Hello. There is so much news about coronavirus today and were going to talk about some of it. The app, do you remember the english nhs covert tracing app has arrived and you can download it now and lots of people have and we will put your questions to one of our tech experts and get some a nswe is tech experts and get some answers and also rishi sunak the chancellor did a sort of mini budget today that wasnt a budget but i did have lots of measures to help the economy over the next few months. The centrepiece of being a new scheme to replace the furlough scheme to replace the furlough scheme where the government will step in and give some money to help people top up their wages if there are hours are reduced. It is quite complicated and it does mean im afraid there are quite a lot of numbers in this episode of newscast. Newscast from the bbc. Hello, it is adam in the studio. And laura in the same studio, two metres apart. And i promise chris mason will be back next week. He has promised. I really quite startling number today so the number of cases of coronavirus in the last 2a hours were 6634 which in the last 24 hours were 6634 which is a record numberfor the year of mass testing so when the test entry system has been up and running at this sort of scale. Thats right and its important to understand we are now, compared to earlier in the year, testing many, many, many, the year, testing many, many, any the year, testing many, many, many, many more people although there are lots of problems with there are lots of problems with the testing system, we are in a com pletely the testing system, we are in a completely different situation as that goes but it is alarming when you hear such a high numberand it is when you hear such a high number and it is also seem to be following the kind of trajectory that has led governments in the uk this week to ta ke governments in the uk this week to take further action and to roll back in some of the limits on everyones lives that have made people feel frustrated and worried but the case numbers are going up and up right now. And scotland hit this milestone yesterday but we also heard yesterday but we also heard yesterday that loads of unions in scotland i think loads of stu d e nts in scotland i think loads of students isolating because they have loads of cases. A huge app at Glasgow University that we talked about on the programme yesterday but actually tonight, the first minister has ordered stu d e nts the first minister has ordered students in scotland, they have been told not to go to the pub oi been told not to go to the pub or out to restaurants and basically just to stay on campus and stay in their rooms and be very careful and if you think what that must be likened the level of frustration for people who have left home for the first time gone off to university and have also been told in no Uncertain Terms that their household are their brand new friends at university or their flatmates or whatever so thatis their flatmates or whatever so that is something that is right now having a big impact on lots of peoples lives. If it wasnt for that, the biggest news story today would have been rishi sunak the chancellor unveiling his what is called the winter economic plan . Yes, the winter economic plan . Yes, the wep. Not budget. Yes, because they will not be able budget before christmas but we have the wep to add to things like microtubules or things like microtubules or things like jrs like microtubules or things likejrs and all these kind of fantastic treasury acronyms but a pretty big set of measures is the treasury would call them to try to be there being a huge wage of unemployment when the furlough scheme which has kept many people offload comes to an end of the end of october but in comparison to the furlough because the fellow is a big giant whale of a scheme, this is kind of a minnow in comparison. Someone who knows his wep from his elbow, and his c belt is simonjackie, the business editor. Hey, guys. We will play a big chunk of what rishi sunak said at the downing street press Conference Today but before we do that simon, but before we do that simon, but still kind of big picture analysis of what the chancellor having to do today. On the one hand, law is right, this is much less generous than the scheme which everyone credits with saving millions of people from unemployment. It is much less generous than that. On the other hand, there were rumours it was going to be less generous than it actually turned out to be. So i think that actually, a little bit surprise on the upside so that will come, and all the business groups kind of like it but employers will be reaching for their calculators because doing their calculators because doing the sums on how many people it is worth keeping on under these different schemes is not straightforward at all. We will have more on that later. And the weight will actually work andi the weight will actually work and i managed to get this into one sentence earlier and i was actually proud and it gave me a headache but i was proud of my tiny brain, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help top up their wages with the employer to at least three quarters of what was their full time pay. That is about as simple and straightforward as i have been able to get it. But it was as simon says the business groups giving it a pretty warm welcome and they did a political interesting image today with the conservative chancellor coming out of number 11 not with a red box but with a file. 0n with a red