rare

disease which weakens muscles and affects his ability to move, swallow and breathe. inspired by his son — dad darren began writing illustrated stories about children with similar conditions — and this week the family celebrated jackson's sixth birthday. tarah welsh reports. i love kissing you. in years to come, there's lots of stuff i haven't done with him. but i want to show him lots of love. happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. his life expectancy was to, and then kind of everyone after that is like, this is the last but they, the la st like, this is the last but they, the last christmas and now, he is going to be six, and we just get on with it and hope that it continues.

jackson seemed like a healthy baby until he stopped using his arms just before his first birthday. he was dies nosed with a terminal illness. similar told jackson was not going to live past two. i didn't want to be here. i can see where people go, i don't want to kill myself, i want to sleep for two weeks, i just want time to recover and i said to my wife, i don't want to be here know more and she said, jackson needs you, he is our son, the only people he's got and you are his dad. 0f you, he is our son, the only people he's got and you are his dad. of all the superhero things you can do. darren had just finished writing a children's book about what jackson might dream about and how he becomes a superhero when he is sleeping. might dream about and how he becomes a superhero when he is sleepingm makes us happy to know that i can help jackson become a superhero and it distracts me and it's a brilliant distraction, it probably helps my mental health as well. we have one

childhood 12 hours care and another with 24 hours. this is jackson's three—year—old sister. his food has to be liquid eyes. the day that he lost the ability to swallow, i gave him a bottle the next night and he came to work, literally. gradual damage to the nervous system means he's lost the ability to set up or see properly and his condition means he is very vulnerable. so during lockdown, the garden has been the furthest any of them can go as they shielded together. the last year has been particularly difficult for the family. rebecca was due to give birth to the third child mia in december when they discovered her

heart had stopped beating. two days before her due date, she died inside me, and so we had her, i was going to give birth to her in december, which was just awful. to give birth to her in december, which wasjust awful. through everything, darren has continued to write, and has just everything, darren has continued to write, and hasjust finished drafting his third book. really proud of him. if you knew darren before, you would never have thought he would have written a couple of kids books. a lot of people looking and say, your kid has a terminal illness, it must be awful and terrible, yes it is. we have happy days, jackson is ill, he won't be with us forever, but i can honestly say we have more happy days and bad days. this came all the way from mars.

rebecca —— rebecca, the mother jackson says we have more happy days and bad days. that puts everything into perspective. what a remarkable family. jackson is a superhero. i just love it. sarah, do you know what i've taken away? there is no pot of gold at the end of that circular rainbow? you've given us knowledge but you've taken something away. i know, theyjust go on forever, that round circle but we only see half of them because the horizon gets in our way. there could be if few rainbows in the cards, because we got more of those heavy downpours, and sunshine as well, record—breaking temperatures, six consecutive days. today, over 34

celsius, it won't be quite as hot but we could see one or two spots above 30 degrees. it's a warm, humid start of the day. still thunderstorms on the cards today but mainly across the southern half of the uk, seeing high pressure squeezing away all those showers but we've already got some showers and thunderstorms from the word go across parts of southern england, into wales as well and as we had to into wales as well and as we had to into the afternoon, they will become a bit more frequent, pale and gusty winds, and certainly rumbles of thunder but it should be largely dry in northern england and ireland and scotla nd in northern england and ireland and scotland stop quite cloudy in the north, particularly around eastern scotla nd north, particularly around eastern scotland in the north—east of england. temperatures here up in the high teens but for the rest of us, low to mid 20s, down towards the south—east, 29 of 30 degrees once again. still feeling quite humid, not as hot as it has been over the past six days. those showers and

thunderstorms will be hit and miss but continue overnight. dryer across the northern half of the uk into friday morning. still another quite murky and mild night. temperatures in the mid—teens. dipping 20 degrees below the south. tomorrow, repeat performance, sunny spells and scattered heavy showers and thunderstorms across southern england and into wales. should be dry further north with sunshine that claudia around this eastern coast. temperatures down a little eastern days. the mid to high 20s in one of two warmest spots. the high teens are further north. into saturday morning, more showers to come across parts of southern england and into wales. largely dry sort of day into saturday, sunshine breaking up the clouds, still relatively humid but not as hot as it has been. temperatures, high teens around scotla nd temperatures, high teens around scotland north—east england but many of us, low to mid 20s. it looks like

that cooling trend continues through sunday and into next week so returning to something a bit more likely to expect this time of year, it stays quite unsettled but the temperatures in the mid— 30s should fade away into next week. headlines next.

good morning and welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. 0ur headlines: hundreds of thousands of students have just received their a—level results, as ministers prepare for a backlash over predicted grades. the results of our so any second phones should start ringing at cleaning centres across uk. we are in bristol where there will be matching students with places, so give them a call. two years of training and it comes down to today but what next for our students in vocational studies? in a jobs market scarred by covid. an investigation begins into the aberdeenshire rail crash in which three people died. another night of dramatic thunderstorms, after a day of record—setting temperatures.

