# i'm singing this to say # i wish i could see you on christmas day...# this song was written and performed by children from the l518 music school in leeds to raise money to tackle loneliness. we originally wrote the song before the start of the second lockdown, and thought it would be a cool idea to get grandparents involved in making the video. you guys made this decision before borisjohnson made it for you. we decided some while ago we wouldn't mingle at christmas, because we didn't think the risks really were worth taking. obviously we would have wanted to spend it with our grandparents. are you going to miss them? yeah. yeah, i already do. i will miss giving you a cuddle on christmas eve. love you, kiddo.

love you. don't make me cry on telly! time for a look at the weather. here is louise lear. what you see behind me is not what you are going to get at christmas, so i can offer some sunnier weather but over the next 2a hours it will stay pretty wet, just as we see this morning along the south coast. the radar is showing how the rain is drifting steadily north and east. the heaviest of the rain across southern and western scotland. it stays rather drab as well through england and wales, a lot of low cloud. showers down to the south accompanied by gusts of wind in excess accompanied by gusts of wind in excess of a0 mph. but because it's coming from a south—westerly direction, it is very mild for the time of year. 11 to 15 degrees the

high. in contrast a cooler feel in scotla nd high. in contrast a cooler feel in scotland with top temperatures around seven or 8 degrees. as we go through the night tonight, we will continue to see skies clearing in scotland. dribs and drabs of showery rain drifting eastwards, but here temperature staying in double figures. under clearer skies further north we could have temperatures down close to freezing. but at least thatis down close to freezing. but at least that is where we will have the best of the sunshine for tuesday. sunshine may be in north wales as well but really across central wales, the midlands and anywhere south of that will stay overcast with the potential for showery rain pushing into the south—west by the end of the day. here we keep double digits. a cooler feel continues end of the day. here we keep double digits. a coolerfeel continues in the north, seven the maximum. another area of low pressure arrives as we move into wednesday, it potentially could be a significant low once again. it is the dividing line between the milder air across

the southern half of the country with the colder air gradually pushing its way across england and wales. there is the potential may be for further localised flooding across southern england for a time weather warnings have been issued, but we keep the brisk northerly wind further north. i2 but we keep the brisk northerly wind further north. 12 the high into the far south—east. 0n further north. 12 the high into the far south—east. on thursday, christmas eve, high pressure starts to push in from the west which will change the weather story, particularly across england and wales. yes, it will turn colder but hopefully it should be drier so by the time we get into christmas day we should see more in the way of sunshine, but the temperatures will struggle a little. many thanks indeed, louise. as more countries around the world ban travel from the uk to stop the spread of the new strain of coronavirus, there are hopes this lunchtime there may be some easing of the french restrictions.

that's all from the bbc news at one so it's goodbye from me and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. good afternoon, it's 1.30pm and here's your latest sports news. good afternoon, i'm chetan pathak with your sports news. we start with the bbc‘s sports personality of the year — lewis hamilton — who has won the award for a second time. the 2020 sports personality of the year is lewis hamilton. one of formula i's all—time great drivers, he equalled michael schumacher‘s record of seven world titles with his fourth consecutive championship this year. in a public vote, liverpool captain jordan henderson finished second while jockey hollie doyle was third. i really want to say thank you for everyone that's called in and voted for me. i really wasn't expecting this, knowing there's so many great contenders. but i think we are all winners. and i really want to send

a merry christmas to everyone. i know it's been such an unusual year but all the front—line workers, all the children around the world, please try and stay positive through this difficult time. i'm sending everyone positivity. again, thank you from the bottom of my heart. there were plenty more awards on the night, including for captain sir tom moore who was given the helen rollason award for his fundraising during lockdown. whilst marcus rashford was given a special award in recognition of his work to raise awareness of child food poverty. the manchester united striker‘s campaign has meant more than a million children in england were able to claim vouchers for free school meals during the school holidays. at the beginning of 2020, it was a down for everyone and to come out of this year with something to be happy about that we have taken steps in the right direction, it has actually been a good thing for me, mentally, because at the beginning i was

