Transcripts For BBCNEWS Afternoon Live 20240713

Are battling catastrophic conditions, as wildfires continue to rage on australias east coast. Coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with jane dougall. Hello. Both Raheem Sterling and joe gomez had trained together, despite Raheem Sterling being dropped after an altercation between the two. Sterling has admitted his emotions got the better of him. Are slight respite for the rain in the next 24 hours. We will take a closer look at what is causing a catastrophic australian wildfires. Also coming up, were out and about in Bishop Auckland. We are in the north east today, in Bishop Auckland, in a town that has voted labour in every election since 1935. Is that about to change . Hello, everyone this is afternoon live. The labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn has heavily criticised the government for what he has described as a woeful response to flooding in yorkshire and the midlands. Five days after the flooding began, the Prime Minister will this afternoon chair a meeting of the governments Cobra Emergency Committee to discuss the issue. About 500 homes have been flooded and 1,200 properties evacuated. Five severe warnings remain in place on the river don in South Yorkshire. Tolu adeoye reports. They say its never been this bad. The village of fishlake near doncaster still submerged, hundreds were forced to leave their homes as the water moved in. Many parts remain under several feet of water. The Prime Minister is to chair a meeting of the governments Emergency Committee cobra in response to the floods but today the Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was too little, too late. The conservative governments response to the floods has been woeful. Just imagine if this had happened in surrey instead of yorkshire and the east midlands. I think thered have been a very, very different story. Meanwhile, the liberal democrat leader met with volunteers helping the effort near fishlake, the party has set out plans for a £5 billion fund to improve flood defences across the uk. Its a really inspiring sense of Community Spirit that is going on here and that gives great cause for hope, really but it is wrong that it seems to be just down to the local communities, important though this work is, this is clearly a National Emergency and the government should be declaring it as such. £2. 6 billion is being spent on flood defences in england in a scheme that started in 2015. For those affected now, there are serious questions about how this has been able to happen. I want to go back and see whats happening but there are no answers to the questions. You know, i need to know white did this happen, it hasnt happened in 100 years, you must have seen that loads of fishlake residents are saying exactly the same thing. The National Farmers union has called for a seismic change to cope with events such as this, an emergency appeal to support displaced families has raised more than £50,000 but thousands more will be needed to help those affected is what is a personal disaster for so many, turns political. We can talk now to Harry Gration, whos in one of the worst affected areas, fishla ke near doncaster. Harry, what is the situation today. Welcome to fishlake. So many people have tried to rally round to make this obvious distress more manageable. I want to show you around saint cuthbert church. It looks incredible. These are donations which had been made in the space of the last 72 hours or so. People are coming in and getting provisions, being helped by a Community Experience as well. I have two people here who i would like to talk to. A Church Warden and a lady who runs the old butchers cafe. It is lovely the church is right at the centre of things. The church has been here since the 11th century as a place of refuge and it is higher than surrounding areas, so it is still dry. We are using it for what its purpose was. Not only as a spiritual place but as a refuge for people. We have been inundated, as you can see, with so much good food and good things. Were really to everyone. Your cafe has been at the centre of things as well. How have you managed to help people really cope with this experience . We are trying to help the fire crews and the people trying to move the water in the village. From the brilliant donations people are bringing in. We are cooking food for the fire, the police, the rescue vote teams. For those in the village who do not have access to kitchens. They cannot get into their homes. We are doing our bit, cooking away. It has been a generational experience as well. Youngsters have been great, particularly the young adults, who can drive 4x4 is. The farmers had brought in tractors or that they have helped us to move things around and reach people the other services would have been overwhelmed by. They have been really great in facilitating that. Would you say that things are improving now . There is so much water out there, so many houses are flooded. The road from the house to the cafe, we can get in a land rover. It is accessible now to the centre of the village was that the difficulty for many people who are still here is getting the difficult items like the cattle feed and horse feed in. It is getting in and horse feed in. It is getting in and out of the village find that we wa nt and out of the village find that we want to try to help those who cannot get out of the village at the moment. We desperately need a decent weather forecast. It is dodgy for a couple of days time. They have brought in some huge pumps to move some of the standing water back into the river where it has dropped. They are praying it will make a big difference and the weather will not be too bad. Fishlake has not flooded for 100 years prior to this. They moved the river done after it flooded last time. I have some pictures in my house of that. We will see them another time. There are feeling is that things are getting better. Thank you. Im joined by hannah cloke, who is a professor of hydrology at reading university. Shes also an independent scientific adviser to the Environment Agency and worked on the Governments National Flood Resilience review. Thank you so much for coming in stop first the subject of warnings. We dont really want people to be reduced to prayer and hope in the future, do we . Of course not. It is dreadful to see these scenes. We know we can provide early warnings that it seems some of the warnings did not get through this time, or we re did not get through this time, or were not as accurate as he wanted them to be. Why do you think that was . 0ne them to be. Why do you think that was . One reason is was because the atmosphere is very chaotic. We have to get the water in our computer models from the atmosphere all the way across the land and down the rivers and that is really complicated to do. One reason is it is really difficult. It is not possible to have a clear prediction of how much rainfall and where the water is going to go when it is on the ground. It is very difficult to pinpoint when and where the flood will be, yes. Another question which has arisen in fishlake and other communities which had been badly affected is defences. Have they been enough . They will only protect up to a certain level. When you are designing it, you only have a limited amount of information to do the design with. You take the best estimate you can at the time. These big floods are a bit like buses. They come in pairs or threes and they take you by surprise. We have to update that information. At the time, they were designed very well, but we have seen them over the top. There was a residual risk. The homeowners and Business Owners did not really know about that risk. Did you think Climate Change is a factor here, a growing factor . If so, there may be a need to tear up predictions and expectations of how many bettors are going to come at once and to accept there are committee usual metaphor, more buses to come at once. We know across the uk, Climate Change will make things worse in some cases. change will make things worse in some cases. To use your metaphor. These types of winter flags can be very difficult to untangle but we should be preparing for these scenarios, where there are more buses. Winter floods. Scenarios, where there are more buses. Winter floods. A lot of questions are being asked about building on flood plains. We should not be building on a flood plain, thatis not be building on a flood plain, that is not a good idea. We are a little bit. To do that because there is nowhere else to build there is such a pressure is nowhere else to build there is such a pressure on is nowhere else to build there is such a pressure on building, so we had to be more resilient, built on stilts and take other measures to keep people more safe if they live there. Hank you for coming in. Thank you. The labour party says its foiled what it says was a large scale cyber attack against its systems. The party says some Election Campaigning activities were slowed but they dont think there has been a breach of data. The National Cyber Security Centre has said labour notified them swiftly and the attack was not successful. 0ur Cyber Security correspondentjoe tidy reports. Keeping a Campaign Like this in full swing isnt easy, behind the speeches, door knocks and bus tours, there are Computer Systems and now we know someone, somewhere, has attempted to bring the Labour Party Campaign to a halt. The Cyber Attacks that have taken place took place yesterday against the labour party platform. It was a very serious cyber attack, we have a system in place in our office to protect us against these Cyber Attacks but it was a very serious attack against us, so far as we are aware none of our information was downloaded, and the attack was actually repulsed. The party wouldnt say what systems were affected but insiders sent us this screen grab of one of the Campaign Tools they use, it says the software is experiencing issues. Labour hq maintains the attack failed and all systems stayed online but, clearly, some were failing entirely. The type of cyber attack used is known as a distributed denial of service, or ddos attack, they can be sophisticated but often they are more basic, ready made kits can be bought online and launched from a hacker s bedroom for example. Labour has not pointed any fingers yet but it says its seen similar attacks range from russia and brazil. With this type of attack what happens is the hacker hijacks thousands and thousands of badly protected computers around the world and sends them as an army, gets them to do their bidding and tries to overwhelm a particular website or online resource, it may be that the attack is pointing back to russia or brazil or who knows where, doesnt necessarily mean its a smoking gun that those are the countries involved. Election campaigns have been targets for hackers before. In the 2016 us president ial election, hillary had her e mails stolen and posted online, the Us Department ofjustice went on to charge 12 russians. Labour will deliver that real change, thank you very much. With no data or secrets stolen, this incident looks to be far less serious but it may act as a warning to the party and others, that during this volatile election period, attacks can come from unexpected places. Lets talk now to emily 0rton, from the Cyber Security firm darktrace. Thank you for coming in, and ellie. What is your assessment at this point . As the report mentioned, the denial of Service Attack that this was is very denial of Service Attack that this was is very common. Denial of Service Attack that this was 15 very common. denial of Service Attack that this was is very common. Emily. Since oui was is very common. Emily. Since our company was founded we have had these attacks. 0n the spectrum it is at the low end but it is a wake up call that Political Parties are being targeted. I would expect them to receive attempts against their network on a daily basis. It is really a question of trying to catch these things early and stop them, which seems to have happened on this occasion but it is the tip of the iceberg. When we look at the more sophisticated and come with very attackers making internetworks persisting inside systems for a long time, that is really where the attack landscape is going and what Political Parties need to be prepared for. That kind of attack, as we saw in the story with the story on Hillary Clintons e mails, that kind of attack can change how they feel about candidates. Most attacks we are seeing at the moment are people who get in and try to change data, undermining confidence we have in certain data, whether it is Campaign Strategies or voter information, changing who they are targeting with a wrong message, for example. Really devious work and misinformation that can be spread by more sophisticated attacks. Is it your sense that the Political Parties are on top of this . Since 2016, awareness has been growing and suitable measures had been taken against. I work with elliptical parties and warn them about these things. We are looking at a feature of sophisticated targeting, like ai attacks. How will you respond to that . We are going to have to use ai in defence and we are going to have to up ourgame. In defence and we are going to have to up our game. There is a lot of work to be done. We had a further line through from the National Cyber Security Centre and they are still saying difficult to have tribute responsibility to a particular group. Would you echo that . Attribute responsibility. Absolutely. We will never know the providence of some of these attacks. These are global networks. Just because a seller that is in russia 01 because a seller that is in russia or somewhere else, doesnt mean the attacker is there. Thank you. The veteran labour mp, frank dobson, has died at the age of 79. Mr dobson served as Health Secretary in tony blairs government. He served as mp for holborn and st pancras in Central London for more than 40 years before standing down in 2015. Labour candidates and officials have been paying tribute to mr dobson, and the current conservative Health Secretary, matt hancock, also praised his years of devotion to the health service. Youre watching afternoon live. These are our headlines. Borisjohnson will hold an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough. Labour says its been hit by a sophisticated and large scale cyber attack on its digital platforms but that no data breach occurred. 3,000 Fire Fighters are battling catastrophic conditions as wildfires continue to rage on australias east coast. In sport, Raheem Sterling admits his emotions got the better of him after an altercation with his International Team mate, joe gomez. Gareth southgate has dropped the Manchester City striker for englands match against montenegro. Joe gomez appeared to have a scratch under his eye at training. Andy robertson pulls out of the match against cyprus with an ankle problem. A blow for wales as Jonathan Davies will be out for six months after surgery for a knee injury. It means he will miss their six nations. lets return to the general election and throughout the campaign, bbc news will be looking closely at the places where the election could be won and lost. We will be visiting 10 parts of the uk where seats will be closely contested. Today, were focussing on Bishop Auckland, which is in the north east of england. This seat was labour in the last election and is bordered by three other labour constituencies, plus one conservative and one independent. Its worth noting that the independent seat of penrith and the borders was held by the former tory mp rory stewart. He was a conservative when he won by almost 16,000 votes. Hes now stood down so its one to watch. Bishop auckland itself, the labour incumbent only won by 502 votes in the last election. So can labour retain the seat . The conservatives came second in the last election and with just a few hundred votes in it have targeted the seat. Lets go over there now. We are being treated to some inclement north east weather this afternoon. That is all right. We have a good story to tell here today. Let me tell you a bit about Bishop Auckland. It is a tale of two towns. I had been struck by some of the new investment. Here is the ancient part of the town. Down there is auckland castle, which gave the town its name. Lots of scaffolding down that a new investment. A city financier has come in here and say to the council and precious artwork inside. Lots of people coming back to the town to have a look. It was newly reopened last week, the castle. People are coming here and that is all good. When you come around here, to the main drag you get a very different feel about the town. The main drag, at the top and you can see some of the businesses are shut. Local businesses really struggling to survive. There are two reasons for that. One is that we all shop online these days. There is an out of Town Shopping Centre here as well. It reflects a lack of investment in many of the market towns in the north and north east of england. At the election people how to choose on two things, the local economy, local issues and brexit. This area voted overwhelmingly for brexit at the 2016 referendum. We have been to speak to the people of Bishop Auckland. We had been for three meals, breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner. This cafe sits at a fork high above the durham dales. Its on a trunk road, and in the mornings, owner paula is busy serving breakfast to those heading north. But she also has her regulars, from nearby Bishop Auckland. A town which in four weeks time will find itself at a political crossroads. Im not voting just for brexit, which is why at the moment im still really, really torn. Right now there is a menu of options for people here, and it includes a Brexit Party Candidate. In Bishop Auckland, nigel farage thinks he can take crucial votes from labour. Hes making the wrong decision. If thats his tactics, hes making the wrong decision. Because he should withdraw it and let it be that race. You know, hes not stupid he knows, you know. Auckland castle was the seat of the prince bishops. For 750 years they ruled the Northern Frontier for the kings of england. In more modern times, its been a labour stronghold, built on coal, and in every election since 1935, the town has voted the same way. The impregnable red wall is in danger of being breached. Since 2005, the labour majority has collapsed to just over 500. And if the tories are to have any chance this time of securing a majority, then it is brexit seats like this one they have to take. The newly reopened castle is bringing welcome trade to the 50s teashop, where we meet rebecca and steve, who are decidedly undecided. Whos going to get us out of this the best, basically, how we are going to. But this is the north east. How can this be a target seat for the tories . Personally, ijust feel as though there is nobody who i can trust at the moment. In terms of the people who are available to us in terms of labour, conservatives, the other parties. There is no one ive got confidence in to take us out. Us forward. Its no longer black and white. 