we are very keen that we have christmas as close to normal as possible. tonight at 6pm: plans that requires all are being drawn up to make of us to make every effort over this national christmas as normal as possible, restriction period and even in early december, to get the cases say government scientists. as low as possible. looking for some festive cheer, former labour leader jeremy corbyn will not be but there are warnings that a few reinstated as a labour mp — days of family gatherings may mean following remarks he made many more days of tighter about anti—semitism. restrictions on either side of christmas. coming into christmas we need to be new diesel and petrol cars won't be sold from 2030 — very careful about the number of part of a ‘green industrial contacts that we have to reduce revolution‘ — to tackle climate transmission before christmas and change and create jobs. get our cases as low as possible. across the world, we‘ll be asking how tight restrictions may need to be — it is the uk that is leading to allow festive gatherings the world in tackling one of the greatest problems to go ahead. this planet faces. a also tonight: the martin bashir interview with diana pfizer says its new covid vaccine princess of wales in 1995. is almost 95% effective for people over the age of 65. the bbc has appointed the lord dyson digging down deep to transform to lead an investigation. the way we heat our homes — the plans to replace 600,000 a 65—year—old man has gas boilers a year with been arrested in belfast electric heat pumps. in connection with the birmingham pub bombings in 197a. 21 people died in the attack.

the lost whaling station at the end of the world — now a beacon of hope as the whales return — and thrive. hello, good evening. the pharmaceutical company, pfizer, says its latest data suggests that its coronavirus vaccine is even more effective than first thought, with the jab working well across all ethnicities and age groups. the firm says the vaccine has passed safety checks, and is now ready for approval by authorities around the world. so what are the next steps for the vaccine in the uk? the health secretary matt hancock told mps last week that the nhs will be

ready to roll out the new vaccine if it gets approved. he said he has "tasked the nhs with being ready from any date from the 1st december". the uk has pre—ordered a0 million doses of this vaccine, and should get 10 million by the end of the year. and pfizer says there have been no serious safety concerns, with only mild side effects reported such as headaches and fatigue, in about 2% of volunteers given the vaccine. our medical editor fergus walsh explains the significance of today's development. so this is about figures here, it is still a bit science by press release. we still don't have the full data. we have got to wait for that. but over 94% effective and what reallyjumped out at me is they say it worked equally well for people of all ages, races and ethnicities. to have a vaccine that is over 94% effective in the over 65

is stunning because as we age, our immune systems tend to weaken, that's why the flu jab often doesn't work well in the elderly. what we don't know and what nobody can tell us is how long the vaccine will provide protection so we will have to wait. but it is really, really good news. more evidence here also, they had 170 cases of covid in all the vaccinated, all the people in the trial, of whom 162 who had the dummyjab and only eight were in the vaccinated group. they had ten cases of severe covid but only one in the vaccinated group so more good data and they say the side—effects, it was generally a well—tolerated vaccine, no serious safety concerns. the only major side effects they had in a few people was fatigue and headaches. earlier we heard from professor beate kampmann — the director of the vaccine centre at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine. she said the news about this vaccine continues to be encouraging.

the vaccine announcements are coming out fast and furious in the last couple of weeks and now we have a bigger number of cases, 170, as fergus said, and 162 of those got the placebo and the rest got the vaccine. i think this is good news and also, very encouraging that the vaccine seems to show equal protection in elderly people because that was a question we could not answer after the first announcements last week. there were over 40% of people from various ethnic groups enrolled and that makes quite a contribution to our estimate, how it can protect people of various ages and in various ethnicities. i think this is great news notjust for the vaccine technology but also for this particular vaccine. obviously, this is a press release. the data are still somewhat limited and the safety data base is small but the data will be submitted to the fda in the next couple of days, i believe, to then get on with the emergency

approval, if everything is as good as it currently looks. then the regulatory authorities in our own countries can also step up and see that they could agree to this emergency approval and potentially the vaccine could then be rolled out to the public. borisjohnson‘s spokesman says the prime minister has a clear desire to try to allow families to have christmas together. senior government scientists say it's vital that people obey current coronavirus lockdown restrictions for that to be possible. the british medical association has warned that hospitals will be overwhelmed if social distancing rules are relaxed. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. follow the rules, wear a face covering. in some parts of the uk... keep your two metre distance. ..people have been living with lockdown restrictions for months, but what will the covid rules be over christmas? some newspapers are suggesting there could be a relaxation for five days from christmas eve,

so families can get together. but even as the idea is floated, ministers are saying it's too soon. i want to have my mum and dad round, i want to have members of my family around that christmas table, you know, your viewers will want to do the same. but ijust think it's too early to be reaching any conclusions on that. let's keep doing our bit. as we get to the 2nd of december, the government will set out more details and then we need to keep bearing down on the infection. we genuinely don't know what decisions have been made. and today, senior health experts warned that easing restrictions will not be without cost. for every day that we release, we'll need two days of tighter restrictions. so, coming into christmas, we need to be very careful about the number of contacts that we have, to reduce transmission before christmas and get our cases as low as possible. hopefully, the government will make the decision that will allow us to have some mixing but we will wait and see what that is. the four week lockdown in england is now at its halfway point. new stricter measures have been announced for 11 areas in west

