martin bashir, bbc news.n has praised his country's firefighters in his christmas message. hundreds of firefighters, many of them volunteers, have been battling bush fires in new south wales which began in september. the public too have been showing their gratitude to the fire service, as shiamaa khalil reports from australia. taking a brief christmas break before heading back

martin bashir, bbc news.untry's firefighters in his christmas message. hundreds of firefighters — many of them volunteers — have been battling bush fires in new south wales which began in september. the public too have been showing their gratitude to the fire service, as shiamaa khalil reports from australia. taking a brief christmas break before heading back to the fire front lines. many of these firefighters have been working nonstop for weeks. despite a lull in the weather, with cooling temperatures and predicted rain in some areas, the risk is not over. teams brace themselves for hot conditions later in the week. the new south wales rural fire service is the world's largest volunteer organisation, with more than 70,000 members. most are local volunteers who have taken on the task to project the rural communities. and many have been overwhelmed by how people responded to their work. just overwhelming support, like. obviously all the presents and stuff for the kids. that's just what they need at the moment.

martin bashir, bbc news.night mass at the vatican, telling worshippers that god loves everyone "even the worst of us". thousands of people packed st peter's basilica in rome for the service. the pope also spoke of change, urging his followers to stop trying to change other people and try to change themselves. 0ur rome correspondent, mark lowen, reports. in the gilded splendour of st peter's basilica, this was a solemn christmas eve mass. the seventh that pope francis has led. his homily talked of god's love. "you may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things," he said, "but the lord continues to love you." that will be seen by some as a reference to church scandals, including sex abuse. francis' papacy is in many ways reformist, shaking up the traditional governance of the church. perhaps then there was a pointed message in his words, we change, the church changes, history changes once we stop trying to change others but try to change ourselves. among those taking part in the liturgy wh

martin bashir reports.the new dean of westminster abbey, dr david hoyle. an ancient cathedral where monarchs have been crowned and poets celebrated, it is at the heart of our nation, a nation that he says is bitterly divided. i see the divisions everybody else sees. i feel them. i get angry. and i get disturbed. i live in westminster where i bump into it all the time. we need some hope in all of this. i think we've become angry and i think we've become despairing. dr hoyle says that we need an intervention from outside and that the message of christmas offers the possibility of genuine engagement without hostility. peace isn't the moment when the arguments stop. peace is the moment when we can contain our arguments. and that's where we are really struggling at the moment, it seems to me. we can't enjoy our variety. you have to be this or that. i think the gospel suggests this and that, they are both god—given. we can do this together. the story of a child refugee born in perilous circumstances is not the im

martin bashir, bbc news, at st paul‘s cathedral.if you look at the pressure pattern, the isobars that cause the wind blows in the first place. they squeeze together. this is a trough that will bring localised short lived ferocious gusts of wind. the irish forecasters have a red weather warning in south—west ireland, where we could have gusts of over 85 miles an hour. here in the uk, strong wind is coming overnight in wales and south—west england. gusts reaching 65-75 south—west england. gusts reaching 65—75 miles an hour. winds the strong are capable of bringing down tree branches. a risk of disruption to transport and power supplies. as we had three sunday and into monday. by we had three sunday and into monday. by monday, the works into the no continent. cold northerly winds diving down across the uk. dry and sunny, but there will be showers in the northern channel which could affect wales and england. showers in north—west rubbing into eastern corners of england. temperatures of 5-10d but corners of england. temperatures of 5—10d

martin bashir, bbc news.ven her annual christmas message to the nation. her majesty acknowledged 2019 had been a ‘bumpy‘ year. it comes after a year of intense political debate about brexit, as well as a number of personal events affecting the royal family. with me is our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell. what struck you, nicholas? two themes. reconciliation, a very normal thing. the less usual theme is what she said about the environment. it is not a theme but it is quite striking that she said she has been struck by the sense of purpose, as she described it, young people to protecting our environment and our climate. whether that will be seen to be an endorsement of greta thunberg from queen elizabeth remains to be seen. that is quite unusual. i am sure it reflects the interests and priorities of younger members of the family, prince charles, not a young member, of course, but she is reflecting that. certainly the main theme is reconciliation. she recalled the 75th anniversary of d—day. and talked abo

