the charity save the children has condemned what it called an attack by the myanmar military in which it says at least 38 people were killed. several charred bodies were found in burnt—out vehicles in kayah state. the charity says two of its humanitarian staff are missing. the queen has used her christmas day message to pay tribute to her late husband prince philip. he died in april aged 99 — the couple had been married for 73 years. queen elizabeth said she understood why christmas was hard for those who had lost loved ones, this year. in his annual christmas message to people gathered in saint peter's square, pope francis has highlighted the tragedies in syria and yemen. the pontiff also called for more international dialogue — and warned against a tendency for nations to withdraw during the coronavirus pandemic. now on bbc news, it's time for dateline london,

with shaun ley. hello and a warm welcome to the first of two special editions of dateline london. next weekend at the turn of the year, we will make some predictions for 2022. this weekend, we concentrate on the waning year and that seasonal classic. scrooge had three ghosts to remind scrooge. we don't have ghosts on this programme, we have guests. three distinguished journalists to reflect on the year. henry chu, isabel hilton and the bbc�*s lyse doucet. a very warm welcome for it to you all.

thanks for breaking off to be with us on dateline. let us begin as you would expect with the virus. isabel, can you start by talking about how this year has been different from the previous year? this is the second year in which we had to learn to deal with covid. you're absolutely right. i think that fact has been the biggest shift. i think when it started, we probably all thought it would peak, and then it would be normal. but i think now we understand, this is a systemic crisis. it's changing the way we live. it won't go away. our accommodation with it will be what matters going forward, but we'll always go on suffering from new variants, particularly since the divide between the privileged world and the less privileged world and how we deal with it

and prepare for it and how well we vaccinate against it. that has widened. economically, the local economy... the global economy. the figures are all over the place because for part of this year, we've seen a big bounce back in the recovery, but i think gave a falsely optimistic picture. the previous year was so extremely locked down. i think the shape of travel, these things will go or won't go back to where they were. just as the poor have grown poorer, the rich have grown richer and the assumptions that i think we made about what global progress is, those probably changed profoundly. so, the global order�*s been shifting. china is more assertive, the us is still quite off balance, partly as a result

of the trump presidency, but also in the handling of covid and the judgements that have been made of governments and how they handle covid. they have thrown all sorts of political assumptions into question. in china, if you think back to when this started, there was huge criticism of the early mistakes, the suppression of the news, the suppression of the whistle—blowers, the permitting of mass gatherings and the feeling that this could be a watershed moment for the party. the party reversed its policy. it has still got a zero tolerance policy, which has meant essentially that china has remained locked down as far as the outside world goes largely.

in some ways, that's effective. but it's also a policy with no exit strategy. again, that's quite a big moment to understand that if china that had so greatly benefited from opening up is now shut down, it's a return to that kind of china which didn't have quite so much interaction with the rest of the world. the coming and going of people and cultures and students and all these things is severely restricted. and i think that may be a phase that should have been whose new authoritarianism has flourished. henry, which countries do you think have handled it best and worst? what policies have really been successful? it's certainly been instructive to sit here now. to see how things have shifted both in terms of the virus itself, being a mutating thing,

and the way the government's haves had to do the same in terms of how they confront it. looking back a little over a year ago, everyone was praising new zealand for saying they could eradicate the virus, and they trumpeted that very accomplishment. it was just this year that they've had to backtrack on that and say look, we cannot get rid of it entirely unless we completely cut ourselves off from the world, so we need to live with it. same with germany, which was being boosted as a paragon of how to respond to the virus. they've also had protests at home against lockdowns and other restrictive measures. they've had a bit slower vaccination uptake than they expected, so they had to really play the game and try to keep on top of things. i think what it's shown us is that no single one policy is going to take a country out of danger. everything has to be multipronged.

vaccinations now are making an incredible advance. we are in a better situation because of science and the fact we have these inoculations. to try to put all your eggs into that basket is also wrong. we've seen that a little bit here in britain where it's all about the jabathon. that cannot be the be—all and end all. we have restrictions which other countries never dropped. like masks and working from home. those now have to come into play as well, so there's not going to be any magic bullet that will solve this problem. another country that also seems to be doing very well is australia, which said we're going to ban travel in and out at the first sign of any positive test. that seemed to keep caseloads down, but at the cost of what?

