this is bbc news. the headlines: the german government says tests show beyond doubt that putin critic alexei navalny was poisoned by a novichok nerve agent. he became ill soon after drinking tea at a russian airport. hours after lifting them, the government u—turns and reimposes coronavirus restrictions in two parts of manchester. back to school — with a difference. millions of pupils in england and wales return after the coronavirus lockdown. and for some, it's their first time. it is a mixture of emotions and stuff. ifeel like really, really excited, but really nervous as well. i just really can't wait to get in and start learning and stuff. scientists detect the largest black hole, or collapsed star, in the universe — billions of light years from earth. and the duke and duchess of sussex

have signed a contract with netflix to produce documentaries and children's shows. harry and meghan say they will focus on "content that informs but also gives hope." the german government says "without doubt" a novichok nerve agent was used to poison critic of russian presidenrt vladimir putin, alexei navalny. mr navalny became ill on a trip to siberia on the 20th august. this image shows navalny drinking a cup of tea at tomsk airport in siberia on his way back to moscow. his press secretary says that is the only food or drink he had taken all day. since he fell ill he's been recovering in hospital in germany. the kremlin says they have not been informed about

the comments from germany. let's take a look at the nerve agent novichok. the name novichok means "newcomer" in russian, and applies to a group of advanced nerve agents developed by the soviet union in the 1970s and 1980s. novichoks were designed to be more toxic than other chemical weapons, so some versions would begin to take effect rapidly — in the order of 30 seconds to two minutes. the main route of exposure is likely to be through inhalation or ingestion, though they could also be absorbed through the skin. it was the nerve agent used in the attack on sergei and yulia skripal in salisbury in 2018. both of them survived but the british women dawn sturgess died shortly after coming in contact with it. in the last few minutes, we had a statement from the hospital where alexey navalny is being treated, and the hospital says that the patient continues to improve. they have

confirmed that it is a poisoning invent. they say the reason for his improvement is the gradual recovery of activity that had been suppressed by the nerve agent. he continues to be treated in intensive care unit, and he remains on a ventilator. the hospital also says that recovery is likely to be lengthy and it is too early still to determine the long—term effects that might arise in relation to the severe poisoning, and they also say that the treating physicians remaining close contact with his wife, and after consultations with his wife, the hospital has been assured that making these details public would be in accordance with his wishes. let's speak to our correspondent in moscow, sarah rainsford. the kremlin is saying they have not been informed about these comments from germany, but everybody does seem to be saying that this must be

something, this must have been a poisoning that was known of by the russian government. well, certainly those of the statements coming from germany, very strong statements from the german government and from angola merkel herself, the chancellor, who said that there needs to be answers. the kremlin has simply said that it hasn't been informed of the findings. senior politicians here have been very sceptical and scathing of the comments so far, and as traditional, calling for the evidence. despite the strong statements coming from the strong statements coming from the german government, the reaction from russian politicians here saying the politicians have spoken, now that the expert speak. a senior politician saying, russian

specialists here didn't find any traces of poison or any sign of a deliberate poisoning, so, germans, show us the evidence. that is the big question, what with the russian scientists, the russian doctors, doing when they told us there was no evidence of any foul play, that alexey navalny, as far as they concerned, add a of a crime? this is the second time in two years that somebody appears to have, critics of the rotten government appear to have been poisoned with another chock. is it possible that the russian government can go on denying any sort of knowledge of this? because those who know about this substance say that this is something that was developed in the soviet union, and the fact that it is a synthetic substance means it must have had some state backing behind it. well, certainly i don't think the kremlin

is about to admit to having tried to poison alexei navalny, so, yes, we can expect denials to go on and continue. they continue of the formerforformer continue. they continue of the former for former agents are gay scree power, and i am sure they will continue to muddy the waters, that's what we know happens, so supporters have been tweeting. head of the anti—corruption have been tweeting. head of the anti—corru ption people say have been tweeting. head of the anti—corruption people say that there could be no doubt the russians special services, either military or civilian intelligence were evolved, so civilian intelligence were evolved, so there are big questions to be asked here. up until now there's been a lot of people saying that navalny had a lot of enemies due to his political activity, notjust at