it's thursday august 13th. our top story. hundreds of thousands of students are now receiving their a—level under the new rules, students in england and northern ireland can use mock exam results as a basis for any appeal. however, this doesn't guarantee they will be awarded the same result as their mocks. in wales, pupils have been told their as results — which are usually achieved in the first year of the course — will be used if they're higher than the grades issued today. in the last half an hour, we spoke to the education secretary gavin williamson, who said the vast majority

of students will be awarded the grade their teachers predicted, or within one grade of it. 90% of the results being aborted today are going to be a great of the school i was in a grade of that school i was in a grade of that school and you are going to see an increase in the children getting a or a* increase in the children getting a ora*and increase in the children getting a or a* and literally hundreds of thousands of students being able to move thousands of students being able to m ove o nto thousands of students being able to move onto the next stage of either going to university, going to couege going to university, going to college or going into the world of work. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake joins us now from westminster. schools shut, exams cancelled, a much criticised system in place, and a—level students thinking what will my future be depending on what they

open? so much uncertainty for stu d e nts open? so much uncertainty for students getting the results this morning not on the basis of their exams and the work they have the ten but on the basis of a protection from their teachers and then having that standardised by this process and the exams watchdog in england and the exams watchdog in england and the exams watchdog in england and the comparative bodies elsewhere in the uk have put in place. while there is huge uncertainty in the air about results for individual stu d e nts about results for individual students and the results across the board and what they will look like, the education secretary gavin williamson, for england, has defended that system and said he would not consider doing what happened in scotland after they were so much criticism so many students had their grades lowered the system was scrapped and students ended up with the grid they were originally predicted by their teachers. he has admitted some will get a grade that is not reflective of the work they have the ten and they will be able to ta ke

have the ten and they will be able to take advantage of a robust appeals process as he put it. there are big questions about how that appeals process will work, how long stu d e nts appeals process will work, how long students and schools will have to ta ke students and schools will have to take advantage of it and have exactly mock exam results will be considered, so questions about that. we are not expecting answers until next week. there is a huge amount raiding on this process this morning and depending on the spread of results and how they are received i think will depend on what the government does next, but a signal from the education secretary this morning that he is not prepared to do away with that standardisation system which he says will mean that 90% of students get the grade they we re 90% of students get the grade they were predicted or receive one within one grid of that, and he said to do otherwise would be unfair to stu d e nts otherwise would be unfair to students and allow rampant grade inflation. an investigation is underway after a passenger train derailed near stonehaven in aberdeenshire — killing three people. the train is thought to have hit a landslide following torrential

rain and thunderstorms. six other people were also sent to hospital. 0ur correspondent andrew anderson is in stonehaven this morning. andrew, good to see you. we have had condolences being sent for those families of those victims of this incident. yes, that's right. this is as close as we are being allowed to the scene of the aberdeenshire derailment for the time being, but 24 hours ago the 638 aberdeen to glasgow service was under way and it only managed about 20 miles of that journey before the terrible accident took place, killing three people. two of them with the train crew, the driver and the conductor one other person also died and six people were

injured and were taken to hospital with injuries not thought to have been serious. the focus today will been serious. the focus today will be on the investigation into what caused the serious derailment and they will be looking carefully at they will be looking carefully at the weather conditions. we know there was flooding on the line and we understand the driver stopped his train and has to be moved on to another track and then continued his journey. 0ne another track and then continued his journey. one of the questions inspectors will be asking is where the gaff on the flooding in the weather conditions, whether that train should have been running. condolences have been sent from the queen who is holidaying here and also from the prime minister boris johnson and first minister nicola sturgeon. the clean—up operation will take place with tonnes of

wreckage to be removed. thank you for keeping us up—to—date. new findings from the world's largest home antibody testing programme suggest that 6% of people in england have been infected with coronavirus. more than 100,000 volunteers were tracked by researchers at imperial college london. about 3.4 million people who seem to have had exposure to this virus. now, we're not saying that each of those people is immune, what we're saying is there is evidence they have been in contact with the virus and their body has mounted a response to that that we can detect. a revamped coronavirus contact tracing app begins public trials on the isle of wight today.

the app is meant to log when two people's phones are close together for a period of time. if one person is later diagnosed with the virus, the other can be alerted before they show symptoms. it's not yet clear when the app might be rolled out across england. 13 more cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in new zealand, as health officials urgently try to trace the source of the new outbreak. the cases are all linked to a family in auckland at the centre of the first cases in the country in more than three months. new zealand's prime minister, jacinda ardern, says she expects the nunmber of cases in the country to grow. the us democratic presidential candidate joe biden and his running mate kamala harris have made their first campaign appearance together. the pair attacked president donald trump, calling him an incompetent leader who has left the us "in tatters". 0ur north america correspondent david willis reports.

events of this kind normally take place before large and adoring cards but normal times, these are not, and the first black woman ever to appear in a us presidential ticket was forced to make her campaign trail debut in a largely empty high school gymnasium. nonetheless, the man who appointed her said kamala harris should serve as an inspiration to others. this morning, all across the nation, little girls woke up, especially little black and brown girls, who so often feel overlooked and undervalued in their communities, but today, todayjust maybe, they are seeing themselves for the first time in a new way, as the stuff of presidents and vice—presidents. the daughter of an indian mother and a jamaican father, kamala harris is being looked upon as someone who can energise thejoe biden campaign and extend the democrats' appeal to independent voters and even moderate republicans. this is a moment of real consequence for america.

everything we care about — our economy, our health, our children, the kind of country we live in — it is all on the line meanwhile, president trump has maintained his attacks, drawing on kamala harris' criticism ofjoe biden during the democratic primary. she said horrible things about joe biden. she said far worse aboutjoe biden than i ever did and now she is running as vice—president. joe biden called the election a battle for the soul of america. depending on the spread of the coronavirus, his new running mate is hoping to head out into the swing states, with just over 80 days to go before the election. david willis, bbc news. in the last few minutes a—level students in england, wales and northern ireland have started receiving their results.

