and you'd do anything you could... as horrific as it may have been, to have just been there and held their hand and let them know that... even though they would have still died, that you were there to comfort them. and we both had that taken from us. that was robbed. debbie and charlotte will continue to support each other, continue to fight for their boys. graham satchell, bbc news. time for a look at the weather — here's susan powell. we have lost the dramatic hit of last week. we certainly haven't lost the dramatic weather. here are the skies across london recently. widespread thunderstorms currently

experience for many areas inside the m25. we have seen dramatic thunderstorms pushing across oxfordshire and derbyshire with more to come across england and wales this afternoon. some persistent rain gci’oss this afternoon. some persistent rain across wales at the moment, with the south—west of england in for a wet afternoon. we could get up to 23 degrees in the sunshine this afternoon. showers in the north—east of scotla nd afternoon. showers in the north—east of scotland and looking wet for northern ireland also, and then in the evening the rain will start to pull away. into the small hours of tuesday, showers should start to ease across england and wales, then more persistent rain sweeping into wales and the north—west of england. humid and muggy overnight with overnight lows of 15 degrees, nothing in comparison to the intense heat of last week. tomorrow, still the chance of some rather troublesome weather. thunderstorm scatters across england and wales but in the last couple of days, they broke out, we could see some localised flash flooding with persistent rain pushing out of

southern scotland working its way north—west, turning to showers, locally giving some heavy, potentially disruptive downpours. wednesday, more like an autumn weather chart. some wet weather pushing across the uk, but this low pressure will drive the weather from wednesday right the way through until the end of the week. the story then switches to one of strong winds. light winds are the problem at the moment because they are not moving the showers. some more heavy rain to come on wednesday, then with that rain saturated ground we could see some trees being loosened and some disruption on wednesday with gusts of a0 mph. scotland looking like remaining dry at this stage. 0n thursday, the perhaps the prospect of ita thursday, the perhaps the prospect of it a little drier, between weather fronts, with some sunshine for a weather fronts, with some sunshine fora time, weather fronts, with some sunshine for a time, then this low is going to pick up the wins as we look at friday. thursday, sunshine for many, friday, the isobars coming together,

and that is the windiest day of the week we are talking about. the figures in black indicate the strength of the gusts of wind and capital across the uk but it will be the irish sea coasts, exposed western coast of scotland and wales and devon and cornwall, where we could see things getting stormy and some pretty choppy seas around here. soa some pretty choppy seas around here. so a week that has plenty to throw at us. simon, back to you. a reminder of our top story. as anger grows among pupils and teachers — pressure mounts on the government over england's exam results fiasco. that's all from the bbc news at one — good afternoon, i'm gavin ramjaun. it's just after 1.30 and this is your latest sports news. a frustrating weekend of cricket has continued into the week. there's been no play so far on the final day of the second test between england and pakistan in southampton — that's afterjust

an hour's play was possible on saturday and sunday because of the rain. henry moeran's at the ageas bowl for us. and henry, with so little play, there has been some criticism for the umpires and ground staff? yeah, there has been criticism, mainly the blame has been at the game as opposed to those here out of the us game as opposed to those here out of the us bowl, because they have been following the rules and regulations in the main. the ons have come out, they made the judgment call it is not safe to play. there is only so much the ground staff can do when they have got the sort of rain that we have had. certainly visually yesterday i think that is when there was the real frustrating yesterday i think that is when there was the realfrustrating because yesterday i think that is when there was the real frustrating because you had a situation where play was called off at ten minutes to four, and at a:30pm it was glorious sunshine. a lot of the game's great and the good here working at the match said there didn't seem to be any urgency. why weren't they out there when the rain started to stop to try to clear things up. if you

paid money you could be frustrated. there is certainly in flexibility within test cricket in getting games started. you can extend into the evening session if you have last time but you can't start earlier, for example. those sort of thing are frustrated people and fans watching around the world. as for today, no play possible. we are expecting another pitch inspection shortly. the sun is shining at the moment, whether we will see any player, that remains to be seen. thank you henry. simona halep has become the latest big name to pull out of this month's us open because of the coronavirus pandemic. halep is the current world number two, and says she's decided not to play in new york because of what she calls the exceptional circumstances we're living in at the moment, adding that her health is at the heart of the decision. manchester united boss 0le gunnar solskjaer says the club needs to strengthen its squad, after they were knocked out of the europa league. they were beaten 2—1 by sevilla in the semi—finals in cologne. united actually took the lead

thanks to a bruno fernandes penalty. but sevilla equalised, and despite loads of chances for united, it was the spanish side that found a winner. cue frustration for the manchester united players and their manager, who have now gone three seasons without a trophy. couple of other line of football news this afternoon, and joe hart is expected to join tottenham on a two—year deal. he's a free agent after leaving burnley at the end ofjune, and will compete with paulo gazzaniga to be hugo lloris' deputy at spurs. and hart's former manchester city team—mate vincent kompany has retired from playing. he's 3a and spent last season as player—coach of the belgian side anderlecht. he'll now focus full time on management. ronnie 0'sullivan says a seventh world snooker title would be fantastic, after his latest triumph at the crucible. he dominated kyren wilson to win his sixth world championship title. 0'sullivan is nowjust one world title away from matching stephen hendry‘s record.

