hello, i'm christian fraser. you're watching the context on bbc news. the belfast good friday agreement remains the best and only foundation for peace and prosperity. the future of northern ireland belongs to its people — only you can make the seed of the good friday agreement continue to grow. this whole thing has been one i of the great blessings of my life. and i can't wait to see what you all do with iti hello welcome to the programme.

all eyes on belfast this evening, where the architects of the good friday agreement are toasting 25 years of peace. there's a concluding dinner at hillsborough castle tonight, which we will dip into. no prospects of peace in ukraine. we are going to discuss a new report from denmark today which suggests russian assault ships, disguised as fishing trawlers and research vessels, that are threatening infrastructure in the north sea. we will talk more generally about bullying within the workplace and how we now define it. the sacked boss of the cbi has told the bbc his reputation has been "totally destroyed" by the allegation he is facing. and no let up in the cost of living. inflation is still a problem for all the advanced economies, a problem exacerbated here in the uk by the weak pound, which makes imports much more expensive. all that to come. but we start in belfast rishi sunak, is attending a gala dinner tonight, the final event in a week of commemorations marking 25 years

of the good friday agreement. he has been speaking at hillsborough castle, and paying tribute once again to the "courage, imagination and perseverance" of the negotiators. many of them in his audience. the likes of president bill clinton, george mitchell the former us envoy to northern ireland who is suffering from lieukemia, and of course sir tony blair. the prime minister will be only too aware, on a night like this, that power sharing remains at a standstill. and while he avoided any direct criticism of the dup today, he did say the government would keep working to persuade all parts of the unionist community, that a return to stormont was "the best path". our challenge today is to fulfil the promise of the work you began to honour your legacy we need to create a more stable devolved government in northern ireland, and that means getting the institutions up and running. ursula von der leyen praised the people of northern ireland for being the masters of their own destiny. she told the conference it was now known as a "cool place"

for europeans to visit. this brighter reality is only possible because on good friday 25 years ago, the leaders and people of northern ireland decided to plant a seed in soil previously stained with blood and tears. former us president bill clinton touched on multiple key issues but stressed he believed they can only be resolved with a functioning executive. we need more economic growth, we need less inequality. - you need... you have some health issues you need to resolve and you have _ to have a functioning government to do all of that. _ and there are these other things out there but, - i think that's what the britishl government wants, i think it's what the irish government wants and i know it's - what the people outside want.

i'm joined now by lord hain — he served as secretary of state for northern ireland from 2005 to 2007. interesting listening to those who were involved 25 years ago today. there is an enduring nature to the peace which they have all discussed but as you heard from bill clinton in the headlines, there is a sense it is promise unfulfilled at the moment. , ., , , it is promise unfulfilled at the moment. , . , , moment. yes, in a sense. it was a breakthrough — moment. yes, in a sense. it was a breakthrough agreement - moment. yes, in a sense. it was a breakthrough agreement it - moment. yes, in a sense. it was a breakthrough agreement it was . moment. yes, in a sense. it was a l breakthrough agreement it was one moment. yes, in a sense. it was a - breakthrough agreement it was one of thoseit breakthrough agreement it was one of those it will never happen moments like when i hope to negotiate under tony blair some years later, the agreement that brought the old fiery unionist extremists in paisley, to join with the fiery ex—ira leader to rule happily together. it is broken down since and it does need renewed

focus but seeing all those figures from that incredible agreement among notjust from that incredible agreement among not just 20 from that incredible agreement among notjust 20 blair and bill clinton but also virtually hurley, the average prime minister at a time, the president of the european union, because this was an agreement that brought together not just the irish government and the british government and the british government in the way they had never been before after decades, generations, of this trash —— back to stretch which had laid between the island of ireland and the united kingdom but also brussels and washington, dc. it was an internationally underpinned agreement and to see all those figures here together, gray hair like me, it signified what was possible through negotiation and now the additional hurdle of getting self—government back up and running.

