22/02/2018 Breakfast

Good morning, it's Thursday

the 22nd of February.

Anger at the White House. Donald

Trump listens to the stories of

survivors of school shootings.

I

turned 18 the day after, woke up to

the news that my best friend was

gone. I don't understand why I could

still go in a store and buy a weapon

of war.

The president promises

change and suggests arming teachers

could be the answer.

Good morning, it's Thursday

the 22nd of February.

Also this morning:

Anti-depressants

do work and more of us should be

taking them according

to new scientific research.

Could the squeeze on pay finally be

over and living standards on the up?

A new report says yes,

I'll look at who is set to benefit.

And I'm in Pendle, home of GB

slalom skier Dave Ryding.

He started on the dry slopes here.

They are so proud, he came in the

top ten, ninth, well done to Dave.

Disappointment for the men's curling

team, they are out must work the way

this morning by Switzerland.

Theresa

May, where's the money for Grenfell?

A strong message

from Stormzy as the grime superstar

wins big

at the Brits.

And Nick has the weather.

Good morning. A touch of frost,

patchy fog around this morning but

plenty of fine, dry weather to come,

not just today, for the rest of the

week and into the weekend with

increasing sunshine by then. The

main story is the turning colder

part of the forecast and how cold it

will get next week. I've got the

full forecast coming up.

Nick, thank you very much.

Good morning.

First, our main story.

President Trump says he's

considering arming teachers

with guns and tightening background

checks on people buying weapons

after last week's school shootings

in Florida which left

17 people dead.

Mr Trump was speaking

at a meeting at the White House

where he listened to emotional

and angry testimony from survivors

of gun crime and their families.

Barbara Plett-Usher reports.

The people demand a hearing. In

Florida telling their lawmakers loud

and clear, they don't want this mass

shooting to drop off the political

agenda like all the others have. At

the White House, President Trump was

listening to victims of the parkland

school attack but also those that

came before it. Andrew Pollack's

18-year-old daughter, Meadow, was

killed last week.

Doesn't make

sense, fix it, should have been one

school shooting and we should have

fixed it. And I'm kissed. It's my

daughter I'm not going to see again.

She's not here, she's not here,

she's in North Lauderdale at

whatever it is, King David Cemetery,

that's where I go see my kid now.

It

doesn't make sense to her

schoolmate, Samuel Zaif either,

especially the gunman's access to a

semiautomatic rifle.

I don't

understand, I turned 18 the day

after, woke up to the news that my

best friend was gone and I don't

understand why I could still go in a

store and buy a weapon of war.

The

president has responded to calls for

tougher gun laws with promises of

strong background checks, but also

more guns.

It's called concealed

carry where a teacher would have a

concealed gun on them. They go for

special training.

There is some

support for that argument, but

students who survived the attack

flooded Florida's state legislature

demanding a ban on assault rifles.

Never again!

The students aim to

harness that momentum and turn it

into a national campaign. Barbara

Plett-Usher, BBC News, Tallahassee,

Florida.

The largest study of its kind

into the use of anti-depressants has

found that they ARE effective

when treating depression.

A review of more than 500 trials,

published in The Lancet,

found 21 common anti-depressants

were more effective at reducing

symptoms of acute

depression than placebos.

Andrew Plant reports.

They're one of the most commonly

used drugs in the world

with millions of prescriptions

for antidepressants given

out every year.

That's more than one prescription

per person. But four years there's

been debate and doubt over how

effective they really are. Now the

University of Oxford has analysed

the data on a huge scale and says

everyone of the 21 drugs they looked

that did help patients to manage

their depression.

We found the most

commonly prescribed and

antidepressants worked for major

depression and for people with

moderate to severe depression, and

we also found some of them are more

effective than others, or better

tolerated than others.

Many who take

antidepressants say there is still a

stigma attached to using the

medication.

When I first started

taking them, the first question

asked was when are you going to come

off them, are you going to take them

for a short amount of time? It

doesn't really work like that. You

wouldn't say to a diabetic, when are

you going to wean yourself off

insulin, you know? I think people

need to realise that the benefits...

It's an ongoing thing.

The study

also ranked the drugs according to

how effective they were, which could

help doctors pick the right

prescriptions for their patients.

Andrew Plant, BBC News.

Theresa May will try to overcome

differences among her senior

ministers on Brexit.

It's being billed as an 'awayday'

at the Prime Minister's country

residence, Chequers.

This is an away day with a bit of a

difference?

It is. The Cabinet big

hitters will head 40 miles

north-west of here at Westminster to

the rolling Buckinghamshire

countryside to the 16th century

manor house, Chequers, the Prime

Minister's country retreat. It is

Roald Dahl country in that part of

Buckinghamshire, the author spent

much of his life there and the whole

Brexit process can feel a bit

squiggle ink at times, I love those

Roald Dahl made up words. Let's talk

about some of the central characters

in the plot today. Firstly and

centrally we have the Prime

Minister, she will be chairing the

meeting today of these senior

ministers, trying to find an

agreement about what the end state

should look like, our relationship

with the EU. That's once we are out

the EU and the transition and

implementation period is over. Who

else will be there? This guy, David

Davis, the Brexit Secratary, he had

a goat in Vienna in a speech talking

about the future relationship -- had

a go. Whenever you look at the

Cabinet, the country and the

parliament, there's different views.

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, has

recently talked about wanting a

moderate change with the EU

relationship after Brexit and there

are those who argued for Brexit, you

might recognise this chap, Boris

Johnson, the Foreign Secretary,

among others, who say there should

be able attachment from the EU in

the future. They're just the

negotiations in the Cabinet. Then

the negotiations with Brussels get

under way in earnest. They say they

don't want the UK picking and

choosing the rules and regulations

it stays close to or to ditch in the

future. And to use that phrase we

hear a lot of, the clock continues

to tick, 400 days until Brexit day

on the 29th of March next year.

OK,

400 days. Chris, 400 days more of

analysis. Thank you very much.

The United Nations Security Council

is expected to vote later today

on a draft resolution demanding a 30

day month-long ceasefire in Syria

to allow deliveries of aid

and medical evacuations.

The move comes as international

concern grows over

the Syrian government's intense

bombardment of the rebel-held area

of Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus.

Reports suggest more than 300

people have been killed

in the district since Sunday.

