andrew sabisky had only been in post for a short time.e sacked — for suggesting in the past that black people had lower average intelligence than white people. 0ur political corrspondent alex forsyth says the episode has led some to question what kind of government borisjohnson wants to run. andrew sabisky was hired as an advisor, a contractor, in number 10, and that was quickly condemned when these comments made in his name appeared. among other things that he said, compulsory contraception could be used to stop a permanent underclass, and women's sport is more comparable to the paralympics than to men's. now, after growing criticism, he tonight said he had quit that downing street role, taking twitter to say that the media hysteria about his past online comments was mad, that he had been a victim of character assassination, that this was a distraction from the work of government so he was going to go. but i think part of the problem here was that, earlier in the day, downing street had repeatedly refused to answer questions about this a

. fairly short lived role he had a number10, andrew sabisky.ut, resigned presumably under a large amount of pressure given what has come to light around his comments and views on the apparent correlation between race and intelligence which, you know, has created a huge problem for the prime minister who has been asked whether he supports these comments which could link him to basically, eugenics and eugenicists. also, other comments that have been on earth that sabisky has made on various social media websites on reddit and twitter and various other things. i suppose you might have expected this given a dominic cummings long log post about trying to attract misfits and widows into the ranks of the staid conservative party in order to mix things up and ca ta lys e party in order to mix things up and catalyse on a bit more of a transformation in the party. it does... this is another setback for cummings really because when a sajid javid resigned in the reshuffle citing concerns over cummings's overbearing influence stop this is potentially anothe

is it clear what andrew sabisky was taken on to do?ntractor on projects but the bottom line is number ten refused to engage with questions about temperatures anyway how they got into this mess because yesterday that the lobby briefing the spokesman was asked about andrew sabisky and whether the prime minister endorsed shelton's views and he refused to respond. that in turn prompted studies are along the lines of primus that defends andrew sabisky or his views which dragged borisjohnson into the row which is why i suspect people decided that andrew sabisky had to go. average regular wages in the uk have passed the level seen before the financial crisis of 2008. figures from the office for national statistics showed real—terms pay excluding bonuses pass this milestone despite wage growth slowing in december. 0ur economics correspondent andy verityjoins me now. we are stripping out the effects of inflation so the average wage is £511 per week, slightly more in terms of purchasing power, if you ta ke terms of purchasing power, if you take

you were at the lobby briefing today and among questions were asked of dentistry about andrew sabiskynd that was interesting. this person, first of all we still don't know who hired him or whatjob he was hired for or what his salary was or who is boss was 01’ what his salary was or who is boss was or what he was doing in dentistry in the civil newspaper by the taxpayer and these are important questions especially for someone who has very controversial views like this and lots of stuff has a mind from his past about twitter comments to my blog comments and things he has written that most would say make him has written that most would say make hi m totally has written that most would say make him totally unfit to serve in public office. but at the briefing with the prime minister's posters in this morning, they refuse to discuss any of this it would not confirm or deny whether the prime minister agree to disagree with these views and it really was extraordinary way of operating and going back to your point about this culture dominic cummings wants to bring in, he wants to move fast and

reporter: why did you hire sabisky?mings, but a reading recommendation. reporter: have you got any more weirdos? read philip tetlock's superforecasters, instead of political pundits who don't know what they are talking about. reporter: so, do you regret his appointment? in iraq and afghanistan, our troops fought bravely... andrew sabisky, seen here in a 2017 bbc programme, is a self—described superforecaster — someone who can supposedly predict future events. but it was past comments online in his name that caused controversy. he was reported to have said that... also... and... so are applications to work at number ten being properly screened? i think we should prevent racists from coming into number ten, or wherever he was working. i think we do need to look at these processes. but the fact is his remarks have been identified and now he's very quickly been pushed out. andrew sabisky may be out, but downing street's refusal yesterday to condemn the remarks attracted searing criticism from opposition mps and caused disqu