as you say. when you are there you had to negotiate with reference paisley who could quite feisty at times, it may be a lot stronger intoned than the current incumbent sir geoffrey denison, i wonder what advice you would give to the current northern ireland secretary who seemed to have a difficult day yesterday. seemed to have a difficult day yesterday-— seemed to have a difficult day esterda . . . ., yesterday. the advice i would give him, as yesterday. the advice i would give him. as i've _ yesterday. the advice i would give him, as i've been _ yesterday. the advice i would give him, as i've been doing, - yesterday. the advice i would give him, as i've been doing, as - yesterday. the advice i would give him, as i've been doing, as i - yesterday. the advice i would give| him, as i've been doing, as i might predecessor, lord paul murphy, my friend who actually negotiated some of the detail of the good friday agreement under that then secretary of state who was part of the sermon he over the last few days, quite rightly so, what we have said continuously is that it is important that the british prime minister, whoever that is, focuses on northern ireland in a way which, sadly, david cameron didn't do, that boris

johnson certainly didn't do and that there is a may didn't do and liz truss didn't do in her brief tenure. rishi sunak, to give them credit, has done that with the windsor framework which is a big step forward where we were logjam between deep distrust between dublin and london and brussels and london. so a big step there but now the prime minister needs to talk sit it democratic unionist party and its leader sirjeffrey donaldson, who i think once an agreement, some in his party don't but i think he does, but she has to be given reasons to get that agreement. so, there's more work to be done and it can only be achieved as i know from my own experience, and was proven at good friday, by intensive negotiations but not flaming and flying out and meet in a party are for one hour or so. literally spending days as was

achieved at the good friday agreement in 1998, and as we achieved in the senate angers agreement in 2006. deep, intensive, negotiations. my criticism has been up negotiations. my criticism has been up until recently, and i hope not in the future under rishi sunak, that the british prime minister since 2010, has not given northern ireland the attention it needs. it 2010, has not given northern ireland the attention it needs.— the attention it needs. it will reauire the attention it needs. it will require deep _ the attention it needs. it will require deep engagement i the attention it needs. it will - require deep engagement because the attention it needs. it will require deep engagement because we are at a standoff at the moment and there doesn't appear to be a resolution to it. 20 blair criticised the government on monday at not investing enough time with the irish government and i know that tonight he had in meeting with the two shook and it's a first bilateral meeting they've had. has britain done enough to engage in this? moise done enough to engage in this? noise hasn't. done enough to engage in this? noise hasn't- rishi — done enough to engage in this? noise hasn't. rishi sunak— done enough to engage in this? noise hasn't. rishi sunak did _ done enough to engage in this? fir? 39: hasn't. rishi sunak did achieve the windsor framework with the irish government standing alongside them and that's .mac ia congratulating

him for that because it was in the case under borisjohnson or under his two predecessors since 2010. and i don't mean a party pointed, i want to even a conservative government to which i'm opposed in certain respects, to succeed in northern ireland and i think it's doable. i think the dup can find reasons why they would want to go back into stormont if there are still detailed negotiations with them. 0bviously, negotiations with them. obviously, you can't concede a holy mountain but you can concede issues on the foothills. which i think and give some encouragement to dup members to do what they, probably in their hearts want to do, but feel unable to do because there has not been, i'm afraid, the 121 month in and month out engagement that there ought to be. i think if that

happened it will be possible to get an agreement and that's what i hope the secretary of state for northern ireland and primus or we now do and notjust fly back ireland and primus or we now do and not just fly back to london ireland and primus or we now do and notjust fly back to london and fly in for another brief meeting but have intensive negotiations. the other thing _ have intensive negotiations. the other thing sir tony blair said is that the unionist won't be pressured. there is no point applying pressure because it tends to backfire. chris hughton smith said yesterday that the lack of power—sharing and the standoff over stormont was a bigger threat to unionist, the unionist position within the uk then brexit had been. do you think that's true? if there wasn't a return to stormont that's a night united ireland becomes a much more likely prospect?— more likely prospect? brexit is the chief villain — more likely prospect? brexit is the chief villain here _ more likely prospect? brexit is the chief villain here and _ more likely prospect? brexit is the chief villain here and i _ more likely prospect? brexit is the chief villain here and i don't - more likely prospect? brexit is the chief villain here and i don't say i chief villain here and i don't say that this is a person that opinion but is a chief issue. the lack of a

power—sharing government is also a question because during the brexit negotiations, during the negotiations, during the negotiations on the windsor framework, there is not a functioning executive and there are still lots of loose ends. i sit on the house of lords protocol committee on this whole question, on the plane out of the irish political sign in the exit dealer by boris johnson and then disowned and the windsor framework which has updated it. there are lots of issues where the detail is still causing unease. for example, we interviewed this afternoon someone who said he can still have his lorry stopped even though the bulk of it is so because going through the green channel without any checks from great britain to northern ireland because it might contain in his luggage, and his cargo, a few read channel items that would need to be checked in.

