the song to diners at a french restaurant earlier this week. # hold me closer, tiny dancer...# released at midnight, the song's already had a warm welcome. "i hope she gets all the support in the world, after the hell she's been through," said one fan online. critics weren't so kind, with the telegraph calling hold me closer "one of the most pointless records in pop history", although the guardian said the song was "filled with power and poignancy". writing on twitter, britney said she was "overwhelmed" to be singing with one of her heroes. # hold me closer, tiny dancer...# her fans hope that this will be the first of many new songs. mark savage, bbc news. let's see what the weather is doing. here's ben rich. it isa

it is a bank holiday for some others, not in scotland, but england, wales and northern ireland. it will be mostly dry and with that, we will see spells of sunshine. there is the chance of one or two showers, but they are the exception rather than the rule. you will notice an increasingly brisk breeze in eastern and southern parts into sunday and monday. this afternoon, we have got showers, heavy once in south west scotland. some of the parts of northern ireland, wales, the south west. elsewhere, mainly fine, some spells of sunshine, fresher than earlier in the week. temperatures between 16 and 2a degrees. quite a cool fresh night tonight. one or two mist and fog patches. showers continuing through parts of north wales into northern england. most places dry, 8 or 9 degrees in glasgow, belfast. there could be the odd mist patch to start tomorrow morning but, for the most part, decent start to the day with

spells of sunshine. through the day, we see some showers are popping up, you have to look quite closely to see them because many places avoid them and stay dry. this weather system grazing close to northern ireland and western scotland. again, most places won't see any of that, most places won't see any of that, most places won't see any of that, most places stay fine. temperatures, 17 for aberdeen, a high of 25 in london. looking ahead to sunday, high pressure centred to the north of the uk. and we will start to see an increasingly brisk flow of winds off do north sea that starts to make it feel a little bit cool for some of our eastern coasts especially. on sunday, a lot of dry weather, patchy cloud, the odd shower, but spells of sunshine. those are the afternoon temperatures, 17 in aberdeen. the warmest weather pushed westwards, 25 the haifa cardiff. for some of our east coast towns and cities, temperatures struggled through sunday and into monday. and there will be quite a lot of cloud and a brisk breeze. further west,

will be quite a lot of cloud and a brisk breeze. furtherwest, more sunshine. south west of england could see some of the highest temperatures by monday, 2a, may be 25 degrees. quite windy here by then and quite windy for eastern coasts, more cloud rolling in. but still some spells of sunshine and just one or two showers. the best of the sunshine where you get shelter from that breeze, so cross parts of wales, south midlands into the south west of england. confirmation of those temperatures, 15 to 2a or 25 degrees. so all in all, despite the odd shower, the weekend doesn't look too bad. that is all from the bbc news one, and on bbc one now, wejoined the bbc�*s news teams where you are. good afternoon, i'm chetan pathak with your latest sports news. manchester united will play la liga side real sociedad while arsenal will face the former champions psv eindhoven in the europa league group stage.

this morning's draw sees united also in the same group as fc sheriff, the moldovan champions and ominia nicosia from cyprus, who are managed by the former celtic boss neil lennon. it looks a favourable draw for erik ten hag's first season at the club. arsenal face psv eindhoven as i say, they dropped out of the champions league after losing to rangers. the other two teams in arsenal's group also lost in the champions league group stage — bodo glimt and fc zurich, the champions of norway and switzerland respectively. inaugural europa conference league winners roma are in group c with real betis, ludogorets and hjk. newcastle fans are waiting to hear more on the prospect of signing real sociedad striker alexander isak. he's in talks after they agreed a club record fee of around £60 million for the 22—year—old. isak made his debut

for sweden aged just 17. his purchase would mean newcastle's new owners have spent close to £200 million since taking over in october. the experiences he has had have been incredible for someone so young. he has played in germany at a very young age, holland, spain, big clubs as well, so he has had some great experiences and i think england and the english game will suit his profile. he is a really good athlete, technically very good, so i think he has got a whole host of things going for him. sunderland head coach _ things going for him. sunderland head coach alex _ things going for him. sunderland head coach alex neill _ things going for him. sunderland head coach alex neill has - things going for him. sunderland head coach alex neill has been l things going for him. sunderland - head coach alex neill has been given permission to speak to stoke city about their vacant managerial

position. he is the favourite to take over from michael o'neill. position. he is the favourite to take overfrom michael o'neill. the press conference was cancelled at the last made this morning and postponed until later this afternoon. england are building a decent first innings lead in the second test against south africa at old trafford. they lost both overnight batsmen in the first hour. jonny bairstow fell one run short of a half century. captain ben stokes and ben foakes have helped them past south africa's first innings of 151. german car maker audi has announced it willjoin formula one in 2026. first practice is under way in the belgian grand prix. german car maker audi has announced it willjoin formula one in 2026.

