this man is 75 and he wants a resolution to the current conflict but thinks it won't be easy. translation: they will not agree on anything unless the world intervenes. now, there is war and death. things cannot be solved that easily. these people hope this situation is temporary. they want to go back home and continue with their lives. the federal government promised a short offensive but there are fears the conflict could persist and potentially destabilise the whole of africa region. girl sings this is a song for peace. it encapsulates the hopes of many here. they have lost touch with those they left behind. their lives are in limbo as ethiopian‘s current and former rulers fight. anne soy, bbc news.

michael balogun was serving a jail sentence for violent crime when he was allowed to work on licence in the kitchens at the drama school rada, where his acting talents were discovered. since then he's forged a successful career, and he's starring in a new play at the national theatre about racism in modern britain, which will be streamed tomorrow evening. he was asked to step up from being the understudy and, as will gompertz reports, had to learn his 90—minute monologue in just two weeks. what does it feel like? you're the understudy and suddenly you're the main man and you've got two weeks to prep. i mean, i'm not going to lie, when that first happened i was very, very nervous. i was thinking, can i do this? because i was already wondering if i could do the understudy bit. a disrespected culture. a misrepresented culture, because everyone knew she was british, right? what i've learnt from this experience is that it's not really about me. it's not about my ego and how good

i think i'm going to do the show, this story needs to be told. you can't beat those people, not like that. you play them, boy. you play them at their own game. how relatable was it for you, michael? delroy in the piece is wrongly accused and things escalate very quickly and he ends up injail. you went to jail. i spent time in prison and i've been arrested many times for things i have done. but i think what i relate to with that particular part of the story is that, you know, you break the law and you go to prison and you are sat in a prison cell and you are expected to change because you are in prison but that environment is not really designed for that. after being dragged around a police station like a refugee out of italian waters, i was expecting a little bit of tea and sympathy from my mum. this was a play which was principally written, i believe, prior to both the pandemic and the george floyd incident.

did you then have to rethink, rewrite and re—present some of your ideas? not really. it just amplified us and it sharpened our pencils. i think it naturally fed into the character delroy and what he was going through, because without saying george floyd, he is ampliflying those fears. he says, "i'm a black man, someone like me, living in america, could get killed." where do i get to house that anger? where do i get to shoot that anger out? are you finding doors which were previously closed to you are suddenly a little jar? to get a seat at the table you still have to ask the same people. the biases that previously didn't allow me to enter the room now might allow me into the room but i still have to ask permission to actually get my thing made by the same people who had the same biases, let's be frank. one of my personal philosophies is, anything is possible. it doesn't matter what background you come from, doesn't matter that your parents might have been

drug addicts or have gone to prison. if you have a dream, then you can do it. applause actor michael balogun there, ending that report with our arts editor will gompertz. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are the political strategist, jo tanner and disability consultant and comedy producer, simon minty. i know it your first time he also thank you for being with us tonight. before we start chatting, let's look at what we have already.

‘tiers of despair‘ reads the front page of the daily mirror, as most of england is placed in tiers 2 and 3 once the country emerges from national lockdown next wednesday. the times suggests that 99% of the country faces the strictest two tiers of coronavirus restrictions until well into january. the metro's headline ‘the north sees red' comes after the prime minister today announced that large swathes of the north of england are amongst the areas being placed into tier 3 — the highest tier. with much of yorkshire landing in this category, the yorkshire post reports on number 10's defense of the tier system — the paper says the high restrictions are despite infection rates in the region falling faster than almost anywhere else in the country. ‘don‘t hug gran this christmas' is the message on the front of the i — as families are urged to avoid risks to avoid further lockdowns after the festive period. elsewhere, the independent shows fans in naples ‘mourning an icon‘, with fans paying tribute to footballer diego maradona before his former club‘s

european tie last night. some of the papers we already have, ta ke some of the papers we already have, take a closer look and as always, thank you for giving up your thursday night, joanne simon. __j° ——jo and simon. a lot of —— jo and simon. a lot of them focusing on the tier system which we are used to but they are slightly strengthening them. tier plus and whoever you want to describe it, the image from the metro is quite stark, showing who is where and in which situation. the yellow is tier i, the least of these restrictions. the change here is that we knew the prime minister had indicated there was concern about what is becoming known as covid pirates, group intent of breaking the rules because they

don‘t agree with them, there is a general frustration with what is going on with regards to the management of the virus, and one of the challenges that now we have 99% of the country in tier 2 or tier 3, this gradual warning that the previous lockdown, we saw what was not deemed a lockdown but it felt like one. there has been a general sense as we were getting into it that we were not going to necessarily see lots of places coming out of it. they warning about previously mid—range tea is going up on those lower tiers going up and entire categories, a lot of bad feeling, it‘s been very difficult for the government to handle and a lot of mps already overwriting in saying they are concerned, lots of large areas being categorised into one tier in one go, even within those and within those counties, there are different levels, so it is creating a lot of conclusion that my