and central scotland, but the doctors‘ union, the british medical association, says any easing of restrictions needs to be handled carefully. what we do not want to see is a repeat of what happened after the first lockdown, where we brought down the infection levels and then we had a rebound surge because there was a relaxation of the lockdown, people started mixing much more and we went, really, back to square one. what we need to hear from the government now, well in advance of exiting, is a clear exit strategy. the bma suggests replacing the rule of six with a two—household rule, to reduce social mixing, banning travel between different local lockdown tiers and giving local public health teams a bigger role in the test & trace system to make it fit for purpose. the question of christmas poses a real dilemma. 0n the one hand, any relaxation of the rules risks a rise in infections, but a ban on mixing and christmas could well be ignored by a significant number of people and that could make breaking

the rules feel more normal, leading to even more infections in the new year. dominic hughes, bbc news. the spending watchdog says ministers set aside normal standards of transparency as they scrambled to secure supplies of personal protective equipment at the start of the coronavirus crisis. the national audit office says firms recommended by mps and peers were given priority in contracts. andy verity reports. from the start of the pandemic to the end ofjuly, government contracts worth £18 billion were awarded at high speed, using emergency rules to bypass the normal competitive tendering process. most of the contracts were to suppliers of personal protective equipment. the independent national audit office said even in an emergency, it remained essential to public trust for the government to document why it had chosen a particular supplier and how it had managed any potential conflicts of interest. in a sample of 20 cases,

it found repeated failures to do so. clearly people had to move at great speed, everyone agrees with that but we don't accept it is not possible to be simultaneously clearly documenting the reasons for each contract award and then to be putting that in the public domain in line with the government's own rules and those two things did not happen consistently. taking questions virtually from isolation in downing street, the prime minister was challenged on the report's findings. can the prime minister give a cast—iron assurance that from now on, all government contracts will be subject to proper process, with full transparency and accountability? at the time, he bashed the government for not moving fast enough. it is absolutely absurd that he is now attacking in hindsight, once again trying to score party political points, score political points by attacking us for moving too fast. i am proud of what we did to secure huge quantities of ppe during the pandemic and any government would do the same. in one example highlighted

by the nao, a contract was awarded to the focus group organiser public first, whose owners previously worked for the cabinet 0ffice minister michael gove and alongside borisjohnson‘s then top adviser dominic cummings. yet the cabinet office failed to document any consideration of any potential conflicts of interest. by not keeping proper records, by not being transparent about when these contracts were awarded and what they were doing, it lays the government open to these accusations, whether they are true or not. and, certainly, this weird vip route through, where certain companies got a closer look because they were recommended by mps, peers... i mean, this is not something mps wanted, and yet it has happened. public first said it was hired on a pay as you go arrangement that meant it could be fired if it did not perform well. michael gove‘s office pointed out the nao found no evidence of ministers‘ involvement in procurement decisions. the cabinet office said it welcomed the nao‘s scrutiny and its

recommendations for improvement. andy verity, bbc news. in the past hour, the department of health has released its daily coronavirus figures for the uk. a further 529 deaths have been reported. all those people passed away within 28—days of a positive coronavirus test. it takes the total number of deaths in the uk to 53,2711. there were also 19,606 further positive cases recorded. that number is slightly down on yesterday‘s figure.

let‘s turn away from coronavirus and talk about the situation in the labour party. sir keir starmer says he won‘t allowjeremy corbyn to sit as a labour mp — despite him being allowed back into the labour party. the party‘s former leader had been suspended for saying that concerns about anti—semitism in the party had been overstated. there is continuing reaction to this. there‘s been reaction to this from len mcluskley, general secretary of unite union — our political correspondent is jessica parker. our political correspondent very our political correspondent powerful figure and clo: of very powerful figure and close ally ofjeremy corbyn. the general secretary of unite, the biggest single donorfor the secretary of unite, the biggest single donor for the labour party. it had already moved to cut its affiliation fees to the labour party

recently, unhappy with the direction sir keir starmer was moving the party. so len mccluskey, a very important figure and we expected him to be critical of the decision not to be critical of the decision not to allowjeremy corbyn back into the parliamentary party. he has released tweets which are highly critical. he says he is astonished at the decision to withdraw the whip. he described it as a vindictive and vengeful action which the spoils parliamentary democracy. he said it isa parliamentary democracy. he said it is a continued persecution ofjeremy corbyn, a politician who inspired millions. he urged sir keir starmer to pull—back from the brink. so very strong language from len mccluskey. i think strong language from len mccluskey. ithink sir strong language from len mccluskey. i think sir keir starmer new that if he allowed jeremy corbyn to be part of the parliamentary party, he would

face criticism from those who were unhappy with jeremy corbyn‘s leadership and thought there was not enough action to tackle anti sendt —— anti—semitism in the past and also he would be critical for not allowing him back into the parliamentary party. clearly from the tweets, this issue is not going to go away. it is a fight sir keir starmer has signalled he is willing to have. he thinks it is important to have. he thinks it is important to rebuild trust with thejewish community and therefore will not allowjeremy corbyn back in. there has also been comments from the socialist campaign group which includes 38 labour mps, they are very highly critical of the decision as well, saying it is wrong and damaging to the labour party. thank you very much, jessica parker. let us stay with his.