whilst he's still firmly focussed on his own career, 0'sullivan hasn't ruled out helping other players to develop in the future — and that could inlcude yesterday's beaten finallist. kyren doesn't need any help but i'm sure he would be someone that, if i stopped playing, iwould sure he would be someone that, if i stopped playing, i would love to sort of maybe try to help him in some way, because i know that he's up some way, because i know that he's upfor some way, because i know that he's up for learning stuff and maybe i could be a ray reardon to kyren one day because i think he has got a great game, he has got tremendous ability and yeah, it would be great to at some point maybe do that, but i've got to be a little bit selfish first and put myself first. there's only so many hours and time on the day so i am putting a lot more focus on what i need to do rather than what i can do for others at the moment in that respect. and stand by for a huge crash in moto gp —

before we show it, i can assure you that nobody was seriosuly hurt. this is franco morbidelli and johann zarco crashing at the austrian grand prix. the rider in the yellow helmet there is moto gp legend valentino rossi. amazing that no riders were seriously hurt. crazy pictures. look at that. so near. there we are. lucky escape for rossl i'll have more for you in the next hour. see you later. thank you, gavin. you've been sending us your questions on exam results this morning, with the news today that students in northern ireland will have their gcse‘s results based on predicted grades. a little earlier, my colleague shaun ley tried to get answers to some of them in your questions answered. still many questions remain following results day last thursday in england, wales and northern

ireland. hundreds of students took to the streets over the weekend to protest at how a—level results were decided. there is still confusion over the appeals process after the advice from 0fqual was withdrawn over the weekend. appeals for those who didn't get their predicted grades and want them reassessed. before we turn to some of your questions, let's hearfrom some of the students affected. lama the students affected. i am a first generation oxford holder from i am a first generation oxford holderfrom a i am a first generation oxford holder from a state school. getting my offer was the biggest achievement i could have hoped for. i am currently in the process of appealing migrate but the process and the criteria seems to be changing every day, which is really confusing and makes me very angry when they have had all this time to prepare. prior to my marks i had appendicitis and it needed an operation. this put me at and it needed an operation. this put meata and it needed an operation. this put me at a disadvantage. the government has not consider this aspect. i have i'io has not consider this aspect. i have no grounds on which to appeal. hopefully...

applicants who apply to medicine or dentistry set entrance exams. and they attended rigorous interviews before receiving their offers. these demonstrated our capabilities and genuine passion for the career. and i believe that these are more accurate than any grade we have been given. i feel really let down and have no confidence in this government, who, even after three days a results coming out, cannot decide what the appeals processes. with gcses coming out this week we needed sorting as sooi'i as out this week we needed sorting as soon as possible. some of the views from those who went through this rather demoralising experience over the last few days. let's get some a nswe i’s last few days. let's get some a nswers to last few days. let's get some answers to some of your questions from the times educational supplement correspondence. thank you for being with us and for putting yourself in the lion's then. boy, are there some roars of rage among people who have been contacting us about these results. let's start

withjoanne. about these results. let's start with joanne. my son, about these results. let's start withjoanne. my son, she says, is still sitting with terrible a—level grades, three marks below the teacher assessments. and he lost his university place. what a novel way to start another week. what are of quality doing and what is the next step for us? over the weekend we thought we were going to have a resolution to the appeals situation. but unfortunately, they retracted their appeals guidance on saturday night, which when they laid it out seemed quite sensible. mock exams had to fit a criteria of age different points which seems to be in the realms of normality for most schools, we are now waiting to hear what the appeals process will be. so the sun in question is going to have to do simply wait and see what the appeals process will be before he can even begin his appeal. the best advice for him is to keep on contacting his university, make sure they are informed as to what is mark grades were, and appealing to the