box but with a file. On his. Right, frances 0grady the boss of the tuc, the super union group. On his left was dame carolyn fairburn, the boss of the cbi. Isnt that interesting, and what message was not meant to send . That this government does not think about ideology and left and right, they think about helping people, that was the intent of that photo op. And they will collaborate whoever they need to get the right outcome. So it wasnt just this to get the right outcome. So it wasntjust thisjob to get the right outcome. So it wasnt just this job supreme to get the right outcome. So it wasntjust this job supreme job support scheme, there were other measures as well and he smelled it all out at the podium, back at the downing street daily news conference. Today i have announced five new measures. We are protecting jobs through the newjob support scheme. The government will directly support the wages of people in work, giving businesses who face depressed demand through the difficult winter months the option of keeping employees in a job on shorter hours. Rather than making them redundant. Were also extending the self employed scheme sit alongside that. And ive announced a range of measures to ease cash flow concerns for businesses, allowing them to focus on protecting jobs. Pay as you grow will ease the repayment as you grow will ease the re Payment Terms as you grow will ease the rePayment Terms for bounceback loans. We are giving people more time to pay back their deferred taxes and im cancelling the planned increase in vat hospitality and tourism through to the end of march. So it isa through to the end of march. So it is a lot a lot of stuff. In normal times, it would be seen asa normal times, it would be seen as a sort of unprecedented Government Intervention and impossible to imagine, the chancellor outlining all of these things. The reality though is even as the huge blunderbuss for loaded, it will not cover everyone. And also what it does not do is create trade so we interviewed a woman today who is running a huge hotel in margate, a famous hotel, and she says that is nice and well but we dont have any trade because the rule of six has meant that all of the functions we were going to have i cancelled and the Restrictions Mean our takings go down so she has made the decision actually to close, shut up shop for six months and make everybody redundant. Heartbreaking. It is tough to hear. We will dive into the mathematics of this newjob support scheme and we have the friendliest mathematician we could find, bobby siegel of the University Challenge and maths podcasting fame this is very exciting hello, your friendly neighbourhood spider man, i am your friendly neighbourhood seagull maths man. Everybody needs one of them and we could have done with you a couple of hours ago bobby in a newsroom when we were all frantically trying to work out what this meant. We will recreate this because there with me because i need to get the flipchart. What . I can once again. If you cannot see adam, bobby and simon, adam has left the studio very briskly, leaving me here on my very briskly, leaving me here on my own this is very worrying and he has gone to get a flipchart or. He is coming back no, no iwas talking about my maths teacher on this programme last week who a lwa ys on this programme last week who always taught us as you sow, so shall you reap if you had not done your algebra homework you are never going to be able to understand and adam is now back with a whiteboard. Come on, put your microphone on. There we are, put another microphone on, crikey i will avert my eyes averting my eyes, i had nobody else. Just well adam get himself ready like debbie mcgee or carol waterman. 0n himself ready like debbie mcgee or carol waterman. On your first take, did you look at this and think this is straightforward . 0r like a mortal did you think it was quite complicated . |j mortal did you think it was quite complicated . I think it is an application of simple issue maths, get seven or year 8, it is an application of simple issue maths, get seven or year simple issue maths, get seven oryear8, simple issue maths, get seven or year 8, does is got fractions, operations, percentages. But it can catch you unawa res and percentages. But it can catch you unawares and i think simple maths but applied in a slightly dizzying fashion. But is a good description. The whiteboard is in position, we are ready to be like a year in position, we are ready to be likea year7 in position, we are ready to be like a year 7 or eight year old and to remind you if you did not catch it first time the most straightforward way we found of explaining it is if bosses bring back work is pa rt time, bosses bring back work is part time, the government will help top up their wages along with extra cash for their employer but of all from their employer but of all from their employer to at least three quarters of a salaries are bobby, how will that work . As you mentioned they will top up salaries and firms for people that cannot come back full time and again, there are various eligibility criteria. The employer must work, this is important, one third of the normal hours. And obviously there is going to be hours but im not worked and for this, the government is going to pay one third of those remaining wages which the employer will match and again, in school with my students, doing a worked example, often makes things hopefully a bit clearer. Fingers crossed that is what we hope, that is what we are hoping for. So in this particular example, in a gcse question you would say a particular person is doing a task and in this case the government have actually given this person a name, beth. I presume a before elizabeth . 