good morning. welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. our headlines today... what now for a—level and gcse students? as their exams are cancelled, more details will be announced on how their workl will be assessed. a million laptops and tablets for children learning at home. the education secretary is set to give more details of how schools will be supported as the latest lockdown becomes law, and the news that one in 50 of us now has covid, a stark warning to follow the rules. if people don't take the stay at home seriously, the risk at this point in time in the middle of winter with this

new variant is extraordinarily high. tributes are paid to one of manchester city's greatest ever players. colin bell, known as the ‘king of the kippax,‘ has died at the age of 7a. good morning. another cold day ahead. many of us will have a dry daily sunshine, fewer showers than yesterday but later more rain and snow will come in from the north—west. further details in eight minutes. it's wednesday, the 6th of january. thousands of pupils across england will find out more details on how their work could be assessed following the cancellation of gcse and a level exams across england. the education secretary gavin williamson will make a statement to mps in the commons about a support package for young people following the closure of schools and colleges. gavin williamson is expected to tell mps that education remained a national priority, despite the lockdown and the closure

of english schools and colleges to most pupils. he will say that the government will not ask pupils to sit a—levels and gcse exams. in a statement last night, the department for education said it would work alongside the exam regulator quual to consult on how to award all pupils the grades that reflect their hard work. i think it's very important we notice that this is a different timing of lockdown to what it was last year. and, as such, it's vital for students and young people that they have something to aim for. we cannotjust let them feel that this is something that's going to be decided for them by teachers and advisors and whatever. it needs to be something they have agency in, because otherwise they won't be learning over the next few months. last year, after an algorithm design to award grades was branded unfair, teachers‘ own assessments of their pupils were expected. with my year group, we went

through the algorithm system that was put in place by the government, and obviously, that was not effective at all. so hopefully, having gone through that, there's a new year group of kids that will hopefully have a bit more of a revised, a bit more of an effective, erm, way to produce these grades. meanwhile, the head of the association of colleges in england has criticised the government for leaving it to schools and colleges to decide whether to proceed with vocational and technical exams, such as btechs, warning that a lack of clear guidance risks more confusion and uncertainty. sean dilly, bbc news. england's third national lockdown has become law overnight, with mps set to vote on the stay at home restrictions later today. it comes after the number of new daily confirmed cases of covid in the uk topped 60,000 for the first time yesterday. 0ur political correspondent jessica parker reports. the stay—at—home message. 0vernight, england's lockdown legally came into force. it's actually today that the measures will be brought before mps. the prime minister will address the commons before an expected vote

after yesterday outlining progress on the vaccine. we have now vaccinated over 1.1 million people in england and over 1.3 million across the uk. and that includes more than 650,000 people over 80, which is 23% of all the over—80s in england. 0n the vaccine, labour says ministers must deliver. the party will back the lockdown today. borisjohnson said that by mid—february, with hopes for the vaccine roll—out, there was the prospect of beginning the relaxation of some measures but there are warnings, too, that the virus could be with us for some time. if people don't take the stay—at—home seriously, the risk at this point in time, in the middle of winter with this new variant is extraordinarily high. what is going to happen over time is the risk level is going to gradually decrease.

it's not going to be it's really bad and then suddenly it stops. we'll then get over time to a point when people say this level of risk is one that society is prepared to tolerate and lift right down to almost no restrictions at all. we might have to bring a few in in the next winter, for example, that is possible. any rebellion by tory mps here today is expected to be smaller than those seen late last year on restrictions, with an acceptance of current health picture is stark. with rules now in force, the government is also urging everyone to follow them. jessica parker, bbc news. the world health organisation has said it does not recommend following the uk's decision to delay giving the second dose of the pfizer vaccine for 12 weeks. initially, the plan was to offer the follow up jab 21 days after the first one. but the uk government has changed the strategy so more people can be vaccinated quickly. the world health organisation says the second dose should be given three to four weeks after the first.

us politicians will meet today to confirm joe biden‘s victory in the presidential election amid protests from president trump's supporters. some republicans have pledged to support mr trump's efforts to overturn the result by formally objecting at the session — but it's a bid that is almost certain to fail, as our correspondent barbara plett—usher reports. this is a big day in america's never—ending election, but the city is filling up with people who are not coming to celebrate. they're making a last stand in a doomed attempt to keep donald trump in power, because they're convinced he won. he didn't. i do. and now that congress is back to work, it's set to put the final seal onjoe biden‘s presidential victory. but dozens of republican lawmakers are planning to challenge the results, mindful of the protesters outside. they're not taking this white house. we're going to fight like hell, i'll tell you right now. cheering. president trump's been turbo—charging the opposition, preaching massive election fraud, promoting the washington march,

and threatening republicans who don't fall in line. americans who've bought into his baseless claims have been protesting for months. activists, fans and militia groups. violence broke out at two previous ‘stop the steal‘ rallies here in washington. this time, the mayor has called out the national guard. off the street, the battle has splintered the republican party. we‘ve seen in the last two months unprecedented allegations of voter fraud. senator ted cruz is leading the group of rebels trying to upend the election. 0ther republican officials have denounced the futile move as an attack on american democracy. some have added their names to a bipartisan statement. the 2020 election is over. hello, hello, hello! forjoe biden, it is. he‘s focused on the work ahead, dealing with the nation‘s covid crisis. the president spends more time whining and complaining than doing something about the problem. i don‘t know why he still wants thejob.

he doesn‘t want to do the work. there‘s no doubt that joe biden will be president. but this campaign could undermine his legitimacy among conservatives. and it shows the political strength that donald trump might still have, even when he leaves office. barbara plett usher, bbc news, washington. you are right up to date with all the latest news. now the weather with carol. the picture gives away quite a lot, doesn‘t it? another cold day ahead, a cold start to the day as well. the risk of ice on untreated surfaces in northern ireland, scotland, northern england, all the way down to the wash. for many of us it will be dry. snow in places but the showers today will tend to ease. these are the

recent temperatures. in the highlands, as low as —12. edinburgh, -2. highlands, as low as —12. edinburgh, —2. belfast, preston and birmingham are freezing at the moment. you get the picture, it is a cold start. showers coming in across the south—east and into the channel islands. the showers around norfolk, getting into cambridgeshire, a similarthing, getting into cambridgeshire, a similar thing, some of those could be wintry but they will ease through the day. we will catch one or two as the day. we will catch one or two as the wind veers from a north—easterly —— to the wind veers from a north—easterly ——toa the wind veers from a north—easterly —— to a north—easterly. this weather front is coming across the north of scotla nd front is coming across the north of scotland initially with some rain. there will be snow on the lower levels across scotland, then into northern ireland and it will be a cold night with bug around, particularly around the borders and some western areas. “— particularly around the borders and

some western areas. —— fog. 0nce again, the risk of ice. loads more details in about half an hour. we are details in about half an hour. we a re really details in about half an hour. we are really going to need the detail on that. look at that! nearly matches your dress, carol. blending into the atlantic ocean here. we will see you later on. i would like to blend into the atlantic ocean. let‘s take a look at today‘s papers. the latest coronavirus developments are once again the focus of the uk‘s front pages. the guardian says the prime minister has warned britain could face harsh restrictions for many months to come following news that one in 50 people in private households in england had the virus last week. the times claims millions more coronavirus jabs will reach vaccination hubs — including london‘s nightingale hospital at the excel centre — within days. an offer by high street pharmacies to support the rollout of the oxford vaccine has been snubbed by the government, according to the daily telegraph. there‘s also a picture of president donald trump

at a campaign rally in support of senate candidates in georgia. the new york times front page focusses of course on the race for the senate. the elections in the us state of georgia are still too close to call amid a nail—biting ballot count. a huge turnout for that. and it is very, very close. let‘s keep you up to date with what is going on there. nothing to do with the virus, you will be pleased to hear. how far would you go to save your dog? that isa would you go to save your dog? that is a very good question. i‘m not sure i would do what this person does because i do not have the equipment. a friend had a jcb digger, which is beautifully shown here. to see the dog had gone down a rabbit hole. —— dizzy. he had been

in that whole full 30 hours. he borrowed a bit discombobulated when he came out. well done with that word, it is one of my favourite words in language. he is ok. sorry, isaid him, words in language. he is ok. sorry, i said him, it is a hair. words in language. he is ok. sorry, isaid him, it is a hair. i words in language. he is ok. sorry, i said him, it is a hair. i am delighted to have her back, i thought she was lost for ever. it is a miracle. 25 burly blokes crying their eyes out. socially distance burly blokes crying their eyes out. sorry. you are very much aware how much i love coffee. this is an interesting piece in the times. in the 1990s americans introduced, i‘m not sure what they introduce. the image of friends in the cafe having

a laugh. there is so much noise when they had coffee, etc. a study has found loud noises change how we perceive the flavour of coffee. i could not agree more. you are going to have to be quiet when i drink my coffee now. they make us less aware of the pleasurable qualities. you need peace and quiet. in order to enjoy coffee more. when you have your coffee at 5:55am, there is normally a flurry of activity. from 110w normally a flurry of activity. from now on i am going to say, excuse me, i need to enjoy my coffee. that is brilliant. the colour of crockery used can alter the taste of food. they said strawberry mousse on a white plate which was deemed significantly sweeter and preferred to the same strawberry mousse served ona to the same strawberry mousse served on a black one. there you go. be quiet when i am drinking my coffee from now on. coffee time. not

entirely sure what to do with that. for many of us, living through a third lockdown — especially during the coldest months of the year — is tough to come to terms with. but there is hope on the horizon, with the rollout of the vaccine. breakfast‘s graham satchell has been speaking to families to find out how they‘re coping this time around. lockdown at home in essex. john is trying to keep his daughter ella occupied. she is attempting doing some bead craft, but she‘s ended up... as you can see, she‘s ended up sticking them on herface instead. so it‘s been a mixed bag of success this morning. john is a primary school teacher — he‘s juggling looking after his daughter with giving online lessons. he says the key to teaching online is constant positivity. give us a pep talk, give the nation a pep talk. this is going to be a tough couple of months, isn‘t it? yeah, it is. we can get through this. we‘ve got a couple of months ahead but it‘s cold, it‘s wet and miserable anyway, so stay in, catch up on all your netflix everyone has recommended to you and we‘ll soon

be through it. we‘ll be ok? absolutely, yeah. with not knowing there‘s a vaccine, it would have been a very pessimistic outlook but knowing that‘s very successful and it‘s being rolled out, i think that gives us reason to be positive about the future. we're dealing with fractious customers. there's been a lot of abuse during this pandemic. it was never good but it has got worse. pat works in a supermarket. while most people are locked down at home, pat will carry on going to work. unfortunately, i know people who have passed away from this awful illness and i know it's out there. so i am scared, i'm scared for myself because i'm not exactly young and i do have some underlying health issues as well but it is... you know, it is what it is. it's a scary time to live. supermarket staff have faced extraordinary pressures in this pandemic and,

as lockdown takes full effect once again, pat has this plea to customers. be kind. treat people how you would like to be treated. we've got to look after each other, respect each other's distance. keep a safe distance and, you know, let's get into this new year and get this out of the way now and get back to some normality. we‘re going to start with the feet about shoulder width apart. we‘re just going to take a little sway side to side to check in with the hips really, see how they‘re feeling. this is pilates teacherjanine price. lockdown means her classes have had to move online. we‘ve lost half of the business from back in march. this is the third time i‘ve been shut. just not being able to see family, it feels quite intense, quite hard to get through this time round. this is janine‘s mum and dad, tanina and patrick. we first met them a couple of months ago. patrick has a heart condition.

i‘ve got to be careful i don‘t pick it up and end up in intensive care. as i said in my last interview, i don‘t want to be on a slab just yet. so i‘m still here, i‘m still alive. the new year, i did bring in the new year but it‘s lockdown yet again, not great news but life goes on. i'm just a bit tired of working from home. i never thought i'd see the day when i said i can't wait to get the train and go to work. janine‘s sister maria. just seeing my husband and two kids every day, all day every day, we‘re getting on each other‘s nerves. so, you know. ido... we did that before, dear. but it‘s worse. i just can‘t wait for that day that we can all give each other a cuddle and we can see family, friends and for the business to be open again. it‘s harder to keep the spirits up but, like i say, we‘ve got to keep going and hopefully it won‘t be too much longer. we'll see you in 2022.

bye. love you. it will take some real fortitude and staying power to get through the next couple of months. graham satchell, bbc news. bye, bye. you really get a sense that people are taking stock, preparing for themselves to get through the next few weeks as well. i did spot banana bread. two days on the chart it has been trending on social media. yesterday i baked banana bread for the first time. it didn‘t look pretty, it tasted delicious. i would have brought salmon but i cannot because she had to be covid secure, don‘t you? i made some magnificent cookies yesterday but i did not bring them in, i had to eat them myself. i did think of you. that‘s

nice. halfway there. lockdown has meant schools have closed their doors to most pupils, and thousands of students won‘t be sitting exams this summer. so how are they, and their parents, feeling about the prospect of missing the a levels and gcses they‘ve worked so hard for? breakfast‘s johhn maguire has been finding out. for the second year running, the exa m syste m for the second year running, the exam system scores a c, c for confusion. this boy was sitting his exams in the summer but that came to an abrupt halt at eight o‘clock on monday night. it is so frustrating. when the prime minister announced we we re when the prime minister announced we were going back to school, that is what he said on sunday night, to be told on monday night the day before we we re told on monday night the day before we were supposed to be going back to school, we had packed bags and uniform, revised full marks, for all of that to be taken away, it is so

frustrating, angry and confusing. when there are loads of other little changes going on in your life like you cannot go and see your friends but you can go and see one friend outside, all those other changes going on, that makes it so much more frustrating. and if it was just a levels had been cancelled. another grade, u for uncertainty and schools are having to tear up plans yet again. he takes at first unaffected will also be cancelled if a school 01’ will also be cancelled if a school or college decides not to go ahead. this girl has missed weeks of learning due to school closures and contracting covid herself. her mum tells me she is having a torrid time. because of this year taking ta blets for time. because of this year taking tablets for anxiety because she is not sleeping. nobody wants their 17—year—old daughter to take tablets

from the doctor to sleep will have more anxiety is necessary. they have had so much stress over the last three months. it has been horrendous for them. tracy has children in both yea rs for them. tracy has children in both years 11 and 13 studying gcses and a—levels. years 11 and 13 studying gcses and a-levels. the sooner a decision is made, the better and easier it is to come to terms with it and then they can actually start working towards what they need to achieve. because there has been so much confusion and uncertainty with other countries and the united kingdom counselling exams last term, that the english government is persisting with the idea that the exams would go ahead really right up until the last minute. it has not helped willie antill in their motivation to continue with their studies. —— really at all. from the perspective of schools, it must be an absolute nightmare trying to find their way

through the logistics at the moment. this year exam anxiety has arrived early, not due to lack of subject knowledge but because students with theirfamilies knowledge but because students with their families and their schools do not know what the coming weeks have in store. that gives you a really clear picture of what many people are going through. really tough times with the changes. global cases of covid reached 84—million yesterday, and countries around the world are embarking on their own ambitious mass vaccination programmes to combat the virus. but, the story of delays, shortages and government criticism has been a familiar one. bbc correspondents have been painting a picture of how the vaccine is being distributed overseas. i‘m hugh schofield, the bbc‘s paris correspondent. here in france, what‘s really exercising people more and more, is the sheer sluggishness of the government‘s vaccination programme against covid. at the weekend, when neighbouring

germany had vaccinated a quarter of a million people, here in france the figure was a mere 530 or 540. it was miniscule. so obviously there are questions being asked about why that should be. part of it seems to be purely bureaucracy. it is part of the system here in france for inoculating anyone for anything, that each person is a kind of pre—consultation five days ahead of the actual injection, which doctors can assess whether there are complicating factors and so on. and that‘s having to be gone through with everyone at the old people‘s homes, which is causing a huge delay. there is general acceptance though that that kind of procedural approach is going to have to change. there is another problem though in france, which is that it is, in europe, the most vaccine sceptic country. a lot of people simply say they‘re not going to have the vaccination. and that, i think, means the government is moving very slowly, very cautiously.