0ld political ties have frayed. 0ur booking for dinner was at the three horseshoes, a coaching inn in nearby Barnard Castle that has stood here since the 17th century. Inside, farm labourer dean and barworker kim first time voters. If somebody came in and explained what they wanted, then it would be an easier choice to make. At the moment, i dont understand what anyones doing. Im going to stick with boris, see if he can get the job done, hopefully. Hopefully and what happens if nigel farage puts a Brexit Party Candidate up . Good question. No one knows what this election will serve up, but a tory win in these parts . That would be the rarest of things. Apathy, lack of trust. Ive come across that a lot over the last 24 hours here in Bishop Auckland. Also a lot of undecided voters. There is an awful lot still to play for in this region. You can send what people are saying in that report, a lot of people are fixated on brexit and that is a frustration for people working in other fields. And that is a frustration for people working in otherfields. Im going to introduce you to the chief executive of the charity, children north east. Is it frustrating that the election is dominated by brexit . It is frustrating. Poverty is on the rise. Currently 4. 1 million children are living in poverty. How does it compare in the north east to the rest of the country . There is a lack of employment in the north east. Their weekly wage in the uk is £570 a week. It is £500 in the north east, surrey. A week. It is £500 in the northeast, surrey. How would we see children in poverty . How does that every day life, how is it affected . I work at schools, in the community. Children are hungry. Children who suffer from holiday hunger. They go to school hungry. Parents who have children on Free School Meals do not have enough money to feed children in the holidays. All the parties have yet to put out manifestos. 0ther have yet to put out manifestos. Other policies that have worked in the past . What would you like parties to focus on . Then should be an intervention. Sure start worked in the region. Early intervention is key to tackle poverty. What about the new town fund the conservatives have put into many towns in the north of england . Can that be filtered into poverty . We need a strategic approach. We need a Social Security system which does not put people into poverty. We need to see more jobs and higher paid wages in the north east. More jobs and higher paid wages in the northeast. You tilt an actual start drifting away. Is that as a result of the austerity we have seen . As you talk about sure sta rt. Seen . As you talk about sure start. We have seen constant cats. We have seen cuts to the Youth Services and cuts to schools. Why do we not care about children and young people in this country . Of course they are the future generation, the generation the north east has to invest in. What about parents . Today there is a lot of talk about Adult Education. Does child poverty, can it be dealt with by getting more people into work and skilling up populations that, of course, is to work in the Old Industries that have drifted away . We also have to have child packages. People will be able to afford childcare and go to work. Very cold up here. It is a really interesting point that in this part of the world lots of people want brexit done. Until brexit is done when they dont feel you can concentrate on any of the other issues that need to be tackled in the north east. It is a balance at the north east. It is a balance at the end of the day between local Economic Issues in the way people voted in 2015. Time for a look at the weather. You are going to take us to australia to look at the terrible wildfires. Terrifying. The imagery behind me over the last 24 hours, a catastrophic and early start to the wildfire season. They have been so huge that smoke has been visible from space. This is from the last couple of days. The smoke has been drifting all the way to new zealand. A very worrying situation at the moment. Why is it so early . A combination of things. This is a map of australia, showing where rainfall has been deficient over the last year or so. The darker reds, down across New South Wales and queensland when they have had the driest 19 month period on record. For some, it actually stretches back three years. Three years of below average rainfall. The ground is already dry for chart shows where temperatures had been above average in the last 12 months. Much of australia has seen temperatures above average. In the south east they had seen temperatures about 1. 5, 2 degrees above normal. We are talking about Global Warming, the Global Warming up by 1 talking about Global Warming, the Global Warming up by1 degrees. They are exceeding that sort of threshold at the moment. Warmer than usual and drier. Why are they so dry . A whole host of things. They are markers for discussions. 0ther host of things. They are markers for discussions. Other things had been going on. I have been looking at sea surface temperatures. In the north and north west of australia, sea temperatures have been lower than we would expect. With the warmer waters in the indian ocean, it changes the weather conditions. The rainfall has not been there. That has all added to the horrible conditions in the east. Things are changing in sydney. They have had a change in wind direction. The drier the air, the more prone to the wildfires. Further north than in New South Wales and queensland, still the wind coming off the land. Very dry and a very troubling situation and no rain in the forecast either. It is grim. Now to the cold and wet of home. We saw christian shivering. But there is going to be a little bit of respite. A pretty chilly night on the way. More rain on the way from this one, there is a gap in between, that will be pushing it as we go through into tonight. To finish the day and into the evening, still some showers, chiefly through wales towards the southern areas and along these north sea coasts, the wind a key feature as well, touching 40 or 50 wind a key feature as well, touching 40 or50 mph wind a key feature as well, touching 40 or 50 mph in the west. Temperatures colder in that strong wind. The wind eases down through tonight and we still see a few showers close to the north sea coast but clearer skies developing and widely cold night away from towns and city centres, you could be waking up to a frost tomorrow morning. Temperatures as low as 54 6 morning. Temperatures as low as 54 6 through some parts of scotland with 5 6 through some parts of scotland with 5 6. 6 through some parts of scotland with 5 6. To many northern and eastern areas, staying dry and bright throughout the day. But already, the next frontal system is set to bring rain later on to parts of wales in the south west, may be preceded by some showers in north west england and south west scotland. Away from that, dry and cold, and for some you will barely get above freezing throughout the day, leading into a cold and frosty night. Further south, focusing on the ring, its across wales, extending across other counties in southern england to take us through the night and into thursday. Watch what happens now, the rain band sta rts what happens now, the rain band starts to pivot, pushing north. The impact from that will depend exactly where the weather front arrives. At the moment, it could be part of the midlands but that could edge back into lincolnshire and yorkshire. All these areas have been badly affected by flooding, we could see river levels rise yet again. A few showers on thursday, further north and west, the far north of england, scotland, some showers. Another cold day. Rain across england and wales will start to fizzle out as we go through the night and into friday but noticed low pressure never too far away. Still some rain, not as heavy as weve seen recently. But still could be troubling. Keep up to date with the latest weather warnings on the flood warnings on the bbc weather website. More for you later on. This is bbc news our latest headlines. Borisjohnson will hold an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough. Labour says its successfully defeated a cyber attack targeted at its digital platforms and no data breach occurred. 3000 Fire Fighters are battling catastrophic conditions as wildfires continue to rage on australias east coast. Sport now on afternoon live with jane dougall, and theres been some in camp fighting for the england manager Gareth Southgate to deal with . Yes, this is the altercation between Raheem Sterling and joe gomez. Difficulties can arrive when players are playing against each other for their clubs, full of rivalries, then they have to put that aside and come together to play for their country. It doesnt always go well. Its been confirmed that there was a disturbance and that as a result of that between the two players, Raheem Sterling would not be considered for the england match against montenegro. It started on sunday when Raheem Sterling and joe gomez we re when Raheem Sterling and joe gomez were playing for their respective clu bs, were playing for their respective clubs, liverpool hosting Manchester City. City thought they should have had at least one penalty, lost the match so tensions were high, we can see that they clashed on the pitch. That is thought to have been picked up that is thought to have been picked up yesterday at St Georges Park when they met up in the altercation occurred. Despite that, the pair trained together just a occurred. Despite that, the pair trained togetherjust a few hours ago for england, and joe gomez appeared to have a scratch under his eyes. Reportedly as a result of that argument. Raheem sterling admitted on instagram that his emotions had got the better of him, that he and gomez had figured things out and moved on. Regardless, sterling has been dropped for the england match on thursday so things not going terribly well in the england camp. Lets turn to scotland, any better, have the got injury problems . The latest injury is a crucial one. Andy robertson, the captain, is out, has been ruled out of their final couple of qualifiers because of an ankle problem. So he will miss qualifying against cyprus and kazakhstan. His clu b against cyprus and kazakhstan. His club will not be happy because he could miss the trip to crystal palace. This is a huge problem for scotla nd palace. This is a huge problem for scotland and for steve clarke because ryan fraser and Scott Mctominay have also pulled out with injury so theyjoin Andy Robertson on the injury bench. Scotland are fourth in theirgroup, on the injury bench. Scotland are fourth in their group, no chance of qualifying by the traditional method but they have a place in the play offs, so still and outside slight chance. But still not great news for them. Some significant injury news from wales rugby. Jonathan davies is out for six months. He has had surgery after picking up a knee injury at the world cup. He will definitely mix the next six nations champion chip. Rhys patchell could also miss the tournament with a shoulder injury. The atp finals continue in london today, Novak Djokovic playing dominic team tonight. Right now it is roger fedor. These are live pictures from the 02 is roger fedor. These are live pictures from the o2 arena in london. Berrettini lost pretty badly to rafa nadal on sunday, things not getting much easier for him today federer leading 4 3 in the first set. But federer also lost his opening match in this round robin to fifth seed Dominic Thiem. This is only the second time the two have met competitively the first time was earlier this year at wimbledon where federer won in straight sets. Dom sibley and zak crawley took their chance to impress the england selectors ahead of the test series against new zealand. Both players made centuries as england reached 285 for one in their first innings on day one of their tour match against a new zealand xi in whangarei. The warwickshire 0pener, sibley, was the only batsman to score over 1,000 runs in division one of the county championship last season. Hes expected to make his test debut next week. I wasnt really on the radar of england. But i thought they knew i had the ability to get here, it was a case of working out a little bit and scoring the runs. I always had the belief i would get here, its just a case of actually going out and doing it. A yearand just a case of actually going out and doing it. A year and a half ago i wasnt doing that. Made a few changes, mentally i have been stronger and its worked out quite nicely. Thats all the sport for now. Lets go back to the north east of england now and our special election Coverage Today from Bishop Auckland. Throughout the campaign, bbc news will be looking closely at the places where the election could be won and lost. Were visiting ten parts of the uk where seats will be closely contested. And Bishop Auckland is one of them. Its been held by labour since 1935 but is a key tory target. And newsbeats Steffan Powell is there for us now ina campervan. Yes, we are in a camper van its a living room, basically, we are touring around the uk, its quite snug and cosy, its fair to say. And we have brought the camper van to Bishop Auckland because this is one of those big marginal seats that the conservatives are targeting. If labour or the tories dont win seats like this when the chances are they wont be forming a government in december. We had to sneak this camper van inside the gym here. It is in Bishop Auckland, one of those sort of spit and sawdust type gyms, not one of those fancy ones where there is a jacuzzi and sauna in the corner. Lots of people in the community have been coming down to train morning, popping into the camper van train morning, popping into the campervan to train morning, popping into the camper van to see us as train morning, popping into the camper van to see us as well. The whole point of this is to get out and about and find out what people are worried about across the country, what issues they care about, and what the parties are saying to those issues, and trying to get some answers for them. I think i can show you outside, if i press this button. You can see how the van sits inside the gym. How we got it in here im still not 100 sure fingers crossed we can manage to get it back out. I have three guests here with me. It is pretty snugin guests here with me. It is pretty snug in here so thank you very much for coming. Alison, well start with you. The big issue everyone has been talking about so far in this election is brexit. This was an area that voted for leave but it has a labourmp. Is that voted for leave but it has a labour mp. Is this a single issue election and is brexit what you really care about . I think brexit is an important issue but it is not the only issue. There are many others, including particularly for me, the environment. There needs to be a lot of focus on the environment at the moment. That is at the centre of peoples hearts, especially with all the recent weather events in the flooding. No one really knows whats going on. Its important to have from the parties information on how they are going to deal with nature, they are going to deal with nature, the climate crisis, all that sort of things. Do you get frustrated, the fa ct things. Do you get frustrated, the fact my first question here, we were on the radio early on, my first question is about brexit does that frustrate you . Definitely. Its not just about brexit, its such an important opportunity to tackle a few different issues at the same time, you cant just few different issues at the same time, you cantjust think few different issues at the same time, you cant just think about brexit, you need to talk about education and other type of thing. Michael, you have got, you have had a change of clothes yes he has dressed up for the television. You disagree a little with alison . |j understand disagree a little with alison . understand where shes coming from but for me, its my opportunity and for loads of people like me, to say to the parties, sorry, youve got it wrong about the people of the north east. We voted to leave. Youve got to do what we said. You area youve got to do what we said. You are a lifetime labour voter, is this are a lifetime labour voter, is this a bit ofa are a lifetime labour voter, is this a bit of a wrench for you . It is, for me. There might be another election in six months the way this is going. But this one, we can send a message, to say youve got it wrong, you dont understand who we are. So you thought about where that vote could potentially go if you think the labour party is not speaking to you on brexit . think the labour party is not speaking to you on brexit . I dont really know. Have a think about that. See if anything helps change your mind. Lindsay, you are under cited . There is not a lot of information that the people in the parties are not answering questions, they are just talking around the subject or using big headers like brexit, no deal, but there is nothing underneath that explains which way we should go. When it comes to casting your vote, will it be about brexit . Now, other things are more important. We have been in the eu for such a long time, why change now, what is the reason . There is nothing really concrete anyone is saying why should leave. suppose the next five weeks, youre hoping to get some clarity on some of those things. When it comes to other issues, is there one thing thats affecting people here in Bishop Auckland that maybe you are c addressed . I think things like Climate Change, certainly the nhs, education, the focus has been taken by brexit and you think, well, all this time they have had to talk about it, what about talking about anything else . And for people watching at home, some of the lads in the gym are currently lifting. You can hear the banging noise in the background, thats what it is. They are doing some Power Lifting in the corner. Alison, i assume you will bejoining them the corner. Alison, i assume you will be joining them after this . When it comes to a year like this, since 1935 there has been a labour mp. An area like this. Who do you get frustrated about when things are changing here is it labour . There been a Labour Council for a changing here is it labour . There been a Labour Councilfor a long time. Or is it the conservative government in westminster . For me, its the conservative government in westminster, because its mostly down to them because they are in power. But i think labour in this constituency