good afternoon. the prime minister is facing further criticism for disregarding an independent report which said home secretary priti patel broke the ministerial code by bullying staff. number 10 has rejected claims — made by a whitehall source — that borisjohnson had asked for the inquiry findings to be toned down. it has insisted that the conclusions

made by sir alex allan — who has now resigned as independent advisor on ministerial standards — were "entirely his own". our political correspondent helen catt has more.. helen catt has more. the findings of sir alex allan's report into priti patel were stark. one of the government's most senior ministers had shouted and swore at staff, and some of her behaviour had amounted to bullying. yesterday she apologised. well, i'm here to give an unreserved apology today, and i am sorry if i have upset people in any way whatsoever. that was completely unintentional. but she stays in herjob, and that's put the focus back on her boss. borisjohnson‘s decision to back her and override sir alex's judgment on the ministerial code is drawing more criticism. the system depends on the prime minister standing up for standards in public life, and for taking action when his or her ministers reach those standards,

breach those standards, and for the first time, as far as i can remember, we have a prime minister who doesn't seem willing to stand up for high standards in public life. and there are claims that the prime minister had asked for the report to be toned down. a source has told the bbc that back in the summer there were discussions between sir alex and borisjohnson about the challenges the report presented. another whitehall source said that sir alex had resisted pressure to make it more palatable. a downing street spokesman said that, as you would expect, the prime minister spoke to sir alex allan to further his understanding of the report, but that sir alex's conclusions were entirely his own. the report that's being published by sir alex allan is obviously independent. it is a nuanced report, reflecting clearly that the home secretary was working in an at times frustrating environment. borisjohnson considers the matter closed. labour does not.

it has called for an independent investigation. downing street might be hoping that this will blow over, but there may be repercussions yet. helen catt, bbc news, westminster. borisjohnson has insisted he does not want to undermine devolution — after saying earlier this week it had been a disaster in scotland. borisjohnson told the virtual scottish tory conference he wanted policies which show how devolution can work for scotland and accused the snp of making it work against the rest of the uk. the chancellor, rishi sunak, is to change the way the government assesses big spending projects, to remove the longstanding bias that has affected northern england and other regions outside the south east. the reforms are due to be unveiled in parliament at next week's spending review. our business correspondent katy austin is here it has been spend, spend, spend all year because of the pandemic. people might be surprised the chancellor a p pa re ntly might be surprised the chancellor a ppa re ntly wa nts to might be surprised the chancellor apparently wants to spend more. that's right. the response to the

coronavirus pandemic has cost £200 billion and borrowing has risen to record levels so questions loom on how to get the public finances back on to how to get the public finances back ontoa how to get the public finances back on to a more sustainable footing however with its so—called commitment to levelling up and spreading prosperity across the country the government also wants to be talking about investment and investment in big public projects, so investment in big public projects, so at the spending review we are expecting the chancellor will announce tens of billions of pounds —— tens of millions of pounds toward infrastructure and road improvement and the long delayed infrastructure strategy will be published setting up strategy will be published setting up schemes on things like fibre broadband, flood defences and transport. another big change is the treasury's so—called green book on how it assesses the value of certain projects will change toward considering the regional impact more, notjust looking at the cost benefit which has tended to favour london and the south—east at the expense of other regions including the north. another thing we are expecting to hear about, something

called a uk shared prosperity fund, which is replacing money the european union has allocated to less well—off areas, and this new fund will be targeted at so—called left behind places, including coastal communities and former industrial heartlands. labour's shadow chancellor annaliese dodds has called for the spending to put the country on the right path, saying communities up and down the country did not want to hear more empty rhetoric —— spending review to put the country on the right path. katy, thank you. at least eight people have been killed and more than 30 others injured in a series of rocket attacks in the afghan capital, kabul. the taliban has denied carrying out the attack which occurrred shortly before the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, was due to meet the group's negotiators in qatar. secunder kermani reports. it should have been an ordinary day at school. instead, panic and fear, as these children ru n for safety. cctv cameras captured the moment the rockets landed outside

this popular bakery. translation: i was having breakfast when the rockets landed. 0ne hit a van belonging to a bakery. at least three people were wounded. they have been taken to hospital. a local resident filmed the rockets being fired from the street. this was the pick—up truck the attackers used. how they managed to get it inside the city is a major cause for concern. the taliban has denied responsibility, but violence has been flaring across the country in recent weeks, despite ongoing but slow—moving peace talks in doha. us secretary of state mike pompeo arrived there today to meet both afghan and taliban officials. some progress on initial issues seems to have been made but they haven't even begun discussing a ceasefire or power—sharing arrangement.