in any case the accusations of the government have stung, and now it says it is going to step up, accelerate its programme, and its promised by the end of the month, its cruising speed for vaccinations will be the same as in the rest of europe. i‘m anna holligan, the bbc‘s hague correspondent. the netherlands is the last country in the eu to start vaccinating people. a 39—year—old care home nurse will be the first person in the country to receive the pfizerjab. politicians were recalled early from their festive break for an emergency debate about why the netherlands has been so much slower than its european neighbours. the need to upgrade it systems and training call centre staff, and the scripts to use when booking people in for their vaccinations, were two of the reasons given to the bbc by the ministry of health. the dutch health minister this week conceded he should have acted faster. the netherlands is currently in a state of lockdown that is due to last until the 19th of january. but with the daily infection rates hovering around 7,000, and hospital

admissions are still climbing, the dutch prime minister, mark rutter, hasn‘t ruled out extending those restrictions. he is due to give an update next tuesday. i'm tom bateman. i'm the bbc's middle east injerusalem. and israel has raced out of the blocks when it comes to administering the first dose of the vaccines. they've been doing around 150,000 jabs a day, and already some 1.5 million people have received their first dose of the vaccine. that amounts to 15% or so of the population and means that israel has been vaccinating people with the first dose at the fastest rate in the world. and they've done it because the country has a very centralised system of databases of patient records and ways of contacting patients, and there's been a very big pr drive out of the same time. but it does come with a warning.

the top scientist that advises the israeli government on coronavirus told me that although this was an amazing achievement, he said it would be many, many more months yet before they can contain the virus, and it seems that that first dose administration forjabs may slow down as well. i‘m sophie long, the bbc‘s correspondent based in los angeles. here in the united states, the vaccination process is progressing much more slowly than many had hoped. the trump administration has distributed more than 15 million doses to states across the country, yet less than a third of those have actually been administered. why is that? well, health officials say they are dealing with a deep distrust of the vaccine, largely because of the speed with which it has been developed. 0thers though are citing organisational glitches. dr anthony fauci, the country‘s leading expert in infectious diseases, says it is the logistics that are causing the problem, not people‘s hesitancy to actually have the injection. all this comes as the number of cases of the new variant, first found in the united kingdom, have been detected here, fuelling deep concern

of further strain on a public health system that is already under huge pressure, particularly here in california. now every day a great new record is broken. —— grim. in the last week, an average of more than 2,500 americans have died from the coronavirus every day. that is a bit in a sense of what is going around around the rest of the world. loads of guests coming our way. we will be speaking to one of oui’ way. we will be speaking to one of our doctors in the next few minutes. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning, i‘m sonja jessup. two people have been arrested, after more than 300 people broke into a church in essex and held a new year‘s eve rave. it happened at all saints church in east horndon near brentwood. two people have been arrested on suspicion of burglary. some residents have raised more

than £20,000 towards the clean—up. that small percentage of people who don‘t care, and are happy to rebel and do stuff like this, it really does let our generation down massively. we're definitely the majority, ithink. if you look, young people are helping. they're staying at home. everyone i know is doing their bit. it's just sad that these people are doing what they did. a group of 11 men who drove from north—west london to the peak district, have been fined for breaking covid restrictions. derbyshire police say one of their cars crashed and overturned on monday evening. one man received minor injuries. the group from harrow were each fined £200 for travelling between tier 4 areas. the building that houses topshop‘s oxford street store is up for sale after 27 years. the high street chain‘s owner arcadia went into administration in november, putting 13,000 jobs at risk. news of the sale has prompted an outpouring of emotion on social media, shoppers sharing their memories of the flagship store.

it‘s hardly surprising, but garden parties at buckingham palace have been cancelled. more than 30,000 people normally attend the events hosted by the royal family each summer. the decision was announced following england entering its third national lockdown. let‘s take a look at the travel situation now. first, the tube. the hammersmith and city line has severe delays as some trains have been cancelled this morning. and there‘s no overground running between upper holloway and gospel 0ak due to a faulty track. this is how the a2 looks. it‘s down to one lane in each direction. there are roadworks at the danson interchange. and some good news — in beckton, the a13 has reopened at the beckton roundabout. the repairs to the burst water main there, had been causing long delays since before christmas. time for the weather now with kate kinsella. good morning. well, it‘s another very chilly start this morning, with temperatures widely hovering just above zero once again thanks to the cloud. still some showers feeding in on that north—easterly breeze.

higher ground might get something wintry, but largely falling as rain. fewer showers this afternoon. much drier with some bright spells. the windfalls a little lighter, starts to veer from the north. temperatures still cold though, between three and five celsius. 0vernight, still one or two isolated showers, but with light winds we‘re likely to see mist and fog patches developing. with the temperature dropping down to minus one in parts, we could see some freezing fog as we head into thursday morning. that could linger into the afternoon. so, staying very cold tomorrow. we‘re hanging on to this cold air towards the end of the week. towards the end of the weekend you‘ll start to see this slightly less cold air sinking south. we pick up a westerly flow. the temperature making a little bit of a recovery. certainly feeling less cold as we head into the first part of next week. that‘s all for now. i‘m back in around half an hour. now it‘s back to dan and louise. bye for now.

hello, this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. coming up on breakfast this morning: it‘s a return to remote learning and exams are scrapped once again — we‘ll take you through some of the changes pupils and parents can expect for the rest of this academic year, at eight o‘clock. 1.3 million people have now been given theirfirst dose of the vaccine in the uk — we‘ll find out more about the challenge of ramping up the roll—out of the jab at 8.30. and some good news for desperate parents grappling with home—schooling. we‘ll hear from twin doctors chris and xander van tulleken, who are offering their expertise with free online sciences lessons. which look quite painful! england‘s third national lockdown has become law overnight, with mps set to vote on the stay at home restrictions later today. it comes after the number

of new daily confirmed cases of covid in the uk topped 60,000 for the first time yesterday. all of the uk is now under strict virus curbs, with wales, northern ireland and most of scotland also in lockdown. thousands of pupils across england, who‘ve had their gcse and a—levels cancelled, are hoping to find out more details today on how their work will be assessed. the education secretary gavin williamson will make a statement to mps in the commons, when he‘ll also unveil a support package for young people following the closure of schools and colleges. the world health organisation has said it does not recommend following the uk‘s decision to delay giving the second dose of the pfizer vaccine for 12 weeks. initially, the plan was to offer the follow up jab 21 days after the first one. but the uk government has changed the strategy so more people can be vaccinated quickly. the world health organisation says the second dose should be given three to four weeks after the first. elections in the us state of georgia

that will decide control of the senate are too close to call amid a nail—biting ballot count. us president—electjoe biden‘s democrats need to win both seats to gain full control of congress. the republican party of outgoing president donald trump needs only to win one in order to retain the senate. as we‘ve been hearing this morning, families are once again getting to grips with the closure of schools and colleges. we will be talking about of the roll—out of the vaccine on the programme a little bit later. let‘s get more on what the potential health impact could be on families with our gp, dr fari ahmad. good morning. thank you for being with us. give us an idea. your practice at the moment, where are you in terms of handing out a vaccinations? are you on the waiting list? it is imminent for us. i think we arejust hoping in list? it is imminent for us. i think we are just hoping in the next few days to receive a delivery and just get going. it is taking a lot of time and organisation to just make

sure we have got everything in place so we can deliver it. we have three and a half days to get it out to 1000 people. we have to make sure that we have got everything set up so people can have it and we can monitor them for 15 minutes, which is the advice, and do everything in a socially distance, covid safeway. and do all the other stuff we are supposed to do as gps. it is keeping things very busy here. in terms of when you expected that to happen, is that on plan in terms of the timescale you had, or is it slightly delayed? we timescale you had, or is it slightly delayed ? we have timescale you had, or is it slightly delayed? we have been hearing there have been problems getting things in place. so, i think initially have been problems getting things in place. so, ithink initially we thought we would be getting the vaccine earlier, then there were certain changes. so we‘ve had to change things. it‘s perhaps not as early as we would have liked it to happen. but hopefully, we are going

to be on the way soon. we have spoken a lot, particularly in the last few days, because in england we had a third national lockdown announced this week and there are severe restrictions right across the uk at the moment. i suppose the difference between this lockdown and what we have all experienced in the pastis what we have all experienced in the past is the promise of vaccination. have you noticed a difference in the way people are approaching this lockdown, some of your patients, because of that? i think what we've seen is that at this time, lockdown is hard. it was hard the first time. the second time was hard. and now people are feeling this is going to be difficult. but there is a life. there is a way out of this. we are not going to be unlocked and co nsta ntly. not going to be unlocked and constantly. if we can get enough people vaccinated, we should be able to get somewhere near normality. i think there is that hope. you need things like that to sustain you through difficult times. what sort

of impact of the rising rates having? some papers say one in 50 people across england have coronavirus at the moment, much higher in certain parts of the country, particularly in london where it is one in 30. are you feeling the impact on your practice of that, or in your conversations with some of your patients? so, we‘re seeing the impact of it. we‘re seeing people who either think they have symptoms and they‘re speaking to us and we advise them to get a test. we‘ re to us and we advise them to get a test. we‘re seeing people who we can manage at home and then we‘re having to monitor them and advise them to go in. we are also seeing people who have been in and are coming back out. some of those are suffering with long covid. they actually had the coronavirus weeks ago, months ago. they are still having symptoms. we are seeing the impact of that. i

think london is certainly higher, but i don‘t think the north—west is that far behind. and what about the prospect now, well, not the prospect, it is happening, of schools being closed ? prospect, it is happening, of schools being closed? how will that affect everybody? so, ithink schools being closed? how will that affect everybody? so, i think the fa ct affect everybody? so, i think the fact they have closed schools, it just shows how serious the situation is. there are lots of benefits for having schools open and running. but children, thank god they don‘t get covid, but if they can be the vectors for spreading it. there is a benefit to it. but there are other consequences. so certainly, with what happened yesterday, we had lots of members of staff trying to arrange after—school care for their children. it is certainly affecting us children. it is certainly affecting us and i‘m sure there are lots of other people it is happening to you. 0ne other people it is happening to you. one of the issues with schools closing is children who have been suffering with anxiety or mental health issues, they find it useful to have a structure, to be able to

go in and get access support. access to that is going to be restricted. hopefully, from the first lockdown, we will have learned and we will have more support in place for children. speaking to our gp yesterday, they were saying one of their major concerns at the moment is trying to convince patients to come in if they‘ve got problems outside of coronavirus. is that something that you are concerned about? is that something you have been experiencing with your own patients? not yet. we are vaccinating in a group of practices. everybody we have been inviting so far, we have not had one person say no yet. we are working our way through the list. the government told us, these are the people who are your first priority. fair enough. we are working our way through them. it has not been a big issue. that is probably the older generation, the over 80s, i think they know this will help and they know this will make an impact.

sorry, i think i confused you with that. i was talking about issues outside of coronavirus, like other health concerns, not coming into the practice because they are worried about coronavirus? 0h! that has been an issue for a while. i think we have certainly had some patients that we needed them to come in. they have taken a little bit of persuasion. i think perhaps the gp surgery is sometimes a little bit easierfor them to surgery is sometimes a little bit easier for them to understand and accept. where i have had problems is asking people to attend hospital. they have said, i don‘t want to go there, it is full of covid, i‘d rather not. that is taking up a fair bit of time sorting that out. have a good day ahead. thank you for talking to us. here at half past seven we are speaking to nazim —— nadhim zahawi, and i‘m sure you have questions for

him. let us know. kat is here with some sad news to start. yes, saying goodbye to another giant. colin bell. the king of the kippax, so named because the kippax was one of the most raucous terraces, the most raucous terrace at maine road, manchester city boss michael grant. he was a hero to fans who stood on the terrace in the late 60s through the terrace in the late 60s through the 70s. and for generations to come after that. good morning. sad news to start with this morning, that former manchester city and england midfielder colin bell has died aged 7a, after a short illness. widely regarded as one of the finest players of his generation, he made almost 500 appearances for the club between 1966 and 1979. he scored loads of goals, and won plenty of titles too. manchester city have said that few players have left such an indelible mark on the club. such a humble guy.

i mean, this is a man who‘s known as the king. and for that to be the case is a testament to how loved and respected he was. i mean, looking at a team today that‘s awash with world class footballers, and if colin bell was around now he would be in pep guardiola‘s team, there‘s no question. he was known as nijinsky. he had incredible stamina. he could play in any position and he would be better than the players that played in that position. he was incredible. i mentioned the influence he had on the generations that followed him. lots of tributes being paid on social media. current city and england player phil foden said bell was "a true legend", and someone he‘d grown up admiring. gary lineker says bell was one of his favourite players when he was growing up. and one of city‘s most famous fans, liam gallagher also paid tribute. well, manchester city will wear special shirts in tribute to colin bell, when they walk out to play manchester united in their league cup semifinal tonight.