we can discuss this with a member of the labour party. mr kier starmer says he has to do this because he has to rebuild trust. it is a strange way of rebuilding trust when jeremy corbyn was suspended, people are not sure who suspended jeremy corbyn. he was then asked by the general secretary in the national executive committee to appear before a panel, which is an independent panel within the structures of the labour party. this panel listened to presentations from jeremy corbyn, he a nswered presentations from jeremy corbyn, he answered a whole number of questions which were put before him from the general secretary of the party. this

panel, theirjob general secretary of the party. this panel, their job is general secretary of the party. this panel, theirjob is to scrutinise in great detail the information they have before him and decided unanimously to reinstate jeremy corbyn back into the labour party and here we see, the following morning, i think it was kier starmer has said that he will not reinstate the whip. what does that really mean? does that mean that for the first time in labour party history we have a leader who overrules the democratic processes, who overrules the rule book of the union because of what he sees as his right decision? i think it is really damaging to the labour party and what i have gained from today, and from lots of people who would not normally supportjeremy,

from lots of people who would not normally support jeremy, people from lots of people who would not normally supportjeremy, people who are middle—of—the—road, people who would normally go the other way, are really wondering why on earth this decision has been taken. house kier starmer arrived at this decision. what on earth does actually mean? has kier starmer overstepped the mark and overreacted ? has kier starmer overstepped the mark and overreacted? you cannot really have anybody in a position, ina really have anybody in a position, in a democratic party like the labour party, basically overruling everybody and anybody elected members, regardless of what they say. ok. .. people members, regardless of what they say. ok... people watching will understand what you are saying but sir keir starmer was elected to lead the party, he would say he is leading it and the disciplinary process does not have the confidence of the jewish community and process does not have the confidence of thejewish community and that jeremy corbyn‘s remarks had undermined our work in restoring

trust with the jewish community. undermined our work in restoring trust with thejewish community. he is keeping this decision under review, he made that clear.” is keeping this decision under review, he made that clear. i want to make it absolutely clear what we wa nt to to make it absolutely clear what we want to do. within the labour party, the labour leadership, whether it be jeremy or kier starmer, their leaders —— membership itself, we wa nt to leaders —— membership itself, we want to see recommendations implemented immediately. we want to see the end of anti—semitism, harassment within the party and within society in general. that is the ultimate aim but what we need to do is move immediately in that direction. what kier starmer has done by making that decision this morning, and not giving any reasons for that decision, not giving any reasons under rule why he has made that decision, that itself is where the lack of trust comes in. ordinary

members are really concerned with what on earth is going on. is this political persecution against a former leader? if it is not, come clea n, former leader? if it is not, come clean, tells what it is about, for heaven sake let us get recommendations implemented, let us continue to root out anti—semitism and bring the government to account for the bleak situation this country isn‘t. 529 people have died in the last 2a hours. 19,606 new cases. 53 , 274 last 2a hours. 19,606 new cases. 53,271; deaths, the in europe. we need to get back to holding the government to account for this devastating situation that this country is in. —— the worst in europe. so is this continuing civil war inside the party, yourfeeling is clear but you would appreciate

there is equal feeling is clear but you would appreciate there is equalfeeling on is clear but you would appreciate there is equal feeling on the other side of the argument?” there is equal feeling on the other side of the argument? i think everybody in the party understands the need for the party... people in the need for the party... people in the constituencies and communities do not like at this united party or fragmented parties. there is a desperate need for the party to reunite. kier starmer made it clear when winning the leadership that he would unite the party. there is little evidence of that, very little and his decision this morning does not go towards supporting the fact that he is seeing the party to have a united base. we have to work harder together. the only way we will win an election is if we get votes from people right across the political spectrum. we must leave it

there, thank you very much. the labour mps there, thank you very much. the labourmps ian there, thank you very much. the labour mps ian lavery, thank you for joining us tonight. new cars and vans powered wholly by petrol or diesel will be banned in the uk from 2030. that‘s just one of the announcements made by the prime minister as part of his 10—point plan to create jobs and address climate change. among other measures in his so—called ‘green revolution‘. greater investment in electric cars — including expanding charging infrastructure, and extending grants to make vehicles cheaper. plans to quadruple the amount of offshore wind power — enough to provide energy to every home in the uk. greater investment in nuclear energy — with a focus on smaller—scale nuclear plants. and measures to make homes and public buildings warmer and more energy efficient. while the plan has been welcomed by environmental groups, critics say the money allocated is far too small for the scale of the challenge — and some of the plans, they say, have already been announced. our environment analyst roger harrabin reports.

