13/12/2016

:00:00. > :00:10.I'm Victoria Derbyshire, welcome to the programme.

:00:11. > :00:18.There are no trains on any route in Southern's

:00:19. > :00:31.Rail drivers are on strike in a row over who pushes the button.

:00:32. > :00:38.The buttons on the doors, who should operate them? These drivers say it

:00:39. > :00:42.should not be them, but it has caused chaos for commuters across

:00:43. > :00:48.southern Britain today. We will have all the details in a moment.

:00:49. > :00:51.That us go about your own experiences.

:00:52. > :00:54.After four years of bitter fighting, Syrian government forces

:00:55. > :00:56.are on the brink of retaking Aleppo, the country's largest city.

:00:57. > :01:01.Some residents are warning of atrocities in the city.

:01:02. > :01:12.I don't believe any more in the United Nations, in the international

:01:13. > :01:15.community. Not satisfied with what is going on.

:01:16. > :01:16.We'll talk to people on the ground throughout

:01:17. > :01:25.The winner of the album of the year goes to... The God test that is

:01:26. > :01:29.Adele! Plus, Adele was the big

:01:30. > :01:31.winner at the BBC's She could not turn up to receive

:01:32. > :01:46.those are walled in person. Hello, welcome to the programme,

:01:47. > :01:49.we're live until 11am. Throughout the morning we'll bring

:01:50. > :01:51.you the latest breaking news and developing stories and,

:01:52. > :01:54.as always, really keen to hear Tell us your experience

:01:55. > :02:00.of commuting on Southern Rail. If you text, you will be charged

:02:01. > :02:07.at the standard network rate. The Government says it's prepared

:02:08. > :02:18.to consider banning strikes on the railways as thousands

:02:19. > :02:20.of passengers in the south-east of England find themselves

:02:21. > :02:23.unable to get to work. Train drivers on Southern Rail began

:02:24. > :02:25.a 48-hour strike at midnight, the latest action in

:02:26. > :02:27.the long-running dispute The Transport Secretary Chris

:02:28. > :02:30.Grayling says he will look at changing the law over strike

:02:31. > :02:33.action on the railways It is a long-running dispute that

:02:34. > :02:36.has forced people to change jobs and move houses because they cannot

:02:37. > :02:39.rely on the trains. Now the drivers are joining in,

:02:40. > :02:46.it is about to get much worse. There is nothing at all

:02:47. > :02:49.going from stations I am I pay ?230 a month, I have been late

:02:50. > :03:00.to work or home from work A lot of people are paying

:03:01. > :03:04.for a season ticket, It will wipe out more than 2,000

:03:05. > :03:25.daily services on some The unions keep saying no, they

:03:26. > :03:30.could solve this morning if they sit down, sort out a deal and call of

:03:31. > :03:31.the strikes. It is not fair on the passengers that they pursue this

:03:32. > :03:34.political agenda. Southern wants its drivers to take

:03:35. > :03:38.over the job of closing the doors. Currently, the on-board

:03:39. > :03:39.guard does it. The company says a third

:03:40. > :03:41.of Britain's services The unions disagree,

:03:42. > :03:44.saying that the guard has a much-better view of the doors

:03:45. > :03:47.than the driver and can see The Government says

:03:48. > :03:54.automated trains are vital The unions fear it is going to lead

:03:55. > :03:59.to getting rid of a second Whatever happens here

:04:00. > :04:06.could be repeated on other Duncan Kennedy is at Horsham

:04:07. > :04:24.station in West Sussex. It looks spectacularly un-busy

:04:25. > :04:31.there. A very deserted train station. We normally get 30,000

:04:32. > :04:35.people coming through here over the course of a day, 10,000 during

:04:36. > :04:43.rush-hour. Look at the concourse, it is deserted. It has been like that

:04:44. > :04:47.ever since we arrived at 5am. Something like 300,000 journeys are

:04:48. > :04:51.made on Southern Rail during the day, none of those are operating

:04:52. > :04:54.today. We spoke to the station manager at a few moments ago, he

:04:55. > :05:00.looks after 27 other stations, he said the rock solid strike means no

:05:01. > :05:06.trains are moving on Southern Rail white --. The train drivers say they

:05:07. > :05:12.should not open the doors because it is not safe. The idea was brought in

:05:13. > :05:18.in the 1980s when trains were much shorter, four carriages, a couple of

:05:19. > :05:21.hundred people. Now trains have ten carriages, a thousand people, and

:05:22. > :05:25.they should have somebody else on board to open the doors and they say

:05:26. > :05:30.it is not safe to continue driving the trains with that system in

:05:31. > :05:36.place. We have a commuter here, you are one of the thousands who cannot

:05:37. > :05:43.get to work, school, college. What do you make of that? It is

:05:44. > :05:50.ridiculous and annoying, I can't get where I need to go, I missed three

:05:51. > :05:56.weeks of class. Sometimes I buy a ticket and I get halfway and then

:05:57. > :06:00.have to go back to London Victoria to get home. Do your college note

:06:01. > :06:06.you are not turning up? I managed to get a lift in today, so I am waiting

:06:07. > :06:10.for that. It is the same tomorrow, hopefully I can get a lift. Other

:06:11. > :06:15.than that, it is difficult to get in. We have some of the drivers

:06:16. > :06:19.behind you, they say they are doing it for safety purposes. Who do you

:06:20. > :06:26.blame for the problems? I don't know about safety. We don't know. We are

:06:27. > :06:32.standing on the platform a lot of the time, they talk about driver

:06:33. > :06:43.surfaces -- shortages, signal issues. It is a bigger problem than

:06:44. > :06:50.just drivers. It is an entire mess, I don't know what the issue is. Two

:06:51. > :06:53.more strikes, tomorrow and Friday. There are some services running on

:06:54. > :06:57.Thames Link and the Gatwick Express, but they are subject to delays,

:06:58. > :07:01.because there might be an issue about people crossing picket lines

:07:02. > :07:06.at. But as far as Southern Rail are concerned, no trains, same again

:07:07. > :07:13.tomorrow and on Friday. Unless there is a breakthrough. These are some of

:07:14. > :07:16.your messages. Cassius says, it is not about buttons, it is about the

:07:17. > :07:22.Government trying to crush unions. Terry says, safety and care for

:07:23. > :07:29.passengers are paramount, Southern Rail and the Government want to shed

:07:30. > :07:32.jobs. Elizabeth says, what is more inconvenient, a day of disruption or

:07:33. > :07:38.long term compromised safety of workers and passengers? If you are a

:07:39. > :07:45.commuter, let me know your own views.

:07:46. > :07:47.Annita is in the BBC Newsroom with a summary

:07:48. > :07:51.Syrian government forces say they are close to taking full

:07:52. > :07:54.control of Aleppo after a four-year battle for the city.

:07:55. > :07:57.Rebel fighters are now trapped in a small pocket of their former

:07:58. > :07:59.stronghold in the east, along with thousands of civilians,

:08:00. > :08:00.and have come under intense bombardment.

:08:01. > :08:03.The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed alarm at reports

:08:04. > :08:09.of atrocities against large numbers of civilians.

:08:10. > :08:13.The sound of gunfire, this time in celebration,

:08:14. > :08:17.on the streets of Aleppo, as the news breaks that the Syrian

:08:18. > :08:29.We are all happy at this liberation, and we have finally seen

:08:30. > :08:36.For much of the past four years, this city has been divided.

:08:37. > :08:40.The rebels in control of the east, the government the west.

:08:41. > :08:44.Since September, the Syrian army, supported by its Russian

:08:45. > :08:46.and the Iranian allies, has battled intensely to take

:08:47. > :08:54.Lives have been lost, the city destroyed, people displaced.

:08:55. > :08:59.Now, where the fighting is over, determined to go home, some return,

:09:00. > :09:05.carrying the few belongings they've managed to salvage.

:09:06. > :09:09.But in the last rebel-held areas, many civilians are still

:09:10. > :09:14.As the army closed in further, it's claimed the bombardment

:09:15. > :09:18.The United Nations has expressed its alarm over reports

:09:19. > :09:22.of atrocities against a large number of civilians, including

:09:23. > :09:30.Victory for the regime over the rebels in Aleppo would mark

:09:31. > :09:36.a turning point in the war in Syria, but at what cost?

:09:37. > :09:40.A damning review by the Care Quality Commission has found that the NHS

:09:41. > :09:43.is putting lives at risk by failing to learn from the

:09:44. > :09:47.The regulator concluded there isn't a single trust in England

:09:48. > :09:50.investigating deaths properly, that the health service is often

:09:51. > :09:53.defensive about errors, and families are regularly

:09:54. > :10:01.The NHS has said the "whole system must do better".

:10:02. > :10:09.Her lust for life is helping Rhiannon and Richard

:10:10. > :10:19.Their first child, Kate, died in 2009, just six hours old.

:10:20. > :10:22.Her death was avoidable but repeated failures by the NHS to properly

:10:23. > :10:26.investigate what happened meant it took the family seven years

:10:27. > :10:31.We'll never give up on Kate, we'll never give up on her,

:10:32. > :10:35.and we'll never give up on trying to ensure that no other family goes

:10:36. > :10:38.through what we went through, no other baby suffers like Kate did

:10:39. > :10:44.She should be here, she should have decorated that tree with us.

:10:45. > :10:47.Today's report says the family's experience is far too common.

:10:48. > :10:50.No health trust in England is properly investigating deaths,

:10:51. > :10:53.according to the Care Quality Commission.

:10:54. > :10:55.That means lessons aren't being learned, so other people

:10:56. > :10:58.are dying unnecessarily, and the families of the dead

:10:59. > :11:04.are often ignored or dismissed by the NHS.

:11:05. > :11:07.I was shocked by the extent of the problem across the country.

:11:08. > :11:10.The consequences are first of all that we may miss

:11:11. > :11:14.opportunities to prevent deaths in the future or certainly

:11:15. > :11:17.improve care in the future, and of course at the same time

:11:18. > :11:23.we miss the opportunity to be open with families and carers.

:11:24. > :11:26.The Health Secretary is likely to force the NHS to regularly

:11:27. > :11:28.publish figures from numbers of preventable deaths

:11:29. > :11:34.when he responds to the damning report later.

:11:35. > :11:37.Around 3,500 Post Office workers are to go on strike for five days

:11:38. > :11:42.next week in a dispute over jobs, pensions and branch closures.

:11:43. > :11:47.The Communication Workers Union says the walkout will start next Monday

:11:48. > :11:52.The Post Office says it will be "business as usual" in the vast

:11:53. > :11:55.majority of its branches, despite the industrial action.

:11:56. > :11:58.An extremely rare book handwritten and illustrated by the Harry Potter

:11:59. > :12:02.author JK Rowling goes on sale today.

:12:03. > :12:05.The copy of The Tales Of Beedle The Bard is one of only seven

:12:06. > :12:08.produced by the writer, and is estimated to reach over

:12:09. > :12:13.It contains a personal inscription to her editor, Barry Cunningham,

:12:14. > :12:20.who famously accepted the first Harry Potter book for publication.

:12:21. > :12:22.What's very special about this is it was originally intended

:12:23. > :12:26.as a very personal and perhaps private gift to six people

:12:27. > :12:31.who were instrumental or important in the history of the publication

:12:32. > :12:35.It certainly isn't common to get a manuscript of this length,

:12:36. > :12:50.over 6,000 words, and it's a very special and unique item.

:12:51. > :12:54.Adele has dominated the BBC Music Awards for the second year in a row.

:12:55. > :13:00.She picked up song and album of the year, but was not there in person to

:13:01. > :13:06.pick up the boards. Robbie Williams did the honours. Coldplay accepted

:13:07. > :13:07.their prize for best British artist as they walked on stage in

:13:08. > :13:09.Australia. That's a summary of the latest BBC

:13:10. > :13:17.News, more at 9:30am. We will talk to four or five would

:13:18. > :13:22.be commuters, people who normally catch a train on the Southern Rail

:13:23. > :13:27.network and who have not been able to today because of the strike. If

:13:28. > :13:34.you normally use the network, let us know your views. The strike action

:13:35. > :13:37.today, tomorrow and Friday. After 10am will bring together for people

:13:38. > :13:46.whose livelihoods are being badly affected by the strike and the boss

:13:47. > :13:49.of the union Aslef. If you have personal experiences, do let me know

:13:50. > :13:50.and I can feed them into the conversation.

:13:51. > :13:54.If you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate.

