ben thompson, thank ou by the post office. ben thompson, thank you very _ by the post office.tch from a 640—foot pass. a helicopter above the stadium threw it to him. his first two attempts weren't so good, but then on the third, this happened. from more than 600 feet thrown from a helicopter. big cheers. i don't think it's that hard, once you have got your eye in. in my days playing cricket, i probably could have managed that, 100th time lucky probably. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood. if you have been looking for rain in the forecast, we have got some showers and rain this week. today there is a lot of cloud and rain across scotland and some of that is heavy and potentially thundery. a bit more cloud getting into northern ireland and northern england, turning the sunshine hazy. for the rest of england and wales it is largely dry and quite sunny. gusty winds through the english channel with highs of 6 degrees. this evening and overnight the cloud and the rain continues to push steadily southwards across much of the uk, but not arriving in the south

our business correspondent ben thompson is in cheltenham. yeah, ben, good afternoon to you. for all sorts of businesses this last year, but here in cheltenham they are really celebrating the reopening of retail, the high street are pretty busy, a fun fair atmosphere as many businesses celebrate getting customers back through the doors and cash in their tails. in fact, figures published just this morning giving us a first snapshot of how many people are back on high streets, suggesting the number of people out shopping is up by more than 230%just this people out shopping is up by more than 230% just this morning alone. we should say that is coming from a relatively low base, but it is also worth remembering too that while high street may be busy, many retailers have not survived this pandemic, many high—profile casualties of the crisis, and many businesses now looking at what they do next to keep the tills ringing. diane is from the economic recovery task force here in cheltenham. look, todayis task force here in cheltenham. look, today is a really important day, getting cust

our business correspondent ben thompson has been to a farm in cheshire to tell us how the weather conditionsrm here, just outside liverpool, where a double whammy, a double whammy of really cold spring weather, one of the coldest on record and really dry, too. less than 10% of the normal rainfall that you would expect in april has fallen and it means that the ground is pretty bare and farmers are struggling to play catch up. they need their crops to be growing to either sell on or for things like animalfeed and animal bedding for later on. well, ollie harrison is the farmer here. ollie, nice to see you. we can see where you are, it looks pretty green, looks pretty good, but the cracks tell the story, don't they? yes, so we obviously had a terrible winter, lots of rain, really wet and then spring has been really cold and extremely dry, so we have had the driest april now for 41 years on this farm. this field of wheat here is looking greener than it did two days ago because we got about three millilitres of rain the 48 hours ago and it has just started to perk up, but it is massively behind. i

good morning, welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and ben thompson. 0ur headlines today.funeral�*s taking place of a 20 year black man daunte wright, shot dead by a police officer in the same city. 4,000 fans and no social distancing. the brit awards is to be the first major indoor music event to see the return of audiences since the start of the pandemic. as the fall out from the plans for a super league continues, tottenham supporters, protest against their owners outside the ground, before watching their team win under their new interim head coach.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and ben thompson. 0ur headlines today.rivals into the uk will be red list arrivals. so passengers faced ten days in quarantine. the post office scandal that left dozens of workers with criminal convictions — the postmasters who hope their names will finally be cleared today. and the work to save england's highest mountain from erosion caused by lockdown walks.

hello, this is breakfast with naga munchetty and ben thompson.let's get physical # # we lasted two months # and arlo parks perform. # hold my hand in public # 2,500 tickets will be given to front line key workers from the greater london area. the ballot for these opens at midday today. the ceremony is the first major indoor music event to become a designated government test event. those in the crowd will not have to socially distance or wear a mask once in the venue, but will have to provide a negative lateral flow test to be allowed in. they will also be asked to take a test afterwards for research purposes. this will be the first music show at the 02 for more than a year. colin paterson, bbc news. as we just heard, the singer arlo parks will perform at this year's ceremony — and she's nominated for three awards. we can speak to her now, along with danielle kennedy—clark who's the deputy general manager of the o2. good morning to you both. arlo, talk to me about what i guess is a lot of excitement about being able to play in front of a live crow

ben thompson. — northern ireland in due course. earl thompson, thank you. lots to discuss.ement. there's been another night of rioting in belfast, with petrol bombs, fireworks and stones thrown at the police. 0fficers used water cannon for the first time in six years in an attempt to restore order, as james reynolds reports. in belfast, the night was lit up. this latest unrest came on the nationalist side, not far from the wall separating the city's two communities. the police responded with water cannon, the first time they have done so in six years. the first minister says these scenes have taken northern ireland backwards. last night's clashes weren't on the same scale as wednesday, where rioters on the loyalist side hijacked and firebombed a bus. some of those gathered were in their early teens, far too young to remember the era of troubles that the 1998 good friday agreement pledged to end for good. history has shown very, very clearly in relation to northern ireland, one side acting on its own, whether it's within northern ireland or between the two governments or wha

welcome to breakfast with rachel burden and ben thompson. 0ur headlines today: remembering the duke ofen amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him. it's been confirmed the duke's funeral will take place next saturday, with just 30 mourners in attendance. lifting lockdown. a day to go until covid restrictions are relaxed further in england, we ask, are business ready to open up again? a sensational win for racing and for rachael blackmore.