the end of an era for the petrol engine and its planet heating emissions. you will still be able to drive an existing petrol or diesel car after 2030 but you won‘t be able to buy a new one. the future is electric. some people fear the cost of electric vehicles but perhaps there is no need to worry. for a period of three to four years, because of the massive saving in fuel cost of electric over petrol or diesel, the monthly cost of the vehicle is no greater. certainly, it‘s not cheaper but it‘s not greater. charging your electric car is a major issue. finding one of these in some places is like finding a unicorn. the government is spending £1.3 billion to expand the charging network but that is just over 1% of what it is spending on high—speed rail, hs2. nuclear energy is getting public money, £500 million of it.

the prime minister wants jobs at the giant sizewell c plant in suffolk. smaller kit style nuclear reactors being developed by rolls—royce will get subsidy, too. even though there is no solution yet for nuclear waste. offshore wind will play a key role, producing enough electricity to power every home by 2030. ministers hope it will support up to 60,000 jobs. cities in the north—east should benefit. the government wants them to become new technology hubs for making wind turbines and creating the clean fuel, hydrogen. we absolutely back the ambition. we do need to see more detail on how we help businesses and households make this transition but having this strategy is exactly what we need to see, to help us on the road to a greener economy. new house—building will have to play its part. from 2023, all homes will need to be built with so much insulation that they don‘t require a gas boiler.

heat pumps will enter people‘s lives. in wales, a zero carbon device extracts heat from sea water to warm a stately home. tiny versions will heat millions of people‘s homes using warmth from the water or air or soil. the government will need to help with the cost. together, the drive for zero carbon will transform society. i think in terms of making progress and resetting this agenda, it‘s an exciting day, in terms of getting us back on the front foot. is it enough? no, of course it‘s not enough, and we will be looking next week to the chancellor, in terms of what is coming out of the spending review. as the new policies cut emissions, so the prime minister‘s road building plans will increase emissions. critics say he should stop policies driving in the wrong direction and invest far more in putting the nation on track for a zero emissions future. roger harrabin, bbc news.

a 65 year old man has been arrested in connection with the 1974 birmingham pub bombings, in which 21 people died. west midlands police say the suspect was arrested by counter—terrorism officers at his home in belfast this morning. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page told us more from belfast. in three days‘ time, it will be the 46th anniversary of what was, in terms of the death toll, the worst terrorist attack carried out in great britain linked to the northern ireland conflict. in november 1974, bombs exploded at two pubs in birmingham, killing 21 people and injuring 220 others. in the last few years, there have been fresh inquests held into the murders, families of those who were killed have been calling for a public inquiry. the ira never said it was behind the bombings, but it was widely believed that that organisation did carry out the attacks. west midlands police have been carrying out an investigation and as a result of that, today in belfast, a 65—year—old

man has been arrested. it was understood he was detained in his home in the south of the city and he is now being questioned by detectives at a police station in the city centre under anti—terrorism legislation. the bbc has confirmed that it‘s appointed the right honorable lord dyson, a former master of the rolls, to lead an investigation into the 1995 panorama interview with diana, princess of wales. earlier i spoke to our royal correspondentjonny dymond... the investigation starts immediately and it is significant really because it is a very senior figure who i understand has set the terms of reference of this investigation himself. those terms of reference subsequently agreed by the bbc. a sign of how independent this is. this is a second investigation that has been hailed into the situation

surrounding the interview with princess diana. and how that was got by martin bashir at the time. the first investigation was an internal investigation and will itself be the subject of this investigation. so two things, first the circumstances surrounding the interview and how it was got and secondly, how the bbc looked after it was revealed martin bashir had used forged bank statements in some way which earl spencer, princess diana‘s brother, said said was used to persuade him to give martin bashir access. so lord dyson looking into something which happened 25 years ago. some people involved in that have held senior positions since then. the editor of panorama, sadly, died of cancer a few years ago. it is tricky and sensitive all round. yes. most of the people, all of the news executives have moved on. the only person still employed by the bbc is martin bashir himself as the religion editor.

but there are serious questions about journalistic ethics both from the individual, martin bashir is unable to answer because he is very unwell, and also what the bbc knew, what people like lord hall, former director—general who was then head of news, what they knew about how martin bashir had got the interview and the investigation that then took place. so it is a pretty important cleansing of the stable for the bbc. there are serious allegations ofjournalistic malpractice made against the bbc. this investigation, the current director—general, hopes will find the truth. good afternoon. we have a heavy band of rain pushing eastwards. full it