People convicted of domestic abuse

offences in England and Wales

will be more likely to go

to prison in future,

under new sentencing guidelines.

For the first time,

the guidance will say domestic

offences should be treated more

seriously than similar crimes not

involving partners

or family members.

The new guidance will also extend

domestic abuse to threats

on social media.

A month of strikes affecting more

than 60 UK universities and one

million students is beginning today.

Lecturers are walking out over

changes to their pensions,

which they say could leave them up

to £10,000 a year worse

off in retirement.

Here's our education

correspondent Elaine Dunkley.

Thousands of lectures cancelled

across university campuses.

The strike's in response to plans

by vice chancellors to make changes

to the private pensions

of university staff.

We're going to see people really

lose probably in their retirement

up to 40% of what their

pensions were before.

The University and College Union

says lecturers, on average,

will lose up to £10,000 a year

from their pensions.

As many as 42,000 stuff at 64

universities will be affected.

Universities UK, which

represents vice chancellors,

says changes to the pension

are essential due to a deficit

of £6 billion.

If the dispute isn't

resolved by the summer,

exams could be cancelled.

More than 70,000 students have

signed a petition calling for fees

to be be reimbursed

for lost teaching hours.

It's extremely worrying

in terms of the impact

that it's going to have

on students' education.

But myself and a lot of other

students are very clear

that we unequivocally

support our lecturers

in this dispute.

It's quite scary to think about how

much time we're leaving,

and especially with how much money

we're paying every year,

I don't know whether we'll

get that time back,

especially with exams

coming up and everything.

14 days of action are planned

but it could go on longer.

A dispute which could

have a significant impact

on the retirement of

thousands of lecturers

on the careers of

millions of students.

Elaine Dunkley, BBC News.

How much time do you

spend on your phone?

A new survey says we're receiving,

on average, at least four times more

messages or alerts on our mobiles

than ten years ago.

The study by Virgin Mobile says

we receive an average of nearly

34,000 mobile phone

messages or alerts a year.

It means that people's phones beep

around 90 times a day

That's the equivalent

of spending 22 days a year

checking your messages.

In between the talking is better!

Stop the phone. Do you know, when we

do that and you have the sound

effects of the phone and those kinds

of things, it's quite annoying when

you're at home.

I just did that

phase, you note? Hello, Ben.

I know

that phase very well.

Now, now! Good

morning. It's annoying when it is

constant -- why I just did that

face, you know?

face, you know? Let's have a look at

the front pages of the newspapers.

Looking at the Brexit plan, this

important meeting in Chequers today.

We will look ahead with interest at

the messages that emerge later in

the day.

The Guardian picking up on

that. There are concerns among

Theresa May's cabinet, or about the

Cabinet, for some who want an

extreme Brexit, more closely aligned

to the situation we are in at the

moment with the EU. The picture is

our top story: Gun control, Donald

Trump has had a meeting with some of

those affected by gun crime. He met

with them yesterday. This is another

top story here, depression,

antidepressants do work, some are

more effective than others, there's

been a groundbreaking study on that.

That story also on the front page of

the Times. One of these harrowing

images from Syria making a lot of

the papers, the chaos that is in

assuming right now.

In case you were

worried, Lee and Cheryl are fine. On

the front page of the Times, doctors

should prescribe more

antidepressants, that is the son's

take on the latest research -- Liam

and Cheryl -- front page of the

Metro son -- Sun's of Barking

the best results for Lloyds since

the financial crisis.

Lloyds now

back in private ownership after the

big taxpayer bailout at the height

of the financial crisis. We'll get

the Barclays results later, keep an

eye on those. The Bank of England

yesterday signalling there could be

an end to the altar are cheap

mortgages we have got used to,

interest rates at record lows at the

moment, the governor of the Bank of

England suggesting there could be

four rises over the course of the

year, the first one we think could

be in about May.

Did he actually is

a four or hint?

He said something

more than three. -- did he actually

said four. More than many expected.

What the bank is careful about is

raising them too quickly, if

interest rates go up that means it

is more expensive to borrow,

especially mortgages, so we're just

coming out that squeeze, if you're

paying more for your mortgage you

might feel the squeeze.

It's worth

pointing out, mortgage rate rises

can make things difficult for

households but even if there were

four in the space of 12 months, they

are still historically low. That

doesn't change in the space of a

short period of time relatively.

The

issue... We should also talk about

savers, good news for them finally

after a decade of record low

interest rates, but the issue is the

fact there's a whole generation of

mortgage holders who have never seen

an interest rate rise. There's a

whole range of people who haven't

seen their payments go up so

psychologically it's a big change to

think about the money you're paying

on your mortgage could go up. Do you

know what a centi billionaire is?

100 billion.

Gave the game away a

bit. Breaking through $100 billion.

This is the world's richest people.

Bill Gates, he is at the top, this

man breaking through the barrier of

being worth more than $100 billion,

Jeff Bayes Oss, the founder of

Amazon. A select club, there's not

many in there, five of them at the

moment.

How do you say it, centi

billionaire? I don't think it works

very well.

No, I think you're right.

It sounds more like an animal than a

measure of wealth.

I don't think

they care too much if they're worth

$100 billion!

Good morning. Cold air on the way,

even

Good morning. Cold air on the way,

even colder than what it is. We will

look at that in just a moment. The

weather is very quiet. Mainly dry

today. There are just one or two

showers around that most of us will

see large amounts of cloud with

occasional sunshine coming through.

Let's take a look at the big

picture. To get these weather fronts

in the Atlantique, they are not

bothering us. It is high pressure

and mainly settled. Just patchy

frost around. Large amounts -- large

amounts of cloud and bright and

sunny spells coming through. You can

see them here to the east of

Northern Ireland. Don't be surprised

by that. A bit more of breeze in bed

with the rest of the UK. As we go

through tonight, large holes

developing. Frost taking hold for

more of us compare to last night

going into tomorrow morning. Not

many of us here, but you can see

where the Blues elsewhere.

where the Blues elsewhere. Nothing

widespread thankfully. A frosty

start compared with today. A few

more wind arrows showing up. The

wind becoming more of a factor.

Temperatures fairly similar. That is

still with us into the weekend, as

is high pressure to the east of us.