does also have a slight pa rt constituency does also have a slight part to play in that, that they should be campaigning harder for what they believe in. Where do you sit on that . You are having a bit of a crisis of conscience at the moment, it seems. I know where alison is coming from, you do really have to blame the tories, but the labour party, there is a brand new hospital and its empty. And that was the start of the last Labour Government. The tories have done nothing about it, mind you. I hear borisjohnson saying he is going to build new hospital, we have a brand new one and it is empty. Sol can understand where youre coming from. The labour party must take some responsibility. Personally, both parties have forgotten about the north east. Both parties have forgotten about the northeast. And that is something about the north south divide we touched upon earlier. Just to finish up, lizzie, its a big five weeks for you, you are currently on the fence, you dont know where your vote is going to go, for this being a big marginal seat, people like the tories will be coming for your vote, what do you wa nt to coming for your vote, what do you want to hear from somebody in the next few weeks for you to make up your mind . Just answer any questions that people have instead ofjust talking about one thing that they are focusing on. You want some clarity. Listen, i hope you get your clarity. Listen, i hope you get your clarity and your answers over the next few weeks, thank you to everybody forjoining us next few weeks, thank you to everybody for joining us here next few weeks, thank you to everybody forjoining us here in the van. We are hearing loads of opinions throughout the day hear from people, im off to do some deadlifts now expect now, im going to have a cup of tea and biscuit. Back to you in london. Can i ask you aa back to you in london. Can i ask you a a couple of questions . Of course. My a a couple of questions . Of course. My first question is, why is your camper van inside . My first question is, why is your campervan inside . I mean, we saw the shots of it being squeezed in. That doesnt look easy and its not going to be easy to get it out. Why did you even get it in there in the first place . I tell you what, its a question that ever since we parked it inside, i have been asking. I think i might have to be the one to reverse it out. My reversing isnt necessarily the best. We are supposed to be leaving tomorrow, but we might be here on friday that was my first question. Second question, are you sleeping in the camper van, and if so, where . Id love to sleep in this campervan, and if so, where . Id love to sleep in this camper van, its really cozy, but weve had to put so much kicked in here to turn it into a mobile studio that we are stuck in the hotel instead. This site where we are sitting turns into a bed. There is a bet about you but there are lights in the way. I would love to do it, the technology is getting on the way. Last question, youve been asking the people of Bishop Auckland their views, i want to know their views on you and your camper van, as in do the gym bunnies want the camper van van, as in do the gym bunnies want the campervan in van, as in do the gym bunnies want the camper van in their gym, wanted the camper van in their gym, wanted the people of Bishop Auckland feel about your dodgy little camper van . Im just going to see if i can cut to the outside shot. You might be able to see in the background mitch, who is a member of the gym, he was with us on the radio earlier. He can bench press 280 kilos. I think that makes him one of the tsongas men in the uk. That is four times my way. One of the strongest. He described the camper van as a beautiful eyesore. His words, not mine we will be back to say you later. Have your cup of tea and biscuits and talk to you later. Thank you very much. A man has gone on trial at the old bailey accused of a series of rapes and sexual assaults of women and children, including the rape of a child. Joseph mccann, who is 34, is charged with 37 offences in total involving 11 victims over a period of three days in april and may. The charges also include kidnap and false imprisonment. One of his alleged victims was 11 years old. 0ur correspondent june kelly was in court. Joseph mccann is facing 37 counts, eight counts of rape and 11 alleged victim on that charge sheet. Today thejury victim on that charge sheet. Today the jury heard how in april this year, young woman was abducted near her home in east london, she was held prisoner for 14 hours, her home in east london, she was held prisonerfor 14 hours, driven round ina held prisonerfor 14 hours, driven round in a car, repeatedly raped and also suffered a number of other sexual attacks and abuse. The court was told that this ordeal was of shocking depravity and violence. She was also threatened to be hit with a vodka bottle and hit in the face as well. Later the same day, two sisters were taken from their home in north london, one of them was bundled into a car and driven off, the other sister managed to escape and raised the alarm, she went home and raised the alarm, she went home and told their mother. The court was played a very distressing 999 call for a mother is reporting to the police the fact her daughter, her 21 year old daughter has been abducted. We then heard details of the other allegations that mccann is facing, they include charges in the north of england, and some of those offences include victims ranging in age from 71 to children, and including a family, that is a family, a mother and two children. The trial is expected to last six weeks. June kelly. In a moment, the latest business news. First, the headlines. Borisjohnson will hold an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough. Labour says its been hit by a sophisticated and large scale cyber attack on its digital platforms but that no data breach occurred. 3000 Fire Fighters are battling catastrophic conditions as wildfires continue to rage on australias east coast. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. The demand for workers appears to be slowing, according to the latest officialjobs figures. Average Earnings Growth slowed to 3. 6 in the three months to september, while employment fell by 58,000 over the same period. Boots the chemist could be about to change hands. Its american Owner Walgreens Boots Alliance has reportedly received a buyout offer from the private equity group kkr. If it were to be successful, the deal would be the biggest private equity transaction on record. Like many, however, boots has found the high street challenging and has said its eyeing store closures. The start of the Rugby World Cup and the reailty dating show love island helped push advertising revenue up 1 itv in the three months to the end of september. The broadcaster said it was making Good Progress in executing its strategy despite an uncertain economic environment. So, your top story, job done, worst figures in four years, how worried should we be . For the last few yea rs, should we be . For the last few years, job creation has gone way beyond expectations. Are we now at that turning point . The figures suggest perhaps things are easing off. As i mentioned, it wasntjust about Earnings Growth, which is coming down, but also the fact we are seeing employment are slipping. Taking those things together it suggest its not the case that employment is not rising because employers cant find workers, but perhaps they dont want to employ more people. I spoke earlier to philip shaw and asked him how concerned we should be. The unemployment figures were a little bit weaker than weve seen in recent months. We saw a sharp fall in vacancies to Something Like a two year low. The number of jobs eased back as well. It does indicate that the slowness of the economy is having an impact on the Labour Market, and what seems likely is that unemployment will probably rise again over the coming months. Investor interest in boots . 0bviously when you go shopping, few of us would ever spend billions of pounds at boots but that is what one private equity group is thinking about doing. It is raising eyebrows on both sides of the atlantic. Samir hosein is on the new york stock exchange. This could be quite a deal if it goes through . It could be really quite huge. 0ne if it goes through . It could be really quite huge. One of the biggest takeovers by a private equity firm ever. The question on the one hand is, why would walgreens wa nt the one hand is, why would walgreens want to go private . Look, there is a lot of pressure on these pharmaceutical companies. You already have Tech Companies that are trying to get into the industry, then you just see a lot of falling share price because there are all kinds of competition, the fight for generic drugs, so for walgreens, they can say, look, we are going to ta ke they can say, look, we are going to take the company private, away from the spotlight of investors and the public, and they can try and reorganise and become a Better Company without the scrutiny of all kinds of investors. In the meantime, something to keep an eye on, President Trump talking a bit later on . Indeed, donald trump will be speaking to an audience at the us economic forum. Talking about people from wall street, investors, big names in American Business that will be listening to his speech. What we now of what hes going to be talking about, he is going to be outlining a new sort of economic plan, highlighting what he wants to do in the coming months. It will be interesting to see what kind of reaction we get from wall street and from people who are in the Business Community here in new york. Could be a tough audience great to talk to you. Shall be have a look at the markets . They are pretty quiet at the moment. Itv, we mentioned earlier, it has beaten expectations, making money out of advertising, which is a bit of a challenge in the current environment. It seems like every day we are seeing a new streaming service launching. They must be pleased with themselves. But the question is, what do they do over the rest of the year . The boss of itv has been saying its a challenging economic environment but they expect to make Good Progress, well have to wait and see if that is the case. The beginning of the Rugby World Cup comes into those numbers, but the end, we will wait and see how affects advertising for top vodafone as well some key results coming out. They are doing great, up by over 5 . Altogether, the ftse100 looking more positive thanit the ftse100 looking more positive than it was yesterday. The pound slipping a bit compared this time yesterday, when were hoping perhaps the chances of a Hung Parliament we re the chances of a Hung Parliament were receding. A bit of a reality check and it has gone south slightly. Keep an eye on that for us. Thank you. Now lets take a look at the weather. Good afternoon. Its a pretty cold day again. The breeze coming in from the north west. Plenty of showers at the north west. Plenty of showers at the moment, a bit of a respite from some of them over the next 24 hours. That means it is going to be a cold and frosty one. Lets take a look at what is happening to take us into the evening rush hour. Showers filtering down the west, fairly wet day across wales. Showers in the south and down the north sea coast. Temperatures only around four to 8 degrees. It will get more cold as we go through tonight. Showers across the east will fail. 0ne go through tonight. Showers across the east will fail. One to continuing out to the far west. In between, clear skies, widespread frost away from and cities. 5 or 641 frost away from and cities. 5 or 641 or two places. But a lovely day and across eastern areas, even on the cold side. 0ne and across eastern areas, even on the cold side. One or two showers but eyes down towards wales in the south west, rain arriving later in the day. It may lift the temperatures a bit but overall a cold day. What happens next is the rainbow spread across southern england and eventually could edge back into those affected areas of the midlands and yorkshire. More on that in half an hour. Hello, youre watching afternoon live. Im carrie gracie. Today at 3. Boris johnson is chairing an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough. The conservative governments response to the floods has been woeful. Just imagine this happened in surrey, instead of yorkshire and the east midlands. I think there would have been a very, very different story. It is wrong that it seems to be just down to the local communities. Important though this work is, this is clearly a National Emergency and the government should be declaring it as such. A man goes on trial at the old bailey, accused of a string of sex attacks on women and children over a three day period earlier this year. More protests in hong kong students on a University Campus put up barricades and throw petrol bombs at police. 0fficers fire tear gas and rubber bullets in return. Coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with jane dougall. Hello. England manager Gareth Southgate is expected to speak to the media in this hour after he dropped Raheem Sterling because the striker had a confrontation withjoe gomez. The liverpool defender appeared to have a stretch under his eye in england training. Have a scratch. Thanks, jane. And matt taylor has all the weather. More showers around at the moment but a respite over the next 24 hour is. Slight concerns over parts of england and wales. More on that and we will take a look at the catastrophic wildfires in australia. 3000 firefighters are battling the wildfires on the east coast of australia. Good afternoon. This is afternoon live. The Prime Minister is chairing a meeting of the governments Emergency Committee around now, to discuss its response to the severe flooding in South Yorkshire and the midlands. Labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn has described the governments response as woeful, while liberal democrat leader jo swinson accused it of not taking the issue seriously enough. About 500 homes have been flooded in doncaster with more than 1,000 properties evacuated in areas hit by floods. Five severe warnings remain in place on the river don in South Yorkshire. Tolu adeoye reports. They say its never been this bad. The village of fishlake near doncaster still submerged, hundreds were forced to leave their homes as the water moved in. Many parts remain under several feet of water. The Prime Minister is to chair a meeting of the governments Emergency Committee cobra in response to the floods but today the Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was too little, too late. The conservative governments response to the floods has been woeful. Just imagine if this had happened in surrey instead of yorkshire and the east midlands. I think thered have been a very, very different story. Meanwhile, the liberal democrat leader met with volunteers helping the effort near fishlake, the party has set out plans for a £5 billion fund to improve flood defences across the uk. Its a really inspiring sense of Community Spirit that is going on here and that gives great cause for hope, really but it is wrong that it seems to be just down to the local communities, important though this work is, this is clearly a National Emergency and the government should be declaring it as such. £2. 6 billion is being spent on flood defences in england in a scheme that started in 2015. For those affected now, there are serious questions the conservatives have defended their record. The Prime Minister has been involved in this awful flooding. My own constituency in North Yorkshire was very badly flooded in the summer. The Prime Minister was on the phone to me personally when it happened. The government responded as it is doing now. For those affected now, there are serious questions about how this has been able to happen on such a scale. I want to go back and see whats happening but there are no answers to the questions. You know, i need to know white did this happen, it hasnt happened in 100 years, you must have seen that loads of fishlake residents are saying exactly the same thing. The National Farmers union has called for a seismic change to cope with events like this, an emergency appeal to support displaced families has raised more than £50,000 but thousands more will be needed to help those affected as what is a personal disaster for so many, turns political. Lets talk to our political correspondentjessica parker. It is turning political and i guess thatis it is turning political and i guess that is because the opposition parties are making it so. We are now in the middle of a general Election Campaign. It is an example of how Election Campaigns can take an unexpected turn because of events. WhatJeremy Corbyn has been saying today as he is raising it in terms ofan today as he is raising it in terms of an issue of austerity, pointing to what he says were cats over the last years to the Environment Agency and the lib dems as well raising concerns and saying they would put more money into flood defences. It does seem like it is becoming a bit ofa does seem like it is becoming a bit of a political issue and perhaps that will cause anger in the tory ranks. Sometimes during campaigns when Something Like this may happen, some kind of potential national emergencies, politicians might go back from being too political about it. It does seem to be increasingly a political issue. We have seen borisjohnson chair a a political issue. We have seen Boris Johnson chair a cobra a political issue. We have seen borisjohnson chair a cobra probably keen to be seen to be taking control of this issue. What he is getting, whether from labour, liberal democrats, a National Fire mens union, the call for this to be a National Emergency. That means it would free up the government to use Emergency Powers to try to help the situation. It will be interesting to see what the government comes out with this afternoon. I suppose there are risks for opposition parties as well. Some of the visits can be seen as grandstanding or almost taking advantage of the difficulty of others. It is almost a balancing act that politicians had to strike. The main element of this story is a com plete main element of this story is a complete tragedy for the communities affected by this flooding. Politicians making visits to those areas, tv opportunities, giving interviews. They will say they are raising valid points and concerns about representing people on a vital issue that you are right. They may be seen to be politicising the issue but it is such a big story that it will be difficult for politicians to ignore it. Thank you. The National Farmers union wants a National Emergency to be declared. We can talk to their president minette batters. What exactly do you mean by a National