the winner will take on tottenham in the final, afterjose mourinho‘s side beat the championship side brentford 2—0 in the other semifinal. spurs are nowjust one game away from their first trophy in 13 years. the premier league says a0 players and club staff have tested positive for coronavirus in the past week. that‘s more than double the previous weekly high number. all clubs are now tested twice a week. meanwhile, scotland‘s first minister nicola sturgeon says that reigning champions celtic have questions to answer about their trip to dubai. they travelled to the uae for warm weather training after losing to rangers at the weekend. celtic say it was all approved by the scottish government, and the scottish fa say they have no plans to investigate. the former leeds rhinos captain, stevie ward, has called for more research into concussion, after he was forced to retire from the sport at the age ofjust 27. ward won two grand finals and one challenge cup with the rhinos, but suffered a concussion injury in the opening game of last season and is still feeling

the effects 11 months on. trouble with migraines, every day, practically. balance, dizziness issues. erm... light sensitivity, noise sensitivity. i struggle with phone screens, laptop screens. and the emotional side of it‘s been pretty tough as well. and more education‘s needed around it. more knowledge is needed around it. the intricate symptoms of it, the differences it can cause to your day to day life, is needed to be known. what a list of symptoms from that condition. 27 is no age to retire from professional sport. and rob burrow, former leeds right now, and we saw kevin sinfield raising all that money for mnd, hopefully, it‘s tragic this is happening, but hopefully, with all these

high—profile cases, leeds rhinos may be able to kind affords the way for the research and the work that needs to be done to protect players and make the sport more say. thank you, kat. let's find out what is happening with the weather. morning, carol. good morning. fabulous picture. sent in by bradley. it is harrogate in north yorkshire. it is notjust in north yorkshire. it is notjust in north yorkshire where we are seeing some snow. reports of it in biggin hill further south and across parts of the m25. there are icy patches first thing. particularly across eastern scotland, northern england, down towards the wash and northern ireland. quite slippery. we have some wintry sunshine. it is wintry. it is cold and we do have some sleet and some snow in the forecast. in the last hour or so, these are the temperatures we have seen. edinburgh

-2' temperatures we have seen. edinburgh —2, belfast, preston and birmingham freezing. so what is happening today is the high pressure that has been driving our weather is slipping a bit further westwards into the atlantic. we also do have a weather front which will show its hand into north—west scotland later on. and we still do have some showers in the south—east and the channel islands. most of these are of rain but some are of snow. we have also got some showers coming in from the north sea across eastern parts of england. some of those are wintry and not just on higher ground. but there is a lot of dry weather. there is a fair bit of sunshine. it is going to feel cold. the wind is not as strong as it was yesterday. and through the afternoon the weather out front arrives, introducing quicker —— figure cloud and rain. temperatures fell away quickly in the afternoon and evening and that rain turned to snow in scotland and northern ireland. there is the risk of ice on untreated surfaces. it will be cold

and frosty. we will have some freezing fog, particularly around the borders, north—west england down towards the midlands. some mist and fog patches forming elsewhere. this fog patches forming elsewhere. this fog will be slow to clear tomorrow. some of it could linger for much of the day. tomorrow, still a lot of dry weather around. we have got a weather front slipping slowly southwards. still with some snow in it. but we‘re getting all the time. behind it, further wintry showers across the far north—west of scotland. these are our temperatures. if you are stuck under the fog, you will find it will suppress the temperatures. for some, you will hardly break freezing. into thursday night and friday morning, we have got this ridge of high pressure building across us. we also have a weather front slowly slipping southwards. this is what is left it. yes, there will be some wintry flurries in southern areas. not all of us seeing them. behind that, some

brighter skies, but still feeling pretty cold. the second part of the weekend, particularly in the west, temperatures will be a little less cold. let‘s put it that way. cold. let's put it that way. quite a bit to pay attention to. thank you, carol. schools and colleges closed their gates to most children on monday, but nurseries in england have been allowed to stay open. the government says early years settings deliver crucial care and education for our youngest children, but one union fears the move could be putting staff and communities at risk. we‘re joined now by neil leitch, the chief executive of the charity early years alliance. good morning to you. thank you very much for being with us. what do you make of the government‘s stance on this issue? we received so many yes —— messages yesterday from viewers concerned that nurseries were staying open? to be clear, we are not suggesting nurseries should be closing but what we are asking for

and it is not unreasonable, is the scientific evidence that says we should stay open while primary schools close. and if we are to stay open, and we recognise that actually, we are critical for many pa rents, actually, we are critical for many parents, that i have access to early yea rs of parents, that i have access to early years of support, if we are to stay open, then the government needs to step up to the plate and give more support. frankly, we have been com pletely support. frankly, we have been completely elected, we are dictated to, told to stay open but with no consultation whatsoever, just an announcement. and, in fact, we are about to lose money as a result are basically staying open. what we want is fairness, equity. you speak quite strongly there. what has been the response of others in the industry getting in contact with you in the last 2a hours? getting in contact with you in the last 24 hours? again, it is that. they feel conflicted. they want to stay open but they are concerned about health. we can‘t ignore that. we need the scientific evidence. we should be prioritised in terms of faxing nations. at the moment we are at the bottom of the pile. ——

vaccinations. i would suggest we wouldn‘t be having this conversation if we were talking about schools. it seems to me that the secretary of state for education seems to think education starts as soon as the child walks through the school gates. anybody knows anything knows it starts from birth. what we ask for it is at least some equity. gavin williamson is in charge of the whole education system, not selective parts, and that how it is in today to date, frankly. when we we re in today to date, frankly. when we were speaking to the government yesterday, pa rt of were speaking to the government yesterday, part of the response they gave was that scientists feel younger children are less likely to pass on the virus. does that reassure you at all? well, we have known that for a while. it is reassuring. at it was interesting, i think on your programme yesterday, somebody was asked, a member of sage was asked, what is the difference, why should early years settings remain open and schools close, he certainly said it was political. he

didn‘t imply it was due to the scientific evidence. we are asking for is for the scientific evidence to be put forward. we are notjust talking about children. we are talking about children. we are talking about children. we are talking about adults. it is not about a 13—year—old walking through into a school classroom and being able to stay away from you as a teacher. these are people that spend their lives caring, picking up, cuddling, when a child falls over. there is no social distancing whatsoever. and, of course, we have to interact with parents. so it is not the same. and to group us in with others and say, well, you are at no greater risk, is unfair. it is not proven at this particular time. really appreciate you coming on. it is an issue that has ignited a great debate among our viewers yesterday and this morning. thank you. the chief executive of the early years allowa nce. chief executive of the early years allowance. let's talk about some of the science behind this.

let‘s talk more about this with epidemiologist dr deepti gurdasani. 0n on that point about nurseries, particularly young children, what can you tell us about how the virus affects them? sure. this is an area that has largely been overlooked. the evidence we have so far it says that closing educational institutions broadly has one of the biggest impact in terms of reducing transmission. and among those the impact is similar for secondary schools, primary schools, as well as for preschool. preschools do contribute a transmission and it is an area that really needs to be looked at in terms of policy. schools are now closed. how big an impact will that have? is that going to be making a really big difference to be making a really big difference to the progress of what is happening? i think it will definitely make a difference. we have seen, for example, during the la st have seen, for example, during the last lockdown cases in primary and secondary school children were still

rising and reached a huge high. for example, in secondary schools, one in 33 children were infected, and one in 50 younger children. moving school to remote learning will certainly help to bring the r number down. we also need to remember that we had a long previously cases continued to rise in the area where the variant was dominant. given the new variant that is more transmissible, just a lockdown without school closures has not been sufficient in bringing down the r number. we need to add on this intervention if we heart you have any hope of reversing this pandemic. this is a really difficult question to a nswer this is a really difficult question to answer but many people will want to answer but many people will want to know. how long do they need to be closed for? can you even answer that at this point? in order to keep transmission rates down, mean? we have to vaccinate a certain number of people before we open schools. at the focus being on bringing transmission down, alongside

vaccination, ratherthanjust vaccination, ratherthanjust vaccination, we could have considered opening schools earlier. so, for example, sage suggested schools are closed until they are made safer, until mitigate three measures are put in place to minimise transmission within schools. unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any plan to do this by the government. while schools are closed there seems to be no plan as to what will happen to have them reopen safely, and that is a consideration that has been completely overlooked. and on that point about making schools safer, they have done a lot of work. what do you think needs to change? is there an easy answer? yes, absolutely. for example, there is no current limit on the class size in schools. that means that sometimes up schools. that means that sometimes up to 300 children have contact with each other. that needs to be minimised, smaller bubbles. smaller numbers of staff in smaller spaces. mask used for secondary school

children. and also primary school children. and also primary school children. all of these measures together need to be put in place to make schools much, much safer. let's talk about the future. at the moment they are saying one in 50 as coronavirus at the moment. chris suggesting that some sort of —— chris woody suggesting some kind of restrictions may be needed even next winter. do you agree? yes. we heard earlier about everything coming back to normal by easter. i mean, we have to normal by easter. i mean, we have to remember that this vaccine is working by preventing symptomatic in severe disease in the vulnerable populations. it is not going to have a very rapid impact on reducing transmission with such a small proportion of the population vaccinated. so we are going to keep seeing continuing transmission in the vast majority of the population for a long period of time. that is why we urgently need a long—term strategy as to how we are going to work to minimise that, other than just vaccination of the vulnerable

populations. that is a hugely important part of the strategy. but it isa important part of the strategy. but it is a part. and there is a lot more that is being overlooked at the moment. really appreciate your time. thank you forjoining us. thank you. i know lots of people working in the early years watching us this morning and saying hank you for talking about this. claire says please mention notjust nurseries but other early years settings such as childminders and nannies who have worked throughout the lockdown to enable key workers to go to work. liz says thank you for raising this issue. we want to stay open if the evidence can prove it is safer all the staff. thank you your messages. thank you for being in touch. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning. i‘m sonja jessup. two people have been arrested after more than 300 people broke into a church in essex and held a new year‘s eve rave. it happened at all saints church in east horndon near brentwood.

local residents have raised more than £20,000 towards the clean up. that small percentage of people who don‘t care, and are happy to rebel and do stuff like this, it really does let our generation down massively. we're definitely the majority, ithink. if you look, young people are helping. they're staying at home. everyone i know is doing their bit. it's just sad that these people are doing what they did. a group of 11 men, who drove from north west london to the peak district have been fined for breaking covid restrictions. 0ne suffered minor injuries after one of their cars crashed and overturned on monday evening. the group from harrow were each fined £200 for travelling between tier 4 areas. yesterday, for the first time, the number of new daily confirmed cases of covid—19 across the uk topped 60,000. the latest figures suggest one in 50 people is now infected — rising to one in 30 here in london.

the building that houses topshop‘s oxford street store is up for sale after 27 years. the high street chain‘s owner arcadia went into administration in november, putting 13,000 jobs at risk. news of the sale has prompted an outpouring of emotion on social media — shoppers sharing their memories of the flagship store. let‘s take a look at the travel situation now. first the tube.

time for the weather now with kate kinsella. good morning. well, it‘s another very chilly start this morning, with temperatures widely hovering just above zero once again thanks to the cloud. still some showers feeding in on that north—easterly breeze. higher ground might get something wintry, but largely falling as rain. fewer showers this afternoon. much drier with some bright spells. the windfalls a little lighter, starts to veer from the north. temperatures still cold though, between three and five celsius. 0vernight, still one or two isolated showers, but with light winds we‘re likely to see mist and fog patches developing. with the temperature dropping down to minus one in parts, we could see some freezing fog as we head into thursday morning. that could linger into the afternoon. so, staying very cold tomorrow. we‘re hanging on to this cold air towards the end of the week. towards the end of the weekend you‘ll start to see this slightly less cold air sinking south. we pick up a westerly flow. the temperature making a little bit of a recovery. certainly feeling less cold as we head into the first part of next week.

iam back i am back in half an hour. plenty more on the website. the by. —— goodbye.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. 0ur headlines today... as the latest lockdown becomes law, and the news that one in 50 of us now has covid, a stark warning to follow the rules. if people don‘t take the stay at home seriously, the risk at this point in time in the middle of winter with this new variant is extraordinarily high. what now for a—level and gcse students? as their exams are cancelled, more details will be announced on how their work will be assessed. a million laptops and tablets for children learning at home. the education secretary is set to give more details of how schools will be supported

the travel industry had high hopes the new year would see things taking off again. but the list of companies cancelling is growing, domestic trips are banned, and more restrictions are expected. how should we approach holidays in 2021? tributes are paid to one of manchester city‘s greatest ever players. colin bell, known as the ‘king of the kippax,‘ has died at the age of 74. good morning. we had just had the cold est good morning. we had just had the coldest night of the winter so far. it isa coldest night of the winter so far. it is a cold day for all of us, there will be some sunshine, a few wintry showers but later heavy rain and snow coming into the north—west. all the details in ten minutes. it‘s wednesday, the 6th of january. our top story. england‘s third national lockdown has become law overnight, with mps set to vote on the stay

at home restrictions later today. it comes after the number of new daily confirmed cases of covid in the uk topped 60,000 for the first time yesterday. 0ur political correspondent jessica parker reports. the stay—at—home message. 0vernight, england‘s lockdown legally came into force. it‘s actually today that the measures will be brought before mps. the prime minister will address the commons before an expected vote after yesterday outlining progress on the vaccine. we have now vaccinated over 1.1 million people in england and over 1.3 million across the uk. and that includes more than 650,000 people over 80, which is 23% of all the over—80s in england. 0n the vaccine, labour says ministers must deliver. the party will back the lockdown today. borisjohnson said that by mid—february, with hopes for the vaccine roll—out, there was the prospect of beginning the relaxation of some measures

but there are warnings, too, that the virus could be with us for some time. if people don‘t take the stay—at—home seriously, the risk at this point in time, in the middle of winter with this new variant is extraordinarily high. what is going to happen over time is the risk level is going to gradually decrease. it‘s not going to be it‘s really bad and then suddenly it stops. we‘ll then get over time to a point when people say this level of risk is one that society is prepared to tolerate and lift right down to almost no restrictions at all. we might have to bring a few in in the next winter, for example, that is possible. any rebellion by tory mps here today is expected to be smaller than those seen late last year on restrictions, with an acceptance the current health picture is stark. with rules now in force, the government is also urging everyone to follow them. jessica parker, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster this morning.