martin bashir, bbc news, at st paul's cathedral.grouch on the children's tv show sesame street. he voiced the characters from the show‘s beginning in 1969 until he retired last year, aged 84. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. are it's going to be a wind few days ahead, the strongest of the wins overnight towards the south—west of the uk, but there's been a lot of showers around today and it's these two areas of cloud that are squeezing the wind and strengthening them further and we are already seeing that across parts of ireland and for the seeing that across parts of ireland and forthe uk seeing that across parts of ireland and for the uk will be the south and west of wales on the south—west of england that get the strongest of the wind through the evening and overnight together with some big waves there will be heavy bursts of rain as well which will move away. most rain as well which will move away. m ost pla ces

our religion editor, martin bashir reports.the new dean of westminster abbey, dr david hoyle, an ancient cathedral where monarchs have been crowned and poets celebrated, it is at the heart of our nation, a nation that he says is bitterly divided. i see the divisions everybody else sees. i feel them. this — i get angry and i get disturbed, and i live in westminster, where i bump into it all the time. we need some hope in all of this. i think we've become angry and i think we've become despairing. dr hoyle says we need an intervention from outside and that the message of christmas offers the possibility of genuine engagement without hostility. peace isn't the moment when the arguments. peace is the moment when we can contain our arguments and that's where we're really struggling at the moment, it seems to me. we can't enjoy our variety. we have to be this or that. i think the gospel suggests this and that, they're both god—given. we can do this together. the story of a child refugee born in perilous circumstances is not the image

martin bashir, bbc news.he australian prime minister scott morrison has praised his country's firefighters in his christmas message. hundreds of firefighters, many of them volunteers, have been battling bush fires in new south wales which began in september. the public too have been showing their gratitude to the fire service, as shiamaa khalil reports from australia. taking a brief christmas break before heading back to the fire front lines. many of these firefighters have been working nonstop for weeks. despite a lull in the weather, with cooling temperatures and predicted rain in some areas, the risk is not over. teams brace themselves for hot conditions later in the week. the new south wales rural fire service is the world's largest volunteer organisation, with more than 70,000 members. most are local volunteers who have taken on the task to project the rural communities. and many have been overwhelmed by how people responded to their work. just overwhelming support, like. 0bviously all the presents and s

martin bashir, bbc news.ia have been forced from their homes for the holidays, as the country battles some of its worst bushfires in years. figures released by firefighters in new south wales reveal nearly 1,000 houses have been destroyed. thousands of australians have moved from their dayjobs to help the firefighting efforts and a change in the weather conditions have aided attempts to control the bushfires. thankfully we're seeing a bit of respite here across the state. in the last 2a hours we've seen between 30 and 50 mills of rain falling in northern new south wales. hopefully that will put an end to fires across northern parts of new south wales, but certainly around the sydney area, central and southern parts of new south wales, we have a long way to go with next to no moisture falling across those areas. so, some rain, but how much, and is more forecast? here's our correspondent, shaimaa khalil. there isn't much forecast, and they need a lot of it to get the help that they need on the ground as far as

martin bashir, bbc news, at st paul's cathedral.bing an artwork off the wall and eating it. the work, a ripe banana duct—taped to the wall by the italian artist maurizio cattelan, was worth £91,000. the gallery said the value of the work lay in the idea behind it, not the individual piece of fruit. the banana was replaced. while munching away, american performance artist david datuna named his performance hungry artist, adding that the artwork was delicious. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello. windy weather on the way overnight tonight, courtesy of the first named storm to approach the british isles this season, and it is storm atiyah, this area of cloud racing towards the coastline of ireland. it will bring short—lived ferocious gusts of wind. we could get gusts of over 80 miles an hour. amount exposed coasts and hills in ireland but in the uk the strongest winds coming overnight. windy for some time in the west midlands. gusts of up to 65—75 miles an hour. winds this strong capable of bringing down so

to understand what is attracting a new following to the ancient service. 0ur religion editor, martin bashiro. but it seems we can't get enough of choral evensong. amazing, really. yeah. what's so special about it? i think the building, i think the music, i think the message behind it all. it's just something you can't get anywhere else. i think we all lead busy lives, and that pause gives you time to think about things beyond that hustle and bustle, that can take over all too often in our lives. the service takes place at 5:00pm on weekdays in all anglican cathedrals, and lasts 45 minutes. it includes readings from the bible, hymns and prayers, and there is no sermon. the number attending choral evensong is going up across all age groups, even though sunday church attendance has halved over the last 50 years. it seems that believers and nonbelievers are attracted to this service. the question is why. catherine king has started a research project to answer that question. it's a completely different experience to everyday life. you walk into that chapel, you switch your phone off, it's candle

