now on bbc news, it's dateline london. hello and welcome to dateline london. fall of aleppo — how significant a moment is this — and what comes next? plus, britain's ambassador to the european union reports that brexit and the trade negotiations could take ten years. is brexit delayed, brexit denied? our guests today are jef mcallister, who is an american writer and broadcaster. suzanne lynch of the irish times. abdel bari atwan, who writes on arab affairs. and alex deane, who is a conservative commentator. very good to see you. president assad's forces have taken over aleppo amid repeated and credible reports of appalling human rights abuses and much hand wringing about the west "doing something." what is the "something" that could or should have been done? what are the consequences of the fall of aleppo? and does it merely show that russian policy, however horrific the consequences, is at least coherent, whereas western policy has made little sense, and is failing? first of all, this is a very big moment, yes? it is a very big moment. it is a turning point,

that is it for the year review edition of dateline london.tter, @gavinesler, and engage with our guests and they will argue back, i can promise you. we will be back next time at the same time with indeed our look ahead to the delights of 2017. goodbye. christmas day weather wise will be dominated by the feel of the weather. a mild christmas tea in prospect, breezy for all of us and there will be some rain in store. cloudy grey dull start and it will stay like that for most of england and wales. quite windy but mild for all with 11— 1a degrees the high. the rain continues to push its way out of the borders of scotland into the north of england through the night. she was following on behind some of them turning wintry. it is pressure m oves some of them turning wintry. it is pressure moves away storm cover it looks as though the is where we will see the strongest of the winds across the extreme north of scotland. an amber weather warning has been issued. some showers turned wintry in the north. in england and wales will be dry and sunny with a

that is it for the year review edition of dateline london., i can promise you. we will be back next week at the same time with indeed our look ahead to the delights of 2017. some parts of scotland had a dust of snow, but for most it was very mild and that's because of storm conor. wins ensuring the mild air ahead of that. this is packing the punch. an amber warning from the met office for boxing day because storm force winds are forecast in the north and north—east of scotland and to the northern isles. that‘s unusually windy for this part of the world. it will cause disruption, certainly damage and potentially power outages. 0vernight there are severe gales around the coast and lots of snow showers. there will be quite a bit of snow in some areas by daybreak as the showers coming thick and fast. i see in the northern half of the country. further south it will be cold on boxing day, compared to christmas day, but it will be a much drier and brighter day. what a tale of two halves on boxing day, with the lovely sunshine, but in the north we ha

in a moment, dateline london, but first the headlines.ndy murray, mo farah and lee pearson. i feel more still like andy murray, feels obviously more normal to me, but obviously it's a big honour. happy with that, nice way to finish or start the new year. and from the world of entertainment there are knighthoods for ken dodd, the actor, mark rylance, and the opera singer, bryn terfel. 45 flights from heathrow are cancelled and there are delays at gatwick as fog continues to affect central, eastern and southern england, driving conditions in some areas are said to be treacherous. and it's new year down under, new zealand welcomes in 2017 in style with a spectacular firework display. hello, and welcome to dateline london's look ahead to 2017. what a joyful year it's going to be. britain will move calmly towards brexit, the european union will solve all its problems with migration, unemployment and insolvent banks, donald trump will begin a glorious four years as president, the middle east will finally be at peace, and we can all dream. back

that's it for dateline london's look ahead to 2017.tact the programme on twitter @gavinesler, and you can argue with our guests, if that's the way you want to go. we are back next week at the same time, please make a date with dateline london. goodbye, and happy new year. the good news is the fog isn't quite as dense, widespread or long—lasting as dense, widespread or long—lasting as it has been recently. it was a murky start across southern england and east anglia, some problems on the roads and airports. that will ease as conditions improve. still foggy over the hills and a grey day for many in england and wales. still some sunshine in northern england. any sunshine this morning in scotla nd any sunshine this morning in scotland and northern ireland gives way to cloudy conditions in the afternoon. rain in the highlands edging down as we enter the afternoon. if you were out early this evening in the south of scotla nd this evening in the south of scotland and northern ireland be prepared for a wet and windy spell. as the bells ring in

and the dateline london panel look ahead to 2017 and discuss brexit, migration and donald trump. half an hour here on bbc news. good morning and welcome to bbc news. one of the biggest pop stars of the ‘80s and ‘90s, george michael, has died. he was 53, and is believed to have had heart failure. he rose to fame as one half of the group, wham! and went on to have a successful solo career. he sold 100 million albums worldwide and had 11 uk number ones. nick quraishi looks back at his life. # you put the boom boom into my heart #... suntans, bleached hair and upbeat songs propelled wham to number one around the world. they even conquered china. # last christmas i gave you my heart # but the very next day you gave it away #... their most famous song heard every year will now have added poignancy. born georgios kyriacos panayiotou in north london, george michael was 12 years old when he met andrew ridgeley. they left school at 16 and set up wham in 1981. # and time can never mend a careless whisper #... his biggest hit, careless whisper came in 1984 but was written and produced when h

that is it for the year review edition of dateline london. on twitter, @gavinesler, and engage with our guests and they will argue back, i can promise you. we will be back next time at the same time with indeed our look ahead to the delights of 2017. goodbye. after such a mild christmas day, temperatures are back to the norm. a pleasa nt temperatures are back to the norm. a pleasant afternoon. but it is not like that for everyone. in the highlands, we have falling snow. it is very windy also across scotland, largely because of storm conor. there is potential for 90 largely because of storm conor. there is potentialfor 90 mph gusts in the next hour or two. there are fairly frequent showers to be hard across scotland. windy further south as well with a good deal of sunshine. the showers will stay wintry. lower levels it is mostly rain. it is a chilly afternoon, particularly in that wind. 3—4d in many places. breezy in northern ireland. winds using. windy also for parts of england, particularly in the west. many police is enjoying winter sunshin

now on bbc news, it‘s dateline london.

now on bbc news it‘s time for the dateline london review of 2016 with gavin esler.

north, dateline london. hello and welcome to our year in review edition. what a year it has been.mp was that victory, the rise of populist movements, the migrant crisis, wars across the middle east and the possibly of a new cold war in europe. our top team area new cold war in europe. our top team are a russian writer and former kremlin adviser, janet daley of the sunday telegraph, an iraqi journalist and thomas. in britain across europe and in the united states it has been eightjewish year. the brexit vote, donald trump's factory, political turmoil in france, and elsewhere. all have shown countries divided within themselves. scotland, post—industrial areas of northern even though the prosperous parts of london at times appeared to regard each other as incompetence of of. trump and clinton voters often seem to belong not just trump and clinton voters often seem to belong notjust to different states but different visions of the united states. how significant has 2016 bean in terms of these major political events? the deep divisions between so—called populist movements and their cri

"dateline" trying to get this interview and i really in retrospect the way we got it, we agreed to air the interview live to tape on friday night which means it would air internationally and in londonactor. that's what really landed us the interview. it turns out george michael believed he was going to be outed by the british tabloids on sunday and he wanted to beat them to the punch and come out on his own terms. i didn't realize at the time that we booked him, that he was going to come out to me on cnn, but that was really his intent. he wanted to set the record straight and do so in his own way. >> he talked to you about why he hadn't spoken publicly about this before during the interview. here's a bit more from that interview for our viewers. >> i spent the first half of my career being accused of being gay when i hadn't had anything like a gay relationship and, in fact, i was 27 before that happened to me. so i spent my years growing up being told what my sexuality was really. you know. which is kind of confusing. i was just so indignant, way i'd been treated since then. i'll just hold onto this. i shouldn't have to tell them. >> during the interview, was he nervous? do you re