this is bbc news. the headlines at eight: the government signals that families could be allowed to celebrate christmas together — in what it calls a limited and cautious way. but how many can meet and for how long is still being decided, as the options are considered. we have to find a balance between covid restrictions and the well—being and mental health of our nation. the head of the us coronavirus programme says he hopes the first americans will be vaccinated in december, as the country passes 12 million confirmed cases. tough times ahead warns the chancellor — ahead of his spending review this week, we'll look at how funds are allocated to different areas of the country. mystery on the streets of nottingham as the broken bike

accompanying the artist banky‘s mural, disappears. and in half an hour here on bbc news, the travel show takes a look back at its best sporting adventures from recent years, from sandboarding in kazakhstan, to wrestling in the gobi desert and a freezing cold dip in scottish seas. good evening. families will be allowed to celebrate christmas together in what the government is calling a ‘limited and cautious‘ way, it confirmed this afternoon. the prime minister and the leaders of the devolved nations are finalising the details of a joint approach, allowing different households to travel and meet — but how many, and for how long

is still being discussed. england is still to emerge from lockdown on december 2nd, and will then face a tougher tiered system of restrictions. here's our deputy political editor vicki young. christmas cheer, but not too much. the prime minister has warned us that the festive season won't be normal. but across the four nations of the uk, they've been trying to come up with a joint set of rules allowing families and friends to meet up. it's not quite finalised, but in a statement, the cabinet office said there was a shared objective to allow some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days. but the public will be advised to remain cautious and wherever possible, people should avoid travelling and minimise social contact. but it's notjust christmas that ministers in england have to think about. before that on december 2nd, national restrictions will end. but with coronavirus still spreading, many measures

will have to stay in place. we will be going back into a more localised approach, a tiered system, which i think is enormously welcome. a tougher tiered system? yes, and we learn more as we go through this crisis. and as we get more data, more information, we can see what works well, what doesn't and essentially evolve our response to make sure it's as effective as it can be. after complaints from many scientists, the new tiers will be tougher than before and more areas will be at the higher levels to keep the virus under control. but 70 of borisjohnson‘s own mps have written to tell him they won't vote for the system unless they see evidence that it will save more lives than it costs. labour want clarity as soon as possible. you can'tjust open a restaurant, open a bar, start brewing beer, getting ready for after a national lockdown overnight. you need some notice of that. and all of us, from andy burnham

and everybody else, members of the public, we need a clearer understanding about what the criteria are going to be. across the uk, the rules on households mixing will be relaxed for christmas. shoppers in london are giving that a cautious welcome. ifeel ecstatic, because i miss my friends, i miss my family. so any opportunity will be so welcome. covid doesn't know that it's christmas, so even if we couldn't, i would be ok with not celebrating it if it meant saving more people's lives. it will be important to see what the levels are like before christmas, but the idea of being able to celebrate with family is obviously really nice. but the risks from covid haven't gone away. celebrations at christmas could be followed by many more weeks of hardship. vicki young with that report, and a little earlier she explained that while discussions are still ongoing, there isn't agreement within the conservative party on the reintroduction of tiers.

there's two things here, really, and i think the cabinet today are talking more about those english tiers, and that, in itself, is pretty controversial. there's lots of conservative mps who don't think, actually, that things should be tightened, they are actually calling for the opposite, and they have said, clearly, 70 of them, they won't back this unless the government really comes up with some kind of written analysis of what it means, because they are worried not just about covid debt, they are worried about the other consequences of that, and we have seen that in terms of waiting list for the nhs for other illnesses. so, there is this backlash, really, from a sizeable number of conservative mps. so, when it comes to it, and i will be a vote in the commons about all of this, it could well be that borisjohnson relies on labour votes if they do vote for these tiered restrictions. now, up till now, they have voted for tighter restrictions, so you would imagine that would be the case, but we do know that

