as long as the president is a member of amazon prime. oy. that's all for tonight. we'll be back more with more ntp daily. this morning, the government shutdown enters its seventh day. president trump continues to dig in on border security. lawmakers won't be returning to washington until next week, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees in limbo. rudy giuliani reportedly leaves open the possibility of an in-person interview between trump and special counsel robert mueller. and president trump's secret trip to visit troops overseas has upset lawmakers in iraq with some now demanding the withdrawal of u.s. forces. ♪ good morning, everyone. it's friday, december 28th.

i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside louis burgdorf. administration and congressional negotiators have shown no signs of urgency as lawmakers were told not to expect more votes this week. the house and senate gavelled in for a quick pro forma session yesterday. they are expected to do the same thing on monday, new year's eve. and then return on wednesday, january 2nd, the last day of the republican congress. the "washington post" notes that barring a surprise resolution, it will become the second longest shutdown of the decade by the time congress convenes its 116th session this coming thursday. last night, chris hayes discussed the president's demand for funding of a border wall with republican congressman michael birchess. >> why are we shutting down or government to get tax money for

the wall that mexico is going to pay for? >> the wall is the first step. the pay for part may come later. i'd be in favor of taxing remittances in mexico and central america to pay back the american taxpayer. >> you're a conservative. you understand that money matters, right? every cent spent by the taxpayer is important. the president said to you, the american taxpayer -- >> you're getting distracted by that. and they should. >> you keep asking the american people to pay for something that the president promised them -- congressman, the president said it hundreds of times. i watched him every night at every rally. he said the mexico will pay for the wall. everyone cheered. get mexico to pay for the wall if you want a wall so bad. >> and they will. >> earlier this week, president trump claimed that federal employees were telling him to keep the government shut down. >> many of those workers have

said to me and communicated, stay out until you get the funding for the wall. these federal workers want the wall. the only one that doesn't want the wall are the democrats. >> now the president is claiming, also without evidence, that the federal workers under financial stress from the shutdown are not even members of his own party. do the democrats realize most of the people not getting paid are democrats? only about 1 in 6 federal employees lives in the washington, d.c. area with hundreds of thousands living in the south, the plains and the midwest. the "washington post" had counted 7,546 false or misleading claims from the president over the first 700 days of his administration. kwjust 17 days ago presiden trump said he would take the mantle of a shutdown. the poll conducted mostly after

the shutdown began, finds that 47% of americans hold trump to believe while 33% blame democrats and congress and about 7% blame congressional republicans. 35% said they support congress putting up the money for a border wall, while only 25% said they support trump shutting down the government over his wall funding demands. in a cnn poll, 57% said they oppose building a wall while 38% are in favor of it. but the number in favor fell to only 33% if the wall is built without money coming from mexico as the president is currently demanding. th in june gallup found that 75% of americans support immigration, include mag juvenile coujoritie groups. one person president trump did not meet with during his secret trip to iraq earlier this

week was the iraqi prime minister. some of the country's lawmakers are perceiving that as a slight. the white house says a meting was set up, but only two hours in advance and the prime minister's office says that a formal reception was also pl planned. however, it was called off after the two sides could not agree on a meeting location with trump not wanting to travel to baghdad and wanting the prime minister to come to him at the american air base. a short phone call took place instead. trump said he had no intention of withdrawing u.s. troops from iraq and iraq could be used as a home base to reenter syria. officials from both sides of iraqi politics have called for a parliamentary vote to expel all u.s. forces from the country, calling trump's trip both arrogant and a violation of iraqi sovereignty. foreign influence is a hot

button issue in iraqi politics. the leader of a powerful iraqi militia says if u.s. troops do not voluntarily leave, he will force them out using whatever means necessary. president trump made his first visit to u.s. troops serving in an active war zone on tuesday and had this message. >> america shouldn't be doing the fighting for every nation on earth, not being reimbursed in many cases at all. if they want us to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price. and sometimes that's also a monetary price so we're not the suckers of the world. we're no longer the suckers, folks. >> however, as the president of the council on foreign relations richard hawes notes, what the united states spend on defense is a bargain as the country spends just over 3% of gdp on

defense, maybe half the cold war average, a period at which the economy grew at a record pace. rudy giuliani is raising new speculation about a possible sitdown interview between robert mueller and the president. giuliani said that negotiations are still open between mueller and trump's legal team about further questions. when asked if it is his understanding that mueller is still looking to interview trump over the phone or in person, giuliani reiterated that it hasn't been formally closed yet. in an interview with the hill, giuliani said the president would not be answering any more written questions. he also tried to layout a legal defense strategy. >> do you expect the president to answer more questions in writing? >> well, i think i announced about ten days ago over my dead body and i'm not dead yet, so.

