that, bbc to keep watching that, bbc parliament is the place to keep watching the defence secretary. this is bbc news. the headlines... britain's top police officer warns those who break covid rules are now more likely to face fines, saying it's preposterous for anyone to claim they don't know what the rules are. where somebody is breaking the law, breaking the regulations, and it is absolutely clear that they must have known what do that they must have known, or do know that they are, then we will move very swiftly to enforcement and fining people. 2020 saw the largest increase in uk deaths in a single year since the second world war. a warning that core staff could leave the nhs after the coronavirus crisis — due to the "unsustainable" workloads. free school meals: parents and marcus rashford blast the ‘woefully inadequate' food parcels for children learning at home. and the findings of an inquiry into cruelty suffered by unmarried mothers and their children in religious institutions

is due to be published by the irish government. good afternoon. the uk's most senior police officer, dame cressida dick, has warned coronavirus rule—brea kers they‘ re increasingly likely to be fined. the metropolitan police commissioner says it's "preposterous" that anyone could be unaware of the need to follow lockdown measures. it comes as there has been criticism of the prime minister, who cycled through the olympic park, seven miles from downing street. number 10 has insisted borisjohnson had exercised within the rules. dame cressida dick said he did not break the law but there needed to be greater clarity on the rules. charlotte wright reports. hospitals are under huge strain

and covid cases are rising, prompting questions about whether the lockdown should tighten. but the message from ministers this morning is to stick to existing restrictions. it is very important that whilst the vaccine roll—out is proceeding well and we are on track to hit the targets we have set, we must also stress to everybody the importance of following the rules which are in place in order to control this virus and reduce the pressures on the nhs. today the most senior police officer in the uk issued this warning. we will move more quickly to enforcement, particularly when somebody is breaking the law, breaking the regulations and it is absolutely clear that they must have known, or do know that they are, we will move very swiftly to enforcement and fining people.

it comes amid calls around the advice about taking exercise should be clarified. it comes after borisjohnson, a keen cyclist, was spotted from downing street. number ten says he was acting within the guidelines at all times. he was taking his daily exercise, as i understand. as long as they are staying local, they are not interacting, not mixing with other people, and they do it efficiently and quickly and get back, that is reasonable and we understand people need to go outside to take exercise. how far people can travel to exercise outside varies across the uk. the distance is not specified in england. in scotland the law says it must start and finish in the same place, up to five miles from the local authority boundary. in northern ireland there is an advisory ten mile limit but has not been legislated. in wales, the law

says the exercise must start and finish at home. if we had got our messaging clear, correct and strong from the beginning, we would not be debating all of the things about whether seven miles is local or not. what we should be discussing is stay indoors, stay away from people, stay away from crowded people and wear your mask properly. scottish ministers have been discussing today what are lot restrictions there should be toughened. people know where they are. some might be tinkling on the edges on click and collect or garden centres, but we are in such a precarious position that the message is clear, stay at home. unless you had to go out, stay at home. the greatest protection against the virus is your front door. regardless of the legislation ministers agreed that the rising rates are a cause for concern, calling on people wherever they live to play their part and stay at home.

let's speak to our political correspondent damian grammaticas. some frustration expressed by the metropolitan police commissioner colin for clarity and we have heard from the prime minister's sports sense saying everyone needs to exercise their own judgment. that is not clarifying things. no, and the difficulty here is, as you are hearing, it is not entirely clear. there are different rules in different parts of the country, there is the legal basic position, which is you have to stay—at—home and you are allowed out for exceptions like exercise, but what qualifies as exercise comes into the more fuzzy area. people have been calling it woolly guidelines that go with it. those guidelines in england say should be within your local area and within europe out of europe city, still there are questions by the prime minister about going seven miles away to the olympic park, did

he cycled there? downing street had not given detail there on that. they have skirted around that bit of it but they say he didn't break the law, he followed the guidelines in their view and as his press secretary said, the met commissioner said the instruction was to stay—at—home and a reasonable interpretation of that was to exercise from your front door, back again. but for some people it is more complicated. everyone needs to exercise theirjudgment more complicated. everyone needs to exercise their judgment and exercising yourjudgment, exercise their judgment and exercising your judgment, if exercise their judgment and exercising yourjudgment, if you do that, is very hard for the police to police. some frustration for those who have to police these rules. particular when we are hearing about these two women who had a cup of tea ona park these two women who had a cup of tea on a park bench and were issued a fine. the police had to backtrack from that. this just doesn't help, does it? it muddies the whole picture a little bit for people and we know that the police federation

in west yorkshire have been talking this morning, saying that their members, who were trying to enforce the law they are, as they saw it, and protect the nhs, i now really cheesed off because the law was hard to enforce. all that attracts a bit from what you are hearing the doctors say just from what you are hearing the doctors sayjust now in that report, which is that there is a key thing to focus on is the areas of transmission. yes, there is a lot of focus on enforcement and tougher, quicker penalties being levied on people who are breaking rules, but most of the transmission is happening indoors, it is happening in crowded places and that is where some of the focus needs to be still on people avoiding that and sticking to that side of the rules, because thatis to that side of the rules, because that is what matters. and remember, in the background of all of this, the other thing that is not a focus

is put on, as we are not seeing the results of the black station of rules around christmas feeding through, and that has still to come —— relaxation of rules. there are still rising numbers to do with patterns of behaviour. thank you very much. and the home secretary priti patel will be leading today's coronavirus news briefing at downing street at five o'clock this afternoon. you can watch it live on the bbc news channel. last year saw the largest increase in deaths in a single year in more than 70 years — that's according to provisional figures from the office for national statistics. the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe has more. last year we sell around 7000

deaths. and then we saw a rise of 50%. it is hard to compare to world war ii because uk is a different place, different medicines. but those year—on—year changes to give you afair those year—on—year changes to give you a fair comparison because each year should look roughly like the year should look roughly like the year that went before it. that 15% jump year that went before it. that 15% jump is huge, i think we can show that the audience now. that 15% rise in the far right—hand side last year, and he had to go all the way back to the time of the second world war before you see a single year rise that is as big as that. that doesn't mean your chances of dying are back to where they were around the time of rationing. you probably need to do a more sophisticated analysis that takes into account the age and the size of the population. that analysis puts the chances of dying roughly where they were back

in and around the mid 90s. —— the mid 2000s. your chances of dying are begetting psst steadily smaller decade by decade, but it is a big deal and it is a reminder ofjust how unusual a year 2020 was. core staff could leave the nhs after the coronavirus crisis due to the "unsustainable" workloads they face — that's the warning today to a committee of mps. there are fears that many are working under incredibly difficult conditions and that unless that extra support is put in place, there could be burn—out in many workplaces. our health correspondent anna collinson has more. seriously ill patients, staff stressed, and was dangerously close to capacity. this is what one intensive care unit looks like in south london. but intense pressures in south—east england are being felt across the country. we know that we have got more patients in hospital with covid this

time than we had in the first wave, but we have also got patients in intensive care who would be in intensive care anyway, people who have had heart attacks, road traffic accidents, so, we are trying to run two sorts of intensive care unit at the same time. covid—i9 emissions are still highest in london, but there are concerns about other areas. that includes the midlands. health officials also have one eye on case numbers, as they can indicate what to expect in the coming weeks. one concern is on merseyside, which recorded more than 1300 cases per 100,000 people. our following of the rules in november time was much, much weaker, than it was in march, and christmas may well only have exacerbated that position. the chances of people under a0 needing icu care for covid—i9 is much lower, but staff at croydon university hospital say they are seeing a greater number of younger patients

compared to the first wave. this graph may explain why, and it has broken coronavirus hospital admissions into age groups, and as you can see, this time around, there has been an increase across all ages. vaccines are the best hope of alleviating pressures, but the queue is long. there are millions of elderly patients and health workers at the front. it is very important that whilst the roll—out of the vaccine is proceeding well and we are on track to hit the targets that we have set, we must also stress to everybody the importance of following the rules which are in place in order to control this virus and reduce the pressures on the nhs. after a brutal year, nhs workers are running on empty. many have been infected with the virus, they were trying to protect others from it. some staff have been speaking to mps about how long covid has scarred their lives, months after they were first diagnosed.

covid has somehow damaged my spinal quote but it is unclear exactly how i know i can only walk about 200 metres without some form of assistance. i have been much of the brain fog that people explain. where i can't seem to recall the most common basic words or phrases, or why put things in the fridge when i go to make a cup of tea. i have got to itus in one ear which is quite distracting when trying to communicate. —— tinnitus. the coronavirus has destroyed many lives and is now a stark reminder of the loss. the uk would normally expect to see around 600,000 deaths a year, but new figures show there are an extra 90,000 in 2020 — the largest increase in a single year in seven decades. tesco and asda have become the latest supermarket chains to deny entry to customers who are not wearing masks. morrisons were the first to announce that they're putting security guards on store entrances to offer every customer a face covering.

if you decline they won't let you in unless you have a medical exemption. sainsbury‘s also say they'll challenge customers to wear masks, and to shop alone. you can expect security guards at their stores too. but unlike morrisons, sainsbury‘s say they cannot deny entry to those who decide to break the rules. so whose responsibility is it? well, the police can issue fines to people not following the law. £200 in england and £60 in the rest of the uk, with repeat offenders facing bigger penalties. but that doesn't actually happen very often. the latest figures show that since june, fewer than 1,000 fixed penalty notices have been issued in england and wales to people breaking rules on masks. a tiny proportion of the 32,000 fines issued for breaking coronavirus regulations over that period. police say they simply can't do it all — and businesses must play their part. paddy lillis, general secretary of the shopworkers' union usdaw welcomed the move, arguing that it helps protect staff on the shop floor. this is a deadly virus. we have lost 80,000 plus persons

and we have seen this morning that the highest death toll since 1840. "1940. if this does not reinforce the message to the british public, we need to do our best to secure and safe guard our workers, ourfamilies our families and communities, ourfamilies and communities, then nothing will. so we welcome all of this. the headlines on bbc news... britain's top police officer warns those who break covid rules are now more likely to face fines, saying it's preposterous for anyone to claim they don't know what the rules are. a warning that core staff could leave the nhs after the coronavirus crisis — due to the "unsustainable" workloads a meeting will be taking place today between the department for education and the company at the centre of a storm over what's been described as ‘woefully inadequate' free school meal parcels. one mother posted a picture of a 30—pound parcel which was estimated to contain just over 5 pounds worth of food. andy moore reports.

even though many children may not be at school because of covid, the government is still committed to providing free school meals in the form of vouchers or food parcels. but some of those deliveries have been falling short of expectations. this is claimed to be the supply of food for one child for ten days, issued in place of a £30 voucher. the company believed to have supplied it says an investigation is under way. it says the photo doesn't reflect the specification of one of its hampers. and now this example, and other hampers provided by different companies, have come to the attention of marcus rashford, the manchester united player and school meals campaigner. he tweeted an image of a parcel said to be three days of food for one family, saying it was just not good enough. he added that children deserve better than this. when marcus rashford raises an issue, ministers take note. the claims can't be verified but they have already prompted the children's minister, vicky ford, to say she will be

looking into the issue urgently. the department for education said parcels should be nutritious and contain a varied range of food. it said there were clear guidelines which it expected to be followed. the night after the prime minister made the announcement, i was at the supermarket getting all our packed lunches for the next two days. now, what i bought for the packed lunches was much better than we get from the company we use, and it was half the price, and we have found that, actually, throughout the whole of lockdown, that what we've been getting from the company has been not the greatest in the world and is, believe it or not, nearly double the price that we'd pay for the hot meals, pre—lockdown. so, yeah, we weren't happy at all. some parents have been happy with the food hampers they've received. but the government will be keen to diffuse this row before incurring the wrath of marcus rashford once again. andy moore, bbc news. with me now is stephanie slater —

the founder and chief executive of school food matters. good afternoon. i am just... can you hear me all right? i can. i wonder where the buck stops at this. marcus rashford is getting angry as are some parents, and most people will be angered when they see these photographs. why is £5 worth of food getting through when it should be costing 30? i think we have got a slight problem with the connection here but i will soldier on. we were very pleased when we saw the guidance come through from the department for education on friday because it offered schools the opportunity to support children on free school meals in different ways. schools can work with caterers to provide a food hamper and they can also provide vouchers for families