on the 3rd of december, once england comes out of the national restrictions, it will be a tighter tier system. now, we don't know what that's going to be yet, but i think particularly tier i, the government scientists have complained that it had really no effect whatsoever. so, i think we will see a difference there, and we also know there will be more areas of england put into those higher tiers, so i think it is a bit too early to celebrate the end of what we have been calling lockdown. and, as far as christmas is concerned, that is still very much up to negotiations between the government at westminster and the devolved administrations. yeah, because, for obvious reasons, they want it to be a foreign nation approach. yeah, because, for obvious reasons, they want it to be a four nation approach. lots of people will be going to all parts of the united kingdom, so, of course, it's much easier, given there has been a lot of complaints from people about the confusion about all these rules, if they can at least try and adopt something together. now, i think they have, today, obviously, said that they do agree there will be a relaxation, and that the mixing of households will be relaxed. now, exactly how that is going to work is another matter. i'm told by one person

who is in the meeting yesterday that one idea suggested was a five day relaxation, and that three households could mix indoors. but, as i said, that hasn't been signed off, and, again, it raises all sorts of questions. those five days, for example, does that include the time it takes to get, maybe, from devon to scotland? that is a whole day's travelling in itself, isn't it, in going either way? so, all these things need to be thought about. plus, if you have it as five days, everyone is then going to be taking to the trains, taking to the roads at the same time, crowding and, obviously, going completely against what they are trying to achieve. so, it is fraught with difficulty. and, you know, the government's scientists would rather, let's face it, it wasn't happening at all. they are very concerned that this will inevitably mean more infections and, of course, eventually, that does sadly mean more deaths. one other thing we have to look at this week is the chancellor's spending review. i mean, he's given some quite interesting signals today, hasn't he? about, for example, he's not looking at tax rises, he's giving more money to the nhs. i mean, is the message effectively, look, we are going to not worry about the borrowing until we are well past the crisis, both economic and health, that we have been dealing with?

yeah, i think the big question here is when does that moment come, when he will have to show at least a plan for trying to get things back on track? i think that is the hint from him today, is that he doesn't have to actually implement tax rises yet, but they will be coming, and i think what is still up for negotiation is when they decide to do that, because, don't forget, the electoral cycle comes into all of this, and there are some saying, actually, it's better to do that now, so, having been the chancellor who's obviouslyjust been throwing money around and being incredibly popular, lots of people say, because... there will be a lot of extra christmas cards this year, i reckon! yeah, actually, there's going to come a moment where he is doing the opposite. so, when is the best time to do that? obviously, for the conservative party, notjust before a general election, and where all that falls and on who it falls is also going to be extremely fraught. so, i think he is very much aware of all of that. this week, though, is much more about, look, we are not going back to austerity. remember, he said, whatever it takes, you know, up to a point, he is still going to continue to do that, particularly in funding the nhs.

let's get the thoughts now of professor stephen reicher who advises both the uk and scottish goverments on covid—i9, with a focus on behaviour — hejoins us now from fife. thank you for being with us, especially on a sunday evening. what you make of the discussions that are going on at the moment? the political imperative seems to have kind of hit, and the government is clearly not going to turn around, and effectively say, you're going to have to spend your christmas on your own at home. it is an agonising choice. i entirely understand that. it's an agonising choice for me and my own family, as it is for anybody else. for me, and i think for most people, christmas, new year, they are time is goodwill, there are times of family, they are times where, you know, you want the best for other people, and it does seem

to me that that the last thing i or anybody else would want is to give the family there are infection, to harm them, and with vaccines on the horizon it would be even more tragic, so we might be to get over this thing. the good news about the vaccines, they tell us if we stick at it, there really is a prospect of coming through this, and to cause more harm when the finish line is in sight seems to me to be deeply counter—productive. because it won't just be a matter, if we opened things up, of devon having to close them down to bring infections down. many people get infected, harmed and will die, many people get infected, harmed and willdie, and to many people get infected, harmed and will die, and to me, in this pandemic, the expression of the christmas spirit and of love for my family is not to do things that will harm them. it is a real dilemma, though, because good people will point, a lot of people watching this programme, will point to the real distress and suffering that has been

caused by the imposed isolation of shutdown, and there may be people, particularly elderly viewers, who thing, you know, i really have missed the human contact with my children or grandchildren and great—grandchildren, i am children or grandchildren and great—grandchildren, iam not children or grandchildren and great—grandchildren, i am not going to be in this world forever, if i have to pay the price of a slightly shorter life, then so be it for the benefit of having that very special time, which might anyway be my last christmas. who knows? that is not in their hands. those are unfortunately their hands. those are unfortunately the sort of questions that will be going through peoples minds. absolutely, and how can they not go through people's mines? i would like to seem a much greater focus from the government about safety, how we can, this christmas, celebrate and be safe, and i think there are to types of things we can do. the first is that the infection happens in enclosed spaces which are crowded, which are unhygienic and which have poor ventilation, so there are two ways in which we can get around