Emergency . What needs to happen . First of all i want to say that our hearts go out to houses and communities that have been devastated in these lads. This is unprecedented in many ways. We have seen excessive rainfall right across the country. Winter planting that would normally be completed by now, it looks like only a third of that has been done. We have crops that had been left in the ground, potentially 30 map may be even more of the potato harvest is still in the ground. Maze that is currently u nha rvested the ground. Maze that is currently unharvested that at this picture is right across the country but the in the midlands and north, where we are seeing land covered in water. Long term environmental implications for that as well. What help to those farming communities need . Well, we saw the government introduce the Flood Recovery fund for wayne fleet earlier this year and we want to see that rolled out. The short term things that can be done, like the greening rules that apply, imposed by the european union. We want measures like the three crop will say that things can be lessened. In many cases it will not be possible to commit to it. Spring seed, there will be a big demand on spring sea because winter crops have not been able to be planted. Seed. People will be wanting to ensure we maintain levels of vegetables that are on the shelves and were just to reassure everybody, farmers will be doing all they can to make sure the crops can be harvested. You have seen much of the footage. You cannot even see hedge tops because they are covered in water. Longer term, we have to a change in the way we maintain watercourses. We saw it with the somerset levels. We have to be looking at dredging, making sure there is space the water to travel. I think that is what has been missing from a long Term Investments we re missing from a long Term Investments were in how we allow water to move so we dont get catastrophic situations that impinge on Agricultural Land and on our homes and communities as well. Do you hold anyone responsible for not dealing with that sooner . As was saying, we are in the middle of an Election Campaign. Toa are in the middle of an Election Campaign. To a certain extent, these issues become weaponised. For your union of farmers, is it something where you say, this party or that party is talking the language we need to hear . Absolutely. We have launched our manifesto today and we will be asking for all Political Parties to commit to our asks on water. We dont have enough water in the country to water crops and irrigate at times and other times we have far too much water we do not have far too much water we do not have the ability to store. We should be able to store water on farmland and farmers should be paid for the purpose of doing that. In the 2012 flood manifesto, there were many asksin flood manifesto, there were many asks in there that have not been committed to, like investment on maintenance. We had seen breaking of the banks which have not been maintained and readers which cannot transport enough water. He asks in 2012 are the asks now. We have seen a massive lack of investment and we think we need to take a similar approach to the dutchman looking at how we move water. They have had massive projects to widen the rivers and make space for water, to prioritise farmland. That has not been the case in this country. In holland where every citizen invests in water responsibility. We believe we need to see similar action here to avoid catastrophic situations we have seen communities suffering from. We have had a decade of austerity but now the government is talking about spending. Do you feel more hopeful that these priorities will get into the conservative ma nifesto will get into the conservative manifesto as well as their labour and liberal democrat manifestos . very much hope so. We absolutely had to work within massive spending constraints. We have been facing enormous times of austerity. When you look at the clean up and the cost for the communities, it will be huge. The environmental damage that will be done to farmland on the back of that. It is about preparing for the change preparing and making sure we do not damage the environment, we do not leave homeowners with an enormous burden of cost and disturbance. It requires investment, it requires a complete change in ambition for how we manage water. Hopefully, in the longer term, leading full savings for everybody, including government well. Thank you for your time. The labour party says its foiled what it says was a large scale cyber attack against its systems. The party says some Election Campaigning activities were slowed but they dont think there has been a breach of data. The National Cyber Security Centre has said labour notified them swiftly and the attack was not successful. 0ur Cyber Security correspondentjoe tidy reports. Keeping a Campaign Like this in full swing isnt easy, behind the speeches, door knocks and bus tours, are computers and Computer Systems and now we know someone, somewhere, has attempted to bring the Labour Party Campaign to a halt. The Cyber Attacks that have taken place took place yesterday against the labour party platform. It was a very serious cyber attack, we have a system in place in our office to protect us against these Cyber Attacks but it was a very serious attack against us, so far as we are aware none of our information was downloaded, and the attack was actually repulsed. The party wouldnt say what systems were affected but insiders sent us this screen grab of one of the Campaign Tools they use, it says the software is experiencing issues. Labour hq maintains the attack failed and all systems stayed online but, clearly, some were failing entirely. The type of cyber attack used is known as a distributed denial of service, or ddos attack, they can be sophisticated but often they are more basic, ready made kits can be bought online and launched from a hackers bedroom for example. Labour has not pointed any fingers yet but a source says its seen similar attacks range from russia and brazil. With this type of attack what happens is the hacker hijacks thousands and thousands of poorly protected computers around the world and sends them as an army, gets them to do their bidding and tries to overwhelm a particular website or online resource, it may be that the attack is pointing back to russia or brazil or who knows where, doesnt necessarily mean its a smoking gun that those are the countries involved. Election campaigns have been targets for hackers before. In the 2016 us president ial election, Hillary Clinton had her e mails stolen and posted online, the Us Department ofjustice went on to charge 12 russians. Labour will deliver that real change, thank you very much. With no data or secrets stolen, this incident looks to be far less serious but it may act as a warning to the party and others, that during this volatile election period, attacks can come from unexpected places. Youre watching afternoon live. These are our headlines. Boris johnson is chairing an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough a man goes on trial at the old bailey accused of a string of sex attacks on women and children over a 3 day period earlier this year. And another day of bitter clashes in hong kong between police and protesters on a unvieristy campus. In Sport England manager Gareth Southgate has told the media all his players welfare are his priority after he dropped Raheem Sterling from the match against montenegro. It follows an altercation with joe gomez, which followed on from the weekends match between the clubs. Joe gomez was left with a scratch under his eye. Andy robertson pulls out of the match against cyprus with an ankle problem. Hejoins ryan fraser and Scott Mctominay on the scotla nd fraser and Scott Mctominay on the scotland injury list. Jonathan davies will be out for six months after surgery for a knee injury. It means he will miss the six nations. More on their stories after her past. Those stories. A man has gone on trial at the old bailey accused of a series of rapes and sexual assaults of women and children, including the rape of a child. Joseph mccann, who is 34, is charged with 37 offences in total involving 11 victims over a period of three days in april and may. The charges also include kidnap and false imprisonment. One of his alleged victims was 11 years old. 0ur correspondentjune kelly was in court. Joseph mccann is facing 37 counts, as you say. Eight counts of rape, and there are 11 alleged victims on that charge sheet. Today, thejury heard how, in april this year, a young woman was abducted near her home in east london. She was held prisoner for 14 hours, driven round in a car, repeatedly raped and also suffered a number of other sexual attacks and abuse. Now the court was told that this ordeal was of shocking depravity and violence. She was also threatened to be hit with a vodka bottle and hit in the face as well. Later the same day, two sisters were near their home in north london and, on this occasion, the two sisters were walking down the road. One of them was bundled off into a car and driven off. The other sister managed to escape and raised the alarm. She went home, told their mother, and the court was played a very distressing 999 call, where a mother is reporting to the police the fact that her daughter, her 21 year old daughter, has been abducted. We then heard details of the other allegations that mccann is facing, and they include charges in the north of england and some of those offences include victims, ranging in age from 71, to children, and including a family, and that is a family a mother and two children. The trial is expected to last six weeks. The trial is expected to last six weeks. June kelly. Australias bushfire emergency has been continuing for a fifth day with catastrophic Warnings Issued for sydney and other parts of New South Wales. Dozens of blazes are burning in the state, where at least nine emergency warnings have been issued. To the north, parts of queensland are also in flames. From sydney, phil mercer reports. Fires are unpredictable beasts. More than 70 are burning across New South Wales. About half are out of control, in terrain that is often rugged and hard to reach. More homes have been destroyed. Siren wails. 3,000 firefighters have prepared for what officials said was the most dangerous bushfire week australias most populous state has ever seen. A catastrophic fire warning was issued for the first time in sydney, and even homes a short distance from the city centre were at risk. There are fires in the suburbs of sydney, the outbreaks here came very close to homes which was just over the road from the bushland that continues to burn. The blaze has been brought under control and the pink substance you can see on the roads and on the roofs of these houses is fire retardant and these fires just go to show how dangerous it can be here in australias biggest city as conditions get worse. Homeowners here were lucky. Their properties were spared, even though flames had raged just metres away. They were pretty bad, actually. All crackling noise and the flames were really black, up in the sky, like, i cant even explain it to you. It was just like, i thought, i wont see my house again. As soon as i saw that i ran inside, grabbed my kids, got my dog and put them in the car. Much of eastern australia remains on edge. Strong winds are expected to fan the flames in the coming hours. The fear is that in such dry and gusty conditions, new fires could start easily and spread quickly. Conditions in New South Wales tomorrow are expected to be far less extreme. For now, sydney remains hostage to a smoky, toxic haze. Phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. Hong kong pro democracy protesters have been involved in more clashes with police in the citys Business District and on University Campuses. The Security Forces have again fired tear gas. 0ur china correspondent robin brant sent this update from hong kong. High School Students and University Stu d e nts high School Students and University Students have been at the forefront of the Democracy Movement in the past. Tonight in particular police are seeking to take them on on their own ground but as it work in offices moving into the campus of the Chinese University here. Particularly uncomfortable confrontations in the last hour or so between police and students. We have seen the use of petrol bombs from the protesters side was that we have seen police using tear gas and rubber bullets. None of that is unfamiliar. The protests im entering their sixth month. This is happening on a University Campus and tear gas was fired on a sports field. Also it is happening in the working week, on a tuesday night here. The past 48 hours here, there has definitely been an escalation. There has been a record amount of arrest by police. 0n there has been a record amount of arrest by police. On monday 287 people were arrested, followed on monday morning by the shooting of a man by police in a rush hour protest. He was shot in the chest, that third person to be shot by police since the protests began back injune. Throughout the campaign, bbc news will be looking closely at the places where the election could be won and lost. We will be visiting 10 parts of the uk where seats will be closely contested. Today, were in Bishop Auckland, which is in the north east of england. This seat was labour in the last election and is bordered by three other labour constituencies, plus one conservative and one independent. The labour incumbent won by 502 votes in the last election. But will the party be able to retain the seat . The areas been labour because it was traditionally a mining town. However, it has seriously suffered from industrial decline. Currently at 5. 8 the unemployment benefit rate in Bishop Auckland is higher than the National Average of 4 . But money is coming in. For instance, this 900 year old castle reopened earlier this month after a three year conservation project in a drive to increase tourism to the area. Now, back to our coverage of the general election, weve been asking for you to send in your questions. Youve responded in your thousands, and one popular subject is why we still cast a vote using a pencil and a piece of paper at a polling station. 0ur correspondent Chi Chi Izundu has been to meet one voter in county durham, who emailed the bbc to ask why new technology isnt used in elections. We can detect water on mars, and i can makea we can detect water on mars, and i can make a telephone call with my watch. I have a mobile phone which can carry thousands of images. Despite all these technological advances, colin grant cant understand why he has to walk charlie to a polling station to cast his vote. Why cant we have electronic voting . Why do you want e voting so bad . Electronic voting . Why do you want evoting so bad . A number of reasons. Recently we have had elections where a lot of people who dont engage could have engaged, change the result. The cost is a big implication. Also speed. You can have the answer straightaway. You would eliminate, virtually eliminate human error as well, too. All arguments for change but there is a very long history to the way we vote. For almost 150 years, with or without their dogs, people have put an by in the box on a paper ballot. Its a simple affair, set against a background of local halls and schools. Fast forward to election systems of today. Estonia is one of the few countries in the well to hold nationwide ballot using online dating. 44 use that method. Voting online is possible in other countries but we took colins question to an expert in online voting at the university of surrey. Why can we still not vote online . would say the main reason why we dont vote online at the moment is to do the cybersecurity, the security around this type of system is really complex and difficult to get right. Systems are being attacked all the time. Nothing that you could really disagree with but i would reiterate the point that no one is wanting to do this now. In ten years time, i would like to think we are starting to transition towards a electronic voting. There is still human error with counting that simple excrement making chili going the right pile, the players go to account in a certain still and i think using a computer is the way forward. For the next election, this man and his dog still had to take the walk to the polling station to their votes. Time for a look at the weather. We are going to look at the weather in australia as well. Catastrophic and early season fires. The terrifying situation. The fires have been so large and extensive, the smoke has been visible from space. The smoke has been drifting all the way from new zealand and beyond. Why is it so dry . A combination of things. The fires had been so bad because it has been so dry that at this chart shows how dry has been. The darkest red is the driest month on record since records began. Factoring into that, temperatures have been well above average. The same areas for anything from 1. 5 to 2. 5 degrees above average. A quite mark temperature rise, both of which are signals as climate scientist keep telling us about Climate Change and one of the consequences of that had been no wildfires. The reason it has probably been so dry and so warm as well, could also be linked into what has been happening around the seasin what has been happening around the seas in north and western australia. The seas have been colder than possible. That disrupts weather patterns in the atmosphere. What happens in the oceans can affect what is a brother and has probably helped the drier situation as well is potentially Climate Change. In sydney, we have seen more humid winds pushing in of the sea. That is a good thing. In New South Wales and queensland, the wind is still off the dry land. Low humidity helps to try out the vegetation and ground even quicker. The flames become found and it makes it worse. No rain full insight in the days ahead. No sign of things improving for the rest of this week. No rainfall. What about over here . Rain will feature again for us over the coming days. Not great news for those in flood affected areas. Enjoy the next 24 hours in that it brings a respite. Showers are easing. It will stay fairly cold. Low pressure bringing showers starting to nudge away. There is a gap working its way forward tonight and tomorrow for many. Still showers into the evening rush hour, particularly wales and South West England. In the eastern coastal counties as well. A strong gusty wind. That adds to the wind chill. Temperatures this evening around four 28 celsius. Temperatures like that before sunset it will be colder tonight. The showers will fade. Clear skies elsewhere. Away from towns and city centres and widespread frost on the ground. Air temperatures could drop as low as 5 6 temperatures could drop as low as 5 6 in some parts of scotland. It could be frosty but dry and bright to start for many. If you missed and fog patches here and there. Most will be dry and sunny. In the north and east of the country will stay dry and sunny throughout. In wales and South West England outbreaks of rain will develop particularly through the afternoon. A chilly day for all. A cold night will follow wednesday night into thursday. 