hello. this is bbc news this is bbc news. with martine croxall. self—isolating but showing no symptoms of coronavirus — prime minister boris johnson is under orders from nhs track and trace after meeting an mp who later tested positive. the former us president barack obama tells the bbc that america is more divided today than when he first ran for office 12 years ago. some of that is attributable to our current president, who actively fanned division because he felt it was good for his politics. scientists behind the first covid vaccine to be successful in early trials say its full impact will be felt next year, but warn of a hard winter ahead. the bigger impact

will happen in summer. summer will help us anyway because the infection rate will go down in the summer. the side effects of statins could be down to patient anxiety and have nothing to do with what's in them, according to a new study. farewell to one of our best known entertainers — des o'connor has died at the age of 88. welcome to bbc news. the prime minister borisjohnson is self—isolating after coming into contact with an mp who has since tested positive for covid—19. downing street says mrjohnson is well and does not have any

symptoms of the virus. our political correspondent nick eardley has more. borisjohnson was contacted today by the test and trace programme in the uk and told that he had come into contact with someone who has tested positive. my understanding is he had a meeting with a group of conservative mps on thursday. since that meeting, one of those mps, lee anderson, developed symptoms and has subsequently tested positive. borisjohnson was contacted as a result. it is a pretty big deal. he will have to stay at home for the next ten days, it means he will not be able to be in parliament. i'm told he will be working from downing street. he does still intend on communicating with the country. it is a big week for borisjohnson. he is trying to reset his government after some faction fighting in his office over the last few days. there are conversations taking part with the parliamentary authorities in the uk to see whether he can still contribute to the commons.

but i think it is fair to say this couldn't have come at a worse time for boris johnson. it is also worth bearing in mind, he was extremely ill with coronavirus early in the year. but we also don't know exactly what getting the virus means for your future immunity. he doesn't have any symptoms right now. i am told he is absolutely fine and is feeling well, but under the test and trace programme in the uk, he has to self—isolate. jack blanchard is the uk political editor of politico. hejoins us now. jack, nice to he joins us now. jack, nice to see you. how significant is the timing of this. we know dominic cummings and lee kane left only at the end of this week, packed their boxes and off they went. this was supposed to be the weak borisjohnson reasserted control over number ten. it never rains but falls for this prime minister. had a big plan in downing street they had been dreaming up over the weekend for a big relaunch

after the chaos we had seen in number ten over the last few days. we had —— they had a big speech planned and he was planning to meet with unhappy mps, and prime minister's questions on wednesday in the house of commons, another event as well. instead he will find himself locked back in his home for another ten days. it is naturally critical time for him. imagine the look on his face when the call comes through from test entries on a sunday telling him he has to stay in for ten days. —— test and trace. cynics will say it serves him well because he does not have to face the music with the backbench mps in particular who were rather unhappy with the way things were being run under with the way things were being run undeercummings. with the way things were being run undeercummingsi with the way things were being run under mr cummings. i think he will be very frustrated. don't forget, as well, we are at a critical moment in the brexit negotiations. maybe boris johnson might have wanted some sort

of face—to—face meeting over the next week and a half with cou nterpa rts next week and a half with counterparts in europe. that will not be possible. it is important as prime minister he sets absolutely the best example he can to the country. even know we would hope that having had the illness he is less likely to be susceptible, we do not know that so he has to do his duty. the mp he was in contact with who has tested positive. how many other contacts do we know who will be affected? good question. we understand there were other mps at this meeting as well and as i understand it, whatsapp messages have been flying around amongst mps wondering who else among them is going to need to be contacted. staff members, key aids as well, so the problem as we know all too well with this illness is that once it catches in one area, it can spread very quickly between people close to that person. a lot of speculation,

though, questions as to what immunity might be prime minister have. the vaccine is not ready. with the immunity that hopefully he has to give him some protection? it sparked a lot of conversations and a lot of confusion. we do not know enough about the virus to know about... over viruses like this would confer immunity and we don't know how much and how long for. i would be optimistic that boris johnson is unlikely to be coming down badly with the virus a second time but you cannot take any chances. there is also the issue of an asymptomatic spread and he could passage onto somebody else, so it is essential he does his duty and stays at home. we will be seeing a fair amount of boris johnson at home. we will be seeing a fair amount of borisjohnson this week andi amount of borisjohnson this week and i think we will see him speak to the nation as i am from a small room in his flat rather than the dispatch box you cannot go to ground totally with the technology we have! jack,

to see you. —— jack, good to see you. the former us president barack obama has told the bbc that the united states is more divided today than when he was elected 12 years ago. he said the divisions had been actively fanned by donald trump for political purposes and would outlast his presidency. mr obama has been speaking to the bbc in an interview with the historian david olusoga. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. ..so help me god. congratulations, mr president. the election of the america's first black president was seen by many as a watershed moment, a step to ending divisions that had scarred the us. but barack obama now believes those divisions have deepened — divisions notjust of race, but also of inequality. we are very divided right now,

