15/12/2015 BBC News at One

Lift off of Tim Kopra, Yuri Malenchenko and Timothy Peake

on their way to the international space station.

And he's off - Tim Peake makes history as the rocket carrying him

and two other astronauts launches from Kazakhstan.

He was in good spirits as he set off on his six-month journey

as the first official British astronaut.

Thrills and elation at London's Science Museum.

The audience watching lift-off included former astronaut Helen

Everybody's incredibly excited here but you're keeping a very

Tim's going through pretty much what I went through.

I did it 24 years ago, and Tim's just really

going through that now, so it brings back all those memories.

We'll bring you all the latest news and images on this memorable day.

The rate of inflation has nudged back up, rising to 0.1%.

After police shot dead a man in north London last week,

a firearms officer is to be suspended from duty.

And under the hammer, Lady Thatcher's handbags

And on BBC London: A new deal, designed to give more

decision-making power to London health organisations is signed

Calls for action to reduce the number of motorcyclists killed

on London's streets, 25 so far this year.

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

For nearly two hours now the British astronaut Tim Peake has

been orbiting the Earth on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

He successfully blasted off this morning at three minutes past eleven

with two other crew members from the Baikonur cosmodrome

in Kazakhstan, bound for the International Space Station.

They'll orbit the Earth for the next four hours

before docking with the ISS at around twenty past

Our Science Correspondent Pallab Ghosh watched the launch and sent

A momentous day for Tim Peake and an historic one for Britain. How do you

feel? Really good. He is finally on his way to space. Tim and his

team-mates are at the Cosmodrome to get ready for the launch. On the

other side of the glass are his family, Tim's wife Rebecca and his

sons Thomas, six, and Oliver, four. This will be the last time they will

see him before he blasts off into space. With him is his commander,

cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. Next to him is Tim Kopra. How does Rebecca

feel now before the launch? I am really happy. It has been a long

journey to get to this point. We are really excited to get to the stage

in the game and I am here and he is so ready for it and it is great.

Then a final wave goodbye before Tim and the rest of the crew get on

board their Soyuz rocket. It stands on the same launch pad from which

Yuri Gagarin set off to become the first man in space more than 50

years ago. On board, strapped in and helmets on, the crew received their

oxygen through their suits in case the spacecraft deep pressure rises

during the launch. Now they make their final checks. The engine is

firing. Ramping up the flight speed. The main engines have now started.

