today at six, growing pressure on ministers to change their minds about relaxing covid rules for christmas. we're all getting in the festive mood but leading medical experts say lives could be lost. our health system is not going to manage if we allow the current trend to continue on top of the super spread event that will be these five days at christmas. the decorations are up, and the presents are ready but what if it all falls through? the turkey is on order, 15 lb turkey, if there's onlyjill and i for christmas dinner, that's a hell of a lot of turkey to eat, you know. also on tonight's programme... classroom covid — as one in five secondary pupils in england stays away,

the government announces mass testing in schools next month. protecting children online — a new law could mean tech giants losing billions in fines. workers in the hospitality business are the worst hit as the jobless total rises to 1.7 million. one man and his very special guide dog — dave kent is planning a christmas surprise for his four—legged friend. and coming up on bbc news, aston villa captainjack grealish says he's deeply ashamed after being given a nine—month driving ban and an £80,000 fine for two motoring offences. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. there's mounting pressure

on the government and the devolved administrations to change the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions over christmas. in a rare joint editorial, two of the country's leading medical journals are warning that the easing of rules for a five—day period would cost many lives. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has also urged ministers to see where the rules need toughening up. within the last hour, the cabinet office minister, michael gove, has been talking to the leaders in belfast, edinburgh and cardiff and they will discuss the matter again tomorrow. here's our health editor hugh pym. christmas mixing will be a big mistake, that is the bleak message from two publications representing health and medical leaders. if the rules agreed by the uk administrations which allow some household mixing are unchanged, they argue that virus cases will escalate and the nhs will be overrun. the real striking, stark truth of the matter is that our health system is

not going to manage if we allow the current trend to continue on top of the soup at spread event that will be these five days of christmas with three or more household meeting —— super spread. people will find it ha rd to super spread. people will find it hard to stick to the rules. but ministers were sticking to the line that people should make their own decisions within the rules set out. we have to trust the british people to act responsibly and do the minimum necessary for them within theirfamily minimum necessary for them within their family situation. but we should recognise it has been a very difficult year for many families, many families will want to come together. but the government at westminster is facing calls to look again at the planned easing of restrictions over christmas. again at the planned easing of restrictions over christmaslj again at the planned easing of restrictions over christmas. i say to everybody, look at the evidence as it is, the last few days have seena as it is, the last few days have seen a spike in infections going up, notwithstanding the tiered system, we can't ignore that, it needs to be reviewed and done urgently now. and the scotland first minister suggested there might need to be a rethink. it is important we have

that discussion across the four nations, given family patterns across the uk, but i do think there was a case for at looking at whether we tighten the flexibilities we are given any further both in terms of duration and numbers of people meeting. the politicians will have to try to gauge public opinion. meeting. the politicians will have to try to gauge public opinionlj to try to gauge public opinion.” don't think they should cancel it fiow don't think they should cancel it now at this late stage, people have made arrangements and bought food. it's not fair to do it this last minute. we were thinking about spending time on different days with my husband's family on one particular day and my family on another but we have decided against it now. you're happy to have your injection? yes. vaccination centres up injection? yes. vaccination centres up and running including this one at barnet football club where they're hoping to get through 350 jabs each day, starting with the over 80s and the first appointment today. the queues started ahead of our start time. it has been so heartening to

see so many time. it has been so heartening to see so many patients arrive. these are elderly, our most frail patients. vaccination centres like this may have got under way but it will take at least four weeks and two jabs to build up protection and the process of getting through the most vulnerable patients will take time. and doctors in the north london area are very concerned about the rising case numbers they are seeing now. it is a phenomenal threat, it is very worrying, the numberof threat, it is very worrying, the number of cases and results come in with patients being covid positive and actually unwell, especially this time of year when we have the easing of the lockdown, people are mixing with each other, with families, it is rising. other european countries are tightening up in response to higher infections. the netherlands, for example, has moved into a new lockdown with only limited household visits allowed for three days over christmas. the uk's governments have to decide if they will go the same way. hugh pym, bbc news.

