rona fairhead, running through the amelioration which we had won from them for the over—755. one was that we would have a licence fee that would go up with inflation for the first time in over a decade. secondly, some imposts that were on the bbc for broadband and other things would be removed, thirdly what was called a digital loophole, that those who were viewing online would have to pay the license fee. would have to pay the licence fee. and what the result of that was, as we worked it out, including some reform of the over—75s, which is that you had a cash flat settlement. now again, let me just take you back to that period. cash flat at last time was a settlement only achieved if i recall by the nhs, everyone else was taking a hard cut. so, you know, from the point of view of where we were at that time, a majority conservative government, that was really important.

we won a charter for 11 years with the licence fee being the method for funding the bbc. that was right against all the orthodoxy of the people who were coming at us at the time. we got that and i think that is important because the bbc now has that amount of time, until 2027 to ensure it is in excellent shape. the fact is at the end of that negotiation which you led to the bbc, the bbc had a timebomb placed underneath it, and that timebomb is going off just as you are leaving. you call it a timebomb, i say we have come to a solution which is an absolutely fair solution, which is that those who cannot afford to pay the licence fee don't have to pay for it, if you are on pension credit. those who can afford to pay the licence fee are paying for it... what about those, forgive me for interrupting... crosstalk. that is actually a very fair way of looking for payments. but for a lot of people this is a very painful choice, there are hundreds of thousands or millions of people in this country who love the bbc, who have supported the bbc for years and who have got used

to having it forfree. why are you now actively hurting those people and saying you have got to pay for something you have been getting for free? you have got to go back and say who is actually responsible for this? this is something that a then majority conservative government put on the bbc. we ameliorated it. let's come forward to the present government. have you been into number ten, obviously before the pandemic, to see borisjohnson and dominic cummings since the election? no, i haven't. i saw dominic cummings during the election but i have not been in since then, no. how did your conversation with dominic cummings go during the election? was it pre or after andrew neil had empty chaired? it was before. i mean actually, it was an intelligent conversation, he asked very good questions about the nature of the bbc and the kind ofjournalism that he and i would believe in. what was your reaction when you saw a sunday times splash back in february that said number 10 were going to "whack" the bbc? i thought that was wholly wrong and i wondered whether that would actually, quite who in number ten this is bbc news, i'm simon mccoy. was saying that, was it the prime minister or someone else? the headlines: do you think it was dominic cummings? travel company tui launches

i don't know. an investigation into claims that negotiation with the government is one part of yourjob, some passengers were ignoring coronavirus guidance on a flight another type of negotiation from a greek island linked for which you're going to be remembered is that which you have done with many of the people to 16 covid—i9 cases. you work with. and specifically how you have it was quite scary, to be honest. approached the imbalance in pay between men and women as soon as we boarded, at this organisation. we realised that were you shocked when you looked many of the passengers hadn't really at the top of that list and saw how been educated about the wearing of facemasks. had dominated it was my men? by some of the old deals... yeah, but these were deals which were done, to be honest with you, calls for next summer's amol, and i'm not passing any gcse and a level exams blame here, but these to be put back — to make were done before my time. up for teaching time but that's interesting, because i don't think this has been lost during the lockdown. the government's month—long discussed enough in public. "eat out to help 0ut" to what extent did you feel, scheme ends today — as someone who is again sorting out but some restaurant owners want it to be extended. something of a mess, that your hands were tied the first commercial by contractual negotiations, flight from israel to by legal obligations from before your time? the united arab emirates touches down in abu dhabi — a lot, to be frank, and i think all of us felt marking a major step we were sorting out problems in the normalising of relations between the two countries. which were a generation old. why did it take so long to sort out carrie grace's pay? the charge on single—use carrier bags is to be extended i think the organisation responded too slowly, i completely agree with you on that. but, you know, iwish we could have done that faster, but that is a very specific example

and i don't really want to go much further than that. let's look at the talent management problem that you inherited, and that isjeremy clarkson. why are you laughing? i likejeremy a lot, i think he is actually a real talent and that was a very hard decision, and... he was...a very special sort of person at the bbc. but look, you go back to your values. i mean, jeremy did something that you just can't accept. you just can't, and that is where in any of these issues, your values have to come in. did you break the news to him? idid. we met on a number of occasions and we have met since, by the way, and i am a big fan of his, and i think... i am sorry he left, because he was a particular voice at the bbc kind of needed but... could you have disciplined him but kept him? when i came back to the bbc there was a lot of right discussion