he has been talking to our religion editor — martin bashir — and he spoke about how he longed to seedivisions of the brexit referendum. the tragedy of the post—brexit britain has been that we have started defining each other by how we all voted on one day in 2016. that is actually a very un—british way of doing things. i really hope we can put that behind is no and i think the message of the gospel about loving neighbour and, even, much more uncomfortable, loving enemy, can draw us back together again. i pledge myself to be part of that. i think one of the things i would want to be able to do as the archbishop of york is have the opportunity to speak more with national situations, particularly in the north, a lot of northern constituencies have returned, for the first time ever, conservative members of parliament. so there is a lot of change going on. more than 8,000 students currently at university have no relationship with their parents. many of these so called "estranged students" are being missed by the care system, have severe financial difficulties, suffer loneliness, and have

hoping the nativity could unite people after years of political conflict. 0ur religion editor martin bashirchristmas season for the new dean of westminster abbey, dr david lowe, managing cathedral when monach subbing ground and poet celebrated, it is at the heart of oui’ celebrated, it is at the heart of our nation, a nation that he says is bitterly divided. i see the divisions everybody else sees. i feel them. this, i'd get angry and they get disturbed, and a live in westminster, where i'd bump into it all the time. we need some hope in all the time. we need some hope in all of this. think we've become angry andi all of this. think we've become angry and i think we become despairing. dr doyle says we need an intervention from outside and that the message of christmas offers the possibility of genuine engagement without hostility. piece isn't the moment when the arguments stop peace is the moment when we can contain our arguments and that's where we're really struggling at the moment. we can't enjoy our variety. we have to be this or that. i think the gospel suggests this and that, they are

he has been talking to our religious editor — martin bashir.ch i haven't, i'm here because i think there was a calling for me. i have been given the gift and experiences to help the church to be a little bit more joyful, more focused on the world, less focused on itself. i think they are the gifts i have been given because i wasn't brought up in this. that i think has changed the way i see it. you mention the brexit referendum. many politicians have spoken about this country in recent weeks during the election campaign has been deeply dividing and polarising. does the christian gospel have anything to say to a country that is divided into tribal groups? yes. probably the christian faith has never been more relevant because, at the heart of the christian faith is the message that we are not just christian faith is the message that we are notjust one nation, we are one humanity. i want to say we are one humanity. i want to say we are one world. so, i welcome the sounds that have come out of downing street in these early days, i welcome the sounds

our religion editor, martin bashir, has more. anglican cathedrals and lasts 45 minutes. it includes readings from the bible, hymns, and prayers. and there is no sermon. the number attending coral evensong is going up across all age groups, even those sunday church attendance has halved over the last 50 years. it seems that believers and nonbelievers are attracted to this service. the question is why. catherine king has started a research project to answer that question. it's a completely different experience to everyday life. you walk into that chapel, uswitch your phone off, it‘s candlelit, you hear often unaccompanied voices —— you turn your phone. she is using a virtual reality recording of evensong and is monitoring people‘s responses during the service. my the service. my key research question was: what is actually happening in people‘s mines and their bodies when they are ina mines and their bodies when they are in a coral evensong service. they can hear the sound of the choir. so the cycle of thoughts, feelings, and emotio

he takes over from john sentamu who steps down in 2020. 0ur religion editor — martin bashir is at churchello. tell us about him. is it going to be a big change? it is going to be a big change? it is going to be an interesting change. just two hours ago here in this room he was unveiled to the media and he himself said that his appointment is somewhat out of step with the vast majority of people who have held the position of archbishop of york. he went to a nonselective state school when she left with 30 levels, he went on to the central london polytechnic where he completed a ba degree and within a few years trained for ordination at oxford. he regards himself as something as an unusual fit for this position. he spoke to us. we were able to interview him earlier today because he stayed in lambeth palace. during the interview he spoke of some of his concerns for the country particularly following the general election and the arguments over brexit. we tragedy of the post brexit putin has been that we have started defying each other by how we voted on monday in 2016. that is a very non—brit