hello, this is breakfast with ben thompson and naga munchetty.regions. good to see you but the fact you are telling us aboutjust how difficult the system is coping, in terms of coping with just the sheer numbers infected and severely ill. absolutely. it is a very, very grim situation. yesterday india shouted a global record, about 315,000 new infections, that has jumped to over 330,000 today. meanwhile the news we have been getting from hospitals is absolutely devastating. one of the largest hospitals in delhi, many are the sickest patients have died because ventilators were supposedly not working. they have been putting out sos calls oxygen cylinders and many hospitals have in fact been doing that they they have barely a few hours of oxygen left. some even completely running out so there is an oxygen crisis in the country. people are scrambling to get beds, ventilators, and also a shortage of essential treatment drugs such as remdesivir. the prime minister is going to be chairing a meeting of state ministers where covid has been the worst, or ra

i think of ben thompson.e's not on substack and we had a great twitter back and forth about that and why he isn't. uses stripe, i think it's stripe, and so many others, but others or substack and like it for convenience. but every substack looks the same i like them, why go there except if i can make money? i'm not a big content creator. do pretty well if you're a big content creator why do that. >> hate to break it to you, but you're big you're big. >> you know what i'm talking about. >> kim kardashians, khloe kardashian the question, can they make it into a platform you could really do business? otherwise, it's going to be pummeled with advertising and things like that i don't know what their other business is yet. but, i don't know. maybe i'm not creative enough. >> no, no. those are the questions creators and eventually consumers will also ask >> yeah. >> get you on amazon today retail wholesale and department store union filing objections with the vote in alabama something we knew they would do literally

welcome to breakfast with rachel burden and ben thompson. our headlines today: remembering the duke of edinburgh. a service will take place this morning in honour of prince philip as his family pay tribute. my my dear papa was a very special person who, i think, above all else, would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him. it's been confirmed the duke's funeral will take place next saturday, with just 30 mourners in attendance. lifting lockdown. a day to go until covid restrictions are relaxed further in england, we ask, are business ready to open up again? a sensational win for racing and for rachael blackmore. she becomes the first female jockey to win the grand national, riding 11—1 shot minella times. and it is another cold day across the uk. further wintry showers are expected, but there will be some sunshine around. it's sunday, 11th april. our top story: a service of remembrance is being held at canterbury cathedral this morning in memory of the duke of edinburgh. it will be live—streame

our business presenter ben thompson is outside regent arcade in cheltenham. here. it's a bit chilly. but the sun is out and so are people for the shops, cafes, and restaurants, which can, from today, reopening some shape or form. there is a busker, the local merry—go—round, business is brisk, but it's been a tough year for so many businesses that have had to be closed for so long. laura runs a website to promoting some of the small businesses with ideas and advice for people over the course of lockdown, what they may do in cheltenham. good morning. how has the last year been, because it's been pretty tough for everyone, but talk to me about the website and what you've been able to do? it has what you've been able to do? it has been difficult _ what you've been able to do? it has been difficult for _ what you've been able to do? it has been difficult for sure. _ what you've been able to do? it has been difficult for sure. when - what you've been able to do? it has been difficult for sure. when it - been difficult for sure. when it first started happening, we t

by the court of appeal but, in many cases, the damage has already been done. 0ur correspondent ben thompson their reputations, their livelihoods and, for one of them, herfreedom. for 16 years, seema's life has been turned upside down. in 2005, she was accused of stealing, the accounts at the post office she ran. the trouble began when a computer system installed by the post office said money was missing from the tills. every evening, we do balancing, which is nothing new because we do balancing in the shop as well. so every evening, when we ran that report, the computer would tell us how much money we should have, and then we check how much money we have in the till, and that never balanced. initially, seema reported the issues to her boss, but the shortfalls continued, until a post office audit claimed £74,000 was missing. to make up the gap, seema added money from her own savings and borrowed from family and friends. only later did it emerge that the computer system was faulty — after seema had been convicted. and of course, when you were sent to prison, you were pregnant. when i went int

our business presenter, ben thompson, is outside regent arcade in cheltenham. holidays, the weather here is great, there is the novelty of the thursday day of reopening. the big challenge, of course, will be how many of these people keep coming back day back day after day now there's restrictions have been lifted, and we should also be quite clear, as well, the pandemic has taken many businesses of the high street, including topshop and top man, debenhams and many others that have struggled to survive this pandemic, so what have businesses been doing? how have they been able to adapt? what have they done to adapt? welcome to businesses that are here with me in cheltenham may be able to shed a little light on it. but in cheltenham may be able to shed a little light on it. freddie and richard are with us. morning or afternoon tea both. ready, talk to me about adapting the business because you a specialist business, and you've had to think about doing things a little bit differently to keep going. figs about doing things a little bit differently to keep going. as y