that. the first is the think of alternative celebrations which are not inddoes, and i think we could draw on the amazing growth of community organisations to revive community organisations to revive community celebration outside. that won't work for everybody, but it can work for a lot of people. also, to have celebrations which evolve those people who normally are alone at christmas, and i think we can do much more, in the same way that people are knocking on neighbours's goals and what that group was forming, that we look after each other in the community. that is one thing that we can do and the government could set up a fund to help us with that. second, if we are to mix in the home, we need to have a much greater focus on safety, helping and advising people on how to keep their families so safe, supporting it practically. one concrete idea, we all accept the notion of the winter fuel allowance.

well, this winter, asking people to open their windows, and they need to stay warm, so why not a pandemic fuel allowance so that everybody, including our most deprived, can ventilate their homes, stay warm and stay safe ? ventilate their homes, stay warm and stay safe? so that the government can do much more stay safe this christmas and minimise the risk that the same time. there will be risked, and increased infections, almost whatever rules are adopted. we are probably seeing that in america this weekend with thanksgiving, we saw it was canadian thanksgiving that has already happened. what are the consequences? we don't need to look elsewhere. if you look historically, some of the events that led to the flu pandemic in 1918 weather events like the armistice celebrations. if people relax their guard and get together, infection spike. again, if you remember a week ago, there was a spike of infections to 30,000 people

in one day, that seems to reflect the fact that people are going out and socialising before the lockdown. if we relax, we pay the price. the only people who suffer are us. these rules and regulations are not imposed on us for somebody else's interest, they are for us to keep us safe, and i think the government can do more to keep us safe, to protect us, to give us the port we need to have for christmas. some very wise words, thank you for being with us this evening. so what's the likely impact of a return to the tiered system in england, when lockdown ends in ten days' time? and which areas of the country are likely to return to the tightest levels of restrictions? our health correspondent dominic hughes reports from west yorkshire. it's a busy sunday in hebden bridge in west yorkshire. those who could were making the most of the chance to get out and about. but even as the christmas

decorations are given a final touch, for some businesses, the days to come are filled with uncertainty. this place is my baby. i am worried we will not make it through lockdown. we can't plan anything, we can't think ahead about, all right, maybe in two weeks' time, lockdown could be lifted, but there is also the chance it might not be. before this latest lockdown, the local council, calderdale, was poised to enter tier 3. but covid infection rates have stayed stubbornly high. so what is the right thing to do over christmas? i mean, look around you. you know, this is a market that, in a time of lockdown, people are desperate for connection, people want to be out meeting each other. and we have to find a balance, i guess. we have to find a balance between the mental health and well—being and that of our nations. that of our nations. ultimately, we have got to look at the bigger picture. it's very easy to focus on christmas as the big family thing, and it is,

but one christmas might not have as big a deal for less christmases in the future for some members of our families. this map shows the areas with the highest rates of covid—19 infections. in england, parts of the northwest and northeast, east and west yorkshire, north lincolnshire and the east midlands could well find themselves back in tier 3. meanwhile, parts of west and central scotland are already in the country's highest level of restrictions until december the 11th. and northern ireland is facing another two weeks of lockdown from friday, having just reopened some services. it is the pressure that hospitals like this one that are under that is the real source of concern. they are busy now, i am told, then they were during the first surge of covid in the spring. there are now concerns about the advice for people over christmas. i would like to see the right advice being made based on the signs. i think people can get together at christmas if they stick rigidly to what is being recommended right now. i worry about people bridging recommendations

and being in it for the long haul. the uk government is in talks with the administrations in scotland, wales and northern ireland to try to agree a unified approach to covid restrictions over christmas. but many families will be determined to get together over christmas, whatever the government says. dominic hughes, bbc news. the latest government figures show there were 18,662 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week, is now 20,390 just over 17 hundred people have been admitted to hospital on average each day over the week to last friday. 398 deaths were reported, that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. it means on average in the past week, a42 deaths were announced every day. it takes the total number of deaths

