let's see glorious weather today. let's see what the latest is like across the country. it looks like the eurovision party in liverpool is heating up, just in time for the weekend. west was best today with the best of the sunshine, blue skies in cardiff and temperatures reaching 20. different story across the east with this thick cloud moving in. in north yorkshire, only up to eight celsius. with a brisk north—easterly wind, the weather felt pretty much like winter. most places stayed cloudy and cool today but through the weekend it will get a lot warmer with temperatures more typically climbing into the high teens, low 20s, when we have broken the cloud. the cloud is with us for the moment moving into east scotland, most of england and eastern wales. thick enough for the odd spit of rain, maybe the odd patch of mist. temperatures between six and nine. tomorrow we will start a cloud across central and eastern ingrid, east scotland, but that will move back towards the north sea coast and

when the may sunshine comes out from the word go in the west will feel pleasantly warm with temperatures widely in the high teens, low 20s, could be make it 22 in northern ireland, the warmest day of the year so far. second half of the week in, a cold front moving in across the north—west of the uk dropping rain and temperatures. the rain milking into wales and north—west england but ahead of that we are into the warm air across central and eastern england with temperatures reaching the low 20s but much cooler for scotland and northern ireland across the second half of the weekend. before i go i wanted to show you this, a dangerous looking cyclone set make landfall around myanmar, bangladesh border region, and this is home to hundreds of thousands of rohingya refugees and the weather looks pretty atrocious over the next few days with some very serious weather impacts potentially. thanks, chris.

could the us government really run out of money in less than three weeks? if congress fails to raise the debt ceiling by the end of the month, yes, it could. and that would have far—reaching consequences for the us, the global economy and you. some are warning it could be as damaging as the collapse of lehman brothers in 2008. we'll explain why. also tonight...

newsnight�*s latest investigation into how some hopsital managers treat some whistleblowers in the nhs — this time at the world—renowned christie hospital in manchester. a former trust nurse tells us how management tried to stop staff telling the regulator what had gone wrong. it was basically the christie's way of infiltrating the forums and to intimidate staff to... you know, not speak up, or maybe not speak openly about leadership. and this... in liverpool, alongside the eurovision song contest, a play premiered in the city this week, its cast made up entirely of ukrainian refugee actors, all notable in their home country, who've come to the uk in the last year. iam i am worried about my family every minute i worry about my father, my mother, my sisters and it's just

really hard. good evening. the united states congress first introduced the debt ceiling — the upper limit of money that the us government could borrow — in 1917. over the past seven decades, it's been raised a whopping 78 times. now a key deadline of earlyjune is fast approaching, by which time congress must once again raise the ceiling or the us government could begin to run out of money and default on its debt. but a stand—off is underway between the democrats and republicans, who want the white house to agree to sweeping public spending cuts as well as other reforms. tonight the non—partisan congressional budget office has warned that the us is at significant risk of default on its debt in the first two weeks ofjune. crunch talks between the republican house speaker, kevin mccarthy, and the us president due to take place today have been postponed until next week. so how does this get resolved? and how could this

potentially affect all of us? here's ben. this was billed as the last possible week for american politicians to hammer out a deal on raising the united states debt ceiling. well, the end of the week has arrived and there's still no deal. but what is this us debt ceiling, and why does it matter to you? it's effectively a limit, set by the us house of congress, on the amount the american government can legally borrow. and the biden administration is hard up against it. indeed, it's technically past it. so without congressional approvalfor more, the us can't fund its outgoings. biden�*s treasury secretary, janet yellen, has warned the federal government could effectively run out of money as early as ijune — just 20 days�* time. and then the us could be forced to default on its debt repayments. donald trump this week urged the republicans in congress to stick to their demands for spending cuts in return for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling and that the impact of us default might be "nothing". well, that's most certainly not the view of financial experts. 0ne estimate from moody's analytics

