the job losses will not result in branch closures. it's the company's second major round ofjob cuts in two months. marks & spencer has suffered its first loss in its 94 years as a publicly—listed company. the retailer lost nearly £88 million in the six months to september, with clothes sales in particular hit hard by the coronavirus lockdown. new guidance was issued today allowing relatives to visit their loved ones in care homes in england. since march, if care homes accepted visits, it could only be under very limited circumstances. but, after a high—profile campaign, and despite the new lockdown, visits will be possible, but care homes will still have to obey strict rules. the alzheimer's society said tonight that the guidance doesn't go far enough. our social affairs correspondent, alison holt, has the story. my 97—year—old nan here, who we have taken from the care home... this is a sign of one family's desperation over covid restrictions

on care home visits. they removed their grandmother from her yorkshire home. my mother is in the back of the car here. she is a nurse, she is a fully qualified nurse, who is wishing to care for her own mother. the police described it as an emotional and difficult situation. they allowed the daughter and granddaughter to go but took the grandmother back to the home, which had legal responsibility for her. nan, i love you, we are going to fight for you. leandra ashton believes without seeing them, her grandma, who has severe dementia, is deteriorating. this situation is notjust affecting the people in the care homes. this is affecting, as you can see from what's happened to us, it's affecting the whole family. the mental health and the well—being of the whole family. and we are not alone. today's government guidance says care homes must do all they can to allow safe family visits. at this nottinghamshire home, they're building an outdoor room. the guidlines say well—ventilated rooms with screens are one of the options that should be considered.

costly solutions, which won't work everywhere. and homes feel under pressure. the priority is always going to be keeping the residents as safe as possible, as they can be in the care home. however, it's difficult because the residents also have a need and, arguably, a right to see their family. this home is trialling rapid testing which, if it works, could make a huge difference. but many campaigners are angry that a government pilot scheme to give relatives key—worker status and access to testing won't start until later this month. many relatives believe testing is the only way there can be meaningful visits. stephen ashworth was hardly able to see his wife, dorothy, before she died. he says her long—term health conditions don't explain her death. what she died of, actually, was despair. and i spoke to the gp, and he said to me, "she has exercised the only bit of free will that was available to her.

she has stopped drinking and stopped taking medication." this is the most difficult of balancing acts, but it's unlikely that today's guidance on its own will provide families with the level of close, safe contact many are longing for. alison holt, bbc news. before we go, another word about the events in the united states, where yesterday's presidential election still hasn't produced a winner. president trump is threatening a wave of legal action contesting close results, while his challenger, joe biden, is insisting that every vote must be counted before a final result can de declared. let's go back to our north america editor, jon sopel. much has been said in recent weeks about the health of us democracy, and you have been talking at length about the problems in the united

states, but the reason the world is interested in this is because that incumbent in that place behind you will have enormous power worldwide. yes. let me deal with the health of us democracy. people were fearful yesterday that vigilantes would turn up yesterday that vigilantes would turn up outside polling stations, intimidate people about which way to vote and not, but that didn't happen. donald trump was asked not long ago, do you support a peaceful tra nsfer of long ago, do you support a peaceful transfer of power, a cornerstone of henry democratic society, and he haven on the answer that he would give. we don't know what will be unfolding over the coming days and weeks, but about america's place in the world. it it was suddenly a joe biden presidency you would have to start recalculating what the us‘s relation with russia would be like. what about china 7 relation with russia would be like. what about china? would trade deals and trade wars continue or would we go into calmer waters? donald trump had a pretty hostile attitude towards nato. joe biden is much more

conciliatory towards the western european defence umbrella. everywhere you look you would think there could be very big changes, not least over the prospect of a uk and us trade deal, where maybe some in downing street would think it would be better if donald trump stayed on. we are in a period of uncertainty. all i would say is that in the year 2000, there were 37 days after that presidential election when we didn't know whether it would be george w bush or al gore. i think people might have to wait impatiently. jon sopel might have to wait impatiently. jon sopel, many thanks once again for all of last night and today and all the analysis. jon sopel in washington. more analysis on newsnight coming up on bbc two. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night.

you're watching bbc news. we're bringing you continuing coverage of the us presidential election, as america inches closer to finding out the final result of tuesday's vote. let's cross live now to one of the states where the result is still hanging in the balance. larry madowo is in north carolina. all eyes on those 15 electoral couege all eyes on those 15 electoral college votes but i'm hearing we may not hear a projection from there for quite some time. yes, we just have eight or nine more days until we know who won the presidential vote here in north carolina. so, you know, not a long time that has to be waiting. they are expecting an eight series finale for america, they have gotten a series finale which means episode two and that means president trump ask you —— actually one the vote in north toronto when you count the votes that were cast yesterday. however, there are still about 117,000 mail—in ballots, postal votes were already requested but have not been returned and under the law and north carolina, they have until the 12th of november to be delivered and if they are delivered

anytime before then, they are added to the tally and that's what's left right now. so it means that the president's lead overjoe biden in this state of 76,000 votes could change when those mail—in balance come in and that's why we are here. so we are all very well rested and sleeping well and it's not stressful at all and sleeping well and it's not stressful at alland i'm not sleeping well and it's not stressful at all and i'm not pulling out my hair trying to refresh the electoral commission's website. richer people they are going to absolutely taking their time because they want to get this right. absolutely taking their time because they want to get this rightlj apologise, i lost your audio there for a moment. but this is one of those places where president trump really needs to build to get up to 270 so these 15 votes are very important for him. he won the state in 2016 by 3.5 points in this time