Very soon Tim Peake will be on his way to the International Space

Station. There he goes! Liftoff with Tim Kopra, Yuri Malenchenko and Tim

Peake who are on their way to the International Space Station. So far,

getting good. The Soyuz delivering thrust from its four boosters and

single core engine. 68 feet in length and 24 feet in diameter, it

will burn liquid fuel for the first two minutes and six seconds of the

flight. On the ground, cheering and jubilation from his friends and

family. Absolutely ecstatic. That must have been the most perfect

liftoff. The weather, depute, the sky and the condensation just

magical. Then, nine minutes later, Tim is in space. The astronauts are

weightless. The danger from the launch is now over. For the next few

hours they will be chasing the International Space Station in

orbit. Then they will dock, after which Tim Peake will begin his five

and a half month mission in space. will begin his five and a half

month mission in space. Tim Peake and his two crewmates

will join three other astronauts For the next six months he'll orbit

250 miles above the Earth working on a series of experiments

on the effects of weightlessness The International Space Station

is a symbol of international co-operation, divorced

from disagreements on Earth. 16 countries have

helped to build it. There have been people living on it

continuously since the year 2000. So, in numbers, it's 240 feet wide

and almost 350 feet long. That's the length

of a football pitch. At around ?100 billion,

it's the most expensive The pressurised internal space

is the size of a jumbo jet, and it's powered by

an acre of solar panels. It orbits every 90 minutes

and travels at five miles a second. This is the actual suit worn

by the very first Briton in space, She, along with all the other

astronauts, also have a seat specially molded, it's padded,

so that they are not injured It's strange to think

that it is actually quite close. 250 miles is less

than London to Glasgow. So this is how you wash your

hair in zero gravity. And this is a bed,

or rather a sleep pod. You just hitch your

sleeping bag to the wall. Astronauts seem to enjoy

the sensation of weightlessness, They need to exercise at least two

hours a day to stop muscle wastage. At any one point there are over 300

active experiments on board. Some say the huge cost of manned

spaceflight isn't worth it, that we can achieve

more with robots. You can do more science on Earth

than you can do in space for the same of amount of money,

but there is some science you can't do on Earth, and there is so much

more than just doing experiments, this is pushing forward

the boundaries, this is international co-operation

and looking for how people can survive on Earth and off the planet

in the long-term future. Apart from anything else,

this is putting Britain back Today, thousands of children

across the country watched One of the main goals of this

mission is to inspire and excite. Among these faces could be

the astronauts of the future. Claire Marshall, BBC News,

in the Science Museum. We will have more on that story with

our science editor later in the programme. You can follow the rest

of Tim's mission on the news channel and on a special live page on our

website. The rate of inflation moved

above zero in November. The Consumer Prices Index showed

that inflation is now 0.1% because of the cost of transport,

alcohol and tobacco. Here's our economics

correspondent, Andy Verity. It's not just fuel that's getting

cheaper before Christmas, Second-hand car prices are 4.6%

lower than they were a year ago. To these buyers, that means

they are getting a bargain. They are definitely

a lot cheaper, yeah. There's definitely much

better value now. The reason car prices are coming

down is the same reason that the price of most goods has

been coming down right on offer and less demand -

in other words fewer buyers buying the products which mean the buyers

have the upperhand and they can pull Whilst second-hand car

and fuel prices fell, it was by less than the previous

month, one reason the cost of living Break that down and goods prices

fell by 1.9% while the price Before the slowdown in economies

like Brazil and China, the Bank of England thought that

average prices would be rising And it would know when to

raise interest rates. Instead, the slowdown meant less

demand worldwide for goods, I think the MPC won't be in any

hurry to follow the US in raising They will wait until the middle

of next year. Even then, interest rates

here will rise at a gradual pace. That puts us on a different

economic path to the US. The woman running their Central

Bank, the Federal Reserve chair, is widely expected to announce

an official rise in interest rates A Metropolitan Police firearms

officer is to be suspended from duty, after a man was shot dead

in north London last Friday. 28-year-old Jermaine Baker

was killed during a police operation to foil a suspected attempt to free

two prisoners being taken to court. Let's speak to our home

affairs correspondent, June Kelly, who's at

New Scotland Yard for us. The officer is to be suspended,

reflecting the gravity of the situation? That is right. It is

normal for the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which in

every police shooting, but what is much less normal is for that

investigation to become, as this one has, a homicidal investigation.

Theoretically it could result in charges of murder or manslaughter.

But the IPCC stresses that just because there is an investigation

does not mean there will be charges. As a result of that homicidal

investigation, this officer will be suspended when he returns from work

from the period following the shooting on Friday. Quite a big

investigation is going on. There has been an investigation at the scene

of the shooting, near Wood Green Crown Court. The theory is that this

was an attempt to help two criminals escape from a police van as they

headed towards the court. In a meeting with reporters at Scotland

Yard, the commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, says he has full respect

and support for officers who are carrying firearms on behalf of the

public as members of the police force. It is important to remember

police officers have to justify every use of force that they do and

that is why this investigation will be looking very much at what the

officer did and what the circumstances were that surrounded

The British astronaut Tim Peake is on his way

to the International Space Station after taking off from

And still to come: The Force Awakens.

The long-awaited new Star Wars movie is premiered in Los Angeles.

The mother of a girl who died in a playground accident says

the local authority should face charges of corporate manslaughter.

And Chelsea's season goes from bad to worse -

defeat at Leicester leaves them just a point above the relegation zone.

A body set up by the shale gas industry has said fracking in the UK

But the report from the Shale Gas Task Force says the industry

could create thousands of jobs and improve UK energy security -

and it calls for exploratory drilling to begin.

But the report, which comes just days after a climate deal was agreed

in Paris, has been criticised by environmentalists.

Here's our industry correspondent, John Moylan.