another busy day ahead. what to expect to happen later? there will be hours of debate in parliament about these new restrictions. that would be the main focus in westminster. we will also get an update from education secretary gavin williamson about plans for exams in the summer, for gcse and a—level students. students, parents and teachers will be watching out for assurance and guidance about how things will work. it is a vote on england‘s new lockdown which will dominate. you saw injessica‘s report, the regulations have already come into force. this is a retrospective vote by mps. we do expect it to pass in the past boris johnson has found it difficult to get backing and support from his

party ever locked down measures. conservative mps are resigned to there being no other viable option at this point given the sharp in cases down to the new variant of coronavirus and also that there is an escape strategy, a way out, in the shape of a vaccine or vaccines currently being administered across the uk. the conservative mps will be holding the government‘s feet to the fire and showing they keep pressure on to deliver on the aim of getting all those over 70 offered the first jab of the vaccine by mid—february. the other concern they do have is what is concerned as the sunset clause, when this will legally expire. it is written into legislation is the 31st of march, later than the date been talked about for review in mid—february. that has caused concern. i am told by downing street officials there is

no lack of determination to deliver on the vaccine promise and review things in mid—february. thousands of pupils across england, who‘ve had their gcse and a—levels cancelled, are hoping to find out more details today on how their work will be assessed. the education secretary gavin williamson will make a statement to mps in the commons, when he‘ll also unveil a support package for young people following the closure of schools and colleges. sean dilly reports. gavin williamson is expected to tell mps that education remained a national priority, despite the lockdown and the closure of english schools and colleges to most pupils. he will say that the government will not ask pupils to sit a—levels and gcse exams. in a statement last night, the department for education said it would work alongside the exam regulator 0fqual to consult on how to award all pupils the grades that reflect their hard work. i think it‘s very important we notice that this is a different timing of lockdown

to what it was last year. and, as such, it‘s vital for students and young people that they have something to aim for. we cannotjust let them feel that this is something that‘s going to be decided for them by teachers and advisors and whatever. it needs to be something they have agency in, because otherwise they won‘t be learning over the next few months. last year, after an algorithm design to award grades was branded unfair, teachers‘ own assessments of their pupils were expected. with my year group, we went through the algorithm system that was put in place by the government, and obviously, that was not effective at all. so hopefully, having gone through that, there's a new year group of kids that will hopefully have a bit more of a revised, a bit more of an effective, erm, way to produce these grades. meanwhile, the head of the association of colleges in england has criticised the government for leaving it to schools and colleges to decide whether to proceed with vocational and technical exams,

such as btechs, warning that a lack of clear guidance risks more confusion and uncertainty. sean dilly, bbc news. the world health organisation has said it does not recommend following the uk‘s decision to delay giving the second dose of the pfizer vaccine for 12 weeks. initially, the plan was to offer the follow up jab 21 days after the first one. but the uk government has changed the strategy so more people can be vaccinated quickly. the world health organisation says the second dose should be given three to four weeks after the first. it‘s 7:08 am. shall we find out what is happening with the weather? carroll can bring it all. there is some snow in parts. there is, but not everywhere. you can see this beautiful weather watchers picture taken this morning in motherwell. a cold start to the

day here and a cold start wherever you are. there are warnings for ice. yellow warning for the east of scotland, the north of england, all the way down to the wash and the north of ireland. we have rain and snow showers in the forecast. still showers coming in across the south—east and channel islands. some of them had been intense and we have seen snow at lower levels. most of the snow will be on higher ground for that wintry showers in the north of england and southern scotland. some heavier bursts are producing snow at lower levels but mostly in the hills. a lot of the charitable tend to ease anyway. a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine. —— showers will tend to ease away. there will eventually be some snow. these are the temperatures. still below average for the time of year but the wind will not be as strong as it has been in the last couple of

days. this evening and overnight we pick up the weather front to producing the rain. as it engages with the weather front over scotland and northern ireland, it will full as snow, even in lower levels. a cold night where you are. some of us will see some frost with a risk of ice on untreated surfaces and mist and fog patches forming. some of it will be dense, particularly in the north of england and the midlands. we will see some of it and other areas. if you want a longer, more detailed forecast, join me in an hour. more than 60,000 coronavirus cases were confirmed in the uk yesterday — the highest daily figure recorded here since the pandemic began. it‘s also thought that one in 50 people were infected with the virus last week. we‘re joined now by dr susan hopkins, the deputy director of public health england. good morning. looking at those figures, what is your assessment?

how serious a position rem now? this is the most serious so far this pandemic. the number of cases are 40% higher in hospital than at the peak. we know cases are still rising. we expect to see further admissions to hospital and we expect to see further deaths. we are in a better position than we were in march and april, people have had a lot of experience in treating coronavirus over the last year. we have had extra data in treatment of individuals. all that is helping hospitals treat patients effectively. it keeps them on the medical wards rather than needing ventilation and preventing them dying in hospital. talk us through those figures. when will we see the true impact of what happened over christmas and more people being able to mix with families and friends,

for example? the maximum impact was seen on the 29th and 30th to date. the number reported yesterday was the highest. when you take all of the highest. when you take all of the laboratory data by specimen date when there were more than 70,000 cases reported on the 29th of december. 60,000 reported on the 30th of december in england which shows five days after christmas eve and christmas day, the average time for incubation for the virus, really caused a chain of transmissions. we hope everyone is staying at home reducing contacts and that we can start to see rapid declines in new infections. how important is it the messaging on this is really clear? ahead of christmas fair was changing messaging. lots of people were confused by it. how important is it to get it right? it is absolutely critical that every single one of us

recognises our responsibilities and recognises our responsibilities and recognises that this is a time for no outside contact unless you absolutely had to go to work. keep your distance from people, keep your mask on. keep washing your hands. if we do not get the simple principle right will see more infections quit more transmissions, more hospitalisations and sadly more deaths. even though younger age groups in particular might not be directly affected by the virus themselves, with will see family and friends my older relatives getting infected. and we all to play our parts right now in the coming weeks to drive this time. when are you hoping the latest lockdown measures will start to make a difference on the number infections? we usually see after the restrictions, about 12 to 14 days later that the number of infection starts to come down. that is what we saw with the first

restrictions in march, april, and also the restrictions in november. i am hopeful that because london went into the national restrictions on the 18th of december, that we are starting to see a flattening in london. it is still rising in other parts of the country and i would expect that if people really take heed and reduce their context that we would start to see a reduction in cases in about ten days‘ time. we would start to see a reduction in cases in about ten days' time. we will be speaking to the maxi minister later to get more details. so much is riding on the rolling out of this vaccine. —— vaccine minister. is one problem refusing to administer vaccines on a sunday? absolutely not. the main supply issues are getting enough vaccine for manufacturers. that has been ramped up day by day. public health england stand by seven days a week

to deliver vaccine. to be absolutely clear, that carries on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. whenever somebody needs a vaccine, they can ask the supplier and it will be delivered. so many people will be wondering when schools can get back. are you thinking... can you give us a date as to when you think that might be able to happen?” a date as to when you think that might be able to happen? i do not think we can give you a date. 0ur principles had been all along to advise government that schools should be the last to close and first to open for the health and well—being of our children. we recognise that keeping the majority of children out of schooljust reduces those transmission risks slightly more than having them there because children not only are interacting in school but also on the way to school, on school buses and having conversations outside. it is all of those little things we are

advising government that need to be avoided in january to advising government that need to be avoided injanuary to try to keep the infection rates down. sorry to interrupt you, what do you think needs to change in the future? respect of an epidemiologist earlier on the programme saying there needs to be long—term changes in schools with to say for example wearing facemasks. do you think there needs to be changes? schools already have restrictions in place about reducing risk. wearing masks in public corridors where they can socially distance. there is a balance in wearing mass in younger children in primary schools where it is really important they both see the teacher‘s mouse so they can read and understand verbal expressions as pa rt understand verbal expressions as part of their learning and also pronounce words properly. in secondary schools, if there is a lot of transmission happening in an area, schools have the ability to

decide what they want to do with masks in classrooms. i think it is important that in general the other measures that have been put in place in school are by and large enough to reduce transmission and clearly right now the transmission risks in the community are such that we all need to reduce contacts everywhere. finally, looking ahead, the prime minister has mentioned half term, the date with the hope of getting all pupils back into school. do you think it will be longer? it will depend how the epidemiology of the virus goes. we will have to look at it year by year end age group by age group. the final decision will lie with government as to when they want to bring students back. we will get the best public health advice available at the time, noting epidemiological characteristics that are happening in the community. you

cannot rule it out that it may be longer than february half term. we cannot rule it out but going back to school will be the first thing to open. that would be our advice. thank you. labour has accused the home secretary priti patel of leaving the "nation‘s doors unlocked" to new coronavirus variants by not introducing tougher measures for people entering the uk. however, the government says it will bring in testing for people arriving from other countries. let‘s speak to the shadow home secretary, nick thomas—symonds. good morning. thank you for being with us this morning. 0n good morning. thank you for being with us this morning. on that quote about leaving the nation‘s doors unlocked, can you tell us this morning and our viewers as to whether the borders of the uk should be closed? the existing quarantine system has to be effective. the

government‘s own figures, you can look it up on the government‘s own website, show that from earlyjune to early september there were just under 2 million people who were spot checked by border force at the border and yet less than 67,000 of them were actually successful contacted them were actually successful co nta cted by them were actually successful contacted by the government‘s isolation assurance service. that means the quarantine system simply is not working effectively and has to be made effective. yesterday, almost casually, in answer to a question at the press conference, the prime minister mentioned about people who cross our borders actually being tested. my message to the government is can i get a grip of the quarantine system. don‘tjust have the prime minister yesterday casually mentioning that in response toa casually mentioning that in response to a question. get a grip of the situation at the border. we need to do that. we are leaving a substantial gap in the nation‘s

defences against this terrible virus. michael gove yesterday said they are looking at the idea of testing people who get onto a plane —— before they get onto a plane. is that enough? i really do emphasise the urgent nature of this. the government‘s own figures are showing the quarantine system is not effective and is not working. in addition, we have the prime minister saying casually this may be introduced, the ministerfor saying casually this may be introduced, the minister for the cabinet office, mr gove, saying desperately not to say this, get on under and we will work with the government to ensure that is effective because this needs to be done. it is not a matterjust to be spoken about ten down at some point in the future, urgent action needed now. we are about to speak of the impact all of this has had on the travel industry which is already on its knees. this would be devastating

for airports, travel companies and ports across the uk. firstly, the nature of the lockdown in england that has been introduced means that obviously unnecessary travel cannot ta ke obviously unnecessary travel cannot take place in any event. you are then looking at travel that is taking place and measures that need to be put into place stop you are right to say this impacts on the travel sector, the aviation sector. we have called for months and months for the government to be strategic, had a sector specific support package in place. i have called for the government to be paying attention to the position at the border and the impact on those measures. when they are introduced, the government must be looking at its impact on jobs the government must be looking at its impact onjobs in the government must be looking at its impact on jobs in their sectors and ensuring support is in place as well. —— in those sectors. and ensuring support is in place as well. -- in those sectors. you have been highly critical of what the government has been doing. what

would you do? would you close the borders? first of all, unnecessary travel is not allowed outside the united kingdom in any event. get a grip of the quarantine system. the isolation assurance service was set up. with respect, you have already said that. would you close the borders? i am not suggesting that. what i am suggesting is what i had said to you, diane, which is getting to grips with the quarantine system, which is vital. —— dan. then get a testing system into place for people crossing the border and into the united kingdom. iam crossing the border and into the united kingdom. i am willing to work with the government on that to get an effective system in place. i do not want this continued discussion.

get on, act and do it. a final one on the lockdown we are all experiencing in the uk. do you think it is enough? we are hearing figures of one in 50 infected with coronavirus across the uk. do you feel lockdown is enough to bring that down? i think the measures being put in place which we support, we called for a lockdown last weekend, is what is required. there isa weekend, is what is required. there is a contract here between the uk government and the people because in orderfor us to get government and the people because in order for us to get out of this, we need to do vaccine programme rolled out effectively. the british people have made extraordinary sacrifices throughout this, including these additional sacrifices with the lockdown in england and measures around other parts of the united kingdom as well. the government must absolutely ensure that the vaccine roll—out now is effective, it is

fair, it is speedy because it is that that will allow us to move on from this dreadful virus. thank you for your time. good to talk to you. so we talk about impact on travel companies? some travel companies have started to cancel holiday bookings for 2021 in anticipation of new restrictions from the government. the industry has been hit hard during the pandemic, nina has the details. we were all hoping a new year, a new dawn. now the realisation that is not the case. we were all hoping 2021 things would recover quite quickly but that is looking less likely by the day. disappointing for us wanting to go on holiday. devastating for those who provide holidays. we‘re banned from taking uk holidays. 0nly essential trips abroad are allowed. and last night the government said it‘s considering introducing pre—departure airport testing, which would inevitably reduce travel further. you might see your holidays as a bit of fun

but there are serious numbers here. when you take in domestic tourism, airport and travel agent businesses, the industry is worth 200 billion to the uk every year. that is 9% of entire economy. before the pandemic, travel and tourism provided almost four millionjobs. 39,000 of them have already gone. more will follow. and many remain on furlough. and this latest lockdown will bite. january and february are traditionally a peak booking period for the family market, with 60% of bookings usually being made. already most of the big tour operators including tui, jet2 and thomas cook have cancelled all holidays until mid—february. let‘s speak to julia lo booey—sayeed, chief executive of the advantage travel partnership. good morning to you. you work with domestic and international travel

agents. how much of a blow as this latest lockdown? it has been devastating. we had ten months of absolute turmoil, where, if all you sellers travel and what they sell in the main is international travel, it becomes very difficult to diversify. a lot of agent partners and tour operators had no income whatsoever. it is the changing rules which have really devastated us to make it difficult to at the government to try to please customers and try to reassure them when they are looking to book their holidays. not an easy task at the minute. the government said last night they are considering pre—travel testing. what impact would that have on inbound travel and should we be moving towards a global testing classification? the interesting part, for the industry, we have been calling on covenant since march to bring in testing because we feel it would enable people to travel confidently,

safely, in the knowledge that testing is required. it is frustrating at ten months later we had a very vague comment from our prime minister yesterday when he was asked a question around testing. we still had no detail. it is really important that government talks to less it liaises with us, so we can help customers. as you quite rightly mentioned, it is a peak time for people thinking about summer holidays. we have seen huge amounts of demand. there was definitely room for optimism. travel agent partners are doing everything they can to make the customer so they can confidently book holidays, not by now that when the time is right for travel, in the spring onwards, then our travel agent partners will be ready to help their customers. can we get some advice for you? one person said he lost £700 last year when he cancelled a holiday to italy because he did not feel safe travelling. what should someone do

ifan travelling. what should someone do if an agent cancels and if they don‘t? if an agent cancels and if they don't? it is really important for anyone booking now to think about who they book with. do they know the company? who they book with. do they know the ? is who they book with. do they know the company? is there a human they can speak to let the other end of the phone. really research who they are booking with. customers are protected under package travel regulations. it is complicated depending how you book. there are rules to protect you. work with your agent and holiday provider and make sure you are talking to them about the best approach for you. such an important reminder. many thanks. if you are looking ahead to book, february half term is possibly out now but if you are looking at to easter and the senator if you have a package, you get greater protection. —— this summer. 20,000 ukjobs depend on tourism. we got a tweet from an airport worker, from gareth, saying, we have been unfurling all the way since last march and there

is no industry specific support for us. really difficult. —— —— on furlough. we will be speaking to a minister in the next few minutes on bbc breakfast. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning, i‘m sonja jessup. two people have been arrested after more than 300 people broke into a church in essex and held a new year‘s eve rave. it happened at all saints church in east horndon near brentwood. local residents have raised more than £20,000 towards the clean—up. that small percentage of people who don‘t care, and are happy to rebel and do stuff like this, it really does let our generation down massively. we're definitely the majority, ithink. if you look, young people are helping. they're staying at home. everyone i know is doing their bit. it's just sad that these people are doing what they did. a group of 11 men who drove

from north west london to the peak district, have been fined for breaking covid restrictions. 0ne suffered minor injuries after one of their cars crashed and overturned on monday evening. the group from harlow were each fined £200 for travelling between tier 4 areas. yesterday, for the first time, the number of new daily confirmed cases of covid—19 across the uk topped 60,000. the latest figures suggest one in 50 people is now infected, rising to one in 30 here in london. the building that houses topshop‘s oxford street store is up for sale after 27 years. the high street chain‘s owner arcadia went into administration in november, putting 13,000 jobs at risk. news of the sale has prompted an outpouring of emotion on social media, shoppers sharing their memories of the flagship store. let‘s take a look at the travel situation now. first, the tube — the hammersmith and city line has minor delays, as some trains have been cancelled this morning.

