is and every time we get them there is an inquiry— and every time we get them there is an inquiry to — and every time we get them there is an inquiry to make sure this thing never_ an inquiry to make sure this thing never happens again and it does happen— never happens again and it does happen again. and there are calls and other— happen again. and there are calls and other papers for the leader of the council— and other papers for the leader of the council in bradford and chief executive — the council in bradford and chief executive to resign over their handling _ executive to resign over their handling of this and once again the social_ handling of this and once again the social workers involved will come in for considerable criticism. i offer you one — for considerable criticism. i offer you one thought, many years ago when i was on _ you one thought, many years ago when i was on panorama, social workers were _ i was on panorama, social workers were under— i was on panorama, social workers were under similar criticism for similar— were under similar criticism for similar tragedies and i was sent by panorama — similar tragedies and i was sent by panorama to spend a couple of weeks was workers — panorama to spend a couple of weeks was workers in manchester and i went there with _ was workers in manchester and i went there with an open mind but nevertheless mindful of all the criticism — nevertheless mindful of all the criticism. the few weeks i spent there _ criticism. the few weeks i spent there changed my mike about the middle _ there changed my mike about the middle of the operate and i will never forget going to a house with 124—year—old social worker who went to see _ 124—year—old social worker who went to see this _ 124—year—old social worker who went to see this young child who she had been _ to see this young child who she had been seeing a regular basis and discover— been seeing a regular basis and discover the child had bruises on her head~ — discover the child had bruises on her head. the fathers of the child had followed on the stairs and she took the _ had followed on the stairs and she took the child to see a doctor and the doctor— took the child to see a doctor and the doctor said she could have fallen downstairs or she been hit by her father, — fallen downstairs or she been hit by her father, who knows was but she had to go— her father, who knows was but she had to go back to her boss and saved

what we _ had to go back to her boss and saved what we do _ had to go back to her boss and saved what we do about this committee would hit — what we do about this committee would hit the kid out of the home and did _ would hit the kid out of the home and did not the love it possibly gets _ and did not the love it possibly gets there or do we leave it there and submitted to possible further harm _ and submitted to possible further harm burisma it's an awfuljob and i would _ harm burisma it's an awfuljob and i would not _ harm burisma it's an awfuljob and i would not want to be involved. you know a lot — would not want to be involved. you know a lot about _ would not want to be involved. mt. know a lot about this public through even more recent examples because you are the education editor at the times. i know a lot of your colleagues do quite detailed pieces on the stories and they make on a saturday night often but you will often get two or three page background articles and one of the big sundays thatjust paints the kind of timescale, the detail of the visit at over periods of months and years. what are your impressions from covering those sorts of stories? . from covering those sorts of stories? , , ., , . ,, . stories? this story about star hobson is _ stories? this story about star hobson is such _ stories? this story about star hobson is such a _ stories? this story about star hobson is such a tragic - stories? this story about star. hobson is such a tragic case but stories? this story about star- hobson is such a tragic case but it does have echoes of those earlier tragedies that we have seen and most

recently the little boy arthur again killed within the family. i think one of the things that you see and you see in this case is that there were warnings to social services and in this case there were five warnings to services from extended family members. and although i think it's very difficult to be a social worker asked john said, you are dead if you do and damned if you don't, nevertheless when there are so many warnings over the period of time, i think that it's a kind of thing the sunday papers would hone in on and will go in on those warnings, when were they made it where were they not listen to and were they followed up? in one of the other things it emerges very often from these cases is that there is a failure between the various agencies involved to work together so very often the police, social services, schools and probation officers and different parties it could be involved in

these cases don't listen to each other and don't talk to each other and don't communicate information and don't communicate information and childrenjust slept and don't communicate information and children just slept in the gaps. i suppose the other thing is in the pandemic when we have had lockdowns that sometimes the children are becoming invisible. so she was too young to go to school but arthur was at school. there was a lot down for a while when the school was closed and there is a realfear a while when the school was closed and there is a real fear that when this pandemic ends we will see more cases than usual of children and babies who have been abused and very sadly have died. babies who have been abused and very sadly have died-— sadly have died. going to the front ofthe sadly have died. going to the front of the yorkshire _ sadly have died. going to the front of the yorkshire post, _ sadly have died. going to the front of the yorkshire post, this - sadly have died. going to the front of the yorkshire post, this is - of the yorkshire post, this is honestly a local story for that paper because we are talking about bradford and the political pressure is detailed there. i was very struck talking to harry ferguson who was a professor at the department of the work and social care in birmingham earlier in the evening and he was very i thought powerfully explaining the importance of face—to—face meetings and notjust seeing but touching. and little signs like this