because schools and colleges were forced to close in march, exams were cancelled. now, there's concerns that many grades will be lower than teacher predictions. danjohnson is at wilberforce sixth form college in hull this morning. you are smiling. i hope the students around you are smiling. good morning. good morning. they havejust morning. good morning. they have just started coming in to get their results. everything more complicated because of coronavirus, because of social distancing, and that is true of education. because of all the interruption, the fact there were no exams, the fact great to have had to be estimated by teachers and standardised across the country, lots of controversy about that. lots of interest in the students because eve ryo ne of interest in the students because everyone is wondering how they have done, what their teachers have

predicted, whether they have been downgraded, whether the system essentially will be fair, and especially after what happened in scotla nd especially after what happened in scotland where the teacher assessed grades were reverted to the after the outcry about the unfairness. a lot of pressure today, notjust the normals dress of example but the added uncertainty about the way it has been done. feel, you have done a btec. because the what you needed. with a btec course i did it is all linked to technology and how it is used and there is elements of game design, 3d modelling, so a wide range of topics that we cover, and i am going on to an apprenticeship with the city council so i do not really need... i wouldn't say i don't need a grade but what i get doesn't really matter in terms of what i am going on today, but i am really happy. you have just opened then. what is in there? triple

distinction star so that is exactly what i wanted. that is sounding amazing. yes, i am really happy with the grade i have got. congratulations. i am the grade i have got. congratulations. iam really the grade i have got. congratulations. i am really pleased for you. we have seen some people who are not that happy this morning already. some people have had to leave, i think they are upset because they have not got what they wanted. we know this is going to be tricky. do you feel the system has been fair? to some people i would like to think it has but for others perhaps maybe if they are in a course where it is not as high as attainable as others i think those pupils may struggle but i think overall we have done all we can, so i think it students are not happy with the grade they have got they can always go for appeals. we are

just going to see if any of these quys just going to see if any of these guys will talk to us. can we borrow you a second ? guys will talk to us. can we borrow you a second? we spoke to you yesterday about your studies. remind us what you were hoping for.” yesterday about your studies. remind us what you were hoping for. i have been studying english language, english literature and psychology andl english literature and psychology and i was hoping for what i got, and and i was hoping for what i got, and a starand and i was hoping for what i got, and a star and two as. what do you think about the system ? a star and two as. what do you think about the system? some people are not going to have got what we expected to get however when need it has worked out really well so i am really happy and i feel fortunate because it has reflected the work i have put in over the past two years, the outcomes i have achieved, so i am really happy. reminders what you are going to do. i am going to study

marketing. staying local? yes. that was already a decision i had made so lam was already a decision i had made so i am really happy with how it has turned out. there are cameras going off, people opening envelopes. some off, people opening envelopes. some of your classmates are not so happy this morning. there is some disappointment. yes. it is a tough day. a lot of pressure for these young people. some future is being decided here this morning but these grades may not be the end of it and that word is if you are hoping to go to university, whatever you are hoping to move on to there are places. because there are fewer international students universities will be flexible so if you haven't quite what you got —— what you needed you should ring to see if you can get ten. the messages do not panic, things will probably be all

right even if you have not got exactly what you need. things will be fine. dan, thank you very much. it is always such a nervy day when you are getting those results. you can imagine if you did not get what she wanted you would be straight out the door. we will try to find out how many people are affected. it's not just a—level students that will be getting results this morning. hundreds of thousands of young people studying vocational qualifications will also be finding out their grades. nina is at a college in sunderland for us. the sun appears to be shining but i am not sure that is going to be reflected in the mood. i hope so. am not sure that is going to be reflected in the mood. i hope som is kind of that misty weather that makes your hairgo is kind of that misty weather that makes your hair go massive! holly, lucy and matthew have been waiting patiently to open up their btec results. more young people will get vocational qualifications this summer than a—levels. go for it, girls. you have been studying social

ca re girls. you have been studying social care for the past two years. a lot is riding on these results. bic b* b*, b*. that means i can study midwifery. i have the same. i am going on to primary teaching. you have been hoping to go on and join the royal navy. let's have a look. we will see what the royal navy says where it is good enough. fingers crossed. do you think that will hit the mark? hopefully. best of luck.

keeping everything crossed for a year. when you think about vocational training it is things like hospitality, beauty, tourism, things were at the moment the covid recession may be beginning to bite. let us talk to the principle. when you look to the future, you have incredible students, but do you worry about the trajectory of their careers? of course there are national concerns about economic retraction but we have produced students here with btec qualifications with the underpinnings of academic knowledge and the applied skills and competencies and i think what will be an increasingly competitive market these students have the edge and are going to be able to compete and are going to be able to compete and step into those jobs that are available and let's not forget there

are already workforce shortages in some sectors and an ageing workforce and that gives us tremendous opportunities if students and adults have come through vocational routes. what would you like to say to the government? they have said we know we have underfunded and undervalued vocational roots in the past. this is the first time in my career i am seeing alignment and the treasury and the department for education and i feel we have a government that are really supportive in recognising the value of the further education and sixth form sector as being part of the solution for economic recovery. when it comes to the final grades, because these guys have been under co nsta nt because these guys have been under constant review, well many of their grades be reviewed or will they be consistent? we have a high level of confidence. we have had teachers who have been moderated by experts and

