because of concerns about the spread of a new variant of coronavirus. european union officials are trying to agree coordinated, strengthened, health protocols — for people travelling from britain. the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has described the approval of the pfizer — biontech vaccine, by the eu's medicine regulator, as a european success story. inoculations should start, across the continent, within a week. 32 years after the lockerbie bombing, the us has announced that terrorism charges have been brought against a libyan national involved in the bombing of the pan am jumbo. us president—electjoe biden has publicly received an injection of the covid—19 vaccine, in an effort to boost confidence in its safety ahead of its wide distribution next year.

hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are giles kennigham — political commentator and former conservative party press chief — and author and journalist, yasmin alibhai—brown. tomorrow's front pages starting with a few more in now since we last spoke, let's flip through some of them. the financial times who reports that global markets are falling due to more than a0 nations imposing travel bans on the uk in response to the new coronavirus variant. most of the papers though, focusing on those miles of lori's in dover. the independent also focuses on the uk being isolated — with lorries stuck at dover — and scientists warning that further restrictions may be needed around the country. the telegraph reports that the prime minister has ordered mass testing of lorry drivers taking goods across the channel in a bid

to resolve the "covid border crisis" between the uk and france. the metro features a picture of shoppers queuing to enter a supermarket after fears of supplies running low during the festive season — calling the situation "jingle hell". the daily mirror leads on the new variant of coronavirus — reporting that cases of the new strain have been found all across great britain, notjust london and the south east. the guardian delivers a grim warning from scientists to the prime minister — saying he must impose a national lockdown or risk a "human disaster". and the times features a photo of a "worried santa claus" among passengers at heathrow yesterday — with disruption at uk ports expected "until christmas eve". so let's begin... welcome back to you both. giles, we

will start with you this time. let's kick off with the guardian. impose national lockdown is a risk of a human disaster, scientists tell p:m.. for many months, we were told that the government was following the science, than a political decision had to be made. what are the chances ofa of a national lockdown coming eminently? 9996. of a national lockdown coming eminently? 99%. i think of a national lockdown coming eminently? 99%. ithink that of a national lockdown coming eminently? 99%. i think that was the main take from the press conference today. i think sir patrick vallance is saying that the second mutation of the virus is moving at a breakneck speed, but it is sweeping across the country. i think i'm eve ryo ne across the country. i think i'm everyone needs to brace themselves that it everyone needs to brace themselves thatitis everyone needs to brace themselves that it is an inevitability, that the sooner we accept the outcome of the sooner we accept the outcome of the better. it may have also conceded that it's only going to get worse i'd christmas when people do mix more and don't social distance, thenit mix more and don't social distance, then it begs the question, even now, if only for one day, why are we doing it? yasmin, thoughts? i think giles is right. you know, to ask the

question with the numbers that are showing up, 58% more infection k says, and so on. 18% showing up, 58% more infection k says, and so on.18% more showing up, 58% more infection k says, and so on. 18% more hospital admissions, why are we doing this? you know, why are we having this one day which increases the risk? and, i mean, i personally don't understand any of the policies that have been followed, but i think, i really do think there will be another national lockdown, and there will be another huge reaction against that from those on the right, mainly, who hate lockdowns. so, it will be a political challenge for the prime minister, as well as a health challenge. giles, you are the former head of communications at number ten in previous administrations. how

damaging has that's all been for the prime minister? it was only last wednesday that he was saying it would be in human to cancel christmas. he's gone as far as doing that now, hasn't he? i think there is public —— expectation, the details are changing ona expectation, the details are changing on a day—to—day basis, and you can only go with what you have come out what the most relevant information is in front of you. you need to be agile about what you do. i think what's key for the government now is that they are sort of moving back towards this trend of having daily press conferences as there has to be maximum transparency as we move through this, so the government has got to trust in what's going on, maybe there is a strong case to say, look, you need to have two press conference today. we know in the new year there is going to be the new press secretary doing daily tv conference is saying, you need to move twice a day. the reason for this is that there is so much misinformation swirling around on the internet and social media, anonymous briefings that really, the public need to hear it straight. actually they need to do this when there aren't new facts, but also to

