hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: a warning of mounting pressure on hospitals and staff by the head of nhs england. mass vaccinations begin at another ten centres in england from tomorrow, as the foreign secretary pledges every adult in the uk will be offered a first dose by september. the anti—kremlin activist alexei navalny is detained in moscow, embracing his wife before he was taken away. mr navalny flew back to russia for the first time since he was nearly killed by a nerve agent attack last year. the jailed american music producer, phil spector, who helped define the sound of the �*60s and the creator of the wall of sound has died in prison, aged 81. now on bbc news, for the first time, a mass movement is openly calling for reform of the monarchy in thailand, shattering a taboo surrounding the royal institution's near—sacred status.

a warning — this programme contains images some viewers may find upsetting. thailand is in the grip of a youthful uprising. inspired by hong kong, students armed with umbrellas and ideals have been taking on a military backed government and a once untouchable monarchy. what we are seeing here is an epic battle between two competing visions

for thailand. these youngsters are determined that demands for reform of everything, including the monarchy, are heard and acted on and they are up against an establishment determined to keep thailand stable, conservative and with the monarchy and military at the very top. over the 20 years i have been reporting from thailand, there have been two constants. an army that will not stay out of politics and a revered monarchy whose actions cannot be questioned. even today, the laws here limit what we can safely say about the royal family. king vajiralongkorn, who came

to the throne four years ago, is on paper a constitutional monarch, like britain's queen elizabeth. in reality, though, he has far more power. and he's been using it in alarming ways. some thais fear he wants to take the country back to the absolute monarchy of his forefathers, when the king's word was the law. palm is a 21—year—old student on her way to yet another protest in bangkok's old royal quarter.

we've come to democracy monument, which marks the end of the absolute monarchy 88 years ago. the democracy it promised never took root here. this is an outspoken generation, informed and mobilized through social media, taking the hunger games salute as their own symbol of defiance. they want the king's power to be accountable, and they want the freedom to speak out without the threat of reprisals. palm reminds the crowd of the incident which helped to ignite these protests

back injune... ..the abduction and presumed murder in cambodia of an exiled young activist called wanchalearm. wanchalearm's sister, jen, is here too, trying to keep up the public interest in his case. jen was talking on the phone to her brother when he was dragged off the street

and into a black suv. wanchalearm had fled to cambodia after the coup seven years ago and kept up a barrage of cheeky social media posts parodying thailand's military and rulers.

he was the ninth exiled activist to disappear in the past four years. the mutilated bodies of two of them were discovered on the banks of the river mekong. all of them were known critics of the monarchy, driving home the dangers of speaking out on this issue. thailand's rapid transformation into a modern urban nation has brought impressive prosperity... ..but also created one of the world's most unequal societies. a bolder, more inquiring young generation is now questioning how and why their country has turned out like this. here, palm is leading

a letter—writing campaign directed at the king, demanding that he accept limits on his wealth and power. change, though, is not welcomed by all. royalism has many passionate adherents here. they're now mobilising to take on the student movement, dressed in royal yellow,

holding aloft portraits of the king and his much—loved father. king bhumibol, or rama ix, reigned for 70 years and achieved cult—like popularity with his modest lifestyle and a strong sense of duty. his son is a very different personality. but in this crowd, respect for the institution endures. they can't accept all the accusations they've heard against the king.

why don't you support their demand for a monarchy that's just a bit limited, and then you'll be giving them what they say they want? that's not the only obstacle to the students' dreams of reform. beyond this barricade is thailand's parliament. it's packed with

military loyalists. it's the only place where changes to the political system can happen. and right now, they can't get there. well, these protesters are now trying to pull away at this concrete barricade to make a way through. and they are spraying... 0h! ..water cannons laced with chemicals. so, you can really smell the tear gas in it. these protesters want to get through to parliament because that's where the reforms they're demanding are supposed to be discussed. they are worried that in a parliament dominated by the military—backed party, their reforms are just going to be swept aside. that's why they're staying put. and you can see how determined they are. but they're fighting

a formidable establishment which has ruled thailand for most of the past century. how can they overcome such entrenched power? as they feared, the old men of parliament — many of them unelected senators — threw out all but the mildest reforms...

..while outside, it was chaos. the activists had brought up giant inflatable ducks to shield themselves from the water cannon and to ridicule the police. the ducks made another appearance outside thailand's largest bank. the king is the main shareholder. palm was there too, sporting a new haircut. but in targeting the king so directly, they are taking a serious risk...

