hello — this is bbc news with lu kwesa burak. the headlines... growing pressure on the nhs with covid—19 adding to the strain across the country. the london ambulance service says boxing day was one of the busiest days in its history. the rollout of the pfizer biontech covid vaccine begins for millions of people across the eu. british prime minister borisjohnson is promising big changes following his brexit trade deal. but his finance minister rishi sunak has sought to reassure the city of london that the post—brexit trade deal will not damage the financial services industry. storm bella brings gusts of more than 100mph — with roads in parts of wales and devon and cornwall

blocked by falling trees. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are the chief political commentatorfor the independent, john rentoul and the political writer and academic, maya goodfellow. lovely to see you both. the front pages... "volunteer army ready to distribute covid vaccine" reads the front page of the telegraph — the paper reports that the oxford covid vaccine could be approved as soon as tomorrow, and that more than 10,000 medics and volunteers have been recruited and trained by the nhs to begin delivering the jab. the mirror headline is "a shot at freedom" as the paper also

reports that the oxford astrazeneca vaccine is just days away from being approved. the daily mail adds that hundreds of pop—up gp—led vaccination centres are on their way as part of the drive to help roll out the jab to millions of people as quickly as possible. sticking with vaccines... 0n the front page of the independent, a photograph of a healthcare worker in vienna punching the air having receiving the pfizer vaccine against coronavirus after rollout of that vaccine began in eu countries today. on the guardian's front page, a warning from psychiatrists that the covid—19 crisis poses the greatest threat to mental health since the second world war, with its impact set to last for years. and on the front page of the daily star, "swamped" — a photograph of flooding caused by storm bella. thousands of homes have been affected, and the paper says

snow is expected next. so let's begin... lovely to see both of you. i wonder if he can kick this off, we will start with the front page of the daily telegraph, all about a volunteer army? this is a story that is across a number of different front pages in the coverage around the oxford astrazeneca vaccine which we anticipate will be approved maybe as early as tomorrow and this decision will be made by a regulatory agency that looks at medicines and health care and the government are looking at the roll—out of this vaccine. 0ne government are looking at the roll—out of this vaccine. one of the promising things about this is it is easier to distribute in terms of storage, not as difficult as the pfizer vaccine and also cheaper so the government has already bought 100 million doses of the oxford

vaccine and a lot of the focus is shifting towards how this will be done, how the vaccine will be rolled out across the country and done in the most efficient way possible, given the really serious nature of this wave of the coronavirus at the moment in terms of the number of hospital admissions and deaths and obviously this tier 4 lockdown that people are experiencing. a lot of the eyes are focused on this in the hope that this product can be done in the most efficient way possible, meaning for lots of people that the way that they are living their lives at the moment with people shielding, that will continue because obviously we still will be in this second and third wave for some time but there is hope on the horizon for many. john, there have been a lot of dates and we cannot confirm anything at the bbc, dates about a possible roll—out, but your thoughts?” the bbc, dates about a possible roll-out, but your thoughts? i think there is a danger of the press getting ahead of itself because if

the answer vaccine is not approved tomorrow there will be a sense of anti—climax and disappointment but it will obviously be approved in the next few days. and the plans are quite ambitious. to get up to vaccinating 1 million people every day by the middle ofjanuary, that is quite a logistical operation. but it needs to be done and obviously, eveni million it needs to be done and obviously, even 1 million a it needs to be done and obviously, eveni million a day is not necessarily fast enough, that still implies taking a year to vaccinate the entire population. but the other interesting thing in the daily telegraph story is they are thinking of widening the gap between both vaccine jabs from three weeks to 12 weeks to maximise the number of people who get the first jab and get the protection that offers and i think that is an extremely good idea that was floated by tony blair last week and it seems to have caught on.

we will turn to the front page of the daily mirror, the same story but the headline is a shot at freedom? yes, asjohn the headline is a shot at freedom? yes, as john has the headline is a shot at freedom? yes, asjohn has said, how this will be rolled out on the numbers is something that will be focus on and one of the potential areas of concern is old and the government has talked about these big targets, whether in terms of testing or looking at vaccines, and these are two different things, test and trace and the vaccine being administered. there is a problem that at times throughout this whole major health ca re throughout this whole major health care crisis of them failing to meet targets and promising things and not meeting that so i think there will be focus on how they do this in the most effective way possible and i think communicating with the public the way this will be done, so the people know what to expect and know that actually, communications is possible, that things will not be changing overnight any time soon and