andrew sabisky had only been in post for a short time.bisky to be sacked for suggesting in the past that black people had lower average intelligence than white people. 0ur political correspondent alex forsyth is in westminster. what is going on in the background? just a brief background on the appointment, andrew sabisky was hired as an advisor, a contractor in number ten and that was quickly condemned when comments made in his name appeared. among other things he said, compulsory contraception could be used to stop a permanent underclass and women's sport is more comparable to the paralympics than to men's. after growing criticism tonight he said he had quit the downing street role taking to twitter to say the media hysteria about his past online comments was mad and he had been the victim of character assassination, and this was a distraction from the work of government so he would go. i think pa rt government so he would go. i think part of the problem here is that earlier in the day downing street had repeatedly refused to answer ques

andrew sabisky had only been in post for a short time.t that black people had lower average intelligence than white people. 0ur political corrspondent alex forsyth says the episode has led some to question what kind of government borisjohnson wants to run. andrew sabisky was hired as an advisor, a contractor at number 10 and that was quickly condemned when comments made in his name appeared. among other things he said, he said compulsory contraception could be used to stop a permanent underclass and women spot is more comparable to the paralympics and women spot is more comparable to the pa ralympics than and women spot is more comparable to the paralympics than to man's. after growing criticism, he quit that downing street role taken to twitter saying that the media hysteria about his post on line commerce was mad, that he had been a victim of character assassination. i think pa rt character assassination. i think part of the problem here was of that earlier in the day, downing street had repeatedly refused to answer westerners about thi

as we are reporting this evening, andrew sabisky has resigned as adviser to the government after that gone. is there any sense that he or somebody like sabisky might be the sort of person that downing street is looking for, in terms of advisers, given that we know dominic cummings wanted to see more weirdos and misfits, as he put it in the civil service? he was apparently hired after that public call by dominic cummings, the prime minister's senior adviser, for weirdos and misfits, in his words, to come forward and apply for positions within government. downing street have not really engaged in this case over the last 1—2 days since his comments came to light, simply saying at a briefing earlier today that the prime minister's views on a wide variety of topics we re views on a wide variety of topics were well documented. so not refusing — refusing to say whether the prime minister agreed with andrew sabisky on these various topics or not. and i think that didn't help. there was no attempt at all to distance the prime minister and downing street, and the government from these kinds of

andrew sabisky had only been in post for a short time.abour had called for mr sabisky to be sacked — for suggesting in the past that black people had lower average intelligence than white people. our political corrspondent alex forsyth says the episode has led some to question what kind of government borisjohnson wants to run. andrew sabisky was hired as an advisor, a contractor, in number 10, and that was quickly condemned when these comments made in his name appeared. among other things that he said, compulsory contraception could be used to stop a permanent underclass, and women's sport is more comparable to the paralympics than to men's. now, after growing criticism, he tonight said he had quit that downing street role, taking twitter to say that the media hysteria about his past online comments was mad, that he had been a victim of character assassination, that this was a distraction from the work of government so he was going to go. but i think part of the problem here was that, earlier in the day, downing street had repeatedly refu

andrew sabisky is said to describe himself asa sabisky is said to describe himself as a super sabiskyose skills back in 2014 when he was making some very inappropriate comments online. so being a super forecaster, he could have predicted his own future, in other words, there would be a huge controversy when he got a top job at number ten? at the very least he might have thought perhaps a few months ago he might like to clean up his online profile and get rid of what he could but he didn't do that. he didn't apologise for it, he hasn't distanced himself from the comments and i think this is a very sad chapter at the time and i'm pleased it's over. caroline, thank you for coming on the programme. calling for an update on the vetting process , calling for an update on the vetting process, and who gets a job at number ten is a special adviser. thank you for your many messages today. about waiting times for transgender patients, today. about waiting times for tra nsgender patients, this today. about waiting times for transgender patients, this e—mail comments as i waited three and a half y