the top at people in positions of power, people here who he targeted with his anti—corru ption investigations, so don't necessarily look at the top people, they are saying, it could be any political agent. but the use of nobby talk does raise questions —— novichok. alexey navalny has been a thorn in president putin is side for quite some time. is there any reason for anyone in the government or somebody independent to be moving against him at this particular time? well, alexei navalny has been, as you say, a thorn in the side for those in power here for a very long time. it's hard to see the logic sometimes in some of these activities. certainly i would say there are a

couple of things going on at the moment. 0ne couple of things going on at the moment. one is there are local elections coming up. that seems like a small thing to poison someone over, but alexei navalny‘s team has been very active in promoting candidates and strategy for writing out politicians who are close to the kremlin got right across the country. that is one thing. there is also an unprecedented mass street protests that has been going on in the far east of the country. again, alexei navalny‘s people have been very involved in that, and then there is belarus, the uprising going on right on russia's doorstep. so, reason for the kremlin to be worried about political activity, but it can be difficult to see the logic and the timing of these attacks. let's speak now to alastair hay, professor of environmental toxicology at the university of leeds. good afternoon. i wonder if you could just remind us exactly what

novichok is, and how it affects the nervous system. well, novichok is a generic name for about 20 chemicals we have identified. they are all pa rt we have identified. they are all part of what is called the novichok family. they vary in their structure and toxicity, but they are designed to attack the nervous system, they are nerve agents, in effect, and they are designed as chemical weapons, that would really be their only use. they are sympathetic, as you mentioned earlier, so they are made deliberately, and they act by blocking a crucial enzyme which regulates messages from nerves to muscle. when that enzyme is inhibited and blocked, the message to the muscles fails, they stay in a state of permanent contraction and spasm, and so the normal relaxation and contraction that you get with muscles is not happening. so, all muscles is not happening. so, all muscles are affected, and the most

crucial are the ones that control breathing, so breathing stops. there is also a direct effect on the brain, and the effect of those on the brain is usually what kills people. so, a very potent agent. who has access to it? as you heard earlier, and you refer to the work that was done, these chemicals started to be investigated decades ago. work was done on them in their environmental persistence and what have you, but that was all work done in the former soviet union, so it points to russia being of interest, oi’ points to russia being of interest, or interested in these particular chemicals. 0nce or interested in these particular chemicals. once it became known, if you like, to western governments, and that there was an interest in these, many governments, including these, many governments, including the uk and the german and others, would have synthesised tiny

quantities to calibrate instruments to enable them to detect the chemicals if they were ever used against somebody, and this is perfectly legitimate. so, a number of people may have these, but in tiny quantities, but they are prescribed. proscribed. these chemicals are said to be need to be named and proscribed, and countries need to name any they have. so, they are not in any state arsenal, or if they are in an arsenal that they need to be declared on the quantities known. we will have to leave it there, thank you for joining us. the chancellor rishi sunak has sought to reassure conservative mps there will not be "a horror show of tax rises with no end in sight" — but has warned the government "will need to do some difficult things" as the government deals with the costs of coronavirus..

speaking during a visit to a school earlier, he said he thought the government's approaches the right thing to do. i will owens be honest with the british people and i would say the economy has taken a significant hit as a result of the coronavirus. we have put in in unprecedented support, and it's right that we did that. it has made the situation better than it would otherwise have been. in the short—term term my priority is to drive the economy, but we need to have sustainable finances, we can't carry on doing what we did this year forever, so we need sustainable public finances. that is the sustainable right thing to do, that in the short term what we are focused on is protecting jobs. let's speak to jessica parker, our political correspondent.

in the long—term, sustainable financial... it doesn't exact rule out the possibility of some tax rises in the short to medium term. you will know there has been a lot of speculation recently about the type of tax rises. there could be, there has been speculation about capital gains tax, corporation tax fuel duty, nothing confirmed by the government, but there has been quite a lot of reassurance going on today, because we've had rishi sunak and borisjohnson, the because we've had rishi sunak and boris johnson, the prime because we've had rishi sunak and borisjohnson, the prime minister, addressing backbench mps, dropping by the 1922 committee of backbench mps, as well, with nervousness from the conservative party, because they like to sell themselves as a low tax party, but the reality is the billions and billions of pounds has