certainly more than we were when i first ran for office in 2007, and more divided than we were four years ago when donald trump first won the presidency. some of that is attributable to our current president, who actively fanned division because he felt it was good for his politics, but it preceded him and it will outlast him. in part, he says, that is because some americans feel they have lost their grip on the ladder of economic advancement and can be persuaded it is someone else's fault. resentments fanned, he says, by conspiracy—fuelled social media. crazy conspiracy theories, and what some have called truth decay, right, where facts don't matter. that has contributed enormously to these divisions. and, oh, yes, he believes the current president has played his part. what has been interesting, obviously, and sad during this

election, is that that kind of lack of fidelity to the truth has consequences when it is being promoted by the most powerful elected official in the country. fixing that truth decay, he suggests, will take time and potentially better regulation of the internet and the media. i think at some point it will require a combination of regulation and standards within industries to get us back to the point where we at least recognise a common set of facts before we start arguing about what we should do about those facts. as a new president prepares for his first term, his predecessor is mulling the legacy he left his country. mr obama says the us was better off after his eight years in office, but he accepts deep fault lines

in american culture remain. you can watch the full bbc interview with former us president barack obama on wednesday at 7.30pm on bbc one. president obama's interview comes after an eventful us presidential election. today, donald trump has appeared to acknowledge for the first time that his democratic rivaljoe biden won the election — but he's also reiterated unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud. on twitter, president trump said mr biden won "because the election was rigged." mr trump has so far refused to concede. us president—electjoe biden‘s incoming chief of staff, ron klain, has been speaking to nbc‘s meet the press. he says donald trump's tweet today is the first step towards a political transition. he's accepted as a further confirmation of the reality that

joe biden won the election. and not through any of the rest of that tweet, not through fraud or anything else the president is basically alleging. he won because he got more votes, ok? that is why he won. he got more votes in the popular vote, by a lot, and he won the same number of electoral votes that president trump called a landslide four years ago. but, look, if the president is prepared to begin to recognise that reality, that is positive. donald trump's twitter feed does not makejoe biden president or not president. the american people did that. what we really want to see this week, is the general services administration issue that ascertainment so we can start to do the kind of things you and i talked about a few minutes ago. meet with these vaccine officials, get the intelligence briefings for the president—elect, the vice president—elect. that is really the measure of how this moving forward this i think. ——this week, i think. let's return to the story about borisjohnson, who we have been told has been contacted by the nhs test and trace system because he has been

contact with an mp, lee anderson, who has tested positive for covid—i9. the prime minister has no symptoms, we are told. downing street say he is perfectly well, but this is what he has said on twitter. we do not know how many people where a co nta ct we do not know how many people where a contact of mr anderson, but this should have been a busy week for borisjohnson, who was due to meet a lot of his own mps to discuss the departure of his senior adviser, dominic cummings, and the former chief of communications. one of the scientists behind the first covid vaccine to emerge from early clinical trials with high levels of success says it won't start to make a significant difference until next summer.

professor ugur sahin — whose company, biontech, developed the vaccine with the pharmaceutical giant pfizer — told the bbc today that normal life should be resuming this time next year if mass vaccination programmes had taken place by then. our health correspondent sophie hutchinson reports. tiny vials of the new biontec/pfizer vaccine, which hold the world's hope for an end to the pandemic. but today, one of its creators, from the husband—and—wife team, warned there were still many months to get through. this winter will be hard. we will not have a big impact on the infection numbers with our vaccine this winter. the bigger impact will happen until summer. the summer will help us anyway, because the infection rate will go down in the summer, and what is absolutely essential is that we get a high vaccination rate before autumn and winter next year. there are still many unknowns about this new vaccine. how long does immunity from it last?

its creators say you might need a jab every year, every two years or every five years — it is just too early to tell. and how effective is it in older people? up to 40% of those who took part in this trial, that has been deemed so successful, were older people, and we should get more data on them in the next few weeks. and will it stop transmission from one person to another? well, its creators again say it seems to have been so successful at reducing illness in people that they are very hopeful that it could have a big impact on transmission, too. i am very confident that transmission between people will be reduced by such a highly effective vaccine, maybe not 90% but maybe 50%, but we should not forget that even that could result in a dramatic reduction in the pandemic‘s spread. but we will not know for sure until we see

the data in a few months. others have sounded a note of caution about the possibility the virus could mutate, and that any successful vaccine needs to be able to adapt at speed. we mustn't take our eye off the ball. the virus is an rna virus and is highly likely to change and we need to keep a watchful eye out for that and be able to respond if necessary. but there is genuine excitement about the vaccine, which will be given to those who live and work in care homes as a priority. ten million doses should be here by the end of the year. let's take a look at the latest figures released on coronavirus. another 24,962 new infections were recorded in the latest 24—hour period, which means an average of 25,329 new cases per day in the last week. there were an average of 1,656 hospital admissions per day in the week to last wednesday.

