at the olympics. what do you hope your story can show people about what is possible? anything is possible. but honestly, i believe that if you can start something at the age of 32, where everyone believes it's a thing you have to do from a very young age, and i can get to where i've gotten to, then people should apply that to anything in their life. so, perseverance is really the motto of this story. jamaica! alexander has already led the way here, as one of jamaica's flag bearers. he'll now carry the hopes of aspiring skiers everywhere. proof that it's never too late. andy swiss, bbc news, beijing. never too late indeed. time for a look at the weather. here's stav da naos. good afternoon. the weather is slowly coming down as high pressure builds. we've got an area of low pressure affecting the north of the

uk with gales or even severe gales. further south, uk with gales or even severe gales. furthersouth, more uk with gales or even severe gales. further south, more sunshine around. cloud and rain into southern areas overnight. this is below affecting the majority of scotland but also northern ireland, northern england. a mixture of rain, sleet and snow showers, longer spells of snow, heavy snow on the scottish hills being blown about by the winds. i cloud across the far south. a good slice of dry and bright, sunny weatherfor much of slice of dry and bright, sunny weather for much of england and wales by the odd shower across north—western areas. really wild conditions across the northern half of the country, strong, gusty winds, breezy in the south and breezy in the north and west with blizzard conditions in the scottish hills. low temperatures, feeling sub zero here. a chilly day to come even across southern areas compared to the last few days. the gales and the sleet and snow showers slowly pull away from eastern scotland,

north—east england through the night and then under clear skies and light winds, it turns, but cold. widespread frost, even a hard frost across central and northern areas so watch out for ice in scotland. one or two showers in north and west of scotland on friday, for the most cold, crisp and sunny day for most of us. a bit more canal building across western areas ahead of the next weather front with increasing wind as well. a chilly day to come. our area of wind as well. a chilly day to come. ourarea of high wind as well. a chilly day to come. our area of high pressure is short lived. into the weekend another area of low pressure sweeping in, bringing strong winds, a lot of cloud, outbreaks of rain, something quite heavy across northern and western hills. the south—east staying driest and brightest. temperatures coming up in a bit across southern and western areas, 9-10, still across southern and western areas, 9—10, still cool in the far north. something a bit drier on saturday

night but then the next area of low pressure hurtling in on sunday. mainly affecting the south of the country. we start with variable cloud, sunshine, showers and then wet and windy across much of wales, central and southern england, heavy rain there. further north, brighter with sunshine and showers. chilly in the north, turning milder in the south. a reminder of our top story. a new diplomatic effort to avoid conflict in ukraine as borisjohnson says this is the biggest security crisis europe has faced in decades. that's all from the bbc news at one — so it's goodbye from me — and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc�*s news teams where you are. the news teams where you are. very good afternoon. good afternoon, it's 1.30pm and here's your latest sports news... we've already followed one story for team gb in the curling

at the winter olympics... and while the mixed doubles pair just missed out on a medal there are two more campaigns beginning today. after defeat to switzerland in their opening round robin match, the women are back on the ice, against sweden and they took command with eve muirhead's brilliant final stone. the hammer! in the fourth end, it scored four and gave them a 5—1 lead. they have added to it, they currently lead to they have added to it, they currently lead to 6—1 they have added to it, they currently lead to 6—1 heading they have added to it, they currently lead to 6—1 heading into the sixth end. the men's team finished strongly to beat italy 7—5 — bruce mouat sending down the final stone. he was one of the mixed doubles pair that missed out on the bronze. britain are ranked first in the world so there's a lot of expectation on their shoulders — they'll be back tomorrow for matches against the usa and norway. there was a dramatic finish in the men's snowboard cross final. after several rounds of knockout competition it all came down to just a few millimetres. canada's eliot grondin

had been the fastest in the preliminary race and took that form into the early stages of the final. but alessandro haemmerle of austria reeled him in and it came down to a photo—finish... haemmerle taking it in the end! saying afterwards he had no idea it was so close — the difference was just two—hundredths of a second. ireland captainjonny sexton will miss their six nations match against france this weekend because of a hamstring injury. both won their opening games of the tournament. and sexton had originally delcared himself fit despite a bruising encounter with wales. but the fly—half will be replaced in the ireland team byjoey carbery in paris on saturday. meanwhile a hamstring injury has ruled scotland flankerjamie ritchie out of the rest of the six nations. he came off during the second half of the calcutta cup win over england and will be replaced by sam skinner for the game in wales on saturday. that's one of five changes, including bringing in an entirely new front row.

