the first covid vaccine from pfizer and biontech is being shipped around the us, and immunisations begin on monday. the aim is to vaccinate 100 million people by the end of march. us media is reporting that president trump and vice president pence will be among the first to receive the jab. the brexit trade talks are continuing beyond sunday's deadline after the uk and the eu agreed their negotiators should keep talking. major issues are still unresolved but after a telephone call, boris johnson and ursula von der leyen they said they would "go the extra mile". one of britain's best—known novelistsjohn le carre has died. he was 89. a former secret agent, le carre drew on his own experiences to create ha rd—edged thrillers without the glamour of james bond, but which proved to be just as popular. many became films and tv series. now on bbc news, it's time for dateline london.

welcome to dateline london, the programme that brings together bbc expertise with foreign correspondents reporting back home around the world, on events here with the dateline london. well, this week, borisjohnson has, within days, gone from having a fish supper with the european commission president to threatening european fishermen with the british navy if they overstep the mark in the channel. is an abrupt, hard, no—deal brexit really what the people of the uk voted for? is this what they were promised? and how many members of the government really believe that this is best for britain? president macron is being portrayed as the hard man

of europe, but with all sides potentially losing if there's isn't a deal, has the eu overplayed its hand? and how is this all being perceived around the world? borisjohnson has reportedly been invited to delhi to be chief guest at india's republic day celebrations injanuary. nothing confirmed yet, i should stress — it mightjust be speculation in the indian newspapers — but if borisjohnson wants better trade with india, he might want to brush up on his politics. he was caught out embarrassingly in the house of commons this week. when asked about a punjabi farmers‘ strike, he replied talking about tensions with pakistan. the look of astonishment on the sikh mp‘s face who had asked the question was definitely my moment of the week. with me today are marc roche, who writes for the french weekly political and news magazine le pointe, and ashis ray of ray media. and here in the studio, the bbc‘s business editor, simonjack. thanks to all of you gentlemen. well, four years after the brexit referendum, borisjohnson is perhaps about to take the uk out of a deep, complex relationship stretching

back over a0 years that affects so many parts of public and private life. for some, of course, no deal is an opportunity — a chance to break free of european shackles, maybe to make britain great again. certainly, borisjohnson won a huge election victory in parts of the country which traditionally voted labour. maybe a no—deal brexit plays well in the red wall seats in the north east of england and the prime minister can keep stoking english nationalism and make it all rather difficult for labour. but even if there is a political gain here, at what cost overall to the country? is it too late to save the day? will president macron make a last—minute intervention and pick up the phone? marc roche, let me start with you. any last—minute chances of concessions from the europeans? no, i don't think so. what we will have maybe, let's hope, is sort of stopping

the clock, which the eu very often does in complicated negotiations, and agreeing to start again injanuary. but at the moment, the most solution i see is no deal because no—one in europe is ready to compromise. the british have played their cards and they've lost it. ashis ray, you obviously write for the indian press. india is about the size of western europe. do people they look at the uk and think "why on earth are you breaking away from this huge political union?" or do they think "ah—ha, perhaps the uk is going back to its old empire instincts?" well, certainly, indian businesses who pitched theirtents in britain with the hope that the entire 500 million eu market would be available to them without any tariffs, they would be disappointed because now, exports from britain to the eu — at least temporarily, if not permanently — will come under customs duties

in the european union. and therefore, it's going to be difficult for indian businesses in the uk who export to the eu for the time being. but in india, i think the mood is somewhat of disinterest. i think people are not that concerned as to what the outcome is going to be. at the same time, i think people are worried that it could be disruption notjust to the economies of the eu and britain, but there could be a ripple effect in the rest of the world. a ripple effect in what sense? in the sense that if the economies go down in the european union and britain, then this would have an impact not just in this region, but it would have an impact on the rest of the world. because these are major economic entities and therefore an impact on india among various other countries.

well, simonjack, our business editor, what is the economic hit of either brexit with a deal or without a deal? brexit without a deal is significantly worse than brexit with a deal. the bank of england, the obr, the cross—arty — the cross—whitehall analysis estimates that over the next 10—15 years there will be some where between 5—7% of gdp smaller than otherwise it have been. not smaller now but smaller than it would otherwise have been. so a cost of tens of billions to gdp over time. i think it's one of those things where the short—term shock is going to be the most severe of it and it's going to hit some sectors that are very exposed. so agriculture — most welsh lamb goes into the eu. in fishing — large parts of the catch are bought in the eu. and the automotive sector — india has been a huge investor in the uk automotive sector. it owns jaguar land rover.