is all change, temperatures dropping away in the north and behind this next weather front, we change the wind direction to a blast of northerly. the risk of snow is there through the night across the scottish hills, and as a result, temperatures will be a lot lower than the night we have just had. down to freezing in some parts of scotland, so some icy patches but the wind should help the temperatures elsewhere stayjust above freezing. the transference of gales from west to east come the morning and those gales will make it feel much colder. it eases the wind through the day, the showers ease off as well so it becomes a little quieter with more sunshine through the afternoon but the temperatures don‘t respond. these are on the thermometer but on the wind it will feel colder still. hello, this is bbc news with jane hill. the headlines. even more effective than first thought — pfizer says its vaccine works

equally well in people of all ages and ethnicities, and is 94% effective in adults over 65. stick to the rules now — and you could still celebrate christmas — government scientists tell us all to do our bit. former labour leader jeremy corbyn will not be reinstated as a labour mp — following remarks he made about anti—semitism. new diesel and petrol cars won‘t be sold from 2030 — part of a ‘green industrial revolution‘ — to tackle climate change and create jobs. a 65 year old man has been arrested in belfast in connection with the birmingham pub bombings in 1974. 21 people died in the attack. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. a busy night for all the home nations in tonight‘s nations league but some bad news for

northern ireland ahead of their game at windsor park, they‘ve been relegated to the third tier of the compeition. it‘s after uefa ruled that romania should be awarded a 3—nil win over norway after they forfeited last weeks game for covid reasons. that means romania move six points clear of northern ireland ahead of tonight‘s final group game. the norwegian fa has five days to appeal. it looks like liverpool will be without mo salah for their next two matches following a second positive coronavirus test result while on international duty with egypt. due to self isolation rules, salah will likely be unavailable for liverpool‘s premier league match at home to leicester on sunday and next wednesday‘s champions league group game against atalanta at anfield. clubs in the english football league will be able to use five substitutes per match for the rest of the season. the new rule comes into place from friday — ahead of this weekend‘s matches —

following discussions with all 72 clubs. there had been fears of player burn out this season. the new ruling won‘t apply in the efl cup, which includes premier league teams. alexander zverev has boosted his chances of reaching the semi—finals of the atp finals with a three—set win over diego schwartzman. after winning the first set, the german suffered a momentary lapse during the second — but dominated the decider will now go into a final group match against djokovic on friday with a semi—final place still possible. djokovic, meanwhile faces daniil medvedev later with the winner guaranteed a place in the finalfour. england cricket authorities have decribed the decision to tour pakistan next year as "a significant moment". it will be for the first time since 2009 when gunmen attacked the visiting sri lankan team. the england and wales cricket board says the side will be playing

two t20 internationals in karachi — that‘s in preparation for the t20 world cup that begins in india later that month. england all—rounder moeen ali has welcomed the decision and says it‘s a significant step for international cricket. the teams that came over last year were amazing to have gone through the whole bubble and obviously after the coronavirus pandemic, cricket was obviously on the edge and they helped massively with that, so i think it was probably going to happen anyway, but i think it‘s right that we go back after such a long time to, one for the game itself, but also for pakistan, cricket and the country. lots to look forward to for at home for england too next year. india will tourfor a five test match series. sri lanka and pakistan will also play in limited overs matches. there could be another test series against another team too —

if the calander allows. england‘s women team will also face new zealand and south africa while the visually impaired team take on australia. the welsh rugby union have named their first ever black national coach. the former england sevens coach warren abrahams takes up the role with the wales womens team. while former captain rachel taylor willjoin him as the wru‘s first professional national female coach. ireland have made four changes for this weekend‘s autumn nations cup game against england. ross byrne returns to the team. he‘ll earn his ninth cap as he takes the place of injured captain johnny sexton, who pulled his hamstring in last week‘s win over wales. he gets the nod over billy burns who‘s on the bench alongsidejacob stockdale, who‘s recovered from a calf strain. and defending championjudd trump has hit a maximum 147 break at the northern ireland 0pen. the world number one made the clearance during his comfortable

4—0 victory in the second round over 16—year—old gao yang. it‘s the fifth maximum of trump‘s career. ronnie 0‘sullivan was also among today‘s other winners. that‘s all the sport from me for now. a packed sportsday with jane though at half past six. bye from me. the us aviation regulator is to lift the ban on the boeing 737 max, saying it believes the aircraft to be 100 per cent safe to take passengers again. the 737 max was was grounded worldwide in march 2019, after two crashes killed a total of 346 people. boeing has welcomed the announcment, saying it‘s committed to learning from its mistakes. our business correpondent theo leggett reports two devastating air crashes, one off the coast of indonesia and another in ethiopia, just four months apart. 346 people were killed.

both involved boeing‘s newest aircraft, the 737 max. the plane has been grounded worldwide for the past 20 months. but now regulators in the united states say it can fly again. i lost my wife carol. my three children, ryan, kelly and ruby. i also lost my mother in law. paul lost his entire family when ethiopian airlines flight et 302 crashed minutes after taking off from addis ababa. he has been lobbying hard to prevent the 737 max getting back in the air. we still have our lawyers fighting with boeing in court. and the faa are supporting boeing, they can‘t even produce the documents they have been asked to produce. so what are they hiding? so, they can come and stand before cameras and tell the world,