so far across the uk to 55,021; the united states could start the first coronavirus immunisations as soon as 11th of december according to the head of the government's covid—19 vaccine programme. the us food and drug administration is due to meet to consider emergency approval for two vaccines from pfizer and moderna on december the 10th. a doctor said the vaccines could swiftly shipped out within 2a hours of after that. the us is battling with a surge in cases, with infections now totalling more than 12 million. as our washington correspondent lebo diseko explains, while this is undoubtedly good news for americans, there are still some

hurdles to cross before a vaccine can be rolled out. it's certainly encouraging, but asjoe biden‘s team have pointed out, the bulk of the vaccination process, if in fact these two vaccines do clear that fda approval, will take place under the biden administration. and at the moment, because the trump team refuse to recognise that there is a transition taking place, they don't have access to the type of people that they need to speak to, the conversations, they cannot begin these discussions around what the plan is to roll out this vaccine. and a senior adviser to the biden team, she is also kamala harris‘s spokesperson, simone sanders, saying that every single moment that there is a delay in ascertainment, that is the actual formal signing off of the transition, puts the effective distribution of the vaccine in danger. that's something thatjoe biden himself has said a few days ago, saying that lives are at risk,

really, because they can't speak to the people they need to speak to about this rollout. in terms of the practicalities of this, one thing the doctor was warning about was the number of people who are vaccine sceptics, people who are reluctant to have the vaccine. and i think, looking at the most the recent survey from gallup suggesting it has fallen slightly, but it is still one in four people sayingthey would refuse the vacine, even if it was offered to them, as the biden team are saying it will be, free of charge. i was really interested to hear the doctors say there has been no political interference in this process, and the speed of the process — and these two vaccines are now up for approval — was to do with clinical need rather than any political pressure. but that was kind of goes to show where we are, that many people don't trust the administration or the process that has taken place, and maybe feel that the current president may have leant on the medical teams to try and find

a vaccine quicker than might be safe to do so. and that was something that was also underscored by doctor anthony fauci, also speaking this morning, saying that, look, we need people to take up this vaccine, because there's no point having a vaccine that is more than 90% effective if you don't have the 70% take—up that you need for herd immunity. the chancellor is set to announce an extra three billion pounds of funding for the nhs this week, but has warned of tough times ahead for the economy. despite the boost to the health service, due to be pledged in the spending review on wednesday, today rishi sunak said the impact of coronavirus on the economy must eventually be paid for. public sector debt currently stands at over two trillion pounds, more than 100% of gdp — the total value of all goods and services produced in the uk. the chancellor told the andrew marr

show that the high level of spending was justified. now is the right time to focus on responding to the crisis, and that means, yes, we will be borrowing, quite frankly, an enormous sum this year to help us do that, but that is the right thing to do for the long—term health of the economy and public finances. and we are doing that to protect people's jobs, their livelihoods, support businesses, as we've talked about, but also provide the funds necessary to fight coronavirus, and that will be at the centre of the spending review next week. we'll be providing those funds, whether it's for testing, for vaccines, for the nhs, and that's the right thing to do now, and that is an approach that's been endorsed by the imf, the obr, the bank of england and others. our business correspondent, katy austin, said the chancellor faces a difficult a challenge in balancing the competing demands of spending to tackle coronavirus and how the borrowing will be paid for. what we have got here is these two competing realities. in the immediate term,

you have the chancellor saying look, we still need to be putting the money up to not just fight coronavirus if you like but to support the businesses, protectjobs through it and also we need to be investing in the future, we need to be thinking about the money we are going to put towards these big infrastructure projects that will benefit the economy in the long term, enable a bigger recovery if you like, that the government likes to say build back better. that is one of their slogans around this. there is that aim that we need to be spending on important things, but there is just this reality that borrowing has got so high and the chancellor has talked about the need to make it more sustainable and make the public finances more sustainable. how might he do that? that is exactly the big question. he seems to be in interviews today saying that we are not going to go to austerity this week, that is not how we will approach this, certainly in the immediate term. there has also been speculation about tax rises. again, the chancellor has been signalling it is not the time for that, at least not now and that is really the big debate.