we are in an extremely bad point of the crisis in terms of coronavirus. and although the vaccine is incredibly good at giving us hope, this will not be over in the next month, it will be longer and how they ruled the site will be incredibly important in doing that in an effective and efficient way, thatis in an effective and efficient way, that is important. john, take us to the front page of the guardian, still dealing with covid but something that is becoming increasingly important and concerning and that is its impact on mental health that will last for yea rs, mental health that will last for years, so says the royal college. yes, that is obviously something people have been worried about, especially the effect on people who live alone. just the sense of fear as well, i think that has had a corrosive effect on a lot of

people's lives. it is as well that we are aware of it although the immediate problem is the hospitalisations and access deaths we are going to see over the next few weeks. but a lot of the people —— papers go on the optimistic line that at the vaccine is rolled out as fast as they hope, or the vaccine, vaccines, as it soon will be, that could result in some relaxations and restrictions in the middle of february, which is not far off. sticking with the guardian, looking at staff being put at risk by the vaccine strategy. this really comes from a survey of nhs staff were almost two thirds of those who were surveyed said they still had not had the vaccine and half of them felt like the delivery of the vaccine to

the front line staff had been ad hoc and a third said they had no idea when it would be offered on this story says there was a fear the government had potentially prioritised people over 80 and in ca re prioritised people over 80 and in care homes over health workers and getting into that is difficult. care home staff also need to be vaccinated but i think part of this again comes down to the problem of communicating exactly what the strategy is and how this will be done, particularly for those who have been working in the nhs, months ago when the focus was on the fact that many nhs and care home workers we re that many nhs and care home workers were having to go to work without adequate ppe, nor a lot of staff will feel that they are being neglected when there is this new strain, potentially more infectious, and when will they be vaccinated? partly this is about communicating this clearly to those members of staff and i think it will eventually then pose questions about if schools go back in the new year, what is

going to be there for teachers? adequate provisions to make sure the people who need the vaccine are going to get it and how you make those decisions is incredibly difficult but communicating that effectively is something the government is not always doing sufficiently. the front page of the independent. the same story, two different ways. this picture of a health care worker in vienna punching the air as they have rolled out their vaccines, they have started today. two locations started yesterday. the lead story is errors that led to covid nursing crisis. this is an important story about what happened in the march — april peak of coronavirus, that we were expecting a lot of nursing staff who re ce ntly expecting a lot of nursing staff who recently had retired or had recently left the profession, we are expecting a lot of them to come back into the nhs to help out but it

turns out that actually only 1000 dead and they were outnumbered by the numbers were off sick because of coronavirus. actually, the number of nurses available dropped at the time of crisis and that is obviously going to have lessons for the current peak because we are approaching the point where hospitals are almost as full as they we re hospitals are almost as full as they were in march and april of coronavirus victims. another world exclusive by our brilliant health correspondent, sean linton.|j exclusive by our brilliant health correspondent, sean linton. ithink this is going to be one of the many lessons that will need to be learned going forward, thinking about how you are adequately repaired for things like pandemics and we know there are certain things that are done and tests are run in order to ensure that that is the case and we know in the uk that many of the things that were needed simply were not there and this goes for on

things like underfunding of the nhs do not really considering everything that will be needed for something like a major pandemic that we have u nfortu nately like a major pandemic that we have unfortunately encountered. i think the sort of short—term things that need to be done right now, now that we are in the second wave, so we haveissues we are in the second wave, so we have issues of staffing in the nhs but issues going back to the guardian story about mental health. 0ne guardian story about mental health. one of the many things that is in the mix there that we need to understand why people are experiencing poor mental health is the economic effects of the crisis and people on statutory sick pay, it is so incredibly low that they must face a decision between going to work or if they have symptoms, risking going to work or staying at home and not being paid adequately. so this is really about learning some lessons right now, some of the things are much longer term but some can be done now to ensure people are properly supported and that the nhs is best protected. the situation in

terms of the numbers being admitted and people who are dying is absolutely dire and i think there needs to be a major discussion about how much of this could be avoided, once we are moving out of the second wave. the daily telegraph, john, a big week for brexit but what are mps calling for a? it is interesting, all of the front pages are dominated by the vaccine and the plans for rolling it out, which is right, most people are more interested in that than the history being made by the brexit deal. the final treaty. which borisjohnson unveiled brexit deal. the final treaty. which boris johnson unveiled on brexit deal. the final treaty. which borisjohnson unveiled on christmas eve. mps, the daily telegraph reports, want to be in the chamber of the house of commons when the commons meets on wednesday,