:13:55. > :13:57.Let's get some sport now and join Olly Foster at the BBC Sport Centre.

:13:58. > :14:00.We're going to focus on football, because it's been award season,

:14:01. > :14:09.with a couple of prestigious honours handed out?

:14:10. > :14:15.You talk about who the best player in the world is, they will talk

:14:16. > :14:17.about Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.

:14:18. > :14:20.For the last nine years either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo

:14:21. > :14:23.Ronaldo's turn this year, the fourth time he's won it.

:14:24. > :14:37.Ronaldo helped Real Madrid win their 11th European Cup back in May,

:14:38. > :14:39.he then captained Portugal to their first major trophy,

:14:40. > :14:44.the European Championship, over the summer.

:14:45. > :14:50.48 goals in 52 matches in the calendar year.

:14:51. > :14:54.He got more than twice as many voting points as Messi.

:14:55. > :14:58.Their rivalry has almost become defined by who gets

:14:59. > :15:03.this gong every year, so Ronaldo was very happy,

:15:04. > :15:28.we going to hear from him or not? We'd like to.

:15:29. > :15:34.It is the dream come true again and I never thought in my mind to win

:15:35. > :15:42.four times the golden ball. So I'm so pleased. I'm so happy. I have to

:15:43. > :15:47.thank all my team-mates, the national team, Real Madrid, all the

:15:48. > :15:58.people, all the players who helped to win this individual award.

:15:59. > :16:05.He looked quite emotional there? It is a big deal for him. He won it

:16:06. > :16:10.three times before, but like I say getting one over on Lionel Messi is

:16:11. > :16:15.a big deal for Cristiano Ronaldo. What about British players? How did

:16:16. > :16:20.they fair? Pretty good. Two in the top ten. We had Gareth Bale sixth,

:16:21. > :16:25.Real Madrid and he helped Wales get into the semifinals at the European

:16:26. > :16:31.Championship. Brilliant for him this year as well, but Jamie Vardy, what

:16:32. > :16:36.he did for Leicester. He came eighth in the voting. His goals propelled

:16:37. > :16:42.them to that incredible title last season. It is a weird voting system

:16:43. > :16:48.and he only got ten voting points Vardy to get into the top ten.

:16:49. > :16:53.Cristiano Ronaldo got 700 odd, there were reports that there was one

:16:54. > :17:00.journalist of the 173 who voted who thought that Jamie Vardy was the

:17:01. > :17:05.best player in the world. One of Vardy's Leicester team-mates came

:17:06. > :17:11.seventh and picked up the BBC African Player of the Year yesterday

:17:12. > :17:14.as well. A good individual prize for him as well. Congratulations.

:17:15. > :17:19.Cheers, Olly. More from Olly throughout the morning.

:17:20. > :17:26.What's going on in Aleppo, Syria's second city?

:17:27. > :17:29.For four years it has been a key battleground in the Syrian civil

:17:30. > :17:31.war, a battle between Syrian soldiers fighting on behalf

:17:32. > :17:34.of their president, President Assad and those who oppose the way

:17:35. > :17:37.As a result, Aleppo has ended up divided roughly in half,

:17:38. > :17:40.with opposition supporters and what are called rebel fighters

:17:41. > :17:45.controlling the east and the Syrian government the west.

:17:46. > :17:48.You may possibly be immune to reports of the fighting there.

:17:49. > :17:53.It's been going on for a long time after all, and nothing

:17:54. > :17:57.Apart from more people being killed of course.

:17:58. > :18:01.But reports today say the battle of Aleppo is reaching its bloody

:18:02. > :18:03.conclusion because Syrian government forces say they're close to taking

:18:04. > :18:11.And there are warnings this morning of atrocities in the east.

:18:12. > :18:13.It is feared civilians - dads, brothers, mums,

:18:14. > :18:14.sisters, children - are being slaughtered

:18:15. > :18:25.Syrian state TV shows some people in parts of the city celebrating,

:18:26. > :18:54.after the army swept through more rebel districts.

:18:55. > :19:01.Some posts on social media tell a very different story.

:19:02. > :19:03.Residents have been posting their wills and saying goodbye

:19:04. > :19:09.to their families because they don't expect to survive.

:19:10. > :19:26.Look at this tweet from someone inside Aleppo.

:19:27. > :19:31.Rebel fighters are trapped in a small pocket in the east along with

:19:32. > :19:35.thousands of civilians. We don't know. It is impossible to say how

:19:36. > :19:39.many and they have come under bombardment from the Syrian Army

:19:40. > :19:43.backed up by Russian planes dropping bombs.

:19:44. > :19:47.The UN secretary general has expressed alarm at reports of

:19:48. > :19:51.atrocities against large numbers of civilians.

:19:52. > :20:24.This tweet is from Bana. : This was retweeted 7,700 times. That

:20:25. > :20:29.will not do her any good, though, will it? The White Helmets have

:20:30. > :20:39.tweeted this: We have not been able to verify all

:20:40. > :21:14.of the tweets we've shown. On the programme yesterday we spoke

:21:15. > :21:17.to Abdul Kafi Alhamado an English He told us about the desperate

:21:18. > :21:28.situation people were facing. The situation in Aleppo is the

:21:29. > :21:38.doomsday. Really it is the doomsday. It is the doomsday. Just when I'm

:21:39. > :21:43.coming here to the internet centre I have to take maybe 15 minutes

:21:44. > :21:46.although it is so close to my house because bombs, bombs are everywhere.

:21:47. > :21:52.People are running. They don't know where. Just running. Some people are

:21:53. > :21:58.injured in the streets. No one can dare go to help them. Some of them,

:21:59. > :22:06.some people are under the rubble. No one can help them. They just leave

:22:07. > :22:13.them until they die under the rubble. These houses are their

:22:14. > :22:19.graves. Bombs here are like rain. People don't know what to do. For

:22:20. > :22:25.me, I risked my life. I risked my life to go out because it is so

:22:26. > :22:30.dangerous. No one can move ten meters or 20 without you know having

:22:31. > :22:37.bombs close to them. People, most of them now don't have houses because

:22:38. > :22:42.all those people who moved from areas that were controlled by the

:22:43. > :22:46.regime now are in our areas. It is so dangerous and the bombs are like

:22:47. > :22:52.rain. They make very, very huge numbers of casualties and kill

:22:53. > :22:55.people. That was Abdul talking to us live

:22:56. > :22:56.yesterday. Abdul is now posting his final

:22:57. > :23:16.message on social media Don't believe anymore in the United

:23:17. > :23:24.Nations. Don't believe anymore in the international community. Don't

:23:25. > :23:39.think that they are not satisfied with what's going on. We are being

:23:40. > :23:47.killed. We are facing one of the most difficult or the most serious

:23:48. > :23:53.or the most horrible massacres that is in the new history. Russia

:23:54. > :23:59.doesn't want us to go out alive. They want us dead. Assad is the

:24:00. > :24:05.same. Exactly yesterday there were many celebrations on the other part

:24:06. > :24:16.of Aleppo. They were celebrating on our bodies. It's OK. This is life.

:24:17. > :24:21.At least we know that... We were free people. We wanted freedom.

:24:22. > :24:35.Wow, we wanted freedom. Let's speak to Caroline Anning from

:24:36. > :24:49.Save The Children. Mohamed you say you've lost contact

:24:50. > :24:54.with your friends and relatives in Aleppo. When was the last time you

:24:55. > :24:57.spoke to them? Twonchts days ago actually in the evening. That was

:24:58. > :25:02.the last time I spoke to them and they were saying do anything that

:25:03. > :25:12.you can to help us like try to go to the street or anything, just get out

:25:13. > :25:15.of there. Right. When you hear that last video message saying we don't

:25:16. > :25:20.believe in the United Nations anymore, he's right, isn't he? Yeah,

:25:21. > :25:24.I mean, that's what I actually was hearing from all my friends. They

:25:25. > :25:28.said they lost faith in humanity at all now. They don't believe that the

:25:29. > :25:33.world can see them, see what's happening there and leave them there

:25:34. > :25:38.and like just continue as if nothing is happening. Caroline, it's, I

:25:39. > :25:44.mean, there is absolutely nothing anyone can do, do you think that's

:25:45. > :25:48.fair? Well, I don't think it is fair to say that there is nothing that

:25:49. > :25:51.anybody can do. We have the ability as the international community to

:25:52. > :25:56.solve anything, I think, if people would really put their effort into

:25:57. > :25:59.it and we've failed. I mean what is true is we have utterly failed to

:26:00. > :26:03.protect civilians and children in particular in east Aleppo. Let me

:26:04. > :26:07.interrupt. Nothing is going to change now, the Syrian Government

:26:08. > :26:11.forces, if what they say is true, that they have nearly re-taken the

:26:12. > :26:16.whole of Aleppo, nothing is going to stop that from happening and

:26:17. > :26:21.therefore, nothing is going to stop more civilians potentially being

:26:22. > :26:24.killed? Well, I have to disagree and say I think that we can stop

:26:25. > :26:29.civilians being killed. We still have that opportunity. So you're

:26:30. > :26:34.right the Syrian army has taken 98% of the territory that was opposition

:26:35. > :26:37.held in east Aleppo. That seems like that's now a fact. That area is

:26:38. > :26:41.going to fall, but that doesn't mean that we can't still protect the aid

:26:42. > :26:46.workers and the civilians, the children that are still trapped in

:26:47. > :26:51.that area. Now that the military situation is at an end we see no

:26:52. > :26:55.reason why we can't now have a ceasefire and allow for the safe

:26:56. > :26:59.passage monitored by the Red Cross and the UN to allow people out of

:27:00. > :27:02.those areas, to at least save some lives to, at least make sure that

:27:03. > :27:06.those aid workers and those children are able to leave safely.

:27:07. > :27:11.But if there is to be a ceasefire, if you were President Assad, you

:27:12. > :27:14.would not agree to that until you had re-taken 100% of Aleppo which

:27:15. > :27:18.means more people will be killed in the meantime? Well, that's

:27:19. > :27:22.something, you know, Britain, the UK Parliament is meeting this morning.

:27:23. > :27:28.We sit on the UN Security Council, with the Russians who have been key

:27:29. > :27:31.allies of the Syrian Government and supported them through this. We

:27:32. > :27:35.shouldn't ever say that anything is impossible. Yes, they might want to

:27:36. > :27:39.take the rest of the territory, but does that mean we can't open up safe

:27:40. > :27:42.routes to get civilians out? I don't think so. We have seen it done in

:27:43. > :27:47.other conflicts and it can be done here. We have done it for too long

:27:48. > :27:53.that we have thrown our hands up and said Syria is impossible and Aleppo

:27:54. > :27:56.is impossible this. Is the outcome that people lie and people leave

:27:57. > :28:01.their homes. We will talk to someone who is in the west of Aleppo who is

:28:02. > :28:05.working there for the international committee of the Red Cross. I hope

:28:06. > :28:09.you can hear us OK. Clearly, being in the west is very different from

:28:10. > :28:13.being in the east, the west is run by President Assad and his

:28:14. > :28:17.Government effectively. But what are you hearing from those who are

:28:18. > :28:22.trapped in the east as Syrian soldiers try to re-take what is

:28:23. > :28:34.still held by rebel fighters and opposition activists?

:28:35. > :28:42.From the people who fled from the eastern side to the western side

:28:43. > :28:48.right now are in collective service under the control of the local

:28:49. > :28:54.authorities. There is stories of immense human suffering. The stories

:28:55. > :29:01.that are unbelievable. Stories of really a deep, deep suffering on the

:29:02. > :29:08.individual, of the difficult choices those people have to make every day.

:29:09. > :29:13.Very, very tragic humanitarian situation in the places from where

:29:14. > :29:20.they have to flee or where they currently are. This is our main

:29:21. > :29:25.concern for the time being. The fate of the civilians, whatever they

:29:26. > :29:32.choose to do, whether they stay or they decide to flee, they must be

:29:33. > :29:37.protected and it is in the interests of the fighting sites to protect

:29:38. > :29:41.them. To protect them and let the humanitarian organisations such as

:29:42. > :29:49.the Red Crescent to reach them with their humanitarian aid. Are you

:29:50. > :29:56.getting reports from people in the east about civilians being

:29:57. > :30:03.slaughtered on the streets? We are hearing a lot of reports and social

:30:04. > :30:07.media and the TV programmes are full of the different accounts and stuff.