suggests it could cost 7 million jobs, and wipe a fifth off us stock markets, equating to a $10 trillion reduction in household wealth. but that really doesn't do justice to the potential wider impact of us default. total us government debt securities sum to $24 trillion — roughly a quarter of the entire planet's economy. and those debts — seen as the ultimate safe asset — are the underpinninbg of the entire global financial system. if the safety of that underpinning is questioned, the knock—on economic implications for the entire world could easily be catastrophic. analysts say it could even put the 2008 financial crisis after the fall of lehman brothers in the shade. remember that after that financial market heart attack, unemployment here in the uk shot up, house prices collapsed, and the overall economy still bears the scars. but hasn't this all been threatened before? there was similar congressional brinkmanship over the debt ceiling back in 2011 and 2013, under the 0bama administration, and that was eventually sorted.

that might be the result this time. but many fear us politics is now very different, not least because of mr trump. look at how financial markets are pricing in the risk of us default. this shows the cost of insuring against default on one year us government debt. this week it shot to its highest ever. as you can see, well above the levels in 2013. that sense of imminent catastrophe has prompted some to urge president biden to consider unorthodox emergency measures, such as minting a $1 trillion coin to give the government leeway, or simply bypassing the ceiling by appealing to the constitution. though the implications of such unprecedented moves are also, of course, unknowable too. either way, the clock is ticking, and it's a countdown that really does matter to all of us. let's talk to a woman who was one of president 0bama's economic advisors, claudia sahm.

thank you forjoining to us and our audience. ben talked about possible catastrophic consequences. do you agree? catastrophic consequences. do you auree? ~ , ., agree? absolutely. i would underscore _ agree? absolutely. i would underscore another - agree? absolutely. i would underscore another point l agree? absolutely. i would i underscore another point that agree? absolutely. i would - underscore another point that he made, that we don't know what will happen on the other side of this. this truly is the unthinkable we have to think about right now. so what is the worst that could happen from your point of view? the financial market _ from your point of view? tue: financial market disruptions from your point of view? tte: financial market disruptions are pretty straightforward, not making good on treasury payments is a huge problem. these are the safest assets in the world normally and people would come to treasuries in a time of disruption but they will not be safe if we go over the edge. the other piece i think is very contextual right now. the united states and much of the world economy has been on the edge of potentially a recession. this is exactly the kind of event that would push us into massive job losses, kind of event that would push us into massivejob losses, into kind of event that would push us into massive job losses, into a

recession and often when the united states goes into a recession, that has ripple effects around the globe. and as we head towards this deadline, presumably, ben talked about the shooting up of the cost of insuring the debt, the markets are going to get more and more spooked as we head to the end of may? the? as we head to the end of may? they are on the clock _ as we head to the end of may? they are on the clock is _ as we head to the end of may? tte: are on the clock is ticking. frankly, one of the most disconcerting aspects of what is happening right now is there is a sense of complacency. yes, markets are moving but the stock market is not reacting to this and that is normally what gets washington's attention, when the market tends to move. and this is very complicated negotiation that they need to finish up negotiation that they need to finish up before the beginning ofjune, and the white house and house republicans could not be further apart on what is going to happen, what it's going to take to raise the debt ceiling. what it's going to take to raise the debt ceiling-— debt ceiling. again, we have had these stand-offs _ debt ceiling. again, we have had these stand-offs before, - debt ceiling. again, we have had these stand-offs before, unless| debt ceiling. again, we have had i these stand-offs before, unless you these stand—offs before, unless you think it is different this time? absolutely. again, there is so much

daylight between the two micro groups that have to come to an agreement, and these go beyond just we are going to cut budget spending, deficit spending. if you look at the house republican proposal, there are rollbacks of parts of legislation that have been passed under the biden administration. this has an ideology to it that goes well beyond the dollars and cents and that is a lot to hammer out. and you have some parts of the house republicans that are extremely, i don't know, radical might be too strong a word but they are really sticking to their guns as former president trump told them to. and is this a cliff edge injune or can it be kicked down the road a bit? ., , , ., ., ~ can it be kicked down the road a bit? ., ,, ., ., �* , . bit? the congressional budget office views the first _ bit? the congressional budget office views the first two _ bit? the congressional budget office views the first two weeks _ bit? the congressional budget office views the first two weeks of - bit? the congressional budget office views the first two weeks ofjune - bit? the congressional budget office views the first two weeks ofjune as l views the first two weeks ofjune as a likely period when we could have what they call x dates, to really get the point where the funds are not there to meet obligations. that is the most credible experiment we