endless lockdowns for residents of melbourne, for example, people who cannot travel out of australia to see grandchildren, dying relatives and a other attend important events. there were human costs beyond keeping people safe. i think the lesson has been over two years is that government must be nimble, because this virus is nimble. can i pick up on something that isabel said about the growing division? has it meant us and them? very much so. the science has been a stunning success. i never have vaccines been - developed in such record time. 23, i think, around the world, some eight billion doses. - but the fairness of it all has been a stunning failure. - the world had two chances. even on this programme, -

when the pandemic was starting, we talked about the mantra — no—one is safe until everyonej is safe. round one, the wealthy world bought up all the ppe. - even poor countries. like afghanistan, there was [10 resources. then we got a second chance, the vaccine roll—out. - we did worse than. the first time around. as we speak, israel- is providing the fourth shot to those over 60, where - the average in poorer countries is somewhere around 21%. wealthy nations, - it's around 83%, 86%. of course, governments have to take care of their- own people first. the rise of omicron has- reminded us again, if we need

to be reminded, that if there are swathesl of unvaccinated populations, this gives chances for - the virus to mutate, - so just when we were settling comfortably, thinking - we could celebrate the end of the year, people _ are considering lockdowns again and the virus is back with us. will we get a third chance? i'm not sure. it sometimes comes in threes. yet the science was there. nothing was secret about it. we knew what we had to do, but people's instinct - is to protect themselves. you can't blame people, but... it is an interesting challenge i suspect we will be talking about a year from now. let's move on and talk about the united states, and particular, the democratic challenge. the year began with donald trump's defeat in the november 2020 presidential election. that was just after the capitol riot on january the 6th. it may have shaken some

of the complacency among americans about how solid their democracy was. democrats were flying the flag and saying they would defend their democratic tradition. and yet, 8 months later, the democrat president is acquiescing in the re—establishment of it everything that's antithetical to the us system — a theocracy, and an undemocratic one at that. it's quite a contrast, isn't it? 'democratic challenge'. it hints at the way it's i being cast, as a contest. joe biden talked about it. between democracy and autocracy. - for years, we used to talk about the competition - between great powers powers, regions. - now, it's been about systems. isabel touched on this. on both sides, they're saying they have the best system. l china is saying the state run i

system is the best for dealing with these crises. whereasjoe biden is saying, and he had a summit, - a democracy summit to emphasise the point he's actually _ gathering them and saying here we are, the best of the best. this was a year with so many articles saying the bad - guys are winning. when president biden was sworn in, there was this undisguised i glee in european capitals. america is back. not just of the country, l but there was this phrase about the rules—based international system. i america would be working with its nato partners. - you wouldn't have this 2014 i crimea, etc, butjoe biden has had trouble at home.

the assault on the capitol and the catastrophic- evacuation from afghanistan. it wasn't lost on the russians. they said, "there you go, - ukraine, see how america lets down its allies?" so, it is a challenge. both sides are being challenged, and not| doing very well. the year ends with biden's very ambition's plans for rebuilding, building back better. the post—covid recovery. that's still snarled up in congress. it is a year in which he has talked a lot about what he talked about during the campaign. reaching across the aisle. he's an insider, but this is why an insider is good for the united states. what's your assessment of all that? certainly, the public assessment ofjoe biden's presidency, which lets remember is less than a year old, is still fairly low.

he came in on the waves of great hopes by those who voted him in, and many of those hopes have been frustrated. a lot was made of the fact that he had a very long tenure in the senate, and he knows many of the people on capitol hill. there was hope that he could bring that consensus, knock some heads together and get major legislation passed. unfortunately, the bitterness from last november, and even the continuing refusal of many republicans to acknowledge the legitimacy of his election, continues to poison the atmosphere there and polarise public opinion. i think there is now recognition that there is virtually no republican lawmaker who is willing to work with the democrats. to be fair, when trump was president, that could also be said of the democratic caucus. they were also united

