coronavirus restrictions yet, just days before the christmas holidays. several other countries are expected to follow their lead, amid record cases and deaths across the region. the british government is expected to strengthen its advice to help prevent covid infections during the christmas season. but it's unlikely to reverse a decision to ease the lockdown over five days, despite some medical experts warning it could cost lives. the most senior republican in congress, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, has finally congratulated joe biden on winning the presidential election last month. but president trump still refuses to concede, making unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud. prince harry and meghan markle say they will be making podcasts for spotify. the company says the couple will tell "uplifting and entertaining stories", starting with a holiday special later this month.

hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are the broadcaster david davies and and katy balls — the deputy political editor of the spectator. tomorrow's front pages, starting with. christmas restrictions are dominating the headlines tomorrow. the sun calls it ‘the fight before christmas‘. the mail reports that christmas gatherings have been given the go—ahead but ministers will warn people to keep celebrations local. the times leads with the same story. the paper reports that borisjohnston has ruled out scrapping covid plans for christmas, but will discourage people from visiting elderly relatives.

the news that families plans to ‘bubble up‘ for christmas could be in jeopardy is the metro's choice of lead story. it reports that leading medical experts believe the decision could kill many more people. the guardian leads with the news that uk leaders are meeting tomorrow to decide if more more stringent measures are needed across the festive period. the discussion about tightening of restrictions also leads the telegraph. but its front page also features brexit, with the paper claiming conservative mp‘s have been primed to vote for a possible brexit deal at the beginning of next week. and finally the financial times claims that the uk is drawing up plans to rival singapore as a hub for shipping companies to register their vessels after brexit.

so, let's begin. the times, pretty clear not to the prime ministers under pressure, but he is refusing to revoke christmas covid—19 freedom. of the got something else of the papers haven't? my thought is that the time is very clear that borisjohnson and some of the other papers are as well, borisjohnson some of the other papers are as well, boris johnson is some of the other papers are as well, borisjohnson is leading from the front, whether you agree with them or not or you support them or you don't. use leading from the front and he is not apparently following the science as we heard so much about the early days of this awful virus and she is probably not doing the same, isn't going to do the same as possibly some the other countries in the united kingdom. but

this story is saying that he does not want to change the existing plans, but he does want to warn people about what they're doing and perhaps it is not such good news for grandma looking for a lot of hugs because boris johnson grandma looking for a lot of hugs because borisjohnson may be telling the country to only travel locally evenif the country to only travel locally even if you do have three different families in your bubble as you are allowed to do for those five precious days either side of christmas. and this is mind made up totally on this? we have seen in u—turns from coronavirus from the government and that is because of changing circumstances. i don't think anything is completely definite. it is clear that the prime minister wants to keep the rules in place as much as possible. the rules that he came up with agreed with by

the devoted ministrations. but the hopein the devoted ministrations. but the hope in government and it is interesting that the times the telegraph is can you, in a way keep the rules as they are, free households for five days, but change the language around it to the point where you have an effect in terms of some people choose not to socialise to the full degree, the idea that it is not a target, it is a limit in it will have the right effect. there are times we talked about how people would be encouraged to stay local, not this elderly relatives. there's nothing about how they will be fined if they do that, they'll be in trouble if they do that. i think the idea is trying to get people to behave responsibly, cautiously but the question i think it is, is that going to be enough for the devolved administrations because i think the senses is, what they want boris johnson to do this, there is more of a concrete changed what is on offer. the mirror has a

very different writing on this. all they want for christmas is a decision and the stubborn pm has warned it may spark a deadly third wave of covid—i9 and you would expect them to take this line but the problem is going to be with the devolved regions if they do decide they want a different year as it we re they want a different year as it were on this, that is going to cause chaos. two things in the story, and rather odd first paragraph from the mirror is the borisjohnson has refused to put amnesties. amnesties and that is a bit clearer, even if a wonderfulfirst and that is a bit clearer, even if a wonderful first part. the and that is a bit clearer, even if a wonderfulfirst part. the more serious point of the story is that

there is no doubt that boris attitude has risks and you can imagine there is a horrendous spike, particularly and not in others could have done rather different and what can be said then. looking at the guardian, by bringing around us different regions a0 minutes ago, and she was in for political cover but he's not getting it at the moment and it is felt to save several missteps of this pandemic and not taking action sooner. and i think there is a hindsight that they could take some decisions and perhaps lock down centre, the first time in one of the things you're hearing from the tory party is a germy hunt is forcing concern over the health secretary and are we going to be same situation amongst