and there‘s no overground running between upper holloway and gospel 0ak due to a faulty track this is how the a2 looks. it‘s down to one lane in each direction. there are roadworks at the danson interchange. some good news. in beckton, the a13 has reopened at the beckton roundabout. the repairs to the burst water main there had been causing long delays since before christmas. and in shooters hill, there are temporary traffic lights on shooters hill road at the south circular. time for the weather now with kate kinsella. good morning. well, it‘s another very chilly start this morning, with temperatures widely hovering just above zero once again thanks to the cloud. still some showers feeding in on that north—easterly breeze. higher ground might get something wintry, but largely falling as rain. fewer showers this afternoon. much drier with some bright spells. the windfalls a little lighter, starts to veer from the north. temperatures still cold though, between three and five celsius. 0vernight, still one or two isolated showers, but with light winds we‘re likely to see mist and fog

patches developing. with the temperature dropping down to minus one in parts, we could see some freezing fog as we head into thursday morning. that could linger into the afternoon. so, staying very cold tomorrow. we‘re hanging on to this cold air towards the end of the week. towards the end of the weekend you‘ll start to see this slightly less cold air sinking south. we pick up a westerly flow. the temperature making a little bit of a recovery. certainly feeling less cold as we head into the first part of next week. that‘s all for now. i‘m back in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. now back to dan and louise. bye— bye. hello, this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. england‘s third national lockdown has become law overnight, with mps set to vote on the stay at home restrictions later today. it comes after the number of new daily confirmed cases of covid in the uk

topped 60—000 for the first time yesterday. all of the uk is now under strict virus curbs, with wales, northern ireland and most of scotland also in lockdown. thousands of pupils across england, who‘ve had their gcse and a—levels cancelled, are hoping to find out more details today on how their work will be assessed. the education secretary gavin williamson will make a statement to mps in the commons, when he‘ll also unveil a support package for young people following the closure of schools and colleges. the world health organisation has said it does not recommend following the uk‘s decision to delay giving the second dose of the pfizer vaccine for 12 weeks. initially, the plan was to offer the follow up jab 21 days after the first one. but the uk government has changed the strategy so more people can be vaccinated quickly. the world health organisation says the second dose should be given three to four weeks after the first. 1.3 million people in the uk have

received their first dose of the covid vaccine. but with cases continuing to rise, the government is committed to ramping up the roll—out of the job. the government hopes to vaccinate 13 million people in the uk by february. they will come from the four priority groups. top of the duster care home residents health workers. the 75 to 79 age group are nextin workers. the 75 to 79 age group are next in line after that, followed by 70 to 74—year—olds. and all those who are classed as clinically extremely vulnerable. let's speak to the man in charge of that, the vaccine minister nadhim zahawi. good morning. thank you forjoining us. so many people, when they heard the 0xford astrazeneca vaccine could be rolled out, so many hopes are resting on this, aren‘t they? the

prime minister has said with a fair wind in oursails prime minister has said with a fair wind in our sails by mid—february you are hoping 13 million people will be vaccinated. what is your plan? so, you're quite right. when we got the approval by the regulator for the oxford astrazeneca vaccine, it has made a significant difference because now we have two vaccines. the nhs in england, scotland, wales and northern ireland has got a very clear delivery plan. the plan is that we began on the 8th of november through hospital hubs delivering the pfizer vaccine. then we rolled out into primary care networks, five or six gp surgeries in an area covering about 50,000 population coming together, deciding one will lead and the others will support. they are very good at vaccinating their community but also getting into the residential care homes, which is a big focus for us because it is the numberone of big focus for us because it is the number one of the four categories.

and then we roll out international vaccination centres, which you will see coming online imminently. and then, through the community pharmacies and the independent pharmacies and the independent pharmacies as well. and so a big plan. you will see this week, from monday the fourth to monday the 11th, a big increase in the number. we have already vaccinated 1.3 million people. 25% of over 80—year—olds. a quarter of over 80—year—olds, who are the most vulnerable. in a couple of weeks they will have that protection as they will have that protection as the vaccine begins to take effect. and so, yes, it is an ambitious plan. the prime minister is right to set us an ambitious target. the nhs asa set us an ambitious target. the nhs as a very clear plan and i'm confident we will meet it. when will you get to that 2 million a week, which seems to be a key number, in order to make it by february? as i said, you will see on monday a significant increase from the 1.3

million that we had effectively done from the 8th of december. the monday release of numbers, you will see that and you will see us building the week after that. and the public will see, and i think the prime ministeragain will see, and i think the prime minister again was absolutely right to say that we will begin to publish daily data, because people are under lockdown. this is a pretty tough time for families, for their children as well, of course, because of the schools and the online learning is a good thing. i have to say this on the bbc. i commend the bbc on the announcement yesterday of three hours of learning for both secondary and primary schools on bbc channels. thank you for that. nevertheless, it is a difficult time. so we have to make sure we hit that target. my complete focus with the nhs team... by the way, the military, brigadier phil prosser of 101 logistics buruk —— 101 logistics

parade, is totally embedded in the project. can i just parade, is totally embedded in the project. can ijust ask parade, is totally embedded in the project. can i just ask you parade, is totally embedded in the project. can ijust ask you one more time? i understand things are ramping up. when are you optimistic you will be able to get to the 2 million figure? as i said, i don't wa nt million figure? as i said, i don't want to pre—empt the figures. it's very important that when we publish figures they are accurate. so as of this thursday, tomorrow, you will see the figures for the previous week. and then from monday onwards, as the prime minister is quite rightly promised the nation, we will have daily numbers. so you will see that increase. and i hope the whole nation, as well as obviously the bbc, will see that we are absolutely on target to hit that very ambitious numberand make sure on target to hit that very ambitious number and make sure we deliver it. there are so many parts to this, aren‘t there? how many vaccines do you have ready to be put into someone‘s arm, for example? can you

give us a figure? so in terms of vaccines, we, as a manufacturing, you know, any manufacturing process, the numbers tend to move batch to batch. there is a processor and testing to make sure that the regulator is happy with the batches. the worst thing you can do is have a problem with the actual quality of the vaccine, which is why it is so important those tests happen in an orderly way, in a proper way. but, you know, we have a very good working relationships with both manufacturers. we are confident that as they begin to increase their production, we are able to deploy because the nhs, ijust described to you, have a deployment plan. i think we will absolutely meet those numbers. we will begin to see that week on week as we begin to, you

know, increase the number of sites to over a thousand sites delivering the vaccine, including, as i said, the vaccine, including, as i said, the community pharmacies and independent pharmacies. on supply and on testing, we understand that testing is taking up to 20 days. safety is a priority. are you looking to increase that? is that holding things up? no, there are several test a vaccine has to go through. this is a biological substance. these are very complex manufacturing processes. so as the bulk of vaccine is manufactured, it goes to a fill and finish operation. that put it into the vials. that has to have a stability test. different badges go through that. we have to make sure it is done safely. and then, of course, as the through deployment, the regulator has to ta ke deployment, the regulator has to take a sample to to batch test. i pay tribute to the regulator, the

mhra. they are doing it as speedy as they can so that we can hit the targets that we have been set for mid february. ok. can we also talk about, for example, what might be used for vaccinators? have you got enough people to do it for you when you have the supplies you need? we have had a tremendous response from obviously the hospital hubs, the gps with the private care networks, and the volunteers. i'm very grateful to the volunteers. i'm very grateful to the national volunteering service, to stjohn's the national volunteering service, to st john's ambulance, the national volunteering service, to stjohn's ambulance, and to nhs professionals. we've got thousands of people who have gone through the programme and are ready to be deployed. for example, the national vaccination centres, which you have probably seen or read about, they will be in sports halls, national stadium etc. we have had an amazing response. we have also re—examined

the numberof response. we have also re—examined the number of forms that people have to fill in to become a volunteer. have streamlined them. you are going to see the nhs do more of that much more efficiently. and i think we have a fantastic volunteer army coming through which again you will be able to see and your viewers will be able to see and your viewers will be able to see and your viewers will be able to see in the coming days. and weeks. 0k. can we also talk about education? should nurseries be open? yes, because essentially, the, you know, nurseries and those very youngest of children, in terms of this virus, there is very little risk. and actually, the nursery sector has taken tremendous care in making sure that the premises are also covid save and it is the right thing to do. the reason that we

were, thing to do. the reason that we we re , you thing to do. the reason that we were, you know, and it was a last resort, by the way, for the prime minister, for the secretary of state for education, to take the decision to go to online education for primary and secondary schools, is because, these schools are safe, they can act as vectors for this new variant, which is much more transmissible in community settings. that is the decision that was made. but ultimately, my focus is on getting as many jabs but ultimately, my focus is on getting as manyjabs into the most vulnerable people's arms as possible. one in is is now vaccinated. in a couple of weeks' time they will be protected. as we go through the categories, the first four categories we have for that vaccine, by the middle of february, but my absolute aim is to get through all nine categories. in the meantime, of course, so many things are changing for so many people, not least exams, gcses and a—levels

cancelled in england. in the meantime, btecs are going out in some places. should they be cancelled as well? so, we are working with colleges. they are looking, and we will support them, at taking a view as to which btec courses in which vocational courses can go ahead and should go ahead, and we will support them on that. gavin williamson is making a statement today on exams for a—levels and gcses and how we will work with the regulator with 0fqual to make sure that those children have a way forward that actually, you know, one takes into account the very difficult circumstances we are in because of this virus, but also gives them that ability to get recognition for their hard work. can we also talk about... public health england told us that either can‘t

read out the possibility that schools will be closed to the majority of pupils after the february half term. people are concerned about timings, the way out of this. can you confirm that? no, of this. can you confirm that? no, of course i can't. because ultimately, myjob is to focus on the vaccination deployment. this is the vaccination deployment. this is the largest vaccination programme in the largest vaccination programme in the history of this country. if i do myjob well and i have got a tremendous team, the nhs have got a really clear delivery plan on this, andl really clear delivery plan on this, and i commend them for it, if i do it well, and we deliver the protection for those first four categories in the most vulnerable categories, then we can begin to see the relationship. they will come a moment when the sort of intersection between both hospitalisation and, of course, mortality, and the vaccination programme, and therefore a spread in communities, will begin to tilt in our favour and actually

reduce the death rates and reduce the hospitalisation rates, and ultimately, of course, get to a place that we can make that political decision of how we manage the virus beyond the sort of, the nine categories that are the most vulnerable. and if you don't make that. it is in a vicious target, that. it is in a vicious target, thatis that. it is in a vicious target, that is very clear. if you don‘t make that target, that expectation from the prime minister by mid—february 13 million people, what then happens to lockdown and the continuation? does it continue? well, i am confident that the nhs has a clear delivery plan to meet that target. there are many complexities around it, not least manufacturing and, of course, supply chain challenges. but also, we've got to make sure we focus on deployment very clearly, making sure every gp that is vaccinating has the support they need, making sure every hospital has the support they need and of course vaccination hubs. we

will meet our targets, that is my absolute focus. and when we do so i think you will see a significant reduction a few weeks later in terms of hospitalisation and mortality. and then, you know, hopefully, the combination of a big vaccination, the biggest vaccination programme in the biggest vaccination programme in the history of this country, and our testing programme, which i think is doing a tremendous job, testing programme, which i think is doing a tremendousjob, capacity is now at 750,000 tests a day, we are running about half a million tests a day approximately, the combination of the two will put us in a much better place where we can begin to lift the non—pharmaceutical intervention, and none more so than the prime minister, who would wish to stay to come as early as possible. myjob is to be able to deliver that for him. nadhim zahawi, thank you for your time.

good morning. 0ver good morning. over the last few months we have lost in wonderful names in the world of football critically. kat has news of the great colin bell. i hosted an event within many years ago. what struck me that evening was how humble he was and how much respect he had from everybody in the room, past and present generations of professionals. i neverthink past and present generations of professionals. i never think you fully realised how popular he was. no. his nickname, he was named after a stand, because he was so popular, they then voted in 2004, to name a stand after him. his popularity... i was saying the same thing to the producer today. we have had ajack charlton, nobby stiles, gerard houllier, tommy docherty last week it does seem on a weekly basis we are losing some of these legends from the game. yes. sad news to start with this morning. the former manchester city and england midfielder colin bell has died at the age of 74. widely regarded as one of the finest players of his generation,

he made almost 500 appearances for the club between 1966 and 1979. he scored loads of goals, and won plenty of honours too including a league title. manchester city said that bell died after a short, non—covid related illness, adding that "few players have left such an indelible mark" on the club. well, manchester city will wear special shirts in tribute to colin bell when they walk out to play manchester united in their league cup semi—final tonight. the winner will take on tottenham in the final, afterjose mourinho‘s side beat the championship side brentford 2—0 in the other semi—final. spurs are nowjust one game away from their first trophy in 13 years. england‘s cricketers will start training in sri lanka today after all the touring party passed coronavirus tests. they were all re—tested after moeen ali‘s positive result when they arrived on monday. he‘s now in a 10—day quarantine in a hotel near galle, and the whole squad and staff need to have a third test tomorrow. the two match test series starts a week tomorrow.