university to see if they can give him a place. for those of us outside the educational system, what are tags? they are the central assessment grades, the great teachers are submitted when asked to at the beginning of lockdown, thinking of a student on a good day, that was the guidance from 0fqual. what would the student do in an exam ona what would the student do in an exam on a good day? they were asked to rank all of the students. this is how the algorithm has processed the data. but the grade the teacher would have given that student.|j know you are just saying what they say, but they mean school or couege? say, but they mean school or college? they do. these early grades the teachers gave them. let's hear from paula. she says, can universities choose to admit stu d e nts universities choose to admit students on predicted grades rather than the results they have been

awarded? sorry, than the results they have been awarded ? sorry, that than the results they have been awarded? sorry, that wasjohn on twitter. universities can to an extent. they have had a kappa put in place this year which means they can't have the number of students they might wish to have. students are calling for ergometer to lift this for universities so they can admit of the students they want to admit of the students they want to admit further courses. right, ok. this one is from paula. is it fair to grade a student on mock exams on each school six different tests? this could end up being academic of the advice that has been withdrawn is never reinstated. let's say they do still use this as one way of assessing appeals. mock exams, different schools etc different mock exams, therefore how can you compare them? not only that, but different departments in schools set different exams. even within two classes, some

may do different marks. not only that, but not all students even do mock exams. when lockdown happened we know that lots of colleges were still waiting to sit there mock exams. a mock exam is not fair between two students between two stu d e nts between two students between two students even in the same school. you raise an interesting question. i was looking at an article over the weekend which mentions research of call did itself when it got an examiner to look completely unconnected from the exam system add old papers. they did all the different subjects. there was only a variation between different examiners, a% in maths. most of it is about working through formulas and getting the right result. in history it went up as much as aa%. even ina history it went up as much as aa%. even in a properly assessed system, with examiners you don't know the stu d e nts with examiners you don't know the students and have never met the students, and looked just at the papers they have been given, there

can still be quite a wide variation in the marks they award? absolutely. and we know this is true from historically looking at exam data. in the past when students sit normal exams, there was an appeals process and the student might appeal. another examiner check it and gives ita another examiner check it and gives it a completely different mark. when it a completely different mark. when it isa it a completely different mark. when it is a mock exam situation it is even less tightly controlled than that. a proper exam is properly regulated and people are checking the marks. but in a school there is nowhere near the same number of cheques. let's move on to this question from sarah. sarah tweeted us question from sarah. sarah tweeted us because she said there were lots of stu d e nts us because she said there were lots of students who had not received their btec results. explain what is different about the btec system, if you can? and when you think this is likely to sorted out? with btecs we are expecting less disruption to it because the btec system is a different qualification to a—levels and they do more coursework and

often do the final exam injune. you can even take an exam and reset it. it is very different to a—levels. pearson has said there has been a delay in the btec results and we don't know when those students can expect the results. those are students, just because you do a btec, doesn't mean you are also competing for university places. many people do btecs and go on to university. they are further disadvantaged by the fact they can't go to through clearing because they still don't have the results. let's say you didn't get the result he wanted, an a—level student is them being encouraged to put themselves into clearing even if they are appealing to give themselves more options, if you haven't got a result, you can't actually approach any universities and say, i am waiting for my results but in the meantime i am looking for a place in this particular subject. they have got nothing to base their offer on if they even make an offer? all you can do them is tell them what their central assessed grade was and

explain what you perhaps got in your marks. the good thing about the btec is you must have had coursework. at least you can tell that to the university. but you are they must more difficult situation. on the question of universities, there has been a lot of talk about universities having spare capacity a nyway universities having spare capacity anyway because of the number of foreign students who will be coming to the uk this year because of the effects of the pandemic. if that spare capacity exists, is a just a straightforward business, universities are businesses now and they only get a budget based on the number of students they actually teach? isn't it just fair enough number of students they actually teach? isn't itjust fair enough to say to universities, just lose —— uses spa re say to universities, just lose —— uses spare capacity to accommodate all these would be university undergraduates, and worry about grades and everything else in the course of their first year, get them m, course of their first year, get them in, get them started and then, if there is a problem, deal with it then? we are also expecting a bit of a gap because there are many stu d e nts a gap because there are many students who this year have deferred

places because they feel as if this year going to university during a pandemic is not idealfor them. it is not the university experience they expected, so therefore they will be deferring. as to what will happen, i think it will raise more problems. there is definitely a call to say, let's lift those caps and change the number of students that can go to university this year. and deal with that problem, because that is an easier problem to solve than having lots of students who don't have grace at the moment, or have, don't feel they reflect their ability. they are not being able to progress. let me deal with the next question from liz. liz asks the million—dollar question, but bear in mind we haven't gone forever, how does the algorithm work and what does the algorithm work and what does it take into account? ok. the model looks at the historical data

