good morning, welcome to breakfast with louise minchin and dan walker. our headlines today. vaccine hope for millions — the roll—out of the oxford astrazeneca jab begins today. it's described as a pivotal moment in the uk's fight against coronavirus. primary schools in most of england re—open this morning, but there's growing concerns over safety and staff shortages. we are live at primary school in wiltshire that will welcome children back today but at the start of a new term and a new year and a massive divisive argument about whether or not schools should reopen, it all feels very 2020, doesn't it? labour calls for an immediate

england—wide lockdown, as borisjohnson warns of tighter coronavirus restrictions. i just want to find 11,780 votes. a recording has emerged of president trump telling officials to find votes to overturn joe biden‘s election win. the new way of doing business — the uk's transition agreement with the eu has ended. companies and consumers start the new year working out what it means for them. i'll take you through it. from professional rugby to world darts champion — gerwyn price beats gary anderson to take the pdc title. he says it's a dream come true. for most of us today it will be cold but sunny. there are still some wintry showers in the east, summer rain across the south—east and gusty winds to boot but i will have all the details in ten minutes. it's monday the 4th of january. our top story.

the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by oxford university will be given to patients today — just five days after it was approved. the health secretary, matt hancock, says it's a "pivotal moment" in the pandemic, as covid cases continue to surge. more than half a million doses of the jab are ready to roll out. 0ur health correspondent, anna collinson, has more. to many, the oxford astrazeneca vaccine is seen as a game—changer in the fight against the coronavirus. it's cheaper than the pfizer biontech jab, and it doesn't require super—cold storage, which makes it easier to transport — particularly to those living in care homes. the uk has ordered 100 million 0xford astrazeneca doses. from today, more than 500,000 will be delivered at a small group of hospitals before expanding to a thousand centres by the end of the week. a million people have already received the pfizer vaccine, but there are 30 million more in the priority groups — including front—line health workers

and adults aged over 50. rapid delivery is vital, so as part of its biggest homeland operation in peacetime, members of the armed forces will help with the roll—out. the prime minister says tens of millions will be vaccinated in the next three months. for our country, we can see how we're going to get out of this, and with great clarity now we can see how the vaccines can really, really help us. there will be a 12—week wait for the second dose. despite concerns from some scientists, the government's top advisers insist this approach will ensure more people are protected faster. with hospitals under extreme pressure during their toughest month of the year, the race is now on between a more contagious variant of the virus and the uk's two vaccines. anna collinson, bbc news. primary schools in many parts of england will re—open today — despite teaching unions and some councils asking the government to keep them closed to limit the spread of coronavirus.

breakfast‘s john maguire is at king's lodge primary school in wiltshire this morning, where children are going back. good morning. what can you tell us from there? good morning. this is one of the reception classes here at the school. around 330 pupils here on the school register and it is reopening for the new term, the new year, as from today. the school has been open since june. year, as from today. the school has been open sincejune. tim spencer is the head teacher. that money. to reopen today, was it difficult to decide? it wasn't difficult once we considered all of the risks. we have been thinking about risk assessment right since the start of the pandemic and we follow the process, looked at the risk assessment again over the christmas holidays, talk to colleagues across town and we are all making decisions with the information we currently have. does it feel different to the sort of decisions you made when he reopened after the first lockdown at the

beginning of the summer?” after the first lockdown at the beginning of the summer? i think they are almost identical. back in they are almost identical. back in the summerwe they are almost identical. back in the summer we were they are almost identical. back in the summer we were concerned about something that was very new to us. this time what we are most concerned about is the increase to spread in other areas of the country, so we are looking more in detail again about what we can do in school, help to keep the children safe and how to keep the staff are safe. it is a decision made by eu and the governors and we will talk to some of them later this morning, but you —— decision made by you. you want to include the parents in that decision. our parents to speak with their feet and we will have children who have decided not to send their children to school for their own reasons. myjob is to try and encourage people to send their children into school because we can see the difference it makes by being here, but i also have to recognise the fact that parents are apprehensive, as well. all right,

kim spencer, thank you. such a difficult decision whether to open a school or not. just as it was so many months ago but so many conditions are again different, which is why we are seeing so many different decisions made by different decisions made by different organisations, different levels. but this school here will be open for pupils today. thank you very much indeed. so many people are waking up this morning wondering what is going on. at 7:30am we will be speaking to the health secretary about that and other things. the labour leader sir keir starmer has urged the prime minister to call a national lockdown today. he was speaking after borisjohnson said stronger regional restrictions may be required over the coming weeks. nearly 55,000 covid cases were reported yesterday. 0ur political correspondent, chris mason, has the details. the nhs struggling, the economy crippled, the country stalked by uncertainty. few deny the situation is bleak, and is likely to remain so for the remainder of the winter.

the next step would probably be for more areas of england to move into tier 4 — the highest level of restrictions — if the coronavirus numbers in those regions in lower tiers go in the wrong direction. i'm told some sort of curfew being imposed in england is not being looked at — but little is being categorically ruled out. labour want action now. the virus is clearly out of control and there's no good the prime minister hinting that further restrictions are coming into place in a week or two or three. that delay has been the source of so many problems. so i say bring in those restrictions now — national restrictions — within the next 2a hours. that has to be the first step to controlling the virus. sir keir wants a renewed emphasis on the stay—at—home message. government sources say this is very similar to existing tier 4 restrictions. chris mason, bbc news.

new coronavirus restrictions are expected to be announced in scotland today. the scottish parliament is being recalled for an "urgent statement" by the first minister nicola sturgeon this afternoon. before that, she'll meet her cabinet — and options likely to be discussed include a further delay to pupils returning to school, and a return to the "stay at home" message which dominated the early days of the first lockdown. five teenagers are being held by police in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 13—year—old boy in reading yesterday afternoon. four boys and a girl — all aged between 13 and 1a — have all been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. thames valley police is appealing for witnesses. a coroner has ruled that nora quoirin — who died during a family holiday in malaysia — was not killed by any criminal negligence. nora, who was 15, was staying in a rainforest resort when she went missing from her chalet in august 2019. her body was found beside a stream

just over a mile away, following a ten—day search. an inquest in malaysia ruled that nora's death was caused by misadventure. a recording has emerged which appears to show president trump putting pressure on a senior republican official to overturn joe biden‘s election victory in georgia. the washington post says the audio is from an hour—long phone call with georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger. the vice president—elect — kamala harris — called it a "bold abuse of power". paul hawkins reports. impeachment, the russia scandal and catching covid in the middle of a pandemic. the trump presidency has been a roller—coaster ride. so on one level perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. after all, donald trump himself said... losing is never easy. not for me, it's not. but on another level, no—one could have foreseen that the president of the united states would ask georgia's top election official to find enough votes to overturn november's result.

you can't let it happen and you are letting it happen. you know, i mean, i'm notifying you that you're letting it happen. so, look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. the call lasted an hour, the lawyer for the state refuting the president's unsubstantiated claim that ballots had been shredded and voting machinery had been removed. condemnation of the call has been swift. well, it was, yes, certainly the voice of desperation and it was a bold, bold—faced, bold abuse of power. but 11 republican senators, led by ted cruz, are still planning to challenge the election result when it's officially certified on wednesday. donald trump is holding an election

rally on monday night in georgia, where two republican—held senate seats are up for grabs in tuesday's election. polling suggests both races are tight, with the outcome deciding who controls the upper house of congress. but with donald trump questioning the voting process in georgia, will republicans still turn out to vote? paul hawkins, bbc news. show we catch up on the weather? we all know it is cold. how is it going to be? yellow -5 .7 —5 .7 inch embrace in the north highlands. —3.7 in northern ireland. england and wales, freezing orjust above. a cold start to the day. a lot of dry weather, a lot of sunshine. still some wintry showers and a brisk wind to boot, as well. 0vernight we have had some wintry showers as you can see. a lot of the wintry ness has been on the hills

and we have some rain coming in across the south—east of england. that will continue through the day into the channel and channel islands where we will see thunder and also lightning. some of those showers in the east will be rain at lower levels but still snow on higher ground and a lot of dry weather. we start with some fog around the moray firth in scotland. most of that should lead but you should buy the ulster remit. clear skies by 5pm across a lot of scotland. black circles indicate strength of that wind gust. clear skies also across northern ireland and still the wintry showers persist across the north of england. some of them getting in line. we have the rain, as well come across the south. gusty winds with exposure it particularly across eastern and southern parts of england. this evening and overnight, some of the winteriness will come down to lower levels across parts of scotla nd down to lower levels across parts of scotland and northern england in heavier bursts and we carry on with the rain across the south—east. if

you are wondering what happened thereafter, i will have all the details you are wondering what happened thereafter, i will have all the details in you are wondering what happened thereafter, i will have all the details in about you are wondering what happened thereafter, i will have all the details in about half you are wondering what happened thereafter, i will have all the details in about half an you are wondering what happened thereafter, i will have all the details in about half an hour. lovely, see you in about 30 minutes. it is 6:13am. you are watching bbc brea kfast. "helen's law" finally comes into force today. it means convicted killers could remain behind bars if they refuse to say exactly where they put their victim's body. the change comes too late for marie mccourt, who fought for the law in her daughter's name, but she hopes it will spare other families from a similar ordeal. marie's been speaking to linda jones — whose daughter danielle was murdered in essex in 2001. her body was never found. breakfast‘s jayne mccubbin reports. i hope that one day helen will be found. i hope that it could happen, but my faith is... there is the reason. there is a reason —

we're put on this earth for a reason and my reason, i think, is having helen's law. marie and linda's daughters were both murdered by men who refused to admit their guilt, who refused to say where their victims were buried. for years, marie fought for helen's law — a law which would keep her daughter's killer behind bars until he confessed. that law comes into force today. having to live day to day like this, it really is hard. it's the one thing that disturbs me the most — that i don't know where she is. you know, i walk along and just think, "did we search that field properly?" it's with you pretty much all the time. i could have walked past her a million times and not know. marie's daughter, helen, was killed in 1988 by pub landlord ian simms. he was the first to be convicted using dna evidence without the discovery of a body. but almost a year before the law was enacted, simms was released. since then, does he encroach

on your thoughts? absolutely, absolutely. in every way. her hope now is that helen's law will force danielle's killer to reveal where he has hidden her body. stuart campbell is due for parole this year — 21 years after danielle disappeared. and we've brought both mothers together to discuss their hopes. the parole judges have to obey that law and they have to look into us a lot more careful than they did in my case. hopefully, fingers crossed, we might benefit from this. well, i'm sure we will. and i'm just so sad for you that you didn't. but i know... i know how you feel. sorry, i'm getting emotional now. i know that you've done everything you can. helen would be proud. and i'm sure, hopefully, with everything you've done that we will benefit from this. the law marie petitioned for won't mean "no body, no parole" — which the government say would face legal challenges —

but helen's law does force parole boards to fully consider an offender's decision not to disclose information. i'm sure that, up there somewhere, helen and danielle are together and saying, "this is going to work." how are you coping? because i know... i know what that stress is like. i am beginning to get a little bit anxious about the prospect of the parole hearing starting — yeah, very anxious. i believe that it's prayers that have got me to where i am today. yeah. and i will certainly be praying that this man is kept in prison until he says where he put danielle's remains. yeah, yeah. and that is what is so important to us — to have her back. this month, marie willjoin an independent forensic expert to begin a fresh search for her daughter's body, while linda prepares for campbell's parole hearing. no, and ijust hope i can take a little bit of your strength with me, marie, cos you've got

strength in abundance. so... so have you — so have you. you could move a mountain to get your danielle. thank you. both mothers say they will never give up hope... that's for me and helen, as well. .of one day being able to lay their daughters to rest. and you stay strong. jayne mccubbin, bbc news. we will continue to follow that story for you on bbc breakfast. let's take a look at some of today's front pages. many of the papers focus on the prime minister's comments that another national lockdown in england cannot be ruled out. according to the daily telegraph, the measures could last until easter and beyond. the guardian runs quotes from some council leaders who say the argument for reopening schools amid high covid infection rates "does not stack up". "jabby monday" is the headline in the sun, to mark the start of the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine being rolled out. and the liverpool echo online is packed full of tributes to one of the city‘ favourite sons — the merseybeat singer gerry marsden. he died yesterday at the age of 78.

we will be talking to some of his friends paying tribute to him throughout the programme. very interesting article that made me think of you. the title wasn't why a good sleep is the new dream. you know i am a champion sleeper. this is about top sportsmen and women and how they sleep and how it affects them, based on a study at stamford university. it looked at basketball players in america and if they slept for ten hours per night than their ability to shoot a free throw improved by 9% and lebronjames, he sleeps four to ten hours. roger federer suite for 12 hours a day, ten hours at night two hours during the day. —— roger federer sleep for 12 hours a day. quarterback for the tampa bay buccaneers, he has a

mattress made of micro diamonds which cost several thousand pounds. no! it ensures he sleeps every night and the temperature has to be between 15 and 18 degrees. he says that's why he is still playing well at 43. it's all about sleep. fat cats. this is a craze. an online craze for the fattest pets which is quite extraordinary. experts are warning owners not to over feed their pets as it could put their pet's health at risk. 0wners believe their dog or cat might look attractive but it is about how it impacts their ability to be a dog or cat. that cat didn't look healthy. that cat is called chonky. millions of children should be going back to school today — but most senior school pupils are learning from home this week and many primaries will also remain closed to the majority

of children. it's all to stop the spread of coronavirus. breakfast‘s graham satchell has been speaking to some parents in england about their concerns — and confusion. parents across the country with tough decisions to make as the number of covid cases continues to rise. sean and aiden live in cheshire, which hasjust moved into tier 4, but their school will be open this week. for their mental health, it's the right environment for them. 0bviously, their education is key, but mine are only little — they're still, you know, seven and nine, and... you know, it's more about the social aspect of it. but, you know, if it's for the greater good, and if keeping them off an extra couple of weeks, an extra few weeks, would bring the rates down and get it under control, then, yeah, i'd be behind that 100%. in the midlands, leo and lucy's school is also open — but their mum isn't sure they should go. we are in a situation where we're saying it's not safe to go and get

a haircut from someone in full ppe, but we are expecting my sister, who teaches at a sixth form college in leicester, to go and mix with a group of 4,000 students on a daily basis. and if what is necessary to keep everyone else safe is for me to, you know, pull myself up by my bootstraps and print off some worksheets for a few more weeks, i can do that. this is amy and her three children in richmond, in london. primary schools are closed in london. amy is worried about her children, but needs them to go to school so she can work. it's scary seeing the cases rising all the time. so on that sense, i don't particularly want my children at school. but to allow me to go to work, to allow me to earn the money that me and my children need to be able to survive, to pay the bills, to eat — yes, it is very important.

leila preston's children are enjoying some fresh air in the playground. cases here in hertfordshire have been rising fast, and schools are shut. we live in a very high—case area — hertsmere — and we haven't... i haven't heard of one case at my kids school, so i think they're doing really well in terms of safety. so in that sense, i think it would probably be betterfor them to go back to schooljust because they need the socialising, they need the classroom environment, they need to have something different, something more i their lives. more in their lives. in sussex, chloe found out late last night her school — which was due to be open tomorrow — will now be closed for at least two weeks. she's saying to me, "mum, is it safe for me to go back to school?" and i'm like, "i don't know!" in september, i absolutely felt that it was safe to go back to school. all of the information coming through was showing that transmission rates amongst children was really, really small. and that felt really safe with the measures the school had in place.