reassure people. the times, mutant viruses everywhere, yasmin. it certainly seems to be spreading rapidly around this country. suggestions also that its around europe and elsewhere as well. yes, but we are ahead of the curve in our numbers are much higher. i just wanted to say in the earlier discussion when i said that the prime minister, the cabinet did no earlier than friday, the times has very much suggested that, that matt hancock and others did, and scientists were talking about this earlier than friday, and yet on wednesday, borisjohnson earlier than friday, and yet on wednesday, boris johnson dismissed kier starmer. wednesday, boris johnson dismissed kierstarmer. i'm wednesday, boris johnson dismissed kier starmer. i'm not making a political points, but the times has cove red political points, but the times has covered that, and they have also, i mean, ithink covered that, and they have also, i mean, i think one thing that giles said earlier about accurate information, the problem is this, out information, the problem is this, our prime minister moves between

panic, and he over promises and under delivers. so i'm not sure he is trusted all that much. maybe he will come to be trusted if you know, he does the right thing now. but there is very little to trust in what he's done so far, in my view. giles, is that a problem? i what he's done so far, in my view. giles, is thata problem? i mean, even today, he talked about by easter, he had hoped that things would be back to normal. he is a lwa ys would be back to normal. he is always setting these dates in the future, isn't he? which seem to pass with the results. yes, i mean, it's a bit of an impossible balancing act, damned if you do, damned if you don't, he is there to set the tone. he's got to be realistic and pragmatic, buddies got to offer hope to people. just to pick up on yasmin points, and she makes many here. you know, i don't think there's been any alternative here. kier starmer sat on the fence. he wouldn't vote, he got everyone to abstain over the

tearing system. it's like to be elected to govern is to choose to make these tough decisions. absolutely gutless. it's like, stand up absolutely gutless. it's like, stand up and be counted, so, find, boris johnson, if you don't agree with him, but actually offer an alternative. you know, it's absolutely commits back to jeremy corbyn, kind of, just checking bricks from the sidelines, but actually offering a credible alternative. you are shaking your head, yasmin stop you know, because kier starmer said very clearly that we needed more restrictions. boris johnson kind of really had it out for him in that boris kind of way, which is half mockery, half, you know, i know best. and that was during prime ministers on wednesday. kier starmer asked for more restrictions. and, borisjohnson dismissed him. and lo and behold, 48

hours later, he is doing the opposite of what he said. that is why he cannot be trusted. lets go on to the mirror, giles, christmas to come, we've got this rampant new variants. the next question is going to be whether children can go back to be whether children can go back to school on time, and it's interesting, wasn't it, that the prime minister today didn't confirm that. he said if we possibly can... he said that the virus is spreading quicker amongst children than the new strain. some people say this may account for why, during the second lockdown, when children were still at school that the virus continued to spread. you saying that they cannot guarantee kids go back to school in january. cannot guarantee kids go back to school injanuary. obviously, we came out of the first lockdown and was seen as one of the keys to unlocking things was that children go back to school, which meant that

pa rents go back to school, which meant that parents could go back to work. so putting in extra strain on things, but also once again, the increasing complexity of the problem here. but also once again, the increasing complexity of the problem harem hasn't been handled that well by the government, hazard, yasmin, the telegraph has got the same story, schools could be shut throughout january. you are saying a little earlier, i mean, gavin williamson ordered, i think it's going greenwich to reopen. and threaten them with legal action. you know, what kind of thinking is that? when this happens, i suspect that people already knew that, you know, something was happening with the younger part of the population. teachers have been saying for a long time that's, you know, the situation that they've been put into is untenable and dangerous. i mean, you know, this is such a terrible situation, and i do want to emphasise, i'm not the kind of political commentator who just goes

for the tory party leadership, because it feels good to do so, i do understand that it's difficult, but they have made too many mistakes along the way, and that was one of the most recent ones, i think. let's look at the story above that, giles, because, well, battles on all fronts of the moment, isn't it? we haven't even discussed brexit yet, and mass testing for lorry driver separates. the telegraph seems to have a lot of information on this. just talk us through it, because it seems that president macron is looking for a specific task, and the problem is there, it's not only expensive, but it's going to take 2—3 days to get the results back. yes, i think emmanuel macron wants his colds —— so—called gold standard, the pcr coven testament cost £150, but it would take 48 hours, if not longer.