:30:08. > :30:14.I mean honestly, right now it is very difficult to know what is true

:30:15. > :30:23.what is not true. For us, the main concern is to reach those people and

:30:24. > :30:27.we are offering or service because this is our mandate there, is what

:30:28. > :30:32.we have been doing for over 150 years. We are offering those

:30:33. > :30:36.services to the fighting sides to implement any provision of their

:30:37. > :30:43.mutual agreements for the sake of the civilians that will allow

:30:44. > :30:51.civilians to get humanitarian aid or allow them to be evacuated in safety

:30:52. > :30:56.and we are ready. There must be agreement between the sides.

:30:57. > :31:06.This message from Tony says there is not enough independent reporting

:31:07. > :31:12.from Aleppo, we don't actually know what is going on. For one thing

:31:13. > :31:18.Aleppo has been under siege since the summer Thomason is the start of

:31:19. > :31:23.July, so no international aid agencies have been able to go in,

:31:24. > :31:29.and no journalists are there either. But we have trusted partners there,

:31:30. > :31:35.hundreds of aid workers, people we have worked with for a number of

:31:36. > :31:39.years, and while I can't go into the city, we speak to them every day, we

:31:40. > :31:45.have monitoring mechanisms, and what we do know is that indiscriminate

:31:46. > :31:49.bombing is happening on civilian areas, hospitals and schools have

:31:50. > :31:53.been hit, hundreds of children have been killed, and there is almost no

:31:54. > :31:59.food left. Those are things we can guarantee. We cannot consider every

:32:00. > :32:02.incident or story to be verified, but we know there is immense human

:32:03. > :32:10.suffering, and there has been for months. What do you want the

:32:11. > :32:14.international community to do? It is not an issue of whether we can or

:32:15. > :32:19.can't do something. We have always been able to do something. What has

:32:20. > :32:22.been missing is the lack of political will. Our policymakers

:32:23. > :32:30.have been scapegoating random issues and facts on the ground to make

:32:31. > :32:35.excuses for their in action. We can ensure the safety of civilians if we

:32:36. > :32:38.have the political will to do so. We can ensure a ceasefire if we have

:32:39. > :32:43.the political will to do so. I appeal to everyone watching, we have

:32:44. > :32:48.seen horrible footage, up from Aleppo, we have heard appeals from

:32:49. > :32:50.the residents, and I appeal to everybody watching this to get in

:32:51. > :32:56.touch with your elected officials, to let them know that they must take

:32:57. > :33:03.action, they must call for action by the Government, by the UK Government

:33:04. > :33:09.or other governments. To take action to ensure civilian protection in

:33:10. > :33:12.Aleppo and in Syria as a whole. When you say, get in touch with your

:33:13. > :33:17.elected representatives in Britain to ask them to take action, what is

:33:18. > :33:21.the action you want them to take? In East Aleppo we see massacres of

:33:22. > :33:27.people on the ground, heavy bombardment. We need to ensure

:33:28. > :33:34.safety of civilians, safe passage. In particle terms, that is the

:33:35. > :33:40.international community saying to God Amir Putin and Bashar al-Assad,

:33:41. > :33:45.and various other fighters who have joined, pause for a moment, you have

:33:46. > :33:51.nearly taken Aleppo, but just let the civilians out? They are not

:33:52. > :33:57.going to do that. Even more, stop the bombardment. When we say let the

:33:58. > :34:03.civilians out and keep bombing, the issue is the bombing as well. We

:34:04. > :34:08.need to find a solution for Syria. While policymakers have said they

:34:09. > :34:13.want a political solution, what progress have we seen on this track?

:34:14. > :34:18.We have let Assad and Russia bomb Syria for the last five plus years,

:34:19. > :34:22.and we have not done anything about it. We need to protect the Lee

:34:23. > :34:26.Evans, whether that means allowing those who want to get out safe

:34:27. > :34:32.passage, and also to stop the bombs that are coming from the air. Thank

:34:33. > :34:51.you very much. What drives

:34:52. > :34:54.men and women to join We speak to a man in Germany

:34:55. > :34:59.who went to live with them in Syria And after 10am, the second largest

:35:00. > :35:11.home care provider in the UK, tell us they can't afford to operate

:35:12. > :35:19.on the money they're being paid. Annita is in the BBC Newsroom

:35:20. > :35:24.with a summary of the news. The Government says it's prepared

:35:25. > :35:26.to consider banning strikes on the railways as thousands

:35:27. > :35:29.of passengers in the south-east of England find themselves

:35:30. > :35:32.unable to get to work. Drivers from the Aslef union began

:35:33. > :35:38.a 48-hour walkout at midnight, with a further 24-hour strike

:35:39. > :35:41.set for Friday. There will be no trains on any route

:35:42. > :35:53.and people are warned not to travel. Passengers have already suffered

:35:54. > :35:56.months of disruption in the dispute over the role of conductors.

:35:57. > :35:59.Syrian government forces say they are close to taking full

:36:00. > :36:01.control of Aleppo after a four-year battle for the city.

:36:02. > :36:04.Rebel fighters are now trapped in a small pocket of their former

:36:05. > :36:06.stronghold in the east, along with thousands of civilians,

:36:07. > :36:08.and have come under intense bombardment.

:36:09. > :36:10.The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed alarm at reports

:36:11. > :36:13.of atrocities against large numbers of civilians.

:36:14. > :36:16.A damning review by the Care Quality Commission has found that the NHS

:36:17. > :36:19.is putting lives at risk by failing to learn from the

:36:20. > :36:22.The regulator concluded there isn't a single trust in England

:36:23. > :36:26.investigating deaths properly, that the health service is often

:36:27. > :36:29.defensive about errors, and families are regularly

:36:30. > :36:36.The NHS has said the "whole system must do better".

:36:37. > :36:39.Around 3,500 Post Office workers are to go on strike

:36:40. > :36:41.for five days next week, in a dispute over jobs,

:36:42. > :36:46.The Communication Workers Union says the walkout at the larger

:36:47. > :36:50.Crown Post Offices will start next Monday and include Christmas Eve.

:36:51. > :36:53.The Post Office says it will be "business as usual" in the vast

:36:54. > :36:58.Adele has dominated the BBC Music Awards

:36:59. > :37:05.She picked up Song Of The Year for Hello and Album Of The Year for 25.

:37:06. > :37:07.She wasn't there in person to receive the awards,

:37:08. > :37:09.leaving Robbie Williams to do the honours.

:37:10. > :37:11.Coldplay were another absent winner, accepting their prize

:37:12. > :37:14.for Best British Artist as they walked

:37:15. > :37:26.That's a summary of the latest BBC News, more at 10am.

:37:27. > :37:33.Messages about the Southern Rail strike. Ian says, I agree with the

:37:34. > :37:40.unions are. I think they are right, if something goes wrong, how can one

:37:41. > :37:46.person, the driver, react when he is supposed to drive the train? Guards

:37:47. > :37:49.and conductors perform a valuable and much appreciated service. I

:37:50. > :37:54.would pay more to know I am safe. Southern Rail say that there would

:37:55. > :37:59.not just be only the driver on the train, there would be another member

:38:00. > :38:03.of staff. Samuel says, I am a Southern Rail user, I have never

:38:04. > :38:06.been so does outside with any service in my life. There is no such

:38:07. > :38:08.thing as compromise anymore. Here are the sport headlines

:38:09. > :38:18.now with Olly Foster. Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon

:38:19. > :38:24.d'Or, but the world's Mike Best footballer. He finished a shred of

:38:25. > :38:26.Lionel Messi. He won the European cup with Real Madrid and the

:38:27. > :38:30.European Championships Portugal. Arabs bail and Jamie Vardy came

:38:31. > :38:35.sixth and eighth. Walter Swinburn has died at 55, he

:38:36. > :38:39.won the Derby three times. His most famous victory was on-board Shergar

:38:40. > :38:43.in 1981. History will be made in the Ashes

:38:44. > :38:46.Series next year, the match in Adelaide will be the first day night

:38:47. > :38:47.Test match between England and Australia.

:38:48. > :39:01.I am back after 10am. Sorry, I was going to move over

:39:02. > :39:06.there, then I thought, I am going to stay right where I am! I have the

:39:07. > :39:13.latest inflation figures, it has risen 18 at it. The dish prices

:39:14. > :39:15.index shows it rose by 1.2% in the year to November, compared with a

:39:16. > :39:18.0.9% rise in the year to October. Hundreds of thousands of rail

:39:19. > :39:20.passengers are dealing with travel chaos this morning after a walkout

:39:21. > :39:23.by Southern Rail train drivers. There will be no

:39:24. > :39:28.trains on any route. It all started in a row over

:39:29. > :39:31.who would push the button to activate the train doors,

:39:32. > :39:39.drivers or conductors. # I asked the unions,

:39:40. > :39:54.when will it end? So not really looking forward

:39:55. > :40:31.to probably having to stand Can't get a seat in most

:40:32. > :40:38.trains on normal days, and then when there is a strike,

:40:39. > :40:39.it's just doubly disrupted. And right now I've left a bit later,

:40:40. > :40:45.I'm not sure when I'm I've heard that people are just

:40:46. > :40:47.giving up and driving to Brighton. # I asked the Government,

:40:48. > :40:51.when will it end? I'm just fed up to

:40:52. > :41:18.the back teeth of this. Week after week, and the same

:41:19. > :41:21.thing all the time. It's extremely tiring

:41:22. > :41:23.and inconvenient and I have no idea what time I'll get

:41:24. > :42:00.home this evening. # Clowns to the left of me,

:42:01. > :42:09.jokers to the right. The past couple of weeks I've been

:42:10. > :42:12.coming home 40 minutes later, Maybe they'll run,

:42:13. > :42:15.maybe they won't run. Maybe I'll get to see my kids

:42:16. > :42:18.before they go to bed And that's all down to people

:42:19. > :42:24.who are, at best, incompetent. Regular Southern Rail

:42:25. > :42:26.commuters say they're constantly met with delays,

:42:27. > :42:28.cancellations and Some say they fear losing their jobs

:42:29. > :42:32.because they're constantly late, businesses say it's

:42:33. > :42:43.affecting their trade. Some have given up their jobs

:42:44. > :42:45.because they cannot cope with the commute anymore.

:42:46. > :42:48.We can speak now to some fairly frustrated commuters.

:42:49. > :42:51.Peter Izzard commutes up to London five times a week and spends over

:42:52. > :42:57.Emma Green from Littlehampton has quit her job because the commute to

:42:58. > :43:02.Matt Steel says he gave up his job in London to work locally in Horsham

:43:03. > :43:04.in West Sussex because the commute had become so bad.

:43:05. > :43:08.Lee Lockwood says his work are not happy, he's worried about his boss.

:43:09. > :43:20.I pay over ?4000 per year. What do you think about what is going on? It

:43:21. > :43:25.is an absolute debacle. It is a war of attrition between the unions and

:43:26. > :43:31.the train companies. The service is deteriorating each day. Total and

:43:32. > :43:37.utter uncertainty. When you leave work in the evening, you have got

:43:38. > :43:42.absolutely no idea how atrocious your journey will be, how long it

:43:43. > :43:47.will take, and whether you will get home at all. It is awful. Emma, you

:43:48. > :43:50.have quit your job because the commute to London from Littlehampton

:43:51. > :43:58.lost too much. That is a massive decision to make. Give us an insight

:43:59. > :44:03.into why you were so hacked off. I had started a new job in June.

:44:04. > :44:07.Having previously committed, I thought it would be fine, there

:44:08. > :44:12.would be no problems, but very quickly come up within a week, I was

:44:13. > :44:18.having journeys home of anything up to four and a half hours, and it

:44:19. > :44:22.should take an hour and a half. I could not bear it, I was talking to

:44:23. > :44:27.my son on the train because I could not put him to bed, and crying. Cool

:44:28. > :44:33.because I was letting him down and my family down, and I had enough.

:44:34. > :44:39.Have you been able to get other work? Yes, I now commute to

:44:40. > :44:43.Portsmouth, and our's Drive, so I don't have to step foot on a

:44:44. > :44:49.Southern Rail trainer. Tell us what you did as a result of these

:44:50. > :44:54.journeys. Very similar to Emma. I had previously committed to London.

:44:55. > :44:58.I noticed from the beginning of the year that things were getting worse.