so, the whole lori has to be checked. clearly, that is not acceptable. they still have to iron out the details and to be fair the windsor framework still left a lot to be negotiated and that needs to be done intensively in the dup and other political parties, but especially the dup at the time of holding back stormont, needs to be engaged in that and listened to. we're grateful for your time evening lord hain stop. inflation is proving tricky to beat. soaring prices forfood — including dairy products such as milk, cheese and eggs — meant the cost of living in the uk rose faster than expected last month. inflation, which measures the rate at which prices are rising, was at 10.1% in the year to march. 10.1% year to march. down from 10.4% in february — but the point is we had been expecting it to to fall below ten % in march. the problem is food and drink is up over 19 % since march

22, which the office for national statistics says is the fastest rate rise in 45 years. the chancellorjeremy hunt insisted "we are still on track" to halve inflation this year, despite the set back, but the general consensus within the markets, is that it will require another rate rise in may. this is a small headline fault but it disguises a large rise in food inflation which is causing pressure to families around the country as they see the cause of their weekly food shop go up. it shows there is no such thing as an automatic fall in the headline rate of inflation. that's why we have a plan and if we are going to reduce the pressure on families, it's essential that we stick to the plan and see it through so that we have inflation this year as the prime minister has promised. this is hurting a lot of people. 0n nicky campbell's phone

in programme this morning, we heard about the effects on ordinary people. the reverend kath dean runs the genesis project, a charity in grove hill, in middlesbrough. we open our doors at 9:30am and i came into work this morning at 8:30am and there were 20 people queuing up outside. it's not raining today but generally they are waiting in the rain and there's a reason why people are waiting in a queue for an hour before the doors open stop because they're desperate. it's notjust that people need, it's a fuel the vouchers. people can't afford to put their washer on as much as they used to. there's no such thing as dishwashers any more but if people did have a dishwasher they are not using them. people are using fairy liquid instead of shampoo. it's just cutting corners completely. 0ur head of statistics is robert cuffe. he is at the board for us tonight.

what do you see, robert? the uk is not an outlier when it comes to high inflation but the stickiness is starts to him make us look like that. we can show the audience know where a selection of advanced economies around december, you can see everyone is miles away from where they want to be. the us actually coming down at the bit in december. if we move forward a bit and show the audience where things have moved on since then, the uk is still one of the countries with really high inflation and no falls, friends hasn't seen much for either but they show their economy differently. the thing is probably this combination of european

exposure to the war in ukraine, a tight american labour market and these common issues are the worst of both worlds and when you add to that the fall in the value of the sterling last year you don't have the mix for a rapid fall off any inflation. the food prices you referred to earlier, some individual things like milk prices have gone up 38% in a year. when you ask rishi sunak the price of milk, he would have to change his answer every week because the prices are rising so fast. the us is an outlier on food inflation, you see higher inflation across us but it's double digits in europe and otherwise is going on. right, 0k. any good news in the uk. fuel prices are coming down. they are down to about £1.15 per litre probably want some light good news

to people in america but at their peak there were like $10 a gallon. that presages good news is coming because fuel prices are falling and oil and gas prices are falling. that would generally bleed through to home and energy bills and supply costs for the farmers producing food and will bring prices down eventually but really, the question is, would it be quick enough to mark the markets are not expecting the bank of england to have to raise rates again and probably again and again after that to release question down on inflation. they are now pricing on interest rates going up four point 25% to more nuts a good bit of data that were seen. inflation be quite sticky in the uk. robert thanks for that we will take a look at inflation later in the programme. before we go to a short

break let me tell you that the us supreme court has extended a temporary block that had been put in place by a lower court in texas on the restrictions on an abortion pill. the lower courts had put tight restrictions on the supply of the abortion pill and that was lifted by an appeals court and then the us supreme court got involved and there was a week long extension to ensure that it could be distributed and theyjust that it could be distributed and they just extended that it could be distributed and theyjust extended that, so it will continue to be available to people in the united states while, and unsealed, the us supreme court considers a wider merits of the case. so, good news for people who want access to that drug at the moment. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some of the other stories making headlines today. rishi sunak has referenced his wife's shares in a childcare agency in a list of ministerial interests, after a row over transparency.