what's happened over the last few weeks indicates that that isn't now the case with the new strain. in north london, sam was told on friday that her daughter's primary school would stay closed for the time being. sam's family really struggled with home schooling in the first lockdown. oh, gosh, the amount of times ijust ended the day sobbing because it was just too much, trying to handle a child with learning difficulties remotely, a 6—year—old who was unwilling to learn remotely, on top of my dayjob... and i think that's why my response to this one has been so much stronger than it was the first time — because i fear going back into that same position that we had earlier in the year. there are no easy answers here — each family with its own concerns and worries. graham satchell, bbc news.

let's talk about some of those concerns and worries. mark currell is the head teacher of a primary school in northampton. we can speak to him now. thank you for being with us. from a pa rent thank you for being with us. from a parent and teacher point of view, give us an idea of what the last few days have been like. a nightmare, to be honest. we've been trying to juggle be honest. we've been trying to juggle what is right for our pa rents, juggle what is right for our parents, our communities, children, staff, and at the same time we have the same understanding of the sage advice, the imperial college advice and for high—risk data coming through. we are in an impossible position at the moment, made worse by the fact there has been indecision and last—minute changes, which has led us to be in this position where parents are confused and staff are scared and it is difficult. you are officially open how many children do you expect to have that skill? today is difficult because we have a teacher training day to day which is fortunate, because another 24—hour is, everything can change, again, as you know. what we are thinking is we would have the majority of children back, which is partly to do with the

community we have and the fact that our children and parents trust us to make the right decision and put in the correct risk assessment. do you feel ready to have children back? we feel ready to have children back? we feel as prepared as we can be. i think that is the best way of putting it. we have a professional duty to open. we know the difference school makes to children and pa rents, school makes to children and parents, we know that for the mental health and well—being and socialisation, this is a really critical things that we do for them. however, we know, and everybody knows, that there is an invisible thing out there that we are trying to keep away from our school and it is impossible to do so. give us an idea from a teacher's point of view. there are legitimate health concerns, worries, and i'm sure all of our viewers would understand the position you and others are in this morning. yeah, we are not only considering the fact that we have 280 children coming back onto site. we also have 50, 60 members of staff

coming back onto site. we also have all of theirfamilies, coming back onto site. we also have all of their families, the children's families, the staff and families to consider. there is transmission around in the community and we, like many of your view probably, we are a tier 4 school and we have made the decision at this stage to open primarily because we arejust a normal stage to open primarily because we are just a normal school, stage to open primarily because we arejust a normal school, not stage to open primarily because we are just a normal school, not an academy. we have made the decision to open but it is very difficult and we have to make sure our children and families and staff are as safe as possible. you say things can change very quickly. what would you like to see happening in the coming days? some clear, concise guidance, some leadership and when schools should and can open completely safety, although it completely is a difficult way of putting it. but to make sure our children and staff are com pletely make sure our children and staff are completely safe when they come into school. i know that is a difficult

task and it may be getting a few weeks we have the vaccine rolled out to all schools, but at the moment, primary schools are going back tomorrow or today and secondary schools are delayed. there seems to bea schools are delayed. there seems to be a bit ofa schools are delayed. there seems to be a bit of a difference between those two key stages. it is good to talk to you. mark currell, from a school in northampton. we wish him all the best for the next few days are. we will talk about that through the programme stop. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning. i'm asad ahmad. so all london primary schools, and many in the home counties, will remain closed today, as an attempt to reduce the transmission rate of covid—19. some london boroughs were going to be allowed to reopen, until the government decided to change its mind following lobbying by several local authorities. secondary school children in the royal borough of greenwich are now eligible for a coronavirus tests, before returning to school later this month.

but a paediatric diseases consultant believes, on balance, parents need not worry. i know that parents are worried, because the numbers of infections in children are high, but i think that still reflects what's going on with the community. we're much better at managing it, we recognise it sooner, and these children are responding well to treatment, so i'm not worried about children and disease. well, students at university college london have been told not to return to campus until at least the end of february, due to the rapid spread of coronavirus. it goes against official government advice for students to return to university at the end of january. ucl defends its decision, saying it's "the most responsible course of action in this complex situation". well, as a sign of the times we're in, police fined a dozen people for playing dominoes. police found the group hiding at the back of a restaurant in whitechapel to play the game. it's said the owner had initially claimed those inside were workers, before admitting they were playing the game.

let's take a look at the travel situation now. the london 0verg round has a reduced service between richmond and stratford. that will stay that way until friday. 0n the roads, the a13 is closed into town under the beckton roundabout for emergency repairs. traffic is on diversion. expect delays all this morning. and in south—east london, there are four—way temporary traffic lights on shooters hill road at the south circular road. now the weather with kate. good morning. well, it's another very chilly start out there this morning, with temperatures widely just above zero, so should be frost—free. that's all helped by the amount of cloud overnight and into this morning. we do have a cloudy start with some outbreaks of rain. the north—easterly breeze we had overnight, continues through the day. it's a brisk one and it's

going to blow in further, potentially quite heavy showers. 0ver higher ground you might get a little bit of sleet mixed in, but largely falling as rain. temperatures between three and five celsius today, but factor in the wind and it's going to feel much colder. 0vernight that wind is going to persist. again, further showers blown in from the north—east. higher ground, you might get sleet and snow mixed in. the minimum temperature down at zero. we're going to hang on to this cold air for much of this week — you can see by this blue area. we won't see anything less cold until we head into the first part of next week. so as we head through the next couple of days, some outbreaks of rain, some drier weather, the wind eventually falls a little lighter on wednesday. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. va nessa vanessa feltz is on radio from seven. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin.

coming up on breakfast this morning: it may be a tad smaller than everest, but they don't call k2 "the savage mountain" for nothing. we'll speak to the former gurkha who's aiming to become the first person to climb it in the winter. if you like your walks a bit more do—able, the broadcaster julia bradbury has been hiking through devon and cornwall for her latest tv series. she'll be telling us all about it after nine. # and you'll never walk alone...# and he was the singer who inspired so many people to "walk on". the dj tony blackburn will be helping us to pay tribute to the magic of gerry marsden, who died yesterday.

as we've been hearing, today is a momentous day in the fight against coronavirus, as the roll—out of the oxford vaccine is due to begin. it also means the start of a yet another massive effort by our front line nhs workers. let's speak to one of them now. dr nighat arif is one of our regular gps and shejoins us from buckinghamshire. good morning. happy new year. happy new year, louise and dan. we know this is due to be rolled out today. i don't know if your surgery is part of this vaccination programme, but there is a lot of pressure, isn't there? there is a lot of pressure, but general practice set up to roll—out vaccination programmes. we have done that for decades. we have the infrastructure. 0ur have done that for decades. we have the infrastructure. our practice has had some hiccups. we were due to start the pfizer vaccine. we are having hiccups locally. we haven't ruled it out. i haven't had my vaccine yet. lots of colleagues have. we need to be able to make sure that we are getting more gps

involved, more practices involved, in orderto involved, more practices involved, in order to get at this, because we do need to tens of millions of people being vaccinated. we are playing catch up with this. the roll—out of the vaccine has had lots of issues. logistically, especially with the pfizer one, storage, then getting the most vulnerable people in to get them vaccinated. but we are finding with the strain of the virus changing, we really need to be getting on top of the vaccine. the oxford astrazeneca does give a lot of light and hope down this sort of difficult journey we are on, of light and hope down this sort of difficultjourney we are on, because we know we don't have those logistical issues with that, so it can be stored in a normal fridge, it is easier to administer, easier to transport. but then we still need the workforce to give that vaccine. front line staff, nhs staff and teachers, who are working incredibly ha rd teachers, who are working incredibly hard and go back to school, everybody in social care,

pharmacists, nurses out there, anybody, supermarket workers, they are all incredibly vulnerable. in fa ct, are all incredibly vulnerable. in fact, last night had a horrible conversation with a colleague of mine knowing that a fellow colleague of ours has passed away. that is actually the true reality of what we are facing. it really hits home. it is easy to say these numbers are going up. those numbers are real—life individuals, real—life people and real—life loved ones they are leaving behind. 0h, people and real—life loved ones they are leaving behind. oh, i'm so sorry to hear that. tell us a little bit about that —— of the new variant? are you seeing and impact of that specifically where you are? we are seeing the numbers rise. it's difficult to know, is at the new variant? we have to assume it is. it's not something the public need to be panicked about. viruses do mutate. the flu virus, as i have said many times, that does. it is one of the spikes that is changed on the virus. we know the vaccine still will work. but it needs to come back down to the fact that we should be really stringent with our behaviour,

washing those hands, covering our face, keeping the distance, those groups most vulnerable, the shielded group, the ones in the high—risk category, black, asian and ethnic minorities who have been disproportionately affected, all the lessons that we learn from the lockdown injuly, that carries on. of the worst thing now is we are in the winter months. so in general practice we are really being slammed because we have got the rest of medicine. i'm going back to work today. i'm actually dreading going back to work today because i know that we have got a lot of bad luck. i have got to be able to make sure that i am triaging my patients safely enough because i've got to see safely enough because i've got to see the rest of medicine as well as covid on top of that. testing helps and we are getting on top of that. we have lateral flow tests. but what we need to be doing is making sure that the public are still playing its part. and dare i say it, to drive down the variant which is

rapidly going through the community, is have a national lockdown. it breaks my heart to say that because i know the other consequences. but because of the number is rising, that has got to come into play very soon. we will be speaking to the health secretary, matt hancock, at 7:30am. we will talk to him about that. we know as well that some primary schools, a lot of them are on inset days today. but they are due to be returning this week. what are your thoughts on that?” due to be returning this week. what are your thoughts on that? i am a mum to three kids, all of them going to primary school. i can speak as a clinician and as a mum. i had a really interesting conversation with a consultant colleague of mine who was saying to me, children who have covid are a bit like giving children glitter. so although the child isn't affected, that litter goes everywhere. the adults, the teachers, the parents, grandparents, you bring it home and it goes everywhere. that is the reality of it. although keeping schools open, yes,, i it. although keeping schools open, yes, , i completely it. although keeping schools open,

yes,, i completely understand the royal college of art paediatricians have said we don't want schools to close. it puts down the child's development. health is impacted. if the child is not saying there is risk of abuse and they are vulnerable to neglect as well. it is not something that is an easy decision, but yet these numbers are rising and they are rising like this. there is a vertical curve we are looking at. so whether we lock down now and close down the schools in orderto down now and close down the schools in order to reduce that, to reduce that spike we are seeing at the minute, so we can educate children longer and look after them longer, because the nhs and my colleagues, we are overwhelmed. thank you very much. good luck to get back to work. thank you. let's find out what is happening with the sport. we start with the darts, do we? we do. a great story overnight. gerwyn price is the new world darts champion. a few years

ago he was playing rugby. gerwyn price is the new world darts champion. the welshman was in incredible form as he raced into a 6—2 lead, but nerves then got the better of him. eventually he managed to hit the winning double at the 12th time of asking, to win by seven sets to three. he takes home the £500,000 winner's cheque and also becomes the new world number one. not bad for someone who was nearly put off entering tournaments when pdc chairman barry hearn told him how much it cost. to be honest with you, if i knew the rules when i went i probably would not have gone. after one my tour ca rd by not have gone. after one my tour card by said to me, it cost 105 quid every event. if i knew that i wouldn't have gone. but glad i didn't know that now, so... at least he can afford to enter a few more tournaments now. the pressure is on chelsea manager frank lampard, after his team slumped to eighth

in the premier league with a 3—1 defeat at home to manchester city. the three points put city right back in the title race. they got all their goals in the first half, including one from england midfielder phil foden, before kevin de bruyne rounded off the scoring. but for chelsea, it's another bad result after the millions of pounds they spent on players in the summer. i'm the man to have the reality check, so that there's going to be work and some pain. if you rebuild, you have some pain behind the scenes and some pain on the scenes, which we felt today in the first half. and you have to fight through that, whether it's me, the players, this club, we have to fight for it because we're out at the minute. and i think today was, eh, was painful in the first half in football terms, because their level of player showed where we need to aspire to. in the second half i saw a decent reaction. but the work has to be done. leicester are up to third after a 2—1 win at newcastle, james maddison, on target here. or should we say bulls—eye?! he's a big fan of the darts, as you can see. and youri tielemans doubled their lead with this brilliant finish. newcastle did pull one back,

but the foxes held on. so james maddison as clearly been watching the darts himself. quite enjoyed that celebration. thank you very much. here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. she made us a big promise. she said she would have loads more information. good morning, carol. good morning, everybody. there is snow on the forecast today. we have had some snow through the night. it is a cold start. this gives you an idea of our temperatures. —8 in the highlands of scotland. castle daggers in northern ireland. —5. 2 degrees in manchester. a cold start. cold, wintry showers. not just this morning but through the day it is accompanied by a brisk wind which will add to the cold feel. high pressure in the north, low pressure

in the mediterranean. in between we are pulling on this north—easterly brisk gusty wind. that is really enhancing the coalfield. we will continue with showers across eastern pa rt continue with showers across eastern part of scotland, eastern england during the day. they will be getting in woodsy midlands, wales and the south—west. we have a band of rain in to the south—east heading into the channel islands. here it will be heavy and thundery at times. these black circles indicate the strength of the gusts of wind. so particularly gusty as we come further south. and especially so around the coasts. these are the maximum temperatures, between four and five, maybe 6 degrees. below average for the time of the year. through this evening and overnight we still have some of these rain coming in across the south—east and into the channel islands. again, some wintry showers. most of the wintriness will be on high ground. we could see some of that across southern scotland and northern england, getting down to lower

levels. these are the temperatures in towns and cities in the north—west. we could see temperatures falling as low as —40 minus six degrees. so hardly surprising, where we have the damp surfaces if they are there will be some ice and frost. tomorrow morning we start off on a cold note. we still will have this rain across pa rt still will have this rain across part of the south east are getting down into the channel islands. a lot of dry weather, a lot of sunshine, but still some showers. still wintry in nature, mostly on the hills, but in heavier burst in the north we could see some of that getting down to low levels. in the south—east, is this rain comes and against the cold air, if you're somewhere with attitude, and if the rain was heavy, you could see some wintriness. nothing significant. our temperatures are still on the nippy side and that cold feel exacerbated by the wind. tuesday into wednesday we see the high pressure moving away

into the atlantic, opening the gates for a low pressure and this atlantic front coming our way. so on wednesday we see the winds ease, they will still be some showers in they will still be some showers in the south—east getting into the channel islands. a lot of dry weather around. this is the weather front coming our way. this weather front‘s timing could change but we think it will be later in the afternoon into the evening. it sta rts afternoon into the evening. it starts to make its presence felt coming in across the north west. as it comes slowly south it will introduce not just rain it comes slowly south it will introduce notjust rain but also some snow. temperatures ranging from three degrees to about six. still below average for the time of the year. if you want something a little bit milder, you will have to wait until the weekend. dan and louis. we will wait. thank you. i know you were saying about altitude, i was coming over the pennines this morning and there was snow and ice on the roads. if you are thinking about coming —— going out this morning, you need to take care, don't you, carol? absolutely. there is a weather

warning for parts of eastern scotla nd warning for parts of eastern scotland and eastern england for ice. do take care. thank you, carol. i thought you mentioned that on purpose because we are going to k2 in the next few minutes. somebody is trying to climb it in winter, which is extraordinary. we will speak to him shortly. it's the first working day of the new year for many businesses, and the start of a new era in which the uk is fully outside the european union. nina's been taking a look at what that means for the millions of small business owners up and down the country. good morning. good morning. happy new year to you both. finally, we know this deal. this has been a long time coming, waiting to hear what the end of the transition means for businesses. you might think of businesses and imagine big corporations, but there are nearly six million small firms up and down the country with a small number of workers. they didn't have long to work out what the final deal means for them. let's start with if you're selling goods the eu. the deal means no taxes and no limits on how much you can trade.

