now serious allegations of a toxic culture on her long—running chat show have lead to three of her top team being fired — and the ellen brand under scrutiny. from los angeles, sophie long reports. what can i say? did that not work out? screaming. it is moments and guess like this that have made the ellen show a daytime staple in the lives of millions around the world. turning it into a huge money maker for warner brothers and giving its 62—year—old host, who signs of every episode by saying, be kind, a massive platform. but after years of rumours, a twitter thread asking people to share stories showing that the star did not practice what she preached, lead to damaging media reports and an internal investigation. that has resulted in three top producers being ousted from the show, following allegations of bullying, intimidation and sexual misconduct. they have previously categorically denied any wrongdoing.

the hope is that there will be real change behind—the—scenes of the ellen show and across television shows in hollywood. i think the real impact, you know, is to be seen. this is all happening very quickly, this is all unfolding very quickly and it is hard to speculate how a 17—year—old show will change in 2a hours of the news cycle. ellen degeneres became an icon for lgbt communities around the world when she made history by becoming the first lead character to come out on her own sitcom, ellen, in the 1990s. after an initial backlash, her chat show went on to win tens of emmys and she hosted the oscars, confirming both her star power and her place in television history. during the pandemic, ellen has been hosting her show from her home, but many of the senior producers have returned to work here where it is normally filmed this week. an emotional ellen is said to have told staff she found

that the reports are heartbreaking and she said the coming season, due to premiere next week, will be their best ever. early ratings will reveal how damaging this has been, both to her reputation and future and to that of the show. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. goodbye, everybody! thank you, new york! that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night.

hello to viewers in the uk joining those around the world. it's now time for us to take a first look at the national and international front pages in the papers. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are sian griffiths, the education editor of the sunday times, and polly mackenzie, the chief executive of demos. tomorrow's front pages starting with. .. the international edition for the financial times says stocks on wall street have struck

an all—time high, rallying more than 50% from the lowest point of the coronavirus crisis, despite persistent investor unease about the us economy. the daily express says pressure is growing to save uk high streets, as experts warn 300,000 retailjobs may be wiped out in a matter of weeks. le figaro in france, reports champagne wine growers have agreed to a drop in production — deemed essential by the sector, due to the collapse in champagne sales — because of the pandemic. the new york times reports that president lukashenko of belarus is suddenly looking surprisingly weak, as protests gain momentum. according to the metro, the uk education secretary, gavin williamson is managing to cling onto hisjob, as a—level students scrambled for university places and gcse pupils faced more uncertainty

over their exam results on thursday. the ‘i' reports that borisjohnson has rejected the minister's offer to resign — while senior conservatives call for regulator ‘0fqual‘ — to be abolished. the daily mail says gavin williamson has enraged tory mps with a desperate bid to shift the blame for the exams fiasco, in an attempt to cling on to hisjob. and the daily telegraph reports universities have told the uk government they will need more money, if they are to take more students this year following the climb—down over a—levels results. so let's begin... welcome to you both. should we kick off with the metro? the paper says he is clinging onto hisjob. is that how you see it education editor?

yes. i think so. it is quite clear in the headline. you are gabbing a life of think that is how people say it. three times this morning on television or whether he was going to resign and he evaded the question be time. i think he's made it clear that in other interviews he is not going to resign and that he will be here for the coming year at least. he seems to have the backing of borisjohnson. but he seems to have the backing of boris johnson. but i he seems to have the backing of borisjohnson. but i think, students, head teachers, parents, a lot of people out there now are very angry and wondering how on earth kids have ended up in this chaotic situation for both a levels and gcses this year. with a mistake after mistake having been made and nobody taking responsibility.” after mistake having been made and nobody taking responsibility. i want to come back to the mistakes in a minute. polly, iask to come back to the mistakes in a minute. polly, i ask about whether if he is clinging on. he has a

record of being in hot water. when he was defence secretary come he didn't go then for example. and the fa ct didn't go then for example. and the fact he is a former chief whip and normally they are pretty shrewd political operators. they know where the bodies are buried. intent to klingon. what is your view on that? he did in the end go. because of a? 0ver he did in the end go. because of a? over the looks around while way. i think it is more of an approach to the whole government which is that you never apologise, you never explained, if you admit weakness, somehow the whole house of cards might come crumbling down. and so they have blessed through a whole series of what might in normal times be resigning offences. robert generate has faced criticism and had to turn around a planning decision associated with a conservative party fundraiser. things like that you contrast peter mendelson who resigned because it might look bad.