presumably tory mps, they are much keener to be there in person rather than taking part over video. i would have thought they would be better advised to focus their attention on ensuring you get enough time to scrutinise this extremely long and complicated treaty because they have only been given one day but they are more concerned about appearing in person rather than on video. briefly, your thoughts?” person rather than on video. briefly, your thoughts? i would love to know how many people this was because as well as a need to scrutinise this bill, in such an incredibly short time, given how the negotiations went, and it does not seem advisable given the fact that we are in tier 4 in london and there isa we are in tier 4 in london and there is a virulent strain of the virus and the government has warned us about this and then to want to be in the chamber, how many people is that? social distancing? it just seems that i will be keeping an eye

on this because the daily telegraph story says that large numbers of mps are expected to vote by proxy in a historic vote so it'll be interesting to see who wants to get into the chamber. were you all affected by storm bella? did you hear her blowing around? the guardian has a picture of people on the mirrors yesterday. john? that was very noisy last night. windows rattling. i thought the panes of glass would be sucked out! that is quite a picture. but walker on the hillside leaning into the wind. was it windy for you? i feel like it has almost passed me by! i'm hoping that the weather is not that bad because i live near a reservoir! good luck with that. thank you both very much.

john and maya will be back at 11.30pm for another look at the papers. next it's click. ah, there you are! come on in! welcome to clickmas 2020! i hope you're doing 0k. it's all a bit different this year, isn't it? normally we'd be getting together around the table, having a laugh, cheering, having a good time. well, pretending to have a good time. filming a clickmas party is the most stressful thing in the world. butjust because we can't all be together doesn't mean we can't all be together! hello, everyone! hello!

there you are! look at you all! it's the fam! chris, loving the jumper! candles are a go atjen's place. lj, that must be a musical rainbow, i'm guessing. 0mar, christmas furby, i see. and paul with his christmas duck, of course the well—known symbol of the festive season. oh, the duck is brilliant and spencer, your house looks so festive! you have totally outdone me with your decorations once again. thank you. not to mention the outfit — amazing. how is your clickmas going so far? costly on the electricity front, i have to say. but guys, i'm really missing you. i really just want to get in the same room with you again. i just wanna do that. oh, it's been a tough old year but we are so grateful that we have stayed on your screens and today, at least we can have a get—together — albeit 2020 style — for the last show of this year. yeah, that's right, and for this show, we've been able to go out and about filming just a little bit, and if santa had asked me what would i like to do for christmas, if i could do anything at all, what would i say?

i'd say "i want to be like you, big guy, and fly". well, it's pretty early in the morning. i've been told to meet my driving instructor richard here, and he's told me i need to wear these. don't know why. loud whirring. dramatic music. music reaches crescendo. yeah, so it turns out richard's not in a fiat panda then. he's arriving at goodwood speed week in style as the chief test pilot of gravity industries — a start—up that believes they've finally nailed the jet pack. i hatched this idea in 2016 of could you reinvent flight byjust adding a minimalist amount of equipment and using your brain

and your body to fly in a very unusual way? no logical reason — that was just an interesting idea, i thought. chuckles. so, i'm going to have a go in this. mm—hmm. any tips? actually, it's like watching a child learn to ride a bike because if you described a bicycle to somebody who'd never seen one, it sounds very clever and complicated and difficult to learn. but our experience is when you let the inner balance brain take over, then it's remarkable how well that collaboration between machine and human works, and this is the same. right, so what we're going to do is put the harness on. that will do a good job of kind of connecting you to the suit as best as possible. if you stress and overthink it, it's really hard. walking and standing up is much more complicated than learning to fly this, so just relax into it and enjoy it. the jet suit is pretty daunting and although it is also pretty heavy, there's not that much to it — two turbines on each arm and one at the back and well, that's it. right, so if you look in the end, see the trigger? just get used to the pull of it. that's the throttle.

so when you're up there, when you squeeze it and you can feel the engines gradually ramp up. this finger will actually nudge the power up, and that will nudge the power down. a couple of nudges — each nudge gives you a couple of kilos more thrust. so the idea is that you're learning about lateral stability and rotation, but it will still shove you around a bit, but once you get your weight over the top of it, you'll notice that it's really not very much. right. i mean, it's really scary cos i can feel the power and i can feel the heat all around me. the diesel fuel lasts for up to ten minutes. all of which, for me, will be spent at most a few centimetres off the ground.

what the helljust happened?! that was honestly really good. that was incredible! that's — that's — i don't know whether that's adrenaline orjust sheer terror or excitement or what. but, um... phew! the main application, richard thinks, is in entertainment — imagine seeing jet pack races across lakes, for example. but in september 2020, richard joined the great north air ambulance service to show how paramedics might quickly get to casualties in the rough terrain of the lake district. the great north air ambulance reached out and said that there appears, according to their analysis, to be a large cluster of cases where if they could move very quickly out of a vehicle with this, that would work. and so, we went up and tested it. the headline result was i got to the casualty in 90 seconds when it took 25 minutes to walk there. hardly surprising, since richard broke the guinness world record for fastest speed in a body—controlled jet engine power suit — twice.