have from cbo but as with everything attached to this, we just don't know, there are so many question marks and were getting dangerously close to the edge. tt it marks and were getting dangerously close to the edge.— close to the edge. if it does happen. — close to the edge. if it does happen. which _ close to the edge. if it does happen, which party- close to the edge. if it does happen, which party would | close to the edge. if it does l happen, which party would be close to the edge. if it does - happen, which party would be to blame? who would the public blame? the united states is very politically divided. who you stand for right now is who you will stand by if the debt ceiling is breached. there is definitely political communication on both sides and they have extremely strong opinions, photos, about who is to blame for where we are at right now, let alone what would happen in the case of the real dilemma to breaching and not being able to make those payments. claudia sahm, thank you for talking to us here in the uk, we appreciate it. for the last year, newsnight has been investigating concerns over leadership within some parts of the nhs. first we focused on university hospital birmingham,

a failing trust across a whole host of measures, sparking three separate inquiries. now we're focusing on new concerns about aspects of leadership at one of the uk's most prominent hospitals. the christie in manchester has an outstanding global reputation for treating and caring for cancer patients. its leadership, though, is under the spotlight after a recent inspection by the watchdog — the care quality commission. newsnight�*s been told by a former trust nurse there that leaders intimidated staff to stop them voicing concerns to inspectors. david grossman reports. the christie is a internationally respected and recognised centre of excellence for the treatment of cancer. it is one of the jewels of the nhs — the christie hospital in manchester, a world leader in cancer care and, for over 130 years, a pioneer of new treatments. since 2016, it has been rated as �*outstanding' by the care quality commission,

making it one of the highest rated specialist trusts in the country. today, however, that outstanding run came to an end. in a critical report today, the cqc downgraded the trust to �*overall good'. within that overall rating, the safe measure has dropped from �*good' to �*requires improvement�*. however, the biggest drop came on the question of whether the trust is well led. this has gone from �*outstanding�* to �*requires improvement�*. the report said very senior executives were heavily invested in the promotion and protection of the trust�*s reputation. this impacted negatively on some staff. staff did not always feel supported and valued. a minority of staff expressed reservations about raising concerns and others did not always feel listened to. even though this cqc inspection was supposed to be unannounced, newsnight understands that hospital managers went to great lengths to try to control

the inspection process, trying to limit who got to speak to the inspectors and, we were told by christie staff, attempting to intimidate those who might want to be critical. rebecca wight is an advanced nurse practitioner. she is taking the christie to an employment tribunal after leaving at the end of last year, shortly after the cqc inspections. she says they were manipulated by senior trust managers. it is absolutely diabolical. the well led inspection was basically run by the christie. the cqc requested a few forums with clinical staff. those forums were infiltrated by leaders. the forum i went to, it was attended by senior leaders in the executive team. the forums were held in the executive headquarters, in a glass walled room, and it was basically the christie�*s way of infiltrating the forums

and to intimidate staff to... you know, not to speak up, or maybe not to speak openly about leadership. rebecca and others wrote to the cqc to warn that the inspectors were only getting a carefully controlled and inaccurate picture and that the trust was covering up significant problems. what that resulted in is the cqc then held off—site sessions for people to come anonymously and to speak to them. and i think that was managed by the central cqc. when staff felt safe to speak out, the cqc got a completely different picture of the trust from the feelings of some of its staff. roger kline is a health service academic and expert on workplace culture. it is a culture that is unwelcoming of people raising concerns. and if they are persistent, or they are concerns that get too

close to important issues, the trust's response is more likely to shoot the messenger, to see the person raising the concerns as the problem, rather than the issues they have raised. hello, ann. the cqc has confirmed to newsnight that it found it necessary to meet some members of staff off—site so that they could speak without fear of repercussions. staff raised concerns . with us about speaking openly within the trust. so we provided a range _ of opportunities for them to speak with us about any concerns or any positive comments they - wanted to make off—site. indeed, that is one of the things that your report found, wasn�*t it? that the staff don�*t always feel able to speak out, and that is what you found in your inspection process. we did, we did. we found that, well, _ staff told us that leaders were not always visible or approachable and they did not always feel .