injured, then covid happen, everyone was in lockdown, so to get to the end of 2020 with a few positives is very good. and a reminder that tonight on bbc one you can see the documentary which has followed marcus rashford's campaign. it's on bbc one at seven o'clock, you can also find it on iplayer. arsenal boss mikel arteta says he has no plans to walk away from hisjob and is calling on his players to be "fighters" and turn around their awful recent form. they've lost five of their last seven matches in the premier league, arsenal's worst start to a season in a6 years and they face manchester city in the quarter final of the league cup tomorrow. i like to look around may, whether it is the staff, coach, players, and i want to see the fighters. anomaly when that happens you have to make types of people, fighters and victims. we just need fighters to stop you don't want any victims.

they bring negativity and a stack to blame anything that is happening around them or not is going for them. people who fight, contribute and people who are ready to give everything to the cars in these moments. the legendry former south african cricketerjacques kallis isjoining england's coaching team for their upcoming tour of sri lanka. he's going to be working as a batting coaching consultant for the two match test series which begins on january the iath in galle. kallis is the third highest run—scorer in test cricket and has coached the kolkata knight riders in the indian premier league as well as working with the south africa team. and lee westwood's been named the european tour's golfer of the year. it's the fourth time he's won the award, and it caps off what's been an excellent 12 months for the a7—year—old. he started the year by winning the abu dhabi championship, and then became the oldest winner of the race to dubai title earlier this month.

that's all from us for now. we will have a more later in the afternoon. in the past few minutes two men have been found guilty of manslaughter, over the deaths of 39 people found dead in a lorry in essex last october. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford is at the old bailey. this is a trial that started way back on the 8th of october and has managed to keep going right until the covid pandemic as infections have arisen in london has a bed relates to events in october last year when on the 23rd october a lorry was found with 39 migrants dead inside in an industrial estate in grays in essex. thejury took more than half an hour to get through the 82 counts of this verdict, 39 counts for manslaughter

twice and afar might counts of conspiracy to assist illegal immigration. the whole tragedy came to light on the early hours of the 23rd of october when mel robinson, a young lorry driver dialled 999. hello, kohler, is the patient trip breathing? i am a lorry driver and i looked on the phone to the nine ni operator. one of the people smugglers revealing the enormity of the tragedy. that he was lying about the true scale of the horror. the arriving police officers found the bodies of 39 vietnamese people. they had boarded what they promised was a vip

service, among them a young couple. they were found holding hands as they died. and to make cousins —— like to make cousins was up in vietnam, the teenagers' father prays for them daily. they thought they we re for them daily. they thought they were paying £10,000 for a safe route to england. translation: nobody knew the journey to the uk was going to be like that. they all thought they would travel in cars. if they had known, nobody would have let their children risk their lives on such a dangerous journey. the older cousin's father thinks he was tricked. translation: cousin's father thinks he was tricked. translationzlj cousin's father thinks he was tricked. translation: i don't know what happened but my something must have changed in their plan. either that or he was scammed. among the eight women in the trailer died whilst repeatedly calling her family. she had only left vietnam a

few days earlier going via china. some had taken to make years to work their way through europe. many of them started the last stage of their journey in paris that morning. it began as a vip service with a taxi ride to northern france, that then they were transferred into an airtight trailer towed by eamon harrison, a young lorry driver from cou nty harrison, a young lorry driver from county down. he took the trailer to zeebrugge, leaving it to be go across unaccompanied of the nazi. but there were too many migrants and slowly the oxygen ran out. there was a message left for the wife and children of one victim. police found dents on the ceiling of the trailer left by those inside trying desperately to escape. if you look at the method, the way they

