at six, the family of the missing woman nicola bulley call for the focus to be on finding her, not what they call appalling speculation about her private life. it comes after the police revealed personal details of the 45—year—old's struggles with the menopause and alcohol, which some have criticised. a new development as a lancashire police say they have referred themselves to the independent office for police conduct. more on that in a moment. also on the programme... strike action by nurses in england intensifies with new and longer walkouts next month. more than £3 billion record profits for the owner of british gas, centrica, the latest energy company to benefit from higher prices after russia's invasion of ukraine.

almost a year after russia invaded ukraine the bbc�*sjohn simpson talks to president zelensky about his country's future. because of soaring energy costs. and coming up on sportsday on the the bbc news channel. as they prepare for this summers�* world cup, euro 2020 winners — england take on south korea this evening in their first game of the arnold clark cup. good evening. the family of the missing woman nicola bulley have called for people to focus on finding her and to stop speculating about her private life. it's nearly three weeks since the 45—year—old disappeared on a dog walk in lancashire after dropping her two children at school. detectives have been criticised for revealing very personal details

about her struggles with alcohol and the menopause yesterday. tonight lancashire police say they have referred themselves to the independent office for please contact over contact they had with nicola bulley more than a fortnight before she disappeared. danny savage reports. nicola bulley, the most high—profile missing person in britain. when she vanished nearly three weeks ago there was no suggestion from police, friends orfamily she was vulnerable. but at a packed news conference yesterday, lancashire police revealed for the first time that she was classed as a high—risk missing person. based on a number of specific vulnerabilities that we were made aware of, nicola was graded as high risk. they later added that she had significant issues with alcohol due to her struggles with the menopause. today there was a new statement from herfamily. we as a family believe that the public focus has become distracted from finding nikki and more about speculation and rumours. there are people out

there threatening to sell stories about her. this is appalling and needs to stop. due to the perimenopause nikki was taking hrt to help, but this was giving her intense headaches, which caused nikki to stop taking the hrt, thinking that may have helped her, but only ended up causing this crisis. nikki, we hope you are reading this and know that we love you so much and your girls want a cuddle. we all need you home. don't be scared, we all love you so very much. and there has been an awful lot of unfounded speculation here over the last two and a half weeks. people have come to this village looking for clues, carrying out their own investigations, not believing the police who have had to issue dispersal orders to stop people creeping around at night. but could all of that have been avoided if yesterday's information about her vulnerabilities been known from the start?

if nicola's health and her depression had been discussed on day one of this case, the whole dialogue, the coverage of the case by the public and media, would have been in a different sphere. the detail about nicola bulley�*s alcohol problems being released has concerned some experts. at some point in the future i think the police need to give women the reassurance that if their mum or sister or daughter goes missing it is not typical that this information is released into the public domain. it is only if it evidently helps the investigation, and i think people are still puzzled today as to why this level of information went into the public domain in the way that it did. lancashire police insist they are being as transparent as they can be. their search for nicola goes on. her family hope she is still alive. dannyjoins us danny joins us now from dannyjoins us now from saint michael's. the latest development the police have announced tonight,

explain what it is.— explain what it is. what it is is that lancashire _ explain what it is. what it is is that lancashire police - explain what it is. what it is is that lancashire police have i explain what it is. what it is is - that lancashire police have referred themselves to the independent office for police conduct over contact they had with nicola bulley on the 10th of january when officers were called to her home over reports of concern for welfare. that was 17 days before she went missing. separately the iop sea has also made contact with lancashire police to ask them for more details about why they released that personal information yesterday in the news conference and subsequently in the evening when they released details about nicola's struggles with alcohol. it is worth noting the huge amount of police resources that have gone into this investigation is for the very reason that she was deemed at high risk from the moment she went missing. the police want to find her. you feel that releasing this information is to put a lid on rumours and speculation and, as you heard in the family statement, the suggestion that people are trying to stories

about nicola.— that people are trying to stories about nicola. , ., about nicola. danny savage with the latest from lancashire. _ strike action by nurses in england will intensify next month. new dates have just been announced. our health editor hugh pym is here. previous tracks by royal college of nursing members have been over two days, 12 hours each day. but the next one will be over a full 48 hours in england at 120 nhs organisations, more than before. the strike will start at 6am on wednesday march the 1st and continue until 6am on friday march the 3rd. so, that is a bigger set of disruption that the rcn are planning. secondly, there is another big difference. whereas previously the union would be in talks locally with hospital management over what services would be exempted and continue, like intensive care and some cancer services, that will not happen this time. there will be an

