here'sjohn paterson: but a twitter user with the name "1001 instruments" had this to say: well, the bbc‘s north america editorjon sopel has to navigate those demands for impartiality, and to explain this election to a uk audience. he's been in thejob since 2014, and joins me now from washington dc. thank you for coming on news watch. the coronavirus pandemic

has clearly changed so much. has it made it easier or harder to cover this election? well, i think what i would have been doing in normal circumstances isi doing in normal circumstances is i would have been hurtling around the country, going from raleigh to raleigh, campaign buster campaign bus, ghastly regional airport to regional airport, trying to keep up with the campaigns and what they we re the campaigns and what they were doing. and that is obviously impossible. partly because joe obviously impossible. partly becausejoe biden obviously impossible. partly because joe biden isn't obviously impossible. partly becausejoe biden isn't doing that campaigning, donald trump is doing that campaigning, but there is no social distancing within his venues, very few people wearing masks, and so a lot of the journalists are staying outside. so that is the downside. the upside is that i am actually seeing far more of donald trump because he is also holding regular briefings at the white house, then you would ever do in normal circumstances, and we have good contacts with democrats as well, so we are able to speak to an awful lot of people, and we're not spending the same amount of time shoe leather trying to get from place to place. so it is very different

election, hopefully we are still doing it as effectively. donald trump's critics say that he gets disproportionate negative media coverage by outrageous things — make this proportionate media coverage by saying outrageous things, and some say the bbc‘s journalists make that mistake too. it is your response? i think it is a reasonable point and it is an interesting area of debate. we are not governed by the representation of people lack like you are when covering an election in the uk, when trying to give equal time to all candidates. also joe biden to give equal time to all candidates. alsojoe biden is desperate to make this election about trump versus trump, he wa nted about trump versus trump, he wanted to be a referendum on donald trump and if he thinks that donald trump is doing things that are counter—productive, he is happy to leave the stage to donald trump. joe biden is very deliberately keeping a very low profile, it would be almost impossible to give equal time tojoe biden impossible to give equal time to joe biden and impossible to give equal time tojoe biden and donald trump whenjoe biden tojoe biden and donald trump when joe biden is tojoe biden and donald trump whenjoe biden is doing so little. there is this thing

called the pool, you have pull reporters covering trump from all the news organisations, mainly in the us. joe biden pulled a lead, i.e. there will be no further activity, at 10am the other day. there is no further activity to report on. whereas donald trump is fiercely energetic, loves the rallies and love giving news conferences, love speaking in front of the helicopter he loves opening his mouth. and so inevitably you will get more donald trump. there are other viewers who feel that you are too negative and sneering about donald trump. i don't buy that. we are there to hold, speak truth to power, to hold people to account. so as i say, when i see things that are stated and are not true, so for example i was in the white house briefing when donald trump talked about "you could inject yourself with bleach as a means of treating coronavirus". in the following morning you have the main

manufacturers of bleach issuing, having to issue a statement saying "whatever you do, don't do that". you cover that, you have to cover that with an arched eyebrow, this is an exceptional president, an exceptional presidency and i don't think it is now, i don't think we ever sneer, but i think we ever sneer, but i think we ever sneer, but i think we hold, say, this is pretty extraordinary isn't it, andi pretty extraordinary isn't it, and i think that is justified. there is that famous exchange ina there is that famous exchange in a news conference with donald trump not long after he became president, when it seemed pretty obvious that he wasn't a huge fan of the bbc, he talked about it as a thing of beauty, or a fan of you. has that given you problems? do you know what, we have fantastic access. i am know what, we have fantastic access. iam regularly know what, we have fantastic access. i am regularly in very small briefings are only a dozen people in the white house, we get far more access than any other foreign broadcaster, the president regularly takes my questions, often says "that is a brilliant question", i don't know whether

thatis question", i don't know whether that is helpful or hindering my career frankly, that is helpful or hindering my careerfrankly, sometimes that is helpful or hindering my career frankly, sometimes it doesn't like the questions. donald trump has hisjob to do andi donald trump has hisjob to do and i have myjob to do, i am determined that we are not going to get into bunkers and silos where i think some of the cable channels in the us have either become so slavishly for donald trump or so vehemently against donald trump at they have lost or cited whatever the story is. i think the bbc is in a unique position where we are fair, and we are impartial, and we give the president of our cracks, we hold them to account, sometimes he likes our questioned, sometimes it doesn't but i think we get amazing access. —— give the president a fair crack. looking ahead if the election result is disputed, do you think the stability of american democracy is, as some of commentator claim, genuinely at stake in this election? look, it will be a tense period and it may be that november three is just the first act in the presidential election, and the second act

