mr president, i ask, after 20 years in power, don't you accept at least some responsibility for the new cold war between russia and the west? or are the russian authorities squea ky—clean? translation: i feel responsible for what is going on in russia, for its people, and i will do everything in the interests of russia. as for being squeaky—clean, we are, compared to you. you promised that nato wouldn't expand into the east, but you didn't keep your word. shouting. i asked, too, about mr putin's most vocal critic, alexei navalny. experts in sweden, france and germany, confirm he was poisoned by novichok. can you explain to me, steven, president putin says, why can't they provide us with an official report about the use of this novichok?

you're asking me, i reply. i'm the journalist here, i say. i ask the questions. i'm sorry, replies mr putin, i'll continue to answer it. now that is rare. an apology to a bbc correspondent, from the president of russia. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. manchester city footballer lucy bronze has won best women's player at fifa's 2020 awards. the 29—year—old defender is the first english player to win the prize and was given the award at a virtual ceremony in zurich. bronze said she was surprised, but would remember the moment for the rest of her life. the author ernest hemingway is often credited with creating the six—word story format — a mini masterpiece that has a powerful, often poignant, message. as 2020 comes to an end, we asked some famous faces and key

workers to come up with six words to say something hopeful, beginning with the impressionist alistair mcgowan. # joy to the world... # gardening brings great comfort. thanks, monty. the vaccine's coming, and that's great news. midwinter miracle. blackbird song at dawn. hugging friends. sharing chocolate. live performance. music is creativity... peace, change. love. renewed appreciation for what's actually important. dear older me...

..don't look back. always remember, this too shall pass. trees, birds, sky, mud, dog, relax. covid vaccine, the best christmas present. thank god it's nearly over. that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night. hello and welcome to our look ahead

to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are the former fleet street editor eve pollard and uk trade and economics correspondent at politico, anna isaac. lovely to have you both with us here ona lovely to have you both with us here on a thursday evening. so let's start it with some of the front pages we already have. the sun leads with news that the beatles legend sir paul mccartney has said he will have the vaccine for coronavirus as soon as he is allowed. this comes on the day that two—thirds of england ended up in the toughest tier 3 restrictions. tiers leads the yorkshire post, too. they report of anger amongst leaders in yorkshire as their appeals for lighter curbs are snubbed. the guardian leads with something a little different. they reveal that growing numbers of hospitals are running short of beds. sticking with health, "just scraps for carers", leads the metro. they report that 39% of nurses say they have missed meals because they're so poorly paid. the telegraph focuses

on brexit and the hope of a weekend agreement at last. they say that boris johnson is urging the head of the european commission, urusla von der leyen, to clear the two remaining hurdles on fishing and state aid. brexit negotiations leads the financial times too. the paper also features a photo of emmanuel macron on zoom. that's, of course, after the news that he is the latest world leader to test positive for coronavirus. let's begin it, and we're going to stay with current of our verse for the time being, for ourfirst stay with current of our verse for the time being, for our first story. eva and anna, as always, lovely to have you with us. thank you for joining us. let's start with the sun, eve, sir paul mccartneyjoining various national treasures. we had suri in mcallen yesterday, talking

of his euphoria at getting the vaccine —— sir ian mckellen. now sir paul mccartyjoining. this might be a great way to —— sir paul mccartney. there are people talking about people being nervous about it. i understand that totally, and you get people like paul mccartney, people who i respect, that will only help. i think he is still in his 70s, so he might have to wait a few weeks. 78. can you believe that? he is 78! time flies. i cannot. i am struggling as well. the picture, he looks lovely, and he does not look 78 at all. he looks really brilliant. this comes on the day that two thirds of england positive population are going to be living under the toughest covid rules, anna, from saturday. that kicks in from the night friday into saturday morning, those tiers, a lot of

people will have stricter rules on saturday. yeah, absolutely, and there's a real sense of frustration, i think, among some, but we are not seeing is this downward migration and the tears, that early on, if you we re and the tears, that early on, if you were in the tier 3 area with the toughest are trips and he behaves during that time, you'll be rewarded being sent down the tiers, but obviously what we are seeing with this latest wave of the virus is that instead of being stepped down, a lot of places are either being ke pt a lot of places are either being kept at that very highest level where they are being stepped up from tier2to where they are being stepped up from tier 2 to three. yeah, and the yorkshire post reflecting on the anger that is felt up in the north, large parts of the north of england have been in the highest, the strictest tiers for a long time, and

they feel their appeals for letter curbs are being snubbed. this is the two nation thing, isn't it? you genuinely see people being interviewed up north saying, we are being missed or did by comparison to london, and in fact, what it seems like is that there is this new slight variant of covid at a lot of university students have gone home and perhaps taken covid with them without even realising they are. and it looks like some parts of the south have had an... what one has to understand his covid is not fair. and obviously the cold weather has given it a chance to spread even more. we know this because we all came out of lockdown in the summer, oi’ came out of lockdown in the summer, or it has got less chance, and i understand your frustration because they do think they have had a longer time in tier3, they do think they have had a longer time in tier 3, which has some of the set is the tier from hell, then people perhaps in the south and the southeast stop and it is very hard for scientists to explain that the