wayne pivac has made four changes to his wales team for the game in cardiff, including handing a debut to flankerjac morgan. the defending champions lost that opening match to ireland. heather knight will captain a is—strong squad for england's defence of the women's world cup in new zealand. knight led the side to victory in 2017 and the squad includes seven players involved in that win. as well as all—rounder emma lamb, who made her one—day debut in the women's ashes — which ended this week without a single win for england. there's plenty of british interest towards the top of the leaderboard in golf�*s ras al khaimah classic in the uae. scotland's david drysdale is one of those in early contention — he opened with an opening round of 66. ..leaves him three shots off the lead. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories

on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport let's go back to our top story, and former conservative prime minister sirjohn major has said borisjohnson and his officials "broke lockdown laws" over parties held in downing street. mrjohnson, who is coming under pressure to quit, said today he was looking forward to police concluding their inquiry into 12 gatherings. earlier martine croxall spoke to the former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, sir alistair graham — and asked his reaction, to what sirjohn major had to say. it was a very wide—ranging speech from everything about democracy to refugees, to the police and new pieces of legislation.

what i thought was interesting on the party—gate issue was his reference to what other cabinet ministers would have done if the allegations against the prime minister referred, were margaret thatcher, alsojohn major, the very key heavyweight political figures would have immediately intervened with the prime minister to stop this happening. an implication there that perhaps we haven't got the strong enough political figures in our cabinet these days to impose some restraint on the prime minister's activities. i thought that was quite a powerful point — we should ask ourselves whether the cabinet is sufficiently

peopled with political figures of sufficient authority to restrain the prime minister. "many special advisers", we are hearing, which sirjohn thought was a bad idea, not that all of them could be doing anything particularly useful. and as you say, we all need a critical friend. this is a conservative talking about the current conservative government, amongst that wider issue of democracy. what amongst the things this government have done of late has caused you concern? well, my worry with the prime minister is that he does seem to have breached the ministerial code. in that the evidence seems to be pretty strong that he knowingly misled parliament about the parties in 10 downing street. because he came later to apologise for having attended a party, yet he has not resigned.

and conservative members of parliament don't seem to have plucked up the courage to have forced a new election for a new leader of the conservative party, and therefore a new prime minister. so that really does worry me. i was worried about what was, i think, a breach of one of the seven principles of public life, in terms of the refurbishment of parliament, because the first principle is about putting the public interest before the private interest. and here, of course, we know the electoral commission had to fine the conservative party for not properly declaring donation that had been made. and from the whatsapp messages we saw that the prime minister had been in discussion with a donor

about the refurbishment of the flat, so it's the lack of integrity, decline in authority by the prime minister, and what looks like knowingly misled parliament about a particular situation. sirjohn was reluctant to be drawn on that, waiting for the met police to reveal what they've found. if you cannot force a government to implement change and tidy house, is it down to the electorate finally to vote for a different party, just briefly? it is down to the electorate, but unfortunately they may have to wait one or two years before they are given an opportunity, and therefore i think we can ask the conservative members of parliament to take personal responsibility for deciding whether the current leader

of the conservative party has breached the ministerial code, has broken regulations that were in place at the time, and behaved in a way that is undermining the standing of the government and the standing of the conservative party, as all the recent opinion polls are now showing. more now on the is—million—homes in the uk are in need of better insulation, as a report from the climate change committee finds two in every three homes leak heat. earlier we heard from danielle belton who's director of the insulation company saving energy. once you've got that fabric first approach, that's when you look at the renewables, the better heating, the innovative products. there is no point in putting solar