and be reimbursed by the department for education. what we have seen today on social media, i think eve ryo ne today on social media, i think everyone will agree is very disappointing but i firmly believe this is a glitch. we have seen some fantastic work by caterers working in partnership with their schools and getting out boxes full of food that are going to help children thrive while they are staying at home. a glitch for some is insufficient food for the week for others. yeah, as i say, i firmly believe this is a glitch. that is not what we would expect for £15 per week, that is definitely not what we would expect. there is some level of confusion on social media. i have been trying to keep track of it today. the £15 covers one child, thatis today. the £15 covers one child, that is five meals for the week. if it isa that is five meals for the week. if it is a food hamper for two weeks, thatis it is a food hamper for two weeks, that is ten meals. it is not for a whole family. i think there is a lot of misinformation, but we know there

is some fantastic caterers out there doing an extraordinary job, is some fantastic caterers out there doing an extraordinaryjob, working really ha rd to doing an extraordinaryjob, working really hard to make sure children are malnourished, and working within the school food standards within that budget. and for £30, what should be in the box? there should bea should be in the box? there should be a mixture of protein and starch and carbs. there is some really good guidance there from the department for education. we have made sure it has gone out of social media again today. just to give you an example, we are running a covid—19 response programme. we don't normally do a feeding programme but these are extraordinary times. and we are doing breakfast. we just extraordinary times. and we are doing breakfast. wejust make extraordinary times. and we are doing breakfast. we just make sure that there is fruit and fibre and looking at the school food standards to make sure children are getting what they need to thrive. putting fruit and fibre into a box doesn't necessarily ensure children are going to eat them. that is right, but the caterers are putting in

recipe cards and we have to remember to school caterers who are in the business of school meals no children. we have seen some really poor examples today, i am not defending what has gone out on social media by any means, but there are some caterers out there doing greatjobs and offering recipe sheets and providing ingredients that children enjoy when in school. i wonder how you would have reacted if you're expecting £30 worth of food in that box arrived. i know you are saying it is almost a one off or are saying it is almost a one off or a glitch, but the suggestion on social media is that it is a bigger problem than that. yeah, and i was to receive that box, it would probably have gone on social media and been deeply upset. i would encourage pa rents and been deeply upset. i would encourage parents to talk to talk to their schools. they are managing the situation, some of them are doing it brilliantly but some of them may be need some feedback. there is something that has clearly gone wrong with this particular food parcel and it needs fixing. it sounds like the department for education are doing everything they

can to try and clear up this problem. i am can to try and clear up this problem. iam hoping can to try and clear up this problem. i am hoping that you're a purist look on social media and see some of the fantastic food there is on offer out there this week. —— i am hoping your viewers will look. i am hoping your viewers will look. i am worried about parents losing confidence. there is help out there. there are different ways of supporting families at the moment. i would ask parents to talk to their schools to get the best mechanism to support their children right now. thank you very much for putting up the sound problems. thank you for your time this afternoon. the fbi has warned that armed protests are being planned across the united states by supporters of donald trump, ahead ofjoe biden's inauguration as president next week. a huge security operation has been drawn up to prevent any repeat of last week's storming of the capitol building in washington. democrats say a vote to impeach president trump will happen on wednesday — he'll be accused of "incitement of insurrection". our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. washington, eight days before joe biden is due to be sworn in as the next president.

unprecedented security around the capitol building, where the national guard is on patrol. from tomorrow, parts of the city will be under lockdown, and president trump has approved a state of emergency lasting until the end of next week. inside the capitol, more political high drama. the democrats don't want to wait to see the back of mr trump. they want him out now. resolution calling on vice—president michael r pence to convene... it's a long shot, but they're hoping the vice—president and a majority of the cabinet will agree to invoke the 25th amendment, declaring mr trump unfit to continue in office. he will be removed immediately. if that doesn't happen, the democrats will move forward with articles of impeachment, accusing the president of incitement of insurrection, that he gravely endangered the security of the united states. around the country, feelings are running high. you know, if one of us was inciting a riot we would get thrown in jail,

so i think that somebody like... you know, just because you're the president doesn't mean you are exempt from the law. and i think he should be held accountable. hurry up and impeach him! but we're only hoping that he will never run for anything ever again. except from the police. yes. so lock him up. while washington debates the president's immediate future, mr trump is planning to head to texas to see part of the border wall that he promised to build. in the meantime, there's more backlash against the storming of the capitol last week. the most famous coach in american football, bill belichick, says he won't accept donald trump's offer of the presidential medal of freedom. for his part, joe biden has been focusing on the coronavirus, receiving his second dose of the vaccine. he was pressed by reporters on whether he was concerned about the open—air inauguration ceremony next week. i'm not afraid of taking the oath outside, and we've been getting briefed. butiam... i think it's critically important that there be a real,

serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatened people's lives, defaced public property, caused great damage, that they be held accountable. the head of the national guard has said up to 15,000 troops could be deployed in washington for mr biden's inauguration, while the fbi has warned that armed protests could take place in the capital cities of every state in the country over the next week. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. the impact of last week's attack on the capitol building the irish government is due to publish a public inquiry report into cruelty and neglect at mother—and—baby homes — which took in unmarried pregnant women in the last century. the investigation was set up six years ago, after evidence emerged of a mass grave at the site of one institution. it's been reported that the inquiry has estimated 9,000 children died in the homes across the country. chris page reports.

the only thing that i can remember is the bed being wet. wetting the bed an awful lot, then marched down to school. we had to go ten minutes late in the morning. we had to leave ten minutes early in the evening. and when it came to playtime, then we were all cornered off in a section of the playground by the nuns so you wouldn't mix with the other kids. locked up — what i called a prison, really. and to think, like, why? just because i was born out of wedlock. pj haverty spent his first seven years in the home which once stood here. ireland in the 1950s was a deeply conservative catholic society. unmarried women who were pregnant were taken into religious institutions, and separated from their children. pj's late mother, eileen, eventually moved to london, where he met her. and i suppose, then, when you look at other people, i was lucky — i got to meet my mother. that was the most brilliant

part about it, as well — i got to meet her. and, as i said, i got her side of the story, so i could never blame her. but if i didn't meet her, i would be blaming herfor leaving me in there. there's another reason why pj thinks he's lucky — he was fostered by a loving family near here, after a plan for him to be adopted in america fell through. at the tuam home, nearly 800 children aged up to three died between 1925 and 1961. investigators believe many were buried at the site in some kind of sewage system. when i go down there and stand there, to think that i could be in there, too. only for i was born a healthy baby. and to think that the mothers of today are still looking for them babies, not knowing where they are. and to think, the possibilities that their baby could be in there in the sewer system. i was amazed, i was shocked that a religious country, that we are supposed to be, would do the likes of that

to a helpless little baby. the irish government has committed to having this site excavated, so the children whose remains are beneath this ground can be reburied with some dignity. tuam is the mother and baby home which has generated the most international attention, but there are many other institutions in the republic of ireland with long histories of shame, neglect and unspeakable cruelty. the historian who discovered what happened at tuam says there should be a state apology. these babies were more than likely left to die, but they were neglected. there were some little simple diseases that could have been treated. and let's give an apology to all those people who suffered at the hands of the state, the church and the religious. and pj is hoping the public inquiry report will lay out all the dark truths. the priest never went after the father — he never went to the father's house and said, like, "you're responsible here — you must look after this child, this is your child."

it was always the woman's fault. and that's why i like to get my story out there, and i want this to go into the history books of ireland, what was done to the women in the past. just to bring you some news as retailers respond to the current rise in covid cases, we are hearing from john lewis who have announced that they are making face coverings mandatory in waitrose shops and also they are saying that click and collect services based within john lewis department stores will be temporarily suspended. they are also saying that part of their in—home services will only be carried out if they are essential to customers well being. this is on top of what we we re being. this is on top of what we were reporting earlier on,

supermarkets tightening the regulations for face coverings and other measures at their stores. john lewis are saying the click and collect service will be temporarily suspended withinjohn lewis department stores. i will bring you more on that a little later on. and reaction to that. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. we have seen a change to colder, clearer skies across more of the country, today, but we have still got some cloud hanging on in the far south and south—west and coming back into northern ireland. but in the clear skies elsewhere, those temperatures will be falling away rapidly, actually, during this evening, and it will be milder for northern ireland, parts of the south—west of england and wales as well. we have some rain continuing here, that rain will push its way towards wales, develop in northern ireland and some of the cloud will spill its way towards eastern areas but won't prevent a frost widely in scotland, as well as northern and eastern parts of england as well. much milderfor northern ireland, wales and the south—west, where we have some outbreaks of rain. along that boundary, though, there is the threat of icy conditions with freezing rain

as a risk in western scotland and north—west england. in the morning, that rain band moves very slowly northwards and eastwards to the south—east of england. later in the day, some signs of snow developing over the hills of scotland and northern england. it is going to be a cold day in scotland, eastern england, much milder in the west. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... britain's top police officer warns those who break covid rules are now more likely to face fines, saying it's preposterous for anyone to claim they don't know what the rules are. where somebody is breaking the law, breaking the regulations, and it is absolutely clear that they must have known what do that they must have known, or do know that they are, then we will move very swiftly to enforcement and fining people. 2020 saw the largest increase in uk deaths in a single year since the second world war. a warning that core staff could leave the nhs after the coronavirus crisis — due

to the "unsustainable" workloads. free school meals: parents and marcus rashford blast the ‘woefully inadequate‘ food parcels for children learning at home. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. the new formula one season will start later than planned after the first race — the australian grand prix — was postponed beacuse of covid restrictions in the country. it means bahrain will host the opening race on 26th march and despite the disruption to the calendar, organisers are still planning on staging more races than in any other season, as our formula one reporter jennie gow explains. 23 race season is what they came out with provisionally and even with this revised calendar they are sticking to it. this season will start a week later, so no australia opener. a little break before we head

to italy which is a race that we were not expecting. that has taken a spot. then china looks as if it will not happen at the moment because of covid and want portimao to be announced at some point and australia shuffled back eight months. now a november race. will formula 1 get those races away? that is the big question. they managed 17 last year to great plaudits. fingers crossed they are expected to welcome fans back and the paddock club. it will be interesting to see what the season is. as that comes as calls grow for football to be stopped, the premier league have been reminding players and staff of adhering to the rules. it comes as referees will be asked to remind players to socially distance and avoid unnecessary contact on the pitch like goal celebrations and handshakes. there are growing concerns that footballers are breaching too

many of the regulations. tottenham play fulham tomorrow, a fixture rearranged after an outbreak in the fulham squad. the spurs managerjose mourinho says they‘re all adapting. i don‘t even celebrate goals. because of the var. i adapt iadapti i adapt i went on a certain direction of controlling emotions that i believe the players can also doa that i believe the players can also do a little bit of the same. organsiers of the tokyo olympics say they will make a decision on whether to admit fans to events in february or march. the games have been delayed for a year because of the pandemic, and are scheduled to take place at the end ofjuly. a state of emergency has been called in tokyo amid ecent ——recent rising infection rates. the british olympic association have said british athletes should notjump the queue in receiving vaccinations. the masters, one of the biggest events in snooker is continuing this afternoon with former champion

neil robertson in first round action at the moment. he‘s up against china‘s yan bingtao in milton keynes, and leads 3—1 at the mid—session interval, and the australian has looked in good form so far, knocking in a couple of breaks over 80, and a 121 here. you can watch this match right now on the bbc sport website and app. finishing with the australian cricket captain, tim payne, has defended batsmen steve smith over claims he deliberately scuffed up the crease duing the third test match with india. smith was seen on the stump camera scraping the crease with his boot during the drinks break — something that the former england captain michael vaughan said was "very, very poor". smith, remember, was banned over his part in australia‘s sandpaper scandal, but his captain says he‘s done nothing wrong. it is something we have a laugh about because he loves batting so much.