:44:59. > :45:04.That is even before the strikes started. I made the decision that I

:45:05. > :45:09.was no longer going to carry on in the job I was doing and find a job

:45:10. > :45:13.closer to home, because I was not seeing my family, it was incredibly

:45:14. > :45:16.stressful, because you did not know what kind of day you were going to

:45:17. > :45:20.have, often the journeys home were worse than the journeys up, so you

:45:21. > :45:24.ended up not seeing your children and getting home in time, you could

:45:25. > :45:30.not make arrangements with friends, because used to -- you did not know

:45:31. > :45:36.when you are going to be back. I was glad I changed jobs.

:45:37. > :45:43.Lee what about your situation? It is horrific. When it is strike day it

:45:44. > :45:47.is running better for myself. The service is abysmal. You don't know

:45:48. > :45:53.what's happening from one day to the next. It is getting steadily worse.

:45:54. > :45:59.It is chaos, a commute to work should be not too bad, it is the

:46:00. > :46:03.worst part of my day and that includes my eight hour day. I'm

:46:04. > :46:11.lucky if I get home half an hour late. My partner is fed-up of me

:46:12. > :46:15.being miserable. I'm fed-up of it. I pay ?55.20 a week, the reason I

:46:16. > :46:19.don't pay for monthly or yearly tickets, I don't know where I stand

:46:20. > :46:26.one day to the next. Touf judge it by week. I want to ask all of you

:46:27. > :46:30.where you stand on the issue of driver-only trains. Should the

:46:31. > :46:41.driver be the one that closes the doors as opposed a to a conductor.

:46:42. > :46:45.Now Southern say it wouldn't just be a driver, but there would be another

:46:46. > :46:52.member of staff on the train, do you care? Would it be safer? What do you

:46:53. > :46:58.say Peter? Part of the Southern Network is run by Thameslink and

:46:59. > :47:02.Thameslink are driver-only trains. So no one complains about that. It

:47:03. > :47:07.is part of the same franchise. My view is, look, it is as deemed as

:47:08. > :47:11.safe and Southern are saying allegedly there will be another

:47:12. > :47:18.member of the train crew on the train. So I think the issue here is

:47:19. > :47:24.one of job preservation in my opinion. What do you say, Emma? The

:47:25. > :47:31.thing is, you've got so many people affected by this. It really actually

:47:32. > :47:34.doesn't matter now. They need to get around a table and talk about it and

:47:35. > :47:40.put something in place which is going to improve our lives.

:47:41. > :47:44.Lee, what about yourself? No, guards should be on the train. It is safer

:47:45. > :47:48.for many people, you know, it is reassuring to see people on the

:47:49. > :47:52.train like guards just keeping an eye on yourself. You only saw what

:47:53. > :47:57.happened at Forest Hill, a guy running amok with a knife, whether

:47:58. > :48:02.there was a guard, if the driver is in his cab, he doesn't know what's

:48:03. > :48:05.going on inside the carriage, there could be someone taking badly ill,

:48:06. > :48:09.there could be someone with bad inat any time. I have seen a woman try

:48:10. > :48:13.and get a bike off a train, the train doors have shut on the bike,

:48:14. > :48:17.it is crushing the bike, the driver is still trying to slam the door

:48:18. > :48:22.shut not even seeing what is going on, it took three of us to open the

:48:23. > :48:27.doors it get the bike through the doors, the bike was crushed, but the

:48:28. > :48:31.driver didn't care. I heard the boss of the company on the radio this

:48:32. > :48:35.morning saying it wouldn't just be the driver on that train. There

:48:36. > :48:45.would be another member of staff to do, to help with the squashed bike

:48:46. > :48:49.in the doors for example? You You need to see it to believe it. The

:48:50. > :48:53.guards are going to strike for a reason. They don't want to do it.

:48:54. > :49:01.The commuters is on the side, you know. Matt, where are you, the boss

:49:02. > :49:05.said there will be no job losses? I would prefer a guard being

:49:06. > :49:10.responsible for closing the doors. I think that sort of this reliance on

:49:11. > :49:15.the CCTV camera that has a view up the side of the train, I appreciate

:49:16. > :49:20.on the Thameslink trains wruf got long, straight platforms that maybe

:49:21. > :49:23.that would work, the platforms are curved, you can't get a proper view

:49:24. > :49:27.down the back of the train unless you have a member of staff who steps

:49:28. > :49:32.off the train and looks up and down it and gets back on and closes the

:49:33. > :49:38.door when they know it is safe. You can't do that with a CCTV camera. Do

:49:39. > :49:42.you back the strike then? I think I would. Having been a commuter for

:49:43. > :49:48.quite a while on Southern, this is not just about the doors. This is

:49:49. > :49:52.the fact that Southern sort of, you know, lost the confidence of their

:49:53. > :49:55.staff years ago. You would hear the guards talking on the train about

:49:56. > :49:59.little things happening to their shifts, to the way that they are

:50:00. > :50:02.working and they were getting more and more fed-up and the door thing

:50:03. > :50:07.was just a catalyst for the fact that the management and the unions

:50:08. > :50:11.stopped talking a long time ago and entered a trench warfare. Yes yes or

:50:12. > :50:16.no from all four of you if you wouldn't mind. The Transport

:50:17. > :50:19.Secretary says he wouldn't rule out banning strikes on railways. Peter,

:50:20. > :50:33.would you support that, yes or no? Yes. Emma? No. Matt? No. Lee? No.

:50:34. > :50:37.Are you sure? Well... You know, I just want it to end. Chris Grayling,

:50:38. > :50:41.he hasn't got a clue what's going on. If he did see and it is plain to

:50:42. > :50:46.see for everyone this service abysmal. It has got to end. It has

:50:47. > :50:50.to. You know, it is no good. It is people's lives, you know, are being

:50:51. > :50:57.ruined here and it is just not right. It is just not right. Thank

:50:58. > :51:04.you very much. Your frustration is coming through

:51:05. > :51:08.loud and clear. Sandra says, "Southern Trains

:51:09. > :51:14.management should be sacked. They handled the dispute badly causing 21

:51:15. > :51:18.days strikes. The drivers and the guards aren't striking for more

:51:19. > :51:22.money, but for safety. They lose their pay when they strike. The

:51:23. > :51:26.public are treated disgracefully." Coming up, Adele dominates

:51:27. > :51:28.the BBC Music Awards We'll have the latest

:51:29. > :51:36.on all the winners and losers. Breaking news on the

:51:37. > :51:38.rate of inflation. Our Economics Editor,

:51:39. > :51:43.Kamal Ahmed, is here. What is inflation? Higher prices.

:51:44. > :51:47.OK. What are the figures today? Well, they show a significant

:51:48. > :51:50.increase. We've been warned for a number of months since the

:51:51. > :51:56.referendum to leave the European Union that prices would be or might

:51:57. > :52:02.be going up, that's because the fall in sterling, we import a lot of food

:52:03. > :52:05.and a lot of fuel, if we have a weaker currency prices will be going

:52:06. > :52:11.up. Today, we have seen the first real evidence of that. The inflation

:52:12. > :52:16.number has gone up from 0.9% to 1.2%. So quite a big increase, but

:52:17. > :52:21.of course, that is still quite a small number, but if prices are

:52:22. > :52:26.higher, the pound in people's pocket doesn't go as far and clothing

:52:27. > :52:31.prices have increased. The price of fuel has increased and interestingly

:52:32. > :52:34.a lot of the gadgets that buy have increased. A lot of the computer

:52:35. > :52:41.firms have put up the prices of phones and of iPads and of tablets.

:52:42. > :52:46.But the big issue will be for next year people will be seeing these

:52:47. > :52:51.higher prices feeding through into the economy at the same time as

:52:52. > :52:54.their real n the actual amount they're earning is flat and that

:52:55. > :52:58.becomes the big issue that people's incomes are not keeping up with the

:52:59. > :53:02.price increases and that goes to this whole big debate about the just

:53:03. > :53:05.managing families, finding it tougher and tougher to make the

:53:06. > :53:16.household finances work. Thank you very much.

:53:17. > :53:24.The second largest home care provider group says had to to pull

:53:25. > :53:27.out of contracts with councils because they can't afford to operate

:53:28. > :53:31.on the money they are being paid. They provide care at home to 10,000

:53:32. > :53:37.elderly people. Alan Long is the Chief Executive of the group.

:53:38. > :53:43.The UK home care association says companies like yours should get

:53:44. > :53:46.?16.70 per hour to allow you to provide decent care for people in

:53:47. > :53:51.their own homes as well as paying your staff a legal wage. What is the

:53:52. > :54:01.lowest amount per hour that you have been offered? Under ?13 an hour. I

:54:02. > :54:06.think, you know, just to say ?16.70 is the minimum and based on somebody

:54:07. > :54:09.earning the minimum Living Wage and I believe actually that home care

:54:10. > :54:14.now, the skills required to deliver the kind of service that elderly

:54:15. > :54:19.people need to stay safe in their own home, it is not a minimum wage

:54:20. > :54:25.job. So the comparison you gave is right. The minimum is ?16.70, but

:54:26. > :54:29.actually there are councils asking for providers to deliver the service

:54:30. > :54:37.for under ?13 in the UK at the moment. What do you think of that?

:54:38. > :54:42.Well, I appreciate councils have had massive cuts it their budgets and

:54:43. > :54:45.that of course, social care is the biggest single spend that councils

:54:46. > :54:49.have, but it can't be right even with that situation that councils

:54:50. > :54:54.are effectively asking providers to, I think, breach Living Wage, minimum

:54:55. > :54:57.wage regulations because certainly based on our calculations you can't

:54:58. > :55:02.deliver that service legally at those really low rates. Well, you

:55:03. > :55:08.could, if you took less in profit, I assume? Well, we don't make any

:55:09. > :55:13.profit at all and we're not alone in that as a provider. You must make

:55:14. > :55:19.some profit. No, we don't. So you run this company and you absolutely

:55:20. > :55:28.break even, you don't make a penny more? No, we're in a fortunate

:55:29. > :55:31.position unlike many care providers, we deliver other services such as

:55:32. > :55:36.housing services. Now, at the moment, we have been open and frank

:55:37. > :55:38.about that, our housing services are effectively subsidising our care

:55:39. > :55:42.services which is why we have been able to keep, you know, services

:55:43. > :55:49.going as long as we have with many councils. If it wasn't for our

:55:50. > :55:53.housing based services and on our care services, you can see we have

:55:54. > :55:57.lost as many providers, a significant amount of money and

:55:58. > :56:02.we've done that because we believe that in the long-term there has to

:56:03. > :56:06.be a solution found to deliver a decent service to elderly people in

:56:07. > :56:14.this country. OK, so how many more contracts are you going to pull out

:56:15. > :56:18.of? Well, I hope none. Obviously recently the Living Wage change for

:56:19. > :56:23.next year has been announced. Living Wage is going up again next year and

:56:24. > :56:26.there is various other cost increases. We don't want to pull out

:56:27. > :56:30.of any contracts because the effect on that for our staff is significant

:56:31. > :56:35.and of course the effect on that for service users is significant. You've

:56:36. > :56:41.already pulled out of three local authority contracts? Yes, but based

:56:42. > :56:44.on what happened in April last year, again we have long discussions with

:56:45. > :56:49.councils as you can imagine, we don't just pull out of contracts

:56:50. > :56:53.overnight. Up to last year we never pulled out of any, when you are

:56:54. > :56:58.being asked to deliver a service at rates which are ?4 below the minimum

:56:59. > :57:04.that's been identified for care, I think, it is the responsible to do.

:57:05. > :57:08.Because if providers do continue to accept these kind of contracts at

:57:09. > :57:18.frankly ridiculous rates, nothing will change.

:57:19. > :57:23.So as I understand it, you have got 90 contracts with councils and

:57:24. > :57:28.commissioning groups. How many of the 90 are offering you below the

:57:29. > :57:34.minimum deemed right by the UK home care association? Increasingly few

:57:35. > :57:37.now. So because we have been much more, you notion we have been much

:57:38. > :57:45.more selective and many of the councils that we work with have, you

:57:46. > :57:50.know, are paying more than the ?16.70. I think the really smart

:57:51. > :57:53.councils are ones who have recognised that, you know, you're

:57:54. > :57:58.asking me questions about the hourly rate at the moment. The real cost is

:57:59. > :58:05.not so much the hourly rate, it is whether the quality of care that's

:58:06. > :58:08.provided by the provider can lead to the recipient actually recovering

:58:09. > :58:12.their independence so they don't get admitted into residential care or

:58:13. > :58:16.into hospitals before they need to be and as well as being a much more

:58:17. > :58:19.expensive setting in residential care and in hospitals, for most

:58:20. > :58:23.people, it is where they don't want to be.