transported human beings, we wouldn't transport animals in that way. by the time the ferry sailed up the thames estuary, the people had all died. the trailer was collected by another lorry driver, mo robinson from county armagh. his boss had sent him an urgent message, give them air quickly, don't let them out. he had given a thumbs up in reply. but when he opened the doors, there was a puff of vapour and a trailerfull there was a puff of vapour and a trailer full of there was a puff of vapour and a trailerfull of bodies. there was a puff of vapour and a trailer full of bodies. the vip service had been a death trap. there is no vip service. these are lies people told to exploited and find out at the last minute and realising as you dye the vip service was a terrible lie. the gang who killed the 39 were prolific and there had possibly been an opportunity to stop them. just before the debts, they had run two are almost identical summer grilling trips ending on a

country lane in essex. the lorry was unloaded, a couples whose home is by decide to start 15 people getting out of the truck and into a group of waiting cars was that they called the police but they were not identified until after the 39 deaths 12 days later. the gang's buses where a british romanian from essex and a harley from county armagh who organised the lorry drivers. charges are still being considered against another northern irish lorry driver, he was the boss of another from cou nty he was the boss of another from county armagh, the one who collected the truck and earlier successful runs. the bodies of the people who died on the fatal third run were flown back to vietnam. andy to make cousins where buried side by side.

—— and the two brothers. eight people have now been found guilty in relation to this people smuggling gang, ronan hughes and mo robinson had found it impossible to do anything other than plead guilty and we also had to make other men who pleaded guilty for their role in picking up migrants from that essex lane on the earlier successful smuggling run. set four men guilty. is there a sense that this was a tragedy that could and should have been prevented? it certainly could, whether it should is perhaps slightly less clear. this was a gang that was smuggling people for months and months. one of the lorry drivers was caught with people in his lorry

the year before. another one of the lorry drivers was a card with people in his lorry at the entrance to the channel tunnel on the french side in the middle of this two week period when they were doing all of these smuggling runs. but critically the first of these successful smuggling i’u ns first of these successful smuggling runs from zeebrugge to purfleet, the same route that was taken on that fateful night, this couple saw people getting out of a van on that country lane, they dialled 999, they called the police, they attended but what the police didn't do was to seize that cctv from the golf course where you see the lorry and other vehicles driving down the country lane at exactly that time they were on the phone dialling 999. if perhaps essex police have managed to get that cctv, follow it up, identify some of the vehicles in that convoy before the fatal run 12

days later, there is a possibility this gang might have been broken up and disrupted. when we put that to essex police, they point out that they have always had to allocate resources according to the resources available at the time, all police forces are stretched at the moment and perhaps not as many resources we re and perhaps not as many resources were put into bat as could have been. they say now if there is that reports of people in the back of a lorry and a driver is present, it is a given the driver will be arrested and has changed how we deal with reports of people being found in the back of a lorry. there is the terrible sense that it if a series of events had come together this gang might have been disrupted before the 39 people died. thank you very much. latest on the travel of restrictions that france has imposed

because of the new variant of the coronavirus in the uk. 0ne because of the new variant of the coronavirus in the uk. one of many countries that have imposed travel restrictions on britain. the knock—on effects on dover in particular and freight in kent have been very severe. we hear now from kent county council highways manager that it kent county council highways manager thatitis kent county council highways manager that it is expected that operation brock will be brought into place this afternoon. this is the concrete barrier that will enable contraflow traffic on the m20. that is expected to be put in place this afternoon. now it is time for your questions a nswered now it is time for your questions answered and earlier my colleague was earlier, annita mcveigh wasjoined by dr bharat pankhania head of public health medicine at the university of exeter medical school and by the epidemiologist professor sian griffiths. and started by asking professor griffiths a question from khloe about why schools aren't being shut down.