assumption of all members leaving work over those days. and the rcn will only negotiate nationally with individual hospitals. of course in wales and scotland it is a different situation, there have been new offers made by the governments which are being considered by the unions, or they are in talks. pat callan, general secretary of the rcn, has said there is in effect, by refusing to negotiate on the government's part, there is no alternative to actually going on strike and more members are doing that. steve barclay, the health secretary covering england have said this is a significant escalation and there is a risk to patient safety. £311" significant escalation and there is a risk to patient safety. our health ednon a risk to patient safety. our health editor. in the _ a risk to patient safety. our health editor. in the last _ a risk to patient safety. our health editor. in the last hour _ a risk to patient safety. our health editor. in the last hour the rail- editor. in the last hour the rail union the rmt said they will take strike action on four days in march and april after employers refused to put new offers on the table. the dates are all the day on thursday

the 16th of march, saturday the 18th, thursday the 30th of march and saturday the 1st of april, the start of the easter school holidays for many people. the owner of british gas, centrica, has announced record profits of more than £3 billion last year — that's three times what they made in 2021. the surge is largely because of higher oil and gas prices after russia invaded ukraine. british gas was recently criticised for using debt agents to force—fit pre—payment meters into the homes of vulnerable customers. our business editor, simonjack, has more. more records being set. british gas owner centrica made record profits of £35 billion last year, more than three times the amount it made the year before. centrica's gas and electricity generation business benefitted from energy prices that hit new records after the russian invasion of ukraine. centrica is really two different businesses. the part that produces gas and generates electricity from nuclear and renewables accounted for 98%

of its record profits. its retail arm, british gas, made £72 million supplying its seven million residential customers — a £10 profit per customer. british gas may not be making much money, but it made headlines recently when it forced customers in arrears on to prepayment meters. ah, thank you. single mum emily brown had been waiting for a smart meter to be but an agent fitted a prepayment meter instead. ijust was in a situation where i didn't know what to do, i didn't have the confidence

to tell him to leave and he was quite adamant to stay and get his job done anyway. so i just felt quite, i suppose, scared. british gas has since removed the metre, apologised to emily and suspended the agents involved. now some ask why centrica can't use its big production profits to lower retail bills. but competition rules prevent it from selling the energy it produces more cheaply to its own retail arm than other companies. the company paid £1 billion in uk tax last year including £52 million in recently introduced windfall levies and expects to pay £2.5 billion over the next four years. uk oiland gas companies now pay a tax rate of 75% on uk profits. labour said today that is not enough and urged the government to abolish rules that allow companies to offset new uk fossil fuel investments against those profits. centrica say they don't expect to ever make

profits like this again buy that might be little comfort to customers of all energy companies who will see prices rise again in april as government assistance is reduced. the search for a new first minister of scotland has begun after nicola sturgeon announced she was resigning yesterday. she had been in the role for more than eight years. her sudden departure raises questions over the direction of the government there, as our scotland editor, james cook reports. is scottish independence running out of road? downing street is blocking a second vote on this nation, leaving the uk. instead, nicola sturgeon suggested treating the next general election as a referendum in all but name. but now she's going. the snp may abandon that approach, leaving some veteran campaigners frustrated with the status quo. we're stuck in very many ways. we're stuck politically when we should be able to move forward. and honestly, it's extraordinary how you can think that if you want to have a referendum, then you're told that this is an issue that doesn't matter. if you try to have it in an actual

general election context, you're told that's not the kind of issue that a general election is about. now everyone really realizes this is hotel california because there is no way you can leave. but this supporter of independence says nicola sturgeon�*s party is partly to blame for that logjam and should focus on achieving independence, not retaining power. delivering statehood for scotland is an extremely complex project. the question of currency, borders, european union membership, the foreign policy implications and these are huge dilemmas for the snp leadership. do you think they're keeping independence just bubbling away without ever really getting to a referendum? the phrase i use is that independence is to be kept on the boil without letting overflow into. in that sense, the more interest in perpetuating electoral dominance. that tension in the snp between governing and campaigning has existed for a long time. being in power here in edinburgh has certainly provided the party