:58:24. > :58:26.Alan Long the Chief Executive of the Mears Group. Latest news and sport

:58:27. > :58:35.before the weather. A big meteor shower coming. Never

:58:36. > :58:46.seen one. Is tonight the night? Not for you, Victoria. Disappointing,

:58:47. > :58:51.no. It is a Geminid meteor shower. It peaks at 2am. It is favoured to

:58:52. > :58:55.see it from the Northern Hemisphere, but you will be able to see it from

:58:56. > :58:58.the Southern Hemisphere as well. You need clear skies to see it at its

:58:59. > :59:02.best and the best viewing areas are Northern Scotland and Wales. But the

:59:03. > :59:09.other thing is tonight, the moon size we've got a super moon, it is

:59:10. > :59:13.99.8% full. It is a big, bright moon which may impact how much of the

:59:14. > :59:18.meteors that you actually see. But having said that, those particular

:59:19. > :59:22.meteors are very bright. So there is a good chance you will. If you don't

:59:23. > :59:25.see them tonight, look out for the next couple of nights. If you are

:59:26. > :59:28.looking for them, they come in spurts. So you will see a blast of

:59:29. > :59:32.them and then there will be a lull and then you may see another blast

:59:33. > :59:37.of them. They sound amazing. I would love to see them. I have never seen

:59:38. > :59:39.one either. Well, get home to Northern Scotland then! What are you

:59:40. > :59:45.saying? Thank you very much, Victoria, on

:59:46. > :59:48.that note! We have got a dull, damp and murky start and really that's

:59:49. > :59:51.the way it is going to continue. We have had clear skies across the far

:59:52. > :59:55.north of Scotland. So here we have got sunshine. It was also a cold

:59:56. > :59:59.start with frost. But as you can see from the yellow plume across the

:00:00. > :00:03.chart, it is going to be a mild day. For the next few days, it will be

:00:04. > :00:05.mild. It is as we head into the weekend we start to see things cool

:00:06. > :00:10.down with night-time frosts. when you are going to be back. I was

:00:11. > :00:17.glad I changed jobs. Through the afternoon we should see

:00:18. > :00:22.some brighter breaks, and we will hang onto them across northern

:00:23. > :00:28.Scotland. For Northern Ireland, a fine afternoon, pleasant for this

:00:29. > :00:31.stage of December. As we come further south, we have the rain

:00:32. > :00:37.moving north, through the Southern uplands, the central lowlands and

:00:38. > :00:41.the Highlands. Move south again, a lot of cloud across northern

:00:42. > :00:46.England. Some spots of rain, nothing too heavy. Across the Midlands, into

:00:47. > :00:53.East Anglia, Essex Kent, Southern counties, a lot of cloud. One or two

:00:54. > :00:58.brighter breaks, but they will be the exception, and that extends into

:00:59. > :01:05.south-west England. That is a high temperature in Plymouth. A lot of

:01:06. > :01:09.cloud around for Wales. The rain moves north as we go through the

:01:10. > :01:15.course of the night, hence a better chance of seeing the media shower in

:01:16. > :01:19.North Wales and North Scotland. Under the weather front introduces

:01:20. > :01:23.heavier rain and strengthening winds. As we go through tomorrow, it

:01:24. > :01:27.is not moving particularly quickly and it is bumping into a ridge of

:01:28. > :01:32.high pressure, so the progress will be slow. I had of the rain, a lot of

:01:33. > :01:37.dry weather, sunshine, and a bit more cloud along the east coast.

:01:38. > :01:42.Behind it, things improve, it will dry out and brighten up. For western

:01:43. > :01:48.Scotland and Northern Ireland we could see quite a lot of rain. The

:01:49. > :01:53.temperatures are above average for December. For Thursday, the weather

:01:54. > :01:58.front tries to get into that area of high pressure, but it loses the

:01:59. > :02:04.battle and comes in as a band of cloud, some patchy rain. Later,

:02:05. > :02:08.another one comes from the West, introducing more wet and windy

:02:09. > :02:10.weather. The temperatures coming down a bit in the north but still

:02:11. > :02:14.pretty high in the South. Hello, it's Tuesday, it's 10am,

:02:15. > :02:17.I'm Victoria Derbyshire. There are no trains on any

:02:18. > :02:26.route on Southern's Drivers are on strike in a row over

:02:27. > :02:48.who pushes the door button. I wish there was another way for

:02:49. > :02:53.them to resolve their dispute. This is the problem, I have university,

:02:54. > :02:54.exams, and there are no trains, so how am I supposed to get there

:02:55. > :03:07.today? A complete meltdown in Aleppo, that

:03:08. > :03:13.is how you when are describing the situation. Residents are warning of

:03:14. > :03:20.atrocities. We are not satisfied that we are

:03:21. > :03:28.being killed, that we are facing one of the most difficult or the most

:03:29. > :03:35.serious or the most horrible massacres in history.

:03:36. > :03:40.Although, at the BBC Music Awards, guess who was the big winner.

:03:41. > :03:44.The winner of the album of the year goes to... The goddess that is

:03:45. > :03:51.Adele! Here's Annita in the BBC Newsroom

:03:52. > :04:00.with a summary of today's news. The Government says it's prepared

:04:01. > :04:03.to consider banning strikes on the railways as thousands

:04:04. > :04:06.of passengers in the south-east of England find themselves

:04:07. > :04:09.unable to get to work. Train drivers on Southern Rail

:04:10. > :04:12.began a 48-hour strike at midnight, the latest action

:04:13. > :04:14.in the long-running dispute The Transport Secretary Chris

:04:15. > :04:18.Grayling says he will look at changing the law over strike

:04:19. > :04:20.action on the railways It is a long-running dispute that

:04:21. > :04:29.has forced people to change jobs and move houses because they cannot

:04:30. > :04:32.rely on the trains. Now the drivers are joining in,

:04:33. > :04:39.it is about to get much worse. There is nothing at all

:04:40. > :04:41.going from stations I am I pay ?230 a month, I have been late

:04:42. > :04:53.to work or home from work A lot of people are paying

:04:54. > :04:57.for a season ticket, It will wipe out more than 2,000

:04:58. > :05:04.daily services on some They could solve this this

:05:05. > :05:13.morning if they sit down, sort out a deal and call

:05:14. > :05:16.off the strikes. It is not fair on the passengers

:05:17. > :05:18.that they pursue this Southern wants its drivers to take

:05:19. > :05:26.over the job of closing the doors. Currently, the on-board

:05:27. > :05:28.guard does it. The company says a third

:05:29. > :05:30.of Britain's services already work that way and it has

:05:31. > :05:34.been deemed safe. The unions disagree,

:05:35. > :05:36.saying that the guard has a much-better view of the doors

:05:37. > :05:39.than the driver and can see The Government says

:05:40. > :05:46.automated trains are vital The unions fear it is going to lead

:05:47. > :05:52.to getting rid of a second Whatever happens here

:05:53. > :05:59.could be repeated on other UK inflation rose to 1.2%

:06:00. > :06:08.in November, the highest rate Increases in the prices of clothing,

:06:09. > :06:13.fuel and hotel and restaurant charges were behind

:06:14. > :06:15.the slightly But there were falls in air fares

:06:16. > :06:31.and food and non-alcoholic drinks. The United Nations has received

:06:32. > :06:35.reports of pro-government forces entering houses in eastern Aleppo

:06:36. > :06:40.and killing those inside, including women and children. It says it has

:06:41. > :06:44.evidence of 82 civilians being shot on the spot. Have an forces say they

:06:45. > :06:47.are close to taking full control of the city after a four-year battle.

:06:48. > :06:50.Rebel fighters are now trapped in a small pocket of their former

:06:51. > :06:52.stronghold in the east, along with thousands of civilians,

:06:53. > :06:54.and have come under intense bombardment.

:06:55. > :06:55.And speaking from west Aleppo, Pawel Krzysiek

:06:56. > :06:58.from the International Committee Of The Red Cross told us earlier

:06:59. > :07:02.in this programme that those civilians have to be the priority.

:07:03. > :07:12.Very, very tragic humanitarian situation in the places from where

:07:13. > :07:17.they had to flee or where they currently are. This is our main

:07:18. > :07:24.concern for the time being, the fate of the civilians. Whatever they

:07:25. > :07:33.choose to do, where ever they stay or they decide to flee, they must be

:07:34. > :07:40.protected. They must be protected and the humanitarian organisations

:07:41. > :07:43.should be allowed to reach them with their humanitarian aid.

:07:44. > :07:44.Adele has dominated the BBC Music Awards

:07:45. > :07:50.She picked up Song Of The Year for Hello and Album Of The Year for 25.

:07:51. > :07:52.She wasn't there in person to receive the awards,

:07:53. > :07:54.leaving Robbie Williams to do the honours.

:07:55. > :07:56.Coldplay were another absent winner, accepting their prize

:07:57. > :07:57.for Best British Artist as they walked

:07:58. > :08:04.That's a summary of the latest BBC News.

:08:05. > :08:15.Let's get some more sport now with Olly Foster.

:08:16. > :08:17.For the past nine years, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

:08:18. > :08:20.have hoovered up the award for the best footballer

:08:21. > :08:25.It's Ronaldo's turn this year, winning it for a fourth time,

:08:26. > :08:28.finishing ahead of five-time winner Lionel Messi.

:08:29. > :08:30.He won the European Cup with Real Madrid and the European Championship

:08:31. > :08:38.with Portugal and has scored 48 goals in 52 matches in 2016.

:08:39. > :08:44.Gareth Bale and Jamie Vardy came sixth and eighth in the voting.

:08:45. > :08:59.I never thought in my mind to win four times the Golden Ball.

:09:00. > :09:02.So I'm so pleased, I'm so happy I have an opportunity

:09:03. > :09:08.to thank all my team-mates, the national team, Real Madrid,

:09:09. > :09:14.all the people, all the players who helped me to win.

:09:15. > :09:16.Leicester's Riyadh Mahrez was seventh in the voting

:09:17. > :09:19.for the Ballon d'Or, but he came out on top in the BBC

:09:20. > :09:23.The Algerian's goals and assists were key

:09:24. > :09:29.to Leicester's Premier League title last season.

:09:30. > :09:31.Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has pleaded guilty

:09:32. > :09:39.to drink driving and been banned from driving for 18 months.

:09:40. > :09:46.He did not contest the charge that he was over the limit, but in a

:09:47. > :09:50.statement he said the judge accepted he had not intentionally consumed

:09:51. > :09:53.alcohol. He is Muslim and says he has always refused alcohol. He was

:09:54. > :09:57.arrested in London last month and has been fined's fined ?54,000.

:09:58. > :09:59.In the last hour, Sale Sharks have announced the signing

:10:00. > :10:01.of the Super League winger Denny Solomona from Castleford.

:10:02. > :10:06.This comes after the player failed to report for preseason training

:10:07. > :10:16.He announced he had retired from the game.

:10:17. > :10:19.He had two years left on his contract and has now signed

:10:20. > :10:21.a three-year deal with Sharks after switching codes.

:10:22. > :10:23.The announcement could now result in legal action,

:10:24. > :10:27.with Castleford threatening to take the issue to the High Court.

:10:28. > :10:34.One of the great jockeys Walter Swinburn has died at 55, he won the

:10:35. > :10:40.Derby three times. His most famous victory came in 1981, on-board the

:10:41. > :10:45.horse Shergar. He was just 19 in that race. He was nicknamed the

:10:46. > :10:51.choir boy and went on to become a successful trainer following his

:10:52. > :10:55.retirement as a jockey. That is all this board for now, I am

:10:56. > :10:59.back with the headlines in half an hour.

:11:00. > :11:08.Let me read a couple of messages to do with Aleppo. Ron says, I see the

:11:09. > :11:19.do something brigade have been on this morning. Call your MP? LOL. Joe

:11:20. > :11:27.Q -- Joe Public does not care about Aleppo, stop droning on. We will

:11:28. > :11:33.continue droning on. It was that there was a complete meltdown of

:11:34. > :11:40.humour T in Aleppo. But they are just words, so we will talk about

:11:41. > :11:42.what the UN can do. -- meltdown of humanity.

:11:43. > :11:45.More than 800 men and women from the UK are believed to have

:11:46. > :11:48.travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the so called Islamic State.

:11:49. > :11:50.According to the British authorities, about half

:11:51. > :11:55.And how should governments deal with those who want to come back?