the polls have them necking neck with joe the polls have them necking neck withjoe biden so it so important. not being one of those that has been contested. he claimed yesterday that he has won the state and his team has doubled down on that claim but they have not asked what he said they have not asked what he said they will challenge it nor the joe biden campaign for that matter. they are still looking for other places for the biden— harris campaign to see if they can get up to 270 without working on it was very will go in the president's direction. 0k, larry, thank you so much. please to see you were not stressed and you are well rested as a lessee may have been working so hard. absolutely. is anything major happening? justin election. larry in north toronto with 15 electoral votes to be one there, so everyone watching that but as larry was saying and as you heard it could be a few more days yet before we hear, over a week and fat.

one of the states still to be projected is arizona, which donald trump won last time, but wherejoe biden is leading with about 14% of the votes still to be counted. our correspondent sophie long reports. we believe one of the nets has suggested we've already won arizona, we are confident about arizona. that's a turnaround. in arizona, we have a lot of life in that and somebody said, somebody declared that it was a victory, and maybe it will be. after a premature call, words urging calm and caution, counting continues, and there's still no categoric confirmation that arizona will go tojoe biden. though some news networks and democrats have called it. arizona did the job, so we still have to make sure that every vote is counted, because we want everyone's voices to be heard, but arizona showed up and showed out today, and i'm so proud of my state, and i'm so proud of my county. democratic success here is the result of cultural and demographic shifts.

and months of street pounding, doorknocking and some of the most frenzied campaigning this state ever seen. republicans who gathered to celebrate saving their state from the liberal left packed up a party that never got started. i am discouraged and a little down about arizona, but i'm still hopeful for nationally, that we are going to win. trump is a very solid, excellent candidate. arizona just has some leadership issues, at the governor and arizona republican party level. others, though, are refusing to concede defeat, and talking about recounts, protests and legal challenges. the expectation is they have their act together and that we see results tonight, and hopefully they are positive for the president. and it looks like right now like they are trending that way, and i think the biden campaign is getting very nervous about that because they think they have to win arizona. if they don't win arizona, they're toast. after a night of confusion,

what is clear is that the once reliably republican grand canyon state is now a true battle ground, and the fact the fight is so close reflects the deep chasm that continues to divide people here and in states across the country. sophie long, bbc news, arizona. let's speak now to stuart stevens, who's a former republican strategist. he's worked with the likes of george w bush, mitt romney, bob dole and chuck grassley. but he's now a consultant for the lincoln project, an organisation that has been working to prevent the re—election of donald trump. your hard work, potentially is not going to pay off. talk us through what you are thinking so far as we are seeing these results come in.|j think this is pretty much done. i think this is pretty much done. i thinkjoe biden has one. if it's a matter of going through the process here. you look at the states, he's going to win arizona, he's going to win nevada. michigan has already been called by networks. wisconsin has been called. and that's it,

that's all he needs. i think he is also going to win pennsylvania pretty easily. at least 100,000 votes. and he could very well when georgia. but all he needs to do is just need to finalise the accounting in arizona and nevada, he's going to win. that's why donald trump is trying to stop accounting. given that we with the pandemic the us is so that we with the pandemic the us is so reliant on mail—in votes, the result is taking much, much longer but even so, are you surprised that it is still so tight? well, you know, being an incumbent —— beating an incumbent president is very difficult. it's quite an achievement thatjoe biden is going to pull off here. their reference member republicans to make this process lower. and some of these states, they went to court so that the

mail—in balance could not be counted in advance. which has slowed this process tremendously. they did it so that the day of voting would come in and donald trump to try to say he was ahead and it somehow try to stop the counting. but it's just not going to work and the states with democratic governors, democratic attorneys general, they are not going to allow the process to be denied. regardless, do you not fear the people are just simply underestimating how popular donald trump is? i think he is about to lose my may be 10 million votes. in oui’ lose my may be 10 million votes. in our crazy system, is about the electoral college. in any other system, the selection would have been over last night. joe biden is getting more votes than any presidential candidate has in history. so i think he is going to

lose, and i think it's not going to be that close once the votes are finally counted. so you reckon it could be as much as 10 million? yes. yeah. it could. you know, if you look back at 2016, took a long time to get all the votes in. and hillary clinton started out at about 1 million those it had ended up about 3 million votes ahead. but in our system is only the electoral college that counts. the states count. the overall total vote does not amount to anything as far as determining the election. so i thinkjoe biden has pull this off. he flipped arizona, that went for trump last time. he flipped michigan which went fortrump, he time. he flipped michigan which went for trump, he flipped wisconsin which went for trump. i think he is going to flip pennsylvania which went for trump. and if he won in georgia, that would be quite

extraordinary. fascinating to speak to you. we will have to leave it there but we will come back to you as and when we get the final tally but for the time being thank you so much for speaking to us here on bbc news. hello, and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing us. no prizes for guessing what we can expect in the programme. hello, and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing us. with me are sebastian payne, whitehall correspondent of the financial times, and kate andrews, the economics correspondent at the spectator magazine. welcome to both of you. like i say no prizes for guessing what we are going to be talking about.