about bullying and harassment. people felt strongly that some people got away with it and others didn't. you simply couldn't let jeremy get away with it, because that would have said to everybody there is a culture for one set of people, and there is a culture for the rest. for many truly national institutions, from the bbc to the monarchy, the struggle to reflect a more diverse, divided and digital britain itself creates deep divisions. injuly, the bbc broadcast the n word, prompting an outcry. initially it defended the decision, strongly, then paul apologised. i felt strongly that this was a difficult story, this was a story about abuse of somebody, i mean a hit—and—run, racially motivated hit—and—run, but i felt using the n word at that time of day in that report was a mistake.

these are difficult decisions, and in the end, occasionally i have intervened as director—general when i felt it was right to say, no, this is what i believe that is what i believe the matter. i have been told something which i want to put to you directly, which is that your instinct, i have been told this by several sources, that your instinct was to actually hold the line, to back david jordan, your director of editorial policy on this issue, but that you were lobbied by members of the bbc board who said there would be mass resignations among ethnic minority broadcasters if you did not apologise, is that correct? no, i was not lobbied... so you didn't have people saying to you that black and ethnic minority members of staff are furious about this? i knew people were furious about it but i felt very strongly it was the right thing to apologise, and to make clear our collective disquiet about this. is the n word now banned? no, it's not. in fact on the friday before, i apologised it was used in a programme about the real thing

and it was appropriate, it went through all the guidelines and was appropriately done. no, it is where, when, how often and so on, we need to think very hard about and that is what we are doing. 60 seconds left, do you think bbc four will survive as a linear channel? yes. do you think bbc three will come back as a linear channel? i think that depends a lot on how audiences change post the covid environment. i think what we are seeing with covid is people going more on demand. so i think it is a close call. is the bbc actively looking at selling off buildings to raise revenue? what we have also learned from covid is that we could do with fewer buildings. i would be surprised if we didn't sell off a few buildings. did you vote remain? i am not going to tell you how i vote at any point, and by the way, yeah, i will not tell you how i vote. i thought it was worth a try. what is the editorial or creative highpoint of your tenure? seeing drama flower in the way it has done. seeing blue planet change people's behaviour on plastics, seeing news cope with crisis

after crisis after crisis with huge aplomb, and that sense of local voice that comes from local radio, i absolutely love. what i will miss, in case you want to ask me, is getting out there on the shop floor with people making programmes. iam at heart a programme maker, and a great privilege of being here at the bbc has been to see programme makers doing amazing things. i have never known a time when we have won so many awards for the programmes we have made, and, in the end, the argument about the bbc is about the programmes and the services we provide. are they of the highest possible quality, and that is not to do with me, it's to do with the many people in this organisation who do amazing things to serve the public with brilliant programming. tony hall, thank you very much indeed for your time.

we are seeing out the month with a cool day in august. i will show a view from north yorkshire that was home to the coldest spot in england to start the day today where the temperature fell down to 0.6 celsius. high pressure keeping the uk dry, but weather systems gather in the atlantic, so we will see rain before the week is done. the month is ending with high pressure, so it is dry across the uk. making for a fairly decent day if it is a bank holiday where you are. not the warmest bank holiday, with temperatures mainly around 15—17. and a reminder of how it looked last year. this was a view on the late august bank holiday in yorkshire and these were the temperatures on the 26th of august. the hottest on record. london getting up to 33.

and warmth in wales in the mid—20s. it is a cooler end to august and another chilly one for the time of year overnight tonight. where there are clear spells. these are town and city temperatures and rural areas will be colder. there will be rain through northern ireland that clears tomorrow morning. it will brighten up. then mostly light and patchy rain feeding across scotland as the day goes on, whereas england and wales will stay dry. cloud around. the temperature a little bit higher. now a southerly breeze. that wind gets stronger on wednesday with a deeper area of low pressure and these weather fronts and from those we will see wetter weather. heavier bursts of rain through northern ireland, scotland, into northern england, western england and wales and some through the east and south—east that stay dry.

and western isles could be close to 50 mph at times. temperatures mostly rooted into the teens. thursday, the weather front taking rain south. a front clearing through and ahead of it maybe some warmth to be had as temperatures creep into the low 20s, but most have a breezy day 00:11:20,928 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 with sunny spells and showers.