:11:56. > :11:58.Our reporter James Longman went to Germany to meet one young man

:11:59. > :12:01.who went to live under the Islamic State in Syria

:12:02. > :12:04.He spoke exclusively to this programme about what happened.

:12:05. > :12:07.You may find some of his views offensive, but they are challenged

:12:08. > :12:09.and they're important to hear to understand why people

:12:10. > :12:31.Thousands of men and some women from all over Europe have travelled

:12:32. > :12:36.About 850 have left from the UK, and something

:12:37. > :12:47.But what makes them leave them the first place?

:12:48. > :12:50.I went to Dresden in Germany to meet young one man who went

:12:51. > :12:52.to live in the caliphate, but decided that life

:12:53. > :12:55.We are searching for the purpose of life.

:12:56. > :12:58.My friend came to me and he said, "Yeah, I've read some Islam

:12:59. > :13:13.So I came to the point that Islam is a way of life.

:13:14. > :13:15.And it all happened in quite a quick period?

:13:16. > :13:18.Yes, it was in two or three months, I think.

:13:19. > :13:23.So you went from someone who hadn't really thought about Islam...

:13:24. > :13:29.To being someone who believed in it deeply and started to have very

:13:30. > :13:33.clear ideas about the world and about what was wrong with it?

:13:34. > :13:41.So, at this time, the so-called caliph had made an announcement

:13:42. > :13:45.to get Muslims to go over to the Islamic State.

:13:46. > :13:51.It was that there is, of course, a caliphate,

:13:52. > :13:57.an Islamic caliphate, where you can live as a Muslim.

:13:58. > :14:02.But I think the main fact was that there was war and that,

:14:03. > :14:12.yeah, that someone has to help the families that don't have houses,

:14:13. > :14:14.no food and, yeah, that was my main factor.

:14:15. > :14:17.I think a lot of people watching this will look at you and think,

:14:18. > :14:21.how could you look at IS and think that that was a good place to go?

:14:22. > :14:27.Yeah, I thought, of course, it's a group who spent terror

:14:28. > :14:37.But IS is also a state, an Islamic state, so I...

:14:38. > :14:41.Well, it depends if you believe their propaganda, doesn't it?

:14:42. > :14:45.Because surely their actions then negate their claim

:14:46. > :14:53.The time that you went, already a certain number of Western

:14:54. > :14:58.journalists and aid workers had been beheaded, publicly beheaded.

:14:59. > :15:06.And then the Yazidis, who were infamously raped

:15:07. > :15:09.All of these things had been well publicised.

:15:10. > :15:14.So for you to still believe that this was a truly Islamic place,

:15:15. > :15:17.I think a lot of people might find that, regardless of your own beliefs

:15:18. > :15:21.in Islam, might find that difficult to believe.

:15:22. > :15:28.Of course, difficulty, because, yeah, it's Islamic State who do

:15:29. > :15:33.very dangerous things, who kill people and this is,

:15:34. > :15:40.I mean, you could also live in Germany and be a good Muslim.

:15:41. > :15:45.You could be an aid worker in any country in the world

:15:46. > :15:49.But my opinion was in this time I want to practice Islam

:15:50. > :15:56.in the highest level, and if you're here in Germany,

:15:57. > :15:57.there's girls running with free bodies outside,

:15:58. > :16:03.and if you see this as a Muslim, it's not good.

:16:04. > :16:07.So I want to live in a country where the Islamic rules are the highest,

:16:08. > :16:12.and also the caliphate, it's the only caliphate

:16:13. > :16:18.At the time that you went, a lot of Muslim scholars

:16:19. > :16:20.from around the world, people who have been reading

:16:21. > :16:23.the Koran and studying the Koran a lot longer than you had,

:16:24. > :16:27.were saying don't go, these are not real Muslims.

:16:28. > :16:28.Did you listen, did you hear that advice?

:16:29. > :16:35.And what did you make of it at the time?

:16:36. > :16:40.My opinion, joined there and to only live in the Islamic state and not...

:16:41. > :17:07.TRANSLATION: Samuel was always a calm boy.

:17:08. > :17:13.He played a lot, had friends hung out with as he got older.

:17:14. > :17:22.We raise them all within the Christian faith.

:17:23. > :17:24.Samuel was confirmed, and after that he started searching,

:17:25. > :17:28.You was always looking for the meaning of life,

:17:29. > :17:30.and there's plenty about that to be found on the internet.

:17:31. > :17:50.We never realised and never thought that he would go to Syria.

:17:51. > :17:58.Or you are a fighter on the front line, or a normal fighter.

:17:59. > :18:09.Normal fighter, front-line fighter, suicide bomber?

:18:10. > :18:12.There was no option for humanitarian worker, was there?

:18:13. > :18:14.Why did you think that fighting was wrong?

:18:15. > :18:17.I think killing people for Islam or for any religion

:18:18. > :18:23.But Max very definitely wanted to fight?

:18:24. > :18:39.Because I think he took you to a gun range, you went shooting together

:18:40. > :18:46.So did you practice shooting before you went to Syria?

:18:47. > :18:58.I think people might find it strange that you went to practice

:18:59. > :19:00.shooting before you went to be a humanitarian worker?

:19:01. > :19:11.I think if you go in a place of war, you have to know how

:19:12. > :19:22.Did you see or hear any of the bombardments, the airstrikes?

:19:23. > :19:29.I was making my night prayer and then seconds later the bomb

:19:30. > :19:31.behind the school came on the ground.

:19:32. > :19:37.What were you doing on a daily basis?

:19:38. > :19:52.We're making some groups of Arabic lessons.

:19:53. > :20:00.So where did you start to think that you wanted to leave?

:20:01. > :20:03.I knew when they wanted to have me for a fight.

:20:04. > :20:20.And then I decided for me to leave IS.

:20:21. > :20:24.TRANSLATION: Day and night we prayed the bombs would not hit him.

:20:25. > :20:27.We tried everything to get in contact with him.

:20:28. > :20:31.We were constantly at the computer writing e-mails to him,

:20:32. > :20:43.TRANSLATION: Dear Sammy, please come back.

:20:44. > :20:45.Take this pain and heartbreak away from your parents.

:20:46. > :20:48.Most of all, take this burden of yourself so your little sister

:20:49. > :21:01.Believe me, dear Sammy, war cannot be a way to tackle injustice.

:21:02. > :21:03.Reading these e-mails, there came more feelings up,

:21:04. > :21:10.and childhood came back, and all those feelings came to me.

:21:11. > :21:12.And I realised that, yeah, I need my family,

:21:13. > :21:14.and my friends need me, and the family.

:21:15. > :21:40.So did you think you would die at that point?

:21:41. > :21:57.Yeah, of course I thought about this.

:21:58. > :21:59.Someone watching, again, might find this story

:22:00. > :22:09.Mostly because you're a white European convert to Islam.

:22:10. > :22:14.This was at a time inside the so-called Islamic State

:22:15. > :22:21.where they were using videos to try to recruit other people

:22:22. > :22:24.from Europe, other people from Western countries.

:22:25. > :22:27.You would have been very, very important to IS because you're

:22:28. > :22:31.This is the image they want to show the world.

:22:32. > :22:34.The idea that you could just travel freely anywhere you wanted

:22:35. > :22:37.and go and get your phone, I think it's difficult

:22:38. > :22:45.Yeah, but it was not a problem to give us our phones.

:22:46. > :23:09.I go inside the bus stop and my father is sitting

:23:10. > :23:25.TRANSLATION: There is a story in the Bible, the story

:23:26. > :23:30.It's about a father who gave his son his inheritance.

:23:31. > :23:35.The son went into the world and squandered the inheritance,

:23:36. > :23:38.and then came home in the hope that his father would let him back

:23:39. > :23:43.The father stood, knowing fully that the son would come home.

:23:44. > :23:45.He stood waiting for him the whole time.

:23:46. > :23:49.When the son came home, the two hugged and it was exactly like that

:23:50. > :24:24.Both of us cried and we held each other tight.

:24:25. > :24:26.So what's your feeling towards the so-called Islamic State now?

:24:27. > :24:37.I think they are a group of terrorists who do brutal things,

:24:38. > :24:48.But I think that the Islamic State, only the state, is...

:24:49. > :24:56.Yeah, who try to live in the Islamic way.

:24:57. > :24:58.Even if the Islamic State was started by terrorists, you still

:24:59. > :25:09.I think the concept is OK but what they do is not OK.

:25:10. > :25:14.You obviously love your son very much, it's clear.

:25:15. > :25:17.Do you worry maybe that your love for him maybe blinds you to maybe

:25:18. > :25:20.the reality of what he was thinking before he went to Syria,

:25:21. > :25:26.TRANSLATION: Of course something like that is possible.

:25:27. > :25:33.But, as a parent, you have a feeling for whether your child

:25:34. > :25:36.is telling the truth or not, and you feel in your heart,

:25:37. > :25:39.Is his motive for coming home honest?

:25:40. > :25:45.We are completely convinced that things are exactly

:25:46. > :25:53.All I can say is that we feel it as parents.

:25:54. > :25:56.So if you still have many of the opinions that you had

:25:57. > :25:58.before you went to Syria, why are you not a danger now

:25:59. > :26:09.I think I wasn't a danger if I was also here in Germany.

:26:10. > :26:18.What I don't say is that I will kill some people,

:26:19. > :26:24.Of course they have to check me, what I have done in Syria.

:26:25. > :26:29.But it's impossible for them to know, isn't it?

:26:30. > :26:31.It's very difficult for them to prove anything.

:26:32. > :26:35.But, yeah, they have to wait for other people who came

:26:36. > :26:42.back from IS to Germany, that's the only way, I think.

:26:43. > :26:45.Finding proof that a crime has been committed is the major test every

:26:46. > :26:50.government faces when dealing with people returning from IS.

:26:51. > :26:52.How can the German authorities be sure that Samuel is telling

:26:53. > :26:57.the truth and, more importantly, how can anyone know that the people

:26:58. > :26:59.coming back have completely abandoned the worldviews that drove

:27:00. > :27:12.We can now speak to Laura Zahra McDonald founder of Connect Futures,

:27:13. > :27:14.a social enterprise that specialises in tackling extremism.

:27:15. > :27:19.They featured Samuel Wendt in a series of films

:27:20. > :27:23.And Rupert Sutton, research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society,

:27:24. > :27:30.which is a right-wing foreign policy think-tank.

:27:31. > :27:39.Samuel Wendt clearly still believes in the idea of a so-called Islamic

:27:40. > :27:44.caliphate, but is that OK as long as he's given up any idea of violence?

:27:45. > :27:49.Yes and that's maybe the biggest question of all what we mean by

:27:50. > :27:53.de-radicalisation as opposed to disengagement? When we look at

:27:54. > :27:57.examples around the world about people removing themselves from

:27:58. > :28:02.groups, very often they haven't completely given up their ideas.

:28:03. > :28:08.Ireland is a good example. People who supported the Republican cause

:28:09. > :28:12.and used violence as a means to get to their ideals, but recounted the

:28:13. > :28:16.violence, but still remain Republican. It is a similar

:28:17. > :28:22.situation there. What's your view, Rupert? Well, think when peel are

:28:23. > :28:28.radicalised they are combining an ideology they believe in strongly

:28:29. > :28:31.with the capability or the intent to do harm and that's where people

:28:32. > :28:35.become dangerous. One of the keys for people returning from Syria,

:28:36. > :28:39.particularly those who have either been acquitted of offences, but

:28:40. > :28:44.still maintain their views, is about ensuring that we perhaps bring them

:28:45. > :28:51.back, put them closer to the more protective kind of elements that

:28:52. > :28:54.they might not have had before they travelled and bring them closer to

:28:55. > :28:58.their families and provide support they might need in terms of mental

:28:59. > :29:03.health support, perhaps... When you say bring them closer to their

:29:04. > :29:06.families. You can't, you know the official, authorities, Government,

:29:07. > :29:11.local councils, can't engineer that, can they? They can't fully but

:29:12. > :29:16.Government does have a role to play in that. One thing the Government

:29:17. > :29:21.can do before people travel and become extreme as part of the

:29:22. > :29:23.Prevent programme is seek to provide as wide a range of services as

:29:24. > :29:27.possible that can provide families with the support they need to reach

:29:28. > :29:31.out to somebody who might have more extreme views. So that could be

:29:32. > :29:35.getting them to sit down with a mentor or getting them to sit down

:29:36. > :29:39.with somebody who understands how individuals can find themselves very

:29:40. > :29:43.isolated What do you think? Yeah, I was going to say so preventative

:29:44. > :29:46.approach is really important and that's where we have been making our

:29:47. > :29:49.films which we've crowd funded to try and get the experience of those

:29:50. > :29:51.who have been there and done that out there and have the difficult

:29:52. > :29:57.conversations particularly with young people, but the question of

:29:58. > :30:01.support when people have returned and including those people who have

:30:02. > :30:06.been convicted and are leaving prisons, I think there is 418 so far

:30:07. > :30:10.who have left of which two-thirds have not accepted the support that

:30:11. > :30:14.is currently provided. So the question therefore, is how do we

:30:15. > :30:19.better provide a rewhat bill tative system and a programme that's more

:30:20. > :30:24.holistic in first of all preventing people from the grass-roots of going

:30:25. > :30:27.there in the first place? It really winds people up when we talk about

:30:28. > :30:31.support for those who have been convicted. I understand where you're

:30:32. > :30:37.coming from, but you can see how it works.