but there are new forms — customs declarations — to fill in. and that means extra checks on the border. busiensses will have to prove exactly where the product has come from, or they could get landed with tax anyway. the government has acknowledged there will be disruption as everyone gets used to these new rules. we don't yet know how tough the eu border checks will be, or the impact they might have, as any incorrect paperwork could mean delays. one worse—case scenario — if 30% of hauliers don't have the right forms, there could be a backlog of 7,000 trucks in kent. we've talked a lot about goods in and out of the eu, but a lot of the money british businesses make is from services we provide — banking, transport, architecture. these businesses will lose their automatic right to sell their services to eu markets. there will be no automatic recognition of qualifications for people like doctors or chefs. businesses will need to ckeep to the rules of each individual eu country. big challenges for companies like elizabeth's. which provides data

and digital support. doing business in europe in the immediate term will be like doing business with the united states or with canada. you will need to go through their processes if you have got your paperwork in order, dave your people are qualified to do that job, you can evidence the fact the people you are asking for the work permits have got extra value added skills, like, for example, they support your business, notjust functional technical skills, but they have know—how and expertise which is world—class. that is differentiated from somebody you can hire locally. i think it will be relatively straightforward and you just need to work through the process. in terms of the business impact, it does mean it is going to cost us a little bit more and we are going to have to absorb those costs and that time. free movement of people has come to an end. if you want to stay in the eu for more than 90 days, you are likely to need a visa. this could impact lots

of industries, but will be really significant for the uk's creative sector and touring artists. ronan keating and kt tunstall are among musicians who've signed a petition calling for visa—free travel for music performance. bosses think whole tours could end up being cancelled. it might sound trivial, but the music industry normally contributes nearly £6 billion to the uk economy, so cancelled tours could mean big hits to income and jobs. now they're saying you can only do three shows and you have to come back to the uk, then go back again. orswap back to the uk, then go back again. or swap the trucks and drivers or carry on. and the cost of that, obviously, it would mean every show ticket would be reaching £250 a ticket. well, the thing about music is, it has always influenced the culture of every generation. and if we don't have it, it really affects

people and people's mental health. people want to go to events. there are green shoots of recovery now but people want to go. we are only a small cog in this massive touring industry. high stakes indeed. the government says it did try to get a better deal for musicians, but its proposals were rejected by the eu. even though the deal is done there are still areas that need further clarification. financial companies, chemical firms and those sending meat products and sausages to the eu. there is also a big question mark as to how the new rules will work with businesses in northern ireland and companies sending products there. northern ireland will stay in step with the eu in some ways. while this is the end of brexit, it is also the beginning of working out exactly what the new rules mean for jobs, for holidays and the prices of things we buy. and don't you worry, we will be there every step of the way. after eight o'clock we will be looking at how the new rules affect holidays, because that is the biggie for lots of families. speaking for myself there! and many others as well. thanks for taking us through that.

if you dragged yourself outside for a bracing new year walk over the weekend, prepare to have that effort trumped. a group of climbers is about to embark a challenge which has never been done before. they're planning to scale k2 — the so—called "savage mountain" — in the depths of winter. one of them is a former gurkha called nimsda purja. hejoins us now from k2‘s base camp to tell us more. there is a bit of a delay on the line. thank you so much forjoining us on line. thank you so much forjoining us on the programme. give us an idea, what are conditions like at the moment? thank you so much for having me this morning. well, it's super cold. you need at least three layers. i'm talking about the first layer, a middle layer, a sort of down jacket, and on top of that you

have got this suit which is like really in a top class. it's just cold up on the altitude. but yeah, this is the last mountain that has never been conquered in winter. and hopefully, we can make this impossible, possible, this time. what an extraordinary, brave thing to do. it looks stunning. talk us through the view behind you as well, where is the mountain? 0k. through the view behind you as well, where is the mountain? ok. if you see directly behind this cloud, that is k2. the savage mountain. in normal conditions in summer many people try to attempt it. obviously this is winter. it's beautiful, it's super cold. but it puts fire in my chest. it turns me on. so it's good. ijust want chest. it turns me on. so it's good. i just want to reiterate what you said. when people attempt to climb k2 in summer, in the easier months,

i say easier in obviously the way people will know, that one in four people will know, that one in four people die on this mountain, and yet you are trying to be the first person ever to climb that in the more perilous winter months. you mentioned it is cold. it can get as cold as —70 with wind chill. the obvious question, i suppose, is why? well, because, you know, i absolutely believe that as a human week, through any endeavour, any kind of challenge. this is the only amountand kind of challenge. this is the only amount and that no human has ever climbed in winter. so i think it's us climbed in winter. so i think it's us against nature. of course people say nature has bigger things to say. but this is the time to conquer this great mountain. for us, for the mankind. and that's why i am here, making the impossible possible. talk us making the impossible possible. talk us through the climb. we are seeing some of the pictures. i am not a

climber. very few people have been up climber. very few people have been up this mountain, obviously. tell us about the challenging bids? 0k. up this mountain, obviously. tell us about the challenging bids? ok. so the biggest thing right now is the temperature. like, in summer, ican get to the summit from the base camp in may be less than 18 hours. we got here. we are not acclimatised obviously. but then when we tried to make a move, its so cold and it ta kes make a move, its so cold and it takes your energy away. it's super ha rd to even takes your energy away. it's super hard to even get to camp one. you've got to really look after your fingers. on top of that, in terms of terrain, its blue eyes. it's either blue ice or it is a rock. super vertical as well. that is why it is super tough. and every step you take you are gasping for air. again, the cold makes it worse in high altitude. but yeah, it is a

volu nta ry altitude. but yeah, it is a voluntary pain for me and i love it. to give our viewers an idea of how much you know about mountain life, the 14 highest pea ks much you know about mountain life, the 14 highest peaks in the world, until last year, the quickest that they had ever been submitted was eight years. you did it in six months last year. you really know what you are doing. are you worried at all, are you concerned at all? and what keeps you going? of course, there is a bit of a concern about there is a bit of a concern about the safety of myself and my team. but if you are asking if there is any fear but if you are asking if there is anyfear in but if you are asking if there is any fear in me, there is in. i am a gurkha. if someone says they are not afraid of dying, i think they must bea afraid of dying, i think they must be a gurkha. i'm not really scared about what's coming out, but i to be careful about my team. but i really feel that this is the time this

mountain will be conquered. feel that this is the time this mountain will be conqueredm feel that this is the time this mountain will be conquered. it is such a pleasure to speak to you and to be able to speak to you just below the summit as well. absolutely amazing. thank you very much indeed and the very best of luck to you and your team. and the very best of luck to you and yourteam. i and the very best of luck to you and your team. i hope you stay safe. please talk to us when you have done it. it will be lovely. thank you. thank you so much and happy new year all. and you. that is something, being wished happy new year from k2! that is the base camp at k2. —30 at the moment. he has got a three layers on. he will try to climb it in the next three days. an incredible achievement. one in four people die on that mountain in the summerand he is people die on that mountain in the summer and he is trying it in the winter. best of luck. we had some sad news yesterday which prompted tributes from the very top of two worlds — pop music and football. that's because gerry marsden — who has died at the age of 78 — didn'tjust help to shape the soundtrack of the 1960s, he also gave us one of the most

famous and celebrated terrace anthems of all time. daniela relph looks back at his life. # walk on, walk on...#. gerry marsden... # with hope in your heart...#. ..with one unforgettable anthem. # and you'll never walk...#. he was as much a part of liverpool's story as the mersey ferry and the anfield kop. # alone...#. girls scream. born in toxteth, his career began at the legendary cavern club in the early ‘60s. gerry and his band, the pacemakers, were spotted by beatles manager brian epstein. he gave them a song that had been turned down by the fab four and adam faith. # how do you do what you to me...#. how do you do it was a huge hit on both sides of the atlantic. we'd never heard ourselves on tape before, and it got to number one and, eh, we were very pleased. the beatles were upset, and so was adam, i think. he chuckles.

newsreel archive: the girls are at the top of their screaming form, if the reception they give to gerry and the pacemakers is anything to go by. # i like it, i like it...#. more followed, as the mersey beat swept the world. # the funny feeling being here with you. # and i like it more with every day. # and i like it always hearing you say # you're liking it too...#. # so, ferry, cross the mersey...#. but it was as a singer of gentle ballads for which he'll be remembered. ferry across the mersey was a nostalgic expression of his love for liverpool. # walk on, walk on...#. and then, with a song from a rodgers and hammerstein musical, gerry marsden struck a chord with fans at his beloved anfield. # you'll never walk...# the band may have split up in 1966, but as he proved nearly half a century later, at the 25th

anniversary of the hillsborough disaster, musically and emotionally, he'll always be a part of the heart and soul of the club. we will talk about him a little bit more later. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. headlines in a moment. good morning from bbc london, i'm asad ahmad. so all london primary schools and many in the home counties will remain closed today, as an attempt to reduce the transmission rate of covid—19. some london boroughs were going to be allowed to reopen schools until the government changed its mind, following lobbying by several local authorities. as far as secondary school children in the royal borough of greenwich are concerned, they're now eligible for coronavirus tests before returning to school later this month.

but a paediatric diseases consultant believes pupils will largely be fine. i know that parents are worried, because the numbers of infections in children are high, but i think that still reflects what's going on with the community. we're much better at managing it, we recognise it sooner, and these children are responding well to treatment, so i'm not worried about children and disease. well, students at university college london have been told not to return to campus until at least the end of february due to the rapid spread of coronavirus. it goes against official government advice for students to return to university at the end of january. ucl defends its decision, saying it's the most "responsible course of action in this complex situation". well, as a sign of the times we're in, police fined a dozen people for playing dominoes. police found the group hiding at the back of a restaurant in whitechapel to play the game. it's said the owner had initially claimed those

inside were workers, before admitting they were playing dominoes. let's take a look at the travel situation now. the london overg round has a reduced service between richmond and stratford. that will stay that way until friday. now the weather with kate. good morning. well, it's another very chilly start out there this morning, with temperatures widely just above zero, so should be frost—free. that's all helped by the amount of cloud overnight and into this morning. we do have a cloudy start with some outbreaks of rain. the north—easterly breeze we had overnight

continues through the day. it's a brisk one and it's going to blow in further, potentially quite heavy showers. over higher ground you might get a little bit of sleet mixed in, but largely falling as rain. temperatures between three and five celsius today, but factor in the wind and it's going to feel much colder. overnight that wind is going to persist. again, further showers blown in from the north—east. higher ground, you might get sleet and snow mixed in. the minimum temperature down at zero. we're going to hang on to this cold air for much of this week — you can see by this blue area. we won't see anything less cold until we head into the first part of next week. so as we head through the next couple of days, some outbreaks of rain, some drier weather, the wind eventually falls a little lighter on wednesday. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. good morning, welcome to breakfast with louise minchin and dan walker.

our headlines today. vaccine hope for millions — the roll—out of the oxford astrazeneca jab begins this morning. it's described as a pivotal moment in the uk's fight against coronavirus i in oxford where the first doses will be administered in the building behind me within a few minutes. primary schools in most of england re—open this morning, but there's growing concern over safety and staff shortages. we are live at primary school in chippenham in wiltshire. this will open today to welcome back pupils for the new year. not all parents will send their children here, and many other primary schools are remaining close. labour calls for an immediate england—wide lockdown, as borisjohnson warns of tighter coronavirus restrictions. i just want to find 11,780 votes.

a recording has emerged of president trump telling officials to find votes to overturn joe biden's election win. from professional rugby to world darts champion — gerwyn price beats gary anderson to take the pdc title. he says it's a dream come true. good morning. a cold start under cold day ahead but most of us will be dry with a fair bit of sunshine and gusty winds, but some rain in the south—east and channel islands and showers, some of which will be wintry, across eastern scotland and northern england. i will have more details in ten minutes. it's monday the 4th of january. our top story. the first doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by oxford university will be given to patients today — just five days after it was approved. the health secretary, matt hancock, says it's a "pivotal moment" in the pandemic, as covid cases continue to surge. more than half a million doses of the jab are ready to roll out. our health correspondent,

anna collinson, has more. to many, the oxford astrazeneca vaccine is seen as a game—changer in the fight against the coronavirus. it's cheaper than the pfizer biontech jab, and it doesn't require super—cold storage, which makes it easier to transport — particularly to those living in care homes. the uk has ordered 100 million oxford astrazeneca doses. from today, more than 500,000 will be delivered at a small group of hospitals before expanding to a thousand centres by the end of the week. a million people have already received the pfizer vaccine, but there are 30 million more in the priority groups — including front—line health workers and adults aged over 50. rapid delivery is vital, so as part of its biggest homeland operation in peacetime, members of the armed forces will help with the roll—out. the prime minister says tens of millions will be vaccinated in the next three months. for our country, we can see how

we're going to get out of this, and with great clarity now we can see how the vaccines can really, really help us. there will be a 12—week wait for the second dose. despite concerns from some scientists, the government's top advisers insist this approach will ensure more people are protected faster. with hospitals under extreme pressure during their toughest month of the year, the race is now on between a more contagious variant of the virus and the uk's two vaccines. anna collinson, bbc news. we can speak now to our medical editor, fergus walsh. this is an important moment. tell us what's going on. within a few minutes, the first people will get the oxford astrazeneca vaccine in that rather un—prepossessing building behind me. it will be the

start of something really huge, it is the biggest immunisation programme in history. and it will lead to, hopefully, at some point, the sooner the better, all 31 million people who are in the priority groups getting that vaccine. now the big question is, how soon that will happen. that will ta ke how soon that will happen. that will take place in around half a dozen hospitals to begin with, but for monitoring patients for any sudden side effects, but that was exactly what happened with the fejzic vaccine. but by the end of the week, they should be something like 1000 immunisation centres around the uk up immunisation centres around the uk up and running. as you indicate, this is a huge logistical programme that needs to be put in place, isn't it yellow it is absolutely massive. an army of volunteers, retired nhs

workers, current nhs workers who don't normally do immunisation, people like physiotherapist, plus people like physiotherapist, plus people with first aid training like cabin crew have been called on to ta ke cabin crew have been called on to take part in this. some of those who have expressed concern about the amount of delays they have had, something like 21 forms they have had to fill in in order to get signed up for this. it will be a slow start. we shouldn'tjudge this and what happens in the first week or so it is absolutely vital we get to something like 2 million people immunised per week if we are to see the bulk of people getting just one dose of five at the pfizer or at the astrazeneca vaccine by easter. thank you very much indeed. so many things to find out this morning from the health secretary matt hancock who willjoin us at 7:30am. primary schools in many parts of england will re—open today — despite teaching unions and some councils asking the government to keep them closed to limit

the spread of coronavirus. breakfast‘s john maguire is at king's lodge primary school in wiltshire this morning — where children are going back. lots of provisions in place, i imagine. good morning. you are absolutely right. on that point of extra provisions, the head teacher was telling me earlier that the school has spent an extra £30,000, money it doesn't know whether it will be able to get back were not in any sort of emergency grant, and things like extra staff cover an extra covid secure provisions to ensure that the children are safe when they come to school. we know that the many primary schools across the country it is an insect day and other parts of the uk have decided that children shouldn't come back to school —— it is an inset day. staff and parents are generally anxious. there have been lots of discussions

across the town, there are ten or 11 primary skills here in chippenham in wiltshire, so you can imagine all the heads discussing with each other. parents very much involved in some of those decisions. some pa rents some of those decisions. some parents have said they will not be sending their children to school this week. they will be no action taken against them in the short term, but nobody knows what will really happen with the new variant of the vaccine running rampage in semi—different parts of the uk. it is just so semi—different parts of the uk. it isjust so difficult, semi—different parts of the uk. it is just so difficult, perhaps semi—different parts of the uk. it isjust so difficult, perhaps more difficult than it has been since the pandemic arrived at our shores, to make any sort of definitive decision. difficult times ahead for the education secretary. -- the education sector. thank you very much. the labour leader sir keir starmer has urged the prime minister to call a national lockdown today. he was speaking after borisjohnson said stronger regional restrictions may be required over the coming weeks. our political correspondent nick eardley is in westminster.