time so why was that decision made andl time so why was that decision made and i do think that the difficulty for the government is to have a balancing act here and it is not just for loneliness or whether people actually do need that picked me up and sing some family, that they have not seen for very long time, it's also about obedience and adherence to the rules and they come up adherence to the rules and they come up with this was initially so the few weeks ago, the reason was taken into consideration was not that people are going to see their families regardless of christmas with her friends, and they have to have some the their breaking the rules, or the idea that if you break the rules once, it is easy to break the rules once, it is easy to break the rules once, it is easy to break the rules again and i think there is a concern that you might have mass rule breaking around christmas they'll make it harder injanuary on a tiered system, even if there is a tightening in some parts, there is another thing that they have to grapple with. the problem here is

and this was pointed out by keir starmer today, that the facts have changed. the government was hoping that the numbers to be decreasing by the stage and in fact they are rising. we have the new variant, of the virus now as well. that is absolutely true and for particular the southeast of england, to be getting worse. it has to be pointed out again that the figures for example, the northwest of england have been improving and my belief is that there's a strong feeling in some elements of government that cannot be seen to be clobbering the northwest of and manchester in particular and purely because of this awful increase in the southeast as well and the other thing which katie is referred to is a question of enforcement and please submit a very clear that they don't intend to

join people for their christmas and break into their christmas lunches and decide where everybody is coming from and the whole question of enforcement is a very real problem for this or any government. the key to all of this is the vaccine in the eye, katie has got an exclusive on this and just talk us through that. this is quite worrying reading and its frustration on the roll-out of the vaccine where the first country to approve that vaccine and so it was very good on the first day, lovely interviews, photographs of the elderly receiving that jab but what the paper has is that actually, as that is being rolled out and move to gps, there lots of problems that they are experiencing, one is that they are experiencing, one is that the jab has incredibly cold temperature and in some cases, if they have the right fridges for the

syste m they have the right fridges for the system that is an overloaded not working and when they say they have to have a pen and paper, getting the vaccine and so, a few of these things if you interesting quotes saying that this is not going to plan and there's a lot to be getting to grips with and when you try something of this scale, particularly when you're the first country doing it. you will encounter some hurdles and perhaps not succeed the first time and it all goes into making sure that the right people get them and some individuals perhaps signed up to get the vaccine road linked and the priority group the needs of the vaccine are not 19 euros are care workers and it clearly needs to be a tightening up of the system because the sense in government is the way we get out of the tier system and are allowed to socialise more than five days or whatever it's going to be through

the vaccine so it has to get under control. in this the worst possible news because they were targeted by critics just a few weeks ago, people saying that are you up to it, we do not think you are. they had of the hs that we are and everyone was hoping not to see this interval was predicting teething problems, if not serious problems. there are bits of text and trace which took a while to get off the ground and there another worry, perhaps everyone and all this, the fear of the take—up of the vaccine has become available i would, particularly young people are they going to not be keen to take the vaccine and if the take—up is not substantial, and of course there's another problem. trade deal will rise as pm prepares

for votes next week and the people, do they feel something is up?” think there's lots of speculation on tory mps that he could be on its way. if you scratch the surface and a lot of people that could be putting together coming up with the deal being immanent in the question is does two plus two equals four or the coming up with a different figure and that is not where we are going. and in terms of negotiations, it is not about her going really well but, no need to downplay it. and you've heard lots of signs about how bad it was going and that is gone and so, no bad news is taking this good news in terms of progress and the way tory mps are talking at the moment is because they're working out when they can go on the christmas holidays and in a sense, they may have been parliament next

week. not very far, can they, not many people can go very far at all. not at this rate. and perhaps, boris johnson agrees that whether it's their constituency or perhaps not working, and parliament, there is a sense that they want to obviously know when they are off and the they could be in parliament next week, on what they need to vote on but it has to be before the new year andl but it has to be before the new year and i think there is some talk of a boxing day vote which i don't think any of us are particularly thrilled at the prospect of. someone for such work on christmas day. david, would you think of this? two years ago this christmas, my namesake, told me ata this christmas, my namesake, told me at a christmas event that he would guarantee to me that there would be a deal at the very last minute of

the very last hour and he stuck to that position and i bowed to his greatjudgement on this and my own feeling is that, as a think as an hour ago, the failure for both the european union and the united kingdom of not getting a deal will be very real indeed. the uk floated a rival impulse brexit shipping tax revamp. am i right in thinking that this is what they're talking about impulse brexit being seen as a single poor on teams, is this quite interesting. a blue skies thinking report but it sounds quite exciting for somebody like the prime minister was been talking about wanting to resurrect this for maritime history. there was