"these planes are safe." who‘s going to believe them? not me. paul‘s family died because the plane they were travelling on, identical to these, had catastrophic design flaws. a single sensor failure triggered a response from the plane‘s computers that ultimately put it into a dive the pilots could not prevent. later, american congressmen demanded answers from boeing. boeing came to my office shortly after these crashes and said they were the result of pilot error. those pilots never had a chance. these loved ones never had a chance. they were in flying coffins. in a scathing report, us lawmakers concluded boeing had placed profits and production speed over safety and regulators had simply failed to do theirjob. the company insists it has learned hard lessons from the disasters and that safety is its top priority. the design flaws have now been

rectified and pilots will be given extra training. rectified and analysed and test—flowed and checked in simulators like no other function in the world on an aircraft. it is the most thoroughly vetted flight function and flight computer software in the world. the plane will be allowed back in the air. the question is whether passengers will ever be happy to get aboard. (tx) nicola sturgeon says work is being done across the uk to allow people to meet for christmas. at today‘s coronavirus briefing in edinburgh, the first minister explained that the scottish government is in discussion with the rest of the uk in the hope of reaching a nationwide consensus. we are all desperate for some normality at christmas and i absolutely include myself in that. the scottish government right now is working very closely and well with other uk nations to try and agree a way for that to happen.

we want to have the same position across the uk, given family patterns that exist. but we know that people coming together, when a virus is circulating, will increase the risks of it spreading. and that means we need to be careful. but this is the key point, it also means that one of the most important things we need to do between now and then, in order to minimise that risk, is reduce the number of people in the population who have covid and who will have covid when we get to christmas. because if we do that, we reduce the number of people who might then be at risk of passing it on to their loved ones if they are getting together for christmas. so that is what these restrictions are, in part, trying to do. even so, they were not taken lightly and i know that they are really hard for people, but i hope they will help us to achieve all of those aims and of course, take us closer to the end

of all of this, which we are now seeing over the horizon, as safely as possible. wales is to begin its first mass coronavirus testing pilot from saturday. military personnel will help roll out the scheme in merthyr tydfil. andrew goodall — the chief executive of nhs wales — led the government‘s press briefing today, where he gave more details. we would be looking to start, for the first set of patients, sorry, members of the community, the saturday, so there will be arrangements put in place to start those mechanisms and that will allow it to grow the individual sites that are in use. i think it is going to be really important that we have some flexibility around our approaches. so that what we are able to do was use some of the mobile unit in particular and make sure that as well as having dedicated sites available, to move around to some of the communities, particularly where we think prevalence is higher. of course, we will need to consider about how we move into some of our settings, so one of the areas for consideration will be about how

we approach areas such as education or even workplace settings as well. but we are hoping that the local population will feel supported to want to make sure they are able to go through this mass testing approach. so those numbers will increase. we will need to think about the success of that and evaluate it and it may well be that we have other areas of wales that still have a high prevalence, that there may be some opportunity to revisit that. that was the daily wales briefing on coronavirus. for many years the remote british territory of south georgia was at the heart of the global whaling industry. now it‘s a very different story. whales have returned — and the island is being seen as a beacon of hope for worldwide conservation. a major new piece of art has just been commissioned to help tell the amazing story. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill reports. wild, forbidding, beautiful. the rugged coastline of south georgia now teems with wildlife.

but it has a dark past. for decades, this island was at the centre of the whaling industry, and telling that story, of a whaling station that became a haven, was the motivation for one scottish artist‘s industrial scale design. i was kind of fortunate because i struck upon this idea quite early on. i always think that‘s a kind of lucky thing, and the idea just seemed to cascade. inspired by the rivets that held together whaling ships and the barnacles that cling to the whales themselves, michael visocchi‘s idea is called commensalis: the spirit tables of south georgia. like so many projects, this has been delayed by the pandemic, but the island‘s government and the south georgia heritage trust will begin working with mr visocchi on its development in 2021. it will be situated at grytviken, the largest whaling

station on the island. the many tourists who visit the island every year on cruise ships will all come into grytviken. at the moment they see the remnants of a whaling station. it‘s quite difficult for them to understand it. so, what we‘re going to do, hopefully with michael‘s commission, is can help them to interpret the past but also reflect the present of the island, which is a resurging ecosystem. 0nce caught here in their thousands, humpbacks, and even rare blue whales, are now returning to south georgia‘s waters. so this site, the charity says, is an all too rare beacon of conservation. an ecosystem that‘s showing signs of real recovery. victoria gill, bbc news. now on bbc news it‘s time for your questions answered with my colleague simon mccoy.