sta rts election, and the second act starts on fourth november with legal battles and maybe street protests. one just cannot envisage quite how this unfolds, it is going to be very uncertain. i had hoped to get a holiday at the end of november with my family, that was looking incredibly unlikely. thank you so much, jon sopel. this was the week of the labour party conference, though you might be forgiven for not noticing that, as the normal gathering of politicians, journalists and lobbyists took place not in liverpool, as planned, but online. that blunted the impact of tuesday's speech by the party's leader keir starmer, as did the fact that it took place on the same day as a major parliamentary statement by the prime minister on new measures for tackling coronavirus. from thursday, all pubs in the bars and from thursday, all pubs in the

bars a nd restau ra nts from thursday, all pubs in the bars and restaurants must operate table service only, except for takeaways. together with all hospitality venues, they must close at ten p.m.. no surprise that that statement led the 1:00 news, but malcolm green felt the balance of airtime in the bulletin was misjudged. that night the prime minister's address to the nation was watched by around 10 million viewers on bbc1 — and it was followed, 2a hours later, by a response

from the leader of the opposition, shown on the same channel. while these restrictions are now necessary, they were not inevitable. the return of this virus, and the return of restrictions, are not an act of god. they are a failure of government. the british people have done everything asked of them, but i am afraid the government has not. but that, in turn, led peter scoffham to ask:

well, we put that point to bbc news, and they told us: thanks for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions about what you see or hear on bbc news, including its social media and online output, email newswatch@bbc.co.uk, or you can find us on twitter @newswatchbbc. you can call us on 0370 010 6676, and do have a look at our website: bbc.co.uk/newswatch. that's all from us.

we'll be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye. hello. the last weekend of september won't be a particularly warm one, but for much of the uk, it'll be dry, there'll be some occasional sunshine. but there is one significant fly in the ointment — this area of low pressure which has pounded parts of eastern england, especially norfolk, with wind and rain to end the week. it will still be close by over the weekend, it will still be windy and still a chance of seeing a bit of rain. it'll be cloudier compared with elsewhere. so, this is how the weekend is shaping up, on the chilly side. some sunshine, but those strong winds particularly across parts of eastern england. they'll still be there as we start saturday. still with some outbreaks of rain, lincolnshire into east anglia. elsewhere, clear, chillier, maybe a touch of frost to start the day in parts of scotland, northern england and northern ireland.

but across much of the uk, well, winds are reasonably light in comparison to eastern england. there'll be some sunshine. the cloud, though, across eastern england delivering some showery outbreaks of rain at times, especially the further east you are. and temperatures, well, mid—to—low teens, just maybe a few spots along the south coast reaching as high as 16 degrees celsius. the white arrows are the average speeds here. of course, they are higher the further east you are. we'll turn the arrows black and look at wind gusts, and 50—60 mph right along the coastline, just maybe easing a little later in the day, but make no mistake — these will still be strong winds with big waves and again cloud with some outbreaks of rain. and there'll be more cloud generally across central and eastern parts of england on through saturday night into sunday. could see a bit of drizzle, maybe south—east england, out of that. where you're clear, it'll be chilly again, and again parts of northern ireland, scotland and northern england will get close to freezing or a touch of frost as we start sunday.

but again with some sunshine to follow. on sunday, we'll keep a fair amount of cloud across the midlands, across the eastern side of england, you could see a few spots of light rain. there's still a noticeable wind right along that coast in particular, just not as strong as it's been. the lighter winds elsewhere, you get to see a bit of sunshine, maybe turning hazy later in northern ireland. the temperature may be a degree or so higher. but as winds turn south—westerly into the start of next week, it will turn a bit milder. a bit of rain heading to northern ireland on monday, and further spells of wind and rain across the uk coming our way from midweek.

this is bbc news. i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: us media are reporting that donald trump has decided to nominate federal judge amy coney barrett to the supreme court. but the president remains tight—lipped. so that decision will be made — it is made in my own mind — but we will be announcing it tomorrow at five o'clock at the white house. lockdown restrictions she will fill the place made va ca nt by she will fill the place made vacant by ruth bader ginsberg. two people injured in an attack outside the offices of charlie

hebdo,