i was with the president the last four months of the campaign virtually all day and into the night until he went back to his home. there was no contact with wikileaks, none. then they moved onto campaign contributions, which is kind of ridiculo ridiculous. that's a civil violation. the theory they're using was discredited in the edwards case. then they're looking at business things that happened years ago or the moscow thing, which is perfectly legal. i was with the president the last four months of the campaign virtually all day and into the night, until he went back to his home. and there was no contact with wikileaks. none. >> joining me now from washington, white house reporter for politico gabby orr. let's talk a little bit about the president's tweet in line

with what he has been sending out. the white house is stepping up blame on democrats for the government shutdown. what do you make of this? is this getting any traction? >> it doesn't seem like it is. if you look at polls, about 47% of americans now blame president trump for this shutdown. democrats have successfully labeled this the trump shutdown. he's really facing an upward battle in terms of messaging around this and trying to portray this as the fault of senate and house democrats as opposed to his administration and congressional republicans. that being said, every day this shutdown continues and every day that we near the introduction of the new congress and the democratic house on january 3rd, president trump loses leverage in this negotiation. so i think that his strategy right now and this is what we're seeing out of the white house in trying to blame congressional democrats to say that they have previously supported border

security and that a fence of some kind, that they should not continue to support border security by giving him that $5 billion figure. it doesn't seem to be swaying public opinion one way or the other. >> we had this map earlier of where federal government employees mostly are between the district and the majority of them being outside of washington, d.c. how is the shutdown affecting those government employees as it looks to continue into the new year? >> i mean, it's difficult to imagine just sitting here in d.c. the 400,000 furloughed government employees just across the united states who are dealing the impacts of this. we've seen national park employees who are visiting the parks that they typically work at during the workweek and seeing trash just pile up. there was a concern in big bend, the national park in texas, that it might attract black bears to have all of this trash piling up

inside the park. i read a story yesterday about a couple in virginia who's contracted with nasa and are now 100% without income and facing a tuition bill for their son coming up after christmas. i mean, it's devastating for some families who are living paycheck to paycheck, but also families who only have enough saved up to sort of get by, pay their merge fortgage for this m and don't know what's to come starting in january. for almost two decades, america's detention center in guantanamo bay cuba has held people accused of plotting terror attacks against the u.s. but the controversial prison was never meant to be a permanent home for those detainees. officers running the prison say it needs serious repairs. >> reporter: it was supposed to

hold the most dangerous suspects in the war on terror, but it wasn't built to house them for nearly two decades, with hundreds of u.s. personnel watching over them. president obama promised to shut it down, but president trump changed course. >> keep it open and we're going to load it up with some bad dudes. >> rear admiral john ring is the military commander here. he says the classified detention camp is in rough shape. we're only allowed inside the unclassified camps. >> they're sort of falling into the ground and deteriorating rapidly. >> the pentagon wants $69 million for a new detention camp, but so far congress has said no. the biggest need, dealing with aging detainees. the oldest is 71. another had his fifth back surgery and had to have his cell reconfigured to fit a hospital bed. this is one of the cells inside camp six. most of the doors aren't wide enough for a wheelchair, let

alone a hospital bed. >> we're not meeting what we all expect as good medical care and we feel obligated to give as doctors and professionals in uniform or out of uniform. >> why won't congress approve the money? >> i don't think it's in the public mind. the reality is there are people who do bad things to us and the military i think is doing a very good job of keeping most of the bad folks on the other side of the moat. still ahead, a billionaire hedge fund tycoon appears to be stepping back into the shadows. later senator mark warner, the top democrat on the intel committee has some words for president trump amid the government shutdown. for president trump amid the government shutdown.