so once again you know, delay is the idea that we can get back to sense of normality at our ports. obviously, everyone said, look, it's fine if it's blockade lasting for 48 hours, the prime minister said it affects 20% of supplies. if it goes on longer, it becomes more problematic when it comes to perishable goods. those typically have a short supply chain and come quite late in the day. the telegraph often is, probably, one of the best or most well informed newspapers, one of the government was my favourite. there your first telephone call. i traced everyone the same, tim. i'm ruthlessly fair. but, yeah. it seems to have a lot of detail there about what they are trying to do to ease things up. yasmin, the government today, well, borisjohnson yasmin, the government today, well, boris johnson and grant yasmin, the government today, well, borisjohnson and grant chaps was saying they have been preparing for

this for another reason, a no—deal brexit and saying that that is why they had handled it relatively well. would you agree with that analysis? no, i don't think they've handled anything well at all. and it is interesting, it's like coverity and brexit are now, because of the timings, as much as anything else, are kind of merging into each other, aren't they? i think they should send liz trust out there to sort them out, because she apparently can, you know, get the world to do the right thing by us. but, nothing is being done very well at the moment, and the brexit deadline is looming, there are some beds and little glimpses of breakthroughs which whether they happen or not, at least we can hope. i think we are going to come to that story in a minute, so let's pause on that, shall we? and just carry on with the covid stuff, because the independent, giles, well, a picture

that we used in our package, our report this evening, picture of all of those lorries. what interested me also, this press conference today, that grant chaps said that the number of lorries had reduced from 500 to 174, and that is just clearly not the case. yes, the dispute over figures. he was specific, wasn't he? 174, he said. 900 plus. i don't know if this was due to timing, about a backlog coming through, quite an eye to iconic pitch there on the front of the independent. also, i think they're trying to say you know, we are isolated from the rest of the world. i would are isolated from the rest of the world. iwould make are isolated from the rest of the world. i would make the point that actually, this virus is everywhere for stopping their cases in italy and in some other european countries, and i think also, this idea that we are the middle of europe, we have got infection rates in other countries, so while the situation is serious, perhaps not as

as acute as some papers are trying to make up. at think it was an italian paper i saw the front page of today calling it the british, the english virus. of course they're trying to shift the blame elsewhere given the problems that they have. rights. jasmine —— yasmin, shall we go to the ft, you ready to roll—out pfizer. several days after the uk and the us, why the delay in europe? well, they haven't really rolled out that fast in the us. i think in a really come of the big roll—out is next year, in the us, for reasons i can't understand, but i think that you wanted to be absolutely sure. you don't think the uk did? no, i was going to say the eu is very cautious and it took its time, and it's going for it now, i don't think one should necessarily see this as a race, i'm very pleased with the

vaccination programme starting when it did here, i don't thank you should treat this as some sort of mad race between nations. everybody is taking their own approach, the eu, which, you know, is looking after a huge population in its club, it took a very much more cautious approach, and i'm very pleased that they are going to go ahead now. this is the time for international cooperation. not international throwing of insults and competitions. giles, why do you think europe was slower? to be honest, tim, i don't know. as yasmin said, it's not the time to do political point scoring, but i do think that the uk should be applauded that we were you know, obviously, we've been criticised for lots of things, we were the first us — — fastest lots of things, we were the first us —— fastest in the world that we got the vaccine, great news today that it's been rolled out to have a million people. clearly, it's a massive logistical challenge about

how do you get it to the rest of the population? and that is going to be a huge challenge for the government to get that right, to use pharmacies and other outlets to get it out there. and that in and of itself is almost as important as the back—seat in terms of how can we roll it out as quickly as possible in the year to get back to normality? so far, scientists think that the vaccine from you know, would kill off this strain that we are seeing. they have designated, i think i'm a designer of 27, 28, 29, the commission has designated it eu vaccination day, right, yasmin, you were talking earlier about the brexit talks, and it seems that things may be getting closer, the guardian has got that story. i think we can get it up here on the screen. suggesting that maybe it will be recalled next wednesday, and who is giving more? again, i don't think we should make it into a competition. , you know,

no—deal would be a disaster, and what i know of this particular issue of fishing quotas and percentages is that this is in the guardian, our —— are agreeing to lower our numbers to 35%, i think, are agreeing to lower our numbers to 35%, ithink, from are agreeing to lower our numbers to 35%, i think, from a are agreeing to lower our numbers to 35%, ithink, from a much are agreeing to lower our numbers to 35%, i think, from a much higher figure, and michel barnier wanted 2596. figure, and michel barnier wanted 25%. it'sjust edging towards figure, and michel barnier wanted 25%. it's just edging towards a common number which could help break the deadlock, according to our negotiator, frost. so anything that helps break the deadlock and towards a half decent deal would be good for everyone , a half decent deal would be good for everyone, and i only hope that they are not going to againjust gallop into no—deal when we are facing such terrible problems at the moment.

