tonight at ten — bolstering the uk's covid defences. the roll—out of booster jabs is under way. front—line health workers and the over—50s who were vaccinated at the start of the year will be among the first to get the third dose. working in a&e, we are seeing increasing numbers of covid patients coming in over the last few weeks. we were all originally vaccinated in december of last year, so our immunity due to the first doses is now waning. the first boosters are given in england and wales. the rest of the uk will follow next week. also tonight... the scottish government asks the military for help to cope with long ambulance waiting times, amid warnings of the most challenging winter ahead. china and france denounce a security pact between the us,

the uk and australia that allows australia to build nuclear—powered submarines for the first time. the government's expected to announce changes to the rules around international travel tomorrow. will testing and the traffic light system be simplified? sir clive sinclair, the home computing pioneer, has died at the age of 81. and coming up in sport on the bbc news channel, west ham shine on their return to europe. declan rice with a goal to remember as they get their group campaign off to a win. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at ten. the roll—out of covid booster jabs is under way today, with the government setting out to give more than 30 million people an extra layer of protection this winter. nhs staff in england

and wales have been among the first to receive them. jabs are being offered to the over—50s, as well as care home staff and residents, front—line nhs workers and younger adults with certain health conditions. but there are still more than five million adults in the uk who haven't yet had their first vaccine and the government has been urging those people to come forward. our medical editor fergus walsh reports. do you want to roll up your sleeve for me? here we go again — not first or second doses of covid vaccine, but boosters. sharp scratch. health workers at croydon university hospital were at the front of the queue. well done, all protected! so far i've not caught covid, and i wanted to keep it that way, so having a booster is the extra protection that i need. front—line health workers, who've faced wave after wave of covid, know all too well it's not gone away. working in a&e, we are seeing -

increasing numbers of covid patients coming in over the last few weeks. we were all originally vaccinated in december of last year, - so our immunity due to the first doses is now waning. _ and that's the rationale behind boosters. initially, two doses give more than 90% protection against being hospitalised with covid, even among the over—65s. by around six months, that's fallen to just under 90%, but it's assumed it will continue to decline. it is the oldest in society who will benefit most from a booster, like the residents in this care home in cheltenham. evelyn carey is 83. i think it's important that we should have it. nobody can be protected from everything, but it will be a help. people will be offered boosters six months after their second jab — either pfizer or a half dose

of moderna vaccine, with invitations initially going out to the over—70s and younger people with chronic conditions. when the nhs contacts you, please come forward and have your vaccine. it might be a text message, it might be a letter, it might be a phone call from your local gp practice. we need to boost those who are most at risk from covid, plus also those, like our front—line staff, who are at most risk of not just getting it but also passing it on. there is huge uncertainty about what covid, flu and other winter viruses may bring this winter. the hope is booster doses will give an extra layer of protection — notjust to individuals, but also the nhs. israel, germany, france and the us are among other countries offering boosters — in stark contrast to the world's poorest nations, where just two in 100 people have received a first

dose of vaccine. fergus walsh, bbc news. there've been warnings of a severe staffing shortage in england's care homes this winter after a deadline to ensure people are fully vaccinated by november passed today. from 11th november, anyone who's not had both jabs cannot continue working. unions have warned that up 70,000 carers may not be fully vaccinated by then. more than 90% of care home workers in england have now had one dose of the vaccine, and 82% now fully vaccinated. here's our social affairs correspondent, alison holt. testing staff, residents and visitors is just one of the jobs hayley evans has to do as part of her work in a bristol care home that helps people back on their feet after a long stay in hospital. despite witnessing the impact of covid, she only recently had herfirst vaccination — just in time for today's deadline. she's had past problems with blood

clots and was worried about side effects. i feel like we sacrifice enough of ourselves and we give as much as we can to ourjobs. and it was just another choice that kind of gets taken away. i personally would rather have waited. i tried to see it as a positive, that at least i was doing it for a job that i like and that i am invested in my future. the not—for—profit organisation that runs this and other homes in the south west has 26 out of its 650 staff who won't have jabs — so they will lose theirjobs. the chief executive says that's on top of staff leaving because they're burned out, have been offered higher pay elsewhere, or gone to the nhs, where jabs aren't yet compulsory. i spent the last winter worrying about people getting covid and the impact on our care homes. i'm now worrying constantly about being able to recruit enough staff to stay safe.