panels on your roof if your property is leaking energy through the walls and the roof, essentially. the same with air source, ground source, it is absolutely essential your property is insulated first, to maximise any potential savings you could make. for people in fuel poverty, there has always been grants available and hopefully there always will be. right now housing associations and councils can apply for funding. there is also funding that homeowners can apply for, and one of the biggest problems is that people just don't know that funding is out there for them and it's down to companies like mine to really promote them, but that is quite isolated because we only promote in the areas that we work, so it becomes quite postcode orientated. there are funds out there, there are ways to get subsidised or free of charge insulation measures, it's just about knowing where to look for them. the headlines on bbc news...

the former prime ministerjohn major has delivered a damning verdict on borisjohnson and the impact his government is having on the uk's standing around the world. boris johnson has warned europe is facing its biggest security crisis for decades as russian troops continue to mass on its border with ukraine. new figures reveal a record 6.1 million people are waiting to start routine hospital treatment in england at the end of last year. in afghanistan a number of women who've taken part in protests demanding women's rights are still missing. the taliban deny they are holding them and say they've granted a general amnesty to all those who worked with the previous regime. the bbc has investigated multiple incidents that have ta ken place recently. in yogita limaye�*s report, identities have been hidden and voices changed.

fear runs deep in afghanistan under taliban rule. the seclusion of a graveyard offers relative safety. we hear chilling accounts that can't be spoken openly. this man was close to a former policeman who was shot dead in recent weeks. translation: the taliban came to his home one - evening and took him away, saying they were taking him to the district police compound. next morning, his body was found lying outside the house. he had been shot multiple times. the policeman had been threatened and wanted to leave the country but did not have the means to do so. the leaders have announced an amnesty but the lower ranking taliban do not respect the order. even a peaceful march asking for women's rights is not tolerated.

at least four activists from this demonstration have disappeared, abducted in sudden raids. we met one woman who marched alongside the missing activists. she is now in hiding, changing locations every few days. i received several calls from the taliban, who said, "don't think we have lost you. we will find you". they have said they will punish each woman who took part in the protests. i have destroyed the sim card i had. ifearfor my life. the next day, we heard about multiple reprisal killings in a locality on the western edge of kabul. the mood in the area was tense. away from the eyes of taliban patrol units, a local guided us. we asked him who was behind the murders. taliban. "the taliban," he said quietly. we were taken to the location where the men were shot dead. if you look closely here,

you can see blood stains. it is the spot where three brothers from a family, one of whom was a member of the afghan national army, were killed, just about two weeks ago. multiple members of this community have told us that the attackers were from the taliban. people here are terrified. the family of the victims has moved away from here. through sources close to the brothers, we got these photos. arslan, to the left, was the soldier, seen here with matheola. another brother, shireen, was also killed. the deputy spokesman of the taliban government did not want to be seen with a woman but was willing to answer my questions about the group carrying out revenge killings. translation: i strongly reject these allegations. | the policy of islamic emirate is not to harm our people in any part of the country.

the un has said it has received at least 100 credible allegations of reprisals, and the more we looked, the more cases we found. a car was the only place this man felt safe to talk to us. he said a former intelligence officer he knew well was taken by the taliban for questioning and then shot dead. "i know i'm risking my life speaking to you, but i want the world to hear us and not recognise the taliban as they are right now", the man told me. "living under them is like living in a cage." yogita limaye, bbc news, kabul. some of the stories making headlines across the united kingdom.

the former miners�* leader arthur scargill says today's trade union leaders should learn the lessons of the past if they are to succeed. he was speaking on the 50th anniversary of the battle of saltley, during the 1972 miners�* strike. the mass picket led to the defeat of the then conservative government, and propelled mr scargill to national prominence. in a rare sit down interview for the bbc, arthur scargill has been speaking exclusively to our reporter ian white, about his memories of that time. february 1972, a nationwide miners�* strike was under way. at a coking works in birmingham, pickets struggled to stop lorries going in and out, so a call went out for help to the num in yorkshire — could they send miners down to help? we want assurances from the chairman of the gas board, in writing... the miner who answered the call was a little known union official called arthur scargill. when i cried out, "get yourselves down here, we need help, "i�*m asking every miner to come and help us," and, boy, did they come. there were brutal scenes outside saltley