0ur queen, possibly . They have givena name. Queen, possibly . They have given a name. And one example they said is beth works and have a normal weekly wage of £350. And what they said is that beth works one third of her normal hours and that is the minimum eligibility criteria. So in normal circumstances, laura and adam, the employer would pay one third of those wages so one third of those wages so one third of those wages so one third of 350 and again, a quick bit of maths will tell you that is £116. 67 so roughly, the decimals mayfly about a bit but about there. So the key thing is there is a short form because a shortfall because margaret three is thinking i am not working for two thirds of my time so what is happening to the rest of my pay and this is where richiesjob the rest of my pay and this is where richies job support scheme comes in. So the government has said they will pay one third of the remaining two thirds rishi and this is when my students will say mr segal, is that a fraction . It is indeed 0ne segal, is that a fraction . It is indeed one third multiplied by two thirds and if you lined it up, you not multiply their enumerators and to multiply the denominator is one times two is true. And three times three is nine. So the government actually pays two nights of beths normal wages. Right, actually pays two nights of beths normalwages. Right, so i think beths normalwages. Right, so ithink adam, beths normalwages. Right, so i think adam, you should write down who is paying what and put the words there so the government does two nights. The employer does the third at the top. Yep. There we are. What about the other bit . So, the employer, they also match the two nights that the government is paying so actually now, we need to work out how much is the employer pangs of the employer is paying two nights plus the original one third. That beth had worked for. So again, a bitter fractions, that beth had worked for. So again, a bitterfractions, do you remember the word common denominator is tonight i do rememberthe denominator is tonight i do remember the word common denominator so were trying to add two ninths and one third from the employer and we cannot add because they are different denominators so for the one third, we put it in terms of nights so two ninths plus. Three nights yes and it tells of the employer is paying how much . Five nights exactly so they are paying five nights which is a percentage, you could do five divided by nine times 155. 5 of the normal wages. So if you look at the worksheet as it were, and i tell my students lets have a look and do a quick summary of what is happening, you can see that the government is paying macros to 22 . The employer is paying 5555. 5 . Macros to 22 . The employer is paying 5555. 5 . 55 or 55. 5 . You can plug it back into the numberto see you can plug it back into the number to see how much beth takes home. This is the all important bit takes home. This is the allimportant bit so beth normally earns £350 a week so we can work out 22, exactly 22. 22222 of £350 we can work out 22, exactly 22. 22222 of £350 and that gives us £77 and 78p for beth. From the government. And then that make my mixing up my own calculations . Yes, you are. You have we have brought you on to help final takehome have we have brought you on to help finaltakehome pay . I have mixed it up, all beth cares about is the money in her back pocket so her total amount is seven nights of 350 which is £272. God, i even confused myself thank you very much and cani myself thank you very much and can i say before simon, it will be great if you could take us from an employers point of view. It is not very neat. Ok, cani view. It is not very neat. Ok, can i say i am glad you are not my maths teacher because anyone knows that if you are going to ta ke knows that if you are going to take one third of something you dont choose £350, you choose 360 because a third of that would be 120 and it would have made everything a heck of a lot easier and basically, it is basically the employer pays one third and then the employer and the government both pay a third of what is left and as you rightly say it has gone down from, it was 80 , 70 , 60 are now able be the question is will employers go for this . Get your calculator out and as an employer, im paying one third of their wages for their hours work and then im paying another 22 on top of that. This is the ball calculation, as an employer, im paying 55 of the money to get one third of the money to get one third of the money to get one third of the hours worked. The doesnt sound too good area attractive. If you were to have three people and keep all of them on and then pay 165 of them on and then pay 165 of the wages that i would pay for one person, would it be cheaper for me to keep one and let two go . That is the massive question. This is where the viability ofjobs comes in. People keep talking about sustaining viablejobs, people keep talking about sustaining viable jobs, which are viable and which are not, that will ultimately be a decision for the employer and thatis decision for the employer and that is where the great unknown is and whites are difficult to figure out how much this will cost the taxpayer because we dont know what the discretion of the employer will bill. If they keep three people on, they will basically get