a child come running to you and that her arms around you or are they shy and resisted and nervous? had a they respond with their parent speaks committed a twitch or look nervously at them? little signs that are impossible during a lock down for you to have any possibility of knowing. i you to have any possibility of knowina. ~ you to have any possibility of knowina. ,, .. , you to have any possibility of knowin. _ ~' .,. , , you to have any possibility of knowina. ,, , , knowing. i think teachers say this and teachers _ knowing. i think teachers say this and teachers have _ knowing. i think teachers say this and teachers have been - knowing. i think teachers say this and teachers have been making l knowing. i think teachers say this - and teachers have been making phone calls or families that they are worried about, they know are on their radar of social services so a lot of teachers have been amazing and a making phone calls of the families and even been going around with food parcels and visiting families. but when you cannot see the child, as you say, sometimes you just do a zoo call epic of the phone, you do miss all those signs. i had teachers tell me that they have children coming to school who were so hungry they will steal from other children and their lunch boxes but you don't see that if the child is not coming to school and then you cannot sound the warning signals. so it's a really roaring time i suppose the other thing people would say is

there have been cuts to social services budgets and that early intervention that you can have in a family, sometimes a parent really needs support and before it tips over into violence if support be put in place that would not have happened. in place that would not have happened-— in place that would not have hauened. , . happened. very good point as we are out of time but _ happened. very good point as we are out of time but we _ happened. very good point as we are out of time but we will _ happened. very good point as we are out of time but we will come - happened. very good point as we are out of time but we will come back- happened. very good point as we are out of time but we will come back to | out of time but we will come back to the star hobson case in our next summary. worth bearing in mind the good thing about local papers is a key public stories long after we have lost interest in the other big story is pay out to some postmasters never have the funds they lost which is a good follow—up story to that controversy. more from the papers at 11:30pm from us and we have a sports and weather coming up next and then it's new state. good evening. i'm tulsen tollett with your sports news, where we start with football, and manchester city have moved four points clear at the top

of the premier league after a 7—0 win over leeds united. phil foden had given city an early lead before jack grealish doubled the advantage with his first headed goal in the premier league. kevin de bruyne and riyadh mahrez extended the lead either side of half—time before de bruyne's second was an absolute stunner from distance. john stones made it six before nathan ake added a seventh on a night pep guardiola saw his team score for the 500th time in the premier league under him. meanwhile, steven gerrard's aston villa travelled to norwich, with jacob ramsey opening the scoring at carrow road. ollie watkins added a second three minutes from time for a fourth win in six under their new manager taking them ninth, while dean smith sees his side remain bottom, three points from safety. thought it was really strong performance. first half we were outstanding and played well in pockets of the half but played our

way at times was up you want the players before the game can we come here and when it came to control part of the game and deliver a clean sheet? players developed in every department and is in the back of a really challenging week. one game in scotland, too, as the managerless hibernian hosted dundee. hibs narrowed the gap on sixth—placed aberdeen to a point with a paul mcmullan own goal the difference between the sides, leaving dundee tenth and just two points off the bottom. premier league players and staff will have to take lateral flow tests every time they want to enter their club's training ground. it's one of a number of new measures agreed by club to combat the rising numbers of coronavirus cases. twice—weekly pcr testing will also be introduced, along with increased mask—wearing and social distancing, while time in treatment rooms will be limited. in the last week, two games have been postponed, with tottenham against brighton on sunday called off and tonight's match between brentford and manchester united also cancelled. tomorrow, fans attending matches will have to show proof of double vaccination or a negative test to attend if there will be crowds of more than 10,000 people.

sports minister nigel huddleston today spoke about these increased measures and also refused to rule out reducing capacities or even closing venues to spectators in future. the plan b measures we have implemented at the moment were because we believe they are the right measures for right now. in terms of the measures brought in, facemasks, vaccination certificates and so on for entry to major events, we believe they are proportionate and the goal is to try and reduce transmission. they're proportionate measures, and we don't want any of these things to be any longer than absolutely necessary, but the prime minister has said we're taking one day at a time and looking at the data and that will drive decisions. arsenal have stripped pierre—emerick aubameyang of the club captaincy and said he won't be considered for selection against west ham tomorrow night. aubameyang was dropped for saturday's win over southampton for what manager mikel arteta described as a