with christmas just ten days away, many families will already have made plans to meet up. so with all these calls for a rethink, what are families planning to do? jon kay has been hearing from people about the tough decisions they're having to make. his report contains some flashing images. you've nobody there when you want a hug and there's nobody there in the morning when you come down. joe didn't want to be alone this christmas but the big family dinner he had been planning will now be a mealfor one. he has cancelled his trip from bristol to his sister in the midlands because he is worried about covid being spread around the country. no matter how much that would have been lovely and how much time, how much we needed to, but actually spending time together was not going to be the best thing. how difficult a decision was that? emotionally, very difficult. logically, not particularly.

i'm not being a scrooge and a bah humbug and all that, i think people just have to be sensible this year and really think deeply about what really matters to them. santa will still be visiting but as for other house guests, well, tonight lots of plans are on ice. we are preparing as we normally do but we're just waiting to see what's going to happen. robin and jill are still hoping to have their children and grandchildren to stay with them in durham. they have been following all the rules but now the rules might change. the turkey is on order, 15 lb turkey. if there is onlyjill and i for christmas dinner, that's a hell of a lot of turkey to eat, you know. jill, what does it feel like from your point of view? you know, we kind of tried to take as much advice as possible, all the family have been as careful as they can. we haven't got the excitement that we usually have, in the back of our mind we are just thinking, is this going to happen?

isn't it going to happen? covid has even caught up with this house in somerset. the owners spent months preparing a huge charity display but the crowds got so big they have now decided to switch off to keep people safe. everyone's christmas plans seem to be going down the drain at the moment, don't they? we are putting off christmas until next year now. normally we decorate the whole inside of the house as well but last night we said let's not bother, the tree is up, that's enough. you've done pretty well, it looks good! we do go quite over—the—top! but no visitors will be here to see this. more christmas plans unplugged. jon kay, bbc news. under the christmas rules as they stand, families will be able to travel across the uk and three households will be allowed to gather under one roof. 0fficial scientific advisors fear those are the perfect conditions for a huge spike in cases.

0ur science editor, david shukman, has been looking at the latest research. it is a precious time of year for restoring morale and scientists researching the virus recognise that. but they also know that spending long hours in packed rooms is the most effective way to spread it. 0n the one hand, schools will be closed over the christmas break along with most workplaces and that should help to reduce infections. but on the other hand, having more people gather indoors is bound to increase transmission. this animation by an industrial modelling company simulates someone infected. researchers are worried. i think there's a big risk over christmas of a transfer of infections from younger groups with more contacts into older age groups who might not usually have this level of mixing, especially in this kind of year, and even in normal years we do see an increase in hospitalisations

for things like pneumonia after the christmas period. the rule across the uk is that three different households can form what is called a bubble over the christmas period and should not be mixing with people outside it. scientists say it is within homes that the virus spreads most easily because people are so close together. on average, someone infected may pass the virus to three others so the more people in a bubble, the greater that risk. and another worry is after christmas, when people who are newly infected return home to other parts of the country and start mixing it with friends and family there. after the american holiday of thanksgiving last month, with 4 million people travelling, health officials are watching for signs of a new surge in infections. british scientists say that their studies show keeping gatherings small will make a big difference. it is easy to imagine a kind of terrible scenario but actually,

when you start modelling it, you can start thinking about how you would balance the increased risks somewhere else and how, if people who don't need to form a christmas bubble decide not to, how that actually improves the overall situation. and if you do get together, open the windows. this animation shows how fresh air helps to disperse the virus. no one can be so sure of the impact of the christmas break but there are ways to reduce the risks. 0ur political correspondent chris mason is in westminsterfor us. christmas rules, ultimately i guess it isa christmas rules, ultimately i guess it is a scientific or medical decision but increasingly, it looks like a political one as well? that's right, george. there has been an essential dilemma through this pandemic for political leaders about the extent to which you snatch away people's liberties in exchange for

