it "a ' “ar to the purpose—built city. one thing is clear, however, this country has undergone a tumultuous period. but through it all, nature has continued to play a vital role for the once nomadic people here and for travellers who visit. you start to get a sense of that at the green bazaar. there has been a market here since before soviet times. this is a fermented horse milk which has been around since nomadic times, and they say it is a cure for tuberculosis. 0h, say it is a cure for tuberculosis. oh, it'sa say it is a cure for tuberculosis. oh, it's a strong taste. the aftertaste is almost like you are smoking a cigar. i don't know why, but that is exactly what it tastes like. very sharp, very intense taste. it's the world ninth largest country but kazakhstan is also one of the most sparsely populated. it's

people were traditionally nomadic with their lives tied to their environment. today, travellers come to explore its relatively untouched landscapes. i want to find out more of that is people's relationship with nature today. so, i'm heading east to the fourth largest lake in the world, or at least that is what it was. welcome to the dusty streets. if you can believe it, this used to be a bustling fishing village but if you come over here i looked down at the ground you can see what used to be the bottom of the sea. not much fishing going on now. it's been called one of the

worlds biggest environmental disasters. the seat which stretches the broader was once above the size of ireland. the immense stretch of water began to dry up, around 90% of it was washed off the map and with it was washed off the map and with it the livelihoods of many people. i heard that here in kazakhstan, the sea was actually coming back and it was bringing travellers to so off i go in search of the sea across miles of the old sea bed.

around 90% of it was wiped off the map and with it, the livelihoods of many of the people who lived on the sea's produce. i'd heard that here in kazakhstan, the sea was actually coming back, and it was bringing travellers too, so off i go in search of the aral sea, across miles of the old sea bed. i've arranged to meet a guide in this region. he wanted me to see the full extent of what the sea, which was actually a large lake, once was, thousands of years before it dried up in the 20th century. the view from the top! what caused it to recede so far? the flow of water was diverted to feed the soviet cotton industry. uzbekistan still remains one of the world's top producers of cotton, but while the uzbek side of the sea remains mostly lost, recent interventions have meant the north aral sea in kazakhstan is returning.

approaching the shore, one of the biggest draws for travellers has been the eerie sight of shipwrecks scattered across the old sea bed. spider webs everywhere. here we are. the aral sea. at one time, it was the fourth largest inland lake in the world and soon, it will reclaim that title. i made it. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting — i get it. i get it now. it's a beautiful place.

i wanted to see how kazakhstan‘s relationship with nature is changing, so i'm meeting up with a mountain guide. but what karla really wanted to show me was how some people are mixing old kazakhstan with the new — sandboarding on kazakhstan‘s most famous singing sand dune. famous because under the right conditions, the dune makes a humming sound, almost like an organ. humming. wow! it's huge! i can see the little dust devils twisting up the sides. it almost looks alive. the skin of the dune, sweeping back and forth like a snake. and i heard that it almost is — it actually moves. in the past 150 years, it has moved three metres.

slowly, but it is moving. it really is incredible. chuckles. i don't know how we're going to snowboard down it! laughs. along for the ride was karla's friend and olympic kazakhstan snowboard trainer yelena. the dune stretches for 3km and reaches a height of 150 metres and let me tell you, it might look placid from a distance but it is an entirely other story once you're up there. it's a little bit windy today but we're on the singing sands and i guess that's always how it is here. for myself, i have gone snowboarding before. what are some differences with sandboarding 7

0k. lean back, yeah? that being said, it was comforting knowing that i'll be going slower than on snow. and also the cool thing about a sand dune is there's no trees! so, i mean, i guess it's safer, right? no doubt, though, this is definitely the definition of an extreme sport. and here i am, strapped in. ok, you ready? i — i think i'm ready. woo!

this is a lot of fun! though i promise you that you get sand in a lot of places you do not want sand. but before long, we're starting to get the hang of it. surfing music plays. this is a lot of work. pants. what's incredible, though, is when you come down, as the sand starts to avalanche, you can feel it shaking and reverberating underneath the board. it's very cool — it sings as you come down. we've got our final round from the very, very top — if — if i can — i can make it! let's stay here and take a break for a sec.

yeah! and with that, my trip to kazakhstan is at an end. and what a ride it was. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are simon minty, disability consultant and comedy producer and anne ashworth, property and personal finance commentator. tomorrow's front pages, starting with. .. the sunday telegraph leads on comments from ofsted's chief inspector amanda spielman — who says children cannot be ‘furloughed' for months whilst coronavirus cases subside and that time out of

classroom should be kept to the "absolute minimum". teaching unions havejoined forces to call for schools to be kept closed to slow the spread of the virus. the sunday express reports comments from the prime minister — he describes the work on the oxford vaccine as a triumph of british science — and believes the uk will defeat covid in 2021. the sunday times leads on analysis which shows nearly a quarter of people in england live in a constituency with no hospital, gp practice or community building for administering vaccines — as the oxford vaccine roll—out is due to begin on monday(ani)and the scottish daily mail reports on comments from england's deputy chief medical officer professor jonathan van tam, who has defended the decision to extend the gap between administering two doses of the vaccine from three weeks to 12 weeks — insisting ‘it is the way we save most lives‘.