confusion, a lot of bad feeling but it was never going to be simple and the government have rise that may present to that. but it is stark, it shows a stark nature of where the virus is spreading but underneath all that, you have to remember, will this be of concern to the government as to whether the nhs can cope? that‘s a good point. we were speaking to someone from lancashire who said it‘s a huge area with pocket that have lower cases and some of higher cases, but some are put together into one tier, the highest and they say it is not fair and this is a stark reminder of where the viruses. and i don‘t think we will come up with the yorkshire post, whereas you can compare to london where the numbers were increasing and they are in different

tiers, so there is confusion. the thing with the metro and seeing red is because they are saying there are large swathes of the north and midlands, and notany large swathes of the north and midlands, and not any extra support is converted before in terms of financial support, so the levels are going up, it is getting more strict in terms of freedom and whether it is business as and all the other elements of hospitality so without any elements of hospitality so without a ny extra elements of hospitality so without any extra levels of support, this is very worrying. andy burnham is quoted as saying that there was a big stand—off with the government and getting the appropriate support depending on your point of view, saying it is wrong but it is struck by —— it has struck me about liverpool because liverpool are in tier 2, not tier 3 and don‘t get me wrong, that is pretty strict and quite tight, however they have dropped a—level andy maia saying this is a cautious welcome because he says they followed the rules, had lots of testing and he thinks that

might be partly the reason why it‘s only gone into that here. that leaves me quite nicely onto the daily telegraph because it has an image of then and now, and we will focus on a lot of maps over the next period. but this idea of what we had when it comes to before the second lockdown and how it is all moving, and whether it is picked up on our screams, the green is the tieri and look how restricted the areas are i'iow look how restricted the areas are now in that first tier. absolutely. and the point that is being made there is right. there was an intensive programme of testing that has gone into it, which has helped them in terms of where they are able to get to and this is what the government are now focusing on, but the map is really striking. your right to write attention to it and the telegraph have done a good job

here because it shows that only 1.8 million have gone down in terms of... just over 3% of the population, where as over 15% of the population, where as over 15% of the population have moved up a tier and a further 8% moving up to, which is a further 8% moving up to, which is a considerable jump, but a further 8% moving up to, which is a considerablejump, but itjust shows, and this is the nature of the virus, once it gets into an area and onceit virus, once it gets into an area and once it starts to spread, it can do so very rapidly, you have people moving around with theirjobs and moving around with theirjobs and moving around with theirjobs and moving around because of schools and things, and it‘s one of these things at once it gets moving, gets into the community, it is extremely difficult for it to be stamped out. and the prime minister was defending the measures, saying they were necessary to prevent a new era national lockdown. i guess that is another thing that simon is always at the back of people‘s mines, what happens after christmas? we also

focused on what is going on in the next 3—4 weeks‘ time. but it‘s what happens in january as well. yes, and it is almost silly to try to predict. the one thing i‘m certain about is we have months left of this. i‘m sure it‘s the same but borisjohnson had this. i‘m sure it‘s the same but boris johnson had to this. i‘m sure it‘s the same but borisjohnson had to say this very differently, putting himself under pressure to say 2nd of december lockdown with change but when you look at it, a lot of people have gone into worse position than they we re gone into worse position than they were before, and he‘s had to present there is a significant change, saying there is heartache, frustration, and they should start on wednesday the second so long as he gets it through which i suspect he gets it through which i suspect he will because labour may welljoin him, but the idea that this is significantly different, it doesn‘t feel like that to me and we‘ve got it for a long time, which makes me

question the advice around question that my christmas because should we get close to our elderly relatives on the idea of saying no, but it‘s very hard, especially with children and so on, so i don‘t quite know, because we have a lot of self restraint. white make your writing the script for me because you‘ve just led me onto the idea of confusion over what you do with elderly relatives, tears of despair. —— tiers of despair. there is the thing of being desperate to see elderly relatives but we also really, really need to keep them safe. this goes back to my earlier point being the challenge and a general sense, the government have been polling quite heavily and said people are prepared to break the rules around christmas and the prime minister alluded to it in the press

conference he gave today. what was striking is we‘ve seen this week the news about christmas and this idea that three households can effectively form one bubble and debriefing bit was a bit confusing, some people got overexcited about how christmas might look. the reality is only three households can form a bubble for the duration of the dates that have been marked for christmas, so it is not that you can break up everyday and have a different bubble. the challenge in particular that was raised in the press c0 nfe re nce particular that was raised in the press conference today, which is where the warning came from is professor chris whitty was asked a very direct question, which gave a really interesting answer, you may point that he would not be advising to halt elderly relatives because you want to be able to hug them again, you do not want them to catch something that could kill them, and then when he was asked what he was doing for christmas, he said he would be only works because he is

the chief medical officer and that is hisjob, he is primarily a doctor, so it was interesting that this narrative about christmas and people are very concerned about christmas, and it seems like a long way away but we are seeing people put up decorations, see how they wa nt to put up decorations, see how they want to focus on christmas and it is something to look forward to but the reality is it will not be anything like we think and friends and family, the pictures they put up on social media, it will be interesting how friendship groups, we saw how brexit or people apart with different views, we are seeing family groups and friendship groups being very strange when they look at each other‘s behaviour and how the adapt or break the rules. that's a very good point. the things people put on social media, you have to question what is going on behind the scenes and it‘s a really good point. the other point is that the daily mirror is picking up on this desperation at the lack of support for struggling