trying to protect us all from the virus and what is happening as far as christmas plans are concerned is the ultimate example of that dilemma. governments around the uk are intensely aware of the promises they have made, millions of people have already made plans and will start zipping around the country a week tomorrow to see family and friends who they perhaps have not seen for much of the last year. and yet that noisy clamour from a growing number of medics who say that this is not speculation that more people will die if people mix at christmas, the evidence says that thatis at christmas, the evidence says that that is what will happen. so what on earth do you do as a series of governments? do you talk about it and try to see if there is some way that rules might be tweaked? there has been a discussion involving the four uk government in the next hour which is broken up in the last 15 or 20 minutes. no decisions yet taken but at some suggestion that scotland might go its own way in tightening some restrictions, wales at the moment not keen on doing that. or

the governments will emphasise the importance of personal responsibility. you don't have to do what the rules will allow you to do and all of the governments will talk again tomorrow. chris, many thanks. the poorest children in england have been hit hardest by school disruption this term, according to new research published by the children's commissioner. anne longfield warned pupils could not afford to miss more time in the classroom. her comments come as greenwich council in london backed down over its advice to local schools to move learning online. the government says rapid testing for staff and pupils will be rolled out in secondary schools and further education colleges in england from january. 0ur education editor branwenjeffreys has more. a school day overshadowed by uncertainty. greenwich council in london advised schools to teach online, faced with legal action by the government, a reluctant public climb—down. the government, a reluctant public climb-down. i think one of the sadnesses of the current situation

is we have to recognise we cannot continue to run the pandemic response entirely from whitehall and my responsibility in looking at the data i have for greenwich shows clearly that coronaviruses on the rise and we are rising exponentially and immediate action is required to address that. greenwich is not alone. with cases rising, two at councils have issued similar advice. 0thers telling schools to make their own decisions. south—east england now hit hard as the north west has been. look at this map of the secondary pupil attendance this term. in the darker, red areas, dropped as low as 50% in some places. schools in the north and midlands badly hit. now new analysis shows the poorest communities have lost the most time in school. a warning that this could widen further the gap in exam results. those children now in a situation where they have been falling behind,

they need more support to be able to get to the point where they are on a par with others but really, the differentials in their learning and their time out of school really needs to be recognised in the exam system as we go forward. rapid tests like these are part of the government response. today promised weekly for staff in england schools from january and for pupils in close contact with a case but research has questioned their reliability. back to your point,... in this ethics school, parents have voted with their feet, keeping children home before christmas —— in this school in essex. they have had more cases in the last few days than the rest of the term and now harlow is moving into the high risk tier 3. anything that gives us a safe environment, we have to embrace. seven asymptomatically kids this week, if we know they have the virus, they have not been here and they're not

risking other people getting the virus so that has to be positive and the logistics of how that happened, who enforces it, if it is mandatory, who enforces it, if it is mandatory, who does attest, i'll be expecting 11—year—olds to do that themselves? are we expecting? what responsibility we have for them doing it right? christmas, a brief respite for schools and families with the fear cases could rise in january. bra nwyn jeffreys, with the fear cases could rise in january. branwynjeffreys, bbc news. the latest government figures on coronavirus show another 18,450 cases have been recorded in the latest 24—hour period. it means the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week was 19,697. 1,602 people were admitted to hospital on average each day over the week to last friday. 506 deaths were reported for the last 2a hours — that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. on average in the past week there were a11 deaths per day.

the total number of uk deaths is now 611,908. we now know there is a new mutation of the covid virus in the uk. scientists say that in itself is quite a common occurence and there is no evidence so far that the mutation leads to more severe symptoms. but scientists are trying to learn as much as they can about the new variant and public health england expects to release their findings in the next fortnight. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh has more. the new variant of coronavirus was first identified in september and has since been associated with a rapid rise in cases in south—east england. but it is unclear whether it is the mutation driving that spread. all viruses mutate and evolve and coronavirus is no

different. normally it doesn't alter their behaviour. what is potentially significant about this new variant is that some of the changes are in the surface spike protein which coronavirus uses to dock on to human cells. that could potentially make it more infectious. laboratory analysis will be required to work out if that is the case. we haven't seen any out if that is the case. we haven't seen any association with increased mortality, so the risk to an individual hasn't gone up. but we worry that the risk of transmission might have gone up, so it's absolutely vital to be as vigilant, if not more vigilant than we have been to try and reduce the spread of this variant. vaccines against covid train the immune system to recognise coronavirus. there is no evidence that they will be any less effective. we need a new flu vaccine every year because that virus changes a lot. covid vaccines could