even when he is on the field, he is shadow batting. he does a lot, there was no chance he was trying to change. it is one of these things that he does. it has come up like it is, again, it is something he might need to look at because of the perception of it. they have civilly been subtly unsavoury incidents in that, and sat sure that all eyes will be australia. that‘s all the sport for now. thank you for that update. earlier today, the department for culture, media and sport held a hearing on the future of gyms and sports centres with witneses giving evidence from the world of indoor sports activities. the session considered how the pandemic has affected venues and what is needed to secure the sector‘s long term future. gyms and all outdoor sports are currently banned under the lockdown restrictions — but even before the tier restrictions in england had a devastating impact on the sector. let‘s speak now to rebecca passmore, uk managing

director of pure gym. rebecca, here we are injanuary, traditionally, the equivalent to the retail sector of christmas for you! this, it should be, a busy month, what is it doing to you this lockdown? good afternoon, simon. thank you for having me on. as you say, this is generally a really busy period for us, but this is the third blown out to us as a business and to the other 7000 operators in the gm industry. we have had to close our sites now for the third time and with the latest say that we will be saying shut until the end of march, this means shutting for the 3a weeks as of 3a weeks, and gyms are just not like bra straps, you can do take a ways, we tell who can offer a click and collect. we had to freeze all of our memberships and during this period membership, period, we had zero revenue coming end. at the end of the third period, it will have cost £150 million in this region of covid. and how much government help you take advantage of? we have specifically, this was

the message that we covered with dcms today. this 3a weeks of closure have cost us greatly, and we are extremely grateful for the support from the government to date —— make two dates, but it does not cover the significant because the weak cover ona significant because the weak cover on a failure —— can a weekly basis, and without further financial support, proportionate to the lockdown that the impacts of had, i really felt this sector will suffer a economic long covid—19, in the forms of scarring where operators will go out of business. there are three main areas that we are asking for support on. the most important is the sharing of the burden of rents. it does not even need to cost the government anything. what we are asking for is a legislation to ensure that the lad lance —— lambert ta ke ensure that the lad lance —— lambert take that split the social social response but it government line that has i was been talks on you and are you trying to reach an agreement? are you getting any positive feedback from landlords? are you getting any positive feedback from landlords7m are you getting any positive feedback from landlords? it would be

wrong of me to say that some landlords have not come to the table, but that is only 15% that we have seen so far. it is really going to ta ke have seen so far. it is really going to take something far more structured, something in legislation from the government to ensure that we really share the burden across not just the operators, we really share the burden across notjust the operators, but we really share the burden across not just the operators, but also for the landlords. the dcms meeting, had that go? forgive me, they fit for purpose? i think it was a really positive meeting. we were able to make our points really clearly. gyms are an essential community assets and both because of the health dividend that they will dispel on the ocean, but the vital part they play on people‘s daily, physical and mental health regime, i think they will affect that, and after going to the gym, walking is by far the most common form of activity, among the british public, and it‘s something nice to have, i think they listen to us really carefully. especially around the financial aspects of a targeted financial support, proportionate to the amount of lockdown, and i really look forward

to the conversations that are going to the conversations that are going to be had with dcms. you talked about mental health issues, because pick—up presumably, when you reopen after a period of closure, you can see the benefit of people, presumably they actually show you. that is the case, i feel really positive from a demand perspective about reopening. just last year, when it will gyms reopen? was one of the most public —— popular search terms of google for is that we just know our members cannot wait to get back. we look at results from the second lockdown, we saw memberships getting back to 80% of prior—year level year levels and actually, more promisingly, visits were up 93% on the prior year, and this is members placing more of an emphasis on their physical and their mental well—being. clearly, for us as an operator, we stay committed as a business to doing what we have a lwa ys business to doing what we have always done, we need to prove provides affordable and flexible memberships to people and high—quality quality gym environment, health and well—being will be at the top of the agenda as

we exit this pandemic. we have a vital role to play in this. the light at the end of the tunnel is of course the vaccination programme —— my programme. but the irony is that the younger, fitter people, i am generalising here, but they are more likely to be your clients than others, they are going to be the last one is in line for that. they will. we need to take pretty radical steps right now and the government has done the right thing in measures that they have put in place to make sure that hospitals are not overwhelmed. actually, we would like to support matt hancock. it is clear that the vaccination programme is the way out of this and accelerating the way out of this and accelerating the roll—out is essential to get gyms back open as as soon as possible. over the last week, we have offered to confirm some of our judges to foresight across the uk see vaccination centres, working with local pharmacies, with gps so that vaccinations can be deployed locally within the community. what is clear to us is that the speed of the vaccination process will get

gyms back open again. what response did you have to offer? welcome out really timely, we are in discussions with a pharmacy in warwickshire, at present, and it is a pharmacy group, a club in coventry, we have showed them round and subject to the government to sign them off, hopefully we‘ll have our first site up hopefully we‘ll have our first site up and running in the matter of days. there is all very positive and to be lauded. ijust wondered have you worked out how much more time pure gem can go on like this without bringing customers in? we are in a better position than some other operators within the market, we have been able to access some additional funding. but is this that make it as a small operators that i‘m really concerned about. smaller operators, where they have taken out mortgages, they have invested their life savings to open their gyms, gyms that they have a huge passion for, in terms of how they serve the local communities, help people maintain a really strong physical and mental well—being. it is these gyms that i

fell for the most and the reality is that they are going to struggle u nless that they are going to struggle unless the government put in place more targeted support for the gym industry. rebecca, thank you very joining us. rebecca possible. there are more than 30,000 coronavirus patients in uk hospitals. that‘s 10,000 more than during the peak of the first wave in april. let‘s hear from two people who have been treated for the virus. hi, my name is ali sherlock. i came into hospital on the 28th of december. i tested positive for covid. i have been very, very unwell and i‘ve been extremely frightened. i have seen two people die in that either side of me while i have been at this hospital, and not elderly people either, people with families, children. how will they ever be able

to explain to their families what has happened to them? i have had arterial lines, i have feeding tubes, i have a facemask i have to use regularly called a cpap mask, which helps inflate my lungs. ijust want to cuddle my babies, i have never been separated from my children before and i‘m finding it very difficult. ijust can‘t reiterate how wonderful our nhs service is. they have literally saved my life, it could have gone one way or the other and i feel so very, very lucky to be here to tell the story. so i got a headache, shortness of breath and i was bedbound, i was calling my dad and my sister drenched in sweat, i could not

move, could not eat. from here upwards was the only working part of my lungs, the rest of my lungs went into type one respiratory failure. it was like... he pants. for days. that is how it was for days. i could never catch my breath. i had two nurses on this side, holding my hand, stroking me, saying it's ok, and then another nurse held my phone next to my ear. it was horrible. my dad does not really cry but he is my best friend, my superhero, to hear my dad sobbing down the phone saying, please, just fight one more day, you have got this, but your body is so weak you cannot say "i love you" back isjust... it messes you up. you feel so empty and numb and worthless.

because all you want is to cuddle your family. if you are going to pass, as horrible as it is, you want to hold your family and say goodbye and have that last final moments with them and i couldn't. it affects everyone, notjust the elderly. we need to literally open our eyes and realise how serious it is. treating those patients and many like them are the thousands of nhs staff up and down country. today, the health select committee in parliament has been finding out whether staff in the health service could soon suffer from burn—out due to the relentless pressure they are under on the front line tackling coronavirus. speaking at the hearing, the chief executive of nhs providers, chris hopson, says fundamental problem is that for the last 10 years the nhs hasn‘t been able to keep up with the rapidly rising demand.

we can‘t keep trying to run the nhs and close that capacity — demand mismatch by effectively asking our staff to work harder and harder and harder. it was already pretty unsustainable before we got into covid. it seems to us that this is just really reinforcing it. the message we‘re getting very, very clearly is that people will do everything they need to do in this immediate period because they don‘t want to let their colleagues down, they don‘t want to let patients down, but what all of our chief execs are saying is that they worry that when we get through this immediate phasee, we will start to see people like for example those who are near to retirement, junior doctors or people who have come from overseas to train, they will leave the nhs and we will get core workers leaving, because effectively, this whole concept of trying to close that gap by asking our staff to work harder and harder and harder, it is just creating an impossible and unsustainable workload for our frontline staff. there is some good news though —

the vaccination centres are open and people are being vaccinated. the plan is to immunise 15 million people by mid—february — that‘s everyone over 70 and those classed as clinical extremely vulnerable. and today — sir david attenborough has become the latest well—known name to receive the covid—19 vaccine. my appointment was at 11:15am. i arrived at 11 o‘clock. i was directed to a slot in the car park and the guy who directed me there said, stay in your car. we will call you when it is ready. after about half an hour beyond my allotted time, i asked what was going on. he said, there is a delay. we will keep you informed. another half hour went past and i asked a more senior guy what was going on.

he said it is likely to be a 3—4 hour delay. i said is that despite the fact that i have got a booked appointment? he said, i am sorry, yes, it is. i stayed in my car for another hour or so. i finally went up and i said, what is going on? he said, "we are going to beginning of the car park, which was ranks of cars about eight long. and i was about ten or 12 rows from the front. and he said, "we will start at the front and come back to you when we can." anyway, i was prompted by a car thatjust pulled in and a guy went to his boot

and i said, look, don‘t hurry. we have got a 3—4 hour wait. he carried on, went round to his passenger and an elderly person got out. who had obviously got mobility problems. he put them in the wheelchair, walked up to the pedestrian queue and went straight in. i thought, well, if i can do that, i try to abide by the rules. so i went up and joined the queue. i was in the queue which was about 80, 100 people there. in the immediate group around me, there was at least three people who had an 11 o‘clock appointment and were now getting close to two o‘clock. sorry to interrupt, in the end, how long were you waiting? i actually finally got my injection at three o‘clock.

did you feel... obviously, it was a really frustrating process. did you feel vulnerable? i am assuming you went from an environment where you have been staying home, protecting yourself and then you ended up there? i live on my own. and so my immediate circle is very small. i am staying at home and obviously jumping in the car and driving a0 miles to the centre. and then mixing with people, although i was masked up. and, you know, ifelt myself vulnerable. when i... i had my injection and the nurse said, if you have driven here, you better wait in the car for another quarter of an hour before you drive away. as i was walking past, i saw one of the car park attendants.

i said this to her. she said, "well, this is the thing that is causing the problem the problem this morning." "people are having their injections, coming back to the car park and we don‘t know whether they have had their injections or are waiting. and we have completely lost control." in the hall, and let me stress, once i was in the hall, it was immaculate. it couldn‘t have gone smoother. the sharp eyed among you will have noticed that that was not david attenborough, but you havejust heard from 82—year—old brian hoare from buckinghamshire was vaccinated at the epsom vaccine centre yesterday but had to wait in his carfor several hours.

online fitness classes, baking and even ping—pong ball challenges — some of the ways we have been spending time at home during the coronavirus pandemic. jayne mccubbin reports on how some have been perfecting the art of achieving something — a lockdown lifeline. here we are again and so many of us need to find a thing that will make all of this bearable. some have found that thing in the most unlikely place. kath, we are talking lockdown lifelines, what has saved you? k drama. k drama, for the uninitiated, is a korean drama. one of the best things about k drama is very strong female roles. usually older women who have some power... very, very keen on that, as i am sure most women my age are!