it will supply engines and has been attracted by new rules that feature increased electrical power and sustainable fuel. the team they'll be joining forces with will be announced by the end of this year. england's matt fitzpatrick is due to tee off his second round of the tour championship in atlanta in third place. the us open champion shot a six—under—par 64 first round. but he's still six behind the leader, the world number one and masters champion scottie scheffler. players start the season ending event on different scores determined by their place in the fedex cup standings. that's all the sport for now. i will have more for you later. now on bbc news, following the announcement of the 80% increase in the energy price cap, it's time for your questions answered with my colleaguejames reynolds.

hello and welcome. with me to answer your energy questions is richard neudegg, head of regulation at uswitch and kevin peachey, bbc personal finance correspondent. also i'm joined by laura mcgadie, group head of energy at the energy saving trust. we have quite a lot of questions from our audience that we really want to get stuck in with. we will begin with a question for you, from michael in glasgow, and hopefully some of these questions will be coming up on the screen for those who want to follow them. can you clarify typical household energy bill and price cap, surely not everyone will pay the cap price as they should be the maximum? yes, really important place to start. is quite complicated often the price cap and what it means for your bill. means for your bill. this is as simple as i can make it, if you like. the cap limits the price for each unit of energy.

the regulator sets that and it is illustrated with a typical household bill. if you use a typical amount of gas and electricity than what they have said today is your bill will be £3400 from october. clearly if you are living in a large poorly and slated house, then you are going to be paying more than that. if you live in a smaller well insulated house, you're going to be paying less full stoppages not a cap it's not a cap on the total bill. it is a cap on each unit you useless up if you use a lot of energy, it be higher. it is a confusing word, in that way. the question i get asked more

than any other is, hang on a minute, i have looked at this price cap level and i am already paying that amount. and so it does come down to your usage and clearly, you are going to have to take a closer look really on what you use and that kind of information is on your bill. but be prepared if you pay by direct debit to see that increase in the next few weeks, even ahead of october. a question for laura, whojoins us remotely. why don't the government keep the current price cap? it was set, believe it or not, to protect consumers - and it was set by ofgem in 2019 - when there were concerns that those not switching supplier were paying more than they needed to. - but what we need now- is for the government to update the package of support they announced in may because the price cap we now know is coming to effect in october, - it is so much higher-

than originally forecast. but in the long—termj to keep prices down, because everything is driven by fossil fuel prices, - we need the government to insert - homes and invest in renewable energy because that is ultimately what will keep costs down longer term. - down longer term. you have talked about those rising prices, let's bring in richard. can you explain why we have such huge energy prices? we are told it is the war in ukraine but as i understand, we only rely on 5% russian gas is that right? the uk is not especially exposed to russian gas as much as the rest of the europe. there are answers to these questions but there are no good answers the reality is the price of gas is set globally based on global supply and demand. because europe is reliant on russian gas and there are shortages, the global prices pushed that much higher. it is made even more difficult

because the gas price flows into the gas price we play with a gas connection but we also have a lot of gas—fired power stations as well and it dictates the price of electricity wholesale pretty much across the entire chain. we get hit twice, both in the gas bills and the editors of the bills themselves. we have got luckily in the uk, some gas supplies in the north sea and our own reserves and we do import it as well. we can get the gas, it is not so much of an issue that we won't have, but there are questions about storage, but not questions as to running out of gas but we still have to pay the prices and that is actually what the problem is, the problem is the wholesale market, that is our suppliers buying energy on our behalf, the prices are beyond all level of comprehension when ofgem comes out with its spreadsheet and puts the prices in, it spits out completely and comprehend above numbers for us as consumers that will land in letters and e—mails, on our doorsteps,

pretty much immediately. i saw one of our bbc editors on twitter earlier, his drawjob when he looked at some of those numbers was we had a case study for you from deborah evans. i am 57—year—old single woman living alone and working full—time. i earn £400 per week. what is the government going to do for people like me? last year, she says, i sat at home in blankets with condensation coming out of my mouth as i could not afford to put the heating on. you mentioned the jaw—dropping numbers today. deborah will not like some of those forecasts, which say... to give you an example, last winter the typical household was paying about £100 a month for their energy. it is forecast today, not the official price cap, but a consultancy giving pretty

accurate forecasts up to now, saying that could go up next year to £550 a month. bearing in mind the typical mortgages around £700. this is a huge... someone like deborah... she is going to find it very difficult to play. it is quite difficult to tell because of we do not know all her details but if you are in receipt of certain benefits for example, then there is the government package of support which will offer some help, clearly pressure now on ministers to increase that support. but also i think what debt advisers and people like that have said to me, quite a lot recently, check what your entitlement is to benefits generally because they are often a gateway to these extra payments will you can go to someone like citizens advice and ask, can you go through a benefits check and see what you are entitled to. that is someone physically going to a central calling apple