good morning. pressure growing on the prime minister. do we expect some sort of announcement in the coming days? good morning. tougher measures are coming certainly in parts of england over the next few weeks. the prime minister was pretty clear yesterday that the government has reconciled to things getting worse over the next few weeks. the view in number 10 is the data they are seeing, number of new cases, people going into hospital pretty grim. in some areas the restriction just are not working. a couple of things that could happen. there's areas are tight not already in tier 4, about a fifth of england is still in tier3, one 4, about a fifth of england is still in tier 3, one thing to do would be to move some if not all of those areas into the top tier comic tier 4. another option is to close schools in some areas. the framework the comet has for making that decision which includes local authorities are speaking to the

education secretary, that is something people in government are talking about. the big question is whether those things themselves would go far enough, and some people don't think so. the labour leader keir starmer says they need to be an immediate national lockdown. he wa nts immediate national lockdown. he wants that to be brought in as soon as today to try to get control of the virus. he thinks at the moment is just the virus. he thinks at the moment isjust running the virus. he thinks at the moment is just running out of control. another thing being discussed by some people is moving closer to what we had back in march, where, although at the moment people are being asked to stay at home, may be something a bit stronger than that. stay at home already. we may well see that in other parts of the uk, like scotland, over the few days, but i think we should be prepared for it more restrictions coming. thank you very much. we will speak to you later this morning. new coronavirus restrictions are expected to be announced in scotland today. the scottish parliament is being recalled for an "urgent statement" by the first minister nicola sturgeon this afternoon. our scotland correspondent, james

shaw, joins us now from glasgow. good morning to you. what sort of restrictions might they be considering? just to say first of all this is only the fifth time the scottish parliament has been recalled in this way. so it does give you an idea of feeling for the sense of agency that there is about how they think they need to deal quickly with particularly the emergence of the new strain, the new variant of coronavirus. when it comes to the measures they might be putting in place, well, schools would seem to be put top of the less. perhaps in the same way it is in other parts of the uk. —— top of the list. as things stand schools are due to go back full time on the 18. i think we might well expect that to change. the scottish government has a bit more wiggle room in the uk government because there is a week or more until the schools need to go back but there

may well be other measures apart from that, taking us perhaps even closer to the lockdown that started in march of last year. thank you very much for your time, thank you. the washington post has released a recording which appears to show president trump putting pressure on a senior republican official to overturn joe biden's election victory in georgia. the newspaper says the audio is from an hour—long phone call in which mr trump tried to flatter, berate and threaten georgia's secretary of state — brad raffensperger — into recalculating the vote in his favour. an extraordinary interview, you can

listen to the full thing. it is one hour long and has been edited down to 4.5 minutes. show we catch up on the weather? it's not like the cold will continue to stop saying good morning. anybody would think it was winter! today we have temperatures way below freezing. across many parts at the moment. as we go through the day with gusty winds coming from the north—east it will still feel cold, the temperatures will rise a little. we still have wintry showers in the forecast. you can see where we have had the snow during the night. most of this has beenin during the night. most of this has been in the hills and we also have the rain coming in across the south—east of the channel islands and that will continue through the day. it could be heavy in the channel islands and also thundery. some wintry showers are still to come but a lot of us will have a dry day with a fair bit of sunshine and gusty winds. the string disgusts with exposure along the coasts, particularly across southern areas. temperatures ranging from three to 6 degrees, but exacerbated by that

brisk wind. 5pm, clear skies across parts of scotland, some fun here around the moray firth and the north west, most of that will lift but there could be some stubborn bits even into the afternoon. some clear skies with a few showers across northern ireland and northern england. some of them wintry, especially on the hills, but in some of the heavier bursts we could see some winteriness and we still have the rain across the south—east heading down towards the channel islands and here, too, some gusty winds. through this evening and overnight we continue with the rain across the south—eastern corner, getting down into the channel islands. wintry showers getting down to lower levels of scotland and northern england and it will be a cold night, as low as —4 to —6 in parts of the north west. more weather details in half an hour. as you say, it is winter! we should expect this! thank you very much. just coming up to 7:15am. good

morning. let's focus on one of our main stories now — and the delayed return to the classroom for millions of pupils. secondary schools in england won't fully open for another week — they'll be offering remote learning until then. we can speak now tojulie johnson, who is the head of shrewsbury academy. thank you for being with us. we spoke to a primary school about half an hourago, spoke to a primary school about half an hour ago, head teacher of a primary school, and they are opening today or they have a teacher training day. lots of concern from pa rents training day. lots of concern from parents and teachers. paid us a picture of the situation as your secondary school today. the situation at shrewsbury academy is that we are open this week for the vulnerable and the critical work at children. we have had much contact from the key worker parents but also from the key worker parents but also from parents asking if they can send their children in. those are the vulnerable. the priority it will be that we maintain that education for those students, but from there we

are also running online learning for year 11 because they are a priority exa m year 11 because they are a priority exam group, alongside year ten who will sit early entry english literature this week. the staff will be working, they are arriving on site, they will teach from the classrooms, teach online. and then the following week year 11s will arrive on site and again we will be focusing on teaching year seven, eight, nine and ten, allowing a level of online learning, live online lessons where teachers feel they can fit that into the schedule. what we are trying to do is to maintain as much education as possible for all groups and as smoothly... to ensure people feel supported and education continues. obviously you have to throw testing into that, as well, now. where are you up to in terms of kits turning up, how that will work and the logistics of that when you have to do that? so we have had contact from

royal mail over the last week to say the kits will be arriving from a tame today so we are expecting a delivery between atm and 10am. from there, the operations managers across much of the academy trust, are working together to look at the right way of taking this forward. our concerns are we don't want to ta ke our concerns are we don't want to take my support staff away from the vulnerable children they are working with children with hcp, but i don't wa nt to ta ke with children with hcp, but i don't want to take step away from teaching life lessons or on site so it is looking about how to accommodate the lateral flow testing. we are looking at the facility we can use and that is in the planning for today, so several meetings are going on across the academy trust today, with head teachers and operations managers, to look at how we can fit the testing in effectively. finally, from your own insight, i suppose, in effectively. finally, from your own insight, isuppose, how concerned are you about all those children who have missed out on a lot of learning over the course of

2020, and now what the next few weeks and months, with exams under horizon at some stage this year... how concerned are you about that in 2021? i think it is looking about how we can most effectively provide an education for all those students. i think schools are looking at every way possible that we can maintain, be it online learning, live lessons, we feel that online live lessons are better. we have carried out several surveys with parents and carers when we have had to go online and their feeling and the local community feel that where we are currently right now is that the online has been effective. we have had a delivery of la pto ps effective. we have had a delivery of laptops from the department for education a few weeks ago, so we can ensure that students who have not got a ccess ensure that students who have not got access to ict equipment can now access ict. for those students who haven't got into access, we are providing dongle is or are now inviting them into school. we have

defined that to ensure that everybody can access education because that is really important. i think the work packs are great for a short time but what students need to haveis short time but what students need to have is that direct contact or in the remote learning, if it is remote, with contact with the teaching staff, but also resources that are going to support and further their education. that is the way we have to look at it, whatever happens, we don't know, wejust way we have to look at it, whatever happens, we don't know, we just have to see. things are changing on an hourly basis but our priority is keeping everybody safe. the staff, families, community, students. everybody has to be safe, but alongside that we have to try to provide the best education we can for all of our students. you have a busy day and busy week ahead. julie johnson, thank you very much. she is the head teacher of shrewsbury academy, a secondary school. let's get a better idea of how effective these measures can be in controlling the virus. mike tildesley is a professor of infectious disease modelling. he joins us from coventry.

good morning. specifically festival on schools, you have been looking at and analysing people absences in december. what do you find? so what we found when we were looking at these data is there is quite different in different parts of the country, quite stark difference between secondary and school absences. we found that looking at the south east and greater london and the east of england in particular, there was a concerning rise in absences with confirmed covid in secondary age children. we did not find the same pattern of behaviour in primary school children. and this is actually something mirrored by the school infection survey which has been carried out by public health england at the london school of tropical medicine. there is a strong disconnect between primary and secondary school risks. we also found in other parts of the country, the number of cases slightly decreased during december. it is indicative of... we know the new

variant was emerging in those regions through november and december and it is indicative of secondary schools perhaps being slightly higher risk than primary schools. we know various things are going on. some primary schools are closed, others have opened, some on an inset day and others delayed. what is your assessment of the school being open and the impact on what is happening? obviously it is a concerning time for everyone. we know we have a situation where the r number is greater than one through the country and we need to bring it down. the difficulty with the school situation is it is a lot easier... it is easier to do closures than to reopen. that is my concern, that potentially we know there will be some effect on the r number but it is not clear that if we close schools this will be sufficient to bring it below one. they then have to be the question of what do we do?

this is a concerning issue we have that, short—term, we may consider closing secondary schools, which is what the government are proposing, then roll out mass testing, but that needs to efficient in order that stu d e nts needs to efficient in order that students can be in school safely. the other elephant in the room as it where it is, what do we do in terms ofa where it is, what do we do in terms of a longer term control and getting people to comply with the regulations? we know this is the concern, perhaps we are not getting the same levels of adherence we were in april and the same levels of adherence we were in aprilandi the same levels of adherence we were in april and i think the government really do need to do something about this. if we are going to be two to three months at least before we get to the levels of immunity we need across the population with vaccination, we need people to keep complying with the regulations, otherwise even closing schools will not be sufficient to bring the r number below one. yesterday the prime minister was talking to andrew marr saying that restrictions in england are probably about to get tougher. such a difficult question.

if we knew the answer we would be in a different place. what might make a difference, what should they be considering? it's really difficult because you look at tier 4 and in a sense that is almost national... it is almost locked down. we are not actually able to do that much in tier 4 that we were not able to do battle in a locked down in march, april. there are a few subtleties. you have alluded to this in your previous report. anecdotally we do see a lot more transport on the roads, where people on the roads than previously. perhaps more people are going into work and need to. maybe something very much closer to a stay at home order and only go to work if you must come only being allowed out once a day. these sort of things i needed to get back to that level of compliance with those rules we had in march and april. that worked. we have a new variant now and know it is more transmissible and that is a real concern but it is a bit of a red herring to blame everything on the

new variant. the way lockdown was implemented in november is clearly different to march and we need to get back to those sort of levels of control if we are to get ahead of this virus. doctor mike tildesley, thank you for your time. thank you. thank you. "do it now" — that's the message from the labour leader when it comes to a new national lockdown. sir keir starmer says it's the first step to getting the pandemic back under control — but the government has accused him of playing party politics. we're joined now by the shadow education secretary, kate green. good morning to you. thank you for being with us. i wanted to talk to you about schools, as well, but let's start with the proposed national lockdown for england. i think sir keir starmer said that yesterday, meaning that from today, he says, that should be happening. what is your point of view? well, of course we think there should be happening. we have a virus that is out of control, really frightening rise in the spread of the infection.

we all know, and indeed we have just heard mike say, the way people are behaving now, there is a lot of mixing going on that perhaps we were not seeing a few months ago, even in tier 4 areas. in tier 3 we still have nonessential retail and business open. we are seeing people out and about and mixing socially. i think there is a real need for more stringent measures. we have called for a national lockdown, and immediate national lockdown, so we can try and get this virus under control while we are waiting for this really much, much awaited vaccine are. he said on the issue of schools, sir keir starmer didn't suggest all of them would close. he said more schools should close. what is leila's position and the closure of schools? we didn't say that, we think schools should remain open. the right place for children to be, if they can, is safely in schools.

what the prime minister admitted yesterday on the andrew marr programme is that sadly more closures are inevitable and that is because the government doesn't have a grip of the virus and that is why we are pressing for the national lockdown. of course today we will be ina very lockdown. of course today we will be in a very confusing situation for pa rents in a very confusing situation for parents because of some schools in some parts of the country will be closed to most pupils. it is important to remember that all schools are remaining open for vulnerable children and four children of key workers. but in other parts of the country, schools will be opening, and i think parents and staff are struggling to make any sense of what is going on now. priority should be to schools opened safely and to have children in class and learning. i know you are aware of this but i don't know how many of our viewers know what the unions are saying. the national association of head teachers are saying all schools should move to home learning for a brief and determined period for most children. the national education union have said all primary and

secondary schools should remain closed for a further two weeks after the school holiday. the nasuwt says immediate nationwide move to demote education. they are calling for that ina call to education. they are calling for that in a call to the cars in a letter to the education secretary. but despite the education secretary. but despite the corporate national lockdown remain in schools should stay open. what do you say to the unions? the unions would agree with this because they represent teachers, people who ca re they represent teachers, people who care about young people and their futures. unions would say the best place for children to be is in school. naturally there are concerns that school should safe for children and school staff and i will not say that people are worried their workplace is not safe, there should be forced to go in. there are responsibilities on the government to make schools safe and the unions have rightly been calling for a long, long time for more measures to achieve that. mass testing, better ppe, better ventilation, and so on. iam also ppe, better ventilation, and so on. i am also concerned that, if schools

do close, and we really don't want them to, we need to know what that plan is to reopen them again. the unions are suggesting a couple of weeks' closure. we really have to think about what would happen in those couple of weeks so we can get them reopened as swiftly as possible. that has to be the focus. kate green, appreciate your time this morning. thank you for speaking to us. so much to discuss today. we will be talking about vaccine in the next few minutes, and matt hancock, the health secretary, we expect him in the next few minutes. lots of questions to get through. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. the health secretary will be here very shortly. good morning, i'm asad ahmad. a coroner in malaysia has delivered a verdict of death by misadventure in the case of a girl from south london, whose body was found near a tourist resort in 2019. nora quoirin, who was 15 and had learning difficulties, went missing during

a family holiday. nora's family say they do not believe their daughter would walk—off by herself. all london primary schools, and many in the home counties, will remain closed today, as an attempt to reduce the transmission rate of covid—19. some london boroughs were going to be allowed to reopen schools, until the government changed its mind following lobbying by several local authorities. as far as secondary school children in the royal borough of greenwich are concerned, they're now eligible for coronavirus tests. and a paediatric diseases consultant, believes pupils will largely be fine. i know that parents are worried, because the numbers of infections in children are high, but i think that still reflects what's going on with the community. we're much better at managing it, we recognise it sooner, and these children are responding well to treatment, so i'm not worried about children and disease. well, students at university college london have been told not to return to campus until at least the end of february, due to the rapid spread of coronavirus.

it goes against official government advice for students to return to university at the end of january. ucl defends its decision, saying it's the most responsible course of action "in this complex situation". let's take a look at the travel situation now. the london overg round has a reduced service between richmond and stratford. that will stay that way until friday. on the roads, the a13 is closed into town under the beckton roundabout for emergency repairs. traffic is on diversion. and in south east london — there are four—way temporary traffic lights on shooters hill road at the south circular road. now the weather with kate. good morning. well, it's another very chilly start out there this morning, but temperatures widely just above zero, so should be frost—free. that's all helped by the amount of cloud overnight and into this morning.