we are safe at the moment, you know, we can't run the services without having enough staff in place, and we are — but of course you're very close to the edge all the time on that. and those worries are echoed by care providers across the country in a sector that has always struggled to recruit and keep people. i decline any medication, notjust the vaccine... badareldean has been a care worker for more than six years — he's leaving because of the vaccine and will now increase his work as a delivery driver and personal trainer. recruiting is hard for care homes, especially whoever comes, they see the work, they leave in the first week, some people can't take it. but this petition, delivered to downing street today, underlines why staffjabs are seen as important in keeping residents safe and care homes open. these families want more legal rights around visiting. and my husband, suffering from dementia, can't understand why i couldn't see him.

it hasjust been the most awful 16 months, and i don't want other people going forward to suffer what i've been through. scotland, wales and northern ireland have not made jabs mandatory for care—home staff, but take—up of the vaccine has generally been very high. alison holt, bbc news. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon has warned that the scottish ambulance service and nhs are facing the most challenging winter in a lifetime. the military have been called on to help support ambulances with long waiting times. from glasgow, alexandra mackenzie reports. the scottish ambulance service helps people when they are most in need, but lillian briggs lay in pain on her kitchen floor for eight hours. her son thought she was going to die. i held my mum's hand, she had a couple of bruises, a bashed face so i wiped her face, reassured her.

eventually, seven hours, i called them. she says to me, we know about your mother, she's not a priority. i says, well, hopefully you'll be here before my mother dies, because my mum's in a bad way now. at first minister's questions, opposition parties raised other examples of long delays. this morning we all read in shock and horror about 65—year—old gerard brown, who died after a 40 hour wait for an ambulance. when the paramedics reached him all they could do was pronounce him as dead. his body was still warm. the first minister said the ambulance service was working under acute pressure, largely because of covid. while they are responding heroically to these challenges i recognise that some people are not getting the standard of service that they should be getting, or indeed the standard of service that the scottish ambulance service wants to deliver.

that is not acceptable and i apologise unreservedly to anyone who has suffered or who is suffering unacceptably long waits. she told msps that action was being taken. targeted military assistance is being requested. more funding for recruitment will be put in place and alternative transport for lower risk patients. some ambulance crews have faced delays outside hospitals waiting for patients to be admitted. 0pposition msps have said that the first minister has been too slow to act and have described this situation as a crisis. nicola sturgeon warned that the nhs faced what could be the most challenging winter it had ever experienced. alexandra mackenzie, bbc news, glasgow. in northern ireland, the department of health has asked for up to 100 medics from the armed forces to step in and help at hospitals. they'd be deployed between

belfast city hospital and the ulster hospital during october. health minister robin swann said the health service was under greater pressure than ever before. well, let's look at the latest coronavirus figures. in england, wales and northern ireland there were 26,911 new infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. we don't have the latest figures for scotland because of technical issues. which means an average of 30,186 new cases per day in the last week. there were 8339 people in hospital yesterday across all uk nations. 158 deaths were reported in the latest 2a hour period, that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test, and those figures do include scotland. so the average number of deaths per day in the last week is now 138. more than 89% of people aged 16 or over have had their firstjab.