that has been further verified by experienced leaders and managers in curricular assessment and we have had senior leaders curricular sampling to check those results so asa sampling to check those results so as a college we are incredibly confident that the results our students are getting are going to be strong and accurate. thank you and congratulations, a fantastic college. hayden, explain to us what that budget is. you are a btec graduate. yes, this is my gold medal that i won in design last year for the world skills international finals in aircraft maintenance. so, theoretically, you are the very best in maintaining aircraft in the entire world. yes. what is next for you? i am working for a company based at east midlands airport just over the based at east midlands airport just overthe summer based at east midlands airport just over the summer while i am waiting to go back to university in

septemberand to go back to university in september and may btec set me up for all of this. i did my btec and apprenticeship and i am at university working for lots of different companies across the uk andl different companies across the uk and i did really well at world skills. for anyone thinking maybe they are corrected to today would be stronger with a—levels, you would be disputing that? if you know what industry you want to go into a btec is much more worthwhile because it gives you industry experience and specific knowledge specific to your industry so i am still using btec knowledge that i learned years ago and my degree today. and you have a funky bit ofjewellery as well. what is the plan tonight? we don't have any plans yet but we will see. we will be celebrating. something tells me you will find a way to celebrate. of course it is an anxious time, a

jobs market smaller than we have seen for many years but today is a day for celebrating as well. thank you. well done to all of them as well. it is often the way we talk to people who have got exactly what they want because they are in a good place, but if it has not worked out for you exactly as planned do not worry, things have a way of sorting themselves out over time. it sounds a bit glib because right now it can feel grim. it is absolutely true and it will take time but she will realise it will be fine. venues and theatres have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic but now there's some hope for the industry as live performances slowly return. rehearsals for the stage version of the film "sleepless in seattle" have started ahead of the show‘s planned opening later this month. breakfast‘s tim muffett reports. before any acting or singing,

a test for covid—19. welcome to theatre rehearsals in a pandemic and an attempt to become the first live indoor show to open in the uk since lockdown began. the cast will be segregated into this big foyer space. testing is done and they can receive results within 45 minutes and it's ensuring we are in this bubble — nothing can come in, nothing can come out and we are continuously tested. the show being rehearsed is sleepless, based on the tom hanks and meg ryan movie sleepless in seattle. it was due to open in march. how does it feel to be back on stage? it feels amazing to hear people sing again, it'sjust made me realise the escapism of theatre and how much people will really enjoy to see it again. it has been organised so well and i think the most important thing in these covid times is having the direction and knowing what you're meant to be doing in order to stay safe

the second we arrived, we were told exactly where to go, where to be, where to go when we got tested, after we had been tested, and had a negative test. testing was an interesting start to the day but also one that we have now been building up for so long. everyone was just really ready for it and wanted to sort of get their negative results. many theatres are old buildings which makes them very difficult to adapt but the troubadour here in wembley only opened last year. being new is an huge help. there is a much biggerfoyer, a far greater number of toilets and it'sjust a better atmosphere when you've got more space.

and this is really what's made it possible. this, and the testing facility. what if someone tests positive, what would you do then? we had two people first day test positive. this test is extremely sensitive and they were just over the borderline but we sent them home. those were technicians, so so far it hasn't impacted hugely on the show. theatres in england had been told they could open from august 1st, but that was delayed until at least august 15th. producers are hoping to open this show on the 25th, government guidance permitted. audiences will be temperature checked on arrival and numbers limited. rather than saying there is two there, two there, two there, two there, there is lots of threes or fours and they do it when people book. when they phone in, they see what's available and they will put them

in theirown bubble, as it were, in the auditorium. how does it feel? scary, because it is huge. if this works it is going to be huge and game changing for the industry. as well as daily testing, cast and crew will also wear face coverings backstage. producers say every possible safety measure will be followed. over the next couple of days, we will be looking at how we can angle people so they are not singing directly at each other and looking at the angles that projection might be going and eliminating as much contact as possible. how important is it that this works? the importance of making this work is huge. i had an email from the schuberts on broadway who own all the big theatres in new york.

i had a message from mti — music theatre international — who said, "we're watching, we have everything crossed for you, we hope you succeed." it's quite a burden to carry. it must be an emotional time. yeah, it is. it is a huge thing we've got to achieve. a rare glimpse of hope in an industry brought to its knees. there's belief here that the show will go on. tim muffet, bbc news. you are watching bbc breakfast. still to come: there's a lot of questions around a—level results that are out this morning — particularly for students who didn't get the grades they needed for their chosen university.