the whole issue with the schools is it was decided for many when he reasons that children were given priority and their education priority and their education priority because it is notjust the academic learning, it is all the other social skills, social support especially for vulnerable children that schools provide. especially for vulnerable children that schools providelj especially for vulnerable children that schools provide. i think schools are now on holiday, i am not sure if chloe's school is still open, but certainly all my grandchildren are now on holiday and at home which will provide a natural break in terms of the transmission of the disease. when we look at the epidemiology of the cases, over recent weeks there had been an increase in numbers of cases in secondary school children, where as it had been university students earlier on a couple of months ago. they do get the disease but aren't necessarily, don't necessarily

spread it more easily. and often don't get these symptoms. but in fa ct don't get these symptoms. but in fact the real issue is in the south—east, we have seen a rapid increase in the numbers of cases, particularly with the new variant. i think the decisions made about the five days and christmas bubble were made after the lockdown or during the terminal part of lockdown when members were going down and everyone was feeling more optimistic. u nfortu nately was feeling more optimistic. unfortunately the new variant is about 70% more fast than the previous version, that is because of genetic mutation and it is this very rapid change that has caused the fleet like not just rapid change that has caused the fleet like notjust the government in this country to introduce stricter regulations, but also we we re stricter regulations, but also we were hearing earlier about all the issues around ports, flights being cancelled and the issue of can we

better understand whether this variant of the disease can be controlled? let me bring in the doctor on this, which viewers have sent in, more questions. the area of children, the ability to transmit these disease and our children going to be, is there enough evidence whether children are more affected by this new variant? i don't think the children are more adversely affected by the former virus are to make new variant but the big issue is and we haven't addressed it properly, is infections do occur and contrary to what has been said repeatedly, children do transmit infections, we know this. we just haven't been able to address it properly. we have chronic underfunding of schools for many decades and this is the problem, how do we teach children safely, keep their education going as well as

keep infection control down? it is a big problem and we haven't really tackled it properly in the country. we have lots of countries to get through —— like we have lots of questions to get through, so please do keep your answer is brief. can you explain how the new strain of the covid virus is more transmissible? how is it able to transmit more readily?” transmissible? how is it able to transmit more readily? i think most of these questions are very valid but only be answered as we study this virus in more detail. and i am not a virology is to i am not able to give you any more information than that at this current time otherwise i know it is being studied across the country, collaboratively between geneticists, immunologists and infectious disease doctors and many other researchers and the a nswe rs many other researchers and the answers will become apparent over time. lots of work going on to a nswer time. lots of work going on to answer these questions. if i have

recently answer these questions. if i have rece ntly ha d answer these questions. if i have recently had coronavirus, can i now get this new variant and if i had coronavirus, can i spread a new variant? we feel that the change in the spike protein is not that different so that you will get a second infection and be infectious. having said that, we are actively looking for people who may get a second infectionjust so looking for people who may get a second infection just so we looking for people who may get a second infectionjust so we know looking for people who may get a second infection just so we know for fa ct second infection just so we know for fact that, goodness me, the new variant is so different that it is going under the radar of the existing immunity and causing a second infection of a stab at the moment we haven't picked up that evidence but we are looking for it. and people obviously need to be careful until we get these answers. another question, i am a staff nurse working a 13 hour shift on christmas

day, i planned to see my family on boxing day. can it not be people in my situation change their christmas day festivities to boxing day? northern ireland has made an exemption for this circumstance. but this viewer is in yorkshire.|j exemption for this circumstance. but this viewer is in yorkshire. i am sorry but the rules are it is only the one day and that is christmas day when families can get together. northern ireland has taken a different approach and says you can nominate one day in the period but as it stands, i know it is very hard because i am sure you have been working flat out for months but i am very sorry the rules are just for christmas day. it is tough. it is really horrible for people who have been working on the front line. another viewer asking, sympathies, because your family is in a terrible situation. a william's wife, her

mother is being treated for terminal cancer, her life expectancy is three to six months and her father has early onset dementia. william says he and his wife have been strict isolation since december 12. can we getan isolation since december 12. can we get an exemption for travel? the answer is no. i know this is very painful, very difficult and i have solutions for this which is targeting our local health leaders and see if there are special circumstances that will allow you. but overall 1—person's strict isolation is another person's... therefore it becomes very difficult to monitor, police and infection control. the answer is this is very difficult and painful, take local advice from your director of public health or similar to see if you can have any manoeuvrability in this.