and more than 81% are now double vaccinated. the government is expected to announce changes tomorrow to the rules for international travel — among them could be a simpler traffic light system and fewer tests. 0ur transport correspondent, caroline davies, joins me now. and this is the pcr test that costs a lot more? yes, and at the moment everyone who comes into the uk has to have one of these tests. the travel industry say they are too expensive, that it puts travellers off. the government has said it's important to identify variants of concern. there have been hints given the number of people who are now vaccinated that they could be potentially swapped for lateral flow tests, the cheaper option, but that could prove controversial with some people in public health. 0ther some people in public health. other things the industry want to see are things the industry want to see are things like moving from the traffic light system to just a red list and an open list system as well, so a

simplification there. the industry are piling on the pressure on the government. thurlow comes to an end at the end of this month and they have thousands of employees on it at the moment. there have been noises from the government that they want to do some level of opening but how far and how fast those changes might happen we won't know until tomorrow. caroline, thank you. a diplomatic row has broken out over a new defence and security partnership between britain, america and australia. the deal will deliver nuclear—powered submarines to the australian navy — to promote stability in the indo—pacific region, which has come under increasing pressure from china. beijing said the pact was "extremely irresponsible". here's our defence correspondent, jonathan beale. britain's making its mark in the pacific. the royal navy's new aircraft carrier's been flying the flag there, on exercise with the us and allies — proof of the increasing importance of the region, and the focus for this new defence agreement.

so what is the threat? china is the rising power in the region — notjust an economic giant, but a military one too. its armed forces are modernising. it now has the world's largest navy. it's staked its claim to oceans, fortifying islands well outside its own territorial waters. this new pact, announced in a carefully choreographed appearance by the leaders of australia, the uk and the us, is all about china, even though they didn't mention it by name. we all recognise the imperative of ensuring peace and stability in the indo—pacific over the long term. we need to be able to address both the current strategic environment in the region and how it may evolve. as to what is the pact, it starts with sharing the most sensitive of stealth technologies. britain and america will help australia build a fleet

of new nuclear—powered, though not nuclear—armed, submarines. the house will understand how australia's future possession of this capability will help to safeguard the peace and security of the indo—pacific. so what's the reaction? this week, london's been hosting one of the world's largest arms fairs, where there's fierce competition for lucrative defence contracts. the plan is to build this new fleet of submarines in australia, but the government here hopes it will boost britain's defence industry and create jobs. but this wider defence pact has already angered both an ally in france and a powerful rival in the region. france, which had hoped to build the submarines, has called the deal "a stab in the back". but china sees it as more of a threat. translation: cooperation between the united states, the uk and australia over nuclear submarines has seriously undermined regional peace and stability,

intensified the arms race, and undermined international nuclear non—proliferation efforts. the us might have led the exit from afghanistan, but this agreement shows its not turning its back on china's growing influence in the pacific. jonathan beale, bbc news. 0ur north america editor jon sopel is in washington. and the french aren't very happy with this pact, are they? sophie, i think it is the law of unintended consequences. the people who signed this expected china to be angry. they did not expect the furious reaction from the french. there was meant to be a huge gala dinner to celebrate the french assisting the war of independence for the united states. the french frigate is here and the head of the french navy is here. they have said

they're not going ahead with this. the french and americans have fallen out before, over the invasion of iraq, but one senior source suggested maybe the french hope they will get some reward from the americans, because of this slight. the french have have been hoping to sell diesel—powered submarines to the australians. that sale has fallen through and as a result it is the french who have gone nuclear. thank you. the bbc has seen documents suggesting the building industry and the government had evidence of the fire risks posed by several types of cladding more than a decade before the grenfell tower fire that claimed 72 lives. today, hundreds of people caught up in the cladding crisis protested outside parliament. the government says its spending £5 billion to remove the most dangerous cladding. but flat owners say it's not nearly enough — with their buildings facing repair bills running into millions of pounds, as tom symonds reports.