in spite of the violence, us troops are being withdrawn from here. the new american president might look for another way forward but the fear is the bloodshed is only going to get worse. secunder kermani, bbc news. a procession of cars will drive through birmingham this afternoon to mark the 46th anniversary of the birmingham pub bombings. 21 people were killed and more than 200 were injured in the attack. six men, who became known as the birmingham six, were wronglyjailed for the bombings and their convictions were quashed. phil mackie reports. it is 46 years since bombs were set off in two busy pubs in birmingham city centre. the carnage caused at the mulberry bush and the tavern in the town left 21 dead and more than 200 hurt, many with life changing injuries. although it is thought members of an ira cell were behind the attacks, nearly five decades later it's not known exactly who was to blame.

today's about more than just the anniversary. it's about the growing campaign for a public inquiry, including new voices from a generation that wasn't even born back in 197a. the home secretary's decision to consider a public inquiry has given campaigners new hope. there's always an element of hope. that's why we campaign. if we don't have hope, there's no point in us campaigning — we might as well give up. but we will never give up, and we will never give up, we will never go away untiljustice is seen to be done. 0ur loved ones are not here to fight for justice themselves. we are their voice and we will continue to fight and campaign until their voices are well and truly heard. because of covid, this year's memorial service had to be recorded before lockdown and there cannot be a large gathering at the memorial to the 21 who died. instead, supporters are planning to drive in convoy around the city centre, more optimistic than they have been for many years. phil mackie, bbc news, birmingham.

a busy afternoon on the sporting front. with all the sport now, here'sjohn watson at the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. many thanks indeed. we begin with by. england's women begin what is a double—header at twickenham today, as they take on france in their autumn international. england were in front thanks to zoe harrison's try but it was a rare highlight from an uncharacteristic display from the hosts that saw france score twice, including this brilliant effort from cyrille barnet, to lead 15—5. and having beaten france in the return feature in grenoble last weekend, england with work to do. the men's side play ireland in the autumn nations cup later this afternoon. the premier league returns after the international break with chelsea taking on newcastle in the early kick—off. and it's chelsea who currently lead 1—0 at stjames' park as the game approaches half time, thanks to an own goal from newcastle defender federico fernandez. the game of the day sees manchester city travel

and finally, one british athlete's faced the difficult decision of whether to prioritise her 0lympic medal hopes over her health in her bid to qualify for the tokyo games. the european climbing championships in moscow offers molly thompson—smith a final chance of qualification. but with high coronavirus rates, many european nations have opted not to send athletes to compete, a move she felt she couldn't entertain. as nick hope reports. climbing embodies the olympic motto of "faster, higher, stronger", but right now, most athletes are more concerned about safety than showcasing their spectacular sport. that numbers of coronavirus cases in russia are quite high, especially in moscow, and doing any travelling is quite a risk. i have mixed feelings about it going ahead in the current situation, and with it being an olympic qualifier, i want it to be fair. i want everyone to have an equal opportunity, and currently, yeah, it's not fair, as there are many nations missing and i think there will be spectators at the event which makes me feel

a little bit uncomfortable. but i'm motivated either way. it's myjob as an athlete to go and compete wherever possible. world championjanja garnbret is one of several leading climbers to withdraw from the europeans due to covid concerns, and there have been calls for the event to be moved from moscow. but the international federation insists it will be safe. i will personally be bringing a lot of my own food and i know we will be using room service quite a lotjust to avoid going out unnecessarily. and we will be avoiding public transport, just to minimise contact people with that we don't know. earlier this year, world medallist shauna coxsey was selected for the team gb tokyo 0lympic squad and only victory will do for thompson—smith if she is tojoin her injapan. i think it would kind of be against all odds, victory for myself. i've always wanted to be an 0lympian. i dreamed about it as a little kid, and to there for climbing,