0ne or two showers. In the south lets focus on the rain band across south wales through much of the night. Stretching across southern counties. Into thursday, notice how it pivots its way round. Exactly where the pivot point is and where the rain band will end up will have a big impact on what will happen regarding with levels and the risk of flooding. Across that zone through to the humber, we are keeping a close eye because the rain band could be sitting there for a few hours as he goes from thursday afternoon into thursday night. A few showers in the fast south east corner. Holding the wind and cold winds will be winners for the rest of the week and into the weekend. Low pressure still nearby. Will be with us. Not as wet as we have seen this week. Keep up to date with with the latest flood Warnings Issued by the met office. They are there on the bbc weather website. This is bbc news our latest headlines. Boris johnson is chairing an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough. A man has gone on trial at the old bailey accused of a string of sex attacks on women and children over a three day period earlier this year. There have been more protests in hong kong students on a University Campus put up barricades and threw petrol bombs at police. 0fficers fired tear gas and rubber bullets in return. Australias bushfire emergency is continuing for a fifth day with catastrophic Warnings Issued for sydney and other parts of New South Wales. Sport now on afternoon live. The local difficulty in the england camp. Gareth southgate hasjust finished speaking to the media but he didnt go into detail about what happened begin Raheem Sterling and joe gomez. But its been confirmed by the fa that there was a disturbance or an altercation between the two yesterday and that, as a result of that, Raheem Sterling would not be considered for englands match on thursday. It all started on sunday when sterling and gomez were playing for their respective teams in the premier league. Liverpool hosting Manchester City city thought they should have had at least one penalty lost the match tensions were high and the pair clashed on the pitch. Its then been reported that sterling confronted gomez in the players canteen at St Georges Park yesterday. Despite that, the pair trained togetherjust a few hours ago and liverpool defender joe gomez appeared to have a scratch under his eye, reportedly as a result of the argument. Manchester city striker sterling admitted on an Instagram Post that his emotions had got the better of him, but that he and gomez had figured things out and moved on. Well, there are still a lot of questions about what actually happened and why Gareth Southgate took the decision to drop sterling. He was asked those questions many times. This is what he had to say. My priority is always the care and well being of all of my players. All of my players. And then you have a decision to make as to whether there needs to be something further which is the right thing for the group moving forward, which is my reason for not selecting Raheem Sterling for not selecting Raheem Sterling for the game on thursday. So that is the state of affairs at the moment. Quite interesting to try to read between the lines, a very restrained statement from Gareth Southgate. Moving from the angle into the scotland camp, is not all sweetness and light . When it comes to tensions that are very many but there are injury problems and this latest is pretty crucial. Captain Andy Robertson is out of their final two qualifiers over the next week, he has an ankle problem. So that means hell miss the euro qualifier against cyprus and the game against kazakhstan next week. Liverpool wont be happy either, he could miss their trip to crystal palace. But this is a huge problem for scotland and steve clark, because bournmouths ryan fraser and Manchester Uniteds Scott Mctominay have also pulled out of the squad with injury. Scotland are fourth in their group with no chance of qualifying via the traditional method. However, they have a place in the play offs, so still a slight chance. Some significant injury news from wales rugby too, centre Jonathan Davies is out for six months. Hes had surgery after picking up a knee injury at the world cup. Hell definitely miss the next six nations championship. Fly half Rhys Patchell could also miss the tournament with a shoulder injury, it will be 3 to 4 months before he can play again. The atp finals continue in london today. Novak djokovic plays Dominic Thiem tonight. The match between Roger Federer and Matteo Berrettini has just finished at the 02 in london. Federer took the first set, but berrettini pushed him to a tie break, it finished 7 6. Federer hasjust won the second set 6 3. This is only the second time the two have met competitively the first time was earlier this year at wimbledon where federer won in straight sets. Dom sibley and zak crawley took their chance to impress the england selectors ahead of the test series against new zealand. Both players made centuries as england reached 285 for1 in their 1st innings on day one of their tour match against a new zealand xi in whangarei. The warwickshire 0pener, sibley, was the only batsman to score over 1,000 runs in division one of the county championship last season. Hes expected to make his test debut next week i wasnt really on the radar of england, i would i wasnt really on the radar of england, iwould imagine, a yearago i wasnt scoring the runs, but i knew i had the ability to get here and that was just a case of working out a little bit and scoring those runs. I think i always had the belief that i would get there, it is just a case of going out and doing it and for just a case of going out and doing itand fora just a case of going out and doing it and for a year and a half i wasnt doing that, and made a few changes and mentally a bit stronger so it has worked out nicely. Thats all the sport for now. Ill have more for you in the next hour. Lets get more now on the flooding in the midlands and the north east of england. The governments Emergency Cobra Committee is meeting now to discuss the National Response. The governments already accused of a woeful handling of the impact on homes and business. About 500 homes have been flooded and 1,200 properties evacuated. 0ur correspondent, Harry Gration, has been in fishlake near doncaster which is one of the worst affected areas. So many people have rallied round to try to make this obvious distress a little more manageable. Ijust want to show you around St Cuthbert Church because it looks incredible. These are donations that have been made in the space of the last 72 hours and people have been coming in and getting provisions and obviously being helped by a Community Experience as well. I have two people i would like to speak to, if i may. Wendy who is one of the churchwardens and louise who runs the old butchers cafe. It is lovely that the church is right at the centre of things. The church has been here since the 11th century as a place of refuge and it is higher than the surrounding areas so it is still dry. Not only is it a spiritual place but also a refuge for people. We have been inundated, as you can see, with so much good food and good things. We are really grateful to everyone. Your cafe down there has been at the centre of things. How have you managed to help, and help people really cope with this experience . We are just trying to help the fire crews and all the amazing people are helping to move people through the village. All the donations people are bringing in and we are cooking food, the police and the rescue boat teams, and for those people in the village have no access to kitchens, they cant get into their homes and people were stranded. We are doing our bit and kicking away. It has been a generation experience, not just people like you and me but the youngsters as well. They have been great and the young adults, the ones who are able to drive 4x4 is and the farmers who brought the tractors in. They helped us to move things around and reach people that the other services would have been overwhelmed by, so they have been really great and facilitating that. Would you say that things are improving because there is still so much water out there is still so much water out there and so many houses are flooded. Absolutely, certainly improving. The road this morning we can get any land rover so it is accessible now to the centre of the village. The difficulty for most of the people is getting the bigger items, the cattle feed, the horse feed and that sort of thing, so it is getting in and out of the village fine but we wanted to just try and help those who cant get out at the moment. So thats the view from st cuthbert swiss residents talking to our reporter. The Political Parties have also spent today making pledges on Adult Education. So lets look now at those, and at how they are planning on funding them. Heres our reality check correspondent sophie hutchinson. All the parties know that their record on Adult Education is pretty poor. Its one of the areas which has had deep cuts over the past 15 years. This data comes from the institute for fiscal studies. You can see under the Labour Government from 2003 4, a drop of 32 in funding. Then after 2009 10 under the coalition and then the conservatives, the budget plummets by a further 4796. Labour now says it will reverse that and more. Its proposal would come close to doubling the current Adult Education budget, which also includes apprenticeships from just over 3 billion taking it to more than 6 billion a year by 2023 24. Labour would provide free a level courses, diplomas, nvq training and degrees for around 300,000 adults, with maintenance grants for those from low income families. So how would they fund it . Well, labour says it will reveal all in its manifesto, but the indications are that the money would come from charging private school vat on their fees. And shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said the policy would improve the economy and society. Lifelong learning has a role to play in the transformation, notjust of our economy but our society as well. We know that education does notjust improve peoples productivity, it im proves improve peoples productivity, it improves the quality of their lives. That is why Lifelong Learning is about so much more than qualifications levels and skill shortages. And the lib dems also want a boost to Lifelong Learning but their skills wallet scheme is different. Providing a pot of money, £10,000 for each working age adult to be spent on courses. It would be staggered from the age of 25 to 55. The lib dems say it will be paid for through rises to corporation tax. A big question for the lib dems and labour will be who will teach all these new adult learners . Certainly as far as colleges are concerned, according to their union, 90 say they have difficulty in attracting the staff that they need. Thank you. Now, sticking with election news because we have got some lines coming in from aaron banks, the leave eu boss who has been an ally of nigel farage at the time of the referendum. He has been commenting that the only way to deliver brexit as by a majority for borisjohnson. He says Boris Johnsons brexit is the most realistic way to get brexit and that the brexit party itself could 15 10 seats if it concentrated its resources. Seats if it concentrated its resources. He has been warning nigel farage that he could split the vote. Five to ten seats. And damage the chances of britain leaving the eu at all if he doesnt stand aside and more seats, marginal labour seats as well as the tory seats that nigel farage said he would stand aside and. Aaron banks has also said that leader eu would be releasing an app that tells brexiteer is which candidate to support in each seat and he will do that if the brexit party doesnt pull out by friday and that up would encourage brexiteer is to vote conservative in almost every constituency. We will come back to election years in a couple of minutes. A teenage boy who almost died after using e cigarettes has urged people not to take up vaping. Doctors say ewan fisher whos 19 and from nottingham suffered a catastrophic reaction in his lungs that left him unable to breathe. Health officials here say vaping is not risk free, but is still better than smoking. Although the world health 0rganization says e cigarettes are undoubtedly harmful and should therefore be subject to regulation. 0ur Health Correspondent James Gallagher reports. Ewan fisher is a keen boxer, but vaping left him fighting for his life. He was 16 when he first used e cigarettes. Getting hold of them was easy, despite being underage. But around four months later, he started finding it hard to breathe. Something in the e cigarette vapour was causing a catastrophic immune reaction in his lungs called hypersensitivity pneumonitis. His lungs were failing fast, and he rapidly ended up in intensive care. Doctors had to connect ewans blood vessels to an artificial lung in order to keep him alive. It worked, but ewans recovery has been slow. I urge everyone not to vape, because i dont want them to end up how i have been. I dont wish it upon anyone, not even my worst enemies. Ewans doctors say severe reactions like his are rare, but this is not an isolated case. He had to have help, and lots of help. The most help anybody can get. Clearly im worried about this young person being exposed. There are case reports from elsewhere and a lot of International Bodies have actually recommended that vaping should be banned in children under 21 years. E cigarettes are promoted as a way of quitting tobacco, and 3. 6 Million People in the uk now use them. So how safe is vaping . Its a difficult question because, on the one hand, nobody who doesnt smoke should consider vaping, in my view. It would be madness. But somebody who already smokes should switch. So, where young people are taking up vaping as an alternative to smoking, despite the bad experience that this particular young man has had, i would endorse that. Ewan says he is back to 80 of his former self, and wants to go into accountancy. His experience is a reminder that vaping is not completely safe. James gallagher, bbc news. The former us secretary of state, Hillary Clinton has told the bbc shes dumb founded that the uk government wont release an intelligence and Security Committee report into russian covert actions in the uk. The 2016 us president ial candidate is in london with her daughter chelsea to promote their co authored work, the book of gutsy women. Mishal husain started by asking if it would be gutsy to run as a president ial candidate again. It would be very gutsy. Thats true. Thats something i think about all the time. I think a lot about whats happening in our country, around the world. I try to give the best advice i can to the candidates who are running because my goal is to help retire the current incumbent, i think its imperative that our country regain its leadership and its credibility so im going to do everything i can to make that happen. Will you be endorsing one of them . I dont think so, i will support them, answer their questions in any way that i can but once we have a nominee to do everything i know to do to win. What do you think about whats happening in this country, the direction that we are taking on brexit . A real hope is that the uk sorts itself out. Its up to the people of this country to decide the direction. But we need a strong uk, we need a uk with smart, sensible, forward looking leadership so im dumbfounded that this government wont released a report about russian influence because every person who votes in this country deserves to see that report before your election happens. That should be an absolute condition because there is no doubt, we know it in our country, we have seen it in europe, we have seen it here, that russia in particular, is determined to try to shape the politics of western democracies, not to our benefit but to theirs. Why do you think they are not releasing it . I dont know the answer to that, i would think a reporter like you and others should be absolutely relentless in trying to get to the bottom of it because look, we know from even this Current Trump administrations intelligence officials, that the russians are still in our electoral system. We know they are still pumping out propaganda, we know that they would very much like to ensure the re election of someone who has done their bidding, who just recently said he hopes he can be in red square on may the 1st with putin to see their may day military parade. So there is no doubt of the role that russia played on a 2016 election and is continuing to play. There is a lot of evidence that russia played in the brexit election, im not in your country, i dont have a say about any of that, but the fact that the current government wont release this report by your own government should raise some questions. In a moment well have the latest business news. First a look at the headlines on afternoon live. Boris johnson is chairing an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough. A man goes on trial at the old bailey accused of a string of sex attacks on women and children over a 3 day period earlier this year. And another day of bitter clashes in hong kong between police and protesters on a University Campus. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. The demand for workers appears to be slowing, according to the latest officialjobs figures. Average Earnings Growth slowed to 3. 