cold weather, it just for scientists to explain that the cold weather, itjust means that this pandemic is not slowing down, in fact seems to be heating up. and it is also, eve waited out the north south divide on this very unfair disease, but also, anna, this idea of the nations splitting apart. you've got now herefordshire, one of the areas dropping down into tier i, anna, but it borders wales, which is in the full lockdown, so coronavirus is not going to abide by the borders, as it does not listen to whether it is christmas or not. yes, absolutely, and the logic of the tiered systems is somewhat undermined by saying, actually, you can travel for christmas if you want to. and that is making very hard for people to compute, and you might be finding that that is why tier 3 is being maintained, because people are having to prepare for the fact there

will be exodus is from the solicit is where we are seeing higher rates of the virus towards more rural areas of insight triangle enjoying family members to celebrate —— from the cities that are. and that means pressure will increase on hospitals in those areas, where at the moment is really cute in the cities, and the idea of looking... —— really acute. what we have heard the stories of half being in england, half being in wales, it is hard to continue to follow the logic, this arbitrary line... a really difficult juggfing arbitrary line... a really difficult juggling act. ijust thing there's a perfect way, as eve says, to be fair ——ido perfect way, as eve says, to be fair —— i do nothing. it is difficult for people in yorkshire and the humber seeing cases fall, one of the only areas in the uk where cases are falling, but they are still finding

we st falling, but they are still finding west yorkshire, south yorkshire are being kept at this higher tier, so there's a sense it could feel unfair in that way, when what is happening as people are looking forward to what is going to happen with these christmas gatherings. a difficult juggfing christmas gatherings. a difficult juggling act, a eve. the guardian, the focus of this is her hospitals, keeping our nhs under capacity, so they can help people who could fall ill. and what has the guardian revealed when it comes to a shortage of beds? the guardian is revealing, and this is the thing we have been trying, any medics, to be fair have been trying to stop from the beginning, have them overloaded, and they say this is just the beginning of ambulances being diverted from hospitals which are known to be treating covid patients to other hospitals so that, for example, or

hospitals so that, for example, or hospitals will have to take in covid suffering patients, and then you cannot do operations on hearts, cancer, all the things we know need doing in those hospitals because it is so dangerous that they might catch the disease. so the very thing we have all been worrying about and that the doctors, certainly chris whitty has been worried about, the nhs has been overtaken by cases, and this is obvious he starting to happen. it is also interesting to see where there are more hospitals... i remember subleasing they went to cornwall and they were not given a great welcome because cornwall said to believe only got one big hospital, and that really matters at the moment. if you have not got much space and you are having to throw out nonurgent or

non—coronavirus patients... having to throw out nonurgent or non-coronavirus patients... the paper talking about places hard—hit, according to the guardian. let's have a look at the hefty, because somebody else hit by coronavirus, it is france's president, emmanuel macron —— look at the ft. the serious side of this is that the leader of france has coronavirus. yes, absolutely. it is important to note that, as far as we know, emmanuel macron is in pretty good health. he is way down the risk scale compared to others. pedro sanchez, the leader of spain, he is having to self—isolate, and other senior politicians in france who had contact with mr macron also having to isolate as well. i think it is just yet another reminder that no one is immune to this, no one can

escape it, you're still vulnerable to this virus. a lot of people in senior positions are still having to have those face—to—face meetings when they have to have conversations they can only have leader to leader. they perhaps even more exposed than some of the rest of us in some ways. it is no great surprise and hopefully he will stay well, given his age, but yeah, it is not great to have so many leaders in europe affected in this way, at this time. when we have so many sensitive negotiations going on. and we will come to sensitive negotiations when it comes to brexit in a moment, but, eve, i wa nt to to brexit in a moment, but, eve, i want to go to the metro. scraps for cavers, 39% of nurses missing ms. because they are so poorly paid. the people at the absolute front line who have dedicated so much for us in

this particular nurse has to rely on a food bank to feed her son, it is disgraceful. it is disgraceful, and i hope some bright entertaining, clever supermarket or somebody says, we will look after the nurses. i think it would be great pr and good job for nurses. it is terrible, but they are earning so little they cannot cope, it is terrible that they are missing meals because either they have not cut the money or they have not got the time. it is a competition of both those things. and we really should look at how we pay our nurses, and i think that at the end of all this, the whole of the end of all this, the whole of the national health service will need to be looked at from the financial point of view, from the organisational point of view, from the back—up point of view, because you feel that these women, mostly women, their all—male nurses as well, they are working terribly long hours, they miss meals because they

are working and cannot afford