a Job Retention scheme bonus in january to get three people on, £3000, that may tip the mass in their direction but again it will be down to the employer. If you are compelled to defend because of the example of beth that the dresher put out the treasurer. And that was talked to in the house of commons by lisa dodds. Called for an introduction of a system of targeted wage the board 40 times. That call has been rebuffed by this government 20 times. It is a relief that this government have you turned now. But we must be open and honest that delay in introducing this new scheme will have impacted on businesses confidence. Is interesting though for labour because the tuc which has links to the labour party was part of designing the scheme. The government rejected for what labour was asking for which was rejection of the furlough scheme for various sectors but it is kind of tricky for them because of that association with the tuc on all of this . And we should not forget all the other measures in there for example, people who say the new Job Retention bonus does not help them, the job support scheme doesnt help them, im a part, i have restricted opening hours, still the vat cats, ending injanuary will be extended to march, hundreds of millions of help for those businesses cuts. Millions of help for those businesses cuts. A lot of it about an available and in any other time people would be saying its unprecedented state invention, it certainly is but its also really clear is not going to be enough for many people and doesnt cover every business, there are still People Company directors paying themselves into evidence for example, who have not had help and there are some businesses, whether it it is the benzyl tourism who are still hard hit. Simon, give us your hunch, our employees taking this up . M would depend on the area, if you have no demand and no income coming in no amount of help in your wage cost will help in your wage cost will help alter the economics of this but i should say its not just about the job support scheme. Things like the vat deferral, maintaining the vat cut to the hospitality industry, extending the term on those bounce back and government backed lines from 610 government backed lines from 6 10 years, all of that helps keep cash in the business. For some businesses, those with the more important elements of the plan and make it more people in work then we would otherwise have seen. And always worth reading the documents because even though they were not published the costings of these like we do with the normal budget, there are some numbers in there. The numbers that jumped out, test and trace is now costing £12 billion. Bobby you dont have to be a maths genius to know that £12 billion asa lot genius to know that £12 billion as a lot my students tell me thats a lot of money. One other figure, thats a lot of money. One otherfigure, although predictable, from inside government today, nobody is really saying is officially but the expectation they have for the expectation they have for the take up of this is that it might affect between two and 5 million people. That is a pretty big spectrum which just tells you how uncertain it all is but bobby and simon, thank you for trying to help us try to feel a bit more certain about it. I would test this out my students. Class dismissed for you class dismissed, my students. Class dismissed foryou class dismissed, thank you. Laura, the day has finally arrived,. What day . The nhs covid 19 app is now available. We have spent many days talking about this and it has arrived, have you downloaded it . |j about this and it has arrived, have you downloaded it . I got ita have you downloaded it . I got it a few weeks ago as an nhs volunteers. I may try to download it now. A live tech demonstration maybe not a good idea. I was wondering what would be released first, james bond all the app, at least it has done that. You have been sending in questions wally had been downloading it and im pleased to say we have one of technology correspondence with us, though klein months, hello. I hope you have got the app zoe. They say you may not get many pickings even in the space ofa many pickings even in the space of a whole year, dont they . think its probably a good thing, you dont want to be going off and constantly surrounded by people testing positive for coronavirus. Correct, positive advice to start with. Laura has not downloaded it but what will she see when she download that and get that working . Considering what a complicated road we have taken to get here, it is really, really simple. You will get a screen that will ask you to put in the first part of your postcode, thats it and thenit your postcode, thats it and then it will take you through toa simple then it will take you through to a simple plain screen, telling you what the threat level is in your area and they have done this as a low, medium high system and for most people anecdotally it seems to medium. Underneath that, there are four tabs to do what you need to do, someone is to scan a qr code if you are in a venue someone is to scan a qr code if you are in a venue any nietzsche check in and another one is any need to check in. And there is another one that if you have tested positive you can submit that as well. That is what has popped up, my risk level is low and my postcode is medium. And the reason it may ping is at another app user has tested positive annual phone a re cord tested positive annual phone a record who you have been near and then he will get a ping to