also be modified if needed. the new vaccines are essentially like e—mails that we send to the immune system and they are very easy to twea k, system and they are very easy to tweak, so if we know that the lock has changed very slightly, we just have to edit that e—mail, change a word or two, and the vaccine will be ready in six or eight weeks' time after that. scientists are porton down in wiltshire should know within a week or sojust down in wiltshire should know within a week or so just how significant the new variances. and whether it poses any increased threat to human health. fergus walsh, bbc news. the time is 6.19pm. our top story this evening. pressure mounts on ministers and devolved administrations for a rethink of plans for easing covid restrictions at christmas. and still to come we meet chad the guide dog helping his owner dave navigate life this year. coming up on sportsday on bbc news. we'll have the latest on the dementia crisis affecting rugby, as former players launch legal proceedings against

the game's governing bodies. the harm done to children online is a story we have brought to you on many occasions — you might remember how 1a—year old molly russell's father has campaigned for a new law. well under new laws published by the government today social media companies will face huge fines if they fail to remove and limit the spread of illegal content. it will also force the biggest tech firms to abide by a legal duty of care to protect children. 0ur media editor amol rajan has this report. this is frida, except that is not her real name and this is not her real voice. in her 20s now, she was just 13 when the grooming began online. i got a message from an

older man, just a happy high, a friend request, and i added him because you are 13 and you add whoever you can on facebook to seem like you have loads of friends and stuff. i don't think it took too long for it to get into him for asking for more pictures of me and sexual pictures of me, and him sending me sexual pictures.” sexual pictures of me, and him sending me sexual pictures. i talked to the technology companies that dominate the internet and they would say about this type of thing, as we have built as good a technology as we can to protect you from this stuff. what would you say if they we re stuff. what would you say if they were in the room now?” stuff. what would you say if they were in the room now? i would ask them who is taking responsibility for this because currently the man who has groomed me has not taken any responsibility for what happened on the tech companies did not take any responsibility for what has happened, so the only person taking responsibility for it is me, which is horrible. i am the only one facing up to what has happened.” now call secretary 0liver dowden to make a statement. the culture secretary outline some of the

specifics today. a -year-old should no longer be able to access pornographic images on twitter. youtube will not be to recommend videos promoting terrorist ideologies, and anti—semitic hate crime will need to be removed without delay. senior managers could eventually face criminal prosecution, but that would require secondary legislation. there will be exemptions for smaller firms so as not to stifle innovation. and articles or comments on news websites will be unaffected to protect free speech. i don't think those firms are taking it seriously

enough. ian russell has been campaigning on the issue since the death of his daughter molly, who took our own life. it later emerged she had seen pictures of self on intergroup —— instagram, which is owned by facebook. there are things they could have done better and that could have included criminal sanctions to senior management upfront and that more than 1,200 people in scotland died of drug misuse last year, the highest since records began in 1996. it's up 6% on 2018 and the figure is more than double what it was in 2014. most of those who died were men

between the ages of 35 and 5a. scotland has the worst drug death rate in europe. official figures show there were 819,000 fewer employees on company payrolls in november than in february — that's before the start of the pandemic. hospitality was the worst hit sector, accounting for a third of the job losses, followed by retail. our business correspondent, sarah corker, reports. at what it supposed to be their busiest time of year, many shops, pubs and cafes here in manchester stand silent, some now empty. this is the economic pain lockdowns and restrictions. young people are facing the most challenging jobs market for a generation. for graduates like anna in london come competition for work is fierce.” have been financially providing for myself and i feel completely helpless, i can't do that, i can't provide for myself and back in the