what saved your bacon? personal challenge. this is tim. there's not much else to do, i find that challenge to motivate, i guess. starting with one pan, ending with two pans. ican't remember, but i ran out of pans. there is a cup in there somewhere! keep yourself motivated to do it. when the sun has set on another day of grim news, so many have found solace here. for me, it has got to be looking at the night sky. i love it, i get a sense of peace and tranquility about it to keep going. tonight, 7:30pm, take your phone with you, and i'll be tweeting about things you can see in the sky. one of the many families joining mark to look outside their window,

up at the night sky has been caroline and hayden. i believe you guys have been doing some stargazing. we have, yes, indeed. it helps me relax. hayden is autistic and has adhd, and has sometimes been overwhelmed by events. everything is so still and so quiet, and we wrap up really well, and we get all cozy and just look up. and it‘s just wonderful. it is not easy to look at the news and feel anything other than dread, but be it zombies, challenges, stargazing, christmas decorations, or dancing, these people have found their thing and keep the faith as well. one day, this will end. when it comes to unusual marriage proposals, you might have heard of people getting a pet to present the engagement ring. but what about a romantic robot? ben hogan and his partner sherri dawes live near milton keynes, where these hi—tech machines are used to deliver groceries. ben arranged for one of them to bring the ring to their home

so he could pop the question. sherri is a big fan of the robots so the proposal went down very well. as you can see, she said yes. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. we have seen a real change in our weather today and that started this morning, with a frost in the northern parts of the country. that continued on for many northern parts of the country seeing a cold, crisp, sunny winter‘s day. again, we have had more cloud in the far south and particularly the south—west sky here is very similar to what we had yesterday. the cloud and rain that we had yesterday swept southwards overnight, but that cloudy sky‘s still hanging on in the far south—west and parts of northern ireland as well. clearer, colder air across the rest of the uk today and over the next few days, it is a battle between that cold air and this milder air on weather fronts trying to come in from the atlantic. quite a contrast of temperatures, even earlier this evening, it is milderfor northern ireland,

wales and the south west already cold and the frost beginning to develop across other parts of the uk, where of course we had the clearer skies and lighter winds and any showers out into the north sea by this stage. we‘ll find it clouding over more and more across north wales in the south—west, outbreaks of rain pushing in here. that cloud will continue to spill its way steadily eastwards, but it remains cold and frosty in scotland, northern england and much of eastern england as well. much milder again for western areas. along that boundary, there is the threat of some icy conditions and freezing rain in the morning, in western scotland and the north—west of england. this band of wet weather moving very slowly north and eastwards, a bit drier in northern ireland, and wales and in the south—west for a while. later in the day, there is a sign of some snow beginning to arrive over the hills of scotland and the north of england. into the colder air, where temperatures are going to be on the low side for many northern and eastern areas. much milderfor northern ireland and the south—west. we have got a weather front moving in. bringing some wet weather. it doesn‘t really push quite across the uk, so it never really pushes away

the cold air that we have across the north and eastern areas. across the night and into thursday, we will find some snow falling. primarily over the hills of scotland and northern england. more likely to be rain elsewhere and that rain finally easing away from northern ireland, continuing in other areas. it may turn drier for wales and the south—west. it may turn windy here with temperatures in double figures and again, another chilly day for scotland and eastern areas of england. that weather front is bringing that wintry mix and then fades away during thursday night and for many, it will be dry on friday ahead of the next weather system in the north—west later on in the day.

this is bbc news, i‘m simon mccoy. the headlines... britain‘s top police officer warns those who break covid rules are now more likely to face fines, saying it‘s preposterous for anyone to claim they don‘t know what the rules are. where somebody is breaking, you know, breaking the law, breaking the regulations, and it is absolutely clear that they must have known or do know that they are, then we will move very swiftly to enforcement and fining people. 2020 saw the largest increase in uk deaths in a single year since the second world war. a warning that core staff could leave the nhs after the coronavirus crisis — due to the "unsustainable" workloads. free school meals: parents and marcus rashford blast the ‘woefully inadequate‘ food parcels for children learning at home. and the findings of an inquiry into cruelty suffered by unmarried mothers and their children in religious institutions is due to be published

by the irish government. good afternoon. the uk‘s most senior police officer, dame cressida dick, has warned coronavirus rule—brea kers they‘re increasingly likely to be fined. the metropolitan police commissioner says it‘s "preposterous" that anyone could be unaware of the need to follow lockdown measures. it comes as there has been criticism of the prime minister, who cycled through the olympic park, seven miles from downing street. number 10 has insisted borisjohnson had exercised within the rules. dame cressida dick said he did not break the law but there needed to be greater clarity on the rules. charlotte wright reports. hospitals are under huge strain and covid cases are rising, prompting questions over

whether the lockdown should tighten. but the message to the public from ministers this morning is stick to existing restrictions. it is very important that whilst the vaccine roll—out is proceeding well and we are on track to hit the targets that we have set, we must also stress to everybody the importance of following the rules which are in place in order to control this virus and reduce the pressures on the nhs. today the uk‘s most senior police officer issued this warning. we will move more quickly to enforcement, particularly where somebody is breaking the law, breaking the regulations, and it is absolutely clear that they must have known, or do know that they are, we will move very swiftly to enforcement and fining people. it comes amid calls for the advice around taking exercise to be clarified, after the prime minister,

a keen cyclist, was spotted on his bike in east london on sunday, around seven miles from downing street. number ten has insisted he was cycling within accordance of the guidance and acted within the covid guidelines at all times. he was taking his daily exercise, as i understand it. as long as they are staying local within their own mind, they are not interacting, not mixing with other people, and they do it efficiently and quickly and get back, that is reasonable and we understand people need to go outside to take their exercise. how far people can travel to exercise outside varies across the uk. the distance is not specified in england. in scotland the law says it must start and finish in the same place, up to five miles from the local authority boundary. in northern ireland there is an advisory ten mile limit but it has not been legislated. in wales, the law says the exercise must start and finish at home. if we had got our messaging clear, correct and strong

from the beginning, we would not be debating all of the things about whether seven miles is local or not. what we should be discussing is stay indoors, stay away from people, stay away from crowded places and wear your mask properly. meanwhile, scottish ministers have been discussing today whether lockdown restrictions there should be toughened. people know where they live. some might be tinkering on the edges on click and collect or garden centres in one of your examples, but we are in such a precarious position that the message is really clear, stay at home. unless you have to go out, stay at home. the greatest protection against the virus is your front door. regardless of the legislation ministers agree that the rising covid rates are a cause for concern, calling on people wherever they live to play their part and stay at home. let‘s speak to our political

correspondent damian grammaticas. a cold airfrom a cold air from the metropolitan police commissionerfor a cold air from the metropolitan police commissioner for clarity. it is not really forthcoming, is it? no, and that is set up in the rules because the rules at a basic level are because the rules at a basic level a re clear because the rules at a basic level are clear that you have to stay—at—home and you‘re only allowed out for specific and limited reasons. but when it comes to interpreting those reasons, that is all in the accompanying guidelines and there are about 100 pages now of all of the rules and regulations, as they have been added to and on this issue, that has cropped up here, which the prime minister has got tangled up in, because of his bike ride seven miles from home at the other pick apart at the weekend, it is not clear. it says the rules say in london, or in england, and inner—city london, you should exercise locally. dame cressida dick pressed on this question this

morning. she was saying local for her would mean that you started and finished at your front door. downing street will not be drawn on whether the prime minister started his bike ride there was he transported by car to do his bike ride. that, they want to do his bike ride. that, they want to get into. but this is the sort of thing where the police are at seeing some clarity might be helpful. and there is a little bit more clarity in other parts of the uk where there isa in other parts of the uk where there is a bit more expressivity about the rules. i think in scotland it is no more than five miles outside your local authority area. in wales, you should start and finish at your front door. it is less clear in england. you know about this better than i do, but if downing street doesn‘t clarify how he got to that olympic park, the british public is going to make certain assumptions and that is the difficulty with stories like this. it is a bit. i think maybe the hope is because he didn‘t break the law, dame cressida dick said that very clearly and

downing street is very clear, they say he was also within the guidelines, the prime minister‘s press secretary has said the interpretation from the met commissioner was reasonable but for some people, it is updated. everyone needs to exercise their own judgment. i think the hope is this will fade a bit because there was not a breach of the law here or anything, and the important thing to focus on is not so much a question about the bike ride and seven miles from home or starting from home or not, but is that broader picture. we have been hearing today now a discussion in the comments about the spread of the virus, the pressure thatis spread of the virus, the pressure that is putting on the health services and how to reduce the transmission. that is why the day started out with this and the focus on enforcement, tougher enforcement and trying to send out a message that people had to stick by the

rules and follow those rules, because the government doesn‘t want to make them any stronger. but at the same time, most transmission is actually happening where people are indoors, are in crowded places, are coming up too close to people in workplaces or in crowded places outdoors. that is the sort of thing we re outdoors. that is the sort of thing were getting focused on a small argument, i think many will feel detracts from the bigger issues and in fact, also the issue that the nhs is facing, which is transmission and the numbers of people who a day are seeing now, where people have been following the rules, particularly in the christmas and aftermath of christmas where they were allowed to mix, and those cases are feeding through the system and bringing pressure. i wonder if those wider issues are going to be raised with priti patel because she is holding the news conference later. she is. we have the home secretary and i think that will focus very much on this question also of enforcement

and personal responsibility that the government wants to press. and for people to be aware of their behaviour and aware of the risks they might be putting themselves and others at. i think that will be a lot of the focus today. that has been the theme of the day. but equally, the questions around the the id rules clear enough? are the rules to fuzzy? as lawyers and scientists, those of those looking at behavioural science have been suggesting. they are saying the vast majority of people, up to 90%, are following the rules where they can and then there is a political question as well. are some of those who are not following the rules because people not isolating? because they feel and imperative that they have to get out of work because they need to still be at

work and earning, and should those questions... or should more be done for them? there are difficult questions wrapped up in all of this and it is not as simple as people following the rules or not. thank you very much. last year saw the largest increase in deaths in a single year in more than 70 years — that‘s according to provisional figures from the office for national statistics. the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe has more. last year we saw about 700,000 deaths registered, for any reason, in the uk through the year. and for context, in the five years before that, on average we saw just over 600,000. so that is a rise of about 15%. it is hard to compare it all the way back to world war ii, you know, using the total number of deaths because the uk is in a very different place, a very different population, different medicines. but those year on year changes, they do give you a fair comparison because each year should look roughly like the year that went before and that 15%jump is huge.

i think we can show that to the audience now. that 15% rise on the far right—hand last year, and you have to go all the way back to the time of the second world war before you see a single year rise that is as big as that. that doesn‘t mean that your chance of dying are back where they were around the time of rationing. you probably need to do a more sophisticated analysis that takes into account the age and the size of the population. that analysis puts the chances of dying roughly where they were back around the mid noughties. now, that is undoing nearly a decade‘s worth of progress because your chances of dying have been improving, getting smaller and smaller steadily for decades. undoing about a decade of that in a single year is a big deal and it is a reminder ofjust how unusual a year 2020 was. an inquiry into ireland‘s mother and baby homes has found what it calls "appalling levels of infant mortality". the irish prime minister will issue

a formal state apology to people who lived in these institutions, which took in unmarried pregnant women in the last century. chris page reports. the only thing that i can remember is the bed being wet. wetting the bed an awful lot, then marched down to school. we had to go ten minutes late in the morning. we had to leave ten minutes early in the evening. and when it came to playtime, then we were all cornered off in a section of the playground by the nuns so you wouldn‘t mix with the other kids. locked up — what i called a prison, really. and to think, like, why? just because i was born out of wedlock. pj haverty spent his first seven years in the home which once stood here. ireland in the 1950s was a deeply conservative catholic society. unmarried women who were pregnant were taken into religious institutions, and separated from their children. pj‘s late mother, eileen, eventually moved to london, where he met her.

and i suppose, then, when you look at other people, i was lucky — i got to meet my mother. that was the most brilliant part about it, as well — i got to meet her. and, as i said, i got her side of the story, so i could never blame her. but if i didn‘t meet her, i would be blaming herfor leaving me in there. there‘s another reason why pj thinks he‘s lucky — he was fostered by a loving family near here, after a plan for him to be adopted in america fell through. at the tuam home, nearly 800 children aged up to three died between 1925 and 1961. investigators believe many were buried at the site in some kind of sewage system. when i go down there and stand there, to think that i could be in there, too. only for i was born a healthy baby. and to think that the mothers of today are still looking for them babies, not knowing where they are. and to think, the possibilities that their baby could be in there in the sewer system.