it's going to cost £4 million to fix my building. £7 million. £11 million. some of the hundreds of flat owners today demanding protection from the costs of what's been called a building safety crisis. a key question, could this crisis have been predicted? well, these are fire test results circulated confidentially within an advisory group on safety standards. five types of cladding failed the tests and this was 13 years before grenfell tower. we can find no sign that these tests were made public. the tests, commissioned by a labour government — similar to this — included aluminium panels like those at grenfell and high pressure laminate, known as hpl, made from wood fibre, common across the uk. zoe barkley knows about hpl, it's been flagged as a risk on her building. she can't sell. she and her partner ash are stuck in a three—roomed flat with a

new baby a dog and a cat. we have been told this could be, you know, years and years. there is no finish line. and it'sjust all—consuming at times. and her reaction to hearing about the 2004 tests? disgusting. i mean my building was only built in 2011, so those documents are about... ..eight or nine years before that then surely these materials shouldn't have been used on this building. the housing ministry said the 2004 tests were experimental, carried out to check the criteria for testing. they didn't test the intrinsic safety of building materials. but this cladding firm chief executive believes it is wrong to withhold even experimental tests. the thing that strikes me the most is that all this is information that we really could have done with four years ago, if not before. these tests are vital bits of information that we need to be able to recommend in the case of a remediation, whether a system

is dangerous or not. the grenfell tower inquiry is about to examine what governments knew about cladding and here that's what they're waiting for. for so many years we i have said that we need to hold those fully- responsible to account and if that turns out that _ the government knewl about these dangerous materials being put on the _ side of buildings, well, i that changes everything. and if not enough was done, these campaigners hope the government will be forced to pay more to resolve the crisis. tom symons bbc news, westminster. the broadcaster piers morgan is to join rupert murdoch's news corp to host a new television show and write for the sun and the new york post. mr morgan left good morning britain in march — walking off set after saying he did not believe claims made by the duchess of sussex during an interview. an electricity cable which runs between britain and france had to be shut down after catching fire in ashford in kent. the connection will be lost for nine days and will then only be able to operate at half capacity

until next march. it could impact on wholesale energy prices and ultimately consumer bills. john lewis has announced that it's chartering a fleet of ships to make sure its christmas stock arrives on time. retailers have been struggling to get hold of some items because of driver shortages and global shipping delays. the business says it will throw everything at the issues to make sure christmas isn't disrupted. the tennis superstar emma raducanu arrived back home in bromley in south london today, after her historic victory at the us open on saturday. the 18—year—old was welcomed by her father after a whirlwind few days in new york — appearing on us chat shows and attending the star—studded met ball. most workers and employers don't believe there'll ever be a full return to office working after the pandemic. a survey conducted for the bbc shows 22% of workers said they would like to work from home all of the time and 38% say they want to work from home some of the week.

our business editor simonjack has been looking at the changing world of work, and the potential power shift from employer to employee. remember this? millions of people may not have seen the inside of a busy office for 18 months. bt is shutting 870 of its 900 offices and creating 30 super hubs like this one in birmingham. and the boss thinks time in the office is important. what can they do here that they can't do at home is they can collaborate, they can work together in teams, they can be creative, and they can establish personal relationships, which you really can't do over zoom or teams in the way that i think we've all learned over the last 18 months. how many days, ballpark, will you be looking for people to work in the office per week? i think if you historically had a job that was five days per week in the office, i think philosophically, conceptually, a four day a week would be right or maybe as little as three, but not five. that would suit graduate alice, who'd like to spend three days a week in the office.

the last year and a half we've been sort of stuck at home, staring at a computer screen all day. i did like the extra hours that i got in the day, you know, the taking out of the commute, but i think at the end of the day, it's really nice to be able to come back in, and be able to meet different people that you wouldn't usually speak to day—to—day. last year, we visited the office of this birmingham marketing agency. they decided they didn't need it and now meet once a week in a bar, cafe or shared workspace. no office, no regrets. we don't want to tie people down any more to have to sit at a desk - because that's the only place we can trust them to do theirjob. _ actually, when we're i looking at new talent, when we're looking at the best people for the jobs, _ they can work from anywhere, and for us as a business, - that means we're expanding quicker than ever before. i the big return to the office is still in its early days, and the government's made clear that if covid—19 hits hard this winter, it could be reversed. no—one really knows what the new normal is, but some things seems clear — that hybrid working is here to stay, and when it comes to the negotiation about what works for the employer

