st peter's square in the vatican. you are watching bbc news. now, ian hislop�*s 2022, in conversation with amol rajan.by recent standards, 2022 has been a tumultuous year in news. russia launched a war in europe. her late majesty queen elizabeth ii died just months after her platinum jubilee. and britain went through three prime ministers and even more chancellors. one man who's tried to make sense of it is ian hislop, whether on tv or as editor of private eye's fortnightly magazine and latest annual. i visited his office for a conversation not just about recent news, but also why it's been a turn—off for some and why we need proper journalism more than ever. ian, thank you so much for talking to me and to bbc news. let's start, if you're happy to, with a few kind of reflections on this year, because in recent years the news agenda has often felt pretty crazy... yeah. ..and overwhelming, but this year, even more than most, we've had war in europe, the death of her late majesty the queen, we've had three prime ministers. i mean, has the news felt crazy because it's actually been crazy and the world has

st. peter's square on thursday. pope benedict was 95 years old. rachel: russia sof an in person meeting. here is senior fellow at the institute, gordon chang. you say xi jinping and putin are plotting to end the international system as we know it and form this new alliance and if this happens we won't be able to recognize the world. what will that world look like if they succeed? >> happy new year. we see a world divided into spheres of influence, maybe china ruling the world because that is beijing's ambition. what we have to understand is this is not just a competition with china and russia as president biden says, this really is china and russia trying to take down the international system that has been in place since 1648 and the rules-based order that has been in place since the end of the second world war, there will be no freedom, no democracy, no human rights if china and russia get their way. rachel: they are anticipating some sort of war, they plan on aligning for that purpose. are we ready for that? >> we are certainly not ready for it. we are strugglin

s not quite dry or something like that. but, yes, timejust disappears. let's ta ke let's take you liar of the vatican, to st peter's squarey for the former pope benedict, who is gravely unwell. a wet wednesday so far are many parts of the uk, outbreaks of heavy rain and drifting northwards and eastwards. some more rain in the forecast for the rest of this week, and of course by that i also mean the rest of the year. it will often be windy, some snowmobile we are over hills in the north, but as a band of wet weather continues to edge across northern scotland through the dust of the day, we will see some snow over the highest round here. furthersouth, see some snow over the highest round here. further south, a bit drier, but still some showers, and the wind is continuing to pick up, especially for western and southern coastal areas. but it is mild out there, attempt us north to south between six and 12 celsius. this evening and tonight, this band of rain were somehow so will continue to affect northern scotland. lots of showers elsewhere, this band of more widespread showers pushing from the west towards the east, perhaps b

st. peter's square, and it's filling up with people who just heard the news. we expect the bells of st. peter will ring. there's a lot of mixed feelings about this open, as delia said. s this pope had a difficult papacy. there's a lot of prayers being offered up and the procedure that happens next is a fine-tuned machine that the vatican knows exactly what to do. they'll be pomp and circumstance, even for this retired pope. but we're expect something words from pope francis sometime later, i think. >> and emeritus pope benedict, had was frail for some time. >> reporter: that's right, you know, he retired nearly ten years ago, because he said he was too frail unin body and min. so, he has about a present figure in these ten years. he's been living in a monastery, he's been writing, giving interviews but he was still a pope until they except his resignation. he was very well loved in a conservative aspect of the church. >> and barbie, i remember the last funeral which was the funeral of john paul ii, and it was impressive. do we expect something similar to that? >> reporter: i don't think that we'll have that kind of outpouring. you know, this is a retired pope. and, yo