so, let's begin. my my guests are poised and ready, they've been studying the front pages. we'll begin with the sunday express , pages. we'll begin with the sunday express, the year we will defeat covert. a lot of certainty coming from the prime minister, and a sort of optimism that people are crying out for your right, ben, of optimism that people are crying out foryour right, ben, it of optimism that people are crying out for your right, ben, it is the kind of optimism that everyone wants to hear and really badly needs just now but the rest of the front pages would necessarily fill you with confidence that the vaccine roll—out is going to be as smooth as we would wish all that the problems, particularly those centring on our schools are in any way close to being tackled also, the problems mounting up in our hospitals. there isa mounting up in our hospitals. there is a very calm how talented this

front—page and it is belied by the stories and the rest of the papers this evening. simon, a delicate balance to get right, the need to give people hope but balancing that with the really dire numbers that we are seeing in the warnings of increasing pressures on hospitals. yes, i was looking at the numbers and it is 2.6 million in total now. this is a little bit borisjohnson at the moment, he is very good at the big, happy excited news and i do agree that getting hope it's helpful and now they may be an end in sight and now they may be an end in sight and the fact that this the oxford astrazeneca vaccine which is being done here, and we've got 100 million of them hopefully coming along, and it is positive and i know it is the light at the end of the tunnel for a lot of people. my worry is the same as iron, there seems to be a lot of problems everywhere else a lot of people are saying, what is the plan? what are we doing next week, for the

re st of what are we doing next week, for the rest of the month? rather than saying it is all going to be done. but i heard borisjohnson recently saying 5th of april he thinks it will be a very different landscape. obviously, his timescale can vary, depending on the move. it is good news, the head of the nhs says this isa news, the head of the nhs says this is a major milestone and as i said, there is light at the end of the tunnel, but i think it is a bit premature to be overjoyed. tunnel, but i think it is a bit premature to be overjoyedlj tunnel, but i think it is a bit premature to be overjoyed. i want to look at the sunday telegraph, the ofsted warning about the consequences of school closures. and, this is really coming if focus on the last couple of days with a lot of discussion about the rights and wrongs of opening schools, and it is, again, a tricky one to get right, isn't it? stopping the spread of the virus but also not damaging children's futures. this is a really vexed question we know the government is facing action from the head teachers who want to be told

what the government's information is that makes them feel easy and confident to have most schools reopened by january 18. now, confident to have most schools reopened byjanuary 18. now, the reopened byjanuary18. now, the sunday telegraph is focusing the view of amanda spielman, the boss of ofsted, which is also supported by the children's commissioner, that we cannot furlough our children, that any more delays that are absolutely necessary to the reopening of schools will risk their health and education of a generation. and there are very scary numbers in the story about children who during the first lockdown, in primary schools, who returned to school after home—schooling and had lost all their skills, such as the ability to hold a pencil or hold a knife and fork. and, also, the problems faced at home by people whose parents aren't affluent enough to buy all

the tech. people rely on their pa rents the tech. people rely on their parents phones, their pay—as—you—go mobile phones to download lessons, which is obviously not practicable. so, we've gotta huge problem facing gavin williamson and i expect tomorrow that we will see some action on this because it is very clear that members of his own party don't necessarily support the data, including jeremy hunt and bernard jenkins. so i think this will be a story that we will see unfolding tomorrow even as some primary schools are still meant to go back on monday morning. simon, your take on monday morning. simon, your take on it? similar to an's. i think it is always good to have another point of view and amanda spielman saying we must keep this to a minimum, it will have major impact on our children's education, i was reading, you know, there is talk about a—levels or gcses in the summer, is that all going to be skewed because

of this? but like and said, this is why the real convex issues. i was asking family and friends involved in education among the biggest push backs i am getting is not necessarily what is the right solution but having clarity over what we do. the chopping and changing makes it immensely difficult for people to plan, whether you are teaching children or whether you are teaching children or whether it is going to be more of an issue that parents have got to plan. and then you've got children with disabilities, disabilities is one of my big issues. it is very complex in terms of their support and getting the right way to educate them so i haven't got a straightforward answer on this one. i can see the health and safety risk but also i can see how important it is for the children. there is a connected story with that on the front page of the sunday telegraph as well, the deer —— dire crisis that more hospitals are facing. that is the fear, isn't