the prime minister is under investigation by parliament's standards watchdog over claims he did not declare akshata murty�*s shares in koru kids, a firm boosted by the budget. the mother of the murdered black teenager stephen lawrence has told the bbc that 30 years after the metropolitan police bungled the investigation into her son's killing, the force has failed to change and remains institutionally racist. the 18—year—old was set upon by a group of white youths in south—east london in april 1993. two men were convicted in 2012, but others have never been brought to justice. one child in six in england is living in overcrowded accommodation, according to new research by the national housing federation. the government says its spending £11.5 billion over five years on the affordable homes programme to increase the housing supply. you're live with bbc news. the recently sacked boss of the cbi, tony danker, has told the bbc he's

been made "the fall guy" for a wider crisis engulfing the organisation. mr danker was sacked following an independent investigation into specific complaints of misconduct that were made against him. but he says his name has been wrongly associated with other allegations, including rape and drug use, that allegedly occurred before hejoined. the cbi's president brian mcbride said mr danker�*s account of events was "selective". the bbc has not seen the dismissal letter, but in his first interview since being fired on 11th april, mr danker said there were four complaints made — that he had organised a secret and private karaoke party for 15 people after a christmas work event, was viewing the instagram accounts of cbi staff, had sent non—work related messages to staff on work messaging platforms and that he had been inviting junior staff to breakfasts, lunches or one—on—one meetings. we are nowjoined byjemima 0lchawski in london, who is the ceo of the fawcett society, a charity campaigning for gender equality and women's rights at work,

at home and in public life. welcome to the programme. we can't talk about the subject in relation to tony danker because we don't know the ins and outs of the case and it's his word against theirs enemy come to court. at start of the conversation, in many households, certainly mine, about what constitutes bullying and whether the standard has shifted and whether there is now a generational divide in the workplace about where the 90s so i wonder what you think about that. i so i wonder what you think about that. ~ :, , :, so i wonder what you think about that. ~ . , ., , ., that. i think as a starting point we all believe that _ that. i think as a starting point we all believe that we _ that. i think as a starting point we all believe that we should - that. i think as a starting point we all believe that we should feel- that. i think as a starting point we | all believe that we should feel safe and be safe between dignity and respect at work as a starting point. our employers have a responsibility 0ur employers have a responsibility to create that positive working culture but we know for a fact that it isn't the case and if we take sexual harassment, 40% of women

experience sexual harassment during their working lives. that figure is much higherfor other their working lives. that figure is much higher for other groups. so, for instance, seven in ten disabled women experience sexual harassment and 70 and ten lgbt people. it's shows we have a wide—ranging problem. whether worrying about whether the threshold is quite right, it seems to be we need to do more to prevent these issues are occurring in the purse place with good working place closures and good policies in place. we know that at the moment our harassment laws and sexual harassment laws are enforced through individuals begin complaints but, actually, the vast majority of victims, 79% of the teams in sexual harassment don't report their expenses with good reason. researchers found that those who do complain, about half are dismissed or ignored and their expenses are

minimised by their employees or they are made responsible for avoiding the perpetrator. so, it's clear we need to address this issue and be more productive and that is why we at faucet and others have been paying for a duty to prevent sexual harassment and also to protect employees from harassment from third parties and i'm glad there is a bill going through parliament right now that would do that. a private members bill with government backing. members bill with government backinr . , members bill with government backinr. , ,. ., members bill with government backin.. , ,. ., ., backing. there is visceral reaction to the injustice _ backing. there is visceral reaction to the injustice of _ backing. there is visceral reaction to the injustice of bullying - backing. there is visceral reaction to the injustice of bullying and - to the injustice of bullying and sexual harassment and there should be. we know there are varying degrees of what we are talking about but there are specific cases that are being discussed at a and i said i was going to refer to the tony danker case but when we talk about someone inviting someone to a karaoke or we talk about someone should and can be allowed to look at the insta story of someone who is

morejunior in a the insta story of someone who is more junior in a workplace. does that fit your understanding of what bullying is? has the line shifted to encapsulate that? i always understood that bullying was a repeated behaviour. 50. understood that bullying was a repeated behaviour.— understood that bullying was a repeated behaviour. so, it can be a re eated repeated behaviour. so, it can be a repeated behaviour _ repeated behaviour. so, it can be a repeated behaviour or _ repeated behaviour. so, it can be a repeated behaviour or single - repeated behaviour or single incidence of single behaviour. it's important that we bear in mind that we have one persons version of these events and we don't have their contribution for the people who raise a concern so, i think it is useful to talk about them in isolation. it is important that there are proper processes for investigation in place and that those are followed and if someone feels they haven't been properly followed that they do raise that and can complain. 0verall, followed that they do raise that and can complain. overall, i think it's very easy to get caught up in a sense that things might be over policed or might become too difficult to behave in certain ways and not workplace but the evidence is the other way. trier?