and you‘ve been sending in your questions and the prime minister possibly announcement of that ban on petrol and diesel cars. here to enter the discussion of the sustainable transport editor amanda stratton. go to crack straight on the questions, this one from john wells. what happens to people that own caravans when they banned these petrol cars at the moment? very few hybrid or electric vehicles are capable of towing a caravan secular he‘s actually right. it‘s important to remember with the cinemas does not go to be an overnight ban on existing petrol and diesel engines, the time being as longest your car is rudely close you will be able to tow it. but we are also going to sue the next years the massive increase

in product coming to the market. initially because of the cost of manufacture, even these are more expensive. what we have really seen as very high—end but also much more entry—level cars coming to market. we are going to see a big plug in the middle of the market now as more and more product comes to market which will be suitable for telling heavy vehicles. we mayjust have to wait a little bit longerfor that. with all these electric cars coming into what‘s going to be done to make the uk say for visually impaired people because, and i driveway, it is something you do see people just crossing. they have no concept of a car approaching them. that's right. it isa car approaching them. that's right. it is a problem. but as we have seen on british roads we have had issues with pedestrians and bicycles as well. what cards to all new cars these days are fitted with much more

technologically advanced radar, lidar systems and sensors that can detect and will stop the car if somebody steps out in front of it. it isa somebody steps out in front of it. it is a problem, though, for visually impaired people. there are noises as you will be aware, there are noises that the car makes but very different and it can be very ha rd to very different and it can be very hard to distinguish them for visually impaired people in busy areas of the slots of the background noise. at the moment there‘s nothing specific car manufacturers need to provide with their car. i wouldn‘t be surprised if we cease in the coming end sometime in the future. right. now the cost of these cars, peter says what is a small electric arc cost around £30,000? the reason electric cars are so expensive at the moment is because of the cost of battery. that‘s primarily what it is. batteries cost an awful lot. the raw materials used within them and

also the general production. what we are going to see as more and more product comes to market is what‘s called the economy of scale. as more batteries are made that price will start to come down. the only thing is that for car manufacturers developing and building electric ca rs developing and building electric cars is phenomenally expensive. they had no support from the government even though the government has announced this ban. so essentially the car companies have had to move that cost on to consumers. and that‘s what we are seeing electric ca rs that‘s what we are seeing electric cars still really seemingly quite expensive. but as the shift really sta rts expensive. but as the shift really starts to play out and time passes we will start seeing price parity. the government have made comments that they think it might be in the mid—20 20s, i‘m not so sure. i think we need to wait at least until 2030 on that. the more my that she did the more you save from their much

cheaper to run. yes. the average tv costs are welcome as little as 2p a mile if you use a green energy tariff which will charge your car overnight. an internal combustion engine, of petrol or diesel is around 10pa engine, of petrol or diesel is around 10p a mile. so once you have bought your car you‘re going to be saving a significant amount in just the running of the car. of course yesterday we had the issue highlighted about the duties and taxes. the chancellor announcing that he‘s going to looking at plugging that £40 billion shortfall in lost revenue from taxes from people not filling their car up with fuel and not paying duty. if they are driving in ev. we might be looking at other tax implications for electric vehicle drivers for the deadline. everyone around the country mirroring your face there as we tackle that concept. we will wait

for that to happen. in the meantime, how long will it electric car, what‘s the cost to replace it, what will happen the used batteries as there will be quite a lot of them? so some of these questions are unknown. we don‘t know how long a battery will last. cars come with a guarantee, so we know that the manufacturer will underwrite the battery for a certain number of miles. that will vary car to car, the size of the battery as well will vary. because we have not seen electric vehicles, excuse me, we haven‘t really seen electric vehicles, this is thejoy haven‘t really seen electric vehicles, this is the joy of working from home. we have not seen electric vehicles actually undertaking many thousands of miles in enough of the scale to get a measurement. it is possible to replace batteries in cars, and actually there‘s plenty of

schemes across the country where we are seeing batteries from electric ca rs are seeing batteries from electric cars going into charging point facilities. so for example, we‘ve actually been involved in a facility where old car batteries have been taken out, where old car batteries have been ta ken out, they‘ve where old car batteries have been taken out, they‘ve been put into a big box essentially. charging centre has got solar powered panels on the roof. they will then put charge into this batteries and motorists can actually go and use those charge points and get the superfast charged once while they are there. there‘s a market for second—hand car batteries. we are also going to be seen with those batteries people using them for home energy solutions. so again this is where those batteries will be repackaged and coming into domestic setups where you as a home owner will maybe have solar panels or maybe even some

sort of wind turbine on your home committee will create your own energy. and this will then go into a battery storage. so there‘s plenty of opportunity for batteries to be repurposed and it means they can have much more life once they have been taken out of the car. next question, are you all right, did you need to bring anybody back? all right, we crack on. if we all go electric how will people charge them? lots electric how will people charge them ? lots of electric how will people charge them? lots of people live in houses with only street parking in most cases they cannot park your house let alone charge or car, how the government addressed that?m let alone charge or car, how the government addressed that? is a real problem. there has been no comment on how this is going to be dealt with for those many, many thousands of people who don‘t have off—street parking or some way of charging their vehicle. a recent study has shown the only one in six councils have actually installed charge

