tonight at 10pm... despite pressure from doctors and scientists, the four nations of the uk have broadly agreed to allow the easing of restrictions over christmas. but, with the number of infections rising sharply, it's decided that people should be urged to show "extreme caution" over the five—day period. we all want to send the same message. a smaller christmas is going to be a safer christmas, and a shorter christmas is a safer christmas. but, in cardiff, the welsh government announces tougher restrictions, as parts of the country experience a very sharp rise in cases. this has been such a long and difficult year, but that cannot lift the responsibility from us to act now.

and, in scotland, any interaction with other households should ideally be outdoors, and contact should be limited to one day. normally, we have a huge christmas, loads of games, lots of drinks, lots of partying, all the kids, but this year obviously it's completely different for us. we'll have the detail and the reaction following the latest talks between london, cardiff, edinburgh, and belfast. also tonight... for the first time in the uk, air pollution is listed as a cause of death, in the case of a nine—year—old from south london. three—and—a—half years after the fire at grenfell tower, hundreds of buildings still have flammable cladding, with householders having to pay for fire patrols. # christmas is here once more... and some much—needed christmas cheer — the story of the music teacher who took her lessons online. and coming up in sport on bbc news... champions liverpool take

on leaders tottenham in front of 2,000 fans at anfield, as one of six premier league matches tonight. good evening. despite growing pressure from doctors and scientists to abandon the relaxation of covid restrictions over christmas, the four nations of the united kingdom have broadly agreed to stick to the plans — albeit with adjustments in wales and, to a lesser extent, in scotland. with the number of infections rising sharply, all four nations have decided that people should be urged to show "extreme caution" over the five—day period. the rules initially agreed for all of the uk, between the 23rd and 27th december, allow three households in a "christmas bubble" to mix indoors and to stay overnight, but only if that's unavoidable. wales now wants to limit

the mixing to two households, but those households can be joined by a single person who lives alone. nonessential shops will close on christmas eve, and all of wales will return to a form of lockdown on 28th december. scotland is urging that any interaction with other households should ideally be outdoors, and that contact should be limited to one day. we'll be looking at the christmas plans after today's revisions, and how effective they're likely to be, and we start with this report by our political editor, laura kuenssberg. even sorting the tree hasn't seemed straightforward this year. politicians gave a promise we'd be able to gather together at christmas, a glimmer of light at a grim time but, along with gifts, new concern about the virus is arriving at number ten, so permission to see friends and family comes with stern new advice. we are keeping the laws the same, but we all want to send the same message.

a smaller christmas is going to be a safer christmas, and a shorter christmas is a safer christmas. you are still allowing a five—day period to go ahead when people from all over the country will be able to get together. wouldn't it now be safer, clearer and perhaps braver to ditch the plans to relax the rules over christmas? we don't want to, as i say, ban christmas, to cancel it, and i think that would be, frankly, inhuman. what we are saying is that that guidance, the three households and the five days, that really should be regarded as a maximum, but we are also relying on people's strong, strong sense of personal responsibility. leaders around the uk have tried to stick to the same approach. there will be some limited extra freedom over the festive period in scotland, where soon 80% of people will be living under

tougher restrictions, but there will be no huge knees—up for mother and daughter mags and louise livingstone. we come from a really big family, so normally we have a huge christmas, loads of games, lots of drinks, lots of partying, all the kids, but this year obviously it's completely different for us. the christmas relaxation of the rules will go ahead, but with a similar call for caution. i have to say, i hate with every fibre of my being standing here, trying to regulate how you spend christmas. the reality is that this christmas simply cannot be normal, but we have every reason to hope that next year's will be much more normal. the picture is bleaker in wales, though, where the law is being tweaked so that only two, not three households, can get together. in carmarthen, plans are already changing. we were having three households together, but i think it's just going to be us now. the numbers are increasing as well, aren't they, at the moment, so that is a worry. pressure is intense

on the health service and, with the spread of the disease, wales is going back to a limited lockdown straight after christmas. nobody wants to be ill at christmas, and none of us want to give this deadly disease to our closest family orfriends. in northern ireland, winter illness conspired with covid to fill hospitals to bursting last night, leaving ambulances queueing with patients inside for as long as 12 hours. and that's even before any of the rules are eased up. no surprise, politicians here are telling people to take care, too. be risk—aware at all times. remember the situations and activities that help the virus spread, so keep your distance, stop your contacts with others outside your household or christmas bubble. the political decisions about christmas were never designed to create a free—for—all, but the worsening pattern of the disease has forced a rebrand, if not a rethink.