hopefully people will have got what they wanted. we'll speak to the universities and college admissions service to find out what they can do. now let's get the weather with sarah. charlie doesn't believe that rainbows are round. he said he saw a rainbows are round. he said he saw a rain will starting at a specific point of land and i said he couldn't. i saw the beginning of it and very unusually i saw the end. i could literally see the place that it stopped. how is it? it wasn't a circle. it was a traditional rain will. it is to do with where the water droplets are so where do you think the rain will is ending that is where the water droplets are ending but if there was more water it would scatter the late and you would see the perfect round rain will so you have to get up a

mountain or in an aircraft and the energy might be lucky enough to see and —— in rain will. storms in different areas. there could be hail and thunder mix then. maybe in parts of southern england today. claudia in northern areas with the breeze bringing mist. it is warm and humid. into the afternoon, as things start to warm up we will see some heavy and persistent downpours. we will not all see them. further north things are set to stay largely dry. it will not be as hot as recently as the temperatures in the north and the temperatures in the north and the low to mid 20s. high teens

around the north east coast with more cloud. further south we could see 29, possibly 30 degrees but not the 34 or more we have seen over the last six days. 0vernight we will keep the threat of further showers and thunderstorms for southern england and perhaps the midlands and into wales and another pretty mild uncomfortable night. temperatures holding up in the mid—or possibly high teens for many of us but they should just about drop below 20 degrees for the first time in four days. for a friday it is pretty similarto days. for a friday it is pretty similar to today with sunny spells and some heavy scattered showers in the side. further north should stay largely dry. low cloud around with the humid air mass but temperature starting to come down a little bit so we are looking at temperatures in the low to mid 20s for most of us. enter saturday a similar day again with further showers for southern

england and wales which will push a little bit further north but we have high pressure holding on keeping things dry for scotland, northern england and ireland. remaining u nsettled england and ireland. remaining unsettled as we head on into next week and temperatures will not be as hot as they have been lately. hello, this is breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. we need to bring you an update on the train which derailed in aberdeenshire yesterday near stonehaven. the driver of the train — who was one of the three killed in the incident — has been named as brett mcculough and the conductor was donald dinnie. the train is thought to have hit a landslide following torrential rain and thunderstorms. a full investigation is under way. we have been talking about a—level

results. a lot of you will be concerned if you are receiving them, pa rents concerned if you are receiving them, parents will be worrying about their children's futures. it will be fine! but we are... it'sjust such an exciting time. everything that has surrounded the exams, the build—up to it, the schools being closed, exams being cancelled and now the row, the way they are awarded in themselves, has clouded everything. it must have been so unsettling for so many. but then you got the clearing system, which helps stu d e nts clearing system, which helps students get into university if they didn't get the grades they expected. breakfast‘s john maguire is at the university of bristol where call handlers will try to help people find a place there. how have the phone lines been doing? they have been ringing off the hook. when we spoke to you earlier on, this place was quiet. but listen to this. everybody in this room is

talking to potential students, stu d e nts talking to potential students, students that are making contact with university of bristol. they might have done well, might have not done so well. another phone going trying to get another idea, it is all about matching course vacancies with students, everybody offering advice at a crucial time. the phone started ringing from around eight o'clock. let's see if we can interrupt marianne. you are a student here. what other conversations like that you have been having so far? as you can imagine, a lot of panic going on. i think a few people are finding it difficult logging onto ucas. a little bit of reassurance goes a long way. you have been through... well, you haven't been through clearing, but you know what is like. what advice are you able to offer? definitely, i know it can be a very anxious time for students. the main thing to remember is to take a deep

breath, take a step back. most of the time it goes well. if it doesn't go right way, get some advice from your teachers, your friends, and just not panicked, really, because thatis just not panicked, really, because that is the worst thing you want to do. thank you very much. we will let you get back to the cause, that's what it's all about, getting some advice. there is lots of advice out there. every uk university will have something like this in operation. eric, good morning to you. an unusual year, i'm getting bored of saying it, really. tell us so far what experience is like and why it is so different. i hope for the vast majority of students, today is a day of celebration and joy. in the call ce ntre of celebration and joy. in the call centre today, we are expecting more because with an element of anxiety, uncertainty, may be some confusion. we know that this group of students in particular this year have had very uncertain times. i think they are looking for reassurance and looking for clarification. all of the people in this room will do their utmost to provide that. there

has been a lot of talk about overseas students next year. perhaps they won't come in in the numbers that they have been, what does that mean? what is that pattern looking like? international students form such an important part of the campus community. the good news is that the indications are that they still very much want to come here. applications are strong, certainly to the university of bristol, many other universities, our dialogue with them shows they want to come here. there isa shows they want to come here. there is a concern that they simply won't be able to, either because they may be able to, either because they may be in lockdown, there may be quarantines, travelling restrictions, things which are out of our control. universities like bristol and many others have made it possible for them to start their degrees online, and when it becomes possible for them to come over, which we hope they will, then they can transition into the semester later on. do you expect to have more uk—based students this year than you

would have last year?” uk—based students this year than you would have last year? i think we probably will. government is allowing universities a certain leeway in the number of students they take, on top of their usual numbers. we know that there is a great appetite. the reality is that for many students, it is going to be difficult to make alternative plans. maybe they have not been thinking about study, they might have been thinking about going straight to work or taking a gap year. they will be looking for education, and this isa be looking for education, and this is a fantastic option. we can't wait to attract many of them to the university of bristol. we've seen things change over the last couple of days with some of the national cove na nt of days with some of the national covenant guidance. what sort of effect has not been having on your preparations for this morning? —— national government guidance. we are ready for every eventuality. uncertainty never helps. the greatest impact has been on the applicants. that is where the principal uncertainty is playing out. hopefully we can reassure them, but we are going to make every preparation to make sure the start of the academic term is a success and they have a fantastic time. what

about the appeal process? what impact do you think that will have? it means we have to be prepared for the possibility that if a large numberof the possibility that if a large number of students are successful in their appeals, which we hope that they are, we are obliged and are very happy to honour the commitment we have made to them in their offers. we will be taking them. that means that in some cases we might go beyond the capacity that we have, in which case we will simply have to put on additional resources to make sure we can give them a great experience. thank you very much indeed. you get a sense, a real buzz this morning, phones ringing, this will be replicated right across the uk. as from eight o'clock this morning, and because of the staff and students year, perhaps for the first time in a long time some certainty for students about what happens next. john, can ijust ask a question through you to your guest? what we have been talking about a lot this morning is whether there is evidence of students not getting the grades that they were hoping to get.