people who don't have good internet, what would they use? there are different ways but as a starting point if you can get online, there are benefits collectors if you work your way through that. they can be a gateway to other payments. people are a bit embarrassed sometimes all will say, i should not be taking hand—outs. these are benefits that you are entitled to and could lead to extra support. and benefits which might get deborah to be able to put the heating on, so she does not have to spend another winter sitting at home with blankets. we have another question for laura. this is from judy in staffordshire. if you are already in a two—year fixed price cap, at and energy companies put up your tariff now? if you are a fixed term energy tariff, there is a date - at which that will end, _ you will be on that until that date

but when you come off that, - you will go on the standard variable tariff most likely and that is where the price cap kicks in. _ you will be on that... those rights that are regular to buy the price caps. - yes, you will be ok until that date, but you will find - yourself potentially - on the price cap afterwards. thank you for that clear answer. phoebe in manchester has a question, will there be any support from the government for students, such as her, receiving maintenance loans that have not been adjusted in accordance with the increased cost of living? there is a lot on the news about how low income houses will come £400 but as a student, we do not necessarily count as low—income households. what will the situation for students be? i can offer some

reassurance for phoebe. let's talk specifically energy, there is a £400 rebate paid... taken off automatically of your bill over the winter. that is for all households. where students may find a bit of difficulty there is some will be living in rented accommodation, where all the bills are included in the rent. the landlord pays the bills. exactly. it is well worth having a chat to the landlord, just to check that is being passed on clearly having to rely on the landlord for that. many student homes will have a direct relationship with their energy provider and so that will automatically be knocked off. specifically to the low—income point, there is... there are extra payments for people on low incomes and benefits, one of those payments has already been made and a second instalment coming later in the autumn.

there is a package of support. i think in all likelihood phoebe is going to only be entitled to the £400 off now, for students as well, there are all the other... we are talking about energy but look at this in the round, food, prices going up, prices in general rising at a rate that we have not seen for 40 years and clearly energy is such an integral part of that, part of the reason for prices going up on food and things like that because businesses, remember they don't have their price cap, they have to pass on some of those costs in prices for all of us to pay. thanks for that. across to richard, a question from dave. he observes there seems to be little discussion around the increasing the daily standing charge which in most cases has doubled, given the huge profits being made,

why don't we reduce any standing charges because you mark this is how the price cap actually has two different bits it controls. one is that daily charge for electricity and gas and the unit rate which depends on how much we use be standing charge and re—numerator has gone upon identity. there are fixed costs that are required to flow into our bills and that is what the standing charges for. but it has also gone up to reflect some of the supplier failures and other things that has gone wrong in the energy market in recent years. there are genuine because that have to be recovered but it has gone up as far as everything else and ofgem has to decide that balance between the different charges. there are winners and losers depending on where it sets that and it has kept that figure and it has gone up, there is no getting away from it. laura, another question, from john. i have a question, regarding tenants

living in houses converted to flats, a house divided into fourflats mean for separate households, four separate metres, will each tenant received the £400 discount that kevin was just talking about? each domestic because of the connection will. receive the discount. in that case, it would be all four flats would get the discount. - that is a nice easy, quick answer. and sometimes those are the best. thank you, john, if you are watching. i hope that answer has helped you. onto kevin with another question about people's lives as they face these astonishing rising bills, worrying about how they will get through the winter. felicity has a question from i am currently on maternity leave with a three—month—old, on statutory pay, nothing has been mentioned to help out people on maternity leave. i am not eligible for any

help you to my husband but we are still a paycheque down and will be struggling why has no help been offered for people on statutory maternity pay? more likely to be spending more time at home with the little one. and needing to keep that heating to a decent level because of the little one. it is difficult and actually there is not specific help here. clearly, all eyes, including that of the regulator today saying we are looking at the government, the new administration, if you like, to come up with some solutions and we will work with them. it is really pretty unprecedented for a regular to come up with something like that, saying these are devastating figures, even the industry body itself saying it is scary. there is not much i can say to felicity in terms of solutions now, specifically for her. bearing in mind that benefits check

is worthwhile doing as well. there are clearly all eyes now on whether there is extra support going to come on top of what has already been announced. felicity, if you are watching, i hope kevin's answer gave you an idea of where you are. laura, did you want tojump in? ijust wanted to add, _ absolutely in terms of the immediate support but it is worth checking. what felicity needs to get in terms of insulation and heating support. on the government's help for households campaign, j there is a link to more information about grants and sources of help i for insulation and heating, - if you are in scotland there is home energy scotland advice, in wales, also. -