giles, how will brexit years deal with those concessions and in particular, continue access to uk waters? i think it's going to be a five—year transition period, the guardian are talking about here, and that emmanuel macron is still key to unlocking this. i don't know how brexiters will take it. i mean it looks like it's a case of the two sides meeting in the middle. i think, you know, ultimately, it would be a good thing. i mean, i've been struck by a borisjohnson's body language that all these negotiations. you know, whilst these maintain face negotiations. you know, whilst these maintainface and negotiations. you know, whilst these maintain face and said look, the negotiations are moving either way, he seemed relatively comfortable with what's going on. i suspect that there is a lot more behind the scenes that we don't know about. those are classic negotiations, why would you show your hand? i never got it when everyone was saying that

we have to get a deal at all costs. of course we want to get a deal, but you've got to be prepared to walk away from the table that has been, obviously come of the expectation management on this, people aren't expecting it, so if we do get estimate will be seen as a big pool. the clock is running out. it is uncomfortable for people. i'm afraid, our clock has run out, actually, our clock has run out, giles, and yasmin, they give a much deeper taking us through the second editions of the papers. hello, i'm ben croucher with a round up of the day's sports news. we'll start in the premier league, where, after back to back defeats, chelsea climbed back up to fifth in the table with a 3—nil win over west ham. manager frank lampard said he hoped theirform had been a wake up call for his side and they took

10 minutes to find the perfect tonic through thiago silva. it wasn't easy going however, until two goals in three minutes from tammy abraham settled things on a soggy evening at stamford bridge. recalled in place of olivier giroud, the england frontman is now up to five for the season in the league. west ham stay 10th. burnley moved three points clear of the relegation zone — hanging on to beat wolves 2—1. sean dyche's side had scored just 6 league goals all season before tonight. ashley barnes and chris wood found the target. the family of the 1966 world cup winner nobby stiles, who died earlier this year, say they have been told his dementia was caused by heading footballs. a leading expert dr willie stewart, carried out research into the former footballer‘s brain. our sports correspondent natalie pirks has this report. he was the world cup winner whose dancing stole the nation's hearts. but as dementia cruelly took hold in later life, nobby stiles' family became

convinced that heading footballs was to blame. this weekend, they found out their suspicions were right. last year, neuropathologist dr willie stewart published a landmark study, concluding that footballers are more than three times more likely to develop dementia. he studied noddy‘s brain and found it to be at an advanced stage of chronic traumatic and set off the peak, cte, for short. in circumstances where there has been head impacts, with a football, there are not many head injuries in football but there is an awful lot of heading the ball. so, what is chronic traumatic and step for pudsey, and south. the brain appears shrunken under a microscope, but what sets it apart only seen in people with head impacts. is the build—up of an abnormal protein, seen here stained brown. a coroner report in 2002 said

west brom's jeff astle died as a result of heading a football, the first footballer‘s death of its kind in the uk. in 2014, his brain was also confirmed to have cte. john has no doubt heading the ball caused his father's dementia. absolutely none. no doubt whatsoever. there needs to be a massive amount of help for all of these players and their families, who are left to fight this. i can only describe it as a horrific illness. it is a horrific illness, to watch somebody disappear so brutally in front of you. donating nobby‘s brain was a difficult decision, but ultimately the stiles family knew this was bigger than them. my dad suffered a lot, and we talked about it, and my mom basically said, if it can stop one more player suffering the way your dad did, then we will do it.

this could well be just the tip of the iceberg. natalie pirks, bbc news. it traditionally takes place in february but the efl cup final has been moved to the end of april next year. the idea is to give more chance for fans to attend the game at wembley. the english football league said numbers allowed for the rescheduled fixture on april 25th will depend on government guidelines at the time. no fans are allowed to watch elite sport in london at present. two time women's world cup winner alex morgan says she'll be forever grateful to tottenham hotspur women after announcing she was returning to playing in the united states. the striker onlyjoined spurs in september as she made her competitive return following the birth of he daughter earlier in the year. she scored two goals in five games and is expected to rejoin orlando pride in the nwsl. rugby union's second tier — the championship — has been delayed until march — meaning saracens and their england internationals won't play a competitive game before the six nations.