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zbh . robert mercer is pulling backing on his political donations. bloomberg reports that mercer spend just $2.9 million on federal elections this year, only a third spent in 2014. the family was one of the top ten political donors of 2016, giving over $25 million to various conservative causes. robert mercer's innuance in conservati -- influence may be collapsing after the collapse of cambridge analyti analytica. mercer and his daughter rebecca were also dismayed after being criticized by some republicans for their role in trump's 2016 presidential victory. spokespersons for the mercer

family declined to comment to bloomberg on that report. la rainy friday morning her in new york, but a lot of severe weather out there. >> absolutely. we're still dealing with that winter storm off to the north and west of us and then down in the south, flooding. let's get right to it, because even though snow is falling lightly from blooduluth to minneapolis, parts of minnesota got up to 18 inches of snow yesterday and we still have blowing snow. an imminent danger right now in flash flooding. mississippi, louisiana, alabama. look what's happening, frequent lightning strikes, reports of flash flooding. overnight there were water rescues happening. that's likely to be continuing. a dangerous situation for this part of the country today, unfortunately. to the north, the same system is bringing heavy rain and thunderstorms all through the mid atlantic and we're seeing a little bit of light snow shower

activity through northern new england. looking ahead for the rest of the day, we've got early rain coming through that will impact our travel. we'll see light snow showers popping up. that rain is really going to impact our travel today. i am anticipating delays. if you are driving along i-10, look at all the rain expected, another couple of inches. this area is completely saturated. even atlanta seeing one of the top five wettest decembers they've ever had. i anticipate some tough travel ahead. one more story for you here. a 33-year-old american athlete has earned a new world record by becoming the first person to cross antarctica alone and

unaided. >> reporter: in a week typically focused on the north pole, an intrepid adventurer is focusing on antarctic ka. he started the 932-mile adventure november 3rd, crossed the south pole december 12th. then on christmas decided to make one final drive, sprinting nearly 80 miles in an ambitious 32-hour stretch. >> something came over me. i was like i wonder if i could go for it all in one crazy big push. >> reporter: on the 54th day, he reached the finish line. >> i was extremely exhausted, just over come with joy and emotion.

to an audience of zero. >> reporter: while in thailand he was severely injured by a fire with burns covering nearly a quarter of his body. but that didn't stop him from finishing triathlons. from scaling mountains. now he has tackled antarctica. >> there's a reason no one in history has ever been able to accomplish this feat. >> reporter: ohe can now say he did it first. still ahead, los angeles may be without lebron for some time as the kings look to take advantage of the king-less lakers. advantage of the king-less lakers

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but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. welcome back. time now for sports. some bad news for the city of angels as their king could be out for a while. lebron james suffered a groin injury earlier in the week. espn reports he could be out for several games. meanwhile the lebron-less lakers looked okay for most of yesterday's game against the kings. however, down the stretch the other king's absence was felt as sacramento rallied from 15 points down late in the fourth quarter cutting the game to two in the final seconds.

>> a three would win the game. here it is on its way. he win es the game! >> he buries the three. the kings take this one 117-116. durant missed a game winning shot at the buzzer and the trailblazers keep rolling and win in over time. james harden scored 45 points propelling the rockets to a win over the celtics. houston has now won eight of their last nine games. the knicks had lost eight of their previous nine heading into yesterday's matchup against

milwaukee. t the knicks lost again. they are now 9-27 on the year. and the 76ers beat the jazz in utah. joel embiid continued to light up the stat sheet netting 23 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks. >> losing lebron hurts. >> he's way beyond the arc too. still ahead, what incoming house speaker nancy pelosi is saying about the government shutdown and when it might end. plus, a retired four star general and former nato commander weighs in on president trump's efforts to replace defense secretary jim mattis. and why finding someone may not be the easiest task despite what the president says. spite what the president says oh milk. am i willing to pay the price for loving you? you'll make my morning, but ruin my day.