lane in kent, how will this affect ca re lane in kent, how will this affect care home visiting? should we go ahead with the lateral flow tests or review things in light of the new rules and higher risk?” review things in light of the new rules and higher risk? i think you need to review the rules because the guidance says the personal visiting in tierfour should guidance says the personal visiting in tier four should discontinue guidance says the personal visiting in tierfour should discontinue but you can still visit if you have other safety measures such as screens 01’ other safety measures such as screens or windows. i read this and i thought, i wonder how the care home is interpreting this was to to talk to your care home if you visit one, talk to your care home about the advice they have been given because the local public health directors will be able to give support and advice because it will depend on the site of home, site of

precautions that can be taken and of regimes that are working at pleasant. another question, i am meant to travel to wales to be with my family, i am a single person living in england and they are my bubble so can i go? depends on which tier you are bubble so can i go? depends on which tieryou are in. bubble so can i go? depends on which tier you are in. my advice overall for all people is we have a crisis on our for all people is we have a crisis on our hands, it is better to curtail all your travel plans, whichever tier you are in and call ita whichever tier you are in and call it a day on 2020 and look forward to 2021 as a better year. so whatever combination, permutation of plans you have, if you can possibly say, carly today, it would be a better thing and a good thing to do. —— carla today. can we travel across tiers to look after them? and we can travel to wales on christmas day but

only on christmas day. that was an earlier edition of yqa. if you have questions you'd like answered please do send them through to yourquestions@bbc.co.uk. hello there. it was a drab start on monday, wasn't it? with the spell of wet weather gradually pushing its way steadily north and east. it will move out of northern ireland this afternoon and then move its way into scotland where it will linger for much of the day. behind it we have but a real cluster of showers sandwiched into the south, but the real contrast with the story today is the mild air that is pushing up across the south in comparison to the colder air that is now starting to nudge in to the far north of scotland. so the remainder of the afternoon sees that wet weather across the scottish borders into western scotland, behind it stays overcast, drab and dreary with a scattering

of sharp showers accompanied by some pretty brisk winds in the south. but look at the temperatures — 13 to 15 degrees quite widely across england and wales, by contrast, in scotland and northern ireland, a maximum of seven or eight degrees. that cold air is starting to push in. northerly winds will drag in colder air still through the night and a few showers will turn wintry to higher ground as we keep those clearer skies in scotland and northern ireland. but we keep quite a lot of cloud across england and wales, so here are relatively mild night with double figures perhaps into the south—east corner. temperatures in the north hovering close to freezing. but we will start the day off with some sparkling sunshine here, a few scattered showers are set to continue through the day. but scotland, northern ireland, along with northern england should stay dry and relatively sunny. if we draw a line from mid wales down into the midlands further south of that, it stays rather cloudy, dreary, mild with some drab bits and pieces of rain pushing into the south—west. we will see a more significant area of low pressure on wednesday pushing into the south—west and that unfortunately could once again bring the potential

for some localised flooding, so we will need to keep an eye on that and weather warnings have been issued by the met office across south—west england in particular it stays mild here, but drier, brighter but cooler in the far north of scotland. now that area of low pressure should move away first thing on thursday morning and then we will see this high pressure tending to build for christmas eve. so christmas eve and christmas day, we chang gear in terms of the feel of the weather and the type of weather. things will quieten down and cool down considerably for much of the country. so i am not sure we will see a white christmas in terms of snow, but certainly we could have a hard frost going into christmas day. take care.

versus bbc news, i am so simmons. 0ur versus bbc news, i am so simmons. our top stories. a growing list of countries restrict travel to and from the uk because of the new variant of coronavirus. and if any lorry is turning up wanting to get across the channel, they are being turned away. it's the same with passenger vehicles too. emergency meetings in london and brussels, as officials work out how to protect citizens and things moving again. so what is the new variant, and is it more dangerous? we will have the latest medical analysis. two men are found guilty of the manslaughter of 39 migrants found dead in the back ofa 39 migrants found dead in the back of a lorry in essex last year.