some families in essex today were worried about the consequences. what's going to happen is it'sjust going to spiral out of control again and i do think they are wrong for doing it. i think it's too late now. i think people have made their plans and i think, if they come in now and change it, people are just going to do what they were planning to do. politicians must balance the dangers from the pandemic with the real cost to so many other aspects of our lives. this year, what's meant to be a time of celebration is a time of real risk, too. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. so, as we've been hearing, the approach in different parts of the uk has changed today, so let's visit scotland, wales and northern ireland to find out more, in a moment we'll hear from james shaw in glasgow, and emma vardy in lisburn, but first to sian lloyd in cardiff. here in wales, tighter restrictions are on their way. nonessential shops and close contact services like hairdressers, together with fitness and leisure centres, must close from the end

of trading on christmas eve and all hospitality venues must shut from 6pm on christmas day. the five—day christmas covid window that had already been agreed remains in place, but the welsh government have told people here they can only form of a bubble of two households by law — although a single person can join them. from 28th december, wales goes into lockdown — which means people are expected to stay at home and public facilities will close. there is no end in sight to these restrictions, but we are told they will be reviewed every three weeks. here in scotland, the restrictions around christmas are already a little tighter than in other parts of the country. so only eight adults from three households should meet indoors, that total not including children under 12. but the guidance today limits even more what people are supposed to do. the scottish government says you should only meet on one of the five days of christmas, the amount of time and the number

of people involved should be as small as possible, and you should not stay in someone else's house unless it is absolutely necessary. also, travel between high—risk and low—risk areas should be avoided. the location of us here in northern ireland means people have been given an extra couple of days for travelling over the christmas period. so people told they may travel to and from northern ireland between 22nd and 28th december. a narrower window though for the christmas bubbling, people are allowed to meet up with other households between 23rd and 27th december, and it's up to three households that can form a christmas bubble. for those heading out for some christmas cheer, pubs and restaurants that serve food are allowed to stay open for now, but there is a limit on opening times — which here in northern ireland is 11pm. but there's still a lot of concern here about high numbers of cases. recent restrictions have not had

the impact ministers had been hoping for so there is still the possibility of further restrictions on hospitality to come. the latest government figures on coronavirus show another 25,161 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 20,923. 1,662 people were admitted to hospital on average each day over the week to last saturday. 612 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 422 deaths per day. the total number of uk deaths is now 65,520. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, is with me.

let's go back to some of the reasoning and the anxieties being expressed during the day by experts. what can you tell us about the level of anxiety? if you look at the detail of some of that data we have just been reporting, we discover that more than 18,000 patients with covid—19 are now in uk hospitals. that's the highest since april and getting close to the peak of 21,000. it compares with just 800 in early september. that's a stark illustration of the way pressure has been building on the nhs, and we heard from professor chris whitty, the chief medical adviser, at today's briefing that any kind of mixing people which wouldn't otherwise have happened will result in higher risk, more cases, more hospitalisations and, sadly, some of them not surviving. in other words, what will happen over christmas. the bma said today relaxing the rules will cost lives and people must

think very long and hard about what they do over christmas. we should add that health officials also acknowledge the benefits of some mixing in terms of people's wellbeing and mental health and those who are lonely. tonight, we have learnt from public health wales that 11,000 extra positive covid tests have been discovered in the system relating to the week ending on the 15th of december. in effect, that doubles the number that were known about. we have seen one or two problems elsewhere in the uk, including england, of test results being delayed in coming forward, but it comes at a very sensitive time, with calls for reassurance for the public that a grip has been got on the situation in wales, but it might reinforce the welsh government's argument for tighter restrictions at christmas. when the three—tier system was introduced in england, people we were told that areas could be moved up or down depending on the infection rates. many towns and cities in the north of england have seen