in opposing him. although they did come together to pass some big coronavirus packages. it wasn't all obstruction all the time. but we're also seeing that, unfortunately for biden, some of the biggest obstacles are within his own party. it's not just across the aisle. i mean, who of us, maybe a year ago, even us americans, knew the name joe manchin? well, now we have this senator from the state of west virginia who seems almost single—handedly to be holding up this build back better bill on welfare spending that you mentioned. he is the senator from a state with less than two million people and yet, his vote weighs as much as a senator from my own state, california — home to 40 million people. when you have a senate balanced on a knife edge between the parties the way it is, individual lawmakers like joe manchin have incredible clout. sean — the democratic

challenge — that actually applies within the us on a micro level and not just on the world stage between democracies and autocracies. because, as i said, you have one senator who is holding up a major legislation, you also have redistricting going on that seems to be restricting the vote of many minorities in states like texas and others, and so a democratic deficit is notjust something that we're seeing across the board and globally, but perhaps within our own democratic societies. it has seemed, in 2021, as if democracy has been on the defensive, at the very least, and there were countries where things have looked promising that look less promising now. two examples — sudan in africa and myanmar in particular. well, myanmar, yes, was a particularly tragic case.

the more we learn about it, since the military coup, the worse it appears. but i would also cite some other cases such as india. often held up as a fine example of asian democracy, where under this particular government, freedoms have been very much in retreat over the past year. and i think that there's been — you know, fredom house, which does a survey every year in progress in democracies, one can count democracies but they also try to assess the quality against criteria such as freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom om assembly, effectiveness of rule of law, and the depressing thing is not only have the numbers of democracies declined slightly, but in 45 countries, the quality of democracy has diminished. and i think this is very much related to some of the topics that we've been touching on. you know, henry's account of the struggles ofjoe biden.

a democracy — you know, the us has been the pillar of the sense of global democracy. you know, upholding democracy as the best form of government. and what's happening at the moment is partly this very strong challenge from china, for example, which is hugely invested in misinformation, in disinformation, in challenging the image of democracy as an effective vehicle for distributing benefit to its own people. in contrast, as the party would claim, to its own performance. that's one challenge which has found, i think, some fairly receptive ground in western democracies, where people are feeling frustrated and buffeted by any number of forces. and they feel that their politicians are not providing an effective remedy.

so that sense that democracy is resilient, robust and delivers the best for their people is under extremely active challenge. and autocracies are taking advantage of this. you know, the idea that xinjiang and hong kong can happen without being effectively challenged by western democracries, that china in the united nations can make great headway in rewriting the rules of what's considered acceptable for human rights and mobilise the votes around it. these are pretty important shifts which affect both the quantity and the quality of democracy globally so i think democratic systems really need reform. henry mentioned the skewing of representation in the united states — that's partly a population trend which is going to get worse unless addressed. in the uk, the percentage of voters who actually

elect every government since the world war, you know, that has been pretty questionable! yet, these systems are now so locked in extremist confrontation that the idea that they can effectively reform themselves to give a better deal to voters, you know, that seems pretty challenging. so i think middle ground is really under attack everywhere, and so is democratic legitimacy. thank you. let's move on to our last section. and since isabel mentioned the united kingdom, let's focus a little more closely to home. henry, borisjohnson's year has ended badly. do you want to talk about the fissures that have opened up notjust in his party, but arguably in his basic governing philosophy — the idea of levelling up and the uk becoming a more homogeneous entity after years in which distinctiveness — not least through devolution — was regarded as something to encourage. isabel also mentioned this

in terms of the fact that the coronavirus has thrown everything for a loop and worsened inequalities around the world, including here in britain. which it goes against precisely that levelling up agenda that borisjohnson made much of when he was elected. with a fairly strong majority 'ust with a fairly strong majority just one _ with a fairly strong majority just one year ago. sorry, two years— just one year ago. sorry, two years ago. — we now see that agenda is now sort of under threat because of the money that it requires and we have a chancellor who is perhaps a bit stricter with the strings than borisjohnson would like, and there is squabbling within the cabinet. boris johnson likes to project a sunny air of optimism, but what he's not been known for necessarily is decisiveness. and that's what is needed in a time like this, where really tough decisions need to be made. that includes making some of these — that includes making some of these reforms. that would actually make britain a fairer society,