i wonder if they are seeing anything, at bristol university, whether there are more people than normal who are calling up saying, you know what, i haven't got what i needed to come to your university? let's bring eric back in. not to spring an unknown question on you. charlie was asking about whether we think there might be an increase in stu d e nts think there might be an increase in students who haven't got the result is that they thought they had. you got the result on friday night, didn't you? so you have a good idea of the pattern. what does the pattern look like? we haven't seen huge rinses. at least at the university of bristol, we haven't seen huge differences in the profile. the big question mark is the regrading, because that could significantly skew the proportions and we'll have to be ready for that. thank you for that. hopefully that a nswe rs thank you for that. hopefully that answers your question. early days, they will be watching what is coming in. really interesting seeing the work there. the lady you spoke to

before, calm, somebody to talk to, it makes a big difference right now. let's get more on a—level results in other parts of the uk now. tomos morgan is with students in bridgend and emma vardy is at a school in east belfast. tomos, good to see you. in wales, the understanding is that as—level results would be taken into consideration as well? yes, that's exactly right. what the education minister said late last night, ki rsty minister said late last night, kirsty williams, she said that nobody in wales would be getting any grades that would be less than what they got last year for their nas grades. i'm going to take you around the car park, to show you the process in place for safety. there are five different car parking spaces, and five different zones that the pupils can go into the hole to find out their grades. many schools across the country have decided not to open today for safety reasons. but here, near bridgend,

they have decided to open. with me is charlie and kai, too much of the best pupils of this year. charlie, tello is what results you got and how they compare to last year? this yearl how they compare to last year? this year i had a‘, aand bravo echo, basically the same as what i had la st basically the same as what i had last year. it has worked out well for you? absolutely. but you haven't heard from ucas about if you have got a place at swansea university? my parents are behind in the car and just gave me the thumbs up! congratulations. i will move on to you, kai. what grades did you get and how do they compare to what you got in as—level? and how do they compare to what you got in as-level? i had two as and

two a‘s, so i got upgraded in english. you got your place in stoke, what are you doing? i'm going to be doing art. you got an unconditional offer? so for you it was probably more stress—free?” would say that, yes. mrjones, it has been stressful, or difficult, how has it been with the changes over the last 24 hours, planning and setting it up for the day? it has been stressful, but it is part and parcel of the job that i hold. the most important thing is, when you see these youngsters celebrating their success, gaining the qualifications that they fully deserve, and then being able to move on to the next step in their career. it's all worth it, the additional hours over the summer period. it's been such an unprecedented time. but it's important now today that we

celebrate their success. as well as charlie and kai have done, you have just heard in the last couple of minutes that you had the first people from the sixth form here that has managed to get their place in 0xford, has managed to get their place in oxford, is that right? yes, we have, and it's a massive achievement for that individual, but also for the school itself. we know we have learners that are moving on to the best institutions across the country. if not in the world. also, every single one of them gets that place that they want, and follows the career that they deserve.” would imagine you are probably hoping you don't have to go through a similar a—level results day again? i never want to see and a—level results day like this. you know how well how much i celebrate the success of learners on days like this, and! success of learners on days like this, and i appreciate seeing every single one of them smiling. thank you so much. a good day for everybody involved. a good day, but

a stressful and difficult day as well. emma vardy is at ashfield boys' school in belfast. such an exciting day for students, notwithstanding all the problems in the run—up? notwithstanding all the problems in the run-up? around 25,000 students yearin the run-up? around 25,000 students year in northern ireland are going to be receiving their a—level and as—level grades today. a similar system here to england, in that it is based on predicted grades from teachers, then moderated by the northern ireland exam board. similar to elsewhere, there has also been widespread concern among some schools in northern ireland that their grades may be reduced from what the teachers thought was a really fair representation for students. as you say, here we are at ashfield boys high school. they are feeling the strange atmosphere for results day. broadly speaking, they feel they have had a pretty fair representation of grades that have come back through the system this year. come back through the system this yea r. let's

come back through the system this year. let's hear from come back through the system this year. let's hearfrom the head teacher. this isjoe mccolgan. how are you feeling about a set of grades you had back? overall, we are quite happy. they are pretty much what we predicted, based on the teacher predicted grades. i would like to celebrate the achievements of my students, but also all of those students throughout the whole of the united kingdom. ithink those students throughout the whole of the united kingdom. i think we must remember that we got to celebrate their achievements. yes, there will be people who haven't done as well as they may be would have expected. that happens every year. we have also got to help those people and support those people, to remember that there are lots of opportunities out there, engage with careers advisers, engage with the staff in schools and lets now engage with all the examining boards through that appeals process stop try to put any wrong is right. we have heard of other schools in northern ireland where they have been really disappointed, a big drop in results, something they wouldn't have said would be a fair reflection. why do you think the picture is different, why are some schools happier than others?”