we do have a cloudy start with some outbreaks of rain. the north—easterly breeze we had overnight, continues through the day. it's a brisk one and it's going to blow in further, potentially quite heavy showers. over higher ground you might get a little bit of sleet mixed in, but largely falling as rain. temperatures between three and five celsius today, but factor in the wind and it's going to feel much colder. overnight that wind is going to persist. again, further showers blown in from the north—east. higher ground, you might get sleet and snow mixed in. the minimum temperature down at zero. we're going to hang on to this cold air for much of this week — you can see by this blue area. we won't see anything less cold until we head into the first part of next week. so as we head through the next couple of days, some outbreaks of rain, some drier weather, the wind eventually falls a little lighter on wednesday. a chilly week ahead. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. bye for now.

hello, this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. it has just it hasjust gone it has just gone have passed seven. —— half past seven. as we've been hearing, today is a landmark moment in our fightback against coronavirus. the roll—out the vaccine developed by oxford university is about to start. the health secretary, matt hancock, joins us now. good morning. thank you forjoining us. good morning. how many people are you hoping to get vaccinated by the end of today? we have not got a figure for today but we have got 530,000 of these vaccines from oxford oxford zeneca to be delivered this week. dashwood max oxford astrazeneca. this is a pivotal moment in the fight against coronavirus. thanks to british science and backed by the government and astrazeneca as well, who deserve and astrazeneca as well, who deserve a lot of credit for the work that they have done, that we have managed to get to this point. and i am just

really pleased that the nhs is able to start this vaccination programme. we are the first country in the world, again, to get the to this point and have these easy to administerfaxing. so point and have these easy to administer faxing. so it's point and have these easy to administerfaxing. so it's really, really good news, because it is going to be a tough few weeks ahead, but this is our way out and i am very proud that we have been able to get to this point. you stress it is the way out. when is the next delivery? the next delivery will be later this week to be ready to be deployed next week. you have to make sure that even though it does not require the very cold storage of the pfizer vaccine, you still have to make sure that it is delivered properly and safely and carefully to the hospitals and the gp sites and distributed around the now 700 vaccination sites we have got around the country, which the nhs is committed to increasing to 1000 by the end of this week. so that

roll—out is accelerating, getting to all parts of the uk. we have, of course, heard that we need to be doing 2 million a week. so you are talking about half a million a week, is that right? well, currently, the very limiting step is the amount of vaccine that is being delivered, save and ready to use, and the nhs is they are ready to deliver whatever vaccine... is they are ready to deliver whatever vaccine. . . what is is they are ready to deliver whatever vaccine... what is the delay? there is some indication there may be no glass vials. what is there may be no glass vials. what is the delay? there isn't a delay. it isa the delay? there isn't a delay. it is a matter of getting the vaccine as soon as it is delivered. then going through the safety checks, which are very important, going getting it into the nhs and delivered into people's arms. in fa ct, delivered into people's arms. in fact, we have been able to accelerate that process because we now know that you get your

protection after the first dose, and the second dose can wait until 12 weeks away. that means that over the first few months of the programme we can effectively vaccinate twice as many people as we would have been able to otherwise. and obviously thatis able to otherwise. and obviously that is very good news in terms of protecting people. and saving people's lives. and, of course, getting us out of this pandemic and all the restrictions we have to live with. so we are accelerating the programme using the vaccine that is available and working very closely obviously with the manufacturers to bring in as much of the vaccine as possible. and then the challenge on the nhs side, which is a big national effort, is to take that vaccine and get it delivered into people's arms as quickly as a feasibly possible using all the resources available, and obviously we are working very, very hard to make that happen. you are talking

about accelerating. when you think you would be at what you would like to be your maximum capacity? well, capacity is limited by the number of vaccines that we get in. so we're delivering this week the amount of vaccine that there is to deliver through the nhs. so that is what is determining the speed. if the nhs needs to go faster, then it will go faster. so if there were 2 million doses a week being delivered, then the nhs would deliver at that speed. that is the critical question. but that supply isn't there yet and we are working closely with the manufacturers, pfizer and astrazeneca are doing absolutelyjob in producing the vaccine as quickly as possible. you have known about this for some time. as this not been planned for? yes, of course it's

been planned for! that is why it is happening first in the world. absolutely. that is why we have got the nhs ready with the 700 sites increasing 2000, because each one needs to be turned on, each centre needs to be turned on, each centre needs to be turned on, each centre needs to be turned on. and we have got this vaccine arriving. so far we have managed to come in 2020, we vaccinated more people here in the uk that the whole of the rest of europe put together. we were first in the world on the pfizer vaccine. it's pretty science that has got is the first in the world on this vaccine. absolutely. i have been planning for this moment since january. and that's why we've been first in the world, because we have put in the money. you know, i remember back in, i think it was february or march, talking to the tea m february or march, talking to the team in oxford and making sure they had all the financial resources they needed, making sure they could get into the nhs to do the trials. there

are those people who volunteered for the trials who made a big contribution. talk about the vaccinate ares. there have been issues. borisjohnson talked yesterday about the red tape. are you going to get rid of the forms they have to fill out? yes, so as well as all the people who currently work in the nhs delivering the vaccination programme, we are also bringing people back. have you got rid of the red tape? yes. we are going to reduce the amount of bureaucracy that is needed. and i have been working with the nhs on that. for instance, there is a training programme about needing to tackle terrorism, i don't think that is necessary. we are going to stop that. we are going through the different parts of that process to streamline it as much as possible. but again, that is not the rate—limiting step. at the moment of the nhs, with the people it has got already, is able to deliver the vaccine as it can be produced, but uppy vaccine as it can be produced, but uppy is the i want to make that

easier, yes. can we go back to the pfizer vaccine? we know, for example, it was not tested at 12 weeks. ——? some people are very concerned by that, including the british medical association, who say... british medical association, who hey british medical association, who say... they say it is grossly unfair. well, just to be clear, and i have been talking to the british medical association about this, they support the move to a 12 week schedule. their concern was that gps had to work over the weekend to change the appointments. now there isa change the appointments. now there is a really important reason we did this. and it's because this way can save more lives. so, for instance, if you had two grandparents, and you had two doses of vaccine, and knowing that you get protection after the first dose, you would want to give both of your grandparents one dose each rather than giving two doses to one of them and leaving the

other unprotected. it's really as simple as that. when people ask you, who are concerned, that it hadn't been tested against the 12 weeks rather than 21 days, what do you say to them? well, you can look from the tests that have been done and see that after a fortnight, the protection from the pfizerjob is at 89%, which is very, very effective. and after two jab ors it is at 95%. that is the protection against getting the disease. the protection against having serious disease is much higher still. this is a highly effective vaccine, but the pfizer and the oxford astrazeneca vacciness, highly effective at protecting you and they are effective after one dose. that is the clinical advice as set out by the clinical advice as set out by the chief medical officer and others. and that is why we have

extended the period until you get your second dose, because we will be able to save more lives and get more people their first dose faster, because of this change. and also, just one other benefit, it will help us get out of the restriction that we have to have in place. let's talk about restrictions. the prime minister saying yesterday it may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country. when are you going to look at that? and are you going to look at that? and are you going to look at that? and are you going to enforce tougher restrictions? well, we do look at this all of the time. you will have seen that the latest data shows the virus continues to spread, and continues to increase. so there is a very worrying data showing that the virus continues to spread. ah, for example, any tier 3 measures working

anywhere? well, we can see in some of the tier 3 areas cases are rising sharply. so clearly, more action, as the prime minister said, is going to be needed. it is also about how we all behave. if the vaccine role that isa all behave. if the vaccine role that is a national effort, so too there is a national effort, so too there is now a national effort to keep people safe until that vaccine roll—out works. the new variant of this disease transmitted from person to person so much easier than of the old one. it means that all of us have got to act like we have got the virus, in case we have it, to stop it spreading to others. that is the only way that we can control this. yes, it is about the government rules, and absolutely we are prepared to bring in unfortunately tougher rules if they are needed, the public health advice. it is on all of us. scotland is considering a legal stay at home message like in

march. should england be prepared for the same thing? from what you say there are tougher restrictions on the way. there is a legal stay at home requirement in tier 4 areas. it is very, very important that in all tier 4 areas people stay at home u nless tier 4 areas people stay at home unless they have a need to go out. what tougher restrictions are you looking at? that is what people would be desperate to know as they are watching this morning. what are you looking at? in the tier 3 areas, where we are seeing a sharp rise, we have shown that we have taken action to put areas into tier 4 if that is needed. we keep all of these things under review, as you know. when the data changes in the public health advice changes, then sometimes we have to move and sometimes we have to move very fast. can we talk about schools as well? so much confusion from some people. also, we heard from some people. also, we heard from a head teacher today saying

that staff are scared. various different areas, for example, brighton and hove council advising primary schools in its area to switch to remote learning. kent, council leaders writing to the education secretary urging him to keep primary is in four districts closed. are you looking at example —— for example, having to close schools again? well, clearly, we have been trying to balance this really difficult balance, that everybody will understand. i am a pa rent of everybody will understand. i am a parent of school—age children as well. i have these mixed emotions. i wa nt well. i have these mixed emotions. i want my children in school getting an education. that is where children should be on the 4th of january an education. that is where children should be on the 4th ofjanuary in any normal world. but i am also responsible for keeping the virus under control across this country. and whilst absolutely children are safe and teachers are safe in schools, there is no evidence, there is no evidence that teachers catch coronavirus any more than any other

profession. but we also know that when schools are open that does spread the disease more through the community. and so we have taken action in the areas where the spread of the disease is strongest, and where the nhs is most under pressure, to keep the primary schools closed. but obviously this isa schools closed. but obviously this is a really difficult balance that everybody feels themselves. i've had friends say to me, i feel totally conflicted because i want my children to go back to school, but i also know that in london the right thing to do is for them not to go back to school. so these mixed emotions are really difficult. they are because of a really difficult balance between the need for education and the need to control the spread of the virus. would you consider, for example, offering the vaccine to teachers? well, absolutely. once we have got through the clinical cohorts, those most vulnerable to the disease,

absolutely. but you have got to do this by clinical priority, because thatis this by clinical priority, because that is what saves most lives. really briefly then, and shielding, the most vulnerable in that group, are you considering changing the advice on shielding again? well, we are very careful about how we communicate about shielding, because if you are asked to shield, that is a very significant impact on some of the most vulnerable people. this work is led by the deputy chief medical officer, jenny harries, and she has done an absolutely brilliant job in protecting those who are shielded as much as possible. but we also know that there are serious health downsides to the sorts of levels of isolation that shielding left people in the first peak. so what we do on shielding is, when we communicated to people, we do it by writing personally to each and every one of them, so that anybody who is shielding now is what is required of them. i know that's not directly

answering your question, but i hope i have explained there is a reason for that because we communicated directly to people who are clinically, extremely vulnerable to the disease. i expect some of them will be watching this morning. thank you very much. matt hancock, health secretary. it's a very chilly morning for many. here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. good morning. you are absolutely right. it is cold this morning. a lot of clear skies, as you can see, from our weather watchers picture in somerset. high pressure is in charge of our weather. we are pulling on a north—easterly wind. a gusty wind of that. that is really exacerbating the cold feel. and then we have got this weather front across the south—east, extending down into the channel islands. that is producing some rain. in the channel islands today some of that will be heavy and thundery. we have also got showers coming across parts of scotland and eastern england, blowing inland during the course of the day. some of them are wintry, mostly on the

hills. that aside, a lot of dry weather and a fair bit of sunshine. these are the strengths of the wind gusts. you can see, with exposure in the coasts, we are looking at 40 to 45 mph. temperatures between three and about 6 degrees. temperatures where they should be at this time of january. we carry on with the rain in the south east and the channel islands this evening. ride drifting further west. in heavy bursts of showers we will cease now getting down to lower levels. with temperatures like this, hardly surprisingly there is the risk of ice on untreated surfaces. temperatures in the western highlands could fall as low as —40 -6. highlands could fall as low as —40 —6. so i call start to the day on tuesday. still with these wintry showers coming in across scotland and northern england, still the rain in the south—east and the channel islands, and still dusty north—easterly wind taking the edge

of the temperature. a lot of dry weather and a fair bit of sunshine. maximum temperatures three to five or6 maximum temperatures three to five or 6 degrees. as we move from tuesday to wednesday, we say goodbye to this area of high pressure. allowing the gates to open for low pressure and this front coming our way. so during the course of wednesday we will have lighter winds. there will be a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine, still some showers are in the east and south. the timing of this weather front coming in will be later in the afternoon and evening. that could still change. what it is going to do is introduce round and also some snow. these are the temperatures. one to five or 6 degrees. if i stop here for a second, this weather front overnight is going to be sinking southwards across scotland. as it does so, it would bring some snow with it. a few centimetres possible even to lower levels. snow in northern ireland is more likely to be in the hills. it

will —— we will wake up and thursday morning with a light dusting in parts of northern england and north wales. for the rest of thursday, eventually that weather front makes it down to the south east. it will be weak. you might get the odd flurry of snow or sleet. as we head into friday, there is a slight increase in those temperatures. if you want something a little bit milder, you have to wait until the weekend and next week. we look forward to next week and the weekend then. thank you, carol. ten minutes to eight. we're looking back today at the life of a pop music pioneer. gerry marsden — the lead singer of the merseybeat group gerry and the pacemakers — who has died at the age of 78. before we speak to two people who knew him, let's take a moment to enjoy some of gerry's music. # i like it, i like it # i like the way you run your fingers through my hair # and i like the way you tickle my chin you let me come in # when your mummy ain't there.#