where pickets battled with police. arthur knew to succeed he needed to win the support of other trade unions and convince all kinds of workers to join the strike. suddenly there was a cheer, a roar went up, and i looked round and coming over the hill, as far as the eye could see, were thousands of engineers tojoin us, and women leading them. what happened on the 10th of february 1972 won the strike, got miners a big pay rise and made trade union history. it also defeated the conservative government and took arthur scargill to national prominence for the first time. everything i had dreamed about as a trade unionist came to fruition. for the first time in my life, the things i�*d talked

about were a reality. miners and other workers in solidarity action. 12 years later, the miners were on strike again but margaret thatcher�*s government was determined there wouldn�*t be a repeat of saltley gate. first of all, in her autobiography she devotes a whole chapter to scargill�*s insurrection, and secondly, i never met thatcher. imagine that. from the second world war to today, the only prime minister that i never met was margaret thatcher. i have no regrets. margaret thatcher. i have no recrets. ., ., j~ ~ margaret thatcher. i have no recrets. ., ., j~ ~ regrets. now aged 84, arthur maxse believes today's _ regrets. now aged 84, arthur maxse believes today's trade _ regrets. now aged 84, arthur maxse believes today's trade union - regrets. now aged 84, arthur maxse believes today's trade union leaders| believes today�*s trade union leaders should learn the lessons of sully. you�*ll make it was the turning point in the miners strike and lead to a complete victory, it was the greatest day of my life. —— arthur

scargill. to the south east of england now, and figures that showjust a quarter of people with eating disorders are being seen within the nhs target of a week — the third lowest in the country. part of kent has the highest number of urgent cases in england. james dunn reports on how lockdown has pushed up demand for treatment for eating disorders. hannah is now back at home with herfamily — it has been a difficultjourney and it is not over. she still receives regular therapy and she is still living with the trauma of a six—month stay at a mental health unit, admitted after her eating disorder became so bad her life was in danger. i think there was a lot that i had to pay to go into hospital, but if i hadn�*t, i doubt i would be sat here, i doubt i would be sat here today. i think a lot of people don�*t realise that hospital doesn�*t mean everything is going to be fixed. it means the actual issue

will try and be solved but there are going to be areas around it that cannot be helped. it is a traumatic experience for any teenager, but hannah�*s family feel lockdown made it even more unbearable. parents would get told off for coming up to the window to wave at their child, so for a month and two days i was not able to see my family. this is richard and sarah, whose daughter is still away in one of the most secure mental health units in the country. the first time i went down there with all the secure doors and everything, it was overwhelming. you don't know how isabel is going to be, we have good days and bad days. it is hundreds of miles away, but with beds in such demand they are grateful for the care. the facility, whilst at the moment there is only ten patients on the ward, they have over 100 staff, so it gives you a sense of how big but how much resources are needed

to care for these people who have got such challenging mental health issues. the nhs admits the pandemic has made things more challenging but says new funding has been made available to help people access care in the community as close to home as possible. but they are now caring for more young people than ever before. if you�*ve been affected by any of the issues in that report, there�*s help available on our website. patients in the west of england are to be the first in the country to be offered fast—track access to the latest cancer treatments using artificial intelligence. the somerset, wiltshire, avon and gloucestershire cancer alliance — known as swag — is bringing in a new database, which works by identifying and matching patients with tailor—made clinical trials. our health correspondent, matthew hill, has more. yeah, quite a few are

closed and some have got results coming through. is it saying that the trial is now closed? mike stewart was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer four years ago. it had spread from his bile duct after a series of operations and chemotherapy. he and his wife, kate, spent hours researching if there was a drug that could help them. finally, their oncologist decided to investigate which particular mutations he had in his cancer using genetic testing. they actually found out i had something called an fgfr mutation, which is a very targetable mutation. and itjust so happened that bristol was one of only six hospitals in the uk which were included in a clinical trial for a new drug, which was an fgfr inhibitor. and in fact, i started on the clinical trial in march 2020 we are going to leave that report because we need to go to poland where borisjohnson is holding a