it would just incredible. i'm hoping we will have a good time out there, despite all the weird circumstances. she hopes the potential risk is worth the possible reward in russia. nick hope, bbc news. that's all the sport for now. back to you, shaun. great hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. let's return to the news that the prime minister is facing questions about whether he tried to tone down an independent report which said home secretary priti patel broke the ministerial code by bullying staff. number ten has insisted sir alex allan's conclusions were "entirely his own". 0ur political correspondent, helen catt says this all comes after a difficult time for

the prime minister in recent weeks. this was a week when downing street really wanted to move on. that's because the week previously there had been huge disruption behind the closed door of number ten. it had resulted, in the end of the week, of two of borisjohnson's most senior aides leaving the government, dominic cummings and lee cain, who had had a huge impact on shaping government. so this week was supposed to be about moving on, making some big policy announcements like a big green strategy, many billions of pounds more to be invested in defence, in the military. we did get that, but it has been overshadowed. firstly, there was a political row at the beginning of the week in response to some comments that borisjohnson had made about how devolution was going in scotland. of course, he's also been hampered by the fact he's got to stay inside downing street because he's isolating after coming into contact with someone with coronavirus. and at the end of the week we had the findings of this report, which were pretty unedifying, and controversy over the government's response to it. the prime minister is obviously involved in the g20, which is kind of happening virtually.

we will talk about that later in this bulletin. but one of his predecessors, david cameron, rather pointedly picking up mrjohnson's remarks about not retreating from the world, re—engaging with the world — accusing him of retreating on foreign aid. what's going on? certainly, that is a big concern at the moment for government is how to establish the uk on the global stage now that we've left the european union, we're about to leave the transition period, the single market, the customs union, and part of what i mentioned now, that big investment in defence spending in the uk this week, that has been, partly, recent predecessor of borisjohnson, saying, "well, hang on, don't give way when it comes to the important soft power that comes with global aid," that it would be letting down the poorest, i think was what he said, so that is likely to give him some food for thought. the nhs has started setting up coronavirus vaccination centres across the uk, with the hope of getting all adults

vaccinated by the spring. with infection rates dropping and plateauing in all four nations, the government has officially asked the medical regulator to asses the pfizer—biontech vaccine for uk use. anna 0'neill reports. this is the ray of light is described by the health secretary. millions of doses of this of this pfizer biontech vaccine against covid—i9 could be heading to britain as early as next month, and the nhs is getting ready for a mass vaccination programme. we will be ready to start the vaccination next month with the bulk of the roll—out in the new year. we are heading in the right direction. yesterday, another 511 people died within 28 days of catching covid—i9. but there may be signs that the r rate, or infection rate, is flattening. in the latest 0ffice for national statistics survey, one in 80 people of england were thought to have coronavirus similar to the week before.

in scotland, it was one person in 155 and rates were levelling off. in wales, it was one person in 165, with rates decreasing over the last two weeks. in northern ireland, rates have been decreasing over four weeks, and one in 135 people are infected. the deputy chief medical officer for england is cautiously optimistic. 0verall, clearly, it is an improving picture. these are very early signs that the epidemic is beginning to level, but we should be cautious about interpreting that, and please everyone remember that it just takes a few seconds to create new infections. christmas family get—togethers may still be in doubt, but some restrictions are being lifted today. the government has changed lockdown rules in england so that christmas tree farms and sellers can start trading from this morning.