bring more wealth to parts of the country that have gone without for a very long time, and just see a much more just system across the board. but i am struck, though, that here we are one year tater, — and i feel like it's deja vu because exactly a year ago, we were in a situation where britain was being shunned by other countries because of a variant that was galloping through. now, it's the omicron variant and france and germany are worried about british travellers. you had britain also on the brink of brexit. and the idea that it could be locked in conflict with the eu. well, this has not been solved eithen — borisjohnson still has a government that is in conflict with the eu. so there has not been much progress _ so there has not been much progress and i think in fact they— progress and i think in fact they have been some flooding back — let's talk about the eu and the uk. the year ends with the reshaping of our relationship, effectively finalising

the divorce. not least is it particularly affects northern ireland. do you think there has been progress this year? you use the word 'reshaping'. i think any kind of shape would at least be coherent. but i think we've seen this steady slide in relations and i think, no doubt, there are faults on both sides, but essentially, the uk insisted on the hardest breafast — brexit! — and then continues to complain about the consequences. i know it's what politicians do, especially when they find themselves having to share pain rather than pleasure around the electorate or around sectors of the economy. you know, the question of who is going to pay for these policies? will it be agriculture, will it be services, will it be science, will it be education? all of the sectors are screaming now. i could mention culture, also screaming.

they're all pointing out the difficulties that covid ahs presented, they're suffering the consequences of brexit. without there being any visible pay—off beyond a series of trade deals that reflect a minuscule amount of the british economy — and we had them anyway, before before brexit — so the difficulty the government has in trying to square this circle is taking responsibility for what it had promised. you know, if you take the analogy of divorce, there was going to be a wonderful new lover who was going to take britain to a new whole life, and somehow, that new lover disappeared and the new life disappeared. so, the difficult thing for any politician to how present the pain as a positive without actually having very many positives up their sleeve,

so, i am not sure that ireland is — it's certainly not the only difficulty that we face but ireland it is a pretty dangerous and unsquarable circle. and we — the year has ended with the departure of lord frost, the former diplomat whose diplomacy which has resulted in a catastrophic decline in uk—eu relations. that's affecting all kinds of things, including things like the participation in horizon, the science programme. it's a collaborative sicen program and its and open to non—eu countries, but the eu suspended british participation because of the toxic state of relations over things like ireland. so i would hope as the year closes, there might be some serious reflection on the real—life consequences of the policies pursued to date. and that perhaps this is an opportunity to get some

more constructive conversation on the table. in our last minute or os, just reflect on what this year has meant for the european union because it had a rather bumpy experiencein the vaccination programme but at least it seems to have established a programme for recovery that seems, in a sense, to move the idea of one europe forward a bit at a time when it had looked rather under challenge. yes, but it is- the european union. but when it comes to health, it is the _ but when it comes to health, it is the responsibility— but when it comes to health, it is the responsibility of- but when it comes to health, it is the responsibility of each - is the responsibility of each government— is the responsibility of each government and _ is the responsibility of each government and we - is the responsibility of each government and we are - is the responsibility of each . government and we are seeing with omicron _ government and we are seeing with omicron they _ government and we are seeing with omicron they are - government and we are seeing with omicron they are taking l with omicron they are taking very— with omicron they are taking very different _ with omicron they are taking very different responses - with omicron they are taking very different responses to l with omicron they are taking i very different responses to how to lock. — very different responses to how to lock, whether— very different responses to how to lock, whether to _ very different responses to how to lock, whether to lockdown, i to lock, whether to lockdown, whether— to lock, whether to lockdown, whether to _ to lock, whether to lockdown, whether to quarantine, - to lock, whether to lockdown, i whether to quarantine, whether to have — whether to quarantine, whether to have travel _ whether to quarantine, whether to have travel restrictions - whether to quarantine, whether to have travel restrictions and l to have travel restrictions and of course _ to have travel restrictions and of course yes _ to have travel restrictions and of course yes there _ to have travel restrictions and of course yes there is - to have travel restrictions and of course yes there is a - to have travel restrictions and of course yes there is a big i of course yes there is a big covid — of course yes there is a big covid recovery— of course yes there is a big covid recovery plan - of course yes there is a big covid recovery plan but - of course yes there is a big i covid recovery plan but aliens in aid — covid recovery plan but aliens in aid to— covid recovery plan but aliens in aid to countries _ covid recovery plan but aliens in aid to countries like - covid recovery plan but aliens in aid to countries like poland and hungary— in aid to countries like poland and hungary upheld - in aid to countries like poland and hungary upheld up- in aid to countries like poland . and hungary upheld up because of the _ and hungary upheld up because of the systematic— and hungary upheld up because of the systematic violation - and hungary upheld up because of the systematic violation of. of the systematic violation of what — of the systematic violation of what have _ of the systematic violation of what have regarded - of the systematic violation of what have regarded as- of the systematic violation of. what have regarded as european values _ what have regarded as european values as— what have regarded as european values as we _ what have regarded as european values as we have _ what have regarded as european values as we have an _ what have regarded as european values as we have an eu - what have regarded as european values as we have an eu ruling i values as we have an eu ruling against — values as we have an eu ruling against hungary— values as we have an eu ruling against hungary and _ values as we have an eu ruling against hungary and their- against hungary and their