..not so much from the police, who stayed well back this time, but behind them is the king and the thai army, which is sworn to defend the monarchy above all else. that partnership is even tighter now. this monarch sees himself as a warrior king, and he's folded some of the best military units into his own personal royal guard.

palm hasn't been arrested yet, but many other protesters have. she's come here tonight to meet one of them who's also a bit of a hero, not just to her but to many young activists. hockey is a founder member of the band rap against dictatorship. tonight, he's reliving his arrest after he'd performed at a protest injuly. cheering

he makes light of it here, but the charge is sedition. that's up to seven years injail. hockey is one of more than a0 activists charged under this sweeping national security law. others are being prosecuted under the notorious lese—majeste law, with its secret trials and even tougher sentences. most have been released on bail, but only to face even more charges. rap music plays

these are the kinds of injustices rap against dictatorship featured in their first withering song, prathet ku mi — what my country's got — which captured the rebellious mood of this generation. the song has been viewed more than 90 million times on youtube.

thai history, though, carries ominous warnings for today's students... ..especially here at thammasat, one of the country's top universities. the king has come here to hand out diplomas to graduates... ..keeping up a long tradition which helps build a bond between the monarchy and younger generations. but in this era of dissent, not everyone is following the official script. this innocuous little ceremony

on the sidelines of the main graduation proceedings here at thammasat is actually a pretty extraordinary act of defiance, something almost unthinkable even a year ago. these young people have been symbolically taking their diplomas from these cardboard cutouts who are of some of the most notorious anti—monarchy activists, many of them in exile, instead of taking it from the king — a harmless enough gesture, you might think, but the sports field behind them tells a different story. reporter: the assault began just after daybreak. _ and for an hour, there i was firing, with all sorts of weapons being used. 44 years ago, police and vigilantes attacked this campus with savage force, after students had been accused of mocking

the then—crown prince — today's king. dozens died. some were horribly lynched. it's an episode that's imprinted on the minds of today's activists and in their songs. rap music plays

the last absolute monarch in thailand was crowned 95 years ago. he abdicated ten years later, his powers already limited. but some of the trappings of absolute monarchy have been carried over even into this century. kings are seen as above criticism, so the unvarnished jokes and comments about the current king heard at the protest rallies have infuriated his supporters.

the sudden wave of anti—royal sentiment over the past year caught royalists off guard. but their morale has been lifted by the king's decision to be more visible in recent months, after spending most of his reign living overseas in germany. the king has responded by abandoning his normally stiff and stern public persona and going on a series of very high—profile walkabouts, like this one, allowing the thai people to get really close to him for the first time.

they reach out to touch the royal couple for good luck. "we are but dust under the feet of the king," as the thai saying goes. this man is there and gets a personal word of thanks from the monarch for his pro—palace activism. he's now leading a campaign to get the draconian lese—majeste law used more frequently against the protest leaders. but that's just not true because, in britain, you can say pretty much what you want about the queen and you won't go to prison. it's very different from

the situation here in thailand. rap music plays these young thais don't care about being appropriate. shocking their elders with their gestures and language, that's the point. they've already shattered a once unbreakable taboo against even discussing the monarchy.

well, this is pretty extraordinary. this demonstration has come right up to the gates of the royal palace, perhaps the most sacred location for thailand's monarchy. now, by making demands of their king, by insisting he change his ways, these mainly young activists are posing the kind of challenge that this powerful, untouchable institution has never faced before.

this is a battle over what it even means to be thai. the king praises his loyalists for upholding what he calls "true thainess". the activists say that nothing, not even his hallowed status, is sacred. by the end of last year, the protests subsided as thailand faced a resurgence of covid—i9. but the gulf between these two visions for thailand is impossibly wide. and, for now, it can't be bridged.

heavy rain and flooding in the forecast for the week ahead. later in the week, the chance of snow. fairly quiet today, sunshine turning hazy after a sunny start, cloud coming in from the west, a lot is high, but wet weather this evening in scotland and northern ireland, turning more showery. some of that shower is pushing into england and wales. breeze overnight, should not get too cold. many places, temperatures above freezing. the risk of ice patches in eastern

areas. rain in southern scotland. to the north, sunshine, showers, wintry in the hills. clouding overfrom the south—west. rain coming in into the south—west. rain coming in into the south—west in the morning. turning misty in the south—west would temperatures into figures. chilly double elsewhere. it gets wet overnight, rain continues tuesday and wednesday across england and wales. here we are likely to have flooding and some of the heaviest rain will be over the hills. the area of particular concern, and the rain warning, this area here, quite small, but it will impact a lot of people, snowmelt on top of the rain —— amber rain warning. northern ireland, wetter in wales and the south—west. priorto ireland, wetter in wales and the south—west. prior to the south—east of the uk, snow in southern uplands bumping into the colder air in

scotland. mild if windy day. stream of weather front and areas of low pressure moving up from the south—west, slow moving across england and wales, rain adding by wednesday, more rain overnight in england and wales, wetter weather continuing across northern england and wales as well. drier in scotland and wales as well. drier in scotland and northern ireland, colder as well. significant later on in the week. still mild for most of england and wales, wendy and the south—east. colder air moving south by thursday, turning cooler later on in the week, chance of heavy snow over the hills of scotland and northern england for a while.

tonight at ten. the government hopes by september every adult in the uk will be offered a coronavirus jab. the nhs in england says 140 people a minute are receiving their first injection, as ten new vaccine hubs open tomorrow. we are vaccinating four times faster than people are newly catching coronavirus. it comes amid more warnings of increased pressure on the nhs, due to rising hospital admissions. also tonight. the arch critic of the kremlin, alexei navalny, is detained on his return to moscow, five months after being poisoned, with a nerve agent. the legendary music producer phil spector dies injail, a decade after his conviction for murder.

we're in somalia, as those displaced by islamist terror groups see key us troops pull out.