you've got tata steel, those are big areas. as ashis was saying, a lot of that was sold on the basis of being a bridgehead into the eu market. so some of those sectors — auto, aerospace, agriculture, fishing, etc — are heavily exposed to no—deal brexit, some very steep tariffs there. so it will be a very significant hit in the short—term. but as you were saying, the other side of it was borisjohnson said "we are free to have closer relationships with india" and i went on a mission with theresa may to india a couple of years ago and they see india as an absolutely key investor in the uk and they will be fostering those ties. marc roche, from the european viewpoint, do they look worried at all, thinking, "0k, britain over a long term, if there is no deal exit" — as it looks possible,

"there will be divergence and the uk becomes a difficult competitor instead of a friendly neighbour?" the first thing to say is that for the europeans, it is, in a way, good riddance of a problem, because it has been four years of negotiation of inept government. ofjohnson, who has no friends in europe, because he is perceived as a liar. the referendum also, when he was a correspondent in brussels. and so the eu has turned the page in a way, because it is now more interest in the fight against climate change, as we have seen in the last summit, and also, a relaunch plan to relaunch the economies after covid. so, in a way, it is a nuisance. but the eu is ready for it. and to be frank, the preservation of the single market is more important in the eyes of the eu

than finding, at all costs, an agreement with britain. i mean, you know, britain couldn't even count on its traditional allies in the eu — the dutch, the scandinavians, the east europeans — to push their case. the fact is that the eu was united. and good luck to britain — that's the feeling of mr macron. and yet, the french, the germans, everybody loses here, don't they, because there will be tariffs if there is no deal in both directions. plus, we know, for example, that the uk—us relationship on security and defence and intelligence is extremely strong, it's very important, isn't it, to the security of the whole of europe, so there are losses all around. absolutely. but the security, the military, all that will stay because the relationship

between the uk and france to the atomic bomb, the permanent seat on the security council, lots of coordination on terrorism and migration and all of that, of course will be preserved. the big if would economically. but the eu feels the hit is more important for the british than the eu. ashis ray, reports in indian newspapers, as i said earlier, that borisjohnson has been invited to india injanuary. that hasn't been confirmed here. what would that signify — what could that mean? trade with india still is a relatively small for both countries, isn't it? yes, it is remarkably small. in fact, i would venture to say that trade between the two countries has underperformed, because these two countries have been trading for more than 400 years. so it is now around 20 billion, which is really a minute figure

compared to britain's trade with the european union, for instance. but what's happening is this — britain, in the event — and this looks more and more likely — of exiting the european union without a free trade agreement, is looking for partners with a similar kind of arrangement. already, britain and japan have reached a free trade agreement, and that is precisely what britain and india are exploring. my understanding is that it won't be a comprehensive free trade agreement. it will be limited, it will be strategic, but that is what india and britain are exploring. in fact, this has been on the anvil for more than four years but it hasn't made much progress. in the last couple of months, though, there has been movement and i dare say that next month, if boris johnson goes to india to be the chief guest at india's republic day parade, then some kind of an agreement

— at least a memorandum of understanding — will be reached during johnson's visit to india. and, simon, we have rishi sunak married to the daughter of one of india's richest... family. ..men, exactly, how much do those personal links help? priti patel, of course, as well, in the home office. india willjust be one country they are looking to. i think rishi has made a good point. given the historical connection between the two countries and india such a massive investor in the uk, the amount of trade that is actually done between the two countries is pitifully small, and that is something borisjohnson will be looking to increase. one of the interesting things is in order to have that relationship, you will see that people from india are the top visa getters into the uk. they realise that india has got a lot of very highly qualified engineers, very strong in software and in other technological areas, which the uk really

wants to foster. so i do see that memorandum of understanding, i would expect, as ashis was saying, will be something along the lines of bilateral investment, visa cooperation, technology, and i think those personal connections that you mentioned the chancellor being married into one of the richest families in the world, notjust india, who knows, that could also help. and yet, marc, we're still not at the point where we know exactly how the brexit story is going to end. politically, how big a moment does it feel? obviously, we are talking about this in the context of a global pandemic where huge change has come to all of us and everyone is a bit fatigued by brexit but still, it is a massive political shift, isn't it? well, it is a massive event. because for 47 years, not only has britain been part of the eu, but more important, britain forged a lot of it, including the single market and all

of the laws of the eu. so we are — the europeans — are losing this expertise. they are losing the link with the former colonies and the commonwealth. they are losing also the exchange of technology and all of this. this being said, from the eu point of view, the godsend isjoe biden, because he is perceived as pro—european because of his irish roots, he is close to the french and the germans. the eu is counting on a better relationship with the us to counterbalance the loss of britain. but the loss of britain is terrible. just to remind the brexiteersis that the eu didn't want britain to go. the eu supported remain.