immigration _ against hungary and their immigration law- against hungary and their immigration law and - against hungary and their immigration law and theyj against hungary and their. immigration law and they are saying — immigration law and they are saying sorry, _ immigration law and they are saying sorry, we're _ immigration law and they are saying sorry, we're still- immigration law and they are | saying sorry, we're still going to pylon— saying sorry, we're still going to pylon with _ saying sorry, we're still going to pylon with the _ saying sorry, we're still goingj to pylon with the immigration rute — to pylon with the immigration rute same _ to pylon with the immigration rule. same with _ to pylon with the immigration rule. same with poland. - i'm going to say sorry as well, because we are out of time and almost out of the year. henry, isabeland lyse, thank you very much. lyse and i we will be back at the turn of the year and have new guests with us to talk about the year to come. from all of us, enjoy the rest of the festive break. goodbye. hello, there, and a very merry christmas to you. the — merry christmas to you. the merry christmas to you. rain and hillside throu-h the the rain and hillside through the day— the rain and hillside through the day witt— the rain and hillside through the day will become - the rain and hillside through| the day will become confined the rain and hillside through. the day will become confined to scotland. — the day will become confined to scotland, something _ the day will become confined to

scotland, something a - the day will become confined to scotland, something a bit- the day will become confined to scotland, something a bit drierl scotland, something a bit drier and tirighter_ scotland, something a bit drier and brighter with _ scotland, something a bit drier and brighter with a _ scotland, something a bit drier and brighter with a few- scotland, something a bit drierl and brighter with a few showers moving — and brighter with a few showers moving across _ and brighter with a few showers moving across the _ and brighter with a few showers moving across the south - and brighter with a few showers moving across the south and i moving across the south and west — moving across the south and west. , ., ., ., , moving across the south and west. , ., ., , west. this waterfront has been -aushin west. this waterfront has been pushing into — west. this waterfront has been pushing into cold _ west. this waterfront has been pushing into cold air— west. this waterfront has been pushing into cold air which - west. this waterfront has been pushing into cold air which is l pushing into cold air which is why we have seen increasing amounts of snow and suddenly to northern england and into central and southern scotland and even down to lower levels as well but mild air continues to push northwards and will slowly win out through the day. we will start off by a wintry mix of weather across northern england, central southern scotland, even down to lower levels for a time, raymond hill is no become confined to scotland, drierfurther is no become confined to scotland, drier further south, the legacy of cloud but the brightness northern ireland dwells in the south—westjust a few showers here, lighter winds in the south and possibly quite injury across northern and eastern areas accentuating the cold feel, temperatures here ranging from three to seven degrees, double figures across the south and south—west.

welcome to bbc news. i'm simon pusey. our top stories: save the children condemns the military in myanmar, for the deaths of 38 people found in burnt—out vehicles in kayah state. queen elizabeth speaks about her memories of prince philip — in herfirst christmas day message since his death. that mischievous, inquiring twinkle was as bright at the end as when i first set eyes on him. covid infections in france pass 100,000 cases in a 24—hour period — as concerns grow about the 0micron variant. the world's most powerful telescope is launched into space — to offer unprecedented images of the universe. and after three months of spewing lava and ash, the volcanic eruption on la palma finally comes to an end.