falling infection rates, and some local authority leaders in tier 3 say it's time for their areas to be moved into tier 2. 0ur north of england correspondent, danny savage, has the latest. it's beginning to look nothing like christmas. nobody is allowed to enjoy the decorations in this pub in leeds at the moment in what should be the busiest week of the year. so how long did it take you to put this lot up? this took, if one person had done it, it would've been 340 hours' worth of work. the landlord here says he'd love to get some customers back, but not if it's just a temporary period before infections rise again. if we're going to go from tier 3 tier 2, back to tier 3 in two weeks, we'd rather not open. it will cost us so much more money to open and close down again, furloughing all staff, cancelling all bills, negotiating rent again. it would make more sense to stay in tier 3 until it's viable to open in tier 2 for the long—term. leeds has been under the toughest restrictions since the start of the second lockdown,

but civic leaders here now believe that the area has met the criteria to move from tier 3 to tier 2, and other towns and cities in the north feel the same. we do still believe there is a very strong case for a substantial part of the city region to be placed in tier 2. and we would ask the government to give regard to the fact that we have been under restrictions now for four and a half months. in leeds, for example, at the start of the second lockdown, there were a16 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 people. the latest bbc analysis shows that this has now dropped to 138 cases per 100,000. the government will decide tonight whether places like leeds and in manchester can drop down to tier 2. i think it'd be nice, yeah, to go down to tier 2, see more friends and family. i think it should stay in tier 3, to be honest. because people just go mad when they lower the tier.

regardless of what happens, this restaurant will stick to takeaways only. they don't believe any increased freedom will be long—lived. we are planning for a lockdown or tier 3 in january. i thinkjanuary is going to be really, really tough. measures are changing, though. last night london, along with parts of essex and hertfordshire, moved up into tier 3. but with cases broadly on the increase again, is there the will to ease restrictions in some areas? danny savage, bbc news, leeds. a nine—year—old girl from south london who died following an asthma attack in 2013 has become the first person in the uk to have air pollution listed as a cause of death. ella adoo—kissi—debrah lived near the south circular road, one of london's busiest routes.

in the three years before her death she'd suffered multiple seizures, and was admitted to hospital on 27 occasions. today, in a landmark ruling, a second inquest into her death found that air pollution made a material contribution to her death. 0ur environment correspondent claire marshall has the story. brendan ella brendan was a healthy child before suddenly starting to suffer asthma attacks so severe she would be put on a ventilator. ella coughs. this cough, an early sign of the damage being done to her lungs. we know now, without doubt, by air pollution. today's decision was the result her mother has been campaigning for for years. we've got the justice for her, which she so deserved. but also, it's about other children still, as we walk around our city, with high levels of air pollution. ella's family home was beside london's busy south circular road. she would walk to school along it. at the time, no connection was made between ella's fatal asthma attack and air pollution. then new medical evidence emerged. i wanted the real reason why she went through what she went through. i hope through this, her legacy may

be a new clean air act. i think the only bit i got a little bit angry was, in court, when it turned out that lots of people knew about it, and yet the response has been so slow. the original inquest was quashed, and today the coroner ruled that levels of toxic gases and pollutants in exhausts were way above safe levels set by the world health organization, and without doubt they contributed to her death. she was drowning in her secretions, each time she had one of these dreadful attacks. and the fact that they clustered together and that these were in the winter and autumn months, when the air pollution was worse in london, putting all that together, it suddenly started to make sense. this isn'tjust about london — this is about the whole of the uk. 0ne expert witness said that, for children, breathing in these fumes should be treated as seriously as if they are breathing in second—hand smoke. perhaps parents should be advised

to take a different route to school. the experts are now calling for lessons to be learned from ella's death. it will mean that we can protect children's health going forward. what we do need to do is develop the education and the tools needed to talk about air pollution and, hopefully, the government will take air pollution reduction as a national priority. she would be very proud that her name is being used to do something really positive. because i've always said to you, she was incredibly kind. so this is the sort of thing she would approve of. the government says it is spending almost £4 billion on trying to clean up air pollution, and it is setting new ambitious targets. but this is no longer about anonymous statistics. it is about the life, terrible suffering and death of a child who was breathing poisonous air. claire marshall, bbc news. the supreme court has ruled that the owner of heathrow airport can build a third runway.