6 in the three months to september, while employment fell by 58,000 over the same period. Boots the chemist could be about to change hands. Its american Owner Walgreens Boots Alliance has reportedly received a buyout offer from the private equity group kkr. If it were to be successful, the deal would be the biggest private equity transaction on record. Like many, however, boots has found the high street challenging and has said it is eyeing store closures. The start of the Rugby World Cup and the reailty dating show love island helped push advertising revenue up 1 itv in the three months to the end of september. The broadcaster said it was making Good Progress in executing its strategy despite an uncertain economic environment. Going back to the employment story, 58,000 jobs, going back to the employment story, 58,000jobs, it going back to the employment story, 58,000 jobs, it sounds serious. The last couple of years we have talked about nothing else than thatjobs have exceeded expectations when it comes to employment growth. It is taken comes to employment growth. It is ta ke n every comes to employment growth. It is taken every day by surprise and has been a real bright spot of the economy and it matters, notjust on an individual basis but for the economy as a whole because of government, wage growth, big driver of Consumer Spending and therefore of Consumer Spending and therefore of the economy as a whole. Things appear to be coming off the boil somewhat. As you say, we have seen employment falling back and on top of that, the number of vacancies is falling as well so all those indicators start to look a little bit shaky and it is notjust a case that employers are saying, we have enough workers now, thank you very much. The demand for work seems to be slowing down and that is probably why we are seeing Earnings Growth coming off the boil, and Earnings Growth, if you take away the cost of living, the average weekly wage in real terms still below what it was prior to the financial crisis. People still feeling pretty short changed on that score. How concerned should we be by what is going on in the Labour Market . The unemployment figures in the Labour Market data in general were a little bit weaker than we have seen in recent months. We saw a sharp fall in vacancies to Something Like a two year low in the numberof Something Like a two year low in the number ofjobs Something Like a two year low in the number of jobs eased back Something Like a two year low in the number ofjobs eased back as well. It does indicate that the slowness of the economy is having an impact on the Labour Market and what seems likely is that unemployment will likely is that unemployment will likely arise again over the coming months. That is philip shaw, but good news elsewhere in the market. We often focus on employment but self employment, if we look at those figures, women have been opting increasingly to work for themselves. For all sorts of reasons, perhaps thinking that the workplace as it is doesnt suit themselves or they may have better ideas to get money if the strike and on their own. According to official statistics, since 1984 the number of women self employed going up by 150 . That is bringing up its own particular issues at the moment because there issues at the moment because there is research coming out from the likes of Scottish Widows saying we may be seeing the emergence of a new issue which has a gender pensions gap, that whereas we are seeing an increasing number of women working for themselves they are not saving enough for their retirement, so it is one of those areas we need to look out for. Funnily enough it is the pensions provider is telling us about that. I wonder why show we have a look at the markets . You can see the american markets opening in the last hour or so with a pretty bright start. President trump is talking in new york later this afternoon so lots of Business People waiting to hear what he has to say. The ftse100, various bits and pieces in the cup but itv earlier on, vodafone coming out with good results. Premierfoods have had a bit of our revamp of their kipling ca kes. A bit of our revamp of their kipling cakes. Is thatjustifying such a rise in the share price . Apparently so. That is one of the reasons they are getting. The likes of fondant fancies, they have had a bit of a rethink and have new varieties. After dinner meant fancies. Worth a try. See you later. Just before the top of the hour. In San Francisco a rather unusual member of staff can be spotted among the corridors and departure gates of one of the citys airports. Sporting a pilots cap and pink toenails, five year old lilou is helping stressed travellers have a more enjoyable journey. Gareth barlow reports on the worlds first, pigs might fly, as the old saying goes, but lilou is getting pretty close to taking off. At least, shes certainly taken off with passengers at San Franciscos international airport. Ive never seen one here, so its interesting. Its fun. I got really excited. She can do tricks like a dog. You know the nails, the hat, just the i dont know how to really explain it but its actually really cool. Lilou is part of the wag brigade, which uses therapy animals, including the worlds first therapy pig, to ease the stress of travellers and flying. It makes them happy and pause for a second. Just smiling. It makes them go oh, its great and snap out of the moment. A musician. A style icon. And a social media star. The only thing lilou cant do is visit duty free. Gareth barlow, bbc news. I want one here. Can we have one here, please . Now its time for a look at the weather with matt. Cold and blustery out there for many at the moment. The showers will ease through the rest of this evening and tonight but still some dotted around across wales and southern england and certainly around some of the coastal districts. 0n land, clearer skies to take us into tonight and the temperature this evening around 47. As the temperature this evening around 4 7. As the showers continue to fade, retreating to many coasts and inland becomes clear. Some mist and fog patches but widespread frost. The temperature could be as low as 5 the temperature could be as low as 5 through inland parts of scotland but it should be a bright and sunny start with four patches on one or two showers around the irish sea coast. Much of scotland and Eastern England stay dry throughout the day. Northern ireland also back to the south and west of wales, devon and cornwall, dorset, we see rain developing later on and what should be another cold day. That should be a feature thru wednesday night and into thursday, spreading northwards. More on that later. Hello, youre watching afternoon live im carrie gracie. Today at 4. Boris johnson is chairing an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough. The conservative government response to the floods has been war. Just imagine this had happened in surrey instead of yorkshire and the east midlands. I think they would have been a very different story. Midlands. I think they would have been a very different storym midlands. I think they would have been a very different story. It is wrong that it seems to be just down to the local community, this is clearly a National Emergency and the government should be declaring it as such. A man goes on trial at the old bailey accused of a string of sex attacks on women and children over a 3 day period earlier this year. Labour says its successfully defeated a cyber attack targetted at its digital platforms and no data breach occurred. Coming up on afternoon live all the sport with jane. England manager Gareth Southgate has said his priority is the welfare of all of his players. It comes after he dropped Raheem Sterling following an altercation with joe gomez which reportedly left their liverpool player with a scratch under his eye. Thanks jane and well be joining you for a full update just after half past. Matt taylor has all the weather. Cold and frosty tonight but there could be more wet weather back, especially in the flood affected areas. I will have the details in half an arrow. Thanks matt. And coming up as part of election 2019 were out and about in Bishop Auckland. Yes, we are in the north east of england today in a time which has voted labour in every election since 1935 but could they be about to choose a different path this time hello, everyone this is afternoon live. The Prime Minister is chairing a meeting of the governments Emergency Committee to discuss its response to the severe flooding in South Yorkshire and the midlands. Labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn has described the governments response as woeful, while liberal democrat leader jo swinson accused it of not taking the issue seriously enough. About 500 homes have been flooded in doncaster with more than 1,000 properties evacuated in areas hit by floods. Five severe warnings remain in place on the river don in South Yorkshire. Tolu adeoye reports. They say its never been this bad. The village of fishlake near doncaster still submerged, hundreds were forced to leave their homes as the water moved in. To leave their homes many parts remain under several feet of water. The Prime Minister is to chair a meeting of the governments Emergency Committee, cobra, in response to the floods but today the Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn said it was too little, too late. The conservative governments response to the floods has been woeful. Just imagine if this had happened in surrey instead of yorkshire and the east midlands. I think thered have been a very, very different story. Meanwhile the liberal democrat leader met with volunteers helping the effort near fishlake, the party has set out plans for a £5 billion fund to improve flood defences across the uk. Its a really inspiring sense of Community Spirit that is going on here, and that gives great cause for hope, really, but it is wrong that it seems to be just down to the local communities, important though this work is, this is clearly a National Emergency and the government should be declaring it as such. £2. 6 billion is being spent on flood defences in england in a scheme that started in 2015. For those affected now, there are serious questions about how this has been able to happen. Ican speak i can speak with first hand knowledge, my constituency was flooded over the summer and the Prime Minister was on the telephone to me when that happened on the government responded as they are doing now. For those affected now, there are serious questions about how this has been able to happen. I want to go back and see whats happening, but there are no answers to the questions. You know, i need to know, why did this happen, it hasnt happened in 100 years, you must have seen that loads of fishlake residents are saying exactly the same thing. The National Farmers union has called for a seismic change to cope with events such as this, an emergency appeal to support displaced families has raised more than £50,000, but thousands more will be needed to help those affected as what is a personal disaster for so many, turns political. Tolu adeoye, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent, jessica parkerjoins us now. More politics this afternoon because Jeremy Corbyn and local mp ed miliband have just been Walking Around some of the flooded areas of doncaster. Let us have a look at that and you talk me through what is going on with the politics. The labour leader, the latest person to visit the area as you say, visiting doncaster north. Earlier we saw visit the area as you say, visiting doncaster north. Earlier we sano swinson in South Yorkshire as well. This has become a political issue during the course of the day. We know Boris Johnson during the course of the day. We know borisjohnson has been cheating the Cobra Committee this afternoon to try and coordinate government response. to try and coordinate government response. Has been cheering. We understand the government was planning to do that beforeJeremy Corbyn called them to take more of a personal grip on the issue. It is clear borisjohnson will personal grip on the issue. It is clear Boris Johnson will want personal grip on the issue. It is clear borisjohnson will want to be seen to be taking a close grip the issue. We had seenJeremy Corbyn calling the government response will fill, we have had the liberal democrats criticising the response saying it should not be left to local communities to pick up the pieces and they have announced a £5 billion flood defence fund. It will be interesting to see what the government come up with having been put under pressure by the opposition parties. Looking at it in the wider context, Boris Johnson parties. Looking at it in the wider context, borisjohnson will want parties. Looking at it in the wider context, Boris Johnson will want to avoid the problems of last week when the tories were being painted as elitist and out of touch with normal people and their problems, in the light of Jacob Rees Moggs people and their problems, in the light ofJacob Rees Moggs comments, so they need to look as if they are taking this seriously. One of the things being talked about is a national in urgency. The lib dems and the labour party and the Farmers Union had said the government should call it that. This means a contingency act which could allow ministers more power to deal with the situation but we will have to wait for the outcome of the cobra meeting to see what the government response will be. We have been hearing from ministers and Boris Johnson saying that the government is working hard to address the issue. First and foremost it is difficult for local communities but the politics of it during a general Election Campaign is that no Political Party wants to be seen on the bike that dealing with this. We have seen interventions today from labour and the liberal democrats, labour and the liberal democrats, labour trying to put this down to austerity partly. Jeremy corbyn was talking about cuts to the Environment Agency for example. Trying to make life difficult for borisjohnson on this issue, talking about it in terms of cuts which have been seen over years of the conservative government so Boris Johnson will want to get on the front foot and deal with this issue and help the communities which have been so badly hit by this. Thank you very much by that for that. A mother who murdered two of her sons and plotted to kill four more of her children has beenjailed for at least 35 years. Sarah barrass and brandon machin, who is her half brother, strangled tristan and blake barrass, aged 13 and 14, in shiregreen, sheffield, in may. Sheffield crown court heard today how, prior to the killings, barrass and machin had given four of her children including tristan and blake tablets against their will. The pair also tried to kill one of barrass children by attempting to drown them in a bath. A judge ruled that barrass and machin should both be jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years. A man has gone on trial at the old bailey accused of a series of rapes and sexual assaults of women and children, including the rape of a child. Joseph mccann, who is 34, is charged with 37 offences in total involving 11 victims over a period of three days in april and may. The charges also include kidnap and false imprisonment. One of his alleged victims was 11 years old. 0ur correspondent danny shaw is outside court. What have we been hearing today . The 0ld what have we been hearing today . The old bailey has heard about what the prosecution described as an extraordinary and terrible sequence of events at the end of april and the beginning of may this year which took place versavel in the london area, in eastern north london and in hertfordshire and then the north west of england. It is alleged that Joseph Mccann committed a spree of abductions, rapes and Sexual Offences on 11 people. The youngest victim was 11 years old, a boy, the old est victim was 11 years old, a boy, the oldest victim 71 year old woman. 0ne woman was dragged into a car in east london. The prosecution said she was a prisonerfor 14 hours. The qc said she had been reaped many times and had suffered a dreadful ordeal of shocking depravity and violence. The women managed to escape along with another victim after smashing a vodka bottle on mr mccanns had. A group of builders it was said bravely intervened to prevent the women from being recaptured by mr mccann. It is notjust attacks in under and london, there are also attacks in the north of england . The court heard that mr mccann resurfaced in lancashire some ten days later, after those attacks in the south east of england. It is said that he inveigled his way into afamily said that he inveigled his way into a family home and attacked two children, a boy of 11 and has this to who was 17 at the time and he raped them both. This was it is also said that five miles away he attacked a 71 year old woman as she was loading shopping into a car. There were also Sexual Offences and abductions on several teenage girls. All these offences are denied by nesta mccann but he was not in court today. Thank you very much. Denied by mr mccann. The labour party says its foiled what it says was a large scale cyber attack against its systems. The party says some Election Campaigning activities were slowed but they dont think there has been a breach of data. The National Cyber Security Centre has said labour notified them swiftly and the attack was not successful. 