came and start. five o'clock came and went and so did six o'clock without an appearance from the prime minister, letting the presenter and the political correspondent chris mason along with a variety of guests with a lot of time to fill. there was praise for how they handled it, including from maureen hamilton, who wrote... but others were infuriated by the bbc‘s response to the delay, such as this comment. you should have just brought it in as an alert announcement when he came out, not leave us suffering two hours and 15 minutes of repeated so—called news that is no different. plus the fact we have strictly starting in a few minutes and nothing is going to happen. at

around 6:50pm something did happen, the press conference finally started with a huge audience of 16 million people watching. 20 minutes later the presentation finished just in time for bbc one viewers to get their weekly dose of strictly come dancing, although unlike news channel viewers they messed up the question and a nswer messed up the question and answer that followed. during the presentation something else irked newswatch viewers, the way part of the charts shown by the chief scientific advisor we re the chief scientific advisor were hidden by the breaking news banner at the bottom of the screen. here are the thoughts of andy skillen. was there any reason that the bbc decided to keep the rolling news all the way through the rolling press conference on saturday, thereby obscuring the data and information that were the reasons and rationale behind the impending lockdown? furthermore did we really need to know on the news banner that borisjohnson was about to know on the news banner that boris johnson was about to

to know on the news banner that borisjohnson was about to give a press c0 nfe re nce borisjohnson was about to give a press conference when just two inches above it there he was giving the actual conference. come on, bbc. a bit of common sense, maybe. this is a complaint we have heard before in recent weeks so we asked bbc news by response. they us. we appreciate that at times it was difficult to read the grass. 0n on wednesday morning those who had not been up all night following the twists and turns of the us presidential election workup on bbc one not to brea kfast workup on bbc one not to breakfast as normal but to the end of a marathon special programme funded by katty kay, christian fraser and in his final stint on the bbc... for

110w final stint on the bbc... for now we are finished. we will all be covering events as they come on. we are about to say goodbye from me. it is a special goodbye and thank you to the bbc and for all of you who watched. some viewers paid tribute to the coverage and to andrew neil in particular, with robbo tweeting. .. but andrew neil in particular, with robbo tweeting... but as coverage from the us continued through most of wednesday, both on the news channel and on bbc 0ne, on the news channel and on bbc one, other viewers were left less satisfied. gary newby had this to say that

wednesday's early news bulletin. complaints along those lines continue to come into newswatch as the saga of who had actually w011 as the saga of who had actually won the election continued to be reported extensively across the bbc. 0n be reported extensively across the bbc. on thursday night president trump made his position clear on that question ina position clear on that question in a speech to supporters. we arejust we are just interrupting to ta ke we are just interrupting to take you live to delaware where joe biden is speaking. take you live to delaware where joe biden is speaking. it is a clear and convincing story — we are going to win this race. just look at what has happened since yesterday. 2a hours we we re since yesterday. 2a hours we were behind in georgia and now were behind in georgia and now we are ahead. we are going to win that state. 2a hours ago we

we re win that state. 2a hours ago we were behind in pennsylvania and were behind in pennsylvania and we are going to win pennsylvania. now we are ahead and we are winning in arizona, nevada and, in fact, our lead just doubled in nevada. we are on track to win over 300 electoral college votes and look at the national numbers. we are going to win this race with a clear majority and with the nation behind us. we have gotten the nation behind us. we have gotte n over the nation behind us. we have gotten over 7a million votes. i am going to repeat that, 7a million votes. that is more than any presidential ticket has ever gotten in the history of the united states of america. our vote total is still growing. we are beating donald trump by over 4 million votes a nd donald trump by over 4 million votes and that is a margin that is still growing as well. one of the things i am especially proud of his how well we have done across america and we are going to be the first democrat

to win in arizona in 2a years. we are going to be the first democrat to win in georgia in 28 years. democrat to win in georgia in 28 yea rs. we democrat to win in georgia in 28 years. we have rebuilt the blue wall in the middle of the country that crumbled just four yea rs country that crumbled just four years ago. pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, the heartland of this nation. i know watching these vote tallies on tv moves very slow and as slow as it goes it can be nothing, but neverforget that tallies are notjust numbers — they represent votes and voters, men and women who exercise their fundamental right to have their voice heard. what is becoming clear each hour is that a record number of americans of all races, faiths and religions joe's change over more of the same. they have given us a mandate for action on covid—19, the economy, climate change, systemic racism and they have made it clear that they want

the country to come together, not continue to pull apart. the people spoke. more than 7a million americans have spoken loudly for our ticket. while we are waiting for the final results i want people to know we are not waiting to get the work done to start the process. yesterday senator harris and i held meetings with groups of experts from public health and the economic crisis this country is facing. as you also know the pandemic is getting more worrisome all across the country. daily cases are skyrocketing. it is now believed that we could spike and see as many as 200,000 cases in a single day. the death toll is approaching 240,000 lives lost from this virus. that is 240,000 empty chairs in kitchen and dining ta bles chairs in kitchen and dining tables across america. we will never be able to measure all