it overturns an earlier legal decision to block the plan on environmental grounds. heathrow airport has welcomed the decision but they still have to persuade a public enquiry of the case for expansion. three and a half years after the fire at grenfell tower in west london, as many as 1,000 buildings in britain still have round—the—clock fire patrols because they haven't had flammable cladding removed and other safety issues fixed. in london alone, the patrols are estimated to cost up to £170 million a year — most of the cost being covered by householders. they say the bills are causing financial ruin for a problem they didn't create, as our correspondent sarah corker reports. emma is a single mum of two. she's out of work and relying on food banks to help feed herfamily. her building has such serious fire safety faults it needs fire wardens on site 2a hours a day, known as waking watch.

it's costing flat—owners more than £400 a month each. i'm angry. i'm actually furious at it. this is ruining people's lives. it's not our fault. we didn't buy these properties thinking there was something wrong with them. emma was a first—time buyer when she bought this one—bed flat in south london 12 years ago. my greatest fear, if i'm to be honest, is, yeah, i will be made homeless and have to file bankruptcy, because i cannot afford the bills. after the grenfell tower fire, waking watches were introduced by the national fire chiefs council to keep residents safe. it's supposed to be a temporary measure while fire safety faults are fixed. but it's become controversial. at this block in ipswich, a warden was filmed asleep under a desk in the middle of the afternoon. the company said he was on a break.

and here, in north—west london, residents say wardens removed wall sensors that were supposed to be checked as part of their patrol. flat—owner charlotte says there have been problems with two different companies. they themselves are creating fire hazards, blocking and opening fire doors, blocking ways. the operatives gather in corridors. a lot of my neighbours feel quite threatened by them. we actually found one waking watch operative relieving themselves in a bin store. so, it's not been good. and we're dreading getting the next load of invoices for that. and here, in manchester, the cost of this building's waking watch has just tripled to more than £20,000 a month. steven lives on the 14th floor. he says the building only has a small amount of dangerous cladding. it's the strip which runs between our master bedroom and spare bedroom. flat—owners not only have to pay for the three fire wardens, but may also face big bills to fix the blocks‘ fire safety issues.

who do you think should pay for this? the original developers have got a huge part to play in this. and i think the government are the only people that can actually make the developers pay. and, if the government need to put the funds up first, the government should make sure that people are living in safe homes. the government says waking watches should not be used as a substitute for the swift removal of unsafe cladding and they are committed to supporting leaseholders. the building management companies for the blocks in this report say costs only passed onto flat—owners as a last resort. but, for those spending christmas in unsafe homes, that brings little comfort. sarah corker, bbc news. ransoms will not be paid for the schoolboys kidnapped from their boarding school in northern nigeria last friday. that's the message from the regional governor, who spoke to the bbc today. he said the authorities are in contact with the group holding the children, he described the group as a gang

of well—known local criminals with links to the islamist militant group boko haram. it was on friday evening that gunmen attacked a school in kankara, in the north—western nigerian state of katsina. more than 300 of its 800 pupils are still missing, but it's not clear if all of them are being held by the kidnappers. although boko haram don't typically operate in the region, there are fears that the schoolboys could be indoctrinated and radicalised. 0ur nigeria correspondent mayeni jones sent this report. bring back our boys — that's what these young activists plan to ask the government during their march on thursday. they are worried any delay could prove disastrous. these children could be exposed to dangers of training on the use of arms, so they can be used for further attacks in other places, and also they can be exposed to drugs. the government has come

under fierce criticism for its handling of attacks. boko haram's claim of responsibility for friday's mass kidnapping shows their influence could be spreading. boko haram doesn't usually operate in this part of nigeria, and the governor of katsina state tried to downplay its involvement. even though the methods being used by boko haram have been employed in this abduction, we cannot precisely say we are dealing with boko haram yet. there have been repeated comparisons between friday's kidnapping and a 2014 abduction of the chibok girls. over half of them were freed. it's unclear how the government secured their release. some believe they paid a ransom. the authorities deny they did then, and won't entertain the thought now. i don't think the issue of ransom for money is on the table. it should not be on the table. it should not.