i was amazed, i was shocked that a religious country, that we are supposed to be, would do the likes of that to a helpless little baby. the irish government has committed to having this site excavated, so the children whose remains are beneath this ground can be reburied with some dignity. tuam is the mother and baby home which has generated the most international attention, but there are many other institutions in the republic of ireland with long histories of shame, neglect and unspeakable cruelty. the historian who discovered what happened at tuam says there should be a state apology. these babies were more than likely left to die, but they were neglected. there were some little simple diseases that could have been treated. and let's give an apology to all those people who suffered at the hands of the state, the church and the religious. and pj is hoping the public inquiry report will lay out all the dark truths. the priest never went after the father —

he never went to the father‘s house and said, like, "you‘re responsible here — you must look after this child, this is your child." it was always the woman‘s fault. and that‘s why i like to get my story out there, and i want this to go into the history books of ireland, what was done to the women in the past. we can speak now to the former bbcjournalist martin sixsmith — he‘s the author of ‘the lost child of philomena lee‘, which was made into a film starring judi dench. unmarried mother philomena lee was forced to give up her son to one of the irish mother and baby homes. this report has just come out. i know you haven‘t had a chance to peruse it but it will not be telling you anything you don‘t know because you anything you don‘t know because you knew about that home for most of us. that is right, and i have seen

this report describes as shocking, and of course it is shocking in the sense that it describes terrible things happening and scandalous behaviour but it is not shocking in the sense that it brings anything new or surprising because we knew ten yea rs new or surprising because we knew ten years ago that up to 60,000 women had been incarcerated in these mother and baby homes. the church had kept them locked up in there. we knew there had —— they had been forced to work in the mother and baby homes and we knew the children had been taken away from them for adoption in return for donations and without the mother‘s informed consent. we knew all that but it has taken this report six years to come forward with its conclusions. if you we re forward with its conclusions. if you were to ask why it has taken so long, i would say partly because of shame. there is a great shame about omitting what happened, but also because of money, because one of the things that the report was asked to look at was the question of compensation for these mothers who we re compensation for these mothers who were kept in the mother and baby homes. i don‘t think it is being too

cynical to see these mothers by 2014 we re cynical to see these mothers by 2014 were already very old, they were in their 70s, 80s and in the intervening six years, more and more of them would have died. the obvious corollary to that is less and less compensation would have to be paid. you covered war zones and everything during your bbc career and yet i read somewhere you said nothing could have prepared you for what you would find in this case. well, when i was doing research for the book in 2008, 2009, a lot of this wasn‘t really known it so i was discovering it first hand as it were. i was shocked, festival by the fact that the church had created this demand for the services of mother and baby homes by telling people that women who had children outside of marriage we re who had children outside of marriage were moral degenerates and the children had to be taken away from them. but i was also shocked by the

cynicism of the whole thing because it was a lucrative deal for the church, for every woman they took into their care they got a pound a week from the irish state and for every baby, they got to sixpence a week for each baby. and on top of that, the women were not allowed to leave the matter they had their baby u nless leave the matter they had their baby unless they were able to pay hundred pounds, so for most that was a large sum, so they were kept in, they were working making rosary beads and the church kept the proceeds from their labour. and then finally, there was the commodity of these babies because very few of the women were allowed to take their babies with them, and the church extremely cynically use these babies to give up cynically use these babies to give upfor cynically use these babies to give up for adoption in return for donations, so they got donations from the adopted parents and most we re from the adopted parents and most were parents in the united states who were able to pay large amounts in donations, sometimes in the

thousands of dollars. it was very shocking. the enquiry, and i quote here, the children‘s minister, it shows that unmarried mothers faced a stifling oppressive and brutally misogynistic culture. you are nodding your head. misogynistic culture. you are nodding your headlj misogynistic culture. you are nodding your head. i agree with that. from everything i have heard. because after the film came out i was inundated with letters and m essa g es was inundated with letters and messages from mothers who had had their children taken away from them with similar memories, of the way they were treated in his mother and baby homes. and what a lot of them said was, we cannot go back. composition is one thing, but what we wa nt composition is one thing, but what we want is access to the information which would allow us contact with the children that were taken away from us. part of the documentary i made after the film came out, i did speak to a lot of mothers who had lost their children and two children who had been taken away from their mothers. and one of the most

disheartening things was the aura of secrecy disheartening things was the aura of secrecy about everything. we try to find out how we could put mothers and children back in touch with each other and every turn, we were met with secrecy and just a blank refusal to talk to us. as a part of this enquiry was to look at making more information available. it is a pressing matter because many of the women are old, their children have spent their lives not knowing where their mothers were, so now is the time really to make this information available, so mothers and children who want to be in touch with each other, there is no compulsion about it, but those who want to be in touch can finally get back in touch with each other. the report says about 56,000 women and 57,000 children were in these mother and baby homes. some of these pregnancies were the result of rape, some of these women suffered from

mental illness, many of them destitute. some people who saw the film might remember that scene at the end where stephen coogan who was essentially playing went into one of the nuns and threatened to kick her out of her wheelchair because of the frustration and anger. was that a fair representation of how you felt at the time? i think there was a lot of steve coogan in that scene, actually. he is catholic, from an irish background, i am neither of those two things. i was trying to be fairto those two things. i was trying to be fair to both sides, but the more i worked with steve on that, the more i understood where the anger was coming from because these 56,000 women, most of them are young girls. they have been brought up in a very sheltered environment. most of them didn‘t know where babies came from. philomena lee herself said she had no idea where babies came from, she was only 18. to be taken from your family and put into this very

hostile, alien environment, then to go through child birth and look after your baby for the first year, due felt this tight maternal bond with your child and then to have it taken away from you and be told he must never seek to contact your child‘s again. you see these legal documents that say i will never attempt if find my child. that is something which blights your whole life. as does the thought, if you never find out what happened to your child, there is this mass grave where the bodies of babies in it. there is and that was a terrible discovery in tuam in 2014. but that is not the only mother and baby home in ireland. there were many of them. perhaps tuam was the worst in terms of mortality but mortality rates we re very of mortality but mortality rates were very high. i have to say, it is not just the children

were very high. i have to say, it is notjust the children that died, in some of the homes mother died in childbirth. some of them are 16 or 17. it is not as though this was happening in prehistory. this is all very recent. it began in the 1920s but it was carrying on until the 19805 but it was carrying on until the 1980s and the 1990s. so, in our lifetime. the woman that you have met, philomena amongst them, i am just wondering how people react to a report which says there will be an apology from the irish government. will that be enough. and what has it done to their relationship, if they still have any, with the catholic church? each individual case is different, clearly. there is compensation, there is a question of apology, a recognition of suffering, there is a question of having the information available to try and find your child if you can still do so. but in terms of forgiving, and this is something we have explored in the film philomena, it depends on

the individual person. philomena herself is a marvellous woman. she is devoid of bitterness after the terrible things that happened to her. she still goes to mass, so she had had a relationship with the catholic church, but i am sure there is many women, for every woman who is many women, for every woman who is reconciled, i am sure there are many others where there is a deep sense of grudge and grievance. that horrible word closure, we use it a lot and reports like this come out. there will never be closure here, will there? the impact of your book and the film of course withjudi dench, what will people, as they think about this report, what will they want to come from this? what do you want to come from this? clearly, the first thing is a must never be allowed to happen again and i don‘t think there is any danger of that. this was a terrible period in the history of ireland, but not on the island. it happened in britain as well on a lesser scale, but it

certainly happened here. i think the other lesson we can learn is about the way that institutions like the church and state treat people who are in theircare, church and state treat people who are in their care, treat their citizens, their parishioners and to learn from the fact that we cannot have this dreadful sort of feeling of authority without responsibility. and the thought that you can behave in any way you wish to behave and you can keep it secret. if this report does one thing, i hope it changes those sorts of attitudes. report does one thing, i hope it changes those sorts of attitudesm is really good to see you back on the bbc. what are you up to these days? i am in the middle of writing a book about the cold war, simon. i am in the editing stage, that will be published later this year and i am about to start another one. it is ongoing. it is good of you to give us your time this afternoon. wish you well with your book. thank you very much. core staff could leave the nhs

after the coronavirus crisis due to the "unsustainable" workloads they face — that‘s the warning today to a committee of mps. there are fears that many are working under incredibly difficult conditions and that unless that extra support is put in place, there could be burn—out in many workplaces. our health correspondent anna collinson has more. seriously ill patients, staff stressed, and wards dangerously close to capacity. this is what one intensive care unit looks like in south london. but intense pressures in south—east england are being felt across the country. we know that we have got more patients in hospital with covid this time than we had in the first wave, but we have also got patients in intensive care who would be in intensive care anyway, people who have had heart attacks, road traffic accidents, so, we are trying to run two sorts of intensive care unit at the same time. covid—19 emissions are still highest in london, but there are concerns about other areas. that includes the midlands. health officials also have one eye on case numbers,

as they can indicate what to expect in the coming weeks. one concern is on merseyside, which recorded more than 1300 cases per 100,000 people. our following of the rules in november time was much, much weaker, than it was in march, and christmas may well only have exacerbated that position. the chances of people under 40 needing icu care for covid—19 is much lower, but staff at croydon university hospital say they are seeing a greater number of younger patients compared to the first wave. this graph may explain why, and it has broken coronavirus hospital admissions into age groups, and as you can see, this time around, there has been an increase across all ages. vaccines are the best hope of alleviating pressures, but the queue is long. there are millions of elderly patients and health workers at the front. after a brutal year, nhs workers are running on empty.

many have been infected with the virus, they were trying to protect others from it. some staff have been speaking to mps about how long covid has scarred their lives, months after they were first diagnosed. the neurologists believe that it has somehow damage my spinal quite but it is unclear exactly how and now i can only walk about 200 metres without some form of assistance. can only walk about 200 metres without some form of assistancelj have without some form of assistance.” have been left with the brain fog that people explain where i can't seem to recall the most basic of words or phrases or i put mugs in the fridge when i go to make a cup of tea. i have got tinnitus in one ear which is quite distracting when trying to communicate. the coronavirus has destroyed many lives and is now a stark reminder of the loss. the uk would normally expect to see around 600,000 deaths a year, but new figures show there are an extra 90,000 in 2020 — the largest increase in a single year in seven decades. now it‘s time for a look

at the weather with darren bett. hello there. we have seen a change to colder, clearer skies across more of the country, today, but we have still got some cloud hanging on in the far south and south—west and coming back into northern ireland. but in the clear skies elsewhere, those temperatures will be falling away rapidly, actually, during this evening, and it will be milder for northern ireland, parts of the south—west of england and wales as well. we have some rain continuing here, that rain will push its way towards wales, develop in northern ireland and some of the cloud will spill its way towards eastern areas but won‘t prevent a frost widely in scotland, as well as northern and eastern parts of england as well. much milderfor northern ireland, wales and the south—west, where we have some outbreaks of rain. along that boundary, though, there is the threat of icy conditions with freezing rain as a risk in western scotland and north—west england. in the morning, that rain band moves very slowly northwards and eastwards to the south—east of england. later in the day, some signs of snow developing over the hills of scotland and northern england. it is going to be a cold day in scotland, eastern england, much milder in the west.

hello this is bbc news with simon mccoy. the headlines... britain‘s top police officer warns those who break covid rules are now more likely to face fines, saying it‘s preposterous for anyone to claim they don‘t know what the rules are. where somebody is breaking, you know, breaking the law, breaking the regulations, and it is absolutely clear that they must have known or do know that they are, then we will move very swiftly to enforcement and fining people. 2020 saw the largest increase in uk deaths in a single year since the second world war. a major investigation into how women and children were treated in irish mother and baby homes finds some 9,000 children died in institutions run by the church. a warning that core staff could leave the nhs after the coronavirus crisis — due to the "unsustainable" workloads. free school meals: parents

and marcus rashford blast the ‘woefully inadequate‘ food parcels for children learning at home. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. the fulham manager scott parker says it‘s scanadulous his side are being made to play their rearranged fixture with tottenham tomorrow having only been given two days notice. fulham and spurs were due to meet back in december, but that was postponed at short notice after covid hit the fulham squad. villa, unable to fulfill their fixture with tottenham tomoorw, saw the premier league schedule fulham instead. the spurs managerjose mouinho says the postponemnts due to covis ——covid are giving the premier league little choice but to play the fixtures when they can the biggest impact is to have matches postponed. but changing the

order of the matches, the impact is i would say minimal. in the end, you have to play at the matches that make 90 matches at home, 90 matches away. you have to pay those matches against every team. —— 19 matches. to go and to have probably i think isa to go and to have probably i think is a solution that we all have two to accept. —— we are to accept. the new formula one season will start later than planned after the first race — the australian grand prix — was postponed because of covid restrictions in the country. it means bahrain will host the opening race on march the 26th and despite the disruption to the calendar, organisers are still planning on staging more races than in any other season, as our formula one reporter jennie gow explains. 23 race season is what they came out with provisionally and even with this revised calendar, they are sticking to it. this season will start a week later, so no australia opener. a little break before we head to italy which is a race

that we were not expecting — that has taken a spot. then china looks as if it will not happen at the moment because of covid and are expecting portimao to be announced at some point and australia shuffled back eight months. now a november race. will formula 1 get those races away? that is the big question. they managed 17 last year to great plaudits. fingers crossed they are expected to welcome fans back and the paddock club. it will be interesting to see what the season is. organsiers of the tokyo olympics say they will make a decision on whether to admit fans to events in february or march. the games have been delayed for a year because of the pandemic, and are scheduled to take place at the end ofjuly. a state of emergency has been called in tokyo amid ecent rising infection rates. the british olympic association have said british athletes should notjump the queue