a lot of talk in singapore on the teams and it was used to make the eu think they had to talk to us because we can get really competitive and other times were saying that we're not going to be singapore, you should work for us. we were talking like he is very specific thing that we are listening to and competing with singapore and as you say, boris johnson, deal or no deal, wants to have some clear brexit victory to show people look, these are the things we can do differently and this is something the getting from this is something the getting from this and what this is reporting is one way to do that and if you look at in relation to richie sumac, the free reports and the ideas basically, if you restrict these rules, there's more you can do in terms of tax regimes and that means you can do more on shipping. and as

they described in this article, it is worth noticing however that the ships registered under the uk has actually gone down since the brexit vote and so there is a bit of a way to go and if this plan is going to come to fruition. and on the positive side, it would create a lot ofjobs. it would positive side, it would create a lot of jobs. it would create a lot of jobs initially 2500 jobs but we are told some 25,000 jobs in related industries but the great days of nelson and all those great historicalfigures nelson and all those great historical figures that we learned in our history lessons at school, is that going to come very soon? i somewhat doubted. tory escapes house—building bonanza after new eu turn. building

algorithm that would dramatically affect its conservative southern heartlands is not going to happen anymore. that's a surprise, isn't it? boris johnson spoke about this radical plan that he wanted to do and it was with the big plan b from the government and seen to unveil the government and seen to unveil the plan, lots of tory mps who already worry about these new developments heard the word algorithm and had painful flashbacks to recent algorithms gone wrong and a levels, exam results and problems the algorithm there and lobbying campaign as we've had algorithms groups, working groups which work together to suggest that they don't wa nt together to suggest that they don't want these planning reforms to hit them and actually, it appears they have been successful and the algorithm is going, there is a new plan and what we are going to see is

actually a lot less in terms of house—building in the south compared to cities in the north where there will be more and i think there is a victory we think about those tory mps who want to have this mass house—building. mps who want to have this mass house-building. i think i think katie is being katie is theresa house-building. i think i think katie is theresa may was one of those reading this. surprise, surprise, she no longer has defined an additional room for additional 221 homes in their constituency. in maidenhead constituency. so, i think it is no surprise surely that the tory campaign against the sort of thing, that is the strength still in

the conservative party for all the stories that you hear. 30 seconds, katie. to the right of that story, a reason to smoke cigars and tick the boxes. this is a lovely story in the archaeologist uncovered when the biggest treasures in the scottish archive and so, she was in aberdeen and discovered a flag of her home country and looking deeper, she actually found that it was the fragments 5000 euros fragments of artefacts from the great pyramid and so, quite a surprise and i know that she expected in scotland and in practice, i think that it was older than that and precious piece of history from actually from egypt. digging around in those boxes, michelle is behind you there, david.

absolutely, i shall be rushing to the task you have sent me immediately after this programme. we are out of time, what a shame. really nice to have you both on. thank you very much for taking us through that second look at the papers. good evening. this is your sports news. chelsea missed the chance to move top of the premier league after pedro neto scored the winner for wolves in the fifth minute of added on time at moilneux. 0livier giroud had put chelsea ahead in the second half, but daniel podence levelled matters just after the hour mark, and then with 95 minutes on the clock, neto grabbed the winner to hand wolves a first win in three matches, taking them tenth. manchester city were held to a 1—1 draw by west brom having gone ahead on the half hour mark through ilkay guendogan, but a rubenm dias own goaljust

before half time brought it level with albion keeper sam johnstone making some vital saves late on. tomorrow, arsenal will be looking for a much needed win over southampton after making their worst start to a season in a6 years. manager mikel arteta has admitted he must "take the bullets" for the club's poor form, having lost four of their past five league games. they're 15th in the table and nowjust five points above the relegation zone. we have to face it and we have to face that we embrace fighting and no one giving up or anything. there is no time to hide, it's time to put your face and body on the line. at the moment, i'm sorry, but we have to take the bullet. we are not winning matches. you have the right to hate me because i'm not winning, so what else can i do? put my head down, work harder and fight to do