:30:38. > :30:43.When people return, the full force of the law is brought to bear. It

:30:44. > :30:48.was in Germany, Samuel was found not guilty. The difficulty of convicting

:30:49. > :30:53.people who have become involved, even if they did not fight, shows we

:30:54. > :30:56.need to consider how we deal with offences around proscribed

:30:57. > :31:03.organisations like Islamic State. Is it enough that you can be convicted

:31:04. > :31:07.of involvement with a prescribed organisation just for fighting or

:31:08. > :31:12.providing support? Is there a way we can develop the laws to understand

:31:13. > :31:16.that if you work as part of that organisation, even if you are not

:31:17. > :31:20.carrying a gun, there is still an offence you can be convicted of? At

:31:21. > :31:25.once people are acquitted, there needs to be that continuation of

:31:26. > :31:30.involvement with the authorities, that can't be the end of the

:31:31. > :31:34.process. We need to make sure the Government has as wide ranging and

:31:35. > :31:37.consistent a policy as possible, so individuals receive the same support

:31:38. > :31:52.regardless of what happened. The situation in Aleppo is described

:31:53. > :31:57.as a complete meltdown of humanity by the UN. Google talk live to a

:31:58. > :32:01.representative from the UN and we will hear from some more civilians

:32:02. > :32:05.in the east of the city who said they are facing an absolutely

:32:06. > :32:13.desperate situation. We are facing one of the most

:32:14. > :32:21.difficult or the most serious or be most horrible massacre that is in

:32:22. > :32:27.the history. Also, much more parochial, we will

:32:28. > :32:31.talk about the BBC Music Awards, where Adele was the big winner for

:32:32. > :32:35.the second year in a row. This is the best night of my life!

:32:36. > :32:38.With the news, here's Annita in the BBC Newsroom.

:32:39. > :32:42.The Government says it's prepared to consider banning strikes

:32:43. > :32:45.on the railways as thousands of passengers in the south-east

:32:46. > :32:47.of England find themselves unable to get to work.

:32:48. > :32:53.Drivers from the Aslef union began a 48-hour walkout

:32:54. > :32:56.on the Southern Rail network at midnight, with a further 24-hour

:32:57. > :33:00.There will be no trains on any route and people are warned not to travel.

:33:01. > :33:03.Passengers have already suffered months of disruption in the dispute

:33:04. > :33:12.The United Nations warns it has received reports of pro-government

:33:13. > :33:15.forces entering houses in east Aleppo and killing those inside,

:33:16. > :33:18.The UN says it has reliable evidence of 82 civilians

:33:19. > :33:21.Syrian government forces say they are close to taking

:33:22. > :33:25.full control of the city after a four-year

:33:26. > :33:29.Rebel fighters are now trapped in a small pocket of their former

:33:30. > :33:32.stronghold in the east, along with thousands of civilians.

:33:33. > :33:35.We'll have more on the situation in Aleppo shortly.

:33:36. > :33:38.UK inflation rose to 1.2% in November, the highest rate

:33:39. > :33:45.Increases in the prices of clothing, fuel and hotel and restaurant

:33:46. > :33:46.charges were behind the slightly

:33:47. > :33:55.But there were falls in air fares and food and non-alcoholic drinks.

:33:56. > :33:59.Join me for BBC Newsroom Live at 11am.

:34:00. > :34:01.Here are the sport headlines now with Olly Foster.

:34:02. > :34:02.These are our headlines this morning.

:34:03. > :34:05.Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d'Or,

:34:06. > :34:08.the world's best footballer award, for a fourth time.

:34:09. > :34:11.He finished ahead of five-time winner Lionel Messi.

:34:12. > :34:14.He won the European Cup with Real Madrid and the European

:34:15. > :34:19.Gareth Bale and Jamie Vardy came sixth and eighth.

:34:20. > :34:20.Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has been banned

:34:21. > :34:23.from driving for 18 months after pleading guilty

:34:24. > :34:28.He has released a statement saying the judge accepted that he had "not

:34:29. > :34:33.Toure, who is Muslim, was arrested in East London

:34:34. > :34:45.Sale Sharks have signed the super league record try scorer from

:34:46. > :34:49.Castleford. He had announced his retirement from the 13 man game

:34:50. > :34:52.despite having two years left on his contract. His former club

:34:53. > :34:53.threatening to take the matter to the High Court.

:34:54. > :34:56.And, one of the great jockeys, Walter Swinburn, has

:34:57. > :35:01.His most-famous victory was on Shergar, when he was

:35:02. > :35:04.Nicknamed the Choirboy, he went on to become a successful

:35:05. > :35:13.trainer following his retirement as a jockey.

:35:14. > :35:18.That is all the sport from me, I am back on BBC News through the rest of

:35:19. > :35:20.the day. The United Nations has expressed

:35:21. > :35:22.alarm at reports of massacres against large numbers of people,

:35:23. > :35:24.including children, in Aleppo as the Syrian army comes close

:35:25. > :35:31.to defeating opposition fighters. The rebels are now trapped in a tiny

:35:32. > :35:38.area under heavy bombardment, Although we have no idea exactly how

:35:39. > :35:50.many. You may possibly be immune

:35:51. > :35:52.to reports of the fighting there. It's been going on for a long time,

:35:53. > :35:55.after all, and nothing Apart from more people

:35:56. > :35:58.being killed, of course. But there are warnings this morning

:35:59. > :36:01.of yet more atrocities in the east. It's feared civilians, dads,

:36:02. > :36:03.brothers, mums, sisters, children, are being slaughtered

:36:04. > :36:05.on the streets. Syrian state TV shows some people

:36:06. > :36:10.in parts of the city celebrating after the army swept

:36:11. > :36:42.through more rebel districts. Some posts on social media tell

:36:43. > :36:45.a very different story. Residents have been posting

:36:46. > :36:48.their wills and saying goodbye to their families because they don't

:36:49. > :36:52.expect to survive. This tweet from someone

:36:53. > :37:37.inside Aleppo. The White helmets are a Syrian

:37:38. > :38:13.volunteer group. We haven't been able to verify

:38:14. > :38:17.all of the tweets we've shown. On the programme yesterday we spoke

:38:18. > :38:20.to Abdul Kafi Alhamado, an English teacher in eastern

:38:21. > :38:24.Aleppo. We can now speak to the UN's

:38:25. > :38:33.humanitarian adviser We heard from one resident who no

:38:34. > :38:40.longer believes in the United Nations, and he is right not to,

:38:41. > :38:48.isn't he? I would not blame him, because the United Nations members

:38:49. > :38:52.have not been able to enable conditions for the humanitarian

:38:53. > :39:00.employees of the organisations, including me as an adviser, to come

:39:01. > :39:05.to the relief of the vulnerable civilians of East Aleppo, nor

:39:06. > :39:10.organise their escape. We have had four major initiatives since East

:39:11. > :39:17.Aleppo became besieged in July. Each of them has failed, because the

:39:18. > :39:27.parties to this conflict and their sponsors have not agreed to enable

:39:28. > :39:31.our access or safety and security of those to escape. That we are trying

:39:32. > :39:38.again today, there are still thousands of people in desperate

:39:39. > :39:42.situations that could get out, so we are trying again today, we are

:39:43. > :39:47.trying every day and night for weeks. We are not giving up as long

:39:48. > :39:53.as there are people in this who need our support. When you say you are

:39:54. > :39:56.trying again today, can you give our audience and insight into what that

:39:57. > :40:07.trying actually involves? You pick up the phone, who do you talk to? We

:40:08. > :40:12.do have contact to those inside. The desperate civilians. We have even

:40:13. > :40:20.more graphic reports that the tweet he referred to. Then we talk to the

:40:21. > :40:26.armed groups inside, to make sure that they are willing to enable

:40:27. > :40:34.escape. Then we go to the Russian diplomat and the Russian military

:40:35. > :40:37.directly. We go to the Syrian Government, both the civilian and

:40:38. > :40:45.the monetary authorities, and we ask for a safe corridor. A pause in the

:40:46. > :40:52.fighting so we can send enough few calls to the front line point to

:40:53. > :41:01.receive those who can come to that point or ask to enter into the

:41:02. > :41:06.battle scene, to get them out. Again and again, day and night, we have

:41:07. > :41:11.tried this, and each time it has halted because one side says, no, we

:41:12. > :41:20.will condition this on something else, or, no, we cannot guarantee to

:41:21. > :41:25.stop the fighting, we were attacked and our ago, so we will not halt our

:41:26. > :41:30.fighting. It has been endless, this lack of humanity, and the lack of

:41:31. > :41:38.willingness, ability, to enable basic humanity. You said you had had

:41:39. > :41:43.more graphic reports that some of the social media messages that we

:41:44. > :41:48.read out. What facts do you have about the situation in the east of

:41:49. > :41:55.Aleppo? What I am concerned with are the reports that some of the

:41:56. > :42:06.victorious militia, if you like, taking over areas, shooting

:42:07. > :42:11.civilians. Men, but also women and children. Health workers and others.

:42:12. > :42:16.These are reports that we cannot independently verify, but these are

:42:17. > :42:21.eyewitness accounts that are sent to us, and it is heartbreaking to be a

:42:22. > :42:28.humanitarian, have colleagues outside, brave colleagues, who have

:42:29. > :42:34.the supplies and the willingness to evacuate, and are being denied

:42:35. > :42:44.access. We will see whether these reports of atrocities are all or

:42:45. > :42:50.some true. There will be an hour of accountability, investigations, I

:42:51. > :42:54.hope. Today, our urgency is to help people out of the rubble, the

:42:55. > :43:05.wounded as well as the vulnerable still inside.

:43:06. > :43:07.Let's get the latest from our correspondent

:43:08. > :43:21.From what we understand from Syrian state TV, the pro-government forces

:43:22. > :43:28.now control around 98 sent of East Aleppo, the rebels have been pushed

:43:29. > :43:33.back into an area in the south-east. Fighting is still going on, the

:43:34. > :43:39.rebels still hold for neighbourhoods. It is an area of

:43:40. > :43:43.around three square kilometres, according to Syrian state military.

:43:44. > :43:50.Tens of thousands still trapped in that area. The fear from rebels and

:43:51. > :43:56.activists in those areas is that a bombardment will inflict further

:43:57. > :44:02.casualties and more loss of life, because they are in such a condensed

:44:03. > :44:08.area at the moment. Even while there is and joy in the West, rumours of

:44:09. > :44:19.the war coming to an end, it has not finished just yet.

:44:20. > :44:30.The Government may consider banning strikes on the railways. Phil is in.

:44:31. > :44:33.Where are we? Two things are going on. The Government say there is

:44:34. > :44:38.nothing they can do about the current dispute at Southern Rail, I

:44:39. > :44:42.had a chat with Chris Grayling, he is adamant he cannot sort it out

:44:43. > :44:47.because he does not have the legal powers to resolve it. It might seem

:44:48. > :44:52.extraordinary, we have 300,000 people who cannot get into work,

:44:53. > :44:56.2000 services cancelled, a rail minister who resigned because of the

:44:57. > :45:02.gift buckle, and yet the Secretary of State says there is the Vicky can

:45:03. > :45:07.do, but he says once the dispute is over he will look at the possibility

:45:08. > :45:11.of new strike laws to make sure this cannot happen again. He is not

:45:12. > :45:17.specific about what he is talking about, it could be a ban on strikes

:45:18. > :45:20.on the railways, which would be a nuclear option, no other European

:45:21. > :45:24.country does that, it would run into all sorts of human rights

:45:25. > :45:30.legislation, so it would be extraordinarily difficult to do, but

:45:31. > :45:31.he says he is prepared to look at tougher strike laws. This is what he

:45:32. > :45:37.said this morning. Eople from the grass-roots of going

:45:38. > :45:40.there in the first place? It really winds people up when we talk about

:45:41. > :45:42.support for those who have been convicted. I understand where you're

:45:43. > :45:44.coming from, but you can see how it works.