in receiving vaccinations. next, the latest from the first round of the masters snooker, where former champion neil robertson is currently in first round action... and we can bring you live pictures from the marshall arena. and we can bring you live pictures robertson at the table. he is currently leading 3—1 in this, the best of 11 against the chinese player. you can watch it on the bbc sport website and via the app right now. and just six weeks after walking away from a horrifying crash at the bahrain grand prix, romain grosjean has revealed that his hands are no longer in bandages after suffering burns. grosjean has tweeted a picture of him stroking his pet cat petrus, something he‘s not been able to do in the early stages of his recovery after his haas f1 car erupted into flames when it went through a steel barrier at 140mph on the opening lap

of the race in november. grosjean on social media there. that‘s all the sport for now. i‘ll have more for you in the next hour. a lot happening in washington, ahead of the in operation. violence potentially. we have not seen or heard from the presidents trap since the assault on the capital last week. he has just left the assault on the capital last week. he hasjust left the the assault on the capital last week. he has just left the white house, heading to texas and he had a few words for our reporters. as you know, we have completed the will, they may want to expand that, we have the expansion under way. it has been a tremendously successful, far beyond what anyone thought and we are stopping in large numbers, the drugs coming into the country, for many years, decades, we are stopping a lot of illegal —— make illegal immigration, and! a lot of illegal —— make illegal immigration, and i was a very good. there doesn‘t seem to be a surge now because people are coming up to ——

the caravans are starting to form, because they think there is going to because they think there is going to bea because they think there is going to be a lot for them if they are able to get through, but we are able to stop it. the ball has made a tremendous difference and i think some of them are coming through, but the war has made your menace difference on the southern border. as far as this is concerned, we want no violence, never violence, we want absolutely no violence. on the impeachment, it is really a continuation of the greatest witchhunt in the rest of the history or politics. it is ridiculous, this impeachment is causing tremendous angen impeachment is causing tremendous anger. and you are doing it, and it is really a terrible thing that they are doing. for nancy pelosi and tran junior, to continue on this path, i think it is causing tremendous danger to our country and it is causing tremendous anger. i want no violence. thank you very much. that

was donald trump speaking shot —— shortly, heading to texas, but his first response there, was that he does not once violence was that will have more reactions on that later on. a meeting will be taking place today between the department of education and the company at the centre of a storm over what‘s been described as ‘woefully inadequate‘ free school meal parcels. wa nt to ta ke want to take it to ireland, for the commission of investigation. the commission of investigation. the commission of investigation. the commission of the investigation into bailey homes and the approval of this publication. it‘s a publication is the combination of five years of independent and regulus investigation and examinations of mother and baby homes and county homes from 1922 up until 1998. this marks a significant today in the history of this state, particularly

so for survivors and their families. i had just how much the production of this report has been the cause of both anticipation and apprehension for so many of you. the minister and i met with survivors online earlier today to brief them on the final report and the government response. the report describes a dark, difficult and shameful chapter of very recent irish history. it is a history that has had a very real and lasting consequences for many people. it holds up a mirror to aspects of our past which are painful and difficult and from the present—day perspective, often hard to come round. the testimony of survivors set up by the commission and their confidential reports, makes and their confidential reports, ma kes ofte n and their confidential reports, makes often harrowing reading and i appreciate the depth of bravery of

the survivors who shared their experiences. it opens a window onto a deeply misogynistic culture in ireland over several decades. there are serious and systematic as cremations against women, especially those who gave birth... who gave birth outside marriage. while this report will visit have the most direct impact on the survivors and families, it represents all families in ireland, with profound questions. the regime, described in the report, was not imposed on us by any foreign power. we do this to ourselves as a society. we treated women exceptionally badly, we treated children exceptionally badly. we had a completely warped attitudes to sexuality and intimacy and young mothers and their sons and daughters

we re mothers and their sons and daughters were forced to pay a terrible price for that dysfunction. as a society, we embrace judgmental as, moral certainty, in perverse religious morality and control which was so damaging. but what was very striking is the absence of basic kindness. one hard truth in all of this is that all of society was complicit in it. we are going to need to confront and come to terms with this as a people and i am hopeful that this report can be a catalyst for that process. the report gives us an insight into the shame and stigma that was visited upon these women and their children through no fault of their own. this system was supported by, contributed to and

condoned by the institutions of the state and the churches. in so many of the settlements, priests, nuns, and doctors loom large. young mothers and their children ended up in mother and baby homes and county homes and because of this extraordinary oppressive societal pressure. as in the commission says, plainly, and simply. , they should not have been there. the report previous level of unknown previously information to the public domain. it reveals pop significant phase of the state and of society. it does so in a way that has brought no onset balance, but overall, the report and the personal accounts it contains make for a very difficult reading. but undoubtedly, one of the most deeply distressing findings of the commission is this exceptionally high rates of infant mortality in

mother and baby homes. i particularly wa nt mother and baby homes. i particularly want to acknowledge the critical role played by catherine callas, a tireless crusader for dignity and truth, whose work at the two mother and baby homes sites led to the establishment of this commission. the commission a‘s final report is an independent comprehensive and factual account of the institutions of the specification and the experiences of those who resided there. it‘s production is testament to the bravery of survivors and their advocates and their dedication to ensuring that as a nation, we must face up to the full truth of our past. i also want to acknowledge the dedication and professionalism of the commission, the chair, georgia yvonne murphy, professor mary daly and doctor william duncan and their tea m and doctor william duncan and their team who have worked so hard to compete —— may complete their task. of course, the production of this report was just one more step in

this journey, albeit report was just one more step in thisjourney, albeit a report was just one more step in this journey, albeit a very important one. earlier, we assured survivors groups that... and we can assure the general public that this government has focused on moving forward to implement the comprehensive response to all of its findings. part of this response, we will be entering a apology on behalf of the state for the feelings of express on those in a county homes. i want to head over now to the ministry —— make the minister for children who will talk to you in more detail about the report and its findings and the full range of actions that will be taken by government in responding to it and for his work in preparing all of the necessary background material for today‘s meeting. necessary background material for today's meeting. so, the irish premier said. there after it found eight report of appalling information of mother and baby

mortality. a long—awaited report, it said that the woman admitted to the homes was the highest in the 20th century. we will keep an eye on that story is course and bring you a complaints of the 20th century. we will keep an eye on that story is course and bring you a competitive analysis later on. you‘re watching bbc news, let‘s move on because a meeting will take place later between the department for education and the company of the centre of a storm over what has been... even though many children may not be at school because of covid, the government is still committed to providing free school meals in the form of vouchers or food parcels. but some of those deliveries have been falling short of expectations. this is claimed to be the supply of food for one child for ten days, issued in place of a £30 voucher. the company believed to have supplied it says an investigation is under way. it says the photo doesn‘t reflect the specification

of one of its hampers. and now this example, and other hampers provided by different companies, have come to the attention of marcus rashford, the manchester united player and school meals campaigner. he tweeted an image of a parcel said to be three days of food for one family, saying it was just not good enough. he added that children deserve better than this. when marcus rashford raises an issue, ministers take note. the claims can‘t be verified but they have already prompted the children‘s minister, vicky ford, to say she will be looking into the issue urgently. the department for education said parcels should be nutritious and contain a varied range of food. it said there were clear guidelines which it expected to be followed. the night after the prime minister made the announcement, i was at the supermarket getting all our packed lunches for the next two days. now, what i bought for the packed lunches was much better than we get from the company we use, and it was half the price,

and we have found that, actually, throughout the whole of lockdown, that what we‘ve been getting from the company has been not the greatest in the world and is, believe it or not, nearly double the price that we‘d pay for the hot meals, pre—lockdown. so, yeah, we weren‘t happy at all. some parents have been happy with the food hampers they‘ve received. but the government will be keen to diffuse this row before incurring the wrath of marcus rashford once again. andy moore, bbc news. we can speak now to food writer and chef jack monroe, who‘s campaigned on food poverty issues and written about cooking on a budget. forget marcus rashford anger that forget marcus rashford‘s anger, it is nothing to yours. i have gone into shock really, i have gone to 3am digging into this and i was back at back is at the end. i had hundreds of messages in my inbox from parents with their identical poultry food parcels and for the

companies involved to write up and say oh, this is an isolated incident, when i‘m holding the evidence that it is very much the standard, is infuriating. winter just that, they need to adjust sets and rectify it, they need to reinstate the voucher system that gave the wedding dignity and allow them to make the decisions of what they could feed themselves and their children in these difficult times. given that that photograph that most of us and are familiar with and a right is reacting to. what could you feed a child with that could make not very much. there was not even any source to put on the pastor, there was enough sandwich fillings are about two savages and nothing else, it is for portions of fruit, supposedly for ten days for children, and the eye department for education guidelines, state that people need three portions of fruit a day. that is in the school for a food standards document that was a decision that they brought in n2 thousand 14. so how this is have been allowed to go on and have not been allowed to go on and have not

been challenged, and has not been recognised before now, and acted on, isa recognised before now, and acted on, is a disgrace. those that are describing this as a glitch, are not the ones receiving the parcel, presumably. no. those that are describing this as a glitch i run eight figure salaries and have a very comfortable lives. they properly have absolutely no idea what it is like to be apparent on the breadline, let alone in my let alone a pandemic, a crisis, when we are being told to stay inside, when i‘m actions and options are limited, when kids are home from school so the heating bills are going up. it is once again, people have got absolutely no idea about the reality of everyday people facing them in britain, and making decisions for them, taking away their agency, their dignity, their advocacy, and then just their dignity, their advocacy, and thenjust then, oh, well their dignity, their advocacy, and then just then, oh, well have a potato havoc a commuter cucumber that will do it. taxpayers are going to wonder how that box cost £30. well, precisely. iwould to wonder how that box cost £30. well, precisely. i would be very interested to see the tender process

for how these organisations got hold of the contract for these boxes and also any audits and appraisal that has been done about it. who has signed off on that and said that thatis signed off on that and said that that is a reasonable amount of food for a family for ten days? it is just not. somebody worked out the calories in it and it‘s something like 260 calories a day. free school meals are in many, many cases, the only thing that some children will get to eat in a day. that is why it isa get to eat in a day. that is why it is a hot meal, that is why it is a nutritious meal and that is why it is balanced and it is very carefully worked out. the campaigners and government advisers and all sorts have worked really hard to make the school meal provision excellent. and to have it taken away and replaced with this poverty picnic of a couple of slices of bread, potato, a fifth of slices of bread, potato, a fifth ofa can of slices of bread, potato, a fifth of a can of tuna, it is notjust an insult to the people that are receiving it, but also it does not

ta ke receiving it, but also it does not take into account that for some children, that might be all they get to eat all day. if your parents are qualifying for emergency hampers are from the school, you are probably not eating like a king either side of that. so, they need to take into account that it is notjust a little lunch, it could be all that that child is eating all day. the £30 could have been spent in a much better way, but the best way to spend it is to give vouchers back to the parents that they already have, that were campaigned hard for, that we only seem to have one those a couple of months ago, and have been taken away already. it is not good enough and people need to be able to make their own decisions about what they spend their money on to feed their children. and jack, all power to marcus rashford who has put a spotlight on this whole issue. presumably that is a campaign that you are happily to reinforce. yes, we have been working to get back together, public privately, so it

might think it‘s pulling out, marcus‘s advocacy has been absolutely incidental under the noses of government ministers, for the people that matter, because his platform and his experience and also his... the fact that he had such a role model for so many people means that this is an issue that is finally being taken seriously and are finally being addressed. not fast enough, not loudly enough, not a hard enough, but it is a start and i hope that the momentum that is building over this feels like the nation is outraged by it, would just keep going, that outrage, and until something changes. really good to talk to you about it, thank you for joining us, jack. more than a quarter of a million people — including many music stars — have signed a petition urging the government to negotiate a visa—free cultural work permit with the european union. louis tomlinson, ronan keating, laura marling and tim burgess are among them. but the government says eu negotiators have already refused to allow uk entertainers to travel

visa—free under new short—term business trip arrangements. and musicians are not the only ones finding it harder to sell their services in europe after the uk left the single market. here‘s our business presenter, ben bland. when the uk left the eu, it also left the single market, in which goods, services, people and money can move without restrictions anywhere between countries that are members because they all follow the same eu rules and regulations. the uk and eu agreed a deal on christmas eve to make sure goods goods can keep flowing between them after brexit. but, as expected, the deal said much less about services. those are a major part of the uk economy. they cover retail, entertainment, banking, architecture, law, insurance, it support, and many others. they employ many millions of people and together they make up 80% of gdp, that is the value of everything the uk produces and 46% of everything the uk sells abroad.