with a commanding platform, but it's also brought plenty of baggage. labour campaigning here in glasgow against council cuts sense an opportunity to recover ground lost to the snp and perhaps to help sir keir starmer become prime minister. if you look specifically at the record, let's be honest, it's 15 years of snp failure and here in glasgow that's one prime example of that. they have destroyed local government, they've destroyed the relationship of respect between local government and our national government and they have decimated local budgets. and i think there comes a point where people have to stand up and say enough is enough. there are other pressures too. westminster has blocked a holyrood law designed to make it easier to legally change gender. the snp's green party partners want the next first minister to challenge that. the gender recognition reform act was passed by the scottish parliament and supported by members

of every party in that parliament. it would be absurd for any first minister who believed in scottish devolution to go against the will of the overwhelming majority of scottish msps. so of course i expect the new first minister to carry that forward. nicola sturgeon insists this is not the end of the road for her dream. but if the path ahead were clear, would she really be quitting? james cook, bbc news. we will be talking to james in a moment about what happens next. we will be talking to james in a moment about what happens next. the governing body of the scottish national party are about to meet to draw up a timetable for the leadership race. so who are the potential contenders? angus robertson appears to be one of the favourites. he's currently the consitution secretary and has been a high—profile figure in the party for the best part of a decade. he was the snp's leader in westminster. finance secretary kate forbes is also seen as a frontrunner. she's risen quickly through the ranks in recent years and delivered the government's budget in 2020 just hours after her predecessor quit. she is currently on maternity leave.

john swinney, who is the deputy first minister, is another potential contender. he's been leader of the snp before, back in 2000 and is therefore probably the most experienced option open to the party. justice secretary keith brown is seen as close to the party's grassroots and was elected the party's deputy leader in 2018. and humza yousaf, the health secretary, who has held several senior posts in government. he's part of a newer generation of snp figures, having been elected to the parliament in 2011. let's get the latest from edinburgh and our scotland editor, james cook, who's in holyrood. so what happens now? well, what will be happening — so what happens now? well, what will be happening right— so what happens now? well, what will be happening right now _ so what happens now? well, what will be happening right now is _ so what happens now? well, what will be happening right now is that - so what happens now? well, what will be happening right now is that the - be happening right now is that the members of that national executive committee of the snp will be firing up committee of the snp will be firing up their computers and their phones because in under 15 minutes' time they will be having that virtual meeting to decide what to do. top of the agenda, the process for electing a new leader, fulfilling those big

shoes of nicola sturgeon. also though the vexed issue of the party's independent strategy. we heard about the dispute surrounding this idea of treating the next general election is what they call a de facto referendum on independence. perhaps the party will now move away from that as nicola sturgeon is heading out of the door. what that also means is the special conference due to discuss it next month might be pushed into the future, that is something they will also be discussing tonight.- something they will also be discussing tonight. something they will also be discussin: toniaht. . ~ discussing tonight. thank you. the time is just — discussing tonight. thank you. the time is just after _ discussing tonight. thank you. the time is just after quarter _ discussing tonight. thank you. the time isjust after quarter past - discussing tonight. thank you. the time isjust after quarter past six. | our top story this evening... the family of the missing woman nicola bulley call for the focus to be on finding her — and not what they call appalling speculation about her private life. and still to come... how local communities are getting together to reopen leisure centres, closed coming up on the bbc news channel. the new men's super league season gets under way tonight. but the big question for the year ahead, is whether any team,

can get close to st helens, who are aiming for a fifth title in a row. next week marks the first anniversary of russia's invasion of ukraine. president zelensky has today been speaking tojohn simpson, reflecting on what has happened and on what may be ahead. mr zelensky claimed his troops could keep defending their country until they are able to launch a counter offensive and crucially ruled out conceding in a territory to russia in a potential peace deal. john simpson hasjust sent in a potential peace deal. john simpson has just sent this report from kyiv. with the anniversary of the russian invasion coming close, president zelensky is showing signs of increasing confidence. he's been visiting several of his main backers in britain and other nato countries,

and the promises of weapons and support that he's received have clearly buoyed him up. when i met him today, he was defiant and seemed more than usually sure of his position. i asked what he felt about the threat that vladimir putin might strike at ukraine through neighbouring belarus, and he dismissed it out of hand. it will be a big mistake for him and for belarus. it will be a historical mistake. but if belarussia does involve itself, can you survive? we will fight. we will survive. yeah. how certain was he that ukraine could withstand the increasing attacks which the russians are likely to unleash for the anniversary of their invasion?