i would encourage felicity to seek out the things that might - help her any longer term to insulate herself against the price rises. - back to richard for another question. talking about a two—year fixed tariff ending on the 6th of september, which might be day one of the new prime minister, by chance. is it advisable fixing or staying in standard variable charging, i am totally confused on the price cap and energy bill hikes? if you are on a fix, you have those fixed rates until it ends and then you revert to whatever the price cap is at that moment. there will be a few weeks of the previous current rate and then it will move to the october rate. back in the day were not that long ago, a couple of years ago, you would have been locked in, you had the certainty and it would mean decent prices but ofgem has frozen competition in the market. it is difficult to get a good fixed deal. the vast majority of people are just taking that price cap rate as it is, which is why, you mentioned

the new prime minister, they will be standing on the steps of downing street as those new rates start to hit and that is why there is so much pressure on the government. there is £400 support, a support package, but there is no one saying, including the regulator itself, that is actually enough to deal with the true scale of this. all eyes will be on the prime minister to see what they say. the consumer knows what the rates are going to go to but they don't know the full extent of what the government support might be. a lot of us are just waiting and seeing, is there going to be enough to actually get as through the winter, given all the challenges that are here? and a final question for laura, from martin, with direct debit payments, why do companies let credit build up, why don't they use it on the next bill, or refund you?

whenever you pay by direct debit, it pays off what you all but it alsol will go towards your next instalment and your next bill as well, _ so you can get in touch - with your energy company, if you are worried you are paying more than you should be, - you can negotiate with them around ithat, and you can ask at any time i for that credit back, _ so i would encourage anybody, we should all be talking to our energy suppliersl because we can negotiate these i things with them and we can make sure we are on payment plans that we can afford as well- because the energy companies - have an obligation to us to support as to an extent through that and they will know - what help is available. keep talking to your energy supplier. - do you have any top tips for people are a couple of thoughts? go to our website and find out what more you can do - immediately to cut your bills. we have lots of tips and do think longer term as well, _ think about how you can invest in insulation and to insulate i yourself against these price rises

because we are seeing prices - going up in october but potentially again injanuary and april- and we think these price rises might be here to stay for a while. - get the help you can now and think ahead is my best advice. _ thank you, laura. kevin, a final thought from you. talk us through the winter coming up, what people might want to think about doing and how if it is possible they might be reassured or what they should prepare for. that is not the easiest question to finish. bearing in mind this is an 80% rise in people's bills, this is an unprecedented situation. bills are going to be going up hugely. there is at least an opportunity to know what is going to happen at least for that first half of the winter.

you know what the bills are going to be and try and budget accordingly. but clearly, as richard said, there are still a lot more of this story to come, a story we're telling on a basis and we will keep you as updated as we can. a final thought from you, richard. there are tips to make sure that you use less energy. you should be doing all of these things but i cannot sit here and pretend like it is enough to mitigate the extent of these rises, it is not. but it does not mean we should not do it. the government are the only ones who have the tools to really help. and that is the final word. thank you. you have been watching your questions answered on bbc news. thank you so much.

there are showers out towards the west. elsewhere good spells of sunshine and temperatures generally between 17 and 23 degrees but certainly feeling fresher than it did earlier this week this evening and overnight, showers fading. some other parts of north wales and north west england into the early hours. but a cool and fresh night with one or two missed and fog patches was tomorrow, a fine day in prospect. scattered showers. most places dry. this weather system grazing close to northern ireland and western scotland but most places will stay fine. cooler on eastern coasts. temperatures generally between 20 and 25 degrees and through the rest

of the weekend, mostly dry with sunny spells and a few showers but with an increasing breeze.

this is bbc news. the headlines: tens of millions of people will see an 80% increase in their gas and electricity bills. the regulator and campaigners call for immediate government action. we campaigners call for immediate government action.— campaigners call for immediate government action. campaigners call for immediate covernment action. ~ ., ., government action. we need to remain resilient, government action. we need to remain resilient. make — government action. we need to remain resilient, make sure _ government action. we need to remain resilient, make sure that _ government action. we need to remain resilient, make sure that this - government action. we need to remain resilient, make sure that this isn't - resilient, make sure that this isn't a sticking plaster, for the long—term we continue to help the most vulnerable, who have no cushion and that is what i'm determined to do. we are working up those options for households and businesses for the incoming prime minister. i have soken to the incoming prime minister. i have spoken to peeple. _ the incoming prime minister. i have spoken to people, they're _ the incoming prime minister. i have spoken to people, they're worried l the incoming prime minister. i have spoken to people, they're worried by the fact— spoken to people, they're worried by the fact in_ spoken to people, they're worried by the fact in october their average bills might go up to £3,500. they

want _ bills might go up to £3,500. they want action taken. its bills might go up to £3,500. they want action taken.—