the championship was due to begin injanuary but recent coronavirus restrictions have hampered preparations for many clubs. it means the likes of england captain owen farrell, maro itoje and the vunipola brothers with be without a game before england's opener against scotland on the sixth of february. on the second day of the battle of the brits premier league, dan evans recovered from his defeat to andy murray yesterday with victory in his second group game. the british number one beat jan choinski in straight sets, winning 7—5, 6—love in roehampton. cam norrie was surprised 7—6. 7—6 by 18—year—old jack draper whilst heather watson was a winner in the women's event. the third highest run scorer in the history of test cricket, jacques kallis, willjoin england's coaching setup for their tour of sri lanka next month. the south african will act as a batting coaching consultant for the two test series — that is scheduled to start on january the 14th in galle. kallis has recently worked with the south african national team and kolkata knight riders in the indian premier league.

and after winning the race to dubai, lee westwood has been named the european tour's golfer of the year for the fourth time. the award is chosen by a panel, comprised of members of the golf media. having started 2020 by winning the abu dhabi championship and rounding it off with the harry varden trophy, the accolade caps of a successful year for the 47—year—old. he said it was "very humbling" to receive the honour. you are up—to—date from the bbc sport centre. from all of the team, have a great night. hello there. the next couple of days, we are going to hold onto this north—south divide with northern areas seeing the colder, drier, brighter weather with some sunshine, a few showers, wintry on the hills. further south, it will continue to be fairly mild, but rather cloudy and wet thanks to low—pressure nearby. this is the pressure chart as we head on into tuesday. we still have this weather front straddling southern areas, further north, though, we have got higher pressure. so, here, plenty of sunshine

for northern ireland, scotland, much of northern england, miflands and into north wales. more cloud, though, across the south of the country, some spots of rain at times, and here it will be milder. further north, it's going to be another chilly one with temperatures into single digits, some of these showers could be wintry on the hills because of the temperatures being quite low. but, again, double figures in the south. as we head through tuesday night, we see a new area of low—pressure push—up from the southwest. that's going to increase the cloud, outbreaks of rain across the southern half of the country. further north, it will tend to be clear again, there will be a few showers, which will be wintry, as temperatures will fall to around freezing for many — a touch of frost here. further south, though, you can see 4—10 degrees. so into wednesday, we've got this area of low—pressure, quite a vigorous system. more isobars on the charts, so through the day, it start to get windier. but, there is still some milder air with this area of low—pressure.

so, the southern half of the country stays cloudy, wet and mild, further north, it will be colder. but the cold air will win out as we move on into the christmas period. so, this is the chart for wednesday. much of england and wales, perhaps even southern scotland will be cloudy with outbreaks of rain, some of it heavy in the south, and there is a chance of further flooding, as the rain is falling on saturated ground. another mild day here, 6—11 or 12 degrees in the south, but for scotland and northern ireland, a bright one with sunshine, one or two showers, wintry on the hills and low single digits. our area of low—pressure begins to slide away into the near continent, it allows this high—pressure to topple in and bring us colder northerly winds. it pushes the rain away from the southeast. we could see showers in northern areas, particularly around the coast, and these will be wintry because it will be cold. but for many, it will be dry with more sunshine around, noticeably colder, particularly in the south 4—7 degrees. so that's for christmas eve. christmas day, a cold start, could see some frost around, and with high—pressure around, it should be dry with variable amounts of cloud and some sunshine. but then it starts to become more unsettled again into boxing day.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm tim willcox. more than 40 countries have banned flights from the uk, amid deep concerns about the spread of the new variant of coronavirus. meanwhile lorries continue to queue for miles in kent — unable to cross the channel after france shuts its border. a special report from china, we hear from the chinese scientist whose laboratory is suspected, by some, of being the origin of the pandemic. exactly 32 years after a panam flight blew up over lockerbie, killing 270, us officials have charged a libyan man with making the bomb. jabs for the cameras — president—electjoe biden and the incoming first lady publicly receive their first doses of the covid—19 vaccine.