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welcome back, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside louis burgdorf. it is the bottom of the hour. we begin with day seven of the government shutdown and no sign of compromise anywhere. that means 2019 will likely begin with almost a million government workers wondering when they'll get their next paycheck. hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: not a creature has been stirring since saturday in the empty hallways of washington. but in virginia, free knitting lessons for furloughed

government workers. >> it's out of your hands. >> reporter: in kentucky, a plate of barbecue on the house. >> we're feeding all the government employees until they go back to work. >> reporter: in california, frustration for nicole lower whose husband is in the cost guard and won't be getting his regularly scheduled paycheck. >> most families are feeling that uncertainty of what do we do. >> reporter: the white house railed against democrats and reiterated the president wants money to beef up border security. >> it shouldn't be hard to get to where the president wants to be. >> reporter: senators on both sides making their cases for a shutdown solution. >> it's going to hurt our economy. it makes no sense whatsoever. >> reporter: but making them from their holiday vacation locatio locations, which says a lot about what's happening in washington. nothing. >> how long do you think the

shutdown will last, mr. president? >> whatever it takes. i mean, we're going to have a wall. >> reporter: democrats could offer some money for a border wall, a political win for the president. the president could accept no money for the wall, a political win for democrats. or both sides could compromise on border security and each declare victory. no matter what happens, it is not going to happen any time soon. congress is done working for the year. with republican congress putting the government shutdown to this coming thursday, it is now a challenge for incoming house speaker nancy pelosi. several reports say that pelosi is planning to pass a measure on the very first day that gives nothing to the wall, putting pressure on mitch mcconnell to return to last week's deal which president trump agreed to, but then rejected. yesterday pelosi's office said in a statement, democrats have

offered republicans three options to reopen the government that all including funder for strong, sensible and effective border security. democrats will fight for a strategic robust national security policy, including strong and smart border security and strong support for our service members and veterans. in an op-ed for the "washington post," democrat mark warner writes, quote, as the senior senator from virginia, i represent hundreds of thousands of federal employees and service members. i have no idea how many of them are democrats, but i know this. they include voters and non-voters alike. they are independents and republicans and democrats and libertarians. those hurt by this shutdown include firefighters and national weather service forecasters in red states and u.s. marshals in blue states.

it's their commitment to serving our country. like all americans, federal employees have a right to hold personal political beliefs. but what separates your average public servant from the president is an ability and indeed a legal obligation to leave their political views at home and do their jobs without regard for partisan politics. >> what can we expect when the new congress convenes in january? is nancy pelosi going to be in a stronger position in being able to try to push something through to end this shutdown? >> nancy pelosi has said she plans to put a bill forward the day she takes control as speaker of the house, that she will put forward some type of government funding bill. we don't know whether that will be a continuing residenolution some kind, a comprehensive

government spending bill that includes some democratic add-ones or if it will include any funding for border security. of course, the latter is pretty unlikely at this point. during these negotiations that are still ongoing, we've been told the white house is still in contact with congressional democratic leaders including pelosi and chuck schumer in the senate. they've been pushing behind the scenes for some type of agreement that not only includes the wall funding, but might trade that in order to reauthorize and create a permanent pathway to citizenship or legal status for so-called d.r.e.a.m.ers. that could be a democratic proposal we see come january. it's unlikely that nancy pelosi would put anything forward that goes beyond the 1.2 billion initially offered to president trump for border security. >> help us understand, has the

issue been about funds, the gap between 5 billion and the 1.2 billion the democrats are offering? or is it more about the language that the democrats absolutely will not agree to funding for the border wall? >> i wish i had a clear answer to give you, but it didn't really seem like the white house has any clarity on that. we're hearing president trump say he's now open to a border fence of some kind when he had been adamant for so long that this be a physical barrier, a wall of some kind he's also saying that he's pushing for this $5 billion figure in border wall funding, but we know that vice president pence met with chuck schumer over the weekend and made an offer around 1 billion in border security funding. it doesn't really seem like they have a clear idea of what

they're negotiating for. i think that's the biggest problem for republicans. there's no clear strategy. there's no unified message for republicans to coalesce around. that's creating difficulties heading into january when democrats are going to take over and have additional leverage in these negotiations. >> we already saw in some of the polls that the american public is putting the blame on the president. that is something that the president said he owns. politically speaking, how much will the president be willing to go along with this shutdown before he starts feeling the political pressure? we saw when he was about to accept that agreement by the democrats, right wing media, his base really activated and that pushed him away from that deal. >> the one thing we know is that advisors are continuing to push him not only to look for an agreement but not to back down