another 168 deaths were reported today — that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—i9 test. it means an average of 413 deaths per day in the last week. the total number of uk deaths is now 51,934. the headlines on bbc news... prime minister boris johnson is self—isolating after meeting an mp who later tested positive for covid—19. mrjohnson says he has no symptoms and will be working from no ten. the former us president, barack obama, tells the bbc that america is more divided today, than when he first ran for office 12 years ago. scientists behind the first covid vaccine to be successful in early trials say its full impact will be felt next year — but warn of a hard winter ahead.

sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's olly. good evening. lewis hamilton is formula one world champion for a seventh time. that equals the record of the great michael schumacher. he only needed to finish ahead of velterri bottas to claim another title, but he lapped his teamate and took the chequered flag in treacherous conditions at the turkish grand prix — very wet. hamilton says he wants to do even more to drive change and improve diversity in his sport. this one was important to him because of the motivation behind his season. he always came into this with a different mindset. it was all about black lives matter, it was about all of formula 1 recognising that not only

is he the only black man in the championship and that has ever driven in formula 1 at this level, but we need to do more in diversity, to help the world, and hamilton is shouting that from the highest platform. dustinjohnson is the new masters champion. the american dominated the final round at augusta, winning by five strokes to claim his second major title. the world number one also set the record for the lowest masters total score. 20 under par. rory mcilroy was 11 shots behind and tied for fifth. johnson struggled to sum up his emotions after donning the famous green jacket. as a kid, you always dream about being a masters champion... it's hard to talk. you have earned this right. but, you know, it is just incredible...

..as you can tell. defending champion stefanos tsitsipas lost his opening group game at the atp world tour finals in london. he was beaten by dominic thiem in three sets in the same ——in the same round robin group, spain's rafa nadal — second seed at the o2 arena — had a much more comfortable evening, easing past russia's andrey rublev 6—3, 6—4. to the nations league now — england can't reach the finals next youri tielemans opened the scoring before dries mertens stepped up to send this free kick beyond jordan pickford. 2—0 to the number one—ranked team in the world. wales are now ten games

unbeaten fter a 1—0 win over the republic of ireland. david brooks's header kept them top of group b4. if they draw against finland on wednesday, then they will gain promotion to the top tier of the nations league. nothern ireland were heading for victory over austria, but conceded two late goals and lost 2—1. they remain bottom of their group. the northern irish were beaten in extra time in their euro play—off final three days ago. just three days after reaching next summer's euros, scotland lost 1—0 to slovakia — the team that beat northern ireland a few days ago. the only goal of the game through jan gregus in the first half. scotland lose their nine—match unbeaten run, but still top the group. the england players wore black armbands this evening in memory of ray clemence, who has died at the age of 72. he played 61 times for his country and was an ever—present in the great liverpool team of the 1970s. he had been living with advanced prostate

cancer, andy swiss reports. when it came to the art of goalkeeping, you could beat ray clemence. in liverpool's all conquering team of the nineteen seventies, clemence was the cornerstone. his courage and composure key to their success. it brought in five league titles, three european cups and legendary status. even after he moved to tottenham in 1981, the liverpool fans welcomed him back like a hero. commentator: a fantastic reception! e1 the fa cup with spares as well as 61 caps with england. only the presence of pill peter shilton prevented him winning more. across football, there were few more popular figures. football, there were few more popularfigures. ella matthew always had time for people. we have massive highs and desperate lows, and

throughout all of that, whether it bea high throughout all of that, whether it be a high or low you always got the same ray clemence smile. before all his warmth and wisdom, it is moments like this for which ray clemence will be best remembered. one of england's goalkeeping great. —— goalkeeping greats. ray clemence who has died at the age of 72. that's all the sport for now. most of the debilitating effects of statins are not caused by the drug, but by people believing it will make them sick, according to a study by imperial college london. the phenomenon is known as the "nocebo effect" and may account for 90% of the ill health associated with the drugs. nearly 8 million people in the uk take statins to lower their cholesterol. researchers hope the findings will help more people stay on them. earlier i spoke to one of the co—authors of the sudy, dr howard jones, and asked him to explain more about the nocebo effect.