It's an easterly flow. Loads of

sunshine around at the weekend. Just

a bit of patchy cloud, maybe towards

Northern Ireland on Saturday. Most

of us will see plenty of sunshine,

overnight frost in the clear skies

and temperatures continuing to step

down as we pump in the blue from the

east. From Siberia. The colder areas

coming in. That's what we expect.

Even colder weather. An indication

of some of our top temperatures.

London, colder than elsewhere. A

bigger dip in temperature. Then, as

we go deeper into next week, a

chance for seeing some snow. The

cold there is definitely coming.

In the past few months,

the battle against plastic has been

brought into sharp focus,

in part thanks to the television

series Blue Planet Two.

series

Later today, annual waste

statistics will be published.

In recent years Wales has

outperformed the rest of the UK

at recycling household waste.

We've sent Breakfast's John Maguire

to New Quay Bay to find out why.

Why they so much better in Wales

compared to the rest the UK?

The

next few minutes will reveal all.

They do well in Wales. The of court

-- of course is whether it is

top-down or bottom-up. We are joined

by some locals from New Quay. They

are going to do a bit of a beach

clean, tell us about the kind of

things they find on the beach. I

suppose, its partnership really

between local authorities,

government and residents and

volunteer groups, charities,

committee groups, to try to get

serious about the problem. I think

you are right. It seems as if Blue

Planet II was a real watershed

moment. So many have woken up to the

problem of plastics in the ocean.

But this is what we do so well here.

It's a bin day in Bridgend and on

the curbside, a rainfall of refuse.

Orange bags the cardboard, white

paper, Brown for food. There are

even bags the nappies, purple, and

just two blue bags of non-

recyclables collected every other

week. Residents who transgress risk

being fined but locals here seem

happy.

Good, yeah. Good for the

environment and everything, keeps

everyone on the toes.

I've got a

child who is eight as well and he

finds it because he chucked

everything in the bin but just

getting him used to it.

Once you are

used to it, you are all right? Yeah.

Bridgend Council as reaching rates

other councils dream of, reaching

74%. The recycling level in Wales is

64% against a UK average of 44%. The

pretty coastal village here is

cutting down on single use plastic

and has been awarded the special

status by the environmental

status by the environmental campaign

group Surfers against sewerage. The

local shop owner Mike Allen shows me

around. They haven't banned

plastics, they are offering

alternatives. Wooden clothes pegs,

looseleaf tea, and even a toothbrush

made from bamboo.

Wooden

toothbrushes. Those are our second

biggest seller. They seem to have

attracted people's attention. We

have the plastic with those as well.

There are around 150 Dolphins living

out in Cardigan Bay. The environment

here is jealously guarded and it was

a concern about ocean plastics that

inspired resident Gail Tudor to

rally community support.

You look at

the beautiful beach and you think it

is pretty clean but when you start

going down and see the stock that

has washed up, in the seaweed, it's

not. That is left by holidaymakers

and local people, a lot of it is

washed in.

The talk here is that

cutting down on waste, especially

plastic, can spread to the next

village, the next county, the next

country. Plastics are under attack

from people power.

Welcome back to New Quay. I want to

talk to Hannah. The Environment

Minister for Wales, how come Wales

is doing so well in leading the way

to the UK Western Mike we are just

over 5% of the recycling and now

we're up to 64%.

It is a record to

be proud of. In terms of how we've

got there, it's a combination of

political leadership, but also

working with local authorities for

statutory targets and funding and

things like waste treatment and

collection.

Lots of carrot and

stick. What about businesses and

larger organisations? Governments

and councils themselves.

It's one of

those things which is the

responsibility of all of us. We all

need to play our part. It's good to

see, particularly Welsh -based

businesses such as Iceland, with

plastics, but it is also working

together and how we go forward and

how we encourage businesses to be

part of that and it's vesting for

savers and as public consciousness

grows, that helps in applying

pressure on private organisations.

Hugo brand. You've been doing a lot

of work trying to reduce plastic,

your main drive and towns and

communities are getting this plastic

free status.

The criteria as five

objectives. Number one is trying to

get the local council involved. It

just means that as an official

target. Number two is to get around

all the businesses, get around into

the fish and chips shops, the cafes,

getting them to change their ways,

plastic straws and bottles.

Charles,

just come in very quickly. Some

breaking news for you. What can you

tell us about New Quay this morning?

New Quay has officially been

recognised as a plastic free village

community. Well done. We were told

on Monday but told to keep it quiet

for a few days. We can announce it

today.

Breaking news, New Quay has

become the latest plastic free

community along this coastline. A

beautiful location. You can see the

harbour behind me. We will have a

bit of a beach clean and see what we

can find and make the most of this

wonderful Cardigan Bay West Welsh

coastline.

You've started the morning off with

a bang. If you start with breaking

news, you need to bring something

every time we see you. It has to get

bigger and bigger. This is the place

to come for it. It's going to be

stunning their later.

The camera work on that report was

free styling. They should be in the

Winter Olympics.

At the Winter Olympics, written's

Dave Riding has finished well,

finishing the top ten of men's

slalom. Mike is with a bunch of

people.

We have been here all night, the tea

and copy has kept us going because

we watched his first run in the

men's slalom and his second run,

there was great excitement. He was

leading the way. We are pretty

pleased with that because this is

the legacy. We will

in half an hour.

Plenty more on our website

at the usual address.

Now though it's back

to Charlie and Naga.

Hello, this is Breakfast

with Naga Munchetty and Charlie

Stayt.

We'll bring you the latest news

and sport in just a moment.

Here's what's still

to come this morning:

Bring tumours in particularly grow

very quickly -- brain tumours. And

they're very hard to spot. However,

there is a good reason for hope.

That was Baroness Jowell,

who has a brain tumour,

talking about the Eliminate

Cancer Initiative.

We'll speak to her daughter

and the director of the project

ahead of a top-level

summit on the condition.

Hardship, secrets and family

conflict provide the

drama in Dark River.

Two of its stars, Luther's Ruth

Wilson and Game of Thrones'

Mark Stanley, will be on the sofa.

Living standards are set

to start rising again,

good news for some.

We'll examine why cuts to benefits

could see eight million

families losing out.

Here's a summary of today's main

stories from BBC News.

President Trump says he's

considering arming teachers

with guns and tightening background

checks on people buying weapons

after last week's school shootings

in Florida which left

17 people dead.

Mr Trump was speaking at a meeting

when he met survivors of gun crime

at the White House.