Drilling for oil and gas, onshore around the UK, this has been going

on for decades. Today's report says we need to go a step further and

start fracking as well. At the moment we simply do not know how

much recoverable gas there is. In order to establish that we need to

go ahead with four or five-man exploratory wells and get the

information from down there so that we can as a nation make proper

decisions. What impact could fracking have? It could produce

thousands of jobs according to the report, but it is unlikely to reduce

energy prices due to the modest amount of gas that would be

produced. The impact on house prices is uncertain. That will worry many

living near potential fracking sides. Fracking involves injecting

water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into rocks deep

underground. That releases gas trapped within which can be brought

back to the surface. Burning fossil fuels in decades to come will need

technology to capture carbon emissions, but the government

recently axed funding for such schemes, a decision the report's

authors describe as absurd. Environmentalists warn that fracking

is not compatible with the landmark climate deal made in Paris at the

weekend. We have just had an international agreement fated by

international leaders saying we are coming to the end of the fossil fuel

era. Yet here we are talking about starting a new fossil fuel industry

in the UK. They do not marry up. But the government insists it is going

all out for shale and is expected to open up vast new areas for fracking

later this week. European lawmakers are considering

raising the age at which children are allowed to use

Internet services to 16. Social media firms and child

protection experts say this Prosecutors in the Vatican have

launched 13 new investigations into suspected money-laundering this

year - and 11 million euros A committee run by the Council

of Europe has been examining how far the Holy See has responded

to a previous inquiry which identified loopholes

in its banking practices. Pensioners who've bought annuities

will be able to cash them in under the Government's latest reforms

to the pensions system. The change comes into

effect in April 2017. Our personal finance correspondent,

Simon Gompertz, is with me. Who is this for and

will it be worthwhile? It is for those millions of people

who missed out from the so-called pension freedoms which the

Government brought in this year, where people who had saved up

through their lives in pension schemes could cash in the money once

they got to 55 and use it as they liked. That was of no use at all who

had gone the traditional route and used the money in their pension pot

to buy an income for the rest of their lives, what is called an

annuity. They will be able to cash their annuities in from 2017. Will

it be worthwhile? I think a lot of people depend on that monthly

income, so they won't want to get the lump sum. Some who have got

other pensions might fancy a lump sum. Or perhaps if they need to pay

off debts. We have a lot of detail from the Government about it today.

You won't be able to cash in part of your annuity. There will have to be

a lot of warnings to make sure people don't get ripped off and

people don't get a lump sum when having it might affect their ability

to claim benefits, or to get help with care home fees. There will be

basic free guidance for people, but if you have a reasonably-sized

annuity, the Government has told us you will have to get paid-for

financial advice and that can cost ?1,000 at a time. If you take that,

the charges - it could be that some won't find it worthwhile. Thank you.

Some of Margaret Thatcher's personal belongings are being sold

They include the suit she wore during the Commons debate

in which she famously said "No, no, no" to closer European ties.

Also for up for sale is her red dispatch box,

Christie's says it expects to raise about ?500,000,

For sale, the wardrobe of a woman who once dominated British politics,

These clothes are a reminder of our past, a past shaped by Thatcherism.

Just rejoice at that news and congratulate our forces

Thatcherism was the doctrine of Britain's first and still only

The most prominent public figure of the post-war era,

who once described herself as the strongest man in the Cabinet.

Open for bids is this cashmere coat Margaret Thatcher wore

in the Soviet Union, which first christened her the Iron

She played a part in ending the Cold War.

Always scrutinised, Lady Thatcher knew the power of clothes.

Bling is the last word I would describe Mrs Thatcher as.

You think these clothes have been worn in the '80s when Joan Collins

She went into battle often, over the Falklands,

against the miners and in pursuit of a smaller state.

This outfit, minus the goggles, is also going under the hammer.

For Margaret Thatcher, clothes like these were part

She dressed, says her daughter, for the role of PM.

As a woman, surrounded by men in suits, she rarely appeared

The winner of three elections, after 11 years at the helm,

was brought down by the poll tax, Europe and her Cabinet.

She described her 1990 departure from Number Ten as treachery

As well as clothes, other Thatcher memorabilia are up for auction,

The politician said to survive on little sleep would stay up

On offer here is a taste of the life of Margaret Thatcher,

who gave us a political philosophy and a new verb, to handbag.

For Star Wars fans, it was the moment they've waited

Last night saw the world premiere of the latest in the series -

Many fans had camped outside the cinema for days to see the stars

of the film, including the two British actors,

Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, who were virtually unknown

That, though, is about to change, as our entertainment correspondent,

Lizo Mzimba, reports from Los Angeles.

His report contains some flashing images.

John Boyega, one of the film's young British leads,

reunited with Mark Hamill, who reprises his role

The film's other new lead, Daisy Ridley, chats

with George Lucas, the writer-director who created it

The meeting of the generations, a key selling point for this film,

the first in more than 30 years to feature the main actors

I've always been very thrilled for the success these

I don't think I can explain why, you know.

I'm not going to take on the task to explain why they are.

Is this the day you have been waiting for when it finally goes out

there and people see what you can do?

No, because then I think I would have wished away

It's very exciting for it to be here now.

But life is cool and the in-betweeny bits are cool too, so it is nice

to enjoy things in waves, this is a cool wave to write.

Disney paid George Lucas more than $4 billion for the rights

to the series and other Lucas Film properties.

Thanks to one of the biggest deals in Hollywood history,

This movie is the first stage of them trying to recoup that

investment by convincing millions of fans to see the film,

buy the merchandise and, crucially, to keep repeating that

process as each new Star Wars film is released annually until 2019

The reaction from members of the audience?

It's like one of my favourite movies.

I had really high expectations coming in.

Anything that disappointed you or expectation was too high for?

Yeah, there's good things and bad things, but nothing

bad about the writing, it was all perfect.

A reaction Disney would no doubt like to see repeated everywhere.

Lizo Mzimba, BBC News, Los Angeles.

More now on our main story: Tim Peake has blasted

He's currently orbiting the Earth and will dock

with the International Space Station later this afternoon.