family home feeling a bit like a burden, like, whatam i doing? family home feeling a bit like a burden, like, what am i doing? many are cutting back this christmas as the uk unemployment rate continues to rise. in the three months to 0ctober, it increased to 4.9%, nearly 1.7 million people out of work and redundancies have hit a record high. this was the peak during the financial crisis that has been exceeded. there were 370,000 redundancies between august and 0ctober. redundancies between august and october. this has been described as an economic emergency. that were 819,000 fewer employees on company payrolls in november compared with the start of this pandemic and a third of thosejob the start of this pandemic and a third of those job losses were in the hospitality sector. the owner of this manchester cafe has already shut one site permanently and cut a quarter of his workforce. the virus has meant that essentially we have

been shut down as an industry and as a result there has been a huge amount of jobs lost. a result there has been a huge amount ofjobs lost. we have lost maybe 25% of our staff so we had to make big decisions about peoples livelihoods and jobs every day and it has been an incredibly tough. livelihoods and jobs every day and it has been an incredibly toughm is the over 50s who often struggle with long—term unemployment. is the over 50s who often struggle with long—term unemploymentm is the over 50s who often struggle with long-term unemployment. it does get a little bit depressing at times. in lancashire, graham's work asa times. in lancashire, graham's work as a freelance business consultant dried up in march. that work redundancies, people losing their jobs, when thurlow is coming to an end you know there will be a wave and it is a competitive market —— furlough. i've been trying but it gets you down. i have ten years left of work and i think i have a lot to give. with effective vaccines now on the horizon, there is some optimism and festive cheer but is the impact of the second lockdown altering through and unemployed is expected

to continue rising in the months ahead. coronavirus has challenged all of us but imagine what it's been like for dave kent, who's visually impaired, and his guide dog, chad. relying on touch is a big part of how he gets around, and the concept of social distancing isn't something chad's trained for. but as a difficult year draws to a close, dave is optimistic about life, his community and what lies ahead. and he's got a special christmas treat for chad. i'm dave kent, i was born with a vision impairment. this is my guide dog of some five and a half years now. his name is chad. good lad, and off we go. we were in toronto in canada when the covid thing was really building up. and we arrived backjust in time. i remember being glued to the radio thinking, how am i going to get back? well, ironically, i arrived back on the 23rd,

which was the day of lockdown. i knew that covid was going to present problems both to myself and to other vision impaired people, but i did not expect, kind of, what the severity of the problems were. chad has no real concept of social distancing. he's trying to guide. he has no concept of a queue, and that can be both quite funny, but can upset some people as well. i have not been going out as much as i normally would, and interacting with people. when times are tough i've always got this beautiful animal to kind of, you know, soak up my tears or have a game in the garden and play. he's my world, he's everything. and yeah, ilove him. # it's christmas

and you're by my side # were going to run, have fun i was involved with the community project that produced a track to celebrate the relationship with chad and myself, but also to give people a christmas hug and what has been, for many of us, a pretty awful year. it's going to be a little different this year, i know. and i will be spending christmas at home with just a couple of friends in my social bubble, eating lots of lovely food. and allowing chad to have some nice gravy on his dinner. that will be good. he looks forward to that for christmas. i hope chad likes his musical treat. time for a look at the weather here's sarah keith lucas. we have had a few showers around today and some clear skies as well. this is how we ended the day in hertfordshire with a beautiful

sunset, some clear skies but the cloud is increasing from the west, so cloud is increasing from the west, so through the course of the night, we will see the cloud bringing outbreaks of rain to the western half of the uk and further east things will set to be dry and that is where temperatures will fall on the lowest in the clear skies in the east. we already have outbreaks of rain pushing across the south into wales and later in the night for northern ireland for south—west scotla nd northern ireland for south—west scotland as well and early showers clearing away from scotland and eastern england and mostly dry through the course of the night and hear temperatures are falling into the low single figures, mild underneath the rain in the west and the wind will be a feature in the next 2a hours or so. through the day tomorrow low pressure dominates, moving its way eastwards moving from west to east, but the wind picking up west to east, but the wind picking up as well. that rain edging across most of england and wales for the afternoon, not reaching east anglia and the south—east till the middle pa rt and the south—east till the middle part of the afternoon and then for scotla nd

part of the afternoon and then for scotland and northern ireland after the morning rain there will