picture is different, why are some schools happier than others? i can't put my finger on that. some colleagues have claimed to have a drop of 20%. that, to me, can't be right. there has to be something wrong. so we need an appeals process. i would urge anybody who makes these decisions to go back, look at this process. it has to be fairand transparent, look at this process. it has to be fair and transparent, it's got to be equitable. i appreciate fair and transparent, it's got to be equitable. iappreciate it's fair and transparent, it's got to be equitable. i appreciate it's got to be standardised and it's got to be rigorous. but we've got to engage with the people that know the students best, and that's the teachers. i would appeal to anybody who makes the decision, come back, engage with the schools, look at individual cases and put the wrong is right. these children have been through a lot. let's help them get the grades that they deserve. thank you very much. it congratulations to the students getting their results today. the northern ireland exam board has said it recognises there will be some discrepancies, there will be some discrepancies, there will be some discrepancies, there will be appeals processes to go through in the coming weeks for stu d e nts through in the coming weeks for students that feel they don't have the grades that reflect their

effort. the situation in northern ireland is that big universities, queens, ulster university, they took the unusual decision to offer thousands of places early to stu d e nts thousands of places early to students unconditionally, because they were worried about the drop in they were worried about the drop in the number of international students coming and they wanted to fill up their places. for some students there is reassurance they have a university place. 0thers there is reassurance they have a university place. others will be going through an appeals process. let's talk now to clare marchant, the chief executive of the universities and college admissions service. that is the clearing service that is operational right now. what picture seeing? as of this morning, we are seeing? as of this morning, we are seeing about 1.5% of students more placed in university or college than at this point last year. that is really encouraging. there's lots to celebrate in terms of students that have got the grades and progressing to university or college. i'm really pleased about that. for me, there's

a couple of things we look for in a morning like this, particularly those from disadvantaged areas, making sure they are progressing to university or college. 0ver making sure they are progressing to university or college. over 20,000 from the most deprived areas are doing that this year, which is a record. i'm really pleased about that. there will be students that may be disappointed, and obviously there are avenues for them. but i would also point them at clearing. if you are going to go through an appeal, look at a clearing in parallel. there are loads of options available for you and new tools to help you get a personalised match this year. what i'm not clear about is if you are able to give a snapshot, in any sense, of how many stu d e nts snapshot, in any sense, of how many students did not... this was the fear, because of the downgrading, applied to some 40% of students, are you a able in any way to give an analysis of how many students have been affected in that way? what we

know, in terms of those that want to progress to higher education, which isn't all students, we know there is a record application rate, but it's not all students, two thirds of those have got their first choice. it may be that they got their first choice on the grades that they were expecting to go to university, it may be, and universities are doing this more this year than previous yea rs, this more this year than previous years, they had a near miss, they perhaps dropped a grade or two grades, and universities have been flexible and said they will take them. i think there is a number of different scenarios playing out. in a year that is like no other and has very complex choices that students need to navigate through, with our support and with teacher support. i think overall that the majority of stu d e nts think overall that the majority of students will be getting the grades to go into the university of their choice. do you have the relative numbers as to how many are going to clearing this year, as compared to last year, for example? we know last

year 70,000 went through clearing and gota year 70,000 went through clearing and got a place through clearing. we expect by the end of clearing out to be well over 80,000 students. 0bviously be well over 80,000 students. obviously there are students that got a place in clearing because it opened on the 6th ofjuly. there are new tools, so clearing plus will help them get a match. we are expecting to be a big year for clearing, but i would encourage them, if you applied for a university place in january, them, if you applied for a university place injanuary, perhaps before the pandemic, think about that choice, what made you passionate about that subject on that course, and continue with the next stage of your journey. because, you know, that's probably the right choice for you. you are saying about some of the universities have a more flexible to what grades they are accepting. does that does that mean that students initially are getting a yes, even though they haven't achieved what they were required to get? so, there will be more flexibility this year. every year,

universities will look notjust at the grades a student gets, but also the grades a student gets, but also the context around them. they will do personal statements, there is a lot of information about work experience or extracurricular activities in there. we also know that they have data around the level of disadvantage and the background they come from. they will use that context to make decisions. you are right that this year there is probably more chance that a university might look at a near miss of one or two grades and be flexible. but if you are waking up this morning and you haven't got the grades you want to progress to university, my advice would be to get on the phone to the university of your choice, because they are looking to be as flexible as they can, within constraints, but as flexible as they come this year. that's an important point you make. let's finish on that note. what is your message to someone, and there are hundreds of thousands opening the letters, finding out their results today, most happy, but what

is your message then this morning? certainly, those that got into university and got their grades, they progress, well done. i know you have to celebrate differently to previous years. but well done, i really congratulate you. if you haven't got the grades, we are there to support you. we are doing facebook live, a social media team on hand, customer centres, you have your teachers on hand on the mission staff u p your teachers on hand on the mission staff up and down the country are also there to support you. reach out, there are many avenues to get support and find a place. claire marchand, the chief executive of ucas. thank you for your time. in these situations, being on a level graduate, this will apply to gcse stu d e nts graduate, this will apply to gcse students as well, it is like a badge of honour. whatever you have achieved in the circumstances now, they are unparalleled. they are not like any other year. so, whatever you have done. been brilliant, without being at school, things being topsy—turvy and the world being topsy—turvy and the world

being very odd, well done, whatever happens, it will be fine. so, tropical nights, charlie. you know what they are? it is a new one on me. the scientific definition is a temperature at night time above... what? 20 degrees. how many tropical nights do you think the uk has had over the last 40 years? three. the last 40 years? i'm saying three. including this week? i'll say nine. 128. ok. i don't know why you asked. i thought you would understand how rare they are, because we have had five in the last month. i thought it was even rarer. the point is that we've had a lot of them lately, which is why so many people are struggling with their sleep. there is more extreme weather to come and warnings for severe thunderstorms across much of the uk.