the remain camp lost, britain is leaving, but there are so many close links, including — let's not forget, london is the second french city in the terms of french population. that these things will be preserved. but let's hope there will be a an agreement. we are entering a new phase. inaudible you know, the notion of sovereignty is completely alien to the eu. national sovereignty, which transcend defenders... inaudible immigration was one of the key drivers of the original brexit vote, we think. it has gone right down politically as a concern in the uk, very interestingly.

visas from india and elsewhere was always a key factor. do you think it will be harder or do you think it will be more fairfor indians and others from other parts of the world to come to the uk and work and live and study? i think a free trade agreement between britain and india will attempt to loosen this traffic both ways. in fact, what india has been looking for is really intracompany transfers in the software sector, for instance, so that a major company like, say, tata consultancy, who are well entrenched in this country and want, from time to time, their staff in india to come and work here for lets a couple of years, that is a kind of loosening that india is looking for. and britain would want some sort of access to india's legal

profession and fintech and the like. it's going to be a give and take. it will be limited and strategic but talking about immigration, you make a good point. the brexiteers really wanted sovereignty and a stop to immigration, particularly i guess from europe. that being the case, barring the hardliners who didn't care about the consequences, the brexiteers, mostly, wanted britain to remain part of the european common market. unfortunately, that looks rather remote at the moment. although i dare say, as marc mentioned earlier, talks could resume in the new year.

and i think both sides will try very, very hard to reach a free trade agreement because that would be in the interests of both sides. at the moment, in borisjohnson's words, it is a failure of statecraft. that is a long shot. i was talking to a former cabinet minister last night who was on the remain side and he thought this was very, very unlikely. as for extending it beyond the 1st ofjanuary, again, he thought that was unlikely. i think marc was right, this issue of sovereignty. it wasn't front and centre at the beginning of the referendum but it has emerged as the big one. because, if you think of the uk and the eu being like this in terms of standards, the uk says, "we're not going to do this but if you do this, for example, lower the average working week, we are not prepared to move or be threatened with tariffs if we don't do the same thing". to them, that is not only unacceptable, it's almost humiliating. that is not sovereignty. other people would say this idea of sovereignty is an illusion. even in the world trade organization, if you don't play

by the rules, you get tariffs. witness the ding—dong between airbus and boeing. when a government does whatever it wants, there are sanctions applied. former chancellor, george osborne, wrote in the evening standard newspaper, the remain argument, you end up taking the rules of the eu without having any say in how they are set. for pragmatic reasons, if you want to trade with the eu, you have got to have a level of alignment. if you play on someone's pitch, you need to know which rules you are playing by. the argument rests on which rules we're playing by, what happens if we disagree and who monitors it. some say we could set up a body, basically couple people from eu member states, couple delegates from the uk and then you have a referee in charge to say what the penalty should be, how bad the infraction has actually been. other people say do that and you are essentially recreating the european commission! brexiteers would say there is already a body called the world trade organization.

remember, that comes with a swingeing tariffs. businesses, as a business editor, i go round and businesses have their head in their hands thinking how did we get here. it is a damaging prospect. finally, on that thought, who is most worried? how are we going to feel it with a no—deal brexit? firstly we will feel probably in logistics and haulage, just getting stuff from a to b. cross border. 20% of all goods traded come in from the port of dover. we say we will waive things through but it doesn't look like it will be reciprocated on the other side. miles and miles, thousands of trucks potentially and there is a pilot going on as we speak in kent. and there have been other ones, some exercises in france led to miles of tailbacks. we could be looking at a very disruptive new year period. it is not over yet, we have a few hours. but a former cabinet minister says he thinks it is a long shot right now.