"attacks are going on from several directions," he told me, switching into ukrainian. "our defence is holding. we need powerful modern weapons. they're the only language russia understands, we're responding in their language." russian forces have been making gains in eastern ukraine during the past week or so. but president zelensky certainly isn't in any mood to make concessions to russia. "any territorial compromises," he told me, "are only going to weaken our country. so it's not about compromise. we make millions of compromises every day. but the question is, with putin, no, because we don't trust putin." of course, president zelensky knows he's got to look and sound confident. otherwise it would be seen as weakness. but there's no doubt that he's talking much tougher and more uncompromisingly now. john simpson, bbc news, kyiv.

i interviewed him in october, and it was noticeable that he's quite a lot more tired —looking now, more drawn, paler and so on. he's been through a hard time. but he is more bouncy than he was back then. it's quite interesting. a few months ago, he was talking about russia being forced to withdraw to the borders of ukraine as they were the day before the invasion, a year ago. now he's talking about russia withdrawing to the board as it agreed for ukraine backin the board as it agreed for ukraine back in 1991. you can see there is a lot more kind of enthusiasm and a lot more kind of enthusiasm and a lot more kind of enthusiasm and a lot more confidence in the way that he's talking now. john lot more confidence in the way that he's talking now.— lot more confidence in the way that he's talking now. john simpson, our world affairs — he's talking now. john simpson, our world affairs editor, _ he's talking now. john simpson, our world affairs editor, thank— he's talking now. john simpson, our world affairs editor, thank you. -

labour leader sir keir starmer has visited the ukrainian capital kyiv today and has met with president volodmyr zelensky. visiting the kyiv suburbs of irpin and bucha, both scenes of alleged war crimes committed by russian troops. sir keir said he wanted to "acknowledge the courage of the ukrainian people". meanwhile, the belarusian leader, alexander lukashenko, has told the bbc he's ready to allow russia to use his country as a staging post for a new offensive in ukraine. a year ago, russia launched its invasion from belarusian territory with the blessing of mr lukashenko, who is not recognised in the west as the legitimate president of belarus. our russia editor, steve rosenberg, asked mr lukashenko if he was prepared to do the same again. translation: i'm ready| to provide territory again, but i'm also ready to wage war together with the russians from the territory of belarus, but only if anyone, even one soldier, comes to our land with weapons to kill my people.

and you can see more of mr lukashenko's comments with our russia editor steve rosenberg on tonight's bbc news at ten and afterwards on the iplayer. accident and emergency departments are failing to meet the needs of disabled people. that's according to the head of the royal college of emergency medicine. he said too often a&e is a safety net for those who should be able to get treatment in the community, but the services are no longer there. the government says it is reducing long waits by increasing bed capacity, investing in new ambulances and community services. our disability news correspondent, nikki fox, reports. a warning her report contains images some viewers may find distressing. baby cries. this is what a crisis in emergency care means for this young boy. hours spent waiting in pain. we are in hospital probably every couple of weeks. we have some longer stretches, don't we? but we've been in there a lot.

the only place ivan can get seen is in a&e, and lately he's been waiting up to 12 hours. he has complex disabilities, but the reason why he's going in so much is for constipation. it shouldn't be being managed in accident and emergency. thatjust blows my mind completely that that's what we've been told to do to manage it. for over a year now, elissa's been fighting for her son to get regular treatment at home, but there aren't any community services that can help. seeing ivan in so much pain, having to wait so long and being so distressed, how do you feel? it must be awful. it's heartbreaking. he does have a trauma response to going into the hospital. so he recognises where we're going and he starts to panic. it's friday evening, and anjum's had no choice but to come to a&e again. i'm sorry.

i don't know whether they're tears of frustration or anxiety or what it is, but i feel really guilty. lately, anjum has been spending 45 hours a week here, all to sort her blocked catheter. just feel really anxious because i'm... wet and in pain and just really uncomfortable. i come into hospital all the time. itjust makes me feel like i'm draining the system that is already stretched. after you. lovely. i met up with anjum between hospital visits. what kind of pain are you in, anjum, when you're waiting for that amount of time? i spend a lot of time lying down because of problems with my tummy. so, yeah, if i'm waiting in my