of all the service is the uk sales overseas, 43% are sold to customers in european union. take marky dawson... he is a british musician who normally spends one month a year and makes about 20% of his income across europe, he has, performing in germany. under the free movement of people, he can go into a paid gig anywhere in europe. as a brit, he no longer has that right, making it much more difficult. now, if i wanted to move between countries i would need to apply for separate visas for each country, along with the permit to move my equipment across them. these are added costs to an already tight budget and especially as an independent musician, who is self—funded, without the backing of a major label, these extra costs may already prove too much to make touring viable. it worries me and upsets me because i have spent years building up a career over europe, i have made friends in wonderful places and fans that want to see me playing again. i am worried i will not be able to.

like musicians, british banks, insurers and financial firms are also finding it harder to sell their services in europe because a bit like our singer, they need permission from each individual country and to comply with the rules in each state where they want to do business. that is because there is no deal on services to allow all uk—based firms to continue selling say, a pension, bank account or insurance policy directly to anyone anywhere in the year. "eu. that has led many british financial firms to set up subsidiaries all branch offices in european cities, to make sure they can still trade through those. they have already moved at least £1.2 trillion in assets and 750,000 jobs from the uk to europe, according to a recent survey. more could follow. it is much more of a longer term issue, it is the next a new idea, the next new department, the next innovation and suddenly,

you will find that does not start in the uk, it starts in amsterdam prank that something like that. they won‘t fit to start there, but after four or five years, you‘ll suddenly realise that more of the financial innovation is going on elsewhere. and even with those same people or firms at work previously centred in london, have now actually moved their centre of operations over to the content, so it is not so much the current issue, it is the future business, that is where we are going to lose out. the uk says it asked for musicians to be covered by visa—free short—term business preparations, but the eu refused. the uk and eu said they will keep talking to try and reach an agreement on financial services, perhaps in some form by march. but coming up with agreements to cover the whole broad range of services, from a medical to marketing to musicians, it could really test the home of how many of the new eu—uk relationship. they cheer. typhoon jets have escorted a private aircraft into london‘s stansted airport after it lost communications with the ground, sparking alarm after they broke the sound barrier in response to the incident.

people from london to cambridge reported on social media hearing what sounded like an explosion or large blast which had shaken houses — let‘s take a look at that now. bang.. a royal air force spokesman confirmed that a aircraft was authorised to transact at supersonic speeds to escort. this was for operational reasons. we will have more on that but let‘s have a look at the weather. we had a first across modern areas, and following on from that seeing a cold, crisp sunny winter day. we have had much more cloud in the far south and particularly the skies here are very similar to what we had yesterday. the clouds and rain that we had yesterday, they swept southwards overnight, but that

cloudy sky is still hanging on in the far south—west and in parts of northern ireland as well. clearer, colder air come across the rest of the uk, and today and the next few days, it is the battle between the airon days, it is the battle between the air on these weather fronts coming in from the atlantic. quite a contrast even earlier for this evening. mild ethanol islander —— mild effort northern ireland and colourful scotland and northern parts of england. we have a clear skies and light when, in any showers out into the north sea by this stage. we are going to see it crowding over more and more over northern ireland, scotland and wales, but this cloud will continue to spell its way steadily eastwards, but it remains cold and frosty. in scotland, northern england and much of eastern england as well, much milder again for western areas. along that boundary, there is the icy conditions and some freezing rain in the morning, in western scotla nd rain in the morning, in western scotland and the north west of england, this band of wet weather moves england, this band of wet weather m oves very england, this band of wet weather moves very slowly northward and eastward, maybe a bit dry in northern ireland, wales and the south—west for a while, later in the

day, there is snow arriving perhaps in these hills of scotland and the north of england. into the cold air where temperatures are on the low side for many northern and eastern areas. much milderfor northern ireland, wales and the south—west. we have a weather front moving in, bringing some wet weather, disproving into the wet weather. it does not push across the whole of the uk, so never push as a way that we still have, particularly across northern and eastern. across that, we will see some snow falling, primarily over the health of scotla nd primarily over the health of scotland and northern england. more likely to be rain elsewhere and that rain finally eases away from northern ireland, continuing in other areas. it may be drier in wales, quite windy, but separate are going to be in a above that figure is here, another chilly day for scotla nd is here, another chilly day for scotland and if there is a big one. that weather front brings the wintry mix and then fades away during thursday night, and for many it will be dry on friday, head of the next weather system in the day. —— later

in the day.

this is bbc news, i‘m ben brown. the headlines... britain‘s top police officer warns those who break covid rules are now more likely to face fines, and says it‘s preposterous for anyone to claim they don‘t know the rules. where somebody is breaking, you know, breaking the law, breaking the regulations, and it is absolutely clear that they must have known or do know that they are, then we will move very swiftly to enforcement and fining people. 2020 saw the largest increase in uk deaths in a single year since the second world war. a warning that core staff could leave the nhs after the coronavirus crisis — because of workloads described as unsustainable. an investigation into cruelty and neglect at irish mother and baby homes finds some 9,000 children died in institutions run by the church. the taoiseach says it presents

all of irish society with profound questions. we had a completely wiped attitude to sexuality and intimacy, and young mothers and their sons and daughters we re mothers and their sons and daughters were forced to pay a terrible price for that dysfunction. free school meals: parents condemn what they call ‘woefully inadequate‘ food parcels for children learning at home. as security is stepped up in the run—up tojoe biden‘s inauguration, president trump condemns preparations to impeach him in the us congress. it is really a continuation of the greatest witchhunt in the history of politics. it is ridiculous. it is absolutely ridiculous.

good afternoon. the uk‘s most senior police officer, dame cressida dick, has warned coronavirus rule—brea kers that they‘re increasingly likely to be fined. the metropolitan police commissioner says it‘s "preposterous" for anyone to say they‘re not aware of the need to follow lockdown rules. it comes amid criticism of the prime minister, who cycled through the olympic park, seven miles from downing street. number 10 insists boris johnson exercised within the rules. dame cressida dick said he did not break the law but also called for more clarity on the rules. charlotte wright reports. hospitals are under huge strain and covid cases are rising, prompting questions over whether the lockdown should tighten. but the message to the public from ministers this morning is stick to existing restrictions. it is very important that whilst the vaccine roll—out is proceeding

well and we are on track to hit the targets that we have set, we must also stress to everybody the importance of following the rules which are in place in order to control this virus and reduce the pressures on the nhs. today the uk‘s most senior police officer issued this warning. we will move more quickly to enforcement, particularly where somebody is breaking the law, breaking the regulations, and it is absolutely clear that they must have known, or do know that they are, we will move very swiftly to enforcement and fining people. it comes amid calls for the advice around taking exercise to be clarified, after the prime minister, a keen cyclist, was spotted on his bike in east london on sunday, around seven miles from downing street. number ten has insisted he was cycling within accordance of the guidance and acted within the covid guidelines at all times. he was taking his daily exercise,

as i understand it. as long as they are staying local within their own mind, they are not interacting, not mixing with other people, and they do it efficiently and quickly and get back, that is reasonable and we understand people need to go outside to take their exercise. how far people can travel to exercise outside varies across the uk. the distance is not specified in england. in scotland the law says it must start and finish in the same place, up to five miles from the local authority boundary. in northern ireland there is an advisory ten mile limit but it has not been legislated. in wales, the law says the exercise must start and finish at home. if we had got our messaging clear, correct and strong from the beginning, we would not be debating all of the things about whether seven miles is local or not. what we should be discussing is stay indoors, stay away from people, stay away from crowded places and wear your mask properly.

meanwhile, scottish ministers have been discussing today whether lockdown restrictions there should be toughened. people know where they live. some might be tinkering on the edges on click and collect or garden centres in one of your examples, but we are in such a precarious position that the message is really clear, stay at home. unless you have to go out, stay at home. the greatest protection against the virus is your front door. regardless of the legislation ministers agree that the rising covid rates are a cause for concern, calling on people wherever they live to play their part and stay at home. let‘s speak to our political correspondent damian grammaticas. how much pressure do you think there is on the government to tighten the latest set of coronavirus rules? there is certainly some pressure,

but what they say is they are monitoring the situation with all the indexes they can look at, commerce and the number of infection rates, the hospitalisations, the death rates and looking at those things as a guide to whether there should be any tightening. certainly at the minute what the government is saying is they don‘t really want to go down that path to hathor to tighten up rules, which is why today they have tried put the focus on this question of enforcement and people voluntarily following the rules themselves. the difficulty with that is today that has become caught up in this debate about the prime minister and going seven miles from home. did he cycle there? was he driven there? was that in the rules or guidelines? it is within the rules and legally allowed, you are allowed to go out and exercise and exercise can take you quite a distance from home, but the guidelines say in england that you

should exercise within the local area of your own city. that has distracted a bit from the wider question of rising infection rates and the questions about how best to respond to that. is it with calls for people to take more responsibility? should there be a toughening of the rules? we heard cressida dick saying rules are woolly, clearer guidance would be a good thing for the public. and for police officers. but of course, also, some of that rise in cases, we are seeing, is coming where people are seeing, is coming where people are still following the rules, going to work, mixing inside workplaces, and public transport and that is also a factor in this. but in the commons, we have seen today talk about the health service being on a knife edge and that, i think, is going to be believed the metric for

whether there would be any tightening or not. all right, thank you very much indeed. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford is with me now. we are going to be from the home secretary at the downing street briefing injust secretary at the downing street briefing in just an secretary at the downing street briefing injust an hour‘s secretary at the downing street briefing in just an hour‘s time and presumably the message there is going to be two people, really, follow the guidelines and restrictions. yes, from the home secretary who we haven‘t heard from the downing street press conference for a long time and also from martin hewitt. as damien was expressing there, the government is loath to tighten the regulations even more because they don‘t want to com pletely because they don‘t want to completely lockdown people‘s freedoms and completely closed down even more businesses, so they are looking for other ways of getting that budget sorted, and one of the ways is by making sure there is tough reinforcement. i think that is a feeling now in police circles that the public ought to know the rules now and although they have changed a lot, we are at the harsh end of the

regulations, that have varied over the months, but people have to understand that the basis is you stay home, you shouldn‘t really leave unless you are going to exercise or if you have to work. if there is no other way of working. how uncomfortable do think the police feel about all of this? we heard from cressida dick this morning but we also heard from the police federation, the spokesman in west yorkshire were saying they feel they have been hung out to dry in some cases, may be inaccurate in derbyshire where they had to withdraw a fine, and criticise what they call woolly rules this. the police obviously prefer to have very clear law. anyone with two is trying to impose a set of rules. —— anybody would who is trying. the differentiation between what the rules are in the guidance have been very ha rd rules are in the guidance have been very hard on the ground. the police have been reluctant other long to be seen as the enforcers all the time

of the rules. they wanted enforcement as a last resort and i think the government has accepted that. there have definitely been tensions at time from the home office but they felt certain forces we re office but they felt certain forces were not doing as much as they could be doing. i think we are coming to a home for the forces and the home office and the government are all coming together. and thinking this isa coming together. and thinking this is a moment where actually we do need, tickly for those egregious breaches, has fact is, people gathering in basements to play cards, we need to have a situation where enforcement comes very early in that. that doesn‘t mean if someone has made some small mistake they are not going to have a kindly police officers just point them in a different direction. but i think we are heading towards an afternoon when they are going to be discussing how to make people ideally rules a bit more. thank you very much. as daniel was mentioning... and the home secretary priti patel will be leading today‘s

coronavirus news briefing at downing street at five o‘clock this afternoon. you can watch it live on the bbc news channel. last year saw the largest increase in deaths in a single year in more than 70 years — that‘s according to provisional figures from the office for national statistics. the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe has more. last year we saw about 700,000 deaths registered, for any reason, in the uk through the year. and for context, in the five years before that, on average we saw just over 600,000. so that is a rise of about 15%. it is hard to compare it all the way back to world war ii, you know, using the total number of deaths because the uk is in a very different place, a very different population, different medicines. but those year on year changes, they do give you a fair comparison because each year should look roughly like the year that went before and that 15%jump is huge. i think we can show that to the audience now. that 15% rise on the far right—hand last