so hopefully we will see some test cricket in sri lanka. no more positive tests, please. we need that on our telly is at the moment. also what we need on our telly at this time, as ever, is carol, who is telling us about the cold temperatures. good morning. good morning. we have actually just out the coldest good morning. good morning. we have actuallyjust out the coldest night of this winter so far. the temperature at the moment in the highlands is —12.2. you can see in glasgow it is —3. freezing in belfast. wherever you are it is a cold start. the met office is warning of ice on untreated surfaces across northern ireland, eastern scotla nd across northern ireland, eastern scotland and northern england down towards the watch. there will be some sunshine to look forward to today. we still have some rain or some snow showers in the forecast. the high pressure that has been in charge of our weather of light drifting into the atlantic, allowing

low pressure and its front to come our way later on. we start off with the showers across the south—east into the channel islands. some of them are wintry. mostly on higher ground. we have seen some at lower levels. it is the same across eastern scotland and eastern england. some of those showers are wintry, mostly on higher ground, and most of the showers through the day will tend to ease. a few rogue ones left behind. a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine. it is going to be culled. we have got lighter winds today than yesterday. and by the end of the afternoon this next weather front will introduce some cloud and rain into western scotland. this evening and overnight as that engages with the cold air in a city across scotland and then across northern ireland, it will turn readily to snow, even at lower levels. it is going to be a cold night. look at the blues on this chart. we will have some frost in places. ice on untreated surfaces. also some fog to watch out for. some dense fog, some freezing fog forming, particularly so across north—west england down towards the

midlands, for example. some of that won‘t lift through the day. and if that happens for you it will be quite a dull and cold day. some of it will and it will brighten up. the weather front continues to sing south. still some snow in it. mostly again on higher ground. it is a wea ker feature. again on higher ground. it is a weaker feature. behind that in the cold air we see the showers readily turning to snow even to lower levels across the far north of scotland. through thursday night into friday you can see how the weather front disappeared. that is because it is weakening as it continues its journey down into southern areas. here it is first thing on friday morning. we are likely to see some snow flurries in parts of the south. by snow flurries in parts of the south. by no means will be older. a lot of dry weather but still some showers across parts of scotland and northern england, which could be wintry. these are our temperatures. what about the outlook into the weekend and next week? as you can see, just by looking at the numbers, it is going to turn a little bit

less cold. but it is not going to be mild. thank you very much. ijust shivered listening to you, to be honest! hopefully because of the temperatures! she does that every day! you do like the cold. i do. as long as you have got the appropriate code. the cold. i do. as long as you have got the appropriate codem the cold. i do. as long as you have got the appropriate code. it is all good. good morning. across the country many children and parents are once again grappling with home schooling, with all nations under some form of lockdown. lots of people saying it has put dry january under threat. to help pupils with science, twin presenter duo dr chris and dr xander van tulleken, best known for their cbbc series 0peration 0uch, have begun streaming daily online lessons. we have seen a lot of xand on morning live. chris and xanderjoin us now. good morning, gentlemen. how are you both? good morning. welcome to

lockdown three. give us an idea of the reason and the idea behind these classes ? the reason and the idea behind these classes? who came up with it? so, i did! fair enough, it was chris. you got me into this. a lot of people during lockdown one came up with this idea. that's painfully obvious. if you watch us do it we are rank amateurs. you may get education or you may witness two middle—aged men having a breakdown with technology. we are trying to add extra value to this cbbc programming that is going on where they put more educational, more learning programmes during the day, and so we are trying to take those programmes undertake questions and add some value have some fun. you do bring science. i saw pictures from yesterday‘s programme where

your hands —— upside down. it is hands on, isn‘t it? your hands —— upside down. it is hands on, isn't it? chris believes in doing exercises! i make it sound like i don't. he does an exercise we re like i don't. he does an exercise were he effectively wheeze against a door post like a dog. they left lived —— leg left. i didn't know he was going to do it. it got a bit chaotic. i think any thing that people canjoin chaotic. i think any thing that people can join in chaotic. i think any thing that people canjoin in on, we are just trying to get... we are all stuck at home with our families. obviously we can't replace the school. parents should not be trying to replace the school either. all the guilt and anxiety that will go with that. hopefully we can spend some meaningful time with our families and have some fun, and if we can help people do that that would be brilliant. if anyone sees their children urinating like a dog, essentially it is your fault?|j essentially it is your fault?” can‘t believe you said that! essentially it is your fault?” can't believe you said thanm essentially it is your fault?” can't believe you said that! it is good for them. you don't need to

pass you're in. i'm not entirely sure. we will try to have some focus on food, movement, a bit of learning and we will take a bunch of questions. chris is saying, as if, how did we get into this? he has his full collection on the table. if you wa nt full collection on the table. if you want to guess what kind of to this is you can. i think it is a horse. digestive systems today, how it all happens. what is that, by the way? a drink! that is black coffee.” thought it was prune juice, drink! that is black coffee.” thought it was prunejuice, or something even worse. i thought it was another sample for a moment, then i saw you drink it. it was very concerning. what is lovely about watching you two is you are clearly, you clearly inspire your viewers to wa nt to you clearly inspire your viewers to want to be doctors as well, i‘m

sure? i phi was a parent i would wa nt sure? i phi was a parent i would want my child to go into banking. —— ifi want my child to go into banking. —— if i was want my child to go into banking. —— ifiwasa want my child to go into banking. —— if i was a parent. it is lovely when we hear... on operation ouch we talk about all kinds of health care professionals. as doctors we are very lucky to be part of a multidisciplinary team. whenever we hear that kids want to beat paramedics, nurses, radiographers, the whole range of people that work in hospital, we are always thrilled with that. we don't want to convert anyone. we are trying to drag kids into the medical profession. we need artists and poets and newsreaders and broadcasters and all kinds of people, but everyone does need to know a bit about their body and a bit about how hospitals work and a bit about how hospitals work and a bit about how illness works. that is the main thing. the other thing, chris, is that home—schooling is tough and they will be people watching this this morning who are worried about the next few weeks and months ahead. this is a genuine opportunity, isn‘t it? without any

guilt you can plug your kids in front of the telly, or in front of a computer command that they can actually learn and have fun at the same time, which is really important? we hope so. even we would say the professionals who do this every day find this immensely challenging online. when i teach undergraduates and university students i find it challenging. but how much information we are going to be able to impart in 20 minutes to half an hour is probably quite limited but we hope at least will be amusing. and stimulating. the one thing i do think is that we made a huge number of kids as a doctor or presenting operation ouch, who have missed a lot of school through illness. it's not easy for them but if they are often able to catch up. we have to holding our hand is quite likely the idea that missing school is serious, but also its not going to destroy a generation. this lockdown is a good decision. it will allow people to get back to school

quickly. xand, how are you doing? we talk to you about your documentary in the summer. you had coronavirus badly? yes, i got quite ill. and poor old chris was making a documentary in the hospital i came to when i was ill. so it got quite strange, quite quickly. he was having to make a documentary about, it turned out, his brother being ill when it was meant to be about his colleagues and the other patients in the hospital. thank you for asking. i'm feeling much better. but this is a serious virus that does affect people who are young and in, you know, not amazing condition, but reasonable shape. i'm only 42. it's lovely to speak to both. take it seriously, yes. one of our favourite bits of morning life was when we used to speak to gethin and came command all the sand could do was smile and grain inanely under way. have you got the same skills, chris? can you do that for us again this morning? have a go. i will do a more

kind of earnest like... that is nice. understand? where is your normal one? i saw xand? lovely to see you. i was goaded into it by you! good luck. great to see you. and you can watch chris and xand‘s lessons daily on their facebook and instagram page at half past two. asi as i mentioned, the bbc is rolling out from monday on cbbc a three hour block of curriculum—based learning and on bbc two as well it will cater for secondary school students. a huge programme of education on the bbc. their programme today is about digestion. stay with us, headlines coming up.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. 0ur headlines today... what now for a—level and gcse students? as their exams are cancelled, more details will be announced on how their work will be assessed. over the next half hour, as the education secretary prepares to give more details on how children will be supported, we‘ll take you through all the issues surrounding the closure of schools and colleges to most students. ramping up the rollout. 1.3 million people have had the vaccine so far. we‘ll be asking how the government will reach its target of two million a week. iam i am confident that the nhs has a clear delivery plan to meet that target. there are many, many complexities around it. the travel industry had high hopes the new year would see things taking off again.

but the list of companies cancelling is growing, domestic trips are banned, and more restrictions are expected. how should we approach holidays in 2021? good morning. we had just had the cold est good morning. we had just had the coldest night of the winter so far, -12 coldest night of the winter so far, —12 degrees in the highlands. a cold day ahead with wintry sunshine. still a few wintry showers and later rein in the north—west. all the details later in the programme. it‘s wednesday, the 6th of january. thousands of pupils across england, who‘ve had their exams cancelled, are hoping to find out more details today on how their work will be assessed. the education secretary gavin williamson will make a statement in the commons later. but what do we already know about the rest of this academic year? it‘s now been confirmed that this summer‘s gcse and a—level exams have been cancelled. and the exams regulator, 0fqual, will work with the government on how best to award pupils grades that best reflects their work. however, there‘s some confusion from btec students.

it‘s after the department of education announced that vocational exams that were due to take place this month can still go ahead — but it is up to schools and colleges to make the final decision. meanwhile, prospective students applying to start university or college later this year have been given an additional two weeks to complete their applications. the deadline has now been moved to 6pm on friday, the 29th of january. most children in england are not expected to return to the classroom until after february half term at the earliest. but children of key workers and those who are vulnerable can still go to school. in scotland, schools will stay closed to the majority of pupils until at least the start of february. meanwhile in wales, children aren‘t expected to return to the classroom until the 18th january, although some people believe that should be extended further. and in northern ireland it‘s expected schools will be shut to most students until the middle of next month.

we‘re joined now by our political correspondent jonathan blake. so many people will be watching very closely because there are a lot of changes going on at the moment. we are expecting to hear from the education later today. after all the uncertainty about the return to school in england this week, stu d e nts school in england this week, students with gcse and a—level results looming in the summer we‘ll have to wait a little longer to find out how great will be awarded and what they will be doing other than sitting exams in school halls, which the government has made clear it will not happen as planned. the education secretary, gavin williamson, will make a statement to mps in the house of commons later that he is not going to give full details of what will replace the exams and the system will be put in

place at a later date because it has to be agreed with of qualcomm of the curriculum and qualifications regulator, should i say and the government will be keen to avoid a repeat of last summer‘s situation, where an algorithm and system was put into place to allocate grades to pupils which was largely deemed to be unfairand at pupils which was largely deemed to be unfair and at the last minute the government changed tack and said teacher predicted grades would set stu d e nts teacher predicted grades would set students results. schools are now closed until at least february half term when things will be reviewed. everyone is asking when peoples might be able to return. this morning he had heard from dr susan hopkins from public health england on the programme, saying it is impossible to put a time limit on it. i do not think that we can give a date. our principle all along has been to advise government that schools should be the last to close and first to open for health and

well— being of children. and first to open for health and well—being of children. we recognise that keeping the majority of children out of schooljust reduces those transmission risks slightly more than having them there. children not only are interacting in school but also on the way to school, on school buses, having conversations outside. it is all of those little things that we are advising government that needed to be avoided in january to try to keep the infection rates down. throughout the infection rates down. throughout the pandemic the government has seen school closures as a last resort. it isa school closures as a last resort. it is a measure of how serious things are at that point that it is deemed necessary. “— are at that point that it is deemed necessary. —— this point. details about families struggling with online learning and extra support they are hoping for through technology and devices and resources the government is hoping to provide. when we talk about school closures,

many shout back at the television saying, they are not closed, we are open. this summer‘s a—level and gcse exams cancelled, how are students and their parents feeling? breakfast‘s john maguire has been finding out. for the second year running, the exam system scores a c — cfor confusion. this boy was preparing to sit his a—levels in the summer as england stood alone in maintaining the exams would go ahead. but that came to an abrupt halt at eight o‘clock on monday night. it‘s just so frustrating. when the prime minister announced we were going back to school, that is what he said on the sunday night, to be told on monday night, the day before we were supposed to be going back to school, we had packed bags and uniform, revised for mocks, which were supposed to be happening, for all of that to be taken away from you, it is so frustrating, angry and confusing. when there are loads of other little changes

going on in your life as well, like you cannot go and see your friends but now you can only go and see one friend outside, all those other changes going on, that makes it so much more frustrating than if it was just a—levels have been cancelled. another grade, u for uncertainty, as schools are having to tear up plans yet again. btecs, at first unaffected, will also be cancelled if a school or college decides not to go ahead. libby robins was due to sit some of hers in the coming days. she‘s missed weeks of learning due to school closures and contracting covid herself. her mum tells me she is having a torrid time. because of this, she‘s now having to take tablets to help her sleep — because she‘s not sleeping because of anxiety. nobody wants their 17—year—old daughter to be having to take tablets from the doctor to sleep, or to suffer with more anxiety than they need to. they have had to deal with so much stress over the last ten months,

you know, that most kids have never had to deal with. it has been horrendous for them. tracy has children in both years 11 and 13 studying gcses and a—levels. the sooner a decision is made, the better and easier it is to come to terms with it and then they can actually start working towards what they need to achieve. because there has been so much confusion and uncertainty with other countries in the united kingdom cancelling exams last term, but the english government was persisting with the idea that the exams would go ahead really right up until the last minute, it hasn‘t helped really at all in their motivation to continue with their studies. i mean, their school has been fantastic and has done what they can. from the school‘s perspective, it must be an absolute nightmare trying to find their way through the logistics at the moment. so this year, exam anxiety has arrived early, not due to a lack of subject knowledge

but because students, their families and their schools do not know what the coming weeks have in store. john maguire, bbc news. it gives us a really big picture of the conversations going on in millions of homes all across the uk this morning, over the past 24 hours or more. let‘s get more now on the switch to home learning with the children‘s commissioner anne longfield. thank you for being with us today. we had talked about this a lot. it isa we had talked about this a lot. it is a conversation going on right across the united kingdom. how concerned are you about another lockdown and another case of millions of schoolchildren being back at home are not being able to have co nta ct back at home are not being able to have contact in schools?” back at home are not being able to have contact in schools? i have pushed and pushed throughout the last few months around schools being the last to close and the first to

open and, as everyone has said, we have got to the moment where infection rates are so high that schools had to close. we need to learn from lessons and mistakes from the last lockdown. a lot of children did not have technology and could not get online. there was huge inconsistency in what was being provided from different schools around home learning and remote learning. a lot of parents who did have places in school for children we re have places in school for children were not taking those up. it is really important that children who do have priority places make the most of them. that includes children who do not have ability to get technology at home. they can get a place in school, they can be deemed to bea place in school, they can be deemed to be a vulnerable child. it is really important that parents have that confidence to make use of those places when they are available. the government was talking yesterday

about the issues around education and provision of laptops and the technology that is necessary. are you confident that will happen? you talked about mistakes last time around. children not being able to do work because they do not have the technology. no room for any complacency on this at all. a lot of la pto ps have complacency on this at all. a lot of laptops have gone out. it is bigger than that was that there is still a huge deficit in numbers needed. that is why i am saying there is an opportunity for those children to go into school. we know that has not gone well in every area of the country. we know a lot of children still will not have access to learning online. some will still be working off a mobile phone, sometimes it is a quite mobile phone. you cannot learn with any consistency like that. there are things the government needs to get into place and urgently this week so children start this period with the

least amount of uncertainty possible. it is great the bbc is doing its online support. tech companies have been talking about stepping up over the last few days in terms of making data free. that is what we want to see as well. the government has been trying to catch up. you do not need me to tell you about confusion. there is a period where it needs to go to the front foot and get kids and their families the certainty that they need to get through this period. you talk about certainty. in a conversation with my own children, the question they want to know is, how long will it go for? in terms of light at the end of the tunnel, it is hard to have that conversation because we cannot be certain about when schools will be reopened to the vast majority of pupils. it is important that planning goes on to make sure they can open as soon as possible the testing in place, vaccinations for

teachers, that will help schools to open as early as they can. all of our hearts sink when we hear about february half term and then even easter and beyond. all children, that... time has a different meaning. they remember the endless period during the first lockdown and how they missed their friends. we know children were really worried not only about knitting friends and mental health issues, but also starting to worry about the future, what would it mean? it is important to talk to children and reassure them. i want those children to have as much contact as they can with friends. they can do that online. at the moment will say children under 12 cannot need to get outdoors. in other countries they had done that and that is something we need to seriously look at here. lots to consider. when the prime minister was asked yesterday to guarantee children would be back in schools by

summerand he children would be back in schools by summer and he would not give that guarantee because it is not possible to do at the moment. so many parts of education have been impacted by the latest lockdown. university students are also facing further disruption to their studies, with many campus‘ remaining closed until at least the end of february. ucas, the body that manages the application process, has announced that anyone hoping to start a course this september will have an additional two weeks to complete their application. let‘s speak to the chief executive of ucas, clare marchant, and the director of admissions at the university of east anglia, professor richard harvey. thank you both very much indeed for joining us. this is a hard time for young people, isn‘t it? claire, let‘s talk about you pass. you have made a change. what does it mean for people? —— tempting. made a change. what does it mean for people? -- tempting. we are thinking about students. —— ucas. we are

saying to him as an extra two weeks to make finishing touches to your application. this is an extra two weeks to give time to access technology if they have not got that at home. 0verwhelmingly, that has gone down very positively with teachers. teachers are struggling in terms of their own capacity and the amount they have to deal with at the moment, so hopefully it will be welcomed with what was announced on monday. we know now that a-levels had been cancelled. that is part of the process. what happens with that? we will wait to hear in terms of mode of assessment. the government has already said they will look at the generosity that was applied in 2020 in terms of standards and great profiles. scotland and wales have already said they will be a teacher assessment element in that.