conference with the polish prime minister about the crisis in ukraine. he hasjust been at minister about the crisis in ukraine. he has just been at the nato headquarters and gone to poland, 100,000 russian troops massed on ukraine�*s border. let�*s listen in as the diplomatic initiatives to avert a crisis in ukraine continue. translation: have suddenly been woken up from the geopolitical map, and we were not napping, not myself on boris, we were aware of the fact that there are threats that are very apparent. so now the rest of the world needs to wake up. we need to confront notjust world needs to wake up. we need to confront not just the world needs to wake up. we need to confront notjust the external enemies, but also our own mistakes, our own errors. we are here together, we speak with one voice in order to make sure that we all wake up order to make sure that we all wake up and we all speak with one voice, we need peace, security and freedom. thank you. and now the prime

minister of the uk, mr borisjohnson will take the four. it�*s minister of the uk, mr boris johnson will take the four.— will take the four. it's great to be back in warsaw. _ will take the four. it's great to be back in warsaw. thank _ will take the four. it's great to be back in warsaw. thank you - will take the four. it's great to be back in warsaw. thank you again | will take the four. it's great to be i back in warsaw. thank you again for your characteristically warm welcome. the reason i�*m here is because poland is absolutely critical to our collective european security, and the lesson of the last 100 years is that when poland is threatened with instability or aggression on the borders of poland, then we are all threatened, and we are all affected, and ijust want then we are all threatened, and we are all affected, and i just want to be absolutely clear, when poland is threatened, then the uk stands ready to help, as indeed poland has always stood ready to help the united kingdom. i�*m very pleased again to have the chance to talk to you. you�*re absently writing what you said, much of what talked about in

november —— absolutely right in what you said. much of what we talked about november has come to pass. earlier today the uk�*s 45 commando unit touched in poland and 350 troops joined the 150 british troops who arrived here in december in response to instability on the belarusian border, and the 150 british troops who contribute to nasan british troops who contribute to nasal�*s enhanced forward presence and they are standing shoulder to shoulder with our polish counterparts to bring stability and security notjust counterparts to bring stability and security not just to counterparts to bring stability and security notjust to poland, but to europe and indeed, i would say, to the world. i�*vejust europe and indeed, i would say, to the world. i�*ve just come from seeing stocking where the nature where the message i have given, they won the uk has been given to all our counterparts is that we need to work together —— in nato. we need to work together —— in nato. we need to work together to achieve de—escalation, together to achieve de—escalation, to persuade vladimir putin to de—escalate and to disengage. and as

we tirelessly pursue the path of diplomacy to bring an end to the tensions on ukrainian borders, it�*s important to remember why we are doing this and why we are putting together this package of sanctions against a possible invasion, why we are doing so much to support and protect ukraine. it is exactly as matthaus has just said, protect ukraine. it is exactly as matthaus hasjust said, we protect ukraine. it is exactly as matthaus has just said, we won�*t accept, poland and the uk won�*t accept, poland and the uk won�*t accept a world in which a powerful neighbour can bully or attack their neighbours. we won�*t accept it because we believe all people, no matter where they are born, have a right to live safely and choose who governs them and to decide what organisations they aspire to have membership of, or indeed, what

bodies they want to cease being members of. and we will not compromise on that principle. it is now more than 80 years, matthaus, since polish pilots came to my own constituency in west london to help my country in our fight for freedom. and we stood side by side to uphold our values and principles then, and we stand side by side now. thank you all very much. translation: thank you very much, prime minister. _ translation: thank you very much, prime minister. this _ translation: thank you very much, prime minister. this concludes - translation: thank you very much, prime minister. this concludes our i prime minister. this concludes our press _ prime minister. this concludes our press briefing. thank you very much. you are _ press briefing. thank you very much. you are watching bbc news and that was the latest stage in boris johnson�*s diplomatic efforts to try

to de—escalate