"disciplinary breach". reports suggest he returned late from a trip to france. we have made this decision and that unfortunately is a really tough one, and obviously, if i had to choose, i wouldn't like to be sitting here talking about it, but we had to do it. the next one is for now he's not involved in the squad. we want to take our culture, our demands to a different level, and when those standards are not met, you know that you cannot participate in our daily basics. manchester united defender viktor lindelof is undergoing tests after he suffered breathing difficulties during their win at norwich on saturday. he was forced off during the second half, but the incident isn't believed to be connected to the covid—i9 outbreak at the club. united said he had recovered well and was having a series of precautionary investigations. covid struggles in rugby union, too. one game in the champions cup was called off last weekend, and now there's doubts over

another this weekend. leinster say an additional number of senior players have tested positive for covid ahead of friday's game against montpellier in france. this follows four positives last week at the province. and issues, too, for the hosts. they have reported a fifth positive test, with the team now training in separate groups with more testing to come. former yorkshire head coach andrew gale will not return to his position as assistant coach of men's hundred side northern superchargers in 2022. gale was one of 16 people sacked by yorkshire in the aftermath of racism allegations made by azeem rafiq. gale was on a one—year contract with the superchargers for the 2021 season, which will not be renewed. the second ashes test begins on thursday, and despite the capitulation in the first, england captainjoe root believes there is reason to be optimistic. they may have lost by nine wickets and suffered two batting collapses,

but root has stressed the positives heading into that day—night test match with australia in adelaide. without sounding too cliched, there were things there we just have to do for longer. and we could be looking at a very different scoreline. and that's the sort of confidence that you have to take forward. and i think that's why it doesn't feel like previous tours, leaving brisbane where we've been absolutely battered and completely on the wrong end of the result. absolutely battered and completely i think we're actually leaving there from a slightly different perspective. three—time world gold medallist elise christie has announced her retirement from short track speed skating at the age of 31, but she insists this isn't the last we'll see of her in sport. in a statement, christie said she had been putting this decision off after the heartbreak of failing to qualify for the winter olympics in beijing next year. she added that she still has sporting plans for 2026, insisting her olympic medal dream isn't overjust yet. christie suffered huge disappointment at the winter games in sochi and pyeongchang.

and that's all the sport for now. hello. while the key message in the weather forecast is that the weather is going to be very settled over the next few days, a big area of high pressure is going to establish itself across the uk, and that means settled conditions, i think, in the run—up to christmas. and on the satellite picture, you can that area of high pressure across spain, portugal and france. it's building here, and it's extending northwards. and as it extends northwards, it's going to push the fronts away to the north as well. but for the time being, we still have quite a few isobars, these pressure lines, so a stronger wind and a weather front close to northern ireland and across western parts of scotland and the north, as well, during the course of wednesday. so, here, it will be at times cloudy, but it's mild with that cloudy, rainy weather, around nine,

eight degrees celsius. to the south of that, very mild, too. ten degrees, but it is dry. now, the cloud cover on wednesday will vary considerably across the uk. we still have that weakening weather front in the north west here, so dribs and drabs of rain. and at the very least, it will be cloudy, but plenty of bright if not even sunny weather around merseyside, parts of the midlands, lincolnshire, also northern and eastern parts of scotland. in the south, we have thicker cloud because it's drifting in from the southern climes here. now, this high pressure really will be in place across the uk by thursday. you can see the weather fronts have been pushed to the north, so that means it's drying out right across the uk. still a little bit of rain maybe early in the morning flirting with the very far north west of scotland and the northern isles, but you can see the bulk of the country is dry on thursday. and again, a lot of variation in the cloud cover, but wherever you will be on thursday, i think the temperature will be more or less the same, around 10—12 degrees celsius. now, this is what we call a blocking

high, and this happens when the jet stream sort of wraps around it in the shape of the greek letter omega. so, you can just about make out that omega shape. when that happens in the atmosphere, things don't tend to move around an awful lot. they get sort of locked in, so that's why that high pressure will lock itself in across this part of world, across our shores. so, very little changes expected as we head through friday, through the weekend and into next week as well. that's it from me.

welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines... as omicron spreads across europe, a fresh warning from the world health organisation. a fresh warning from we're concerned people are dismissing omicron as mild. surely we have learned by now that we underestimate this virus at our peril. in the uk, a blow to prime minister borisjohnson's authority as fellow conservatives rebel against covid restrictions. two close friends who lost their lives in the english channel migrant tragedy — we visit the town in iraqi kurdistan to hear from their grieving family and friends. and calling time on the wild west online — british mps want big tech