supported, valued or listened to. roger kline says the downgrading of the trust from �*outstanding�* to �*requires improvement�* on the well led metric means senior managers at the christie should not remain in post. i think for a trust like the christie, a small, specialist trust, any form of downgrading is a significant problem. if it is downgraded in one step, that is a significant problem. to be downgraded two steps, i think the board ought to be looking for a new chief executive. the trust denied there was any intimidation by its leaders during the inspection and said... it added... indeed, the cqc emphasised that the trust is still outstanding

when it comes to caring, effective and responsive treatment, but there are now huge questions raised about the leadership of one of the world�*s most prestigious cancer centres. david grossman. today, pakistan�*s former prime minister, imran khan, was granted bail by the islamabad high court, days after his dramatic arrest over corruption charges set off an outpouring of anger against the country�*s military. on wednesday on newsnight we spoke to one of his supporters — a member of his party, dr shireen mazari — who told us there were concerns around other leadership figures being detained. the problem is that after khan�*s abduction, we are not as... second—tier leadership of the pti has also been arrested. we are having mass arrests of the leadership in all the cities. so there is really no one now to even control how the protests

continue but they are continuing. well, that has indeed happened. this is footage of dr mazari being arrested in the early hours of this morning — one of several political figures taken in by police since khan�*s arrest. we haven�*t independently verified this video but her arrest has been confirmed by the bbc. imran khan�*s party, pti, has tweeted that dr shireen mazari was "abducted" and claimed that armed police entered her home. they�*ve described it as a shameful moment. the prime minister and labour leader have both agreed that ukraine�*s president, volodymyr zelensky, should be addressing the eurovision song contest final tomorrow night. he wanted to, but the organisers — the european broadcasting union — say such an appearance would breach its rules on political impartiality. the contest is being hosted by liverpool, as you know, on behalf of ukraine. as part of the city�*s eurovision festival the city council commissioned 2a collaborative art

projects between the uk and ukraine. for the last month newsnight has been following one of them — a play called maria, charting the life of one ukrainian woman from birth to death, encompassing the soviet—engineered famine of the early 1930s. the play, which premiered this week, has a cast made up entirely of ukrainian refugee actors, all notable in their home country, who�*ve arrived in the uk in the last year. michael cowan has followed them from their first rehearsal to opening night. it�*s day one of rehearsals, and the actors are greeted by a welcome circle with staff from the unity theatre — their home for the next four weeks. hello, everyone. my name is shorena. i�*m an actress and i will play main role, maria. shorena is married to director yurii. they�*d been in theirfirst home with daughter yana for three months

when bombs hit kiev. we woke up at five o�*clock because our house was shaked. kiev, a city of three million, awoke to sirens. when we started to drive from our house, we saw a lot of broken cars, people. and i was frightened. yeah, i was frightened. hi, everyone. 0lena, and i play nadia, who is maria�*s daughter. i went to university in kharkiv. we did our last performance in student theatre on 23rd of february. and then i remember 5am. my friends were, like,

running around the room, picking up clothes and everything, and i was like, "what are you doing?" and they were, "it�*s started." and i was like, "what�*s started?" "the war has started." russia is accused of killing hundreds of civilians in the ukrainian city of kharkiv. 0lena had one of the most difficult escapes, being trapped in kharkiv and gripped with a constant worry about her family. so i�*ve been there for, like, three weeks, i guess, in the metro station. and then we tried to escape from kharkiv. and i remember we spent two or three nights on different railway stations without food, without water, without phone. so you don�*t have access to talk to your family. you don�*t know, are they still alive?