0ur Cyber Security correspondentjoe tidy reports. Keeping a Campaign Like this in full swing is not easy. Behind the speeches, door knocks on bus tours are computers and Computer Systems. Now we know someone somewhere has attempted to bring labours campaign to a halt. The Cyber Attacks that have taken place, took place yesterday against the labour party platform. It was a very serious cyber attack. We have a system in place in our offices to protect us against these Cyber Attacks but there was a very attack against us. So far as we are aware, none of our information was downloaded and the attack was repulsed. The party would not say what systems were affected but insiders sent us this screengrab. Labour hq maintained the attack failed and all system stayed online but clearly someone feeling entirely. The type of attack used with known as d dos attack. They can be sophisticated but often a more basic, ready made kits can be bought online and launched from a bedroom. Labour has not yet pointed figures but a source that it has seen attacks originating from russia and brazil. We have had d dos attacks. What happens is the hacker hijacks thousands and thousands of poorly protected computers around the world and sends them as an army, gets them to do their bidding and train overwhelm a particular website are online resource so it may be that the attackers pointing back to russia or brazil or who knows where but it does not necessarily mean it is a smoking gun that those other countries involved. Election campaigns have been targets for hackers before. In the 2016 us president ial election, Hillary Clinton had her e mail stolen and posted online. The Us Department ofjustice went on to charge 12 russians. Labour will deliver that real change, thank you very much. With no data stolen, this incident looks to be far less serious but it may act as a warning to the party and others that during this volatile election period, attacks can come from unexpected places. Worth mentioning that reuter are reporting that labour has suffered a Second Attack of a similar nature. Hackers attacking the labour Party Servers again, this is sourced to reuters at this point, we have not had confirmation from the labour party of this but they are quoting unnamed labour sources, telling them there was a Second Attack earlier today, also unsuccessful, and Clear Thinking from the same source. We will bring you more as we get it. Youre watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. Boris johnson is chairing an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough a man goes on trial at the old bailey accused of a string of sex attacks on women and children over a 3 day period earlier this year. Labour says it has successfully defeated a cyber attack on monday, targeted at its digital platform, it is not yet confirming the reuters report of a Second Attack today. In sport, england manager Gareth Southgate has told the media that all of his late playerss well being is his priority after he dropped Raheem Sterling. It follows a second altercation withjoe gomez which reportedly left the liverpool defender with a scratch above his eye. Captain Andy Robertson of scotla nd eye. Captain Andy Robertson of scotland pulled out of their match against cyprus with an ankle problem. Hejoins two against cyprus with an ankle problem. He joins two other players on the injury list. WalessJonathan Davies will be out for six months after surgery for any injury which means he will definitely miss the six nations. More on all of those stories later on. Hong kong pro democracy protesters have been involved in more clashes with police in the citys Business District and on University Campuses. The Security Forces have again fired tear gas. Lets talk now to our reporter Danny Vincent whos in hong kong for us now. What is happening as we speak . what is happening as we speak . I am currently at the hong kong Chinese University and there are still thousands of protesters dressed in black. It looks like they are preparing for the next attack from the police. We have seen scenes like this before across the rest of the city, in central and financial districts and across residential parts of this territory but what we have seen today, the same type of protest, barricades and tear gas and rubber bullets being fired and tear gas canisters being thrown back but this time it is taking place on the University Campus itself. We also have the police talking about society pushed to the brink of a total breakdown. It sounds as if the authorities are reaching towards the end of their patients. What more can you do . That is the milliondollar question here because there are people on the other side of the argument, the protesters and people who are sympathetic to the causes of the protesters, they feel that the police have actually broken the law and are pushing society to the brink of colla pse and are pushing society to the brink of collapse so that is not much trust between the police and the protesters. There were reports here earlier that the police were going to retreat from the university and they would not be back but there is no trust so protesters have chosen to stay behind the barriers and barricades which they are still making. There are all types of weapons, aluminium baseball bats and bricks, some people are making any open, some petrol bombs so it does seem that is a breakdown in law and daughter here. Many of the people here are quite comfortable breaking the law now, notjust by winning facemask, not just the law now, notjust by winning facemask, notjust illegal the law now, notjust by winning facemask, not just Illegal Assembly but also people seem to be increasingly comfortable with the level of violence which has become a little bit of a normality here in hong kong. We have seen record arrests already this week and yesterday police shot at a protester and injured that protester and another man was doused by protesters with petrol and set on fire, so when you talk about the extremity on both sides, that is the kind of thing we are talking about and yet the United States has not stepped in to encourage both sides to de escalate, is anyone offering or is anyone in a position to provide a kind of bridge for the two sides, i am thinking of the United States or the uk . For the two sides, i am thinking of the United States or the uk7m certainly feels like a political deadlock or still meet. In some ways used the many ordinary hong kongers, what they are seeing on the streets here is political violence. These protesters have political aims, they feel the system has broken down and they have limited ways to express their political demands today are taking to the streets. The police seem to be caught in the middle. These protests were originally about an extradition bill but now protesters are increasingly angry as what they see as abuse of police power. So on a street level it is a running battle between protesters and police and sometimes it almost seems personal. It looks like people are looking for revenge, at least from the protesters, they sometimes speak about this. The police want they are asking for political change but the chief executive is not willing to back down and we knew that hong kong is part of china and trying to discuss political change with the political regime in china is not something which is encouraged. Thank you very much for joining us very late at night in hong kong. Let us return to the election year. Here. Lets return to the election now, because throughout the campaign, bbc news will be looking closely at the places where the election could be won and lost. We will be visiting 10 parts of the uk where seats will be closely contested. Today, were in the labour incumbent won by 502 votes in the last election. But will the party be able to retain the seat . Labour have held the seat since 1935 and 61 in the area voted leave in the eu referendum. It is a target seat for the conservatives who did come second during the last election. Lets go to Bishop Auckland now Christian Fraser is there. Yes, this is a lovely part of the world. Let us focus on some positives, you concealed castle and the city centre, a lot of money has been poured into Bishop Auckland recently, a medieval theatre is being put on every summer which brings a lot of people into the town, new customers that they need. But he does the baddies, on the main drag here there are two main Shopping Centre but she was the problem at the top and, a lot of the shops are shut. Even paint a world cannot survive on local businesses are struggling. Pound world. A lot of people are shopping online but it is also a reflection of the lack of investment which has been going on for many years and old market times like this one. What will they consider in the election . Local issues or brexit . I have been indulging myself and i have been out for three meals to find out. This cafe serves breakfast to those heading north. She also has regulars from nearby Bishop Auckland, a town which informix will find itself at a political crossroad. I am not voting just for brexit, i am still really torn. There is a menu of options for people here and it includes a Brexit Party Candidate. Nigel farage thinks he can take crucial votes from labour. He is making the wrong decision. If that is his tactic, he is making the wrong decision, he should withdraw and let it be that race. He is not stupid, he knows. The castle was the seat of the prince bishops who ruled the Northern Frontier for the kings of britain. It has been a labour stronghold in labour time, on call. The town has voted for labour for decades. The impregnable red wall is in danger of being breached, since 2005 the labour majority collapsed to just over 2005 the labour majority collapsed tojust over 500. If 2005 the labour majority collapsed to just over 500. If the tories are to just over 500. If the tories are to have any chance of securing a majority, it needs to take brexit seats like this one. The newly opened castle is bringing welcome trade to the teashop where we meet understated voters. Who will get as eight of this . This is the north east, how can this be a target seats for the tories . Personally, i think there is no one i can trust at the moment in terms of who is on offer for this, i have confidence in none of them. It is no longer black and white, old political ties are freed. A booking for dinner was at a coaching and which has stood here since the 17th century. Inside a farm labourer and a bar worker are first time voters. Farm labourer and a bar worker are firsttime voters. Someone came and explained what they wanted, it would be an easy choice to me but at the moment i do not understand what anyone is doing. Hopefully boris can get the job done. What happens if nigel farage and the brexit party come here . No one knows what this election will serve up but a tory win in these parts, that would be the rarest of things. An american politics will be stock about bellwether states and this is a bellwether states and this is a bellwether timed. This will tell us about the entire election depending on how this goes. That is correct when you think about bishop 0akland and the weight goes. Rb focusing on issues, the high street issue or brexit . In terms of issues, this has been regarded as a left behind timed. There are closed shops and a lack of well paid jobs in the area. Things like banks closing and shops closing on the high street, it might not see much in a big city but in a Community Like Bishop Auckland losing your local bank will have a big impact on your life especially when you have to go to darlington, there is only one chain an hour in this town and this can lead to a sense that the rest of the world is moving on but what is there for us here ina moving on but what is there for us here in a place like Bishop Auckland . When you look at the list of candidates, there is a brexit candidate, 60 of people could vote for him, what that complicate the picture . There is only a few hundred voice between labour and the conservative at the moment, as uses 60 voted for a leave in 2016. The brexit party have the potential to ta ke votes brexit party have the potential to take votes of both labour and conservatives. The brexit partitions that they will stand down where there are conservative mps, as far as we are aware they will not be standing here but they did have a candidate who was campaigning on local issues. They are talking about brexit but they also want to talk about important local issues as well. Thank you very much, it is an important point he makes when you look at who their brexit party pills from, the only Natalie Powell more labour voters than conservative voters. Let us talk to someone who ru ns voters. Let us talk to someone who runs a Science Fiction toy shop. What is that . Memorabilia and things like that. How the high street changed . It is time to get local businesses into the high street. But the main high street which is predominantly chain stores, it is a battle for independent businesses to get on there because of the cost. You told me you voted remain so with their was a second referendum, which are vote winning again . No, i would vote to leave because the people voted to leave and we should have upheld that. So does that affect how you vote this time . Yes, it does, i have always been a labour voter but at the moment i am undecided but i am going more towards the conservatives but i am prepared to read more later and take more interest because it is really important for young people as well. Are you understated because. The labour mps has been here for 50 yea rs. Labour mps has been here for 50 years. She is, i do support Helen Goodman but i want us to leave now. Whether that would happen with the labour party, i do not want another referendum. So you are not convinced byJeremy Corbyns policy . Referendum. So you are not convinced by Jeremy Corbyns policy . No, i am not. What about the brexit party, he is seeing there are two options. need to read up on that, i am understated, i am in conflict like a lot of people. You know the town well, there are people who have voted labour for generations, could they really bring themselves to vote for the party of Margaret Thatcher . I cannot answer that butjust for the party of Margaret Thatcher . I cannot answer that but just for myself, yes, they could. It would be easierfor some of them myself, yes, they could. It would be easier for some of them to vote for the brexit party than the conservatives . That is what nigel farage said he is aiming for. Yes, it probably would be easier to vote for the for the brexit party but it will be very interesting. Very interesting, lovely to talk to you. Thank you very much for coming to talk to ours in the rain, typical north f weather. North east weather. Have you seen your colleague who is ina campervan have you seen your colleague who is in a camper van inside the gym . You wa nt in a camper van inside the gym . You want to go and have a cup of tea with him, he also has biscuits certainly do go and warm up, fascinating to hear from the people. And you can find out more about Bishop Auckland and meet the people at the heart of the community in our long read article or on the bbc news app. I thoroughly recommend it and had a read of it earlier today. Now its time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. Cold and blustery out there for many at the moment. The showers will ease through the rest of this evening and tonight but still some dotted around across wales and southern england and certainly around some of the coastal districts. Inland, clearer skies to take us into tonight and the temperature this evening around 4 7. 0nly going to get much colder. As the showers continue to fade, retreating to many coasts and inland becomes clear. Some mist and fog patches but widespread frost. The temperature could be as low as 5 through inland parts of scotland but it should be a bright and sunny start with fog patches and one or two showers around the irish sea coast. Much of scotland and Eastern England stay dry throughout the day. Northern ireland also back to the south and west of wales, devon and cornwall, dorset, we see rain developing later on and what should be another cold day. That should be a feature through wednesday night and into thursday, spreading northwards. More on that later. This is bbc news our latest headlines. Boris johnson is chairing an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough. A man has gone on trial at the old bailey accused of a string of sex attacks on women and children over a 3 day period earlier this year. Labour has said its successfully defeated a cyber attack targetted at its digital platforms and that no data breach occurred. Reports of a Second Attack today but these not yet confirmed. There have been more protests in hong kong students on a University Campus put up barricades and threw petrol bombs at police. 0fficers fired tear gas and rubber bullets in return. Australias bushfire emergency is continuing for a fifth day with catastrophic Warnings Issued for sydney and other parts of New South Wales. Sport now on afternoon live with jane dougall, and weve been hearing from the england manager Gareth Southgate after some in camp fighting . Slightly more than a teacup. Yes, england manager Gareth Southgate has been speaking to the media ahead of englands match against montenegro. Nhe didnt go into detail about what happened between Raheem Sterling and joe gomez. But its been confirmed by the fa that there was a disturbance or an altercation between the two yesterday and that, as a result of that, Raheem Sterling would not be considered for englands match on thursday. It all started on sunday when sterling and gomez were playing for their respective teams in the premier league. Liverpool hosting Manchester City city thought they should have had at least one penalty lost the match tensions were high and the pair clashed on the pitch. Its then been reported that sterling confronted gomez in the players canteen at St Georges Park yesterday. Despite that, the pair trained togetherjust a few hours ago and liverpool defender joe gomez appeared to have a scratch under his eye, reportedly as a result of the argument. Manchester city striker sterling admitted on an Instagram Post that his emotions had got the better of him, but that he and gomez had figured things out and moved on. Well, there are still a lot of questions about what actually happened and why Gareth Southgate took the decision to drop sterling. He was asked those questions many times. This is what he had to say. My priority is always the care and well being of all of my players. All of my players. And then you have a decision to make as to whether there needs to be something further which is the right thing for the group moving forward, which is my reason for not selecting Raheem Sterling for the game on thursday. He certainly didnt go into specifics but was giving the impression of having it all under control. England play montenegro on thursday, but then they travel to kosovo to play them on sunday, so itll be interesting to see if sterlings selected for that one. Yes indeed, and turning from england to scotland, they have a different problem, injury . Yes, and this latest is a crucial one. Captain Andy Robertson is out of their final two qualifiers over the next week, he has an ankle problem. So that means hell miss the euro qualifier against cyprus and the game against kazakhstan next week. Liverpool wont be happy either he could miss their trip to crystal palace. But this is a huge problem for scotland and steve clark, because bournmouths ryan fraser and Manchester Uniteds Scott Mctominay have also pulled out of the squad with injury. Scotland are fourth in their group with no chance of qualifying via the traditional method. However, they have a place in the play offs, so still a slight chance. Some significant injury news from wales rugby too, centre Jonathan Davies is out for six months. Hes had surgery after picking up a knee injury at the world cup. Hell definitely miss the next six nations championship. Fly half Rhys Patchell could also miss the tournament with a shoulder injury, it will be 3 to 4 months before he can play again. The atp finals continue in london today. Novak djokovic plays Dominic Thiem tonight but earlier Roger Federer beat Matteo Berrettini at the 02 in london. Federer took the first set, but berrettini pushed him to a tie break, it finished 7 6. Federer hasjust won the second set 6 3. This is only the second time the two have met competitively the first time was earlier this year at wimbledon where federer won in straight sets. Dom sibley and zak crawley took their chance to impress the england selectors ahead of the test series against new zealand. Both players made centuries as england reached 285 for1 in their 1st innings on day one of their tour match against a new zealand xi in whangarei. The warwickshire 0pener, sibley, was the only batsman to score over 1,000 runs in division one of the county championship last season. Hes expected to make his test debut next week. I wasnt really on the rate of england, i would i wasnt really on the rate of england, iwould imagine, a year ago. I wasnt scoring the runs, but i knew i had the ability to get there and it was just a case of working out a little bit and scoring those runs. I always had the belief that i would get there and that is just a case of getting out and doing it and a year and a half ago i wasnt doing it, but made a few changes and mentally been a bit stronger and it has worked out quite nicely. Thats all the sport for now. Lets get more now on our top story. The Prime Minister has been chairing a meeting of the governments Emergency Committee to discuss its response to the severe flooding in South Yorkshire and the midlands. 