If you had a teacher with... Who was

adept at firearms, they could very

well end the attack very quickly,

and the thing about a suggestion

like that, and we're going to be

looking at it very strongly, and a

lot of people are going to be

opposed to it, but I think a lot of

it are going to like it.

But the suggestion

was met with opposition by some

students and families.

I turned 18 the day after,

woke up to the news that my best

friend was gone.

I don't understand why

I could still go in a store and buy

a weapon of war.

A major study into the use

of anti-depressants has found

that they ARE effective

when treating depression.

A review of more than 500 trials,

published in the medical

journal the Lancet, found 21 common

anti-depressants were more effective

at reducing symptoms of acute

depression than placebos.

Researchers say that many more

people in the UK could benefit

from taking the drugs.

Theresa May will try to overcome

differences among her senior

ministers on Brexit today.

She will chair a meeting intended

to hammer out the cabinet's position

on future relations

with the European Union.

The discussion at Chequers comes

after new disagreements flared

yesterday among the Conservatives,

when the government published

its strategy for working with

Brussels during a transition period.

The United Nations Security Council

is expected to vote later today

on a draft resolution demanding a 30

day month-long ceasefire in Syria

to allow deliveries of aid

and medical evacuations.

The move comes as international

concern grows over

the Syrian government's intense

bombardment of the rebel-held area

of Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus.

Reports suggest more than 300

people have been killed

in the district since Sunday.

The UN Secretary General described

Eastern Ghouta as hell on earth.

People convicted of domestic abuse

offences in England and Wales

will be more likely to go

to prison in future,

under new sentencing guidelines.

For the first time,

the guidance will say domestic

offences should be treated more

seriously than similar crimes not

involving partners

or family members.

The new guidance will also extend

domestic abuse to threats

on social media.

Three passengers died in the

accident earlier this month while

for more people, including the

pilot, were badly injured. A

preliminary report by accident

investigators doesn't say why the

helicopter crash.

A month of strikes affecting 64 UK

universities and a million

students begins today.

Lecturers are walking out over

changes to their pensions,

which they say could leave them up

to ten thousand pounds a year worse

off in retirement.

Their employer, Universities UK,

says the pension scheme has a six

billion pound deficit

which can't be ignored.

If you don't have a head

for heights look away now.

Snaking through the mountains

of northern China,

this is the world's longest

glass suspension bridge.

Spanning nearly 500 metres

with a vertical drop of more

than 200 metres, it is supposed

to represent a dragon

flying through the valley.

It's made up of 1,077 glass panels

and is designed to take up to 2-,000

people at a time.

Don't worry about the number of

people walking along it.

Some of those images, it appeared to

move quite a lot. Especially given

the numbers of people on it.

500

metres! Talking of daring feats, we

can catch up with the Winter

Olympics.

Dave Ryding is Britain's

star Slalom skier.

He had two runs overnight

in Pyeongchang.

Mike is on a dry slope in Pendle,

where Dave honed his skills.

Good morning.

Good morning, when he

was six years old, he was told by

his parents, unless he had a go on

the dry slope he wouldn't be able to

go on holiday and the rest is

history. He's transformed the

landscape when it comes to Brits

competing in Alpine skiing. They are

so proud for him, they wanted to

stay up all night during on his runs

in the warmth of the clubhouse. Most

of the kids are on the ski slopes.

We had two runs, the first one was

about 1:30 a.m., great excitement,

he was doing well enough, then 13,

but imagine the atmosphere in there

when at one point in the second run

he was into the gold position after

a fantastic second run in the

slalom, men's slalom, in Korea.

There were still plenty of others to

come, but he still ended up inside

the top ten in ninth place. This was

the reaction to this.

Dave the rocket Ryding.

It's

amazing, I've never seen someone

from Britain do that.

It's very

motivating knowing it is possible to

move from the dry slope to the snow.

I know a lot of people want to

follow in his foot steps.

Could that

be you next?

I'd love to, yeah.

The

man who learned to ply his trade on

the upturned toothbrushes of the

Pendle dry slope in Lancashire.

It's

exciting to see someone who comes

from a small club to be in a medal

position in the Olympics.

Tremendously exciting, it was great

to see him in first place just for

one run, it was fantastic. What an

experience.

Dave Ryding skiing for

gold-medal position in the Olympics.

It's his for the moment!

Now you see why it wasn't hard to

stay awake all night, fantastic

atmosphere. Basingstoke's Laurie

Taylor came 26th in his debut

Olympics.

Elsewhere in Pyeongchang,

Great Britain's curlers are out

of the Olympics.

They were swept away

by Switzerland in their one-off

playoff match for a place

in the semi-finals.

It had been an even match

until the penultimate end,

when the Swiss scored five stones!

9-4 the final score.

We came to our first Olympics and we

gave our best shot. We made the

play-offs. In the end we had a good

game today but it wasn't to be

sadly. A couple of things didn't go

our way. A couple of half shots and

that's all it takes against a team

as good as them. There's plenty to

look forward to going forward, just

need to take some time and reflect

on this experience and what we can

take from it.

Well, you've heard about Dave Ryding

this morning, but the man everyone

was supposed to beat in the slalom

was Marcel Hirscher.

He's been one of the stars

of the Games with two golds,

but lost control and missed

a gate in a massive shock!

And in the first ever Big Air

final in the Olympics,

Austria's Anna Gasser secured gold.

It's a spectacular event this one,

and Gasser had just too much gas

for her rivals!

In other sport, there

were two big talking points

from Manchester United's goalless

draw away to Sevilla

in the Champions League last night.

Record signing Paul Pogba

was left on the bench,

although he did replace the injured

Ander Herrera in the first half.

United's David de Gea made

some great saves to keep

the score at 0-0.

Victory by any margin in the second

leg at Old Trafford will see

Jose Mourinho's side

through to the quarter-finals.

Castleford Tigers have terminated

the contract of Zach Hardaker

after the player tested positive

for Cocaine in the lead up

to October's Super

League Grand Final.

He was provisionally suspended prior

to the defeat to Leeds Rhinos.

Hardaker only joined

the club in June last year.

It wasn't to be in the end for Dave

Ryding, he started as a young kid on

the dry slopes in Pendle in

beautiful Lancashire, but consider

he is up there in the top ten

alongside nations that take

mountains for granted, they have

them for fun in places like Norway

and Austria. Let's speak to one of

his former coaches, how will he be

feeling? Ninth at the Games.