reporter: why did you hire sabisky? any more weirdos? read philip tetlock's superforecasters, instead in iraq and afghanistan, our troops fought bravely... andrew sabisky, seen here in a 2017 bbc programme, is a self—described superforecaster — someone who can supposedly predict future events. but it was past comments online in his name that caused controversy. he's reported to have said that... also... and... so are applications to work at number 10 being properly screened? i think we should prevent racists from coming into number 10, or wherever he was working. i think we do need to look at these processes. but the fact is his remarks have been identified and now he's very quickly been pushed out. andrew sabisky may be out, but downing street's refusal yesterday to condemn the remarks attracted searing criticism from opposition mps and caused disquiet, too, on tory benches. i think his comments were racist, they were deeply unpleasant towards women and disabled people, and that is why yesterday i had to call out the f

reporter: why did you hire sabisky?his appointment? in iraq and afghanistan, our troops fought bravely... andrew sabisky, seen here in a 2017 bbc programme, is a self—described superforecaster — someone who can supposedly predict future events. but it was past comments online in his name that caused controversy. he was reported to have said that: also: and: so are applications to work at number ten being properly screened? i think we should prevent racists from coming into number 10, or wherever he was working. i think we do need to look at these processes. but the fact is his remarks have been identified and now he's very quickly been pushed out. andrew sabisky may be out, but downing street's refusal yesterday to condemn the remarks attracted searing criticism from opposition mps and caused disquiet, too, on tory benches. i think his comments were racist, they were deeply unpleasant towards women and disabled people, and that is why yesterday i had to call out the fact that number 10 were not distancing themselves fro

last night andrew sabisky tweeted his resignation. he said...f vetting process ? was there any kind of vetting process? and since the general election, perhaps some have seen this number ten operation is all—powerful, they can hire and fire who they like. but even though andrew sabisky says he resigned, i think what happened overnight shows that downing street is not immune to criticism or political pressure. thank you, jessica. here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. good morning, still main severe flood warnings in force across england and wales, meaning danger to life, this has been issued by the environment agency and natural resources wales. my colleague who is a good source of information informs me that the river wye at monmouth is ata me that the river wye at monmouth is at a record high, me that the river wye at monmouth is ata record high, it me that the river wye at monmouth is at a record high, it is expected to peak between now and name. the forecast is for sunshine and showers, there is the risk of ice on untreated surf

so these are people we don't know, we only know andrew sabisky because his comments were found onlinehear from online. but normally we don't hearfrom them, online. but normally we don't hear from them, and online. but normally we don't hearfrom them, and as online. but normally we don't hear from them, and as you rightly say, they are unelected and they do affect all of our lives. as dominic cummings, which is controversial and has been widely reported on in the uk, he has become a well—known character with a number ten. let's now look at the times, amazon taken pledges $10 billion of his own money to fight climate change. 0bviously he has been congratulated to one degree, but this just brings to the for all the criticism about amazon as an enormous company globally and its impact on the environment and its own policies within there. as a business it that has committed to being carbon neutral by 20110, bezos is donating $10 billion which is less tha n donating $10 billion which is less than 8% of his wealth. you look at people like bill gates who are committed to giving all their weal

or at least a user called "andrew sabisky" posted in 2014. in that post, he says... had a lower average iq than white people and were more likely to have an "intellectual disability". and in another post, a user with his name writes... in 2016, mr sabisky suggested to schools week that the benefits of a drug that might help brain function, but that can also prove fatal, are "probably worth a dead kid once a year". stay with me — there's more. there was another tweet in 2019. mr sabisky says selective quoting is the issue, many other suggests that's the least of his problems. the opposition labour party wanted him gone. caroline nokes says... as for the government — environment secretary george eustice said it was a... which indeed it was was — but they said nothing and then mr sabisky resigned. but they said nothing and then so but they said nothing and then his role in the govei no so his role in the government will no longer continue. for more background on that, visit our website. it is worth adding if you wa nt website. it is worth adding if you want further cont