university admissions staff always look at grades but also the individual, whether it is through personal statements or reference schools and colleges have made. they had a huge amount of the data to help to make a decision about whether a student will be successful ina whether a student will be successful in a course they had applied to.” do not know if you are watching yesterday but we spoke to michael dave and his advice was to university students already who have gone back to campus, to stay where they are. what is the situation in east anglia with you? yes, there are about 1000 students on campus at the moment, i think. about 1000 students on campus at the moment, ithink. we about 1000 students on campus at the moment, i think. we will be looking after those people in the way we did in the last lockdown. in terms of conversations with them, richard, what are you saying? what are their concerns this time around? online is

a mixed bag, online education. uea will be online now i think until the 1st of march, and we have made that announcement, knowing that the situation might roll—on for a bit. those students who cannot come back, we had done something which i am rather proud of, we are offering a rent rather proud of, we are offering a re nt refu nd rather proud of, we are offering a rent refund for those guys, so that is easing the burden a bit. 0nline education is a mixed bag. some people are thriving on it and other stu d e nts people are thriving on it and other students are finding it harder. the trick is to remain in contact with stu d e nts trick is to remain in contact with students via your adviser network and your support network. that is the thing that makes a big difference to student success in online education. your university might be different from other universities but this is not what they signed up for, was it? when they signed up for, was it? when they did the applications, to be

taught a nine committee tried to teach yourself a degree. do you think they should be looking at getting money back? none of us signed up for this. i did not sign up signed up for this. i did not sign up to be in my shed at the bottom of my garden for 12 months. it is tough for all of us is the situation that i feel. i for all of us is the situation that ifeel. i do not think universities are ina ifeel. i do not think universities are in a position to unilaterally just refund fees. for the simple reason that online education is a pretty expensive enterprise. my collea g u es pretty expensive enterprise. my colleagues are absolutely flat out. teaching people. the students are working very hard, professors are working very hard, professors are working very hard, and we are all struggling as hard as we can to make this a success, to make it get out of bad, as it were. i really do not think universities are in a position to refund fees like that if it is to happen, it will have to be a government decision. do you think we

will see a change to the application process in terms of where students apply to go? maybe a little nearer to home, given what we have seen over the last year. we may do. we did not see that last year. we still saw an appetite in terms of gaining independence, because that is part of the university experience, particularly if you‘re an 18—year—old, to gain some independence. the fact we have vaccines being rolled out gives everyone, including students, come autumn when they enter university in 2021, it will be different than the cohort that entered in 2020 in terms of being able to socialise more. i think there is light at the end of the tunnel. it‘ll be interesting see how it changes some preferences. my advice to students is, get your applications in, lots of students have already. the aspirational. they are still at a low ebb, there is

lots of choice. focus on studying, that will be the best way to set yourself up for success when you get to university. try to focus on the autumn period, albeit it is very difficult at the moment with the situation for the next few weeks and months. there will be students who are struggling at the moment, what is your advice to them? are you talking about university students? university students who are trying to cope with a difficult situation. right, most universities have pretty extensive support mechanisms, that is the first thing to say. the first thing i usually say to people is, have you contacted us about this? the usual answer is, no. do not struggle alone. that is the overpowering message i would have four people. do not struggle alone.

the second thing is, make sure that your home environment is good for you. if you are studying from home, you. if you are studying from home, you need to have a secure and safe home environment. if that is not the case, talk to us and we will see if we can help. interesting to hear from you. professor richard harvey in his shed and the chief executive of ucas. looks like a good shed! let‘s get some analysis now on what may happen in schools and universities in the months ahead. we‘re joined now by our education editor, branwen jeffreys. we know we are going to get a statement from gavin william sent a little bit later today. what do you think other priorities for him. it is? -- think other priorities for him. it is? —— the education secretary. think other priorities for him. it is? -- the education secretary. the first thing is to instill some confidence that there will be a solution lately. if you are sitting at home thinking, when i find out today exactly what my gcse and

a—level grades will be based on? the a nswer a—level grades will be based on? the answer is no. there are broad principles, teacherjudgments answer is no. there are broad principles, teacher judgments and schooljudgments will have to be involved but the devil will be in the detail as we found out last summer. mps will want to know, families will want to know how quickly this will happen. it will go to 0fqual now to draw up plans based on broad principles. there are a few key questions. 0ne on broad principles. there are a few key questions. one that was mentioned earlier is, are they going to keep grades broadly in line with what ended up happening at the end of the chaos last summer, where we saw gcse grades going up the overall by almost 10% and some of the top a—level grades going up. when exams we re a—level grades going up. when exams were due to happen, it had been promised that for this year that increase overall would be baked in. people will want to know, is that

going to happen, whatever the means of assessment this year? we had just been discussing in the last few moments, this is such a difficult time for young people. it has been a long time, doing online learning. some peoples will be particularly badly affected by it. some people just find it really hard to engage with online content. festival there are hurdles. do you have a device of your own? are hurdles. do you have a device of yourown? —— are hurdles. do you have a device of your own? —— first of all. do you had to share with siblings? are you using mobile data from your mother's phone for a project to be getting on with. there is also a deep fatigue and schools are aware of that. i was ina and schools are aware of that. i was in a school in stoke and they were saying in the last lockdown, they saw in some areas, where parents had perhaps a bit more money to help get a device for their child, a bit more time, more professional parents

working at home, they had 80% of pupils online. in other areas where families were more stretched and parents were busy going out, some essentialjobs, they only saw up to around 50% of teenagers regularly logging on for lessons. that raises the question is, what are they doing if they are not doing school work? the impact not just if they are not doing school work? the impact notjust on grades. we are going to be talking a lot about exams today but also on confidence and mental health. also, just looking ahead, talking about universities as well, it will have an impact, went to, going on into further education quality? —— won‘t it. that's right. we had huge uncertainty about people facing vocational exams due to happen this week and next week. largely btecs but also cambridge national and

technicals. this has been thrown up to schools and colleges to make the decision. they are furious at having responsibility put back on them and a lot of students wondering, is my exa m a lot of students wondering, is my exam in the next few days actually going to happen? for many young people that will be a crucial part for their path into the next career, work, their next college course at which they need to be on that ladder if they are doing something like health and social care, it, engineering, sports science, things that they need to have the foundation to go on to their next essential stage and there is still a lot of uncertainty around that.” think we will leave it with that word, and certainty. thank you for taking us through all we know so far. thank you for your comments as

well, particularly issue of university students and funding and refunds as well. some people saying stu d e nts refunds as well. some people saying students are paying fees or limited or no learning. 0ne lecturer has said students i teach i‘ve had more contact hours teaching moved online since last march than they have face to face. she reiterated what richard was saying. we are working hard to support students and working harder than maybe we are working hard to support students and working harder than a weedon did before. thank you for being in touch. we read most of your messages. “— for being in touch. we read most of your messages. —— than perhaps we did before. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning, i‘m sonja jessup. the met police are warning they‘ll get tougher on londoners who break covid restrictions, with fines for people not wearing masks without good reason. police say they‘ll be more inquisitive towards people outside their home, now a new lockdown has come into force. they say they‘ll also fine anyone attending parties and large gatherings,

not just the organisers. two people have been arrested after more than 300 people broke into a church in essex and held a new year‘s eve rave. it happened at all saints church in east horndon near brentwood. local residents have raised more than £20,000 towards the clean—up. that small percentage of people who don‘t care, and are happy to rebel and do stuff like this, it really does let our generation down massively. we're definitely the majority, ithink. if you look, young people are helping. they're staying at home. everyone i know is doing their bit. it's just sad that these people are doing what they did. a group of 11 men who drove from north—west london to the peak district, have been fined for breaking covid restrictions. 0ne suffered minor injuries after one of their cars crashed and overturned on monday evening. the group from harlow were each fined £200 for travelling between tier 4 areas. the building that houses topshop‘s oxford street store is up

for sale after 27 years. the high street chain‘s owner arcadia went into administration in november, putting 13,000 jobs at risk. news of the sale has prompted an outpouring of emotion on social media, shoppers sharing their memories of the flagship store. let‘s take a look at the travel situation now. first the tube — the hammersmith and city line has severe delays westbound, as some trains have been cancelled this morning, and there‘s no overground running between upper holloway and gospel 0ak due to a faulty track. this is how the a2 looks. it‘s down to one lane in each direction. there are roadworks at the danson interchange some good news — in beckton, the a13 has reopened at the beckton roundabout. the repairs to the burst water main there had been causing long delays since before christmas. time for the weather now with kate kinsella. good morning. well, it‘s another very chilly start this morning, with temperatures widely hovering just above zero once again thanks to the cloud. still some showers feeding

in on that north—easterly breeze. higher ground might get something wintry, but largely falling as rain. fewer showers this afternoon. much drier with some bright spells. the windfalls a little lighter, starts to veer from the north. temperatures still cold though, between three and five celsius. overnight, still one or two isolated showers, but with light winds we‘re likely to see mist and fog patches developing. with the temperature dropping down to minus one in parts, we could see some freezing fog as we head into thursday morning. that could linger into the afternoon. so, staying very cold tomorrow. we‘re hanging on to this cold air towards the end of the week. towards the end of the weekend you‘ll start to see this slightly less cold air sinking south. we pick up a westerly flow. the temperature making a little bit of a recovery. certainly feeling less cold as we head into the first part of next week. that‘s all for now. i‘m back in half an hour. bye for now.

hello, this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. i have to tidy up, louise! papers everywhere. good morning. 1.3 million people in the uk have now received their first dose of a covid vaccine, but with cases of the virus continuing to rise, the government has committed to ramping up the rollout of the jab. let‘s take a look at how this will work in practice. the government‘s ambition is to vaccinate an estimated 13 million people across the uk by the middle of february. this works out at up to two million people a week. in england, they would come from the four priority groups. top of the list are care home residents and workers. then it‘s people over 80 and frontline health and social care staff. the 75 to 79 age group are next in line after that, followed by 70 to 74—year—olds and all those who are classed as clinically extremely vulnerable.

across the nations, the scottish nhs hopes to vaccinate everyone over the age of 50 and younger people with underlying health conditions, by may. in wales, 22,000 jabs have been given this week, with another 18,000 available next week. and northern ireland has 50,000 doses of the oxford/astrazeneca jab and they aim to offer it to the over eighties, by the end ofjanuary. that gives you a picture of the vaccine roll—out. we can get more on the practicalities of the vaccination programme now with professor anthony harnden, who‘s the deputy chair of the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation. we have heard a lot about that organisation in recent weeks. good morning. thank you for being with us. can we talk about realistic programmes and promises going forward ? programmes and promises going forward? do you think it will be possible to get to a stage where we

are vaccinating 2 million doses, using 2 million doses a week? yeah, i really do think this is possible. it will take a huge amount of organisation and it is a mass logistical exercise. but when i look at my own practice, we teamed up with two local practices, we delivered 1000 immunisations over new year's eve and new year's day and we are due to deliver another thousand this weekend. out of eight patient population of 13,000. it can be scaled up. we need a can—do attitude in primary care, and hospitals and in these mass vaccination centres, which the government planning. i don't think it is going to be easy. i don't think it is going to be straightforward in any way at all. but it is possible. we are in a national emergency in our country at the moment. and we know that we can

get jabs into people's arms and save people's lives. so yes, i am optimistic and i think the government are right in saying that we will try to get through those four priority groups by the end of february. it is great to hear you are optimistic. many of our viewers will appreciate that. you are a man ina great will appreciate that. you are a man in a great position for us to ask about some of the issues highlighted in recent days, like the training of volunteers. logistics. use of vials, things like that. supply chain concerns. how many of those are dampening your optimism, or do you think they are all able to be overcome? as a member... i am not responsible for logistics. sorry, i threw that in as an extra.” couldn't comment on vials. i do think there are a lot of volunteers out there who could step up and we should be facilitating that a step

up should be facilitating that a step up by should be facilitating that a step up by reducing bureaucracy, making sure that patients still have to be saved, so these volunteers still have to be trained at the task they are doing. if they become vaccinators, they need to know about the vaccine immunisation programme and anaphylaxis training. they need to have crb checks, quite clearly. but they don't need to be doing lots of bureaucracy like fire safety, prevent strategy, that sort of thing, which a full—time employee might have to do. i was very pleased to hear matt hancock say on radio yesterday that he is going to have a look at the bureaucracy when it comes to volunteers. i do think we have got enough vaccinators at the moment. we will have vaccinator fatigue. i'm quite aware that, for instance in our own practice, immunising1000 a week, there will

be periods when people are off, they will be fatigued. we need more spare capacity within the workforce. i think this is where these volunteers might well step in. i was going to ask you to explain vaccinator fatigue but you did. needing a rest at some stage? yes, we all need a rest, don't we? nobody can work seven days a week, 12 hours a day. there does need to be a rotation. we can think about that quite clearly in our practice, how we might strategise that. i think volunteers, re ce ntly strategise that. i think volunteers, recently retired gps, recently retired doctors, are important. we have two in our practice. one is a retired orthopaedic surgeon, one a retired orthopaedic surgeon, one a retired gp, both of whom are still on the register, both of whom are happy to do immunisation training, and both of whom will be a fantastic help and support to us. so it is