there is going to have to be some sort of action to raise money, the question is how soon you can do that without it actually being counter—productive and preventing a recovery. also this week — in his spending review, the chancellor will promise to remove the bias against northern england and other regions in the way infrastructure spending is allocated. mr sunak said the changes were part of the government's "levelling up" agenda. at the moment investment in big spending projects is currently linked to property prices. but what does "levelling up" mean and how can it be achieved? well to discuss that, joining me now is paul swinney from the centre for cities — a thinktank that aims to improve the economies of the uk's largest cities and towns. thank you for being with us. this contention has appeared quite a lot in the media over the last few days, this idea that the treasury rules,

the so—called green book, assessment process of proposals actually is biased in formula and in the way it operates against areas outside london and the south—east of england. what is your explanation for why those projects don't get the go—ahead? for why those projects don't get the go-ahead? there are a number of explanations as to why. i think a lot of the reasons people believe, the ones you have just set out there, it gets boiled down to the idea that the cogs of the treasury get turned and the answer comes at the end, and you get this computer says no type response. the reality is if you look at investment and infrastructure over the past few yea rs, infrastructure over the past few years, in the processes put in place to do that, there is no residence to suggest that is the case. i think the bigger case here is to investments under technical elements

people get hung up on, which is one pa rt people get hung up on, which is one part of it, but the challenges around it. the quality of the projects coming forward showing what impact they have, and the lack of change of direction at a national level. governments of many different colours have not come out and said what the strategy is and set it out and let the methodology do its work to make investments in the north to make it more prosperous. in a sense, it's not enough just to say you want to level up, you have to define what you mean by that and also have a way of measuring it. precisely. the big challenge that we have got with decisions at the moment is that there are no strategies in place. there is nothing to measure the gains, so it is easy to push back and say, it is not fair that at that project got funded in the sun didn't, because there is not an overarching strategy in place. if we had a strategy in place, saying that

we are trying to achieve, and use the existing methodology to try and sort through it, saying which is the best of what we should go for. obviously nobody wants to spend millions of public money on something that is actually not going to do anything or achieve the consequences, but if we don't have those questions asked at the start, thatis those questions asked at the start, that is a risk, that things end up being a bit of a beauty contest. what is the lovely, shiny project that we can say we are doing, rather than the thing that would actually deliver the most benefits the most people. exactly that. having these methodologies in place designed to do that, find the projects that we think are going to have the biggest impactand think are going to have the biggest impact and deal with the ones not from the ones that we think whatnot have such a big impact. that misconstrued when people think that

we don't have the policies, but they you get the politicians picking the pet projects that suit their own ends rather than for the people around the north of england, but it is for the national economy as a whole, which we need to avoid. it points to really what's people are saying, that we don't like the rules because they don't give us the money we wa nt because they don't give us the money we want for our particular projects. that is a dangerous routes that will not bring prosperity to the north of england. a search for two missing fishermen whose boat sank off the sussex coast has been called off this afternoon. the alarm was raised when thejoanna c got into trouble just before 6 o'clock on saturday morning. one crew member was rescued from the water several hours later but despite extensive searches, the others haven't been found. john ayres reports from brixham. the search began again today at first light.

this time the focus was the eastbourne area. this all started yesterday when the coast guard responded to an emergency beacon three nautical miles from seaford near newhaven. one person from thejoanna c was picked up clinging to a buoy. two more crew are still missing. yesterday we had shock, we had hope, and we had prayers, and today we have the reality of still trying to search for them but the reality that we might not see them again. and the pain is awful. the pain is for everybody, not just the fishing community. we all feel it in a tight community like brixham. despite extensive efforts, the search was called off today at 2:30pm. you are looking for somebody's loved one, somebody's father, son, grandson or whatever. it is a very difficult decision to make and it is something we do not take very lightly. all through the day, the brixham community has been laying flowers and candles at the man and boy statue that honours those who risk

their lives at sea. i looked out of the window late last night and all you could see was lights, and i was trying to work out what it was, and it was all the candles in the windows. and, yes, the community spirit at the moment is absolutely incredible. the fisherman's mission helps families in their time of crisis. a gofundme page has been set up in support. i would ask that the community of brixham, and around the uk as well, pray for those families that have been affected by this really, really sad incident at sea. brixham is a very close—knit community. the pain is being felt by everyone. the candles are being lit again this evening. the ethiopian prime minister has issued an ultimatum demanding the surrender of tigrayan forces within 72 hours.