of the schools, looks at what are stu d e nts of the schools, looks at what are students in previous years, how they scored in that school, the result is that they get. it also takes into account the size of cohort, which is where a lot of the problems are coming from. if you have got a class you are entering under five students, the statistical model would not work at such a low level, so therefore just took the centre assessed grades, the teacher grades. if it was between five and 15, then they did a mixture of central assessed grades and the model, and over assessed grades and the model, and over 15 it was just the statistical model. unfortunately, this disadvantages are schools where you are not in an independent school. independent schools have traditionally got smaller classes. you will see smaller chords in independent schools, hence there is talk now about how the statistical model disadvantages pupils from socially deprived areas because they are more likely to be in cohort 215

and above, and therefore have had of the algorithm applied to their results, resulting in a downgrading. you might be wondering why we have to do this at all. well, they took in the centre assessed grade, the teacher grades, and when they found those in the system they saw there would be an increase of about 12% compared to last year's. because they want to keep standards over time and they don't want to have sudden grade inflation, of call and the exam boards want to moderate this down to a 2% increase, hence why we had to have the statistical model. on you, thank you so much for explaining that. that was extremely straightforward. and quite a relief to hear a straightforward explanation of the algorithm after a somewhat baffling information over the last few days. i think people would have appreciated you answering their questions. thank you very much. your questions answered.

that was shone lay cut off. anyway, more from your questions answered later. thousands of people have bought a puppy to help cope with isolation and anxiety caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to new research. but while 63% of those surveyed said lockdown was the perfect time to buy a puppy, the kennel club, which is the uk's largest organisation dedicated to the welfare of dogs, are urging new owners to do proper research before getting a pet. bbc producer sophie tall bought daschund puppy clover during lockdown, and explained that not all pandemic puppies are impulse buys. well, we wanted one for two years. the kennel club report this morning said a lot of people took two hours to do their research. we had wanted one for a while. lockdown seemed a good time to get it because i am working from home. the children are around. so the holidays are cancelled, so we are forming a wonderful bond with her. the kids have got the time to spend with her. it was the right time to get one.

she is absolutely gorgeous. what a difference has it she made to your lives in lockdown? well, i mean, a lot of people say they have got a pandemic puppies, to be companions. we have wanted one for a while. she has been wonderful. we got her at the end of the main bit of lockdown. we are just at home so much to sort of be with her and train her. it is wonderful. we would have probably got one anyway. this was the right time as a family to get one. we are just around all the time because we can't go anywhere. what about when life goes back to normal, whatever the new normal is, and you are not perhaps around so much? well, i think a lot of people are changing their lifestyle after the pandemic. they are making lifestyle changes. i am working from home at any moment. i hope that may continue a bit. i don't know whether i will be back in the office. the kids will be going back

to school in september, thank god. it is about lifestyle changes. i have built up a relationship with lots of neighbours. there has been reciprocal dog walking. we have been doing it for a while during lockdown. we have a dog walking rota. there is a lot of support locally. maybe we start bringing them into the office one day a week. feel the benefit of having a dog in the office. we are all saying yes to that, for sure! bring her in, come back! i don't know if your son is itching to get in on the act. what is your son's name? he is called oscar. how is it having clover, oscar? she has been lovely to have around the house, giving me loads of kisses and cuddles, and i love her in general. and i bet when you are out with her, everybody talks to you, don't they? you cannot stroke anybody else's puppies at the moment, even though you are tempted to.

do you get a lot of attention? she has not had all of herjabs yet. she is too little to go out. we have had a lot of love on instagram and some nice pictures. a lot of neighbours peering over the fence. she will attract quite a lot of attention when she is allowed out. we can't wait to go out. i feel like lam we can't wait to go out. i feel like i am having a second lockdown being stuck in before the jobs. one of the things the kennel club is concerned about is people rushing into this. you have been thinking about it for a long time, sol you have been thinking about it for a long time, so i assume you have plenty of time to do some research. do you have any advice for people who are looking to get a puppy due there has been so much demand. it has been difficult, i would imagine, to get one. was it difficult to get her? it was difficult. we did start research during lockdown. they were going like hot cakes. the prices we re going like hot cakes. the prices were massively inflated. but if you can were massively inflated. but if you ca n afford were massively inflated. but if you can afford it, this was a perfect time to get one. you just have to