Will be

pleased overall because anything can

happen in the Olympics and to think

people like Marcel Hirscher didn't

finish, he would have liked to have

finish a bit higher but ninth is

brilliant, we're really pleased.

In

a World Cup event last year he

managed the podium, second. That was

always a possibility at these Games.

It was, yes, one podium and he was

leading the race in Finland, which

was the first slalom race of the

season but unfortunately made a

mistake on the second running of the

bottom. Anything can happen and on

the day it doesn't always go to

form. To finish ninth, we're really

pleased.

Not surprised you're so

proud because when you compare how

he started to those countries where

snow is right on their doorstep, how

much of an achievement is it and

what is possible as well?

A massive

achievement, no one expected him to

do as well as he has given his

background, he only started skiing

on snow when he was 12. When he was

second in kids bill, it was a big

deal in Austria and they sent a film

crew to film him because they were

so surprised about where he came

from and they were surprised with

the surface he skied on and the fact

he has made it so far.

Let's have a

look at some of the skiers going

down in his footsteps, or ski

tracks, they can show us what an

inspiration he has been. What is the

Dave Ryding legacy already?

Massive,

the publicity it has created, not

only for racing but skiing as a

sport. It's encouraged some people

to have a go at racing and a lot of

people really enjoy it. You can have

a go whatever age you are but the

younger skiers have the best chance

of doing really well as they get

older and it encourages people to

participate, which is what we want.

Is it an elitist sport? On a track

like this?

Not as much as people

expect because this club is run on a

voluntary basis, everyone here, the

coaches, instructors, committee all

work on a voluntary basis so we can

keep the costs down to make it more

accessible for people. Our

membership is really high as a

result.

Lindsey, the new performance

director of British ski and

snowboard is, Dan Hunt, used to be

in charge of cycling, he says he

wants skiing to be in charge of the

next big swing. Is that realistic?

I

think it is. Snowboarding's

conference last year had him as the

keynote speaker and his message was

that, he wants to put skiing first

and make sure that we make the

progression we have made. We've got

people like Dave, Laurie Taylor,

some of the girls, Charlie Guest,

Alex Tilley, we're doing really

well. It is possible. Now we have

more publicity, there's more funding

coming in, which is great to take

the sport forward.

Fantastic,

Lindsay, thanks for staying up with

us. They say if you can ski on this

then you can ski anywhere and if you

think I've been walking funny, I

have got the boots on, I will get

some skis on at 7:30am to try it out

to see how accessible these slopes

are and how Dave Ryding started.

Very tricky to walk in ski boots

normally but I'm sure you will be

much more elegant on skis later on,

Mike.

Mike Bushell on skis at a dry

ski slope, what could go wrong?

You're watching Breakfast from BBC

News.

The main stories this morning:

President Trump proposes arming

teachers to prevent another mass

school shooting, after meeting

survivors and relatives of those

killed in Florida last week.

A major study concludes that

anti-depressants are effective,

and that thousands more people

in the UK could benefit from taking

medication.

Yes, please. Sorry, thank you. Let's

have a look at the weather. Nick is

going to tell us what is going on in

a moment but we thought we would

show you this gorgeous view a head

of the sunrise at Salford Quays

here. But Nick will tell us what is

happening.

We are going to feel that next week.

Just hold off about how chilly it

feels. You hold all that often

reserve those words the next week

because that is when the proper cold

Siberian will be coming towards

parts of the UK with a chance of

snow. A lovely sunrise across parts

of the UK.

of the UK. There are a few showers

to start the day. Want to

to start the day. Want to showers,

we notice there are weather fronts

in the Atlantic. Some areas of cloud

around, frost here and there.

Mentioning the odd shower.

Mentioning the odd shower. The

eastern parts of Northern Ireland

and western areas of Scotland

through the day. Fairly light winds.

4- seven degrees but no one as cold

as it will be next week. In tonight,

some areas of cloud around the large

breaks in the cloud allowing frost

to develop more widely than it did

last night. More of those into the

frosty blue tomorrow morning. Notice

much of Northern Ireland, the

western fringes of Scotland staying

away from the frost. More breeze

compare with the rest of the UK.

Tomorrow morning, may be the odd fog

patch. Some sunny spells. More wind

arrows showing up as well. The

breeze is picking up and it's

beginning to feel a bit colder in

that wind with temperatures still at

around four, seven degrees. Pretty

close to where they are going to be

at the start of the weekend before

they trail off even more. High

pressure to the east of us. On

through next week as well. But a lot

of sunshine to come on Saturday. We

are getting rid of a lot of cloud,

more on the way of sunshine but more

in the way of breeze. It will feel

colder still because of the wind

picking up and it's a similar

picture into Sunday as well. Pumping

that much colder error towards us by

the end of Sunday and into next

week. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday,

Wednesday, temperatures barely above

freezing. London, two degrees on

Monday. It will feel much colder.

Watching very closely.

It is very changeable because we

were heading into double figures.

And now I am telling you, you need

that big, big coat the next week.

The start of meteorological spring

next week but no sign of it in the

weather.

Very chirpy.

We tried to

relate what is happening in the

world of money to household incomes,

with Ben.

And it's all been bad news for a

long time. Prices have been going up

but wages haven't been. Finally that

could now be over.

The last 12 months have been

the worst in 25 years for pay.

Staff haven't had pay rises,

despite a rise in prices,

so that's meant a squeeze

on living standards.

But figures from the think tank,

the Resolution Foundation say that

could finally be changing.

But it's not good news for everyone.

With me is Daniel Tomlinson,

from the Resolution Foundation.

Good morning. Just explain this.

Some winners, some losers. Much

relief for people who might finally

start to see that an increase in

their living standards.

On average,

if we look at the typical family,

they are going to be seeing

increases in living standards and

incomes this year and that is

because finally, inflation is

starting to fall, seeing a big fall

in the value of the pound. Wage

rises are slowly, we saw some signs

of this yesterday, are slowly coming

back to that is good for living

standards. We will see real earnings

growth which will transfer to income

growth. That's off the back of, like

you are just saying, the year we've

just had. Good news on average.

