steffan powell, bbc news.ovision song contest takes place in liverpool — and today king charles and the queen consort stepped on to the stage as it was revealed for the first time. colin paterson, was watching. three, two, one! eurovision�*s most famous act abba sang dancing queen. here, we had a real—life king. king charles and the queen consort, revealing the stage for this year's competition. and their eurovision tour included meeting the presenters of the show. they were really excited for it as well. yeah. i mean, they've got their own party going on the same week, so... quite a busy week! quite a busy one for them. this is the ninth time the uk's hosted eurovision and, oh, how the set designs have advanced over the years. the first time in 1960, it was all a bit chelsea flower show, with the world's biggest snooker cue being used for the scoreboard. when abba won in brighton nearly 50 years ago, there was a remarkable kaleidoscope of 1970s colours. and as for the set revealed by the royals... so this is

steffan powell, bbc news.ocal council elections. the liberal democrats are hoping to make gains in the so—called "blue wall", mostly southern english areas traditionally held by the conservatives, like west berkshire. 0ur political correspondent helen catt has been speaking to voters in newbury. this is part of our series on the local elections. come on, guys. what a race, this one. the racecourse in newbury in west berkshire sits on the edge of a commuter town and the countryside. it's the sort of place where the liberal democrats believe they're odds—on to make gains against the conservatives. people here have some pretty clear ideas of what they think is important. the cost of living crisis, i suppose. environment, it's quite important to me. what do you make of the liberal democrats? they are more aligned with what my sort of beliefs are politically, i think. they are... i've seen more of them. the liberal democrats, i think historically have been brilliant at telling us lots of good things and actually ne

steffan powell, bbc news.ouse in coventry havejoined the gmb union. this could mean the company recognising a trade union in the uk for the first time, and lead to negotiations with staff about their wages, holidays and sick pay. 0ur employment correspondent zoe conway has more. at the amazon distribution centre in coventry, workers could be about to make history. nearly 700 of them have joined the gmb trade union. the union says that's a majority of the workforce, and it's written to the company asking to be recognised. recognition would mean that amazon has to negotiate with the gmb over pay and working conditions. so, at the moment the workers at amazon coventry don't have any say in what happens to their terms and conditions. their employer decides how they're going to get paid, the employer decides about pay awards and what their contracts are going to look like. trade union recognition effectively gives those workers a voice in those changes. we get to negotiate on their behalf. actually, they get a stro

steffan powell, bbc news.n the uk hasjumped by over a third in the last year according to new research for the bbc. that is much more than the official rate of price and elation that is currently running at around 19% and the of a sandwich chain warns prices have yet to peak. all of the sandwiches are made fresh on site here at croydon, a chain that sells around 11 million of them every year. the humble sandwich can reveal a lot about what is going on with food price and elation. cast food price and elation. cost arice food price and elation. cost price pressures _ food price and elation. crrst price pressures everywhere from energy cost to supplier costs people cost. is an salmon has seen a a0% increase. 0ur crisps have increased by 125%, pork has increased by 20%. find have increased by 125%, pork has increased by 20%. and some ingredients _ has increased by 20%. and some ingredients are _ has increased by 20%. and some ingredients are all _ has increased by 20%. and some ingredients are all going - has incre

here's steffan powell to explain.ant because it would give microsoft access to some of the most popular games in the world. you're talking call of duty, which at the moment, its free—to—play version, warzone, has 100 million registered players. then you're talking world of warcraft, one of the most famous names in pc gaming, then candy crush, one of the most popular games in the mobile space — and microsoft doesn't really have a presence in the mobile space. so getting into there was really important, and owning and controlling these games in the future would solve a problem for microsoft, because it has a bit of a content issue — in other words, it doesn't really have many popular games. it has popular games on its devices, but not some of the most popular ones, they tend to be nintendo or playstation exclusive titles. so microsoft's had a bit of a content issue — this, in one fell swoop, would solve that issue for them. even though these games would be playable on other devices, as well, it would give microsoft cont