# how do you do what you do to me # i wish i knew # if i knew how you do it to me # i'd do it to you.# # ferry cross the mersey # cos this lands the place i love # and here i'll stay.# # you'll never, ever walk # alone.# wonderful. great tunes. a wonderful song, isn't it? as you might expect, the news of gerry's death prompted tributes from some of the biggest names in both music and sport. sir paul mccartney tweeted a picture of the beatles

with gerry and the pacemakers. the two bands shared a manager in brian epstein. sir paul wrote that he'll "always remember gerry with a smile". liverpool's cavern club, where gerry and the pacemakers first began performing, also tweeted a tribute. they called gerry a legend and a great friend. and liverpool football club, which adopted "you'll never walk alone" as the club anthem, said his words will live on forever. the dj tony blackburn first played gerry and the pacemakers' songs on pirate radio. he joins us now to share some memories, along with pete price, a liverpool dj who knew gerry well. good morning both. thank you so much for joining good morning both. thank you so much forjoining us. good morning both. thank you so much for joining us. take good morning both. thank you so much forjoining us. take us back a little bit, tony blackburn. when you heard of those songs, did you think, gosh, this is really something? well, i did. we use to get the new releases on the north sea on radio caroline every day. when i heard jerry's music i mean, they are the perfect pop songs. they make you feel happy. he was a great guy. very warm character. he would always say,

hello, tongue. the last time i met him, we were doing a mini cruise, a 60s mini cruise, from sun heaven. that's where southampton. i had dinner with him and his wife and it was an enchanting evening. he was wonderful. this was a couple of yea rs wonderful. this was a couple of years ago. ifelt wonderful. this was a couple of years ago. i felt he wasn't quite himself. he wasn't too well. but when he got on stage he came to life and he was just a great performer. and i loved him and his music. to me, when i heard last night, when i heard that he had passed away, that was a part of the 60s which was so important, because he was up there with the beatles and i don't think we realise how the music of that particular time meant so much to a lot of us. and pete price is with us. peter, i know you were a friend of gerry marsden for many years. it's wonderful to hear many of those famous tunes. i suppose you'll never walk alone will allow the memory of gerry and the pacemakers to live on

for many years to come as well, won't it? it will indeed. and the la st won't it? it will indeed. and the last time i saw seeing him that was at the football club. take that were on. there was a whisper going around that he was going to be making an appearance. and as tonyjust said, he wasn't a well man then. but he came down. he was struggling a little bit on his feet. and gary we nt little bit on his feet. and gary went over to help him. he walked across that big stage. the crowd erupted. it was crazy. and then he we nt erupted. it was crazy. and then he went to the microphone at the side and gary said, oh, no. you are the start. you use the centre microphone. and they respect... i'm getting upset now. the respect he got from that crowd, that was it. it isjust amazing got from that crowd, that was it. it is just amazing to see got from that crowd, that was it. it isjust amazing to see him sink that. i'd never heard a crowd like that. i'd never heard a crowd like that. that was the actual last time i saw that. that was the actual last time isaw him that. that was the actual last time i saw him work. he was a magical man. the city is waking up today to

realise we have lost their real son of the city. at what has made me laugh, which is nice i can laugh, very across the mersey, when you go on the ferry, you get on the ferry and they play his son. so he is making money still! that is a lovely way he will always be remembered. peter, he was a great friend to you as well, wasn't he? he was lovely. he was wicked. he had a wicked sense of humour. he was very naughty with me sometimes. but we worked together. i mean, iwas a me sometimes. but we worked together. i mean, i was a teenager going, as tony said, i went to the cavern club and discovered of this music. i never thought cavern club and discovered of this music. i neverthought in cavern club and discovered of this music. i never thought in a million years that i would be working with him one day, let alone become a friend of m and pauline. pauline, his wife, is his best mate. i do now she is coping at all. but the last timel she is coping at all. but the last time i spoke to him i was sitting watching the telly and there was a netflix showing which goes around

the world. the second series they go into rub the bank, next minute i heard this music and i thought, i know that, you'll never walk alone. they didn't play a clip of it. they played the whole song. i rang in to tell him. he put the phone down. pauline brings me back to say, what?! and he was shouting, do i get any money for this?! some brilliant memories, pete. to come back to you, tony, you talked about the history of the 60s. their first three singles went to the top of the charts. they will tell winter with the beatles at that time, weren't they? absolutely. they had a lot of success in america. jerry had a wicked sense of humour, is peter just said. i love the fact that originally they were called jerry under the mars bars. they had to change the name because the chocolate company didn't like it. he said to me, i don't think he meant it, he said, i wish we could have kept the original name. polling as well was lovely. we had a great evening together and one that i will a lwa ys evening together and one that i will

always treasure. what he was so important to the 60s. his music will still be playing on signs of the 60s and things like that. but it will be missed. whenever this happens to me it isa missed. whenever this happens to me it is a part of my life that i am not going to get back so much because i used to enjoy going to see him. a lot of the touring shows that he did fora him. a lot of the touring shows that he did for a long time, because he used to go out on a lot of these touring shows, the gold coast and things, and he was brilliant on stage and had a unique voice as well. peter, let's talk about you'll never walk alone. it is notjust adopted by the whole city, it is such a lovely song for so many people, isn't it? it is. it's iconic. people forget it's from a magnificent musical, carousel. it came from a beautiful setting originally. but eight is part of liverpool. on my show last night, evertonians, and there is still a huge rivalry, have nothing but respect for gerry marsden. even though they couldn't sit and listen

to that song sometimes, theyjust loved who he was. because he was passionate about the city. and as tony said, he was a workaholic. he would not stop working. he loved an audience. it was the best thing in the world to him. and peter, now he was heavily involved in quite a lot of social projects in the city as well. that was just as important to him as well? well, he got his mba for his charity work and all the things he did for hillsborough. he never forgot his roots. he never moved his way. he wasjust never forgot his roots. he never moved his way. he was just always here. and to me, i was driving around the city at three this morning after work, and ijust got very tearful thinking that we have lost a great, great guy and a dear friend. we really appreciate you coming on and sharing some wonderful memories. i know it's been a difficult time for you, as you say, losing a really close friend. hopefully we will be able to hear some wonderful reflections from so many people. i'm hoping, pete, that

those many people who have shared their memories of listening to that music and what it's done for them over the years, is probably enabled you to have a smile on your face as well as having those sad times and those sad memories? well, you've got to smile when you think about it gerry, because as tony said, a wicked sense of humour. i couldn't tell you some of the things he did because this is telly! wish you could. lovely to speak to you both. thank you very much indeed for talking to us this morning and bringing us your memories as well. peter price, a good friend of gerry marsden, and tony blackburn. stay with us, headlines coming up.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with louise minchin and dan walker. our headlines today. the first astrazeneca vaccine has been delivered in the uk — the jab was given to an 82—year—old patient at the churchill hospital in oxford in the last half—hour. yes and i'm outside the hospital where that first dose was given. a pivotal moment take the fight against coronavirus. it's being described as a pivotal moment in the uk's fight against coronavirus with more than half a million doses available from today it's going to be a tough few weeks ahead, but this is our way out and i am very proud that we have been able to get to this point.

we're live this morning at the hospital where the first vaccinations have taken place — as the nhs ramps up the biggest immunisation programme in its history. good morning. the many today it will be dry, cold, with gusty winds and some sunshine but still some wintry showers in the forecast and some rain in the south—east and the channel islands. all the details later! it's monday the 4th of january. our top story is some breaking news. in the last half hour, the coronavirus vaccine developed by oxford university has been given to the first patient. our medical editor, fergus walsh, is at the churchill hospital in oxford, where the jab took place. good morning. what can you tell us? this is a really important moment because of the uk has pre—ordered

100 million doses of the oxford jab, so it is the one most adults will receive. it is far easier to store and transport than the pfizerjab. 1 million doses of that have already been administered. but there are 30 million people in the priority groups. those aged over 50, front line health workers, people with underlying health conditions, who needs to be immunised. to do that in time, well, it's going to take a considerable amount of time. with me to discuss that is professor xt powys, medical director of the nhs. how important a day is this? four weeks ago i had the privilege of being in coventry for the first jab of the pfizer vaccine. that felt like a huge moment in this pandemic and, to be honest, today, when i saw

the first jab of the astrazeneca vaccine, it felt like an even bigger moment, another turning point vaccine, it felt like an even bigger moment, anotherturning point in vaccine, it felt like an even bigger moment, another turning point in our way out of this pandemic. we have 30 million people in the priority groups who need to have those doses and have their first dose of vaccine. how soon will they get it? we have been preparing in the nhs for many months for the biggest vaccination programme in our history. we have already delivered over! million vaccines of the pfizer jab and there over! million vaccines of the pfizerjab and there we have the astrazeneca one. we aim to get it into people's arms as quickly as it is supplied. we get 2 million doses perweek ouraim is is supplied. we get 2 million doses per week our aim is to get 2 million doses into the arms of those priority groups. so you don't see any problem in the delivery side of things. in terms of supply, what have astrazeneca told you about how soon they can get the doses to you? as the prime minister said, we are aiming fortens of as the prime minister said, we are aiming for tens of millions of doses by the time we get to april. this is

a new vaccine, each batch will need to be looked at before it is released. that schedule will become clearer over the next few weeks but, asi clearer over the next few weeks but, as i said, we are raring to go, we have shown what we can do with the pfizer vaccine is now as astrazeneca gets its supplies, half a million this week but more to come, we will get into arms as quickly as we can stop the first day or two you are restricting the immunisation to a few centres. why? we are starting with hospital centres in the next day or two. that is because it is a new vaccine, not been used before outside of trials. important we step up in an appropriate way, get it right, but by the end of the week we will move to around 100 hospital hubs and we have 700 centres in gp practices in the community to go to and then beyond that we will be expanding further as more and supply becomes available. you have asked for retired staff, indie people with first training, their cabin crew, to

come forward as vaccinators. they have had to fill out an extraordinary number of forms, something like 21. isn't there too much red tape here? we have had a fantastic response, people have been coming forward to volunteer as vaccinators. it is important they go through some training, that is important, and things ensuring such as dealing with side effects if they occur, though they are rare. we will review that constantly and we want to ensure we keep that training to a minimum but we are really grateful that everybody has come forward. how soon do you think you may be able to get up to 2 million immunisations per week? i would hope within the next few... certainly this month we will look to get to that site of number but, as i said, this is dependent upon supply. this is a new vaccine, supplies are coming in as we speak but they come in batch by batch. we will be delivering it as soon as we get it. care homes have

been hit very hard. what are your target for getting all residents of ca re target for getting all residents of care homes protected ? target for getting all residents of care homes protected? care home residents are in the top two priority groups along with the over 805, health priority group5 along with the over 805, health and social care workers and of course the staff of care homes, and so our aim and of course the staff of care homes, and so ouraim i5 and of course the staff of care homes, and so our aim is to get through those two priority group5 homes, and so our aim is to get through those two priority groups as quickly as possible. two things will help with that. fir5tly quickly as possible. two things will help with that. firstly the change in strategy of delaying the second dose, meaning we have more pfizer vaccine to use, and then of course the astrazeneca vaccine, which we have started with today. that will enable us us to get through those two priority groups in the coming weeks. in terms of the way forward, you are restricting people to start with 21 dose and a lot of gps are unhappy with that. —— restricting people to one dose. what level protection do you think the oxford and the pfizer jab protection do you think the oxford and the pfizerjab will give you from one dose and should people who have received the vaccine change

their behaviour in any way? joint committee on vaccination and immunisation is and mhra have looked at this very carefully and it is their recommendation that there is a public health benefit to spacing out that second dose. we will not be giving the second dose, we are spacing it out. as a clinician i support that decision, it makes perfect sense, particularly when we have the pandemic accelerating at the sort of rate it is at the moment. it is the right scientific decision. of course in the nhs it is ourjob to deliver that. we realise that it has been inconvenient for gps and patients, but this is important, it is important we get as many people vaccinated as possible and by delaying that second dose it allows us to do that. we are a few hundred metres away and where this vaccine was developed, and the first human trials began in april. how much of an achievement is this for

science and indeed for british science and indeed for british science and indeed for british science and the team at oxford? science and indeed for british science and the team at 0xford?l remarkable achievement. he would have thought that within a year of this virus first becoming apparent that we would have not just one vaccine, but two we are able to use. i have just seen professor andy pollard, one of the creators of the vaccine here in the oxford team, get vaccinated himself. he was beaming, what a sense of pride he had in being able to go from the lab into patients' arms, including himself, in under12 patients' arms, including himself, in under 12 months. a fantastic achievement. what everybody wants is achievement. what everybody wants is a return to normality. do you have any sense of when that might happen? when people indeed might be able to go intoa when people indeed might be able to go into a restaurant, might be able to go into a pub or indeed booked a holiday. do you have any kind of timeline in your mind of what you would like to see? like everybody i

am hoping that when we get to the spring and into the summer we will be able to get more back towards those normal ways of life you just described. there is no doubt at the moment that infection rates are high. the nhs is under severe pressure, particularly in london and parts of the south—east, where the new variant has been accelerating transmission. and of course the rest of the country, we are also seeing precious and the new variant has begun to spread. what is really critical at the moment is to help the nhs, to reduce deaths, that everybody continues to stick to social distancing guidelines the government has in place. back last year you cancelled all nonurgent surgery in order to clear the decks for dealing with covid patients, are you closer to having to do that now? we have been keeping all that elective care going as much as possible and impact of the country where there is a bit less pressure, thatis where there is a bit less pressure, that is also still the case. we are

really determined to try to keep routine services going as much as possible. at the way to avoid any disruption is for everybody to stick to those in social distancing guidelines. the more you do that, the less likely it is somebody will get the virus and unfortunately end up get the virus and unfortunately end up in hospital and the less pressure there will be and the lower the risk that other services will be disrupted. there are still some people dismissive of all this and say, look, nine out of ten deaths are in the over 65. we are crippling the economy, we are harming people by keeping them at home and not allowing them out. what do you say to people who really say that we ought to let the virus just do its thing? believe me, this is really very, very real. this is not a normal winter. this is a virus that the human population has not encountered before, there is no innate immunity in the population, so it has the ability to really

transmit to a large number of people. that is exactly how it feels in hospitals at the moment. we are seeing a lot of patients coming in, there is a lot of pressure. i was just talking to the medical director here in oxford who was saying they have seen a lot of cases of coronavirus over the weekend. believe me, if you talk to the staff in our nhs hospitals, they will tell you this is not a normal winter. this is something they have simply not seen before. and the impact of course is if they are dealing with covid patients and admitting covid patients to intensive care beds that then impacts on public care, as well. of course, and we need those intensive care beds for things like complex cancer surgery. we are keeping those going, as well, but the coronavirus patients we have, then why people stick to those in social distancing measures, the less risk to disruption to service. it is really key that everybody understands that the one way to beat this virus until we get the vaccine

rolled out is to keep your distance, stay safe, masks, face, space. cannot come soon enough. professor steve powers, thank you very much indeed. more dosing here and the number of hospitals today, but then it is going to be spread, then, to 1000 centres across the uk and it should start having an impact very soon and every single person who gets immunised, whether with the pfizer or astrazeneca vaccine, it is one small victory against coronavirus. so interested in hearing all about it. on a personal level, we know that three people or so have been vaccinated so far. what is the process? they have to wait a while after they have had the jab. yes, this is just for a while after they have had the jab. yes, this isjust for a bit of enhanced surveillance, which is standard practice whenever you have

a new vaccine. there have been 45,000 people worldwide who are on the oxford astrazeneca vaccine trials, but now it is approved and the first batch is here they are just keeping people for a few minutes, monitoring them. by the end of the week people will be coming m, of the week people will be coming in, rolling up their sleeves, having the jab in, rolling up their sleeves, having thejab and, in in, rolling up their sleeves, having the jab and, in some places, drive—through centres. but in village halls, gp surgeries, racecourses, all sorts of places will be offering this and otherjabs and it will start to have an impact. but i don't think we should judge it on the first days or even the first week or so, but within a couple of weeks we will need to see this happening 1 million, 2 million doses per week if we are really to get the priority groups, the over 50s and especially the over 65 is and those with underlying health conditions immunised. we are going to come back

to you in a couple of minutes but thank you very much indeed for that breaking news, thank you so much. brian pinker, who is 82, has become the first man. there he is. the first man to receive the oxford university and astrazeneca vaccine. it is being given there by the nurse, sam foster, who we will speak to later on, as well. brian pinker said this. i am so pleased to be getting the vaccine today, i am really proud it was the one invented in oxford. the nurses, doctors and staff have been brilliant and i can look forward now to celebrating my 48th wedding anniversary with my wife shirley later this year. sam foster giving the injection. chief nursing officer, she said, it was a real privilege to be able to deliver the first oxford vaccine at the churchill hospital, just a few hundred metres from where it was developed. hopefully we will speak to her later. and andy polite, principal investigator on vaccine trial, he

will be speaking to ferguson by the hospital later this morning. lots to talk about. how significant is all of this? let's speak now to linda bauld — professor of public health at the university of edinburgh. that question, how significant is this day? good morning. it is very much a significant day. we have been waiting particularly for this vaccine because of the much more manageable storage requirements. getting it into care homes in our remote and island communities. in terms of supply, what the government has committed to delivering. it is very exciting but of course we have to see how the logistics pan out and what happens with the delivery of the vaccine and administration over the vaccine and administration over the next few weeks. we are seeing pictures of the second gentleman being vaccinated, and 88—year—old. brian pinker was the first, 82.