Will

come onto those in the second but as

you touched on, there are so many

conflicting demands. Potentially

interest rates. Is it to say that

people will categorically feel

better off?

We have taken all these

things into account. People are

taking this into account when they

think about taking it into future.

Interest rates will be causing

pressure for families who are paying

mortgages. It's going to be bearing

down on those.

What is different

about the findings today? Not

everyone will benefit from this. In

previous periods, when living

standards have gone up, what is that

mean?

The last time we had a good

increase in living standards, it was

an equally sad.

an equally sad. Everyone is seeing

income growth. What we are seeing

this time, we are going to have

income group. It will be lower than

what we were used to before the

financial crisis but people at the

bottom are going to be suffering

because of the cuts to working age,

in working support. That was

announced in 2015 by George Osborne,

working up to £14 billion worth of

cuts, freezing of working age

benefits and cuts to Universal

Credit. Worth up to. Theresa May

says the focus is about managing

families, people working, trying to

get fired. These cuts are still

coming in now concentrated even

though earnings growth is spread

out.

The government says the

National living wage is important,

they have frozen the personal

allowance, the fuel duty frees,

abolishing stamp duty for first home

buyers.

The government is doing some

things and we are particularly

welcoming of the National living

wage. A bold move for people on the

lowest earnings to do better but the

difficulty is not necessarily people

earning the least other families in

most support. He might have someone

earning a little it has a partner

earning a lot. Their incomes are

quite high. What matters is family

incomes and support when you need it

the most. The cuts are concentrated

with families with children.

It's an

interesting one of course, to see

how much of this comes fruition.

Good to see you. You are up-to-date,

more from me after seven o'clock

when we have the

when we have the results from

Barclays.

Last night's Brit Awards

belonged to grime superstar

Stormzy when he scooped Best Male

and Album of the Year.

Dua Lipa took home the Best Female

and Breakthrough Artist awards.

She was also one of the many stars

who wore a white rose

in support of the Time's Up

and #MeToo movements

against sexual harassment

and supporting women's rights.

Our Entertainment Correspondent

Lizo Mzimba was there.

Theresa May, were as the money for

Grenfell Tower is to mart a powerful

political performance from grime

star Stormzy.

He won Best Mail and

best album.

This was the hardest

thing that I've ever worked on

something like this in my life.

Everything I put in this album, I

didn't have anything left after. You

can ask Fraser, we made something

that I bought was undeniable, I can

stand by today. Album of the year, I

love you guys.

Don't pick up the

phone, you know he is only calling

because he is drunk and alone.

Two

awards for 22-year-old Dua Lipa. She

won breakthrough artist and paid

tribute to many of the women in

music to influence.

I want to thank

every single female who has been on

the stage performing it has given

girls like me not just girls in the

music industry but girls in society

a place to be inspired by, to look

up to enter that have allowed us to

dream this big.

There was a

politically charged when is streaked

-- street clearly referencing Brexit

from blur star Damon Albon who is

banned Gorillaz won an award.

It's

not just a small little thing but

it's a lovely place. What I want to

say is, don't let it become

isolated.

I am in human, do what

type man -- can.

Rag and bone man

won best single. Ed Sheeran received

a global success award and there was

a special tribute from Liam

Gallagher commemorating last month's

Manchester Arena bombing.

I enjoyed watching that last night,

it was good fun.

The grey Whistle

test. You look at the Brit Awards

and how weak and elaborate it is,

and people who remember, the old

Grey Whistle Test which had a

different vibe to it. The Old Grey

Whistle Test was presented by

whispering Bob Harris and it was the

way he presented. Everything was

very mellow, very chilled. It was a

different time in music.

Welcome to the sparkling addition of

The Old Grey Whistle Test.

You get a

sense of it, it was a whole

different vibe. The amazing artists

who appeared on the programme. We

are going to be celebrating some of

the people and talking to Bob Harris

about those days.

It couldn't have

been more different. I didn't know

it was founded by Sir David

Attenborough. You learn something

new every day. That is coming up,

loads

I'm back with the latest

from the BBC London newsroom

in half an hour.

Plenty more on our website

at the usual address.

Good morning, this Breakfast,

with Charlie Stayt and Nathan

Munchetty.

Anger at the White House.

President Trump listens to the

stories of survivors of school

shootings.

I turned 18 the day after,

woke up to the news that my best

friend was gone.

I don't understand why

I could still go in a store and buy

a weapon of war.

The president promises change

and suggests arming teachers

could be the answer.

Good morning, it's Thursday

the 22nd of February.

Also this morning:

Antidepressants do work and more

of us should be taking them

according to new

scientific research.

Later this morning we find out

exactly how much we throw away and

how much we recycle in the UK. We're

here in Wales, which does far better

than anywhere else in the UK, and

where there already are cleaning the

beach.

After the collapse of Carillion,

the boss of one of its biggest

rivals, Serco, says

things have to change.

Its results are out shortly,

I'll speak to the boss.

We'll also have updates

from British Gas and Barclays too.

Good morning from Pyeongchang, it's

an unlucky day 13 for Great

Britain's men's curling team at the

Winter Olympics. They are out, swept

away by Switzerland in their

play-off earlier this morning.

And Nick has the weather.

Good morning.

High pressure for the next few days

but by the weekend, lots of

sunshine. That's not the whole

story, though, turning colder and

particularly into next week, with

the chance of some snow. All the

forecast coming up.

See you later, Nick.

Good morning.

First, our main story.

President Trump says he's

considering arming teachers

with guns and tightening background

checks on people buying weapons

after last week's school shootings

in Florida which left

17 people dead.

Mr Trump was speaking

at a meeting at the White House

where he listened to emotional

and angry testimony from survivors

of gun crime and their families.

Barbara Plett-Usher reports.

The people demand a hearing.

In Florida telling their lawmakers

loud and clear, they don't want this

mass shooting to drop off

the political agenda

like all the others have.

At the White House, President Trump

was listening to victims

of the Parkland school attack,

but also those that came before it.

Andrew Pollack's 18-year-old

daughter, Meadow, was

killed last week.

It doesn't make sense, fix it,

should have been one school shooting

and we should have fixed it.

And I'm kissed.

Because my daughter I'm

not going to see again.

She's not here, she's not here,

she's in North Lauderdale

at whatever it is,

King David Cemetery,

that's where I go to see my kid now.