anna 0'neill, bbc news. a possible alternative to a covid vaccine is entering its final stage of trials. it's being developed for people with weakened immune systems who cannot be vaccinated. 5,000 patients from around the world are taking part in the study and trials involving 1,000 uk participants begin in manchester today. professor andy ustianowski is the principal clinical research lead for the trial at north manchester general hospital and explained how this jab is different from a vaccine. well, a vaccine stimulates your immune system to produce antibodies and other immune mechanisms to help prevent coronavirus, but there are those that either can't have a vaccine or a vaccine may not work well, those with a poor immune system, maybe the elderly, the infirm, etc. so what is happening in this study is people are being given, directly into their muscles, the antibody or a neutralising or impairing antibody which should protect them,

we hope, against coronavirus for a period of six to 12 months. how advanced are the trials on this and the research that's gone into this? so it's a well—established method in medicine. it's been used for other infections, but not yet for coronaviruses as a prevention. such antibodies are being looked at for treatment in those with coronavirus. in terms of how far it's progressed, the phase three, the last stage studies commence today with the first patient globally enrolled in the uk. i suppose some people will ask if you can have this way of providing people with the protection and, in a sense, it's quicker because you don't inject it and then wait for the body to develop the antibodies and so on, why notjust do this for everybody? well, in theory, it would work for everybody. technically, though, it is quite difficult to manufacture the quantities needed in order to protect people. it's been quoted that all the manufacturing capabilities in the world wouldn't provide enough of this product for everybody

in the uk so, therefore, i think, ultimately, it's going to be focused on those — probably a few hundred thousand people — who cannot receive the vaccine. and obviously it's therefore vital for them. while the rest of us might hope to benefit from the vaccine, this, for that proportion of the population, is effectively the difference between living a normal life with covid out and about and actually having to kind of stay restricted. that's right. i mean, i think vaccines and interventions like this are really our way out of the covid—related restrictions and vaccines, as we said, don't apply for or aren't suitable for everybody, so i think this is a really important question to investigate. the chancellor, rishi sunak, will promise to remove the bias against northern england and other regions in the way infrastructure spending is allocated, in next week's spending review. mr sunak said the changes were part of the government's "levelling up" agenda. chris 0glesby is chief executive of family—owned property company bruntwood, and northern powerhouse partnership board member.

chris, thank you for being with us on bbc news. you must be pleased? yes, delighted to hear what could be one of the most significant changes that we have seen, in terms of this, for decades. what has been holding it back? what is it about the way the treasury operates that appears to disadvantage not just the treasury operates that appears to disadvantage notjust the north of england but your area in particular? it disadvantages all areas with the exception of those that at the current time is the most productive. the basic principle is that when the treasury are investing, they look at the impact they are going to get based on the current productivity and output of a

place at a current time, so it becomes self—perpetuating. those areas already at higher productivity become even more productive and therefore they get the spending next time. and what we understand the proposal to be now is that effectively government money is going to be prioritised on actually levelling up, increasing productivity in those areas where it is low. do you think the government will seek different evidence to reassure those from whom it borrows money, the international markets in particular, that when you invest in infrastructure projects in the north of england, that they will get a decent rate of return? yes, and in the north we are very keen, then, to work with the treasury and government to help to develop that evidence base. if you were making the case for a development project

in the north, we talk about the north of england, it's a huge part of the country, an important part of the country, the northeast, northwest... the bit in the middle, as it were. are talking about potentially productive parts of the economy, historically productive but in the last 100 years they have struggled? particularly i would focus on three key areas. transport, firstly, high—valuejobs focus on three key areas. transport, firstly, high—value jobs being created in our cities. to enable the cities to operate as a single labour market. secondly, iwould be looking to level up research funding, £4 billion disparity between the golden triangle and the rest of the country. we have world—class universities in the north. and the opportunity to drive research that

will power the economy. and the third area is skills. the educational attainment between kids of the north and those in london. the growth sectors of the economy at the moment, we are creating more jobs in the north than we can fill. as we come out of covid—19 and we have higher levels of unemployment, it is vital that we have the skilled population to drive those parts of the economy forward. never mind go west, young man, but go north!|j the economy forward. never mind go west, young man, but go north! i am from manchester originally and i went to london in the late 805, i returned in the early 905 and i was definitely swimming against the tide in those days. but now we are seeing large numbers of people moving to the north because of the quality of life and the quality ofjob5 we are creating in northern cities now. we