on that $5 billion figure, that this isn't something that will necessarily damage him politically to the extent people think it will. if you go back and look at government shutdowns, the impact politically to either party or either side of the aisle doesn't necessarily become as damaging as most people would expect it to. president reagan had two shutdowns during his first term and went onto win reelection in a landslide. so there is some advisors inside the white house telling him to stick with this, continue pushing for that 5 billion dollar figure, to not worry about the political impact of this for republicans or for his reelection campaign. one of president trump's calling cards on the campaign

trail was that he only hires the best people. however, his cabinet has had record turnover and trump is currently searching for a new defense secretary after jim mattis handed in his residence i -- resignation letter. >> we have a wonderful man in there now. he could be there for a long time. i'm in no rush. i've got everybody, everybody and his uncle wants that position. and also by the way, everybody and her aunt, just so i won't be criticized for that last statement. everybody wants that position. everybody. so many people want to be -- who wouldn't want to be secretary of defense? >> i think there are a lot of people who are very well qualified to be secretary of defense who would not want to be

secretary of defense under president donald trump for the simple reason they can't agree with the policies. his policy direction is pretty clear. he doesn't believe in american leadership. he says he supports nato, but he doesn't really help lead the alliance and he makes arbitrary or impech chous decisions. for people who are qualified to be secretary of defense, they know what big organizations are like. they don't operate this way. this is not a family office. this is not the real estate business. this is not bluffing an opponent to get a cheaper price on a lot. this is the largest, most complex organization in the world. you're dealing with life and death. this is not the way to run it. now to the latest on the

8-year-old guatemalan boy. the new mexico federal investigators office says the boy tested positive for the flu, but an accurate cause of death will need further evaluation. >> reporter: three days after his death in the custody of u.s. customs and border protection, these are the first images of 8-year-old philip gomez alanoal. his mother says the family was desperate to escape poverty in guatemala. they were apprehended on the el paso border december 18th. on the morning of december 24th, an argument noticed the child was coughing and appeared to have glossy eyes. by 11:48 that night he was dead.

the air force has said that troops holding make america great again hats during president trump's visit were not in violation of military rules which prohibit troops from taking part in partisan activities. an air force captain carrying a trump banner was also criticized. the us air force in europe released a statement yesterday saying there is no rule against airmen bringing personal items to be signed by the president, adding troops held the hats for signing but did not wear them while in uniform. however, a directive from the defense department does state that personnel may not engage and should refrain from partisan political activities that appears to endorse a political candidate when in uniform. last night president trump defended his actions, tweeting out if these brave young people asked me to sign their hat, i will sign. still ahead, they were

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text "listen27" to 500500 to start your free trial today. the most compelling stories. makeup now optional. new aveeno® maxglow™ infusion drops with kiwi to lock moisture. and soy to even skin tone. unleash dewy, glowing skin from within. new aveeno® maxglow™. vermont democratic senator bernie sanders is teasing his potential 2020 supporters with a fund-raising e-mail entitled, if i run san i run. sanders shared what he says is his response when asked if he will run again, writing, quote, if i am the best candidate to beat trump, then i will probably run. that is the truth. the e-mail was sent out the same day the "new york times"

published a piece about the wavering support of some of bernie sanders's supporters. the times notes that some of sanders' top supporters won't commit to backing him again. a top aide says former new york city mayor michael bloomberg is prepared to spend upwards of nine figures of his own money if he chooses to run for president in 2020. he spent more than 100 million dollar in his last mayor's race. last time i looked new york city is a fraction of the size of the country as a whole. wolfson added that bloomberg is prepared to spend whatever is required should he run. ranked at number 11 on the forbes list of wealthiest people in the world he will have one of the largest war chests at the