questions at westminster, borisjohnson also faced questions about his advisers, in particular andrew sabiskycomments about eugenics and race came to light. an snp mp took personal offence. graham was born with cerebral palsy, unable to talk, walk or feed himself. he broughtjoy and love to all who knew him and last week one of the prime minister's advisers resigned when a basic check of their internet history revealed they had promoted eugenicist policies of the sort that would have ended my brother graham doherty‘s life before it began. so can i ask the prime minister of the united kingdom to advise the house and every disabled person on this island why andrew sabisky remained at the heart of his government and was not removed from the position immediately when their abhorrent views became apparent? mr speaker, let us be absolutely clear that i certainly do not share those views, and nor are they the views of anybody in this government. that individual no longer works for the government. borisjohnson. now for another potential crisis in the prime minister's in—tray. the coronavirus outbreak

which, although it was dominated by flooding, also saw the prime minister challenged about andrew sabiskyugenics. he was born with cerebral palsy and was unable to talk, walk or feed himself. he broughtjoy and love to all who knew him. and last week one of the prime minister's advisers resigned when a basic check of their internet history revealed that they had promoted eugenicists policy. the sort that would have ended my brother's life before it began. so can i ask the prime minister of the united kingdom, to advise the house, and every disabled person in this island, why andrew sabisky, remained part of his government, and was not removed from deposition immediately, when abhorrent views became apparent? mr speaker, let's be absolutely clear that i certainly do not share these views nor are they the views of anybody in this government, and that individual no longer works for the government. borisjohnson. again. mps have held theirfirst big debate on the environment bill. the government says the ambitious plan aims to improve air and water quality, tackle plastic pollution, restore wild

the independent carries the resignation of andrew sabisky, the controversial downing street aide thean is giving $10 billion of his personal wealth to fight climate change. jeff bezos announced on instagram the creation of the bezos earth fund. before you die, please think about your digital and genetic afterlife. the financial times speaks to researchers about the huge body of personal information left behind after death which, according to them, " requires careful handling." and liars may tell tales because they have ‘pea—sized brains', according to the telegraph. a new study by scientists says children who are often naughty should be given more help to save them from a life of crime. the size of the brain is a p pa re ntly the size of the brain is apparently evidenced to be an issue. with me is lawrence gosling, editor—in—chief of what investment. lots of what investment. to

labour had called for andrew sabisky to go for reportedly saying black people had lower average iqs thanr for us. this all caused considerable disquiet among mps and cabinet ministers? yes, a growing number of tory mps are deeply unhappy at the appointment of andrew sabisky, who announced he was quitting in a series of tweets in which he seems pretty defiant, accusing the media of what he called a giant character assassination and suggesting the media had selectively misquoted him and created mass hysteria about some of his comments on twitter and on blogs. i had to say, the man who appointed him this morning seems equally defiant and there was no suggestion of a contract or repentant mood from dominic cummings, the prime minister's chief adviser, when he emerged from his house this morning. reporter: have you got any more weirdos? read philip tetlock, superforecasters. instead of political pundits who don't know what they're talking about. reporter: do you regret his appointment? reporter: does number ten condemn his views? if you don't know, philip tetlock is a political scientist in a

the guardian says the resignation of andrew sabisky represents a defeat for dominic cummings, the primeaide, whose approach to government is causing concern among some tories. the financial times goes with a speech in brussels by britain's top trade negotiator, insisiting the uk would never agree to eu regulatory demands in order to get a trade deal. the telegraph also picks up on that speech from the uk's brexit negotiator, david frost, highlighting what he called the opportunity for economic competition presented by brexit. the times says the prime minister, borisjohnson, is at odds with his senior downing street advisers over plans to scrap the tv licence fee and replace it with a voluntary subscription system. and the daily mail asks what is the point in saving as national savings and investments slashes its rates to rock—bottom levels and cut its premium bonds prizes. let's start with the independent shall wait? because it has got a great picture on the front page about a story we have been reporting on all weekend. storm dennis. sebastian, the headline is more store misery but no