let's go back to you. there are two vaccines available. if you weeks ago we had the pfizer vaccine now we have the oxford vaccine. people in the coming weeks and months ahead, as hopefully the vaccination programme goes across the uk, will there be a choice as to which vaccine you get, do you know? know, when the mhra, thejcvi and the committee on human medicines gave a press co nfe re nce committee on human medicines gave a press conference at the end of last year speaking about the approval of the astrazeneca vaccine, they were very clear that these are both highly effective vaccines. it is not about choosing one over the other or that you would have a particular patients who were, for example, receive one and not the other. it will be down to the logistics and supply. so, can they get a particular vaccine into a particular environment more easily, like care homes with the refrigerator temperature storage for oxford astrazeneca, or is itjust that there is more available of one vaccine than the other? i think

everybody in the country, if they are invited to be vaccinated, needs to ta ke are invited to be vaccinated, needs to take that opportunity and recognise that it doesn't matter which of these vaccines they received. kai also asked, we have been speaking the health secretary matt hancock, about the possibility there may need to be further restrictions. they talk of that possibly in scotland. do you think we will see changes ahead? yes, i think it is a really difficult time for the uk across all parts of the devolved nations. we actually have more cases are now in recent days, around four times more cases than the other large european countries and we have more people in hospital now, as you know, and you have discussed significantly more than we had at the peak in april. what we are expecting in scotland is parliament is recalled, the cabinet is meeting this morning and probably an announcement of even tougher restrictions, keeping in mind that most of the country is already in what we call level four and there will also be discussions about comic

in our schools return face—to—face onjanuary in our schools return face—to—face on january 18? it is in our schools return face—to—face onjanuary18? it is a tricky time but at the moment, we absolutely need tough public health restrictions because of the surge in cases so that we don't overwhelm health services and get in the way of the vaccine roll—out, which of course is a concern. professor linda bauld, thank you for your time this morning. thank you. josh miller is one of the thousands of volunteers who took part in clinical trials of the jab. he joins us now from the west midlands. good morning to you. thank you for joining us. you are also one of those who knows that you actually had the vaccine. what was involved in the trial? i had an antibody test through work earlier in the year, find out i had no antibodies are so one of my friends and said, well, that means you are eligible for the vaccine study. i thought, well, that means you are eligible for the vaccine study. ithought, well, ok, i'd better go for this. i am lucky enough to be in good health so i went and got screen for the study. i

had my first injection injune. didn't know which i have had, meningitis vaccine, which was the control, or eat covid vaccine, then i had control, or eat covid vaccine, then ihada control, or eat covid vaccine, then i had a booster later on in august. then i was unblinded mid december when i was offered vaccination through work. obviously it wouldn't be fairfor people through work. obviously it wouldn't be fair for people to not get access to vaccinations because they are in a study, so the study team said, actually, you have the vaccine in june and don't need any further jabs. that must be... you are one of the first that we know about, that moment when they tell you you have actually had it, how does that impact on you? it felt really great. it was quite strange because obviously for the whole time i didn't know and just to suddenly find out that you had it all along was really, really good news. on the other hand, i haven't acted any differently. so christmas, i didn't leave the house or do any of the

christmas mixing, and i'm still doing everything to do with hands, face and space, so following the same rules. it is really good to talk to you. thank you very much and thank you for your hard work during these times. thank you. while we were speaking tojosh, you may have seen pictures of andy pollard, the third person to receive the vaccine. he is the principal investigator on the vaccine trial and hopefully we will speak to him later this morning. let's go back to the churchill hospital in oxford and speak again to our medical editor, fergus walsh. lots of ha rd lots of hard work to come, what more can you tell us? well, i am delighted to say i am joined by the person who administered the first dose, the chief nurse for oxford university hospital, sam foster. what was it like to do the first immunisation? a huge privilege.

every single patient that we vaccinated over the last couple of weeks have got their own personal stories to the difference it will make for them. no different this morning with our first patients. have you been immunised yet?” morning with our first patients. have you been immunised yet? i have, yes, i was immunised, have you been immunised yet? i have, yes, iwas immunised, i have been working on the vaccine centre for a couple of weeks so i have received my vaccine. all systems go now. everybody wants to be immunised as soon as possible. how quickly can you do this? there is nothing more the nhs wants to do more than get this programme going at real scale. across the nhs there are many, many peer vaccinators who will go out and support staff vaccines, continue with our patient and culling vaccines across the nation. there is nothing more we want to do than get this done at scale. an army of volu nteers this done at scale. an army of volunteers have signed up to do this. how difficult is it to do the immunisation? we have people like cabin crew who have signed up. they will help more with patient flow,

guiding people through the process. it will be people who are trained vaccinators with care backgrounds —— medical experience who will give the vaccine to stop you are not someone who would normally serve me my meal? no. in terms of dosing you are telling people, have yourfirst no. in terms of dosing you are telling people, have your first now and when will they come back for the second? in around 12 weeks. the message is that for every second dose we gave we will be denying a first dose so the real drive is to ensure a maximum amount we will get their first dose, which is what we are doing. what are you saying to people in terms of how much protection the first dose may give them the same research is showing there is an amount of protection being given, enough to give us that opportunity to first dose as many people as possible. continue to observe hands, face, space, all of the precautions we have been going to date, until we are told otherwise. within hospital, in terms of intensive care, within hospital, in terms of intensive ca re, pretty within hospital, in terms of intensive care, pretty serious now.

demand has really gone up, particularly across the south—east, a busy couple of weeks, a busy couple of weeks ahead of us so we can urge people to abide by recommendations and reduce the demand and pressure on the nhs. winter is always busy but this is not a normal winter. this is unprecedented. a significant amount of patients require respiratory care, critical care and intensive care, critical care and intensive care, so a lot of pressure at. thank you very much. we will let you go and were not! to chilly out here. thank you very much. —— lets you warm up. we might be able to speak to professor andy pollard in a couple of minutes. it is all happening here and in a number of hospitals around the country but by the end of the week there should be 1000 centres across the uk who will be delivering this vaccine. thank you so much. we will hopefully be back with you later if you can come into the cold, that would be lovely.

82—year—old brian pinker was the first to get the jab. he's a retired maintenance managerfrom oxford. he's been married to shirley for nearly 48 yeas. let's hear what brian had to say about his vaccination. well, to my mind, it is the only way of getting back a bit of normal life. you know? this virus is terrible, isn't it? i mean, it is a no—brainer. are nice to hearfrom him. chris hopson is the chief executive of nhs providers — which represents hospital trusts in england. hejoins us now. good morning. thank you forjoining us. this is a really important day. how significant would you say it is that we now have a of the vaccine available? it is a really important day because we can begin to see how we get out of what has been very difficult period for all of us, for entire nation. as professor powys

said earlier, we had the first vaccine delivered and there is a couple of differences with this vaccine. the first is the large number of doses we have on order but secondly, crucially, it is much easier to store and administer. you don't require very low temperature averages that you can only really have in hospitals. this can be stored in an ordinary fridge so it is much easier to get this out, to ask gps to take this out and vaccinate care home residents, for example, ina vaccinate care home residents, for example, in a way that was difficult with the fighter vaccine. this is a really important day, it builds on the fantastic progress the nhs has made over the last few weeks where we have vaccinated 1 million people within three weeks. it is not a race against other nations but to give you a comparison we vaccinated 1 million people by new year's eve. the french and germans were

somewhere between 150000 and 200,000. we are going very fast thanks to fantastic work at the nhs front line. we are seeing an 88—year—old chap called trevor, the second person to get the oxford university vaccine this morning. chris, you talked about the logistics of the fighter vaccine getting out there. how ready is the nhs for the roll—out of this box with astrazeneca vaccine? we are very ready. we have been expecting this for some period of time, we have been putting in a huge amount of work over the last few weeks to ensure we are ready. it has been a very, very busy time, as you have already heard, for the nhs, but we know how important this is and the great advantage we now have from this vaccine is that we can ask our collea g u es this vaccine is that we can ask our colleagues in primary care to help and, as you heard, we will be setting up 1000 vaccination centres by the end of the week, calling on help from a number of different places, we have lots of volunteers

flooding in. iwas places, we have lots of volunteers flooding in. i was speaking to a permit trust chief executive a week ago he was volunteering to come in and help. we are ready to go. to be frank, the constraining factor here will not be the nhs's ability to get jabs in arms, it is in the first few weeks that it will be the supply. we are ready to go, we will be able to use up all of the doses we can get our hands on, and we are aiming to get to that 2 million per week target as quickly as we possibly can, but it depends on supply. thank you very much indeed for your time. chirs hopson. thank you. we will be back to the hospital in oxford where fergus walsh is mind to speak to one of the professors involved in the trial who has also had the vaccine. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london, i'm asad ahmed. all london primary schools — and many in the home counties — will remain closed today,

as an attempt to reduce the transmission rate of covid—19. some london boroughs were going to be allowed to reopen schools, until the government changed its mind following lobbying by several local authorities. as far as secondary school children in the royal borough of greenwich are concerned, they're now eligible for coronavirus tests. and a paediatric diseases consultant, believes pupils will largely be fine. i know that parents are worried, because the numbers of infections in children are high, but i think that still reflects what's going on with the community. we're much better at managing it, we recognise it sooner, and these children are responding well to treatment, so i'm not worried about children and disease. well, students at university college london have been told not to return to campus until at least the end of february, due to the rapid spread of coronavirus. it goes against official government advice for students to return to university at the end of january. ucl defends its decision. saying it's the most responsible course of action

"in this complex situation". a coroner in malaysia has delivered a verdict of death by misadventure in the case of a girl from south london, whose body was found near a tourist resort in 2019. nora quoirin, who was 15 and had learning difficulties, went missing during a family holiday. nora's family say they do not believe their daughter would walk off by herself. let's take a look at the travel situation now. the london overg round has a reduced service between richmond and stratford. that will stay that way until friday. on the roads, there are long delays on the a13 into town, due to diversions at the beckton roundabout. thames water say the work is complicated, and could be ongoing until mid january. and in south east london, there are 4—way temporary traffic lights on shooters hill road at the south circular road.

now the weather with kate. good morning. well, it's another very chilly start out there this morning, but temperatures widely just above zero, so should be frost—free. that's all helped by the amount of cloud overnight and into this morning. we do have a cloudy start with some outbreaks of rain. the north—easterly breeze we had overnight, continues through the day. it's a brisk one and it's going to blow in further, potentially quite heavy showers. over higher ground you might get a little bit of sleet mixed in, but largely falling as rain. temperatures between three and five celsius today, but factor in the wind and it's going to feel much colder. overnight that wind is going to persist. again, further showers blown in from the north—east. higher ground, you might get sleet and snow mixed in. the minimum temperature down at zero. we're going to hang on to this cold air for much of this week — you can see by this blue area. we won't see anything less cold until we head into the first part of next week. so as we head through the next couple of days, some outbreaks of rain, some drier weather, the wind eventually falls a little

lighter on wednesday. stay across our website. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. in the last half an hour, the first astrazeneca vaccine has been delivered in the uk. it was given to an 82—year—old patient at the churchill in oxford. he is brian pinker. he describes himself as oxford born and bred. he says, "i'm so pleased to be getting the covid vaccine today. really proud it was invented in oxford. the nurses, doctors and staff have all been brilliant and i can now really look forward to celebrate my 40th wedding anniversary with my wife shirley later this year." happy anniversary. sam foster was the chief nurse administering the vaccine. we have spoken to her already. she was

talking to fergus walsh, our medical editor, who is back outside of the hospital in oxford. incredibly busy. a really big step forward? hospital in oxford. incredibly busy. a really big step forward7m hospital in oxford. incredibly busy. a really big step forward? it is a huge step forward, because this vaccine, not just for the huge step forward, because this vaccine, notjust for the uk, huge step forward, because this vaccine, notjust forthe uk, but globally will have a major impact. it is far cheaper than the pfizer job or. easier to transport and store. it could be transported and keptin store. it could be transported and kept ina store. it could be transported and kept in a fridge. unlike the pfizer jab which has to be moved at —70. it is going to have a big impact. it can go into every care home easily within the next few weeks. it can go to anywhere in the world, because astrazeneca has said it will produce 3 billion doses at cost this year. it has promised also never to make a profit from low and middle income countries. i'm delighted to say the global head of clinical trials of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine,

professor andrew pollard, is with me. you have just professor andrew pollard, is with me. you havejust received professor andrew pollard, is with me. you have just received your dose? i have. as a health care worker here in oxford. i'm delighted to have been able to do so. it is an absolute triumph for all of the team working on the vaccine this year. we arejust a few working on the vaccine this year. we are just a few hundred metres from where the first trials were done in april, a few hundred metres from where the team designed this. extraordinary that a university, albeit a prestigious one, should produce a vaccine in the space of a year that could have an incredible impact on bringing this pandemic under control? it is an amazing academic collaboration that brings us notjust here in oxford, but at trial sites around the uk and internationally, with academic groups, driving forward this programme to meet this point today where we see the first doses rolled out. when you saw brian pinker getting his jab or, what was running through your mind?” getting his jab or, what was running through your mind? i was so pleased to see someone here in oxford,

brought up in oxford, so excited to receive the first dose of the vaccine developed here.” receive the first dose of the vaccine developed here. i know it is just being limited to a few centres on day one. why is that? it is being limited to a few centres just to get started and work out the logistics. i'm hoping the nhs will be set up for a major roll—out over the weeks ahead. in terms of the level of protection it gives, people are getting one dose and then they're getting one dose and then they're getting their second dose 12 weeks later. do you have any idea what level of protection it will give people? in the clinical trials once the immune response kicks in and it takes a few weeks after you have been vaccinated, we have seen, until the second dose, around 70% protection. there is also potentially protection against severe disease which is really more important? well, the information from the trials really shows that the vaccine is protecting people

against severe infection and hospitalisation. in fact, after the immune responses kicked in, we didn't see anyone who ended up in hospital from that point onwards. 70% is against my own disease, where we are seeing this protection. is externally good news. in terms of people coming forward, there are something like 30 million people in the priority groups over 50s, front line health care workers, like yourself, and then people with underlying health conditions. how soon do you think people, that group, will be protected? well, it isa group, will be protected? well, it is a huge logistical challenge. what i think the nhs is very much up for it. there's lots of work going on on supply that astrazeneca is responsible for. i'm optimistic we will get there in the months ahead. in terms of long—term protection, people will get their second dose. you found from your trials that a

bigger gap actually may actually have given better overall protection? we certainly saw better immune responses with the longer 95p~ immune responses with the longer gap. at the moment of the numbers are a bit small to be absolutely sure that translated to better protection but we think it should. i think there is no harm in having a longer gap and there may be a benefit as well. you are also a doctor here. you have seen what is going on in hospitals. it's pretty serious at the moment? i think this isa serious at the moment? i think this is a really critical moment. we are at the point of being overwhelmed by this disease. i think it gives us a bit of hope. i think we have got some tough weeks ahead. professor pollard, thank you very much indeed. as professor pollard said, the nhs really under pressure. so the roll—out of this vaccine really can't come soon enough. but it is a bright moment, a bright spot, in what otherwise is some very grim news about what is happening to the nhs, the intense pressure it is underfrom the under from the new variant of coronavirus. thank you very much indeed fergus for bringing us up to

date and speaking to the people on the front line. lovely to hear what is happening today. we have heard from 82—year—old brian pinker, the first person to get that oxford vaccine morning. we can now hear from man number two. 88—yea r—old trevor cowlett was the second person to get the jab. he's a retired music teacher and father of three from oxford. let's hear what he had to say about his vaccination. (tx sot) in order to have this protection straightaway, it's a great honour, really. and being an oxford man, being an oxford university man, i was absolutely delighted that they had done it and i'd like to congratulate them, it gives me confidence, not that i am going to sort of overuse it and be foolish about it, but at least it gives me the confidence that i am protected as far as is possible. it's wonderful and it's good to be able to tell all the people who watch that it to tell all the people who watch thatitis to tell all the people who watch that it is good. go away and get it done as quickly as you can.