caroline davies has this report, which does contain flashing images. after another day of record temperatures, this. storms battered parts of south london with wind, rain and hail. this was inside a supermarket in telford, in shropshire, ceiling panels falling as the rain pours in through the roof. some parts of scotland saw almost seven hours of continuous rain. many areas saw flooding, including here in perth. while cars were stuck, floating in floodwaters in aberdeen. and in bristol, two people were rescued by the fire services from the mud along the banks of the avon new cut, after getting stuck earlier in the evening. the met office have warned that the current hot weather creates ideal conditions for thunderstorms. the heat is due to continue in some places, with little drop—off at night.

so far this month there have been four nights where somewhere in the uk stays at 20 degrees, so—called tropical nights, with some dramatic results. it is certainly impossible to get a good night's sleep at the moment, whether it is to do with humidity or the thunder and lightning. but just look at this year so far, we had the wettest february on record, followed by the sunniest spring on record, followed by these exceptional bursts of heat this summer. on their own, these extremes have often occurred throughout history and they will continue to occur but, with global warming, with climate changing, we are expecting more and more extremes to occur. yellow thunderstorm warnings have been issued for today for much of england, wales, parts of northern ireland and south—west scotland, as the week of extreme continues. caroline davies, bbc news. we're joined now by professor liz bentley, the chief executive of the royal meteorological society.

thank you very much forjoining us. what is going on? what is going on with all of these tropical nights we are having? yeah, exceptional weather at the moment. as you say, we've had various records broken over the last few days or so. we have had six consecutive days where the temperature has been over 34 degrees. we have never seen before in the uk, those records go back to 1961. as you say, these tropical nights where the temperature doesn't drop below 20 celsius. we have now had five, if you include last night, five consecutive nights where we have had the excessive heat and humidity, giant thunderstorms we have seen, spectacular displays of lightning, torrential downpours, hail mixed in and the flash flooding that has come from that. is this just what summers are going to look like now? we have had heatwaves before in the past, we have had thunderstorms developing in the uk. with climate change, what we have noticed is an extra layer of heat.

we have almost turned up the thermostat a little bit. when we do get heat waves, they are going to be more frequent, more intense. we are going to see more intense heat. under thunderstorms that we get will be more extreme. the atmosphere is warmer, it can hold more moisture and therefore we get heavier deluges of rain that we have seen this week. that is what we are likely to see, going forward into the future as well. liz, giant hailstones, people have been reporting this during some of the downpours you have been talking about? that's right. typically between the size of ap, up to the size of a golf ball, but enough to cause damage. —— the size ofa enough to cause damage. —— the size of a pea. i've seen pictures on social media conservatory windows that have been smashed because of the of that hail. it's also the amount of rainfall that have been falling. some places have seen two months of rain in the space of a few hours. and that rain has nowhere to

90, hours. and that rain has nowhere to go, it causes flash flooding that we have seen lots of images of, as you have seen lots of images of, as you have just shown. have seen lots of images of, as you havejust shown. not have seen lots of images of, as you have just shown. not to disparage our weather forecast whatsoever, because they are all wonderful at doing theirjobs, but when we have extreme weather like this, it seems sometimes very localised. we have a storm literally in one very localised area, people down the road saying, what bad weather? yes, absolutely. you will have seen all week the warning for thunderstorms has pretty much covered the whole of the uk. but exactly when and where the uk. but exactly when and where the thunderstorms are going to develop as a real challenge for forecasters. it's a real nightmare. it comes down to a little bit more of nowcasting. we have seen a storm coming across london, and then it developed as it came through 0xfordshire. you can give a couple of hours warning, an amber warning that went out yesterday evening for heavy rain that affected western parts of england and then into wales. it does become a little bit more nowcasting, just predicting the

detail if you hours ahead. even though we know that there are thunderstorms around, it is exactly when and where it's going to happen. i like that, a nowcast! what about the heatwave mission? we launched this last friday on bbc breakfast. we were down at kew gardens with carol. as we expect heatwaves to be a thing of the future, more frequent and intense as we go forward, we wa nted and intense as we go forward, we wanted to understand how people deal with the success of heat and humidity. we are asking people to go out and take measurements of temperature, and to answer a few questions about how it makes you feel, the excessive heat and humidity and how you are adapting your daily cycle to try and manage the heat. are you adapting where you work, what you do, the hours that you work, just to really cope with the heat. so i would welcome people tojoin in that mission. we will be running it for the next few months and i'm sure we'll get more heatwaves as we go forward. so join that mission. professor liz bentley,

from the royal mineralogical society. thank you. good luck to anybody opening a level results this morning. hope it goes well. things will be ok. they will. have a good day. goodbye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines. after days of controversy about grading, students across england, wales and northern ireland are getting their a—level and vocational results. it means my uni place is secure at northumbria. very happy, yeah. we will see what the royal navy says first, whether or not it is good enough, but hopefully yeah. if you've just got or are about to get your results we'd love to hear from you. are you happy or not with your grades? are you going to appeal based on your mocks results or do you think you might need to take the exams in the autumn?