it? that if schools were to open at a time when the virus is spreading that in a number of weeks, the pressures on hospitals, if the virus we re pressures on hospitals, if the virus were to spread among children who then pass it on when they get home, then pass it on when they get home, the pressure on hospitals could grow even more, and. well, ithink the pressure on hospitals could grow even more, and. well, i think that we have the vaccines now and some delay in the reopening of schools would be more acceptable because come next term, more people will have been vaccinated, fingers crossed, and we were to be facing these problems. so, one of the strongest arguments in favour of delaying the reopening of the schools is that we do not want to put further pressure on the nhs which is facing the direst problems. and the problems we are seeing this week will be greater next week. i hate to say that but we know that is true. following the family mixing over christmas and the fact that

some people will not have obeyed the rules so we will see cases increasing, given the more contagious nature of this mutation of the virus. so, i think that possibly, given that we need to spare our nhs and that we must also consider the welfare of children, some delay is inevitable to reopening the schools. simon, despite the warnings, do you think there is an in—built assumption among people that if you are in a really bad way, the hospital is built look after you? and that is perhaps dampening the effect of the warnings? that is an interesting question. i believe the nhs and they have said we are better at reading this now. we are not as likely to die from it. the flip side of that is they are saying that people are staying in hospital for a lot longer so we are staying in hospital for a lot longer so we are having more people in beds and we are going to have less and less support which may well have a knock—on effect. i found this a

really interesting story and it is back to that bit of we have advanced notice, we know what is going on in london and we know where we are heading with numbers and that will spread around the country so what is it we might be able to do? i rememberwhen it we might be able to do? i remember when just before christmas, maybe five or six days, when the rules were changed and christmas was cancelled, and a lot of people fled london, you saw all the stations being very busy, and people went away and now they have all come back. it is very nervy because i do think people are a little bit more relaxed about it and as you say, maybe they feel more reassured that they are going to be ok, but we're still looking at big numbers who have getting it and the people that are getting it, this is not a fun to have. no, far from it. isuppose are getting it, this is not a fun to have. no, far from it. i suppose the hope for us all is this back saying, we are going to see the cheaper and easier to handle oxford astrazeneca vaccine for monday. the sunday times is suggesting that that could be trickier than people anticipated and

something of a postcode lottery. trickier than people anticipated and something of a postcode lotterym is the most extraordinary story, that one in four people are living in an area where there is no vaccination centre, and that the problems are direst in london, where the problems of covid—19 are greatest. and we are still calling it covid—19, those are the greatest problems. the whole issue surrounding the roll—out of the vaccine, including the huge amount of bureaucracy facing people who have been retired from the health service but wish to come back and help the vaccination centres are all clustering together to mean that the easy roll—out of the vaccine that was, that we were all hoping for may not necessarily happen in quite the way that we thought. and this idea that we will be free by easter isn't necessarily so. and simon, i think

one of the things that struck me, i went to a gp practice in london, a very modern building, very well kitted out and they said even there, admittedly there they were told about the fizer vaccine but they will talk about the logistics of getting numbers of people through the surgery while you are looking after people with other conditions, logistically, there is a huge challenge, even an affluent area with good provision. and this sort of goes back to we can have hope but the reality of delivering it is very complex. i think there was a number around 300,000 a week have been vaccinated, which is great, but if we really want to achieve this, we are looking at 2 million. and that isa are looking at 2 million. and that is a huge ramp up in terms of numbers. i read in one of the other front pages that it was something like 30,000 doctors who have retired and would be eligible to come back but only 5000 had got through to be on the books, and some of them are

pushing backs. people who are dentists who are volunteering to administer the vaccine, and to get through this process there is a lot of red tape and it is quite arduous so of red tape and it is quite arduous so they need some work, they need a lot of bodies to do the injection as well as getting people into these locations that are somewhat out of reach for some. and i want to pick up reach for some. and i want to pick up another story in the front page of the sunday times. the climate challenge that the world faces has not gone away and greta thundberg very much a leading voice on that front but it doesn't —— doesn't give many interviews but has done to the sunday times. some interesting points that she makes. it is a very interesting piece with greta thundberg, in the year whenjoe biden is going to be moving into the white house without too much bother i hope and bring in around $2 trillion climate change greening the american economy, a massive new

strategy to save the planet. and we see the most extraordinary voice in this, greta thundberg, talking about herself quite candidly for the first time. she is 18, so we have always thought of her as a child but she is now nearly an adult and she is not asjudgmental as she now nearly an adult and she is not as judgmental as she is depicted. she doesn't mind if we fly, she doesn't mind if we buy new clothes but she prefers not to. and all she is looking forfor but she prefers not to. and all she is looking for for her birthday present is may be some new lights for her bicycle because it is very darkin for her bicycle because it is very dark in the night there. but it is a very interesting picture of a complex young woman who has received death threats, death threats targeted at her and herfamily, over her beliefs. but for many young people, she's a real beacon, she is a real heroin, and i think that, you know, she has moved on, the whole