that was the second person to receive the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. a retired music teacher and father of three. millions of children should be going back to school today, but most senior school pupils are learning from home this week and many primaries will also remain closed to the majority of children. it's all to stop the spread of coronavirus. breakfast‘s graham satchell has been speaking to some parents in england about their concerns — and confusion. parents across the country with tough decisions to make as the number of covid cases continues to rise. sean and aiden live in cheshire, which hasjust moved into tier 4, but their school will be open this week. for their mental health, it's the right environment for them. obviously, their education is key, but mine are only little — they're still, you know, seven and nine, and... you know, it's more about the social aspect of it. but, you know, if it's for the greater good, and if keeping them off an extra couple of weeks, an extra few weeks,

would bring the rates down and get it all under control, then, yeah, i'd be behind that 100%. in the midlands, leo and lucy's school is also open — but their mum isn't sure they should go. we are in a situation where we're saying it's not safe to go and get a haircut from someone in full ppe, but we are expecting my sister, who teaches at a sixth form college in leicester, to go and mix with a group of 4,000 students on a daily basis. and if what is necessary to keep everyone else safe is for me to, you know, pull myself up by my bootstraps and print off some worksheets for a few more weeks, i can do that. this is amy and her three children in richmond, in london. primary schools are closed in london. amy is worried about her children, but needs them to go to school so she can work. it's scary seeing the cases rising all the time.

so on that sense, i don't particularly want my children at school. but to allow me to go to work, to allow me to earn the money that me and my children need to be able to survive, to pay the bills, to eat — yes, it is very important. leyla preston's children are enjoying some fresh air in the playground. cases here in hertfordshire have been rising fast, and schools are shut. we live in a very high—case area — hertsmere — and we haven't... i haven't heard of one case at my kids school, so i think they're doing really well in terms of safety. so in that sense, i think it would probably be betterfor them to go back to schooljust because they need the socialising, they need the classroom environment, they need to have something different, something more in their lives. in sussex, chloe found out late last night her school — which was due to be open tomorrow — will now be closed for at least two weeks.

she's saying to me, "mum, is it safe for me to go back to school?" and i'm like, "i don't know!" in september, i absolutely felt that it was safe to go back to school. all of the information coming through was showing that transmission rates amongst children was really, really small. and that felt really safe with the measures the school had in place. what's happened over the last few weeks indicates that that isn't now the case with the new strain. in north london, sam was told on friday that her daughter's primary school would stay closed for the time being. sam's family really struggled with home schooling in the first lockdown. oh, gosh, the amount of times ijust ended the day sobbing because it was just too much, trying to handle a child with learning difficulties remotely, a 6—year—old who was unwilling to learn remotely, on top of my dayjob... and i think that's why my response to this one has been so much stronger than it was the first time — because i fear going back into that same position that we had earlier in the year. there are no easy answers here — each family with its own concerns and worries. graham satchell, bbc news.

breakfast‘s john maguire is at a primary school in wiltshire, which is fully re—opening. john, hopefully you can run us through what the mood is among the pa rents, through what the mood is among the parents, among some of the teachers there today? good morning. good morning. we are in chippenham. welcome back. look at that, the new day, the new term, the new year. the corridors are vibrant and filling up with children. they are arriving in the classrooms. we have gathered a couple of parents, who were also governors here, to find out about the decision—making process to open today. good morning, he must. tell us about that decision. was it difficult? in one sense, yes, because there are so many different features to take into account, so many different factors. but on another one, the government advices we stay open. a5 governors we have a

statutory obligation to give the school open if we can. so in one senseit school open if we can. so in one sense it was a fairly easy decision to make because the advice is to keep the school open unless you have to close. we would always see closing the school as a last resort. we don't want to close the school because children are better off being educated in schools. we have undertakena being educated in schools. we have undertaken a risk assessment. we have reviewed the risk assessments that were in place. kim spencer, the head, has worked tirelessly in re ce nt head, has worked tirelessly in recent days to put it all and it in. the teaching staff are on board. generally speaking, the majority of them are wanting to come back in and teach the children, because that is what they want to do. the children are best off in school if they can beat safely. indeed. thank you. it is not an easy decision, ian, is it? it's not just about is not an easy decision, ian, is it? it's notjust about opening the doors, especially when we are hearing so many different, conflicting opinions, views, sources of advice? that's right. we have to be mindful of what parents think about reopening the school as well.

parents will make their own choices if they want to send their children in. i have just if they want to send their children in. i havejust been if they want to send their children in. i have just been watching children arrive. it looks like quite a few parents have made the decision to bring their children to school, which is great, because after the holidays, children want that social contact with their friends again. all part of the decision to open the school. ian and hamish, thank you very much indeed. parents and governors here at king's lodge school. you can hear the other side of this wall, the first classes arriving. a great deal of excitement. as we were just discussing. people glad to be back in school. of course what we don't know at this stage is how long the schools will remain open. different parts of the uk experiencing such different things today. some schools closed, some temporarily closed, some on inset days, but here at king's lodge, they're open and looking forward to today. thank you, john. there is a conversation going on in thousands of homes up and down the country. geoff barton is from the association

of school and college leaders. he joins us from suffolk. good morning. thank you very much for talking to us as ever. the prime minister yesterday urged all pa rents, minister yesterday urged all parents, those who could do so, to send their children to school this week. your thoughts on that? well, i think your report kind of captures it, doesn't it, louise? essentially you have got something which is incredibly complex, unfamiliar to us, and it is this then reduced to the word safe. are schools safe? i know that when i was a head teacher... i would have said yes but i would also have known that we were doing risk assessments in normal times. and what we have got now is just a greater sense of swirling risk. those of us in education can deal with education. all we really need from the government is absolute clarity. as that parent and that report said, why can my child not go toa report said, why can my child not go to a hairdresser in full ppe in a tier 4 area, yet will go into a class with 30 other people, and the

adults are also expected to do it in that school? that is why we needed greater clarity, so we were not on the back foot, because it feels far too many of the people i represent, we talked to matt hancock about this briefly today. if people were offered vaccinations, would that make a difference? i think that would be very significant. i think one of the things that are the government is talking about secondary and further education over the next couple of weeks, is for them to try and put in place a very, very ambitious programme of mass testing. there are all kinds of questions about the tests themselves, but whether those of us who are educationalists should really be running what to many people would seem like field hospitals. isn't the real answer to this, to put teachers and other staff in school as part of a priority into the vaccination programme, because that would take a lot of the anxiety that we're seeing this morning out of the system? ok.

there is a different picture in different parts of the uk. and in primary and in secondary. is that the right approach, do you think? for example, those schools in high incidence areas are actually closed? you know, i listened to the governors there in wiltshire and i absolutely salute what they're doing. but it shouldn't be like that, should it? iam in suffolk, a tier 4 area. we know some schools in essex have been encouraged not to be opening by the local authority. all of us ina opening by the local authority. all of us in a tier 4 area are likely to be saying, hang on a minute, if all of those schools in all of those london borough ors are being told they should be open, what is different here? it has led to the association of school and college leaders, in association with head teachers, having to resort to legal action saying, look, if the sage committee on the 22nd of december was income if you want to reduce the r number, it will be very difficult without something akin to a greater sense of lockdown, if you're not

going to do that, government, what do you know better than the scientists? it shouldn't be that we are having to ask that question. the starting point in leadership should be, here are our principles, then we communicate why it happens and then, ultimately, all of us will have less anxiety because we know what we're doing is right, irrespective of whether in suffolk wiltshire. jeff burton, thank you for your time. 48 minutes past eight. you are watching brea kfast. helen's law finally comes into force today. it means convicted killers could remain behind bars if they refuse to say exactly where they put their victim's body. the change comes too late for marie mccourt, who fought for the law in her daughter's name. but she hopes it will spare other families from a similar ordeal. marie's been speaking to linda jones, whose daughter danielle was murdered in essex in 2001. her body was never found. breakfast‘s jayne mccubbin reports.

i hope that one day helen will be found. i hope that it could happen, but my faith is... there is the reason. there is a reason — we're put on this earth for a reason and my reason, i think, is having helen's law. marie and linda's daughters were both murdered by men who refused to admit their guilt, who refused to say where their victims were buried. for years, marie fought for helen's law — a law which would keep her daughter's killer behind bars until he confessed. that law comes into force today. having to live day to day like this, it really is hard. it's the one thing that disturbs me the most — that i don't know where she is. you know, i walk along and just think, "did we search that field properly?" it's with you pretty much all the time. i could have walked past her a million times and not know.

marie's daughter, helen, was killed in 1988 by pub landlord ian simms. he was the first to be convicted using dna evidence without the discovery of a body. but almost a year before the law was enacted, simms was released. since then, does he encroach on your thoughts? absolutely, absolutely. in every way. her hope now is that helen's law will force danielle's killer to reveal where he has hidden her body. stuart campbell is due for parole this year — 21 years after danielle disappeared. and we've brought both mothers together to discuss their hopes. the parole judges have to obey that law and they have to look into us a lot more careful than they did in my case. hopefully, fingers crossed, we might benefit from this. well, i'm sure we will. and i'm just so sad for you that you didn't. but i know... ..i know how you feel. sorry, i'm getting emotional now. i know that you've done

everything you can. helen would be proud. and i'm sure, hopefully, with everything you've done that we will benefit from this. the law marie petitioned for won't mean "no body, no parole" — which the government say would face legal challenges — but helen's law does force parole boards to fully consider an offender's decision not to disclose information. i'm sure that, up there somewhere, helen and danielle are together and saying, "this is going to work." how are you coping? because i know... ..i know what that stress is like. i am beginning to get a little bit anxious about the prospect of the parole hearing starting — yeah, very anxious. i believe that it's prayers that have got me to where i am today. yeah. and i will certainly be praying that this man is kept in prison until he says where he put danielle's remains. yeah, yeah. and that is what is so important

to us — to have her back. this month, marie willjoin an independent forensic expert to begin a fresh search for her daughter's body, while linda prepares for campbell's parole hearing. no, and ijust hope i can take a little bit of your strength with me, marie, cos you've got strength in abundance. so... so have you — so have you. you could move a mountain to get your danielle. thank you. both mothers say they will never give up hope... that's for me and helen, as well. ..of one day being able to lay their daughters to rest. and you stay strong. jayne mccubbin, bbc news. we will continue following that story as well from both their parts. thank you to both of them for talking to us and to jane mccubbin. here's carol with a look at the weather. it is chilly out and about. good morning. it is a cold start to

the day with clear skies. beautiful weather watchers picture from its loading. still some wintriness in the forecast. as you can see from this chart, a lot of dry weather and afair bit this chart, a lot of dry weather and a fair bit of sunshine. we have got rain coming in across the south—east into the channel islands. some of that will be heavy. we have got some showers in scotland and northern england. and in the brisk, gusty north—easterly breeze, some of those will, in fact, north—easterly breeze, some of those will, infact, get north—easterly breeze, some of those will, in fact, get inland towards wales and the midlands. once on the hills. talking of gusty winds, 40 to 45 mph with exposure around some of the eastern and southern coastlines today. temperatures three to 6 degrees. it will feel colder than that if you're exposed to the wind. this evening and overnight we continue with the rain coming in across the south—east and channel islands. still wintry showers across parts of scotland, england and also wales. and in some of the heavier bursts we could see wintriness down to lower levels. these are the

overnight lows. i surround tonight on untreated surfaces and also some frost and in fact in the west highlands, temperatures could dip to -6. highlands, temperatures could dip to —6. so tomorrow, still a lot of dry weather. still a fair bit of sunshine. and still gusty winds. we still have this rain in the south—east into the channel islands. some wintry showers in scotland and northern england. some of them drifting further west. temperature wise 5 degrees is likely to be the maximum. on wednesday, a lot of dry weather. the winds ease. showers dotted around the coastline and the east. later in the day, probably late afternoon, evening time, we see this weather front come in. that will introduce some rain and eventually summits now. overnight, that snow will cross scotland, getting into northern england and some parts of scotland could have five centimetres of lying snow by the morning. all to play for. there is. thank you. taking notes on that. very important. it's a new era today —

as many businesses are starting their first day of trading with the uk flly outside the eu. that means big changes for businesses — but also anyone planning to travel in europe. nina's got all the info. good luck. go for it! good morning. with everything going on you would be forgiven for not thinking about this transition period. but it's important for holidays. the thought of a holiday in france, spain, italy, and other eu countries is getting many of us through the winter, isn't it? worth saying that, of course, the advice is not to travel at the moment, but with the vaccines being rolled out we're keeping everything crossed for later in the year. as things stand, you can only enter the eu for essential reasons, like work. but when that does relax, things will be different. a two—week holiday on the beach in spain, or a city break to prague, will be fine. but you will only be able to stay in the eu for 90 days out of every 180 day period. so collectively, about three months out of six.

you may have to show your return ticket on arrival to prove the duration of your trip. if you want to stay longer for work or to study you will need a visa. good news though if you want to go to bulgaria, croatia, cyprus or romania. they are exempt from this and travel to these places won't count towards your 90—day allowa nce. if you're booking quite far in advance, it's worth knowing these rules are likely to change again from next year. then you will either need a visa or to pay for a visa—waiver scheme. worth checking nearer the time. on arrival you'll need to queue in the non—eu line, and there are some pretty important passport checks to make. i think the one thing with all these changes that could cause problems, and potentially people to be turned away, is if their passport doesn't have the right validity. this is a really, really important thing. your passport cannot be any more than ten yea rs passport cannot be any more than ten

years old. and also, you need enough validity on to travel, because when you are coming back from the eu you need more than three on that passport to come back to the uk. that is why the uk government is saying, make sure you have got six months saying, make sure you have got six m o nths left saying, make sure you have got six months left before you travel to the eu. what about health insurance? if you've got a european health insurance card, or e—hic, that will be valid until its end date as long as it was issued before the end of 2020. a replacement version — the global health insurance card — is now available for applications. but the cover isn't comprehensive. it's always been worth looking in to separate insurance especially if you have a pre—existing health condition. and could we see a return to those nasty surprises when you use your mobile abroad? most uk phone companies say they have no plans to reintroduce roaming fees, and there are caps in place when you get to the end of your allowance. but there are no guarantees that this won't change now there isn't the blanket eu protection; so do check before you travel. if you like taking your pet abroad i'm afraid their pet passport is no longer valid. you will need to make sure your cat

or dog is microchipped and that their vet has issued an animal health certificate, which costs around £100. that's will issue those for about £100. you need them at least ten days before travel. these will be needed for travel to northern ireland too. you need to get them at least ten days before you plan to travel. lots of things to be aware of for whenever we can all take trips again. i cannot wait. good news if you're a fan of duty—free though. that is back for alcohol and tobacco with some limits for how much. hopefully things won't change that much. it willjust be a case of adjusting and double—checking everything before you travel. both of us were absolutely glued. i'm sure! i have been stung by phone ta riffs sure! i have been stung by phone tariffs in the past. hopefully things won't cost. things won't cost that much more and the transition will be reasonably straightforward. it is just waiting until we can go now, isn't it? yeah. that is the other big slice of it. lots of

information. it's 8:59.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines. i'm rebecca jones. the roll—out of the oxford astrazeneca jab begins this morning. the government describes it as a "pivotal moment" in the pandemic. the vaccine means everything to me. i mean, to my mind, it's the only way i get back to a bit of normal life. you know, this virus is terrible, isn't it? the nhs already has over half a million doses of the jab, with millions more due in the coming weeks. the head of the nhs says today is even more significant than the first pfizer vaccination last month. today, when i saw the firstjab in the building behind me of the astrazeneca vaccine, it felt like an even bigger moment,