or what works for the employee, with a million vacancies and labour shortages, the employee can be a lot more choosy about what works for them. recruitment consultant kam vara says many people are turning down jobs that don't fit around their post—covid lives — new childcare arrangements, new hobbies, even new pets — and many of those who are going back are looking for something more flexible. although a lot of the candidates are following the order and going back to the office as the employer requires, but they're also the same people calling us, telling us they're looking for another role, because they don't want to come into the office three days per week or four days per week — they want to come in one day a week or not at all. reports of the death of the office have been greatly exaggerated, and while this looks familiar, office life may never be quite the same again. simonjack, bbc news, birmingham. sir clive sinclair, the british inventor who created one of the first pocket calculators and brought home computers to the masses, has died at the age of 81.

he launched the first affordable consumer computer in 1980, costing less than £100. his ventures into new forms of transport — including the ill—fated sinclair c5 electric tricycle — were less successful. our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones reports. his drive and enthusiasm made him one of britain's best known inventors. the whole business of invention is a non——material thing. it's very hard to know why it gives such pleasure. clive sinclair's fascination with gadgets started at school and by his late teens he was selling his own electronic kits by mail order and writing technical manuals. he then put a magnifying bubble over each digit to make it visible. an obsession with miniaturisation saw him launch the word's fist slimline pocket calculator in 1972. soon though competition from cheaperjapanese versions forced sinclair to slash his prices. then the failure of his next

innovation, a digital watch, brought his company to its knees. undaunted, he set up sinclair research and in 1980 launched a ground—breaking personal computer, the zx 80. it sold for under £100. it was the zx spectrum with its colour display that was his biggest success, credited by some with launching the uk's computer and video games industries. more money had been poured into his obsession with a new form of urban transport. the sinclair c5, launched in the freezing winter of 1985, became something of a nationaljoke. and many critics complained it was unsafe on busy urban roads. you try some things sometimes they succeed and sometimes they don't. and i don't look back on it and say to myself the c5 was a wildest idea which failed because people jumped on it, i don't think that's true. i think it was not good enough to succeed, simple as that. having run out of

money, sinclairwas forced to sell his computer business to a budding entrepreneur called alan sugar. undeterred, he continued his quest for a new kind of personal transport. but an electric bicycle, the zike, proved no more popular than the c5. it is as a brilliant inventor who gave millions their first introduction to computers that he will be remembered. sir clive sinclair, who's died at the age of 81. that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night. hello. the weather's fairly quiet across most of the uk right now, and friday promises to be a decent day for many of us — but not everywhere. some of us are in for some rain, at least thick cloud, and that'll be across western parts of the uk. the reason for it is this weather front — it's a very slow—moving weather front, and it's going to stall

across western parts of the british isles. and you can see it here approaching ireland and also the irish sea early in the morning on friday, whereas many parts of wales and england remain dry. a very mild morning, temperatures in some spots in northern ireland and western scotland won't be any cooler than 15 celsius. so, here's the forecast for the morning and into the afternoon. tou can see that very narrow weather front from the tip of cornwall across the irish sea into the western isles — this is where most of the rain will fall — but across much of wales and nearly all of england, the weather's looking absolutely fine for some sunshine.

this is bbc news.

the headlines... china has condemned a new security deal between the us, britain, and australia, saying it showed a cold war mentality. the leaders of the three countries said the agreement would promote stability in the indo—pacific region. the us secretary of state has described france as a vital partner after french ministers reacted angrily to australia scrapping its multi—billion dollar deal to buy french submarines, in favour of nuclear—powered vessels using american and british technology. the roll—out of covid boosterjabs is under way in england and wales, with more than 30 million people expected to receive an extra layer of protection this winter. nhs staff have been among the first to receive them. italy has become the first european country to make it compulsory for workers to have a covid pass showing proof of vaccination, a negative test, or recovery from the virus.