start of the 2020 race. he says that his competence is key for the democratic nominee. >> we have some real problems. if you don't come in with some real concrete answers, i think the public is tired of listening to the same platitudes they get, we're in favor of god, mother and apple pie and trust me, i'll have a plan when we get there. no. you have to have a plan. i will be out there demanding that anybody that's running has a plan. i want to hear the plan and i want everybody to look at it and say whether it's doable. >> the rest of that interview will air on sunday on nbc. let's switch gears and get a check on your weather now with meteorologist bonnie schneider. >> the gulf coast is where we have flash flood warnings persisting in southern mississippi and alabama. several inches of rain on the ground, this area completely

saturated. unfortunately as those storms linger, so does the flood danger. the rain sweeping across raleigh, washington, d.c., nashville, baltimore, atlantic city all on track to be their wettest december ever. i want to take a look at new year's eve weekend. behind the system that brought all the snow, a bitter blast of really cold air is coming. we're going to be windchills well below zero. it stays pretty mild and comfortable for the northeast. remember new year's eve in times square the temperature was 9 degrees when the ball dropped. this year it's probably going to be in the 30s. that will seem quite comfortable. >> that will be nice for the thousands out there. still ahead, former producers from the apprentice show how they changed donald trump's issue, essentially paving his way to the presidency. essentially paving his way to the

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now to the explosion that seemed to turn night into day in some parts of new york city. a transformer at a con edison power player exploded in queens lighting up the sky all over the city with a bright teal blue. the company said an electrical fire caused a transmission to dip. subway service was interrupted, there were some power outages in

the city and nearby laguardia airport was shut down. >> there was blue green he lieutenant and the fire went up very, very high. all of a sudden, everything just stopped. everything. >> what did it do? >> the lights, the fire, the smoke even. everything was going like that. >> it went from nighttime to the sun is up, it's a beautiful day. i'm like, whoa. it was real quick, within a second. i was scared. i'm running down the stairs, everyone is running down not knowing what was going on. there was even more panic. >> so people as far away as new jersey, believe it or not, could see the light. and a spokesman for the new york city mayor assured everyone that it was, quote, not alliens much to the disappointment of lewis. >> are you sure it wasn't aliens? all right.

let's change gears. the nation's oldest living man and world war ii veteran has died at the age of 112. richard overton was in the then segregated armed forces that served on various islands in the pacific. in 2013, former president barack obama honored his service at arlington national cemetery during a ceremony. >> he was there at okinawa, he was there at iwo jima where he said i only got out of there by the grace of god. this is the life of one american veteran living proud in the land that he helped key free. >> his key to living a long life? putting whiskey in his coffee and smoking cigars which he said

he didn't skimp on. overton's family said he had recently died.due due to complications with pneumonia. >> yeah. we were lucky to have him, heaven is going to be luckier to have him. one week into the government shutdown, and with no vote scheduled, it appears it will continue into the new year. if the president had a hard time getting his wall funded with a republican-controlled senate, what happened when nancy pelosi takes over the house? "morning joe," everyone, just moments away. "morning joe," everyone, just moments away am i willing to pay the price for loving you? you'll make my morning, but ruin my day. complicated relationship with milk? pour on the lactaid. it's delicious 100% real milk, just without that annoying lactose.

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many have asked who is to blame for donald trump, the donald trump phenomenon. and i'll tell you who, because he's sitting right there. that's right, that guy. mark burnett, the man who brought us celebrity apprentice.

thanks to mark bur nettenett, wt have to watch reality shows because we're living one. >> now producers of the apprentice are also speaking out. according to "the new yorker," the tv host portrayed trump not as a hustler but as someone with impeccable business instincts. harold burnett said most of us knew he was a fake. he had just gone through i don't know how many bankruptcies. but we made him out to be the most important person in the world. we cleaned it up so that he was his best self. i'm sure donald thinks he was never ugly. bill pruitt told the new yorker,

we walked through offices and saw chipped furniture. we saw a crumbling empire at every turn. our job was to make it seem otherwise. we're going to talk to the author of that report, patrick raiden keith, later on "morning joe." is that does it for us on this friday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. if the the ♪ >> good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it's friday, december 28th. if you're looking for a clips show retrospective of 2018 or a pretaped episode on the winners and losers of the year, you've probably come to the wrong place. although i've got to say mike barnacle's bread pudding recipe