quite a different approach, this government almost welcomes controversy because it gives them that kind of mckay's mo are proving they are stronger than all of those haters who they can then criticises being woke, feeble lefties. you're too young to remember it, i am too old, lord carrington resigning over the focalin. that seems a long time ago. but also remember estelle morris resigning as education secretary. she felt she wasn't up to the job. that kind of humility from somebody in the cabinet to say the country needs somebody brilliant and maybe i'm not that guy. those kinds of personality traits you just do not see amongst our current cabinet. they try to promote boris grayling to the chairmanship of the intelligent selection. —— chris gayling. despite the fact that literally every policy project chris grayling has tried to spearhead as

catastrophically failed. i don't know. it is a weird kind of hubris where they almost want to have the scars on their back and criticisms because it makes him look kind of mad strong. staying with the metro, there is an attack on baroness harding as well. the government is not coming out of this well and any of the papers. including the ones that normally supported. yes. quite scathing at her. it is interesting that this whole row about a levels and gcses and exam regulator 0fqual is coming at the same time as roughly as the government announced it will scrap public health england and every patient with this new body headed up by baroness harding in the metro lays to her and said she was labelled the date of the dead after she over a huge data breach at the

tech firm. it also points out that the prime minister is currently on holiday in scotland despite the fact that we have thousands, tens of thousands of students absolutely scrambling for university places now after the government you turn on a levels. and on thursday, more chaos may well come down the track because gcses students are expecting to pick up gcses students are expecting to pick up their results and whether everything will be ironed out in time for them to get a smooth run at what should be proper results as opposed to ones that have to be... we will come unto the universities pleading for more cash in a moment. let's pass through over the eye newspaper. i suppose that is the point actually. there are so many semi—autonomous things out there that were ministers are in a tight spot, the blame game you can begin in earnest because matt hancock against what a lot of advice he is receiving suggesting that this is

perhaps not the ideal time amid pandemic to start restructuring institutions like this. this is gone ahead. yes. it is extraordinary really to see both gavin williamson and shifting the blame to off 0fqual matt hancock trying to shift the blame to public health england went in the end, yes either quangos but they are responsible and accountable to the ministers who set the targets and framed legislation that governs their strategy. who often involve an appointment to these bodies. so the idea that it is some sort of independent thing like it is debenhams or something and you can criticise what they are doing that, these are parts of the government and it is yourjob as the minister to think about whether they are fit for purpose, and in the middle of a crisis but ideally before a crisis. i think there is a huge danger to making these institution changes right now and particularly a huge danger to dido harding who of course

people can make mistakes and learn from them and go want to be great leaders, but given that public health england or its replacement but it will have to have particular response about the lee around public health data and contact tracing, they will most private and personal data somebody who's been associated with such a high profile data breach seems to me like certainly what sir humphrey will call a brave choice. she is a former champion of national and chucky. —— national huntjockey. laughter. kudos to her. to the daily telegraph. i've been speaking tonight to some chief executives of various university group saying they've asked for more cash but they would actually say if they received it yet because it will needed to scale up for these numbers, especially in disciplines like medicine, chemistry and things like that. yes. universities are asking for more cash. £740 million is being lobbied about. what they are saying

is that in covid—i9 times, they need more money because they have to socially distant students, the desk has to be separated in lives and in and set in our rooms, and they need to think about all of that. i think it must be brought to mind that universities are cash—strapped at the moment. this is not the first time they ask for money. they asked for a big bailout earlier this year and they were turned down, so in a sense that what has happened, this crisis now has given them some leverage to go back and really pressed a case because the government needs them right now to mop up the students. 55,000 students as we understand who were given the wrong a—level grades, the wrong grades and now have the new ones which entitle them to go to their first choice universities, so the universities at the moment are looking to place all of the

students, even in some cases where they've already filled their courses, so they will have to expand. it will be very interesting to see which universities rise to the challenge and which do not manage to. very difficult for some stu d e nts to manage to. very difficult for some students to take a year off as some universities are suggesting which would be the solution. let's go to the new york times. a few other pages to get through. new york times, they no longer fear pages to get through. new york times, they no longerfear him. 0nly a few days really come a week or so since that election result came out and belarus without the paper points out that occurred to me and all of us out that occurred to me and all of us that it has come out of nowhere really co m e us that it has come out of nowhere really come a bit like the romanian revolution back in the late 805. yes. what people say about changes that it happens very slowly and then all at once. and that is what this feels like. there has been a lot of rumbling discontent and belarus,

with somebody describing it as the la st with somebody describing it as the last dictator. incredibly close to vladimir putin and part of making belarus effectively a client state of russia. they discontent me as soon as there with a chink in the armour, all of that is can suddenly bubble up and people can get there out on the streets and once there is a certain critical mass, gives confidence to everybody to say they would not put it with this any more. and they see alternative models of governance throughout eastern europe that have led to much more prosperity and much more open economies and much more personal and political freedom, and i think it is possible that we will see that and belarus. 0f possible that we will see that and belarus. of course the risk is of a huge security led crackdown, lukashenko is reported to have spoken to putin twice over the weekend and of course it all depends on how russia chooses to play his hand. it is been incredibly aggressive in their tactics. an extra irony that putin lukashenko,

had fallen out recently