things better and improve. bournemouth are the new leaders in the championship after a 1—0 win over ten man wycombe. junior stanislas got the goal, while brentford also had a player sent off at watford. despite being a goal down, an ivan toney penalty was enough for thomas frank's side to snatch a point. elsewhere, barnsley beat preston 2—1 to go ninth, millwall won at bristol city, nottingham forest moved clear of the relegation zone with a win over bottom side sheffield wednesday and it was goalless between stoke and qpr. hibernian are into the scottish league cup semi finals after beating championship club alloa 2—1. a paul hanlon own goal had put alloa ahead, but two second half goals from christian doidge saw hibs progress to the last four. elsewhere, dunfermline beat stjohnstone on penalties after it finished 1—1 after extra time. rangers will be without striker alfredo morelos for their quarter final at st mirren tomorrow. the club have accepted a two—game ban following this incident in sunday's win at dundee united. he'll also miss saturday's league

match against motherwell. aston villa captain jack grealish has been banned from driving for nine months and fined a total of £82,a99. it's after this incident, when he crashed his range rover during march's coronavirus lockdown. the england international was sentenced at birmingham magistrates‘ court after previously pleading guilty to two charges, including one linked to this incident in which his axa hit two parked vehicles in solihull in the west midlands. the first day of the world darts championship saw a lucky crowd of 1000 at alexandra palace in london, and they were treated to something a little different. defending champion peter wright came out dressed as the grinch for his match up with steve west, which he comfortably won 3 sets to 1. tier 3 restrictions come into effect from midnight, meaning tomorrow will see no fans able to attend. sir frank williams, who built the williams team into one of the most successful in formula 1, is in a stable

condition in hospital. the 78—year—old's family said his condition is a private matter and won't release any further details. he had spent time in hospital in 2016 with pneumonia. he and daughter claire stepped away from williams earlier this year after its sale to us investors. one other f1 line. briton callum ilott will be ferrari's test driver next year. the 22—year—old finished second to mick schumacher in formula 2 and said the move was a "great opportunity". england's women will begin the defence of their cricket world cup title against australia in 2022. they'll meet in hamilton on the 5th of march. england took the crown on home soil in 2017 with victory over india. the 50—over a side competition was moved back a year due to the covid—19 pandemic, with the same six venues in new zealand hosting the 31 matches. the former yorkshire bowler azeem rafiq has filed a legal complaint against the club under the equality act, following his allegations

of institutional racism at the club. rafiq played for the county for ten years until 2018, but said in august that incidents had left him close to taking his own life. he claimed he suffered "direct discrimination and harassment on the grounds of race". the club say they've taken the allegations made extremely seriously, and are launching a thorough independent investigation, with results expected early next year. they added racism has no place in society or the sport. and in rugby, danny cipriani has left gloucester with immediate effect after two and a half years at the premiership club. it's thought the england international departs as part of the overhaul at kingsholm, which started during lockdown with a new director of rugby and head coach. he's been replaced by scotland fly—half adam hastings. and just one line to bring you that's on our website. it comes from the nba. milwaukee bucks star giannis antetokounmpo has signed a five—year contract extension worth just over £170 million,

the richest deal in the sport's history. there's more on that and all the other stories at bbc.co. uk/sport. hello there. a deep area of low pressure spreading northwards across western parts of the country overnight. it's brought a swathe of rain and gales. and it's going to stay pretty windy throughout the day today with further heavy rain at times, which will continue to move northwards and eastwards. so, a wet, windy start across much of the west, that heavy rain pushing across much of scotland, followed by blustery showers for northern ireland, western scotland. a band of rain will spread eastwards across england as well, though not reaching the far southeast until later on. it's going to be a windy day for all but not as windy in the afternoon as how the morning will start, as the winds will slowly ease down. another fairly mild day on the face of it, nine to 11 degrees, but factor in the wind, it might not feel quite mild. now, wednesday's low pushes

to the north of the uk. we're between weather systems for thursday, so it's going to be another fairly breezy day but dry for many, with some good spells of sunshine, particularly across eastern scotland, eastern england. and there will be some showers around, particularly in the west, and then later in the day, we'll start to see some rain piling in. it's going to be another mild one for most.

this is bbc news. i'm tim willcox with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. days before covid restrictions are relaxed in england over christmas, two leading medical journals say the move would be a mistake that could cost countless lives. europe imposes some of the toughest restrictions yet ahead of the christmas holidays in a desperate bid to avoid more coronavirus infections. a senior republican finally break ranks with donald trump — mitch mcconnell, the most powerful us republican after the president, congratulatesjoe biden on his election win. and a royal deal with spotify — the duke and duchess of sussex agree to produce and host a series of podcasts.