yurii�*s job is to get this performance from the rehearsal room and onto the stage injust four weeks. the play focuses on ukrainian woman maria, charting her life from birth to death. it�*s the story of how russian occupance break her life. like, break ukraine. and this story will be about the hardest page of our history. i mean holodomor. the holodomor, literally translated as "to kill by hunger", was a soviet—engineered famine of the early 1930s. being the largest grain producer in the soviet union, ukraine was subjected to higher grain quotas than other regions, leading to fewer crops for ukrainians and causing mass starvation of the population. while estimates vary, academics put the death toll at a minimum of 3.5 million people.

why stalin enforced this policy is a matter of contention. to some, it was merely a consequence of the industrialisation of the soviet union. others say stalin, fearing a growing cultural divergence from moscow, forced the famine as a way to further subdue ukraine. most of the cast were prominent actors and directors in ukraine. i have worked in the national theatre. i played juliet injuliet and romeo. i used to be an actor of the national theatre and it was very important and exciting. we used to work with volodomyr zelensky for several years. - he was a great manager that time, l

and he is quite a good manager now! great manager, yeah. it�*s week two and the theatre is changing all of its signage into ukrainian ahead of the start of liverpool�*s eurovision festival. as rehearsals intensify, there�*s a new cast member joining the company. it will be the first time when i act in english. it�*s a good opportunity to tell british people in their language about us, about our culture, about ukraine. yurii, shorena and daughter yana have lived with a host family in derbyshire since arriving in the uk last year. every day they make the three—hour round trip from derbyshire to liverpool. yeah, it�*s not easy,

but it�*s ok because we love it. with a week to go until opening night, the actors are now mostly without scripts and connecting to the scenes in a more visceral way. we have a couple of scenes when my dad, my scene dad goes to the war, and it is the same feeling... ..and it is really emotional. i�*m worried about my family. like, every minute. i worry about my father, my mother, my sisters and itjust really hurts. and it�*s taking a toll on almost everyone. it�*s difficult to be here and enjoy the life for 100%.

it�*s impossible because our parents, ourfriends... ..still in ukraine. with just hours to go until the play opens, the cast have almost finished their final dress rehearsal. i waited for this feeling for so long. it�*s one and a half years, almost. some of the cast haven�*t set foot on a stage since leaving ukraine, and after weeks of preparation, it�*s curtains up. all the land were to be given to the poor.

applause. for the audience, which includes lots of local ukrainians, it was a poignant evening. it was very touching because from my opinion, a holodomor is one of the most terrible parts of ukrainian history. i thought it was tremendous and i couldn't believe that i'd never heard of this atrocity. it�*s been an intense five weeks for this company of performers, juggling jobs, family life, as well as rehearsals. so it�*s a testament to their resilience that they�*ve come together in a new land to tell powerful stories of home. mike cowan was the reporter and producer. and there�*s a longer version of his film on bbc iplayer. it�*s called �*playing for ukraine�*. and i�*ve been talking to the exiled mayor of the city of mariupol in southern ukraine which was taken

over by the russian military after being heavily bombed by them last year. at one point, mariupol was mooted as a possible host city for this year�*s eurovision song contest, but obviously that wasn�*t possible. i asked mayor vadhim boychenko how he felt when he saw images of vladimir putin visiting mariupol. translation: i will only say one thing about this. - a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime. so we can conclude that putin understands what he has done in the city of mariupol. he is a criminal who will be held to account for all of that. like a maniac, he came in person to mariupol to see his crimes. i want to ask you, will the ukrainian military liberate mariupol? and if so, when? we have faith in the

ukrainian armed forces. we have faith in our supreme commander, president zelensky. and in our military commander in chief, general zaluzhnyy, who said that mariupol would be liberated this year. we are waiting for this order to be carried out so we can return to a ukrainian mariupol. we expect that our true heroes, our boys and girls, will achieve this task, fulfil that order, and this year we will go to raise the ukrainian flag in liberated ukraine. and if that does happen, what are your plans, what are your hopes for your city after that? what we see is that first, we need to have a military tribunal in mariupol for all those criminals who contributed to the destruction of mariupol.