ju5t creating in northern cities now. we just need the infrastructure and we are looking to this government to provide it. they were making all the right noi5e5 at the very early stages of this administration and then of course covid—19 and brexit, people in the north have started to question how much commitment they had. but certainly the last couple of weeks would indicate this is something they are fully supportive of, we willjust wait to see the delivery. indeed, we look forward to it. chri5, member of the northern powerhou5e partnership board, thank you very much. here, the professional footballer5‘ association has called for heading the ball to be reduced in training sessions a5 a matter of urgency, to protect players from the risk of dementia. a study last year concluded former professionals were at increased risk of degenerative brain disease. dr willie stewart led the research into brain injuries last year that showed former professional footballer5 are 3.5 times more likely to die of dementia than people of the same

age range in the general population. he thinks this is just one of the steps that need to be taken. thi5 this is a long overdue move, one i would welcome. the debate will rage about the direct link to heading. 0n the balance of probabilities, it is an issue that needs to be addressed quite urgently. what did your re5ea rch quite urgently. what did your re5earch find? i quoted there the likelihood, but what was causing that increase? could it be specifically tied to heading? 0r that increase? could it be specifically tied to heading? or is it something else in football? it's important to point out that the research we have done to this date was really just trying research we have done to this date was reallyjust trying to answer the question, is it in former footballers ? question, is it in former footballers? we had strong stories like the family ofjeff aston, bringing forward stories of dementia in football. the 1966 world cup

squad. this is to answer the question, is there a problem? it didn't go into what the problem might be. but we have researched the brains of former footballers that shows a pathology linked to the brain injuries, head injuries. and other sports. it is taking the evidence in total about head injuries and head impacts in football. this might be a daft question, but what if people just wore headgear? it is not a daft question. these are the questions people raise. the reality is you have a fantastic headgear built in, it is your skull, which tells you if something hurts. that is a way to stop you banging your head. many of us use online reviews to decide whether to buy a product or choose a service, and a bad review can make all the difference. well, now an owner of a small business in britain has started legal action against google, complaining the tech giant has failed to remove damaging fake reviews about his company.

google says it monitors content and obeys local laws. angus crawford reports. bad reviews can break a business. the hardest thing is, it was an invisible aggressor. they are anonymous, behind fake names, so you don't really know what to do. you feel quite helpless. "described as perfect and fully working but when we went to look at it the clutch was completely shot." 0ne—star reviews, completely fabricated. fake names. google will not take them down. keeping his car sales business going during covid has been hard, made even more stressful by the stream of bogus reviews, which google

still refuses to take down. it is the same response every time, that it doesn't contravene their policies, they're very sorry and they're going to leave it there. we provided them with firm information which shows that these reviews are completely fake, fabricated, that the people that supposedly are leaving them don't exist, and they're not interested whatsoever. google users post 20 million reviews each day. well, they can bring a business to its knees, if you have a mass attack, somebody using multiple google accounts to attack a business, then it destroys their reputation in a matter of hours. the company told us the vast majority of reviews are helpful, relevant and authentic, and insists it monitors closely for content that violates their policies 24/7. we know that bad reviews

can destroy a business. but what about all the good ones? are they everything they appear to be? imagine for a moment you want to get out of your time—share. you might come to this business. welcome, from the time—share termination team uk. we found 5—star google reviews from many customers, but are they really? that picture is actually of a government minister in tanzania. how about david ? no, he didn't write that one either. never heard of them! time to give them a call. some of them have never heard of you. there is no evidence the company has done anything wrong, and it says it has now launched an investigation. as for richard, in his fight against fakes, he is now taking legal action against google.

a final attempt to set the record straight. angus crawford, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello, a lot of cloud across england and wales through the day today. furthermore, a cold front bringing rain to scotland and northern ireland, it will sink a cross into northern england and wales but the rain is light and patchy. showers in scotland, mild in england and wales, but some cool air in northern ireland. it stays quite windy today, mostly in the shetland, with gusts of around 60 mph. 0vernight, the weather front pushes to the south, taking light rain and drizzle with it, into england. the skies will clear a bit further north, but further showers for scotland and northern ireland, driven in.