do, i mean, we got herfrom a reputable online website, not from the kennel club, but she is a pedigree pup, a fifth generation pedigree, we have got herfamily tree... oh! she is getting wriggly. you do have to do research. it was quite difficult. we lost out on a few. we had to travel to and a half hours to get her. she wasn't local. she was in warwickshire. it is totally worth it. keep going, if you wa nt totally worth it. keep going, if you want a puppy, you will find one, just keep going and maybe, it is supply and demand, they are more expensive at the moment. it is com pletely expensive at the moment. it is completely worth it if you wanted. obviously you have said you got the pedigree, you have got the family history, but again, with people desperate to get their hands on a puppy, desperate to get their hands on a punpy. they desperate to get their hands on a puppy, they might go desperate to get their hands on a puppy. they might go down desperate to get their hands on a puppy, they might go down the routes and not necessarily know what the background is and they are risk associated with that? exactly. you do need to do your research. we couldn't visit clover because of

lockdown at the beginning when she was first born. so we did a facetime. the wonderful lady we got herfrom comedy breeder facetime. the wonderful lady we got her from comedy breeder in warwickshire come, give us loads of information, we could see her and facetime, we were offered a visit a week before picking her up but we didn't bother doing that because she was so far away. but you do have to do your research. i am on a facebook group. there are absolute horror stories. you have to be really careful. you have to do your research. if you are on facetime or visiting a puppy and you haven't seen the mum, the dad, pictures of both, you have got to see the puppy with the mother, you've got to do your research. then walk away and don't get it. get the paperwork that has been promised to you. maybe the kennel club registration or any other associated paperwork, because you want your little puppy to be perfect and last a long time, so get it from someone, so don't get it from someonejust it from someone, so don't get it from someone just braiding it from someone, so don't get it from someonejust braiding it it from someone, so don't get it from someone just braiding it for the money. you want to get it from

somebody who loves the puppy and it's doing it for a good reason. very briefly, we should say there are rescue dogs that people can go to if they want. i know that you choose to get a puppy but that is or was an option as well? yes, of course, course. at the moment a lot of people are doing this, the cliche of people are doing this, the cliche of puppies not just of people are doing this, the cliche of puppies notjust being for christmas, props are notjust for lockdown. hopefully he will be with us lockdown. hopefully he will be with us for years and years. you are in this for the long haul. i think there are a lot of puppies being bored and they have bitten off more than they can chew and they are being rehomed. yes, absolutely, try to go there first before you sort of pay over the odds from a breeder, maybe. that was so tolle, a bbc producer, with clover and her son oscar. oscar, we can't get a word and while she is in the office either! now the weather with susan powell. hello. we continue with the threat of intense but localised

thunderstorms across and for the next 2a hours, producing some beautiful scenes like these, ominous clouds on the horizon, sunshine breaking through and this beautiful rainbow recently. the thundery showers will migrate northwards late afternoon into the evening before petering out. more persistent rain pulling away from northern ireland, swirling across the irish sea into wells and the north west of england to end the night. pretty muggy once again. 1a to 15 degrees. on into tuesday, this swirl of rain will cut across north wales into northern england before pushing its way northwards into scotland during the course of the day. looking at the map, it looks like it is petering out but we could see some intense rainfall working its way northwards across scotland and for england and wales, decent sunshine but still locally the risk of some intense thunderstorms. for the remainder of the week we turn to the atlantic and areas of low pressure. two centres in fact areas of low pressure. two centres infact in areas of low pressure. two centres in fact in this circulation here which will bring strong winds to all

parts of the uk. wednesday particularly for western areas, as we see this band of rain coming in. it will be heavy and there will be localised flooding. pretty soggy ground now, winds gusting at a0 to 50 mph, bringing down the odd tree on wednesday. scotland looking driest and brightest through the middle of the week. thursday, if we look closely, a little bit of a gap between the bands of rain. the isobars open a touch. first thing on thursday not too for much of the uk but we will see showery rain approaching from the west as the day pans out and the winds will pick up through the course of the day, gusty towards the west. in the east, with some sunshine, a little warmer once again, after my 25 degrees. perhaps it is friday that it is our greatest cause for concern. that looks like it will be the day bringing the peak winds. some more rain across the uk.

the winds could gust up to 50 mph in exposure across the west. strong enough again potentially to cause damage and disruption. unseasonably windy. the headlines: pressure mounts on the government over england's exam results fiasco, an announcement is expected later, amid fears similar chaos could surround thursday's gcse results. here we are the monday after a—level results wadding there is not a proper appeals process in place and wadding there is now not enough confidence in the system for gcses, is frankly unacceptable. northern ireland scraps plans to take into account schools' past performances and instead will award gcse grades based solely on teacher estimates. anger on the streets of belarus, as pressure mounts on president lukashenko over his disputed re—election. millions of self—employed workers in the uk can apply for a second