year, and you have to go all the way back to the time of the second world war before you see a single year rise that is as big as that. that doesn‘t mean that your chance of dying are back where they were around the time of rationing. you probably need to do a more sophisticated analysis that takes into account the age and the size of the population. that analysis puts the chances of dying roughly where they were back around the mid noughties. now, that is undoing nearly a decade‘s worth of progress because your chances of dying have been improving, getting smaller and smaller steadily for decades. undoing about a decade of that in a single year is a big deal and it is a reminder ofjust how unusual a year 2020 was. core staff could leave the nhs after the coronavirus crisis due to the "unsustainable" workloads they face — that‘s the warning today to a committee of mps. there are fears that many are working under incredibly difficult conditions and that

unless that extra support is put in place, there could be burn—out in many workplaces. our health correspondent anna collinson has more. seriously ill patients, staff stressed, and wards dangerously close to capacity. this is what one intensive care unit looks like in south london. but intense pressures in south—east england are being felt across the country. we know that we have got more patients in hospital with covid this time than we had in the first wave, but we have also got patients in intensive care who would be in intensive care anyway, people who have had heart attacks, road traffic accidents, so, we are trying to run two sorts of intensive care unit at the same time. covid—19 emissions are still highest in london, but there are concerns about other areas. that includes the midlands. health officials also have one eye on case numbers, as they can indicate what to expect in the coming weeks. one concern is on merseyside,

which recorded more than 1300 cases per 100,000 people. our following of the rules in november time was much, much weaker, than it was in march, and christmas may well only have exacerbated that position. the chances of people under 40 needing icu care for covid—19 is much lower, but staff at croydon university hospital say they are seeing a greater number of younger patients compared to the first wave. this graph may explain why, and it has broken coronavirus hospital admissions into age groups, and as you can see, this time around, there has been an increase across all ages. vaccines are the best hope of alleviating pressures, but the queue is long. there are millions of elderly patients and health workers at the front. after a brutal year, nhs workers are running on empty. many have been infected with the virus, they were trying to protect others from it. some staff have been speaking to mps

about how long covid has scarred their lives, months after they were first diagnosed. the neurologists believe that it has somehow damaged my spinal quite but it is unclear exactly how and now i can only walk about 200 metres without some form of assistance. i have been left with the brain fog that people explain where i can't seem to recall the most basic of words or phrases or i put mugs in the fridge when i go to make a cup of tea. i have got tinnitus in one ear which is quite distracting when trying to communicate. the coronavirus has destroyed many lives and is now a stark reminder of the loss. the uk would normally expect to see around 600,000 deaths a year, but new figures show there are an extra 90,000 in 2020 — the largest increase in a single year in seven decades. let‘s speak now to rose gallagher, sustainability lead at the royal college of nursing.

thank you for being with us. how would you characterise what life is like for front line nurses at the moment? it is absolutely exhausting. nurses and midwives and our other collea g u es nurses and midwives and our other colleagues working in the health and ca re colleagues working in the health and care settings are exhausted mentally and physically. they really are worried about the impact on each other at this pandemic is having. and you are worried about people leaving the profession, either now or after this crisis is over? that is right. it is important to remember that we went into this pandemic already short of the many thousands of nurses and nurses, midwives and doctors are pulling out all the stops to make sure that our patients that need our care are cared for, but this is not sustainable and our members are telling us that they are seriously considering leaving the profession

once this is over. what do you want the government to do? they have already been facing a huge staffing crisis in the nhs, tens of thousands of staff short anyway. they cannot plug that gap immediately. no, they can‘t. we appreciate that having nurses join can‘t. we appreciate that having nursesjoin us from can‘t. we appreciate that having nurses join us from overseas will be some sort of temporary filling of the gap once they are settled in to this country, but we need long—term investment in nursing and our members are very investment in nursing and our members are very clear that actually what they want to see is a recognition through pay. and the demands are nurses, well all front line health care, but nurses are specially at the moment, it is physical and it is mental as well. a hugely emotional, the stress of seeing patients coming into their hospitals in a dying condition and then losing their fight for life. that is right. we are, as nurses,

sadly it used to supporting people at the end of life and we note that there are situations we cannot control and we respect that. however, this pandemic has really put the pressure on us and what nurses are doing at the moment is the supporting those who are most sick in hospitals, but they are also backfilling their colleagues sickness, running vaccination clinics, preparing for the nightingale hospitals. they are working in care homes and they are also trying to maintain the business as usual, the cervical screening clinics and gp practices for example. we are trying to keep the nhs and! example. we are trying to keep the nhs and i came from. many thanks for your time. some experts are calling on the government to halt or pause its mass testing programme for people without symptoms in care homes, schools, communities and potentially at home, warning that the lateral flow devices it has bought are inaccurate and can do more harm than good.

jon deeks, who‘s professor of biostatistics at the university of birmingham — evaluates medical tests. he‘s also the lead of the cochrane diagnostic test review of covid—19. thank you for being with us. first of all, explain to people who don‘t know the difference between the more sophisticated pcr tests and the lateral flow tests. the pcr test is the backbone of the testing we have had all the way through the pandemic, it is the test you get when you go to a test and trace centre. you have a swab taken is sent to the laboratory. that test is an excellent test for detecting the virus. it can detect low levels, so if you have just got infected it can pick it up. but it will keep on being positive after you have

recovered for some days and weeks and some people. this lateral flow testis and some people. this lateral flow test is a very much more simple test. it is a test which can be done in the same place that you are. it doesn‘t need a lab. it takes about 30 minutes. it still uses a swab but the swab is put in a little vial which has got solution in it, shaking around to get the viral particles off and it goes this plastic white device and 20 minute later you get a line colour on it, indicating whether or not the virus was detected. it is very portable, very easy, very cheap and can be done anywhere. it has made it easier to get tests. but you are worried essentially that it is not reliable? no, what we have seen from the studies and particularly from liverpool is that the tests mess people who have got coronavirus. in liverpool, compared to a pcr test, it only got 40% of those cases. and it only got 40% of those cases. and it really, very concerning is the people who have had a lot of iris, the once was likely to spread it, it

missed 30%, so one in three cases would have been missed. there is a cold negative test result back from this test, it doesn‘t mean you have not got covid. it could mean it has missed it. this is our concern, that that risk is being ignored in the communication to people and if people are falsely reassured, they are misled to think they are safe and they relax any social distancing or ignore some symptoms because they have just had a test which said they we re have just had a test which said they were negative. that is a really big risk that covid will spread further and faster than if they actually sat tight and had a pcr test for symptoms. so, you're saying these lateral flow tests do more harm than good, and if that is what you are saying, are you saying we shouldn‘t be using them any more? it is a real risk. nobody has done this study to tell us whether it is the case or not. the government is focused on

counting the positives and other cases which have been found, but it is harder typically with hamas. the concern we have is the message we have had going out —— it is harder to find out what the harm is. the government says we use these tests in our places will be safe, though social messages coming out of the government from the prime minister are telling people that if you get a negative test you can be relaxed and happy. you can be sure you haven‘t got covid and that frankly is not true. that such a thing will encourage exactly the wrong behaviour in people, when actually all a negative test tells you... well, doesn‘t tell you anything at all, really. i split a counterargument that is we have gone from a position where we had no testing and people will say that any testing and people will say that any testing is better than nothing? testing does harm as well as good. i think that is a fact we all have to appreciate. if a test makes errors and people get the wrong information, they take the wrong actions, that will lead to harm

happening. this is all a question of balance. if you only count the times which is what the government is doing, of course it looks good, but there is a clear evidence that these tests, because they miss so many cases, that there is a real risk that they are going to be problematic. the other side is actually if you get a positive test from this, unless you go and get a pcr test as well, it will not be entered into the track and trace system. the idea that positive test from this are leading to us finding great big chains of transmission is a treat because the system isn‘t set up a treat because the system isn‘t set up at the moment with those people to actually be track and traced u nless to actually be track and traced unless they also get a pcr tests await the data takes to get that —— isn‘t true. await the data takes to get that —— isn't true. thank you. a meeting will be taking place today between the department for education and the company at the centre

of a storm over what‘s been described as ‘woefully inadequate‘ free school meal parcels. one mother posted a picture of a 30—pound parcel which was estimated to contain just over 5 pounds worth of food. andy moore reports. even though many children may not be at school because of covid, the government is still committed to providing free school meals in the form of vouchers or food parcels. but some of those deliveries have been falling short of expectations. this is claimed to be the supply of food for one child for ten days, issued in place of a £30 voucher. the company believed to have supplied it says an investigation is under way. it says the photo doesn‘t reflect the specification of one of its hampers. and now this example, and other hampers provided by different companies, have come to the attention of marcus rashford, the manchester united player and school meals campaigner. he tweeted an image of a parcel said to be three days of food for one family,

saying it was just not good enough. he added that children deserve better than this. when marcus rashford raises an issue, ministers take note. the claims can‘t be verified but they have already prompted the children‘s minister, vicky ford, to say she will be looking into the issue urgently. the department for education said parcels should be nutritious and contain a varied range of food. it said there were clear guidelines which it expected to be followed. the night after the prime minister made the announcement, i was at the supermarket getting all our packed lunches for the next two days. now, what i bought for the packed lunches was much better than we get from the company we use, and it was half the price, and we have found that, actually, throughout the whole of lockdown, that what we‘ve been getting from the company has been not the greatest in the world and is, believe it or not, nearly double the price that we‘d pay for the hot meals, pre—lockdown. so, yeah, we weren‘t happy at all. some parents have been happy with the food

hampers they‘ve received. but the government will be keen to diffuse this row before incurring the wrath of marcus rashford once again. andy moore, bbc news. food writer and chef jack monroe, who‘s campaigned on food poverty issues and written about cooking on a budget, gave her reaction to all of this. i have gone into shock. i was up until 3am i have gone into shock. i was up until3am digging into i have gone into shock. i was up until 3am digging into this last night and then up again at six this morning are straight back into this, with hundreds of messages in my inbox from parents with their identical paltry food parcels. for the companies involved to write up and say this is an isolated incident when i am holding the evidence that it is very much the standard is infuriating. they need to address it and rectify it. they need to reinstate the voucher system that give people dignity and allowed people to make the choices about what they can feed themselves and

their children in these difficult times. an inquiry into ireland‘s mother and baby homes has found what it calls ‘appalling levels of infant mortality‘. the irish prime minister will issue a formal state apology to people who lived in these institutions, which took in unmarried pregnant women in the last century. in the last hour, micheal martin has been responding to the publication of the report. it opens a window onto a deeply misogynistic culture in ireland over several decades. with serious and systematic discrimination against women. especially those who gave birth outside marriage. while this report will obviously have the most direct impact on survivors and their families, it presents all of irish society with profound questions. division described in the report wasn‘t imposed on us by any foreign

power —— the regime. we did this to ourselves as a society. we treated women exceptionally badly. we treated children exceptionally badly. we had it completely wiped attitude to sexuality and intimacy, and young mothers and sons and daughters were forced to pay a terrible price for that dysfunction. asa terrible price for that dysfunction. as a society, we embrace judgmental as, moral certainty, a perverse village us morality and control which was so damaging. —— villages. what was very striking with the absence of basic kindness. one hard truth in all of this is that all of the society was complicit in it. we‘re joined now by anna corrigan from the tuam

babies family group — two of her brothers died at tuam in galway. thank you very much indeed for being with us. maybe you could explain to people who are not familiar with all of this is what happened to your brothers, what happened at tuam and at other homes like it. what happened in tuam started was she found bodies buried in the septic tank which brought attention to what was going on in ireland which was kept secret. and what happened to my brothers was my mother gave birth twice in the mother and baby home in tuam, once a 1946 and once in a 1950. in 1946 my brotherjohn was born and point normal and healthy. by born and point normal and healthy. by the time he was 30 months old, he

lost control of bodily function by the time of 60—month—old he was dead. my brotherjohn was born... my brother william was born in 1950 and he died seven months. he doesn‘t have a death certificate. he doesn‘t have a death certificate. he doesn‘t have a death certificate. he doesn‘t have a medical certification of death. there has been this commission. we have had its report finally after several years, we have had interim reports before. what do you make of this final report and also what the irish taoiseach has been saying. i am apocalyptic. for the first time in a long time i am ata the first time in a long time i am at a loss for words. to me, this sounds like a complete whitewash. i haven‘t read the report in detail but it