Back on Earth there was great excitement at Tim Peake's home

village of Westbourne near Chichester, and our

correspondent, Duncan Kennedy, is there.

Yes, Tim Peake was a pupil here between 1977 and 1984. You can tell

that by the size of the cheer and by the sense of pride shown by local

people here just after 11.00 this morning. This hall was filled with

children from his school, teachers, friends, family, they all piled in

here to finally see their local boy make it into space.

Four, three, two, one... CHEERING Countdown from the place where it

all began, Tim Peake's primary school, today on cloud nine. What

did you think of that take-off? It was brilliant. I can't believe

someone from Westbourne Primary School is going up in space to the

space station. What did you think of that take-off? I thought it was

really exciting and I feel really proud for him. What did you think of

that lift-off? I thought it was astonishing. He came to this school

and he's learned and he's sat in one of our seats. You can tell how proud

they are of Tim Peake here by the size of the arrow on his schoolboy

photo. Yeah, that is him. And his school buddies were here, too. His

biggest goal was to fly helicopters. He did that to the highest level.

His next goal was to go into space. He has achieved that. Tim Peake went

from this school to study science, Sandhurst, and now space, but has

never forgotten his roots. Today he waved at the world and to those who

know him and wish him the best. Tim Peake sent his own message to

his school here before lift-off saying he was glad they were

following his mission. He's also hinting he may come back here when

he lands back on Earth six months from now but judging by the reaction

we got from the schoolchildren here today, there will be no shortage of

volunteer astronauts for the European Space Agency in the decades

ahead. Duncan Kennedy there. Let's speak to our science

editor, David Shukman, David, there was a huge sense of

anticipation as people gathered to watch the rocket blasting off. What

was the atmosphere like? It was extraordinary. In fact, even now,

you can probably hear the excited chatter of dozens of kids in the

space section here at the Science Museum, but a couple of hours ago,

11.03am, the atmosphere was electric, deafening, as 3,000

schoolchildren let rip. That's exactly the reaction that Tim Peake

has always wanted. When I first met him six years ago, when he was

selected to join the European Astronaut Corps, we talked about the

adventure that lay ahead, but the thing that motivated him, the thing

he most wanted to convey to me was his aim for his mission to be an

inspiration to the younger generation, to get them excited into

the whole area of space, engineering, science, because he

wanted to try to re-create what they call an Apollo effect, where the

Americans had those Apollo moon missions which led to a whole

generation of people getting involved in engineering and science,

leading to many technological inventions that we take for granted.

This is just the beginning. Day one. Tim Peake will be up in orbit for

six months and there are some amazing adventures for him ahead,

which we will be sharing. Next month, he might be doing a

spacewalk, venturing outside the space station. That will be live on

television. We will bring it to you. Thank you.

If you look up at the skies tonight to catch a glimpse of the space

centre, you will get a face full of rain! We have some wet weather to

come overnight. If you don't like the cold winter weather, a good

place to escape to is the Azores, where temperatures are around 17

degrees. This warm weather is going to be wafting its way from the

Azores, boosting our temperatures, bringing us some mild weather for

the time of the year. Temperatures in London will reach around 16

Celsius, hard to believe it is December. These are the temperatures

we would normally see in May. No wonder the daffodils are confused!

For today's weather, we have a weather front on the chart. This big

lump of cloud has been bunching in. The rain has already moved in across

Wales. It will continue north and eastwards through the day today.

Ahead of that, there is extensive cloud, a few breaks for the

north-west of Scotland, very cold in Aviemore.

There's that weather front bringing outbreaks of rain. Ahead of that,

temperatures are struggling, just 6 or 7 Celsius. Some dense fog

patches, some murky weather. It is, however, mild. 14 in Plymouth, as

that band of rain continues to edge northwards and eastwards. Overnight

tonight, that area of rain will continue to push its way northwards

across the country. It stays cloudy, misty and murky, and we will have

some strong winds for a time, particularly around the coast and

hills of south-west England. It will be a mild night. Temperatures into

double figures, barely budging over the course of 24 hours.

For Wednesday, outbreaks of rain will ease off fairly quickly during

the morning. We will be left with a legacy of cloud and some damp and

drizzly conditions. Underneath the cloudy skies, it will be a mild day,

but still fairly gloomy. Temperatures, 9 to 15 Celsius. If

anything, it will get warmer as we head through the following 24 hours.

We could break UK records for temperatures overnight Wednesday

night into Thursday. Thursday, with more of a breeze blowing, that

should help lift some of the cloud. With that stronger wind, the clouds

will lift, so it will look a bit brighter. You might get a bit of

sunshine at times. It is going to stay mild.

Temperatures could reach 16 degrees on Thursday.

But we'll leave you with some of the images of Tim Peake's

historic flight to the International Space Station.