and not workplace but the evidence is the other way.— is the other way. very quickly because i _ is the other way. very quickly because i want _ is the other way. very quickly because i want to _ is the other way. very quickly because i want to have - is the other way. very quickly because i want to have one . is the other way. very quickly - because i want to have one minute left. if you suck someone for fear dismissal versus the payments you would be liable for if you didn't crackdown on sexual harassment, do employers take the leased line of resistance these days? are they more likely to listen a victim? you resistance these days? are they more likely to listen a victim?— likely to listen a victim? you know, i can't likely to listen a victim? you know, i can't speak _ likely to listen a victim? you know, i can't speak to _ likely to listen a victim? you know, i can't speak to employment - likely to listen a victim? you know, i can't speak to employment law. likely to listen a victim? you know, i can't speak to employment law orj i can't speak to employment law or employment practice, what i would say is that evidence is clear that in many cases our own half of those cases that we looked at, the very obvious opposite happened where women were dismissed and made responsible. it's important that we don't let cases where individuals are presented one set of events called or how we think about this whole issue. in particular, parts of theissue whole issue. in particular, parts of the issue that tony danker seems to be raising is that the i on the media. that's an regarding his case

and has little to do with context. i had to cut you short but we are out of time and i'm very sorry. he put some important points thank you for that first michael. we will take a short break and be right back. hello there. a cold wind was blowing today, and it will again tomorrow, but it doesn't feel anywhere near as bad if the sun is out. we had plenty of sunshine again in scotland, the highest temperatures across more sheltered western parts of scotland. but we've still got high pressure to the north of the uk, and that's bringing in these east—northeasterly winds. and at the moment, actually, we've got cooler air coming in on those winds as well. but those winds are starting to blow the cloud away that we saw today, and there was much more cloud earlier on across wales, so temperatures here weren't quite as high as they were yesterday. but drier air is coming our way, the clouds moving away from wales and the southwest and northern ireland, and but for some upslope cloud in the pennines and the welsh hills, it's going to be dry and clear overnight, and the winds will continue to ease down. so temperatures will fall away, and it will be a chilly start

to thursday in highland and particularly grampian, temperatures could be below freezing. but it promises to be a dry and sunny day for many parts of the country tomorrow. changes come in in the afternoon with some cloud and patchy rain from the near continent arriving across east anglia and the southeast of england. and after the winds start off fairly light, they will strengthen through the day with the strongest winds across england and wales, and temperatures not changing too much from what we had today. so, again, could make 18 celsius in sheltered western areas of scotland, compared with a chilly 12 celsius in norfolk with that cloud and rain arriving. as far as the pollen levels are concerned, tree pollen, of course, at this time of the year, still got high levels tomorrow and very high once again across wales and the south west of england. by the end of the week, we still have high pressure to the north of the uk, but this time, further south, we have more weather fronts — and that will bring more cloud and some outbreaks of rain across more of england and towards wales. and even if it does brighten up in the south, that could trigger some heavy and thundery showers.

stronger winds maybe a bit further north across northern england and southern scotland. scotland and northern ireland, though, on friday should be dry and quite sunny with some decent temperatures, particularly in the west once again. but with the threat of cloud and rain for england and wales, then temperatures will be quite a few degrees lower. and there's still the possibility of some rain around on saturday. it should turn drier on sunday, but showers following on sunday in northern scotland may well turn wintry in the hills. it is going to get colder with a northerly wind.

you're watching the context on bbc news. russia is accused of spying on infrastructure in the north sea and planning to cut crucial power and communication cables. plenty more on that story very shortly. let's cross, though, first to the sport centre. here is paul scott. good evening. let's start with football, shall we? in the next couple of hours, we'll find out who'lljoin real madrid and ac milan in the semifinals of the uefa champions league. manchester city travelled to germany with a 3—0 advantage over bayern munich, while inter milan took a 2—0 lead over benfica back to the san siro in italy.