possible. i know the gnc's view is light touch. it is the responsibility of the nhs to sort out this bureaucracy. i hear reports of people facing it. it has been really helpful speaking to you. i know you have been suffering with the effects of long covid. can you give our viewers an idea of how that has affected you and how you are? yeah, i feel much better now, dan. but i developed covid in early march, one of the first in the cohort to develop. i was quite u nwell cohort to develop. i was quite unwell but not unwell enough to go to hospital. i did go to hospital on four occasions but i was not admitted. i had no oxygen levels and i had some inflammation around my heart. the effects of lasted for up to nine months. still here i am, in january, ten months later, and i still have slightly raised inflammatory markers and fatigue

towards the end of the day. but i am seeing light at the end of the tunnel. i feel much more energised. i think the immunisation programme and my involvement in it has really helped me personally. and i think! will stay positive with a positive attitude. but it has not been an easy journey. this attitude. but it has not been an easyjourney. this is one of the things about covid. actually, our strategy is to prevent hospitalisation and deaths, but there are lots of other problems with covid. i hope that should be get through this cohort, which we are really worried about, we can then start extending the programme or widely to protect many, many more people against infections such as the ones that i have had. so yes, it's been an interesting personal experience. i was completely fit and well before hand. very, experience. i was completely fit and well beforehand. very, very fit. a keen mountain biker. it knocked me over like a keen mountain biker. it knocked me overlike a bus, keen mountain biker. it knocked me over like a bus, really. people need

to be careful, still. people need to distance. they need to follow government guidelines. and we will get out of this as a society, but we will need to work together in our way to follow the rules. really appreciate you sharing your personal experience of long covid and good to see that you are so optimistic despite everything you have been through. best of luck to you as well. let‘s talk to a couple of people who would be involved in helping us with the vaccination programme. as the vaccination programme ramps up, the national audit office have warned that an army of 50—thousand vaccinators could be needed to hit targets. the aim is to establish a network of more than one—thousand centres across the uk which will require staff to administer the jabs, as well as stewards to manage the sites. liz parry and gill cleeve have both signed up to volunteer at their local centres and join us now. morning to you. thank you so much for volunteering and for being on bbc breakfast. liz, there is a lot

of volunteering going on and you have already —— already done quite a bit. what have you been doing?” signed up to be an nhs volunteer responder last march, along with approximately 400,000 other volunteers in england and the uk. and i've been very active. i was on furlough lead for a total of seven and a half months and was able to complete 401 food shopping deliveries and 89 prescription deliveries and 89 prescription deliveries so far. a total of 490 deliveries so far. a total of 490 deliveries to those who are elderly, vulnerable, shielding at home. essentially keeping those people safe in the community, avoiding them actually going out and catching the virus. the role is very diverse and i have applied to be a vaccination clinic steward. and i will receive an nhs uniform, because obviously we are in the middle of winter, and i will be stewarding, organising cues, ensuring social distance. also looking out for the care of the

patients as well, ensuring that anybody who needs any assistance gets it, maybe a little sit down if there is a wait. ensuring a speedy flow and efficient organisation of the process. it's very exciting to be part of. i've love my volunteering role from the start to where i am now. it's given me a really positive focus through a difficult and challenging year. not one of us has been untouched by this whole pandemic. it is a national emergency. and for me personally i actually felt a real personal responsibility to step up and be involved in society and make a difference. if anybody wants to volunteer, the royal voluntary service, nhs volunteer responders are recruiting at the moment. you can find details online, twitter and facebook. liz, you are doing a marvellous job! someone facebook. liz, you are doing a marvellousjob! someone else facebook. liz, you are doing a marvellous job! someone else who has

volunteered as jill. marvellous job! someone else who has volunteered asjill. lovely marvellous job! someone else who has volunteered as jill. lovely to talk to you. what will you be doing? so, i've volunteered as a vaccinator. i am currently going through the training. similarto am currently going through the training. similar to liz, am currently going through the training. similarto liz, at am currently going through the training. similar to liz, at the beginning of the pandemic we set up a local support group for people. i live in stratford—upon—avon. it is important to help our community. here in stratford we rely on tourism. the virus has had a devastating effect on our time. for me it was about stepping up, supporting the community. these vaccines are so vital to restoring the community and the whole nation, that i wanted to be part of the vaccine that i wanted to be part of the vaccine response. that i wanted to be part of the vaccine response. i'm doing this through stjohn's vaccine response. i'm doing this through st john's ambulance and vaccine response. i'm doing this through stjohn's ambulance and it isa through stjohn's ambulance and it is a volunteer position sol through stjohn's ambulance and it is a volunteer position so i have to go through all their training. jill, do you have medical experience? not in any way the same as a nurse or doctor. i'm a first aid instructor and have been a community responder

but have never had to give injections before. just tell us, some people have encountered problems, lots of red tape. how have you found it? yeah, i have found it very straightforward. a friend of mine who was a nurse initially, shared the link. saying they are looking for volunteers. i clicked on the link. it sounded great. those three levels of volunteers, those who want to be vaccinators, there is also patient care and very similar roles, guiding people when they arrive at the site. but for me it was the vaccination. that is what i was the vaccination. that is what i was interested in. that is because of my background. it was very straightforward. i signed up, i filled in a form online, through the stjohn's website. filled in a form online, through the st john's website. filled filled in a form online, through the stjohn's website. filled in their application. i then had a face—to—face, virtual face—to—face

interview. from that point i was accepted. first i've done the st john's theory training. now i have started the nhs theory training. and i'm going for the practical training on sunday to give injections. good on sunday to give injections. good on you. you are both superstars. thank you both very much. please, give your shoulder a rest. have you been holding your phone up the whole time? yes! i'm absolutely fine. thank you for the opportunity. it will be absent fantastic to recruit more volunteers to support the whole nation. thank you so much. thank you. she has shoulder burn after that! for many of us, living through a third lockdown, especially during the coldest months of the year, is tough to come to terms with. but there is hope on the horizon, with the rollout of the vaccine. breakfast‘s graham satchell has been speaking to families to find out how they‘re coping this time around. lockdown at home in essex.

john is trying to keep his daughter ella occupied. she is attempting doing some bead craft, but she‘s ended up... as you can see, she‘s ended up sticking them on herface instead. so it‘s been a mixed bag of success this morning. john is a primary school teacher — he‘s juggling looking after his daughter with giving online lessons. he says the key to teaching online is constant positivity. give us a pep talk, give the nation a pep talk. this is going to be a tough couple of months, isn‘t it? yeah, it is. we can get through this. we‘ve got a couple of months ahead but it‘s cold, it‘s wet and miserable anyway, so stay in, catch up on all your netflix everyone has recommended to you and we‘ll soon be through it. we‘ll be ok? absolutely, yeah. with not knowing there‘s a vaccine, it would have been a very pessimistic outlook but knowing that‘s very successful and it‘s being rolled out, i think that gives us reason to be positive about the future.

we're dealing with fractious customers. there's been a lot of abuse during this pandemic. it was never good but it has got worse. pat works in a supermarket. while most people are locked down at home, pat will carry on going to work. unfortunately, i know people who have passed away from this awful illness and i know it's out there. so i am scared, i'm scared for myself because i'm not exactly young and i do have some underlying health issues as well but it is... you know, it is what it is. it's a scary time to live. supermarket staff have faced extraordinary pressures in this pandemic and, as lockdown takes full effect once again, pat has this plea to customers. be kind. treat people how you would like to be treated. we've got to look after each other, respect each other's distance. keep a safe distance and, you know, let's get into this new year and get this out of the way now and get back

to some normality. we‘re going to start with the feet about shoulder width apart. we‘re just going to take a little sway side to side to check in with the hips really, see how they‘re feeling. this is pilates teacherjanine price. lockdown means her classes have had to move online. we‘ve lost half of the business from back in march. this is the third time i‘ve been shut. just not being able to see family, it feels quite intense, quite hard to get through this time round. this is janine‘s mum and dad, tanina and patrick. we first met them a couple of months ago. patrick has a serious heart condition. i‘ve got to be careful i don‘t pick it up and end up in intensive care. as i said in my last interview, i don‘t want to be on a slab just yet. so i‘m still here, i‘m still alive. the new year, i did bring in the new year but it‘s lockdown yet again, not great

news but life goes on. i'm just a bit tired of working from home. i never thought i'd see the day when i said i can't wait to get the train and go to work. janine‘s sister maria. just seeing my husband and two kids every day, all day every day, we‘re getting on each other‘s nerves. so, you know. ido... we did that before, dear. but it‘s worse. i just can‘t wait for that day that we can all give each other a cuddle and we can see family, friends and for the business to be open again. it‘s harder to keep the spirits up but, like i say, we‘ve got to keep going and hopefully it won‘t be too much longer. we'll see you in 2022. bye. love you. it will take some real fortitude and staying power to get through the next couple of months. graham satchell, bbc news. bye, bye.

just to say, as ever, we will be here with you during the weeks, months, whatever it is, we are here on bbc breakfast from six o‘clock every morning of the week. thank you for those people —— to those people who take part in those wonderful pieces for us. in recent months on breakfast, we‘ve done a lot of reports around motor neurone disease, so we know that one of its cruellest effects is to robs its victims of their ability to speak. that‘s what‘s happening to pauljameson, who was diagnosed with mnd three years ago. but before it goes completely, he was determined to sing an opera with a professional baritone. fiona lamdin went to meet him. and we should say, she filmed this before the area moved into tier 4 restrictions. # i know. i know. pauljameson is losing his voice. but today he‘s learning to sing an opera, one that is all about him. and it aptly named, paul‘s aria.

# this is my voice. three years ago, he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. his journey has now been set to music, with the help of a professional baritone. hannah composed the piece after spending hours with paul. in opera, an aria is traditionally for one character in a single moment telling everybody how they feel. what we wanted to do with this piece, we have an aria which represents one character but that character has two different voices. so paul‘s story is told with the real voice, paul‘s real voice, but also this imagined version of what his voice could be in its most expressive, powerful form. # give me a moment...

what was it like today, being centre stage and everyone listening to you? incredibly emotional. emotional. mesmerising. i love the music and being part of this was so important. # i will follow you. and in the audience are paul‘s wife and son. we just felt completely blown away. got through quite a lot of tissues, didn‘t we, to be honest. extraordinary. beautiful. really beautiful. really nice to hear you being able to express emotions maybe you wouldn't be able to normally, well, in the last couple of years. we do our best to try and understand what you're going through

in those moments but to hear it like that and feel it so much with that much passion and energy was really amazing. watching paul give roddy williams permission to voice his story and watching the two of them develop ways for paul to hand over his voice to roddy, who was singing his story, was really intimate and really the essence of what opera should be. # can you hear my voice.# since diagnosis, paul has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for mnd. he is the first person to play tennis on top of mount kilimanjaro. in the queen‘s recent birthday honours, he was awarded a british empire medal.

paul, yourfamily tells me you are not the most musically blessed in your family, is that right? that is an understatement. at school when you were younger, weren't you told to mime and pretend to be singing? the only reason he could stay in the choir was if he did not sing. you did hit a few right notes. you did. # can you hear my voice? # my voice.#

this is something we're going have ever. so when you have lost your voice completely, this is still very much you and you speaking to us. fiona lamdin, bbc news. it's it‘s lovely to see that story be played out. beautiful. we‘re joined now by andy laird, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2019, and to richard cave, a speech and language therapist with the mnd association. morning tea. thank you both for joining us. andy, i will come to you ina minute. joining us. andy, i will come to you in a minute. richard, voices are so important to all of us, aren‘t they? it is, it is. it‘s a sad fact that over 80% of people living with motor neurone disease will have communication difficulties. for most this means a complete loss of voice. when it becomes difficult to talk

to, they can be affected. we increase the risk of social withdrawal. the social work networks that we all depend on at times often, in my clinical experience, begin to fall away. just at the time when people living with motor neurone disease need that support most. and let‘s not forget, we are ina pandemic most. and let‘s not forget, we are in a pandemic where there is not only the risk of socialise issacson for people living with mnd, there is physical isolation as well. —— isolation. we need to look at this closely. for us as speech and language therapists, we work to try and find ways for people living with motor neurone disease to keep talking and who keep talking for as long as possible and be understood. and when things change, you know, think about the possibilities of

communicating in other ways. and one option for us is to think about something called voice banking. that isa something called voice banking. that is a way of creating a synthetic approximation of a person‘s natural voice. and that can then be used in a communication device. as and when people feel that they need to use it. let's hear andy's story. andy, thank you for being with us. tell us how you found out you had mnd and the impact it had on your life? well, it began in the summer of 2018, when i just well, it began in the summer of 2018, when ijust realised one morning i couldn't grip the key to turn the lock on my front door. i didn't think much of it. it happened againa few didn't think much of it. it happened again a few weeks later. and then a few weeks later. i didn't really ta ke few weeks later. i didn't really take it in. but cutting a long story short, after going to my gp and having a brain scan and then a neck scan, and then seeing different consultants about surgery, it was

eventually discovered that surgery wouldn't help me because what i actually had was motor neurone disease. and i know that you're part ofa disease. and i know that you're part of a choir. that‘s really important to you. you are noticing changes in your voice? yes, a friend of mine runs a community choir. i have been able tojoin in the odd line a little. but even that has had to stop of light. but he the difficulty i have now is maintaining a long note. ok, so it has affected you. and as a former minister and a keen singer, i would and as a former minister and a keen singer, iwould imagine and as a former minister and a keen singer, i would imagine that can be quite a difficult blow to take. have you decided to bank your voice, andy? we have heard a lot from rob burrow in recent weeks on this programme and he recorded his voice so he can now communicate with others. are you doing the same thing? yes, i did that almost a year ago, as soon as i could, really,

because i wanted to capture my voice at its best. i mean, it's not bad now, but i'm really pleased i banked it when i did. and andy, just really briefly, sorry, richard, really briefly, sorry, richard, really briefly, that whole point about the voice banking, is it to try and do it early when people are strong enough to do it? absolutely, yes. these days we have been working with various voice banking providers. a person can bank their voice in as little as an hour. it can just be done. but the real challenge for us is to build awareness of voice banking because just as you say we would like people to know and to make their own decisions about banking their voice as early as possible. ideally, before the voice is affected in any way. and it‘s very popular now. over the last year we have helped to bank nearly 700 people living with mnd. that was

double the year before. and w before that. it‘s something we need to build awareness of. really good to talk to both. thank you. i am loving the christmas tree. i am in the christmas tree team. keep it! it's coming down today. louise is keeping hers till february. as long as i possibly can! i don't blame you. lovely to speak to you. i will be impressed if you last that long. you wait! you‘re watching bbc breakfast. it's 8.59.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines. what now for a—level and gcse students in england? the exams have been cancelled but more details will be announced on how work will be assessed. the lockdown in england becomes law — the prime minister will address mps this morning ahead of a restrospective vote in the commons tonight. all of the uk is now under strict virus curbs. the measures come with a stark warning to follow the rules, as it‘s revealed that one in 50 people in england are thought to have the virus. and coming up at 9:30am, i‘ll put your questions on the lockdown and vaccine roll—out to a virologist and a public health specialist. get in touch with me on twitter, @annita—mcveigh, or using the hashtag bbc your questions.