fascinating. if brexit was partly about curbing immigration and the fallout of globalisation, it's certainly not the only country facing huge challenges. india has seen strikes this week by punjabi farmers worried about liberalisation. the prime minister, narendra modi, wants to open up markets to the private sector, but farmers are worried about their sale prices falling. all this amid, of course, the pandemic hitting economic growth rates in india. but modi and the bjp have a huge following in india with a weakened opposition congress party unwilling to cast off dynastic leadership. meanwhile, narendra modi has this week laid the foundation stone for a new parliament building to replace the old british empire monuments by edward lutyens, with creations designed by indians. something of interest to show boris johnson if indeed he is invited to delhi in the new year. ashis, first on the farmer's strike. it's a moment to look up

on youtube, if you didn't see it, of borisjohnson not quite understanding the question in parliament this week what was going on with this strike. it is a concern for modi to see so many people on the streets, farmers not earning huge amounts of money and worried about sale prices falling. yes, the farmers' agitation has been brewing for a few months. but it has reached a point where i think there is a real confrontation. what has happened is that farmers have travelled from various parts of india, particularly the farmers from the state of punjab. they are literally camping outside delhi on highways. they have set up temporary townships, as it were, on these highways. they are living on. and there are, literally, again, iwould imagine hundreds of thousands of them on the highways. and their demand is that,

and this is a primary demand and not the entire demand, is that what is called minimum support price for their crops has to be maintained. and this minimum support price has been guaranteed by the indian government for now 50 years. they do not see this as being guaranteed in three farm acts, which were passed earlier this year by the modi government. the government appears to have moved a bit in the direction of concessions and are willing to incorporate a minimum support price guarantee, if you like, in the acts, which had been passed. but, that said, i think the farmers have hardened their stance. and they are saying that they want a complete

repeal of all three acts and to start afresh. marc, the french are used to seeing street protests, of course, but should other european countries be reaching out more to india rather than china ? it is a democracy. it is in the process of liberalisation, something to be welcomed? first, it is an off authoritarian democracy. i think they would deny that very strongly in india. modi is an authoritarian. this being said, china supersedes everything. especially the relationship between britain and china with the uae. the chinese markets are perceived as more open, less bureaucratic. less protectionist. and also germany is very close to china because on the

the engineering, exporter in france because of the nuclear. at the luxury industry. 0k... unless india opens completely, there is very little chance that the eu will look at the indian market as it is. simonjack? sorry, we are nearly out of time, just want to bring in simon. the india — china fight. i'm no expert on indian farm policy, but what i can say is there are big forces at work here. the deterioration of the relationship between the us and china and also for businesses, what they discovered during the pandemic, they had an awful lot of eggs in one basket. in manufacturing in china. india realises that they noticed that and there is an opportunity for india to take up some of that business from china. they need to be more open and have market reforms, as marc said and as ashis said, some of these market reforms are hitting the traditional power base. when you deregulate like that, you will always come up against that.

that is the friction we are seeing at the moment. india will try to get in a position to take some of the chinese business and to do that, as marc said, you need to de—regulate and become more open. but that is not without problems. ashis, kamala harris, she is half indian, vice president—elect, key indians in politics at the moment in the uk. is this a good moment for indians abroad? i am sure that indians are proud of the fact that indians or people of indian origin are reaching heights in politics in western countries but kamala harris is politically, ideologically not on the same page as narendra modi. while she may be half indian there are definite differences. including differences on kashmir which india would find difficult to resolve. there is a common concern

as far as britain and india are concerned. and that common concern is china. ok, i'm really sorry to interrupt, we are out of time ashis this hour. thank you all very much, i wish we had longer. that's it for dateline london for this week — my thanks to ashis ray, marc roche and simonjack. shaun ley is here next week. from me goodbye for now and thanks for watching. hello there, the more persistent rain we had on sunday is being chased away by showers that are streaming in from the atlantic. it means that a mild start to monday. temperatures have been rising in scotland in the north—east of england. those numbers might not change an awful lot throughout the day. we start

with a lot of showers in scotland, perhaps on longer spells of rain. muscle showers feeding into the western side of the uk. some will get blown inland but some spotty sunny spells too. many showers in northern ireland and the showers as in northern scotland. elbusto to south to south—westerly wind. but of course is a mild wind and it will be a mild day on monday. the temperature is higher in scotla nd the temperature is higher in scotland and parts of northern england two england but they we re england two england but they were on sunday. highest amateur in the south—east of england and east anglia at 13 degrees. some heavy showers here later on in the day your showers, possible sunshine and lighter winds on tuesday but then it gets windy again, especially on the west in wednesday and more rain on the way.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: the first covid vaccine is being shipped around the us. mass immunisation begins on monday. talks about a post—brexit trade deal are extended. the uk and eu promise to "go the extra mile" to reach an agreement. tributes are being paid to the spy novelistjohn le carre, who's died aged 89. his began his working life as a secret agent. it really was as if the whole of my life had prepared me for this moment. and climb every mountain: the adventurer who's defying the odds to reach his own personal peak.