been spent to tackle the coronavirus crisis. it is important to say that while rishi sunak has said these words today, or there has been the text of these was the date of the new intake of conservative mps, nothing has been confirmed in terms of what we might see in terms of an future budget, but i think it will lead to further questions as to whether there will be tax rises and where they might fall. the other thing that has had westminster buzzing today is the u—turn, another u—turn, by the government at lunchtime. two areas of greater manchester were due to receive some restrictions lifted, but it emerged during choir ministers questions that actually those areas wouldn't see there is restrictions lifting, because it may the remix have seen a rise in infection rates. some mixing of households won't be allowed, the government are saying this is the

right thing to do to prevent a rise in infection rates, but it came as the prime minister was being accused ofa the prime minister was being accused of a series of u—turns, boris johnson hitting back at keir starmer calling him captain hindsight. ok, thank you. parts of greater manchester will not have lockdown restrictions eased as planned following a government u—turn this lunchtime. measures in bolton and trafford were due to be eased overnight after a fall in cases earlier in august. but the government says they will "now remain under existing restrictions" following "a significant change in the level of infection rates over the last few days" earlier the mayor of greater manchester andy burnham called the decision to loosen the restrictions in the areas concerned illogical. the most recent data from the department of health shows there were 66.6 cases of the virus per 100,000

people in bolton on the 30th august. that's up from 18.9 cases per 100,000 people between the 17th and 23rd of august. it's a similar story in trafford, 36.8 cases per 100,000 on 30th august up from 17.8 cases per 100,000 between the 17th 23rd of august. earlier i spoke to labour leader of trafford council, andrew western, he says he shares the frustration of people in the area. it has been a very confusing few days for us in trafford. clearly, we want these restrictions lifted as quickly as possible, but it's about when it is safe to do so and we had recommended we left the restrictions in place for another week or two in trafford if we could see evidence of a downward trend in positive cases, but we have not seen that over the past week and we have more than doubled in our rate of positive cases. so really, in terms of where we are at now,

i feel the government have probably made the right decision. i am not a fan of the restrictions and i am not necessarily saying they should be in place, what we needed was an effective track and trace system up and running in the locality some time ago. we have seen it in other countries and we need funding for local interventions which we have not had. that is the pathway out of this. catalina sastre, runs the party and play funhouse let's consider this movie is a member of sage. good afternoon. how do you think the government has handled this particular set of circumstances in both and trafford? well, it's a bit of a dogs dinner,

really. there are a number of basic principles of health communication, one of the first is legitimacy. you have to give people a good understanding of why restrictions are being changed, in particular places and not others. lifting the restrictions in bolton and trafford raised questions of violating the principle, because rates were high in both these places, and it seemed to speak more to politics and the health and science. the second principle is one of consistency. people need to know where they stand, they need to know what is going to happen the next day, and i think the u—turn today undermine the principle of consistency, and then thirdly, perhaps most important of all principles are something we cocoa production. in other words, all principles are something we cocoa production. in otherwords, if you are going to develop promises, it is better to do it with people

and impose it on people. one of the great problems here is that there hasn't been working with the local communities. these decisions are imposed, actual notice on the communities, and that leads to a level of dismay. in terms of the principles of communication, i don't think things have been going very well. you are a behavioural scientist, so i wonder, when you talk about taking people with you, how could that be done better? well, i'm a social psychologist, i look at how people behave in groups and how they behave collectively, and one of they behave collectively, and one of the most basic principles of group psychology is people are much more likely to adhere and be influenced by in group sources. in other words, if you work with the group, if you are messaging involves members of

the group, if you involve local figures, politicians and so on, then people are much more likely to go along with things. if you do something to people then often they will reacts against it, because they wa nt to will reacts against it, because they want to assert their own autonomy and freedom. if you do something with them so you have them think they own the decision, then they we re they own the decision, then they were more likely to go along to it. co—production is basic principle of psychology. what you think about the language it is being used in order to regulate peoples behaviour in relation to how the 19? the use of words like lockdown, restrictions, it is all about controlling people. it is about controlling people it speaks to how policies are implemented or not implemented. look

down, i think, implemented or not implemented. look down, ithink, is implemented or not implemented. look down, i think, is a very unhelpful term, and a paperfrom the down, i think, is a very unhelpful term, and a paper from the advisory body on behavioural science to the government did say that lockdown is probably a term that we should not use because lockdown suggest that people have done something wrong and are being punished for it, and again, punishing people is not a very good way of getting compliance. we should be thinking much more in terms . how do we support and help