that pain and lost, and the suffering that so many families have experienced. we know something about what it feels like to lose someone, what it feels like to lose someone, and i want them to know they are not alone. 0ur i want them to know they are not alone. our hearts break with you. i want everyone to know on day one we are going to put our plan to control this virus into action. we can't save any of the lives lost, any of those that have been lost, but we can save a lot of lives in the months ahead. senator harris and i also heard yesterday about how this recovery is slowing because of the failure to get the pandemic under control. more than 20 million people are on unemployment. millions are worried about making rant and putting food on the table. 0ur economic plan will put a focus ona economic plan will put a focus on a path to a strong recovery. look, we both know tensions are high and they can be high after

a tough election like we have had, but we need to remember that we have to remain calm and patient. let the process work out. we will count all the votes. you know, we are proving again what we have proved for 244 years in this country — democracy works. your vote will be counted. i don't care how ha rd be counted. i don't care how hard people try to stop it, i will not let it happen. people will not let it happen. people will be heard. 0urjourney is for a more perfect union and it keeps moving on. in america we hold strong views. we have strong disagreements and that is ok. strong disagreements are inevitable in a democracy. strong demps —— disagreements are healthy. they are a sign of are healthy. they are a sign of a vigorous debate and deeply held views. we have to remember the purpose of politics is

total unrelenting and unending wa rfa re total unrelenting and unending warfare — know, the purpose and work of the nation isn't to fan the flames of conflict but to solve problems and to guarantee justice. to give everybody a fair shot. to improve the lives of our people. we may be opponents, but we are not enemies. we are americans. no matter who you voted for, i am certain of one thing — the vast majority of 150 million million people who voted want to get the vitriol out of politics. we must agree to be civil with one another. let's put the anger and the demonisation behind us. it is time for us to come together as a nation to heal. it is not going to be easy. we have to try. my responsibility as president will be to represent the whole nation. i

wa nt represent the whole nation. i want you to know that our work is hard for those who voted against me as it was for those who voted for me. that is the job. it is called a duty of ca re job. it is called a duty of care for all americans. we had serious problems to deal with with covid—19, the economy, climate change, so we don't have any more time to waste with partisan warfare. more than that, we have such an incredible opportunity to build the future we want for our kids and our grandkids. i've said many, and our grandkids. i've said any and our grandkids. i've said many, many times, i've never been more optimistic about the future of this nation. there is no reason we can't own the 21st century. we just need to remember who we are. this is the united states of america. there has never been anything we have been unable to do, unable to accomplish, and we've done it together. i hope to be talking to you tomorrow. i

thank you all. may god bless you and may god protect our troops. good night. cheering and applause. he is, the democratic candidate for the president, joe biden, speaking in wilmington, delaware, in a speech where he stopped short of declaring victory, but he got pretty close, didn't he? he said, we are going to win this race, saying that he was 4 million votes a hea d saying that he was 4 million votes ahead of his rival, donald trump. he insisted that we are not waiting to get the work done, by which he means he has started the process. so he has started the process. so he has been having briefings on the coronavirus pandemic. he talked to the suffering of the death toll and he has personal experience of suffering loss. he said our hearts break with you. he went on to talk about the toll of the economy as

well, of course, the unemployment in the united states, and he said he had an economic plan to get out of bed and a strong recovery. interestingly he repeated his message of a couple of days ago, asking people across the united states to be calm and patient, to wait for the votes to be counted. he said he wants to be counted. he said he wants to count all the votes. he said behind the numbers that are slowly trickling in is an american, a vote, and that needs to be heard. he went on to talk about the purpose of politics. in his eyes he said the purpose of politics is to solve problems, not fan flames. he wanted to "get vitriol out of politics" and he lay down a tough challenge to himself, saying that he wants the nation to "come together. it's not going to be easy," he said, perhaps an understatement. he sounded very presidential, as you might expect, but i should

remind you he has not won anything yet. he is 17 electoral college votes short and lots of both being counted with four crucial states especially in whichjoe biden is ahead, but not by much. these are a few tens of thousands of votes and they are still being counted. the reason he was giving the speech is because the trend is towards a joe biden victory in those four states, but that's not guaranteed yet. so a by vice presidentjoe bryden, the democratic candidate, not declaring victory —— joe biden. certainly it seemed to be presidential, saying the work has already started and that we are going to win this race. those were his words. we have correspondents right across the us as you would expect, and we have our correspondent in delaware, who we will be going

to speak to you shortly, but we will just pause to speak to you shortly, but we willjust pause to remind you thatjoe biden has just willjust pause to remind you thatjoe biden hasjust spoken to say that we are going to win this race. welcome to our viewers in the uk and right around the world. we have just been hearing from joe biden. he hasjust addressed the american people, saying that he will win the presidential race. now we can speak to our correspondent who is there. what did you make of what he was saying? it was pretty much what i expected. he talked about how the voting was going and how it was giving him a broad mandate. he said there had been a very large popular vote, 74 million votes, for himself, but he also said he was proud of the range across the country where he was getting support,