0ur political correspondentjessica parker is at westminster. Just before we turn to the flooding, can you stand up for us this story that labour suffered a second cyber attack today . Yes, obviously earlier today we heard they suffered a cyber attack on their digital platforms. They said they had robust processes to deal with that but now we have heard there was a second cyber attack and we have had a statement from the labour party seeing ongoing security processes are in place to protect their platforms so users may be experiencing some differences, we are dealing with this quickly and efficiently, so we understand the Second Attack on the labour partys website and digital platforms today. They say they are dealing with those and one activist told me that what they had experienced in trying to access certain toolkits online as pa rt access certain toolkits online as part of theircampaign access certain toolkits online as part of their Campaign Work they had seen them being slower are more difficult to access but it seems now labour has suffered two attacks, possibly low level attacks, but in quick succession. Meanwhile as you mentioned, Jeremy Corbyn and doncaster this afternoon, of course because of the flooding. The labour party and liberal democrats have been very critical of the government response. Cobra meeting chaired by borisjohnson ongoing response. Cobra meeting chaired by Boris Johnson ongoing but lets response. Cobra meeting chaired by borisjohnson ongoing but lets have a listen to what the Labour Party Leader had to say. It is an emergency for the people here and i think it is a National Response of the people did do with it and sadly extreme weather conditions are something that is more frequent. Floods are more frequent. We had massive floods in 2015 in cumbria as well as in yorkshire. Huge ones here in 2007 and of course now it is very serious, so i think calling for it to bea serious, so i think calling for it to be a National Emergency, we must recognise that we as a nation must help people when they are in distress and they are clearly in distress. Earlier we heard ministers say they would take it very seriously and we await the outcome of the cobra meeting. Going by the deputy leader of the green party, i womack. These calls from opposition parties for the National Emergency, do you echo them . Absolutely, homes have been affected and lives disrupted. We need a response or people are able to rescue the property and go about their usual wives but this is also about a long term emergency and a long term emergency and the climate emergency. We know that the ipcc told us we would get increased floods in this country and that we are seeing these effects as winter after winter it is homes and communities that get destroyed as a result of long term action not being put in place. But can you really put this down to Climate Change . Even the met office are saying this is linked to Climate Change and we will be looking at more flooding, but it is also as a result of ecological damage and building on flood plains and the change of land use, and we are seeing people work with landscapes putting on natural flood management to ensure water is absorbed, further upstream, making sure that we reduce the flow, slow the flow and decrease the flow, slow the flow and decrease the impact further downstream, that is making sure we are pushing flood waters further back. We obviously heard from labour and the liberal democrats today, heavily critical of the government response to this issue, and it sounds like you would be critical as well, but do you think there is an element during an Election Campaign of politicking on a very serious issue . Yes, it was 2015 that i remember David Cameron and his willie britz saying that money was no object when it came to protecting communities from flooding, but then we saw that the conservative party cut budgets, local Authority Budgets by 40 , and it is in local authorities that we have the best knowledge to protect communities from flooding and there is an element of politicking. And also from you, surely, because you quys also from you, surely, because you guys are making your political points on this . I have worked with their communities and councillors in stroud and Hebden Bridge and other places about the long term effects of Climate Change and how we can work to change it, because it is something that happens every year, it deeply affects lives, we saw a women lose her life and this is a bit long term action, of taking action against Climate Change and ecological emergency and putting flood defences in place to protect communities. Thank you for your time and of course well bring you the latest from the meeting when we have it. Now on afternoon live lets go nationwide and see whats happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. Look norths Harry Gration is live in fishlake near doncaster in South Yorkshire for us this afternoon and will give us the latest on the severe flooding that has affected the village and parts of the county. And Adrian Goldberg is in middlesbrough to tell us about something a little bit different on nationwide the first of a special series of election programmes that starts this evening and will go out on the bbcs local radio stations in england. You were in the neighbouring village of stainforth for us yesterday. Tell us where you are today . Welcome here. This is going to be my impression, i hope you will bear with me, of supermarket sweep. This is the middle of the church and just look at all the provisions. I would imagine that even some supermarkets havent got as many tins and various other commodities as we have here, we have these two smashers here working very hard, and that has been the sign of the whole thing. I will stop packed here because this young man has been working nonstop for about three hours. Why are you doing this . Why not . We are helping everybody else out. The whole village is coming together, i have been very lucky, my house didnt get flooded, but lots of people have and they need help. It is a strange place because it has not been flooded for 100 years so you must feel really, it is almost unfair, the whole thing ijust cant believe it has happened. The rain is to biblical proportions and as to why it happened, hopefully we will find that one day, butjust why it happened, hopefully we will find that one day, but just trying to help as many people as we can. said Community Spirit, i generation involved, so many young people. Nobody from schoolchildren through to all the retired folk, they are coming in and helping out and all the communities around, from stain first and only charities who have done so much for us, itjust unbelievable. Dont let me stop you because i will introduce you now if i may to scott godfrey. Scott guthrie as the landlord of the pub which is literally at the bottom here, 50 yards away. You have been trying your best as well. You are a little bit knocked about lack of support from the council, is that right . Yes. We had a man and last saturday promising to get services and supplies across before a lot of these donations were here so we could do hot meals, we have been providing hot meals and the wife has been cooking those to get out to residents, local staking goes out on tractors, so it is frustrating because the council rang saturday night to get a shopping list, what we wanted for sunday to deliver, and then we heard nothing, got the list across to them and then couldnt get in touch. We were then told that we wouldnt be able to get those provisions because they werent wanting to encourage supplying the to fish lake. So we have had to do it ourselves. It is stainforth, the central club of stainforth, everybody got everything collated, they have been absolutely fantastic to the surrounding villages, so it has been a great effort. Great Community Spirit here, as you can see. So many provisions and people will be using this church throughout the night and for the days ahead. Will be using this church throughout the night and for the days aheadm is so impressive and so moving to see all of that, thank you for bringing us that, the impressive scene of Community Spirit. And turning to adrian, youre looking at election news and it is a slightly different kind of offer, a programme on radio . Absolutely, we are going to bejoining up many local radio stations across england and speaking to ordinary voters and getting your calls and speaking to opinion formers as well but a special focus on Bishop Auckland when i have been today. A really fascinating constituency and i heard one of your correspondence earlier saying there isa correspondence earlier saying there is a 502 majority for the labour mp Helen Goodman. She is a remain supporter and a lever voting constituency, part of the so called red wall of constituencies that the conservatives are hoping to turn blue. If they can win a traditional labour seat, if they can turn that blue, then they are on course for an overall majority. And what is the kind of flavour of things people have been saying to you today for this new programme . We are going to be talking between seven and eight tonight on local radio across england particularly aboutjobs and employment. What is interesting on Bishop Auckland, although the Unemployment Rate is higher than the National Average, the real concerns people have is around low pay and poorjob people have is around low pay and poor job security. There people have is around low pay and poorjob security. There is an attempt here to try and recast Bishop Auckland as a bit of a tourist town, the auckland project. A new art gallery and they face museum. Local people remain sceptical but it currently employs 127 people but those issues ofjob security and low pay still permeates much of the discussion and i am sure many other towns all across england. Since a great programme, look forward to that and harry, thanks again to you and cuthberts church. That is it from us today. And if you would like to see more on any of those stories you can access them via bbc iplayer and we go nationwide every weekday afternoon at 4 30pm here on afternoon live. In a moment well have the latest business news. First a look at the headlines on afternoon live. Boris johnson is chairing an emergency meeting over flooding in parts of england amid opposition criticism that the government hasnt done enough. A man goes on trial at the old bailey accused of a string of sex attacks on women and children over a 3 day period earlier this year. Labour says its successfully defeated a cyber attack targetted at its digital platforms and no data breach occurred. We have learned this afternoon the party was hit by a Second Attack today. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. The demand for workers appears to be slowing, according to the latest officialjobs figures. Average Earnings Growth slowed to 3. 6 in the three months to september, while employment fell by 58,000 over the same period. Boots the chemist could be about to change hands. Its american Owner Walgreens Boots Alliance has reportedly received a buyout offer from the private equity group kkr. If it were to be successful, the deal would be the biggest private equity transaction on record. Like many, however, boots has found the high street challenging and has said its eyeing store closures. The start of the Rugby World Cup and the reality dating show love island helped push advertising revenue up 1 itv in the three months to the end of september. The broadcaster said it was making Good Progress in executing its strategy despite an uncertain economic environment now mr kipling skates, they dont just make exceedingly good cakes but exceedingly good profits . They make things, premier cakes, like oxo cubes as well. There has been a revamping of the mr kipling line which has been particularly profitable. That takes you back makes me hungry. They have got other varieties including one that is after dinner mint. I am not sure about that myself. Give it a go a p pa re ntly about that myself. Give it a go apparently people have and that means the share price has done quite well in the profits are up. More on all of this and the rest of the stories moving the markets. We can speak to Emma Lou Montgomery is from fidelity international. Have kipling skates really been that much of a winner . It seems so. Sales have gone up thanks to the rebrand of mr kipling switch has gone exceedingly well, there i say it. That has pushed profits up, but noodles sales have also done well so all in all doing well, a good turn around and it looks like the shares are up on the back of that. One part that hasnt done well in terms of market moving news, employment growth is down, but if we look back over the last 30 years or so, one area that has done very well is self employment amongst women and you have been doing research in this area, particularly when it comes to pensions, that may rang alarm bells . Absolutely, so we carried out some research and be found that alarmingly two thirds of self employed women dont have any kind of pension provision at all which is obviously very worrying. Women tend to long live longer which means we need more money stowed away for when we come to retire. There are so many problems about the gap between men and women and there is about an 11 difference on average anyway when it comes to a womans retirement savings, so career breaks and all these things factor into it, so the message we want to put out is that women need to be saving for their retirement because they have a potentially long retirement ahead of them and self employment, not being cut in these auto enrolment schemes, they need to take control of their own financial futures. A very timely reminder. Time to look at the markets. time to look at the markets. If you have a pension fund that is probably invested in the market so lets check out is doing. Not a bad day for the ftse100. Those are some of the drivers, itv and vodafone group. 0ne the drivers, itv and vodafone group. One of the big rises on the day, finishing up by about 3 . The dollar, the pound against the dollar, the pound against the dollar, i should say. Not quite as good ideas yesterday when we saw the bigjump in pounds good ideas yesterday when we saw the big jump in pounds sterling because of hopes of avoiding a Hung Parliament. As you can see, pretty volatile at the moment. Thank you. Australias bushfire emergency has been continuing for a fifth day with catastrophic Warnings Issued for sydney and other parts of New South Wales. Dozens of blazes are burning in the state, where at least nine emergency warnings have been issued. To the north, parts of queensland are also in flames. From sydney, phil mercer reports. Fires are unpredictable beasts. More than 70 are burning across New South Wales. About half are out of control, in terrain that is often rugged and hard to reach. More homes have been destroyed. Siren wails. 3,000 firefighters have prepared for what officials said was the most dangerous bushfire week australias most populous state has ever seen. A catastrophic fire warning was issued for the first time in sydney, and even homes a short distance from the city centre were at risk. There are fires in the suburbs of sydney, the outbreaks here came very close to homes, which was just over the road from the bushland that continues to burn. The blaze has been brought under control and the pink substance you can see on the roads and on the roofs of these houses is fire retardant, and these fires just go to show how dangerous it can be here in australias biggest city as conditions get worse. Homeowners here were lucky. Their properties were spared, even though flames had raged just metres away. They were pretty bad, actually. All crackling noise and the flames were really black, up in the sky, like, i cant even explain it to you. It was just like, i thought, i wont see my house again. As soon as i saw that i ran inside, grabbed my kids, got my dog and put them in the car. Much of eastern australia remains on edge. Strong winds are expected to fan the flames in the coming hours. The fear is that in such dry and gusty conditions, new fires could start easily and spread quickly. Conditions in New South Wales tomorrow are expected to be far less extreme. For now, sydney remains hostage to a smoky, toxic haze. Phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. We will of course keep an eye on that serious story and all the other very serious stories over the course of the past hour. Just before we go to weather, lets cheer you up for a moment. Youve heard the expression pigs might fly. Well, this one doesnt but she does work in the aviation industry. Lilou is a therapy pig stationed at San Francisco airport, in the us, where she helps passengers to overcome the stress and anxiety of air travel. Shes part of the airports wag brigade, which has around 20 therapy dogs on its books butjust the one pig. The passengers love her and i can see why. Time for a look at the weather now with matt taylor. Cold and blustery for many of you at the moment but showers will ease and still some dotted around across wales and southern england and certainly around some of the coastal districts. Inland clearer skies and the temperature this evening around 47 the temperature this evening around 4 7 and about to get much colder. Showers retreating to coasts and in than becoming clear, some mist and fog patches but widespread frost away from towns and city centres. It should be a bright and sunny start away from the fog patches and one or two showers along the irish sea coast. Those will continue into the afternoon but much of scotland in central and Eastern England state dries throughout the day, Northern Ireland also, but to the south and west of wales, devon, cornwall and dorset, rain developing later on and another cold day. That rain could become a feature thru wednesday night and into thursday across southern counties spreading northwards. More on that later. Today at five. The government holds a meeting of its Cobra Emergency Committee to discuss the severe flooding in england