wheelchair for 15 hours, it's agony. doctors say that too often disabled people are being forced to use emergency care when many problems could be sorted by using local services. disabled people are particularly disadvantaged with emergency care, partly because the departments are so full and the hospitals are so full that they're ending up having to wait a lot longer in areas which are really not well designed for them. and for elissa's son, ivan, who also has sensory issues, it's even more distressing. you and ivan have been having to go back and forth to a&e for a year now. are you worried about the long—term impact that's going to have on your son? i am worried about it. i don't know how long it can be sustained. i've had to give up myjob. my husband's had a lot of time off work. ivan's missed education and time with his family. it's hard to get your head around the idea that a little boy, like, a three—year—old boy is having

to go through that amount of pain, those kind of waits. but it's happening, and ivan can't be the only the only child that's fallen through the cracks like that. he won't be. nikki fox, bbc news. some breaking news because the bbc has learnt the prime minister rishi sunak is expected to travel to northern ireland this evening. let's speak to our political correspondent in westminster. a surprise visit, what's happening?— westminster. a surprise visit, what's happening? there has been mountin: what's happening? there has been mounting speculation _ what's happening? there has been mounting speculation that - what's happening? there has been mounting speculation that the - what's happening? there has been mounting speculation that the uk | what's happening? there has been i mounting speculation that the uk and eu could be close to striking a deal on the northern ireland protocol, the bit of the brexit deal that allows goods to flow freely across the irish border. it was a contentious bit of that agreement, it has stopped the government in northern ireland from functioning, but there's been a flurry of

activity if you like in recent days that suggests a deal is getting closer, and certainly a visit expected from prime minister rishi sunak to northern ireland later this evening is adding to the sense that something could be moving. last time he went to northern ireland it was in december, he met stormont party leaders to discuss the protocol. it appears as if we could be inching closer to a deal on this crucial part of the brexit agreement. thank ou, and part of the brexit agreement. thank you. and more _ part of the brexit agreement. thank you, and more on _ part of the brexit agreement. thank you, and more on that _ part of the brexit agreement. thank you, and more on that on _ part of the brexit agreement. thank you, and more on that on the - part of the brexit agreement. thank you, and more on that on the bbc i you, and more on that on the bbc news at ten. more than 350 leisure centres, pools and gyms across the uk have either closed or made changes to their services in response to rising energy bills in the past year. but community groups are working to get centres back open. danjohnson dan johnson reports from danjohnson reports from cornwall on the community is taking matters into their own hands. they feared they would never get back in the water here.

but launceston leisure centre is under new management, and it is the community taking back control. what is the water like? it feels really good. it is really good to be finally back in here. i got really happy when i heard it was going to reopen, because it's like, that part, every friday, coming here as a group collective, and just being able to see each other. the only other place - is about 45 minutes away. so, it's a really long time if i want to go there. - soaring running costs have seen so many pools struggle. it's shocking what they're doing with swimming pools at the moment. you know, they're storing up problems for ten, 15 years down the line. if kids can't swim, it's going to have a massive effect on later life. but this community effort seems to have support. i couldn't believe how many people we've had come in this morning. it's backed by a local businessman. do you feel responsible? i do know, i didn't, to start with,

i was like almost thinking i wouldn't take this on because it's too much work. it's completely the right thing to do. wwith the support i have gotten from everyone around me, i've got no worries at all. it would be absolutely fine. the optimism isn't shared across the industry, with even higher bills coming. when it comes to the 1st of april, i think we can see price increases at facilities. and also, of course, reconsidering whether they can stay open. in falmouth, the slides and swimming poolare already standing silent. it got closed down last march. but here, too, locals are trying to turn things around. communities shouldn't be having to save the centres. it's a sad state of

affairs that we are. the government, as i said, need to see that that's happening i need to help us save them, because the impact of them closing down is more detrimental to every community. there's a warning that without more support to help with energy bills in particular, more places with and up close like this. and then, even the most committed community groups may struggle to save them. danjohnson, bbc news, falmouth. time for a look at the weather, here's darren bett. it will be getting windy for all of us overnight and we start with warnings for strong winds in northern areas tomorrow morning. scotland, pennines and northern england could have windy conditions with disruption likely. this area of pressure will strengthen and deepen, thatis pressure will strengthen and deepen, that is storm otto. before then we have more rain as well as strengthening winds coming in overnight. the rain mainly across northern parts of the uk turning more showery later on in the night by which time we have the really strong winds, and that means it will be a really mild night. the story is the strength of the wind, could be

touching 80 mph