It doesn't make sense

to her schoolmate, Samuel Zeif,

either, especially the gunman's

access to a semiautomatic rifle.

I don't understand,

I turned 18 the day after,

woke up to the news that my best

friend was gone and I don't

understand why I could still go

in a store and buy a weapon of war.

The president has responded to calls

for tougher gun laws with promises

of strong background checks,

but also more guns.

It's called concealed

carry, where a teacher

would have a concealed gun on them.

They'd go for special training.

There is some support for that

argument, but students who survived

the attack flooded Florida's state

legislature demanding a ban

on assault rifles.

ALL:

Never again!

The students aim to harness that

momentum and turn it

into a national campaign.

Barbara Plett-Usher,

BBC News.

The largest study of its kind

into the use of anti-depressants has

found that they are effective

when treating depression.

A review of more than 500 trials,

published in The Lancet,

found 21 common anti-depressants

were more effective at reducing

symptoms of acute

depression than placebos.

Andrew Plant reports.

Theresa May will try to overcome

differences among her senior

ministers on Brexit.

It's being billed as an 'awayday'

at the Prime Minister's country

residence, Chequers.

Chris Mason is there. I'm sure you

would love to be a fly on the wall

at that particular awayday?

I

certainly would. It would be

fascinating to be purged there, not

least because it's quite a pad, 16th

century manor house, checkers, in

the rolling Buckinghamshire

countryside, 40 miles north-west of

Westminster. and awayday for the

leading lights of the cabinet trying

to / flesh out the Brexit deal -- an

awayday -- to flesh out. Who are the

central characters who will be

assembling around the table in

checkers? Firstly of course the

Prime Minister, she has to find a

sense of agreement amongst her

ministers -- checkers. We have seen

these speeches in the last couple of

days about Brexit, not least one by

David Davis, the Brexit Secratary,

in Vienna, attempted to map out what

the relationship with the EU might

look like after Brexit. The problem

for the Prime Minister is when she

looks around the table at Chequers,

when she looks around the

Conservative Party and the country,

there are different instincts about

what Brexit should look like, what

flavour of Brexit we should go for

if you like. Around the cabinet

table, take Philip Hammond, the

Chancellor, he has talked recently

about having a very modest shift of

relationship with the EU after

Brexit, very modest changes.

Contrast that with those of a

Brexiteer instinct, not least this

chap, you might recognise him, Boris

Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, who

said the whole point of Brexit is to

flex our muscles afterwards and have

different rules and regulations. The

Prime Minister has defined some

sense of agreement so she can go to

Brussels and start the negotiations

on the long-term relationship as

soon as possible. I was just

checking the diary this morning,

Charlie, 400 days to go until

Brexit, the 29th of March, 2019,

Brexit day, just a year left.

Thanks

very much, speak to you later on.

The United Nations Security Council

is expected to vote later today

on a draft resolution demanding

a 30-day month-long ceasefire

in Syria

to allow deliveries of aid

and medical evacuations.

The move comes as international

concern grows over

the Syrian government's intense

bombardment of the rebel-held area

of Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus.

Reports suggest more than 300

people have been killed

in the district since Sunday.

The UN Secretary General has

described Eastern Ghouta as hell on

earth.

People convicted of domestic abuse

offences in England and Wales

will be more likely to go

to prison in future,

under new sentencing guidelines.

For the first time,

the guidance will say domestic

offences should be treated more

seriously than similar crimes not

involving partners

or family members.

The new guidance will also extend

domestic abuse to threats

on social media.

A helicopter carrying six British

tourists on a flight

near the Grand Canyon

in the United States spun around

at least twice before

crashing and catching fire,

according to investigators.

Three passengers died

in the accident earlier this month,

while four more people,

including the pilot were badly hurt.

The preliminary report by air

accident investigators does not say

why the helicopter crashed.

A month of strikes affecting more

than 60 UK universities and one

million students is beginning today.

Lecturers are walking out over

changes to their pensions,

which they say could leave them up

to £10,000 a year worse

off in retirement.

Here's our education

correspondent Elaine Dunkley.

Thousands of lectures cancelled

across university campuses.

The strike's in response to plans

by vice chancellors to make changes

to the private pensions

of university staff.

We're going to see people really

lose probably in their retirement

up to 40% of what their

pensions were before.

The University and College Union

says lecturers, on average,

will lose up to £10,000 a year

from their pensions.

As many as 42,000 stuff at 64

universities will be affected.

Universities UK, which

represents vice chancellors,

says changes to the pension

are essential due to a deficit

of £6 billion.

If the dispute isn't

resolved by the summer,

exams could be cancelled.

More than 70,000 students have

signed a petition calling for fees

to be be reimbursed

for lost teaching hours.

It's extremely worrying

in terms of the impact

that it's going to have

on students' educations.

But myself and a lot of other

students I know are very clear

that we unequivocally

support our lecturers

in this dispute.

It's quite scary to think about how

much time we're leaving,

and especially with how much money

we're paying every year,

I don't know whether we'll

get that time back,

especially with exams

coming up and everything.

14 days of action are planned

but it could go on longer.

A dispute which could

have a significant impact

on the retirement of

thousands of lecturers

on the careers of

millions of students.

Elaine Dunkley, BBC News.

We will have the weather in a few

minutes.

There were 64 million prescriptions

for anti-depressants in England last

year, more than double

the amount a decade ago.

Despite this, a debate has raged

as to whether they work.

Now the authors of a major

study say they do.

Let's talk about this

in more detail with the GP

Aisha Awan and in our

London newsroom,

Ellen Scott, who has been taking

antidepressants for just

over a year.

Good morning. Doctor Aisha, this is

new research that's been compiled

together, a great deal of data from

previous studies as to whether or

not antidepressants work. Give us

your take someone presumably who is

prescribing them on a regular basis.

It's a really useful study because

as you said, it's one of the largest

studies that's ever happened looking

at whether they work for acute

depression. Depression over an eight

week period. It's one of the most

common things as a GP that I see in

terms mental health issues on and

it's one of those things where you

want to be able to help a person

fairly quickly if they're going

through mood disturbances. This

gives us useful information about

firstly what patients can tolerate,

and secondly which one of the

medications were prescribing are

working the best.

It's been

suggested by some presenting this

that it's answering the big

question, do drugs for

antidepression work, as simple as

that.