points on residential streets. so it isa points on residential streets. so it is a problem. there‘s also questions about legislation. so if you have a parking spot outside of your house but there‘s no charge point you have to runa but there‘s no charge point you have to run a cable from your home to your car, where does the liability if anything should happen to a pedestrian or somebody else? there‘s putty of questions around this. all of which have yet to be answered. the answer is we do not know. but certainly as we start to see more and more cars coming to market, coming to consumers is something that counsellors are going to have to really start addressing very quickly. i tweeted what about using bmp quickly. i tweeted what about using lamp posts prozac and again edited with people say it‘s very been trialed in various areas and it‘s something people are looking at. -- i got inundated. it‘s not the case that there‘s nothing you are

starting from scratch. as lamp posts, there‘s charged with that sit in other types of street furniture or buried within the pavement that you can lift up and connect your charger too. so they are there but of course it‘s going to take a huge amount of time and money which we know councils can ill afford or don‘t want to spend. to actually help the people who don‘t have off—street parking and the capability of doing it privately. 0k, capability of doing it privately. ok, i'm capability of doing it privately. ok, i‘m going to go to one last question is from john blood range who says how much actual cost at a fast charger at home, will you have to rent them? this on top of the expense will only mean that people with money can afford to own a car eve ryo ne with money can afford to own a car everyone else will have to crowd on public transport. right. so the average home can support a seven kilowatts charger which is just an average charger. you can commit if you choose have this supplied to

your home which means you can get a 200 kilowatts charger. if you wanted to get a fast charger, and that being more than 50 kilowatts you have arrange for your own power supply to your home because you need to have a dc charger. that is totally cost ineffective. we‘ll be far too expensive for anyone to do that. there is something out there isn‘t there casilla there is but not for that. you would need to have a multistory car park. for the superfast charger. but as i was referring earlier on this idea of the home energy capture and storage, you could then in theory, with the battery that you have in your home, you could actually get yourself a superfast charger and charger car from your own energy storage

batteries. if you wanted to. but i would suggest that really a three phase would be more than adequate for most people, and in fact a seven kwh will charge a car overnight. you can alsojust kwh will charge a car overnight. you can also just buy a bike. yes you could buy a bike if you wanted to. so many questions around this that we don‘t know the answer to because many houses have more than one car, so if you‘re look at housel that has maybe three cars and which is not unfeasible, how are they going to power and fuel up their cars overnight with three cars that are plugged in? there‘s plenty of questions that need answering and how we are going to give a healthy look and actually manage that. do they need three separate chargers? if you buy a new car, many new car manufacturers are supplying chargers with them will step your beginning to give your own questions and a nswe rs to give your own questions and answers now. we'll have another chance of this i‘m sure. thank you

very much. good to see you. hello there. despite having had some sunshine on the east and then a bit of sunshine following the showers in the west, on the whole, an unsettled afternoon will continue with strong winds, tightly—packed isoba rs, this cold weather front sweeping some heavy rain eastwards and another where the front waiting in the wings giving the northern isles are pretty wet afternoon as well. it‘s relatively mild still, but we are already seeing temperatures drop in the north and changes on the way. that‘s because of a change in wind direction, so if you‘re out and about today, blustery and quite wet at times. 0vernight, we give way to that south—westerly for a northerly wind instead, so yes, this rain will turn to snow over the hills and mountains of scotland allowing things to become a little bit icy with temperatures

dropping to freezing here. elsewhere, clearer skies but still a lot of showers in north and western areas on that strong northerly wind which is still with us to start thursday. that mild air being swept away and were into a brief cold snap but not for long. already, the atlantic weather is starting to come in by the end of the day. but it will feel different first thing, a blast of cold air, wintry showers, gale force winds in the east, but as the day wears on, you can see the wind air is starting to ease down. the winds will, the showers will, so lengthy drier period since the afternoon, lengthier spells of sunshine into the afternoon but already by the end of play, there will be cloudy skies rolling in across northern ireland. temperatures will be significantly down on those of today. particularly so across scotland, northern ireland and northern england where, when you add on the effect of the wind, it will feel significantly colder, —1 never aberdeen, even in the south it will be noticeable. as we go towards the weekend, the next weather front coming in through friday and friday night, our next cold weather front slipping

southwards introducing something a little chillier later in the weekend and we‘re stilljust driven by low pressure, so still saying unsettled, more rain, temporary a bit of wintry feeling on the hills of scotland before we get into milder air, so damp feeling day, cloud around during the day on friday and as for the weekend, generally unsettled, with the atlantic influence, i wouldn‘t like to rule out some drizzly rain but still some dry weather to come as well.

tonight at 6pm: plans are being drawn up to make christmas as normal as possible, say government scientists. looking for some festive cheer, but there are warnings that a few days of family gatherings may mean many more days of tighter restrictions on either side of christmas. coming into christmas we need to be very careful about the number of contacts that we have to reduce transmission before christmas and 00:59:56,513 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 get our cases as low as possible.