our business presenter ben thompson joins us now. good morning.for us? two important bits of economic data, _ context for us? two important bits of economic data, including - context for us? two important bits of economic data, including those | of economic data, including those trade figures, but the gdp figures given say snapshot of how the uk economy is faring and how it is recovering from some record slumps we saw at the height of the pandemic. the economy grew by 0.a% incendiary but the economy is about 8% smaller than before this began, and what is interesting is it gives and what is interesting is it gives an idea of which sectors are managing to work within the rules, because one year ago, most businesses shut and were not operating in any fashion, over the last 12 months we have seen many businesses in many sectors working out how to operate safely within the rules, so we had to manufacture and construction —— we had seen manufacturing and construction growth more quickly than services, which is everything from pubs and restaurants and ha

let's get more on this from our business presenter ben thompson.nd december to avoid disruption injanuary. experts have bounced back pretty sharply. imports are still lagging where they wear, still a significant reduction in the amount we are importing from the european union, but many putting that down to the extra red tape associated with the end of the transition periods. let me talk about gdp and economic growth. you have just been talking about the economy, restrictions being eased in large parts of the economy, so we will get an indication of what that means for economic growth. let me show you a couple of grafts that indicate the latest figures we have. the economy growing by 0.4% in february. you can see the shortfalls at the beginning of last year when the first lockdown was announced. then, as the economy opened up over the summer, the economy picked up pretty sharply. with the further restrictions towards the end of the year that had a huge impact on economic growth tipping back into negative territory. we have seen an up—and—down approa

our business presenter ben thompson has spent the morning at a brewery in north london.ively new company so did not qualify for things like government support or grants, which meant the last year has been pretty tough. let me introduce you tojoe and zach, two of the co—founders at the goodness brewing company. hello to you both. good morning. joe, talk me through this last year. what a year it has been, but you are still here? life has been tough for everybody, especially the hospitality industry. we thought we were going to go under over christmas time and we just scraped here. the bank balance is almost at zero. we are running on fumes. we can�*t wait until april the 12th until we can open up in some sort of sense and just get cash into the business, cash is king. and that cash has been such a problem because as a new company, you have not qualified for government support. we are just under two years old, so our two year birthday is coming up in may. and we are not able to access some of the grants because we are so new. but haringey council have been very good to us.

ben thompson, thank you.good news for fans and he would work with football authorities to make sure this doesn't go ahead in the way it is currently being proposed. borisjohnson has said the european super league is not a good thing forfans, it's not european super league is not a good thing for fans, it's not good european super league is not a good thing forfans, it's not good news for them, and he will try to stop it, effectively, certainly work with football authorities to make sure it does not go ahead as currently proposed. lawyers for the defence and prosecution will hear closing arguments in the trial of derek chauvin — the former police officer accused of killing george floyd. after 11t days of testimony from 45 witnesses, the city of minneapolis is braced for a verdict and the possibilty of violence. public schools are moving lessons online and the national guard will be deployed. the judge will send the 11tjury members away to a private location — and they must rely on their own memories of the law

earlier our business presenter, ben thompson gave us this update.nonexecutive director at the supermarket morrisons. she was also a nonexecutive director at the homeware retailer dunelm and also a church of england minister. she will now step down from those roles to focus on the investigation. this morning we have had a further statement and she said she is truly sorry for the suffering caused to the 39 subpostmasters as a result of their convictions that were overturned on friday. she goes on to say, it is obvious my involvement with the post office has become a distraction from the work undertaken by the boards i serve, morrisons, and dunelm and the church, and i have therefore stepped down with immediate effect from all my board positions and now intend to focus fully with the ongoing government enquiry to ensure affected subpostmasters get the answers that they deserve. as you said, described as the most widespread miscarriage ofjustice in uk history and i have been speaking to a number of those involved. in one case a woman who was wrongly con

earlier, i spoke to our business presenter ben thompson who told us a bit more about the government'sent there is a lot of frustration in the travel industry this morning that this does not reopen travel in any sort of meaningful fashion or way they would want because they say the cost of those pcr tests is still too prohibitive, they say it will mean only the wealthiest can afford to travel this summer. because if you take a family of four trying to head off to somewhere even if it's on the green list this summer, it could cost them up to £600 before they've even paid for their flights or hotels so they say is simply not good enough. they question why if you had a negative lateral flow test you had a negative lateral flow test you then need to take another one, they say only if you have a positive lateral flow test should you need to take a confirmation test, pcr test, when you get back so lots of queries and questions. we also don't know yet which countries will be on which list, the government says that will come in due course. speaking to us this morning the transport secretary gr

our business presenter ben thompson explained the what the latest figures showed.y staff they will need. that idea of it being young people is a real concern, because if you look, 80% of all of the jobs that were lost since this pandemic began, it is about 813,000 jobs that have been lost so far, 80% of them are those who are young people. that is partly because of the nature of the jobs they are in, things like hospitality and retail. their wheel —— will be and retail. their wheel —— will be an element of last in first out when it comes to redundancy, and they tend to be less secure jobs in the first place. we should also look at gender, women are most badly affected because they tend to be a lot of those hospitality and retail jobs. so the axe does not fall evenly when it comes to jobs here. there is a now about how to create employment for the gym people, a renewed call for more apprenticeships, more training schemes to get those people back into work while of this is over —— when all of this is over. fire into work while of this is over -- when all of this is ov