It's a really useful question

that we needed answered. I think it

will in a way really help doctors

when prescribing the medication, but

also patients when taking it. There

are side-effects to every medication

we prescribe and you don't want

people, especially those with mental

health problems, to say no, we're

not going to take something because

they feel it might not work for them

and this gives us the evidence that

they do work.

Before we talk to

Allen, who has been on

antidepressants for years, she will

talk to us in a moment, you

mentioned eight weeks, is that an

ideal period for someone to be on

antidepressants and then come off?

This is one of the limitations of

the study, it looks at a particular

group of patients with depression

and it is just depression. It

doesn't look at patients with

bipolar who might have depression,

and a whole lot of other things,

that all studies we cede ten to be

limited so this gives us the best

information we have currently for

antidepressants -- we tend to see

our limited. We urge patients

watching to see their GP before they

decide whether to take them.

Ellen,

thanks for talking to us from our

London newsroom. Why all when were

you told that taking antidepressants

would be beneficial to you -- why

all when. What impact has that had

on your life?

I suffered from

depression and anxiety for over a

decade, I was really scared of

taking antidepressants because I'd

heard so much about side-effects or

how they would change my brain. Last

year I kind of hit a real low point

and I decided I had to go to my

doctor, that's when I was prescribed

antidepressants and I've been on

them ever since.

What difference as

that made to you in terms of day to

day living, your mood and the way

you are dealing with depression?

It's made a huge difference.

Basically it doesn't fix depression,

but it makes me able to function. I

can get up and go to work and

actually take care of myself, which

I wasn't doing before.

Doctor Aisha,

one of the things this report now

effectively is recommending is that

more people should be on

antidepressants, clearly only

according to if it is suitable. Is

there a danger the equation is when

is the other way? Possibly you might

have people coming to you and

saying, I know they work, I know you

should be prescribing them to me,

why not? Could it go in the other

direction? Do you see what I mean?

Absolutely, it's been swinging that

way for a while because of the

pressure is currently on general

practice and prescribers at the

moment. Often it is seen as a quick

fix for patients and doctors. But

it's very important to recognise

that alongside medication, talking

therapies like cognitive behavioural

therapy are very important. You

would need to be assessed. It's not

the early treatment available,

there's lots of different treatments

available, and it would be used

alongside and in conjunction with

those treatments.

Ellen, let's talk

to you, you said you've been

suffering from depression for nearly

a decade now and you resisted taking

this medication. We were just

talking there about the swing in

terms of now being told they are OK,

they work, how do you feel in terms

of the stigma around taking

antidepressants as well as just

admitting to having depression,

suffering from mental illness?

There is still stigma, things have

improved even in the last year

There is still stigma, things have

improved even in the last year but

still, if I met I take

antidepressants, I will get messages

saying, you are taking this evil,

terrible, addictive thing, it will

change who you are. It's not an OK

thing to just say, I am on

antidepressants. There is a lot of

shame and stigma around it.

Let's

pick up on that theme. The

preconceptions that people have for

the myths around the taking of

antidepressants particularly. Does

this put an end to it? Will lay

people, you often hear one report

and in six months' time, there is

another report. As this put a lid on

the debate?

I think it has put a bit

of a lid on the debate because it

tells you very clearly that they do

work. It would be useful in patients

such as the ones you brought on, she

is able to function and work again

but what it doesn't do is cover up

for bad things that are happening in

life, brief months, financial

worries. Often those things are a

normal part of life. It's important

to have that distinction that this

will help people with depressive

illnesses but it can't sort out

issues in life that can be normal.

There has to be a distinction

between mental health and just

having a bad time in life.

Ellen,

what is the diagnosis in terms of

what you're told to take, these

antidepressant tablets, in terms of

your recovery.

For as long as I feel

they are working. If I feel I still

need them, I can stay on them.

Thank

you for being so straightforward

about your situation.

Here's Nick with a look

at this morning's weather.

All quiet on the weather with high

pressure in control. Into the

weekend, increasing sunshine. Still

quite of the cloud around. Limited

sunny spells. While most places are

dry, even a high pressure is close

by, still one or two showers. We're

not looking at the Atlantic per hour

weather for several days to come. It

is from the east hour weather will

be coming. This is the picture this

morning. There are a few showers

around. Pick a cloud elsewhere. On

through the day, through parts of

Northern Ireland, running to the far

western Scotland, don't be surprised

if you see a little bit of wet

weather at times. Quite breezy with

a southerly wind. Temperatures

around four, seven degrees. That'll

make it a bit colder than that. If

you tonight, breaks in the cloud,

allowing forced to develop and more

widely than it did last night. At or

just below freezing. The exceptions,

Northern Ireland. Not really in the

blue here. More cloud still around

and even into tomorrow, you might

encounter the odd light shower, and

that keeps temperatures up, at least

overnight. Still areas of cloud

around and still some sunny spells

and probably towards mid to late

afternoon, increasing amounts of

sunshine and those temperatures are

fairly similar though the breeze is

starting to pick up across the UK,

just making a deal that bit colder

and that is a story that continues

into the weekend. Still high

pressure to the north-east.

Tomorrow, isobars on the chart. An

indication that the breeze picks up.

There will be more sunshine around.

A similar looking picture here into

Sunday as well. The arrows

indicating the strengthening breeze.

Looking at these temperatures, it

will feel colder because of that

wind and you ain't seen nothing yet

because going into next week, the

picture for Sunday, pumping in even

colder where from Siberia into parts

of the UK. Still some uncertainty

about how cold it will be and how is

this? As we transition from February

to March. Cold, very cold. It looks

like southern parts of the UK makes

-- might have a greater departure

from average temperature. A bitter

wind making it feel even colder.

Widespread, sharp frosts and the

chance of snow as we go through next

week. That is something we are

watching very closely and we will

keep you updated. Watch this space.

We've had results from British Gas

and Barclays this morning,

Ben's got the details.

The parent

The parent company of British Gas,

we will find out if we need to turn

the heating on but profits are down

for the group. A lot of the pipes

and the cables. Profits down 17%. It

is not necessarily the consumer bits

that you and me use but the business

part of it that is struggling. That

actually signed up another 77,000

customers. You might remember how

many they had lost and that's

because they put up their prices

quite a lot. If you look down into

the statement, they talk why it is a

difficult market. A combination of