debate of climate change in the most extraordinary way, that will be her legacy. simon, 2020 has given people ample time to think about things like how much they travel and the impact they have on the planet and actually, you know, it has given people a chance to take stock and one of those things might be the impact their actions have on climate. yeah, i do have hope here. i think we learned some really big issues, lack of cars for the lack of pollution, less of us flying and other forms of transport. there was every peaceful moment during lockdown one and we thought goodness, we can hear birds, and we hear that trees rustling. i do live in london i appreciate what's of people can hear that in a area. greta thundberg is a hero for me, i think she transcends lots of generations, she is very smart, she's not saying you can do this or that, she is saying you can do what

you want but what would be my best birthday present is that you think about what you could do for the environment and for the climate, thatis environment and for the climate, that is a very kind of clever way of doing it because i think you want to be part of it, rather than being forced to be part of it. ok, simon, thanks very much. and thanks very much to you too. she said she wanted some new bike lights because hers are broken, my bike was pinched so i have lights but no bike so perhaps i will send them to her. simon and aunt will be back at 11:30pm for another look at the papers. —— simon and anna. hello, there. 2021 began on a chilly note and it will continue in that vein for the next, well, probably five to ten days, for the most part. and as well as that, the jet stream remains relatively weak, mostly to the west and to the south of us, which means we won't see any

huge areas of low pressure coming in but importantly we'll stay to the northern side of the jet so we are in the cold air. there is just a chance that we might see a little something from the atlantic towards the middle of the week but it doesn't look as if it will last long. so, it stays cold, we think, with frost and ice problems and further rain, sleet and snow, with slight complications. so, the subtle change in sunday's high—pressure building to the north so the wind direction changes so the distribution of the showers changes. again, focused on central and eastern areas but more so for the south—east and east anglia, the channel islands, perhaps fewer across the western side of wales, and south—west england. the best of the sunshine is going to be in the west but where ever you are, it is a cold day again, accentuated by a strengthening north—easterly wind, which stays with us, not just through sunday but through much of monday and tuesday, so dragging in moisture off the north sea, fuelling those showers which will fall as snow, even at lower levels in the heavier showers.

another cold start on monday. perhaps something a little more organised in terms of rain and sleet for east anglia, the south—east and the channel islands. snow, if it falls more heavily as well, and wintry showers elsewhere in the east. but again, like sunday, it is a keen north—easterly wind so it will make it feel raw. temperatures on your thermometer will get between perhaps four and six celsius, even with the sunshine. in the north and west, not much higher but you add on the effect of the wind and it will feel substantially colder. as i say, a raw day if you are out and about, particularly with all the cloud across central and eastern areas and that more persistent rain and sleet which continues as we go through monday night and into tuesday as well. still, a pestering of showers. butjust perhaps things start to get a little less windy through the day on tuesday. still that risk of something more persistent in southern and eastern areas, some wintry showers elsewhere, but towards the north—west, perhaps ourfirst complication coming in. still a cold day, in fact quite raw once again

if you're caught in the wind, but come wednesday, we may well see low pressure just approaching from the north—west, which will bring in some rain. as it comes into the cold air, some sleet and snow. still, look at the temperatures, it is another cold day. ice continues to be an issue, where we've had the showers and the surfaces are damp, perhaps the fault as well. but during wednesday and thursday, we mightjust see this area of low pressure, a fairly weak affair, but nevertheless, you don't need heavy rain to turn to snow to start to see a centimetre or two settling. so, yes, we might have a band of rain, sleet, snow pushing its way southwards through wednesday and thursday, but it's still cold air, it doesn't really elevate those temperatures much. so again, as i say, there are some complications with the forecast. how long does this area of low pressure hang around for, for example, before it slips southwards? but it still influences us in southern areas with perhaps higher pressure returning to the north. but the jury is out, the computer models are not agreeing on the position of the high and that low, but what they do agree on at the moment

is that it stays cold. it's just that we could have some spells of more persistent rain, sleet and snow. so, it's certainly a week to watch, and the weekend as well. there is more detail, including the warnings, online.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. trump and the election — now more republican senators say they will support him and object to the official results. india holds a one day nation—wide drill to prepare for mass immunisation against covid—nineteen. but will people take it? translation: i'm not that comfortable taking the vaccine but i get it. this could offer us the cure. but it's not yet confirmed. in the uk — as virus cases increase, teaching unions demand a two week closure of primary and secondary schools in england. china's foreign minister claims the pandemic began in multiple parts of the world, despite the first cases