we don't pay kidnappers money, because it's an encouragement. we don't pay it. back at the secondary school where her child was abducted, this parent is sceptical about boko haram's claims. translation: i don't believe the claim by the leader of boko haram that he ordered the kidnapping of our children. we were told that they used to kill our children, and i stick to that. we re were told that thieves took away our children. with schools here now closed until security improves, getting an education in north—west nigeria has become precarious. mayenijones, bbc news, katsina. health and education experts say it's become increasingly apparent that people living in deprived communities across the uk have been worst affected by the pandemic. as part of the our lives series, emma clifford bell has gone back to her home area — drumchapel in glasgow — to find out how the pandemic has affected young people there.

0n the very edge of glasgow, lockdown has hit hard. but this men's support group is keeping spirits up. for gary and wee gary, it's like a second home. you keep me on my toes, don't you? always running about. what kind of character is gary? like me. wild. i think it's been pretty tough, especially coming from a place like drumchapel. nobody‘s got anything. and then you go into a lockdown and it's like you have to stay in your house for four months, four, five months, but you've not got anything to do with that four, five months. some people have not got tellies, so what do they do? stare at four walls for four months? drumchapel is consistently ranked one of the most deprived areas in the country, but people here are resilient and creative. growing up, i learned at school that i was likely to die a decade younger

than someone a mile down the road in bearsden. and i found that quite shocking. not much has changed. so from an early age, people know they're at a disadvantage here, and they know they have to work that bit harderjust to get to where they want to be. from a hut in her mum's back garden, kirsten runs a personal training business. but local clients have less cash to spend. it is a luxury and people are kind of holding back on that now, so it definitely has affected my business. are you going to have to start looking at other forms of income, or can you cope just with this business? unfortunately, i am. i'm absolutely heartbroken, because i wake up every morning thinking i have got a job that doesn't feel like a job. i just want to give back and make sure that people's mental health is as good as their physical health. mental health is an issue to the hearts of many, especially 22—year—old ryan. at a young age i lost my sister

and mum to suicide, and that impacted me a lot growing up. things were getting better. my brother then passed away from suicide, so age kind of took me back down to the same level. i remember kerry at school, and she was full of mischief, full of fun, and it was a huge... it was a huge loss. i know. she was...amazing, i would say. kerry was everything to me, and she's... it hits hard, every single one of them. how did you find lockdown? quite tough. i took a bad turn with alcohol, having been getting better and better and moving on, and i would hate to think now, looking back and thinking how bad it was, i would hate to think somebody else is like that. men are three times more likely to take their own lives, and there's a strong link between deprivation and mental ill—health.

this community has a lifeline. since coming to local charity men matter scotland, gary has a whole new mindset. see, coming from drumchapel, if you do something, you fail, or your pals laugh at you, listen, see now? see if i fail at something? i would just be more determined now to go and try again. study more, try again. this area isn't perfect, but it doesn't pretend to be. despite the extra challenges, people here are determined to do themselves and their community proud. emma clifford bell, bbc news, drumchapel. 0rganisations offering support on issues raised in emma's report can be found via bbc action line. go to bbc.co.uk/actionline or call for free. the number is 0800 066 066.

teaching children music has been a lifelong passion for emma hutchinson. so when lockdown was announced, she moved to online teaching, and soon discovered that, despite her best efforts, many of her pupils struggled to engage as they would face—to—face. her efforts to create something positive from the experience led to her writing a christmas song — and to her great surprise, it's a global success. # la, la, la—la, la, la... # when lockdown was announced, i was at home, in devon. our whole professional world turned around overnight to zoom lessons. it's lovely to see you here today. are you ready to roll? # something is tapping in my box...# a lot of families said, "oh, this is quite good fun, let's all have a go at doing the digital thing." but i think, after several weeks, you could get a sense of screen fatigue.