:45:45. > :45:47.Raez We are going to have to look at all options when the strike is over,

:45:48. > :45:50.but right now the important thing is to get the trains running again and

:45:51. > :45:53.to get people back to work and to get people back travelling again.

:45:54. > :46:00.The Government only tightened up the law, what about a year or so ago? So

:46:01. > :46:05.whether they could actually do it is another thing altogether. You sense

:46:06. > :46:09.that pretty much commuters are just stuck in the middle here between

:46:10. > :46:14.unions, pretty much determined to stand their ground and the company

:46:15. > :46:17.also prepared to stand their ground and a Secretary of State who is

:46:18. > :46:22.adamant that at the moment there is nothing he can do.

:46:23. > :46:26.That was Norman Smith at Westminster.

:46:27. > :46:30.Andy McDonald is the Labour Shadow Transport Minister.

:46:31. > :46:31.Heather Barrie is a small business owner.

:46:32. > :46:35.Ann Matthews is small business owner.

:46:36. > :46:44.Ann tell us about your business. I have got a small catering vehicle.

:46:45. > :46:47.We sell coffee and porridge and flapjacks to commuters at Brighton

:46:48. > :46:54.train station. How is business going? Not great at all. There is a

:46:55. > :46:58.massive drop, we've noticed over the past eight or ninety months in

:46:59. > :47:03.general foot fall really. Are you going to have to shut up shop? Yeah,

:47:04. > :47:08.that's correct. We've taken the decision to actually finish trading

:47:09. > :47:14.on 23rd December. Wow. How do you feel about that? It is not great. We

:47:15. > :47:23.have been running this for the last two-and-a-half years. It was new. It

:47:24. > :47:30.was exciting. It was something really good to do at that point, but

:47:31. > :47:35.it is not working now. Would you mind Ann just showing us around? Can

:47:36. > :47:43.you move the camera so we can see your mobile tea shop. We have a

:47:44. > :47:57.coffee machine in this little corner here. Lovely cabinet here full of

:47:58. > :48:03.flapjacks. More flapjacks up here. Thank you. Thank you, Ann. Let me

:48:04. > :48:08.bring in Heather then, how much have you lost because of the strikes? It

:48:09. > :48:12.will be about ?3,000 in turnover. That's just gone. I can't make it

:48:13. > :48:18.back once the days have gone, you can't get them back. What is your

:48:19. > :48:22.business? I run a coffee bar similar to Ann's, I am at arrunnedle train

:48:23. > :48:26.station. I have noticed on the days when it is just the RMT out, there

:48:27. > :48:30.are still obviously, there is still commuters and I have to look after

:48:31. > :48:34.them because they have had torrid journeys the day before, but then on

:48:35. > :48:38.the days with ASLEF going out, there is no trains, I have no business and

:48:39. > :48:44.there is nobody there today at all. So I have no income.

:48:45. > :48:49.We were hoping to talk to the General secretary of ASLEF, Mike

:48:50. > :48:54.Whelan, he was due to be here, but he hasn't been able to join us.

:48:55. > :49:00.Let's talk to Andy McDonald who is Labour's transport spokesman. Do you

:49:01. > :49:03.condemn the strikes, Mr McDonald? This is dreadful the impact this is

:49:04. > :49:08.having on small businesses and they have lost jobs as a result. I

:49:09. > :49:11.reserve my condemnation for a Secretary of State who seems to want

:49:12. > :49:15.to absent himself from this situation. This is a complete

:49:16. > :49:18.failure of industrial relations and what a Secretary of State should be

:49:19. > :49:24.doing is getting involved and resolving this and I urge him to

:49:25. > :49:27.call the parties in, to start talks now without any preconditions and

:49:28. > :49:30.let's get this resolved. It is resolvable and the people who have

:49:31. > :49:34.been suffering for all of these weeks and months deserve that

:49:35. > :49:38.attention by the Secretary of State. I hear your condemnation of the

:49:39. > :49:44.Government. Do you condemn strike action? Well, Victoria, the courts

:49:45. > :49:48.have decided that this is a legitimate dispute. The substance of

:49:49. > :49:51.it isn't about money or terms and conditions, it is about passenger

:49:52. > :49:55.safety and for me to condemn a strike that's focussed on that is to

:49:56. > :50:00.effectively say that it is perfectly OK to run these sorts of risks and

:50:01. > :50:04.they are significant and serious risks and I will never get myself

:50:05. > :50:07.into a situation where I'm going to be prepared to compromise on

:50:08. > :50:12.people's safety, that's what this is about. Well, let's talk ton and

:50:13. > :50:19.Heather. Is it about passenger safety? I have to say I see both

:50:20. > :50:22.sides of the argument, but I think they have such, I am a train

:50:23. > :50:25.traveller as well. I want somebody on the train. So I think they have

:50:26. > :50:28.got a legitimate argument. There will be someone on the train. There

:50:29. > :50:33.will be the driver and another member of staff. Which I totally

:50:34. > :50:39.understand. There won't be a guard/conductor? It seems it is

:50:40. > :50:44.petty that it has come down to who opens the doors, but Southern have

:50:45. > :50:47.lots of curved platformses. It feels like these two bull elephants are

:50:48. > :50:52.going at each other and it is everybody, I don't know anybody who

:50:53. > :50:54.hasn't been affected, it is businesses, mums and students,

:50:55. > :50:57.everybody has been affected by this and there doesn't seem to be an end.

:50:58. > :51:03.There is no political will to do anything.

:51:04. > :51:06.Mr McDonald, to come back to you for a moment, Chris Grayling was saying

:51:07. > :51:10.this morning that he wrote last night after the court action last

:51:11. > :51:14.night, he wrote last night to the unions in order to get back around

:51:15. > :51:17.the table and still hasn't had a response? It is with conditions.

:51:18. > :51:22.What I'm saying is different. I'm saying have the talks without any

:51:23. > :51:26.preconditions. That's how you get discussions and negotiations going.

:51:27. > :51:30.I don't know which way he wants to play this, because on the one hand

:51:31. > :51:35.he says he can't do anything and yet he is making this proposal. If he is

:51:36. > :51:40.making the proposal, take the conditions off it and gets the talks

:51:41. > :51:45.going today. The RMT put forward a proposal that would have accepted

:51:46. > :51:50.the transmission to on board supervisors, but retaining the same

:51:51. > :51:53.safety critical competencies whilst new protocols are established in

:51:54. > :52:00.conjunction with the drivers. That would bring this dispute to an end

:52:01. > :52:04.immediately and I urge him to take that opportunity to take that offer

:52:05. > :52:08.and get on with this rather than threatening people with bans on

:52:09. > :52:13.strikes. I mean, where on earth are we going with that? You don't like

:52:14. > :52:20.that idea then? That's a horrendous idea to suggest that people would

:52:21. > :52:23.not have the right to progress their grievances and concerns. This is

:52:24. > :52:31.about passenger safety at the end of the day. We know for a fact that

:52:32. > :52:37.there are significant dangers in asking drivers to supervise the...

:52:38. > :52:41.Well do we know for a fact? A third of the rail network this is exactly

:52:42. > :52:45.what happens? Horses for courses when you have got the circumstances

:52:46. > :52:49.that permit driver-only operation, but when you have a known risk and

:52:50. > :52:55.when the rail safety standards board say whilst there is nothing wrong in

:52:56. > :52:59.the mechanism DOO makes an accident more likely to happen and if it does

:53:00. > :53:02.happen, it will be severe. Now, we have seen people dragged down

:53:03. > :53:06.platforms and sustaining life changing injuries. This is not

:53:07. > :53:10.something we can just ignore and hope will go away. If we ban people

:53:11. > :53:14.bringing this to our attention in the way the unions are, what are we

:53:15. > :53:19.going to do? Allow the whole thing to let rip? We are having a

:53:20. > :53:24.conversation about injuries and perhaps even worse. So let's avoid

:53:25. > :53:28.that. Let's get this sorted out and let's listen to people's proper and

:53:29. > :53:35.legitimate concerns about safety. Go ahead Ann. At Brighton train station

:53:36. > :53:39.there are two different services. One has conductors at the moment,

:53:40. > :53:43.guards and the other one doesn't. They're driver honl operated, what's

:53:44. > :53:46.the difference? They're both leaving the same train station and they have

:53:47. > :53:51.had the same number of commuters and they are both going to London. Why

:53:52. > :53:57.do they operate differently? What's the difference? I don't know

:53:58. > :54:02.the answer to that, Ann, do you Mr McDonald? I don't know about those

:54:03. > :54:06.specific circumstances, but when you have got 12 carriages and curved

:54:07. > :54:10.platforms it is putting responsibility on the driver to view

:54:11. > :54:14.12 and perhaps even more screens that are no bigger than a mobile

:54:15. > :54:19.phone and to make a decision about the safe dispatch of the train and

:54:20. > :54:23.we see the scenes of thousands of people crowding upon these platforms

:54:24. > :54:27.and to put that responsibility upon a driver to say off you g the train

:54:28. > :54:32.can safely dispatch, is asking for trouble. I think we have got to take

:54:33. > :54:36.proper note of their concerns. Thank you very much.

:54:37. > :54:40.Thank you very much, Ann. Thank you for coming on the programme. I wish

:54:41. > :54:43.you all the best, I really do. Heather, thank you for coming into

:54:44. > :54:48.the studio. Good luck with your business. Thank you so much.

:54:49. > :54:51.Adele has dominated the BBC Music Awards for a second year

:54:52. > :54:53.in a row without ever making an appearance.

:54:54. > :54:56.She picked up two of the main prizes - Song of the Year,

:54:57. > :55:00.for Hello, and Album of the Year, for 25.

:55:01. > :55:04.But Robbie Wlliams, John Legend and the 1975 were plus a rather

:55:05. > :55:06.strange Ricky Wilson from Kaiser Chiefs posing

:55:07. > :55:15.A warning, there is flash photography coming up.

:55:16. > :55:37.So the winner of the BBC Radio 2 Album of the Year goes to...

:55:38. > :55:49.We just got told about winning this beautiful BBC

:55:50. > :55:53.We're about to go on stage in Australia.

:55:54. > :56:14.# It goes a little something like this.

:56:15. > :56:18.Bieber at the Beeb, Olly Murs, Tom Odell, Bastille's day.

:56:19. > :56:24.This is the best moment of my whole life.

:56:25. > :56:27.She can't be here but she sent me instead to accept

:56:28. > :56:44.Our music reporter, Mark Savage was there last

:56:45. > :56:58.Does it matter if people who win these awards aren't there? Three

:56:59. > :57:01.awards went to two that weren't there. They are not giving the

:57:02. > :57:04.awards to the people who have turned up which is happens at a lot of

:57:05. > :57:07.these ceremonies. The BBC's argument is we gave it to the right people

:57:08. > :57:13.and it is a shame they couldn't make it, but Adele is on holiday, she is

:57:14. > :57:17.on a break from her World Tour and Coldplay are in Australia play to go

:57:18. > :57:21.millions of people. Who else picked up gongs and what was Ricky Wilson

:57:22. > :57:28.playing at? Ricky Wilson was stood next to me on the red carpet asking

:57:29. > :57:34.strange questions! Did you know it was him? I called over the PA to

:57:35. > :57:38.say, "I think you need to be wary of this guy." They were all in on T

:57:39. > :57:43.some of the questions he was asking, I was thinking, "I wouldn't get away

:57:44. > :57:48.with this." Like what? Well, he was asking people what they had for

:57:49. > :58:03.dinner and whether they were going to burp it up on stage! The 1975 won

:58:04. > :58:09.the Best Live performance of the year. It sounds like an all right

:58:10. > :58:11.night. It was a good night out. I only had three hours sleep! I'm

:58:12. > :58:18.bleary. He gets up at 4. .15am. On the programme tomorrow,

:58:19. > :58:20.British actor Douglas Booth and we meet the women desperate

:58:21. > :58:24.to find their sugar daddy.