people know the placebo effect is where you take a drug and you think it is going to help you, and even if it isjust a sugar tablet, you truly do feel a lot better. the nocebo effect is the opposite, and we wondered whether with statins if this could be a problem, because when people pick up their newspaper in the morning, they learn to expect that statins are going to give them aches and pains. and we wondered whether if we gave them sugar tablets, we could give them aches and pains. and what did you find? we actually ran a trial where, for a third of the year, people were taking nothing, but then, for two thirds of the year, people were taking statin or placebo and they did not know which was which. and we found that people felt much worse when they took statins, but they felt 90% as bad when they just took sugar tablets. so what are the complaints that people have about statins and what is causing those symptoms, even though they're not caused by the drug? the most common thing we think

of when we think of statins‘ side—effects are muscle aches and pains, and 60% of the people in our trial where with that. but we let anyone in whose side—effects were so bad that they had to stop the tablets. so we tried to be as representative as possible of the general population. with regards to where it comes from, it is a really good question. we don't really understand the placebo effect, and our understanding of the nocebo effect is even worse. but what is interesting is, why are statins so bad for causing people nocebo symptoms? because people tolerate lots of other drugs for heart problems so much better. and it probably is because people have been conditioned by the media to expect to feel worse on them. yeah, you do see some very contradictory headlines, don't you, at times, in the press particularly. so what do you do next with this research? because statins clearly can benefit a lot of people, but people are not going to want to take them if they are suffering this nocebo effect. what was interesting was our trial involved 60 patients, and all of them, when they came to us, weren't able to take statins any more.

and we sat down with them at the end of the trial, after they had done a full year of taking the tablets, and we showed them the results, and half of them were able to restart these drugs. so actuallyjust spending time with patients and explaining where their symptoms might be coming from and personalising things a little bit to then can make a big difference. but itjust shows, doesn't it, the power of the psychosomatic effect of these drugs, whether they are real drugs or placebo? absolutely. what we don't want people thinking is that we think patients are making it up or that they shouldn't be believed. our patients were really suffering in the trial. 71 times in our trial, people had to stop their tablets because their symptoms were so bad. they were not making it up. but what is interesting is the amount of times they had to stop the tablets was very similar between whether they were taking statins or just taking sugar tablets.

tributes have been paid to one of the best known entertainers, des o'connor, who has died at the age of 88. the comedian, singer and television star had a career spanning almost 70 years. today he was remembered as a consummate professional and one of the great old school entertainers. our arts correspondent david sillito looks back at his life. i've kept a list of the insults against des o'connor. des o'connor was, in the ‘70s, famous, a star, and on morecambe and wise, the butt of hundreds of gags. but the singer and comedian took it all with good grace. number one — eric: i'vejust heard some good news. ernie: what good news? eric: des o'connor‘s got a sore throat. nothing seemed to dent that clean—cut, deep—tanned optimism. number two — ernie: des o'connor is a self—made man. eric: i think it's very nice of him to take the blame.

# be sure it's true when you say i love you, love you, love you. ..#. he recorded more than 30 albums in a career that took him from butlins to las vegas to countdown. he was the ultimate professional. that's why he worked from his time as a red coat back in the 1950s until a year or two ago in his mid—80s. he was still touring with his one—man show, and two—man show with jimmy tarbuck, at age 85 he was still up singing, dancing, telling jokes. music. the son of a document from london's east end he made more than a thousand appearances at the palladium and on television. he could look back on more than a0 years of chat shows. but the success always came with a touch of self—deprecation.

a little old lady came up to me when day and said, "mr o'connor, i've enjoyed your show. she said, "here is £5, could you send me your new lp? " so i said, "well, you can get it for £3." "i know because the last time i went to the shop and asked for it, the guy said you're kidding?" as the decades rolled by he remained in almost ageless fixture in the schedules. he was never really fashionable and so never fell out of fashion. it was a career of 60 years of professional, unflappable good—natu red charm. you have my word. that's good enough for me. and when the joke was on him, he was always the first to laugh. des o'connor, who's died aged 88. and we'll be taking a look at the papers with our reviewers giles kenningham and miatta

fahnbulleh. that's coming up after the headlines. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello. the strong, squally winds of today across parts of southern england, especially along the coast, will be gradually easing through the night. still some rain out there, but a lot of that by the end of the night confined to northern and western parts of scotland, running down into northwest england. a fair amount of cloud around, clear spells and temperatures dipping lower than they have done on recent nights. a bit of rain around to start the day tomorrow, but a lot of that drifting away and by lunchtime, much of the uk will be dry. sunny spells around, but here comes the next system. for wales, western parts of england and northern ireland, thicker cloud in the afternoon and outbreaks of rain from that. not as windy as it has been over at the weekend,

these are average speeds, with some gusts up to 40mph in some places. temperatures up to 13 degrees. on through monday night, this rain here will spread north 00:30:11,894 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 and east across the uk.