they're noisy, impractical, and expensive butjet packs are now real, which is a good enough christmas present for this little fan boy. who is up? paul: i have a present, except my present is a gift for all of you, notjust one. thanks paul! sweet! what is it? i will be the ghost of christmas past and take us all back to the 19505, specifically, to a jazz club in vancouver called the palomar. it was demolished in 1955. but thanks to the magic of live motion capture, and an incredible singer called jill barber and her band, she's recreated it for one christmas only, so grab a drink, sit back and let's go back in time.

# oh, the weather outside is frightful. # but the fire is so delightful. # since we've no place to go. # let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. # it doesn't show signs of stopping. # and i've brought some corn for popping # the lights are turned way down low # let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...#. that was jill barber and the phantom jazz band. and after the performance, i managed to catch up with her at the bar. so, jill, just to start with, can you tell us about where we both are? sure, you and i are sitting

at the palomar supper club which is a club that was demolished in 1955. how are we doing that? i am actually sitting in front of a green screen in a film studio in vancouver, british columbia, canada, and you are 7600 kilometres away at a studio at the bbc in london. but through the magic of cross reality technology, we can be here together at the palomar. showcap, the company behind the performance, created this virtual venue using the unreal engine, a platform created for gaming. with the performers in motion capture suits shot against a green screen, they could be transported to the ‘50s while maintaining their intricate human movements.

# i quit pretending...# historically, motion capture and virtual production techniques have been used in the creation of blockbuster films, in big budget video games, but with cinematic quality computer graphics that can be rendered in real time, we're starting to really sort of explore the use of these things in live performance. jill's first palomar concert was broadcast online in november, but unlike many other performances we've all watched over the last year, for me, something about this really stands out. it's more than just you performing in a space. you've created a back story and a feeling around it. tell me about how that came about, and for example, why the palomar? the palomar also has this incredible history of hosting the likes of ella fitzgerald

and louis armstrong and the mills brothers, billie holiday, and i thought how cool to continue that legacy and perform on the same stage that those artists graced back in the day. oh, that is so brilliant. that is just so brilliant, but i'm afraid that is it for the short cut of our special clickmas special. the full—length cut is waiting for you right now on iplayer and hopefully, we'll we'll be back to normal next year. now, normally, the show that follows clickmas is a look back at our last 12 months, but who here really wants to look back to 2020? thought so. so, instead we will bring you a special live show where we look back at the past 20 years of click. that's right! until then though you can find us on social media, youtube, instagram, facebook and twitter...

spencer, are you 0k? yeah i am, i'm just taking it all in really... i mean, this truly has been a special day. we didn't think that we'd be able to do it, but we posted the gifts to each other, we got everyone together, and when i say everyone, i mean everyone! it's been a challenging year for us all, but we have done our best to bring you your weekly dose of click. and everyone on the team just wanted to be here to say thank you. thank you for watching us, thank you for being part of our click family, so until next time, it's goodbye and merry clickmas! merry clickmas! # hurry down the chimney tonight. # hurry down the chimney tonight #.

a chilly and rather wintry flavour to the weather as we head through the last few days of 2020. this week will bring cold conditions, a mix of rain, sleet and snow but some sunshine as well. through tonight, showers are around and what persistent rain, sleet and snow through western scotland, northern ireland, wales into the west country and the snow mostly of a higher ground but we will see some at low levels in places and a very cold night indeed so there will be icy stretches here and there as we start tomorrow morning. this area of rain, sleet and snow pivots slowly across parts of wales, the west midlands into the west country as well. some snow accumulating for the time even

at low levels and that will slide southwards and we see more rain, sleet and snow for the west, showers in the east, sunshine and between on what will be a very chilly day. into tuesday and wednesday, dry weather around with spells of sunshine, showers also, some of which will be wintry.

this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. britain's borisjohnson promises big changes following his brexit trade deal, as his finance minister rishi sunak says the deal will reassure those worried about the impact on businesses. for those who were anxious about the economic implications of leaving, they should be enormously reassured by the comprehensive nature of this free—trade agreement. the roll—out of the pfizer biontech, covid vaccine, begins for millions of people across the eu — starting with health workers and the elderly. millions of americans lose their unemployment benefits — after president trump refuses to sign the covid economic relief bill into law. and storm bella brings gusts of more than 100 miles an hour —