andrew sabisky suggested black people have lower iqs than white people.on could prevent creating what he called "a permanent underclass". he was drafted in to number 10 after the prime minister's chief adviser, dominic cummings, called for ‘misfits and weirdos' to apply to advise the government. andrew sabisky has accused the media of selective quoting and hysteria. sir anthony seldon is the vice chancellor of the university of buckingham and author of ‘may at 10'. he has been working on a book about boris johnson. thank you very much forjoining us. this story, has a lot of angles. what should there have been a better effort i think this young man. is that where you stand yet to wouldn't let someone into a school or university, who have expressed such fears. why why i feel engine number ten downing st that needs to be looked at very carefully. you can't have somebody with those sorts of views that they have expressed, they might well say that they unrepresented that the point that he sent them. you have somebody like that in the highest most powerful offi

andrew sabisky is also reported as saying compulsory contraception could avoid creating a permanent underclassfered from selective quoting — but says he's going because he doesn't want to be a distraction. the dj and music producer andrew weatherall, has died at the age of 56. he suffered a pulmonary embolism while being treated in hospital in london. he rose to fame in the 1980s and 90s and made influential, inspirational work with a number of bands including new order, happy mondays and primal scream, producing their era—defining album screamadelica. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: crossing the border just to get to school. why a pair of american students journey from mexico to the us each and every day. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible effect on the morale of the people. i am terrified of the repercussions on the streets. one wonders who is next. as the airlift

labour had called for andrew sabisky to be sacked for suggesting — among other things — that black americansin syria describe young children freezing to death and families with nowhere else to run, to escape government airstrikes and army operations. a humanitarian crisis seems to be descending into a new kind of deadly chaos. in a rare public address, president assad has insisted his military campaign will continue — despite the impact on his own people. sam ryder reports. a young syrian girl and her father play a game, whilejets drop bombs in the distance... explosion laughs laughter is the only way, says the girl's father, to cope with the girl's father, to cope with the hardships of an incessant war. the syrian army — backed by russia — has increased air strikes in the north—west of the country, in their relentless goal to claim the last major rebel stronghold. translation: the battle to liberate idlib and aleppo countryside is ongoing, regardless of some of the empty bubbles of sound coming from the north, as well as the battle for liberating all syrian soil, crushing terrorism, and ach

andrew sabisky is also reported as saying compulsory contraception could avoid creating what he callede's suffered from selective quoting, but says he's going because he doesn't want to be a distraction. the dj and music producer andrew weatherall has died at the age of 56. he suffered a pulmonary embolism while being treated in hospital in london. he rose to fame in the 1980s and ‘90s and made influential, inspirational work with a number of bands, including new order, happy mondays and primal scream, producing their era—defining album screamadelica. the daily rush to school is a staple of life for parents and kids around the world. but what if, instead ofjust heading down the road or to the other end of town, you have to cross an international border? that's what two american students living in mexico do each and every day. their story is the latest in our bbc series, crossing divides. alarm beeps we're us citizens because we were born in the united states. but we live in mexico and we study in the us. we are juniors in high school. crossing the border for us, depending on how much l

minister of the united kingdom to advise the house and every disabled person in this island why andrew sabiskyear that i don't share those views and they are not the views of anyone in this government and that individual no longer works from the government. does the prime minister agree that through the establishment for the office of environmental protection, which will hold this government and future governments to their environmental commitments, it is the conservatives driving the environmental agenda and will he join me in commending the conservative led solihull council to be carbon neutral by 2030? of course, it brings me greatjoy to congratulate solihull borough council on their path—breaking leadership. of course, they are following in the footsteps of the national government and the right honourable lady from maidenhead, who led the way in setting a carbon zero target by 2050. this conservative government is going to lead our country, our environment, in a better state for the next generation. i have a pregnant constituent with her due date in the next couple of weeks. she is current