tell you someone you have been near has tested positive and thatis near has tested positive and that is what the bluetooth thing is about. It has a throbbing dot on the app to show you the bluetooth is working. Zoe, a rating for the testing questions . I am ready. Lucy walker has sent in two actually. First one, can you remind us how many people need to be using it for it to be effective. I got 80 of my head but that may be a random statistic. This is one of these things with the message seems to have changed over time. What we we re to have changed over time. What we were initially told was that we were initially told was that we need about 60 of the population to have it in order for it to be effective however, set eight hancock has been talking about the app any it doesnt matter how many people have downloaded it because if only two people downloaded and because of one is prevented from going around spreading the virus then the app has done its job. So he doesnt seem to mind how much it takes up. We do not know yet because its very early days how many times its been downloaded. I got mine early from the Google Play Store and it said it had over 100,000 downloads are ready and that was this morning sol imagine there are quite a few. This seems to be a lot of interest in it and people do seem to be prepared to give it a go. And a huge Advertising Campaign going to get it downloaded. Second question, if you switch off your mobile data during the day will the bluetooth still work . Yes, good question, yes it will, bluetooth and mobile data are two separate things that will continue to work in the background, yes. A question from flora, i have a question about the nhs at i thought you could use yourjournalistic prowess to find out. I should send these to you, not to me i work ina send these to you, not to me i work in a pub in manchester and i was wondering if i should be scanning in the venue every timei scanning in the venue every time i go to work . I let my phone and the staff room so its not like the bluetooth contact trestle pick anything up. He has, i have subscribed to new cast that was on the first time either. What is the a nswer to first time either. What is the answer to that . Great question . Really good question and you know what, i will have to hedge my bets because i do not know when for sure what have been told. I will say you probably do need to scan it and this is why. Because everything is anonymized with this app, the puppy anonymized with this app, the puppy working will not see any of the data, it will not see anyone checking in or anyones phone numbers but it will contact these people anonymously pub if someone has positive and the final know about the pub will not know so im thinking at the bar staff, then being locked in will probably be quite useful because if they get alerts, there will be a sign for them there will be a sign for them there is an issue with the pub. That is what i will go for. You need to ask your boss. And in the staff room question, because i was reading on the website question . If you do not have your phone with you, when you going to downing street you have to put in a little locker and your mentor tended bluetooth off because it is more about where you are rather then when you are then your phone and if you not with your phone, you should turn it off. Good point, really good point because all the phones are communicating with each other if you like measuring how long you are close to them and how farapart you are close to them and how far apart from them you are so yes, if you are not with your phone, you do not want the data potentially messing up the next two we e ks potentially messing up the next two weeks of your life, do you . Blimey that was mind expanding, wasnt it . Thanks for listening, we will be back with another episode 13. Soon. Hello again. If you went outside on thursday, im sure you noticed a certain autumnal chill in the air. But was it really cold enough for snow . Well, actually, this wasnt snow, it was a massive hail storm that went through the bradford area and the 0tley area, quite close to leeds in west yorkshire. And you can see the roads and the pavements turned white as those accumulations of hail built up. It mustve been quite some storm. Now, the satellite picture shows low pressure over the uk with storm clouds rotating around it, and over the next few hours, we are going to see plenty more of those big showers. Areas to watch out for, well, west wales in pembrokeshire and also into cornwall, could see some particularly heavy showers here. Were also going to see a band of persistent rain affecting parts of east anglia. Now, as we go on through friday, pressure builds actually in the west, and this area of low pressures slow moving. So, the isobars are going to pinch together. The winds are going to blow even more strongly. It will feel even colder. Yes, a day of sunshine and showers, but prolonged outbreaks of rain across parts of eastern england. And theres going to be some very strong winds in east anglia. Gusts could reach in excess of 60 mph, Strong Enough potentially to bring down a tree or two, so there could be some transport disruption. And theres heavy rain in the forecast, too, particularly lincolnshire into parts of east anglia with around 20 40 millimetres orso, perhaps a bit more in places. We could also see some localised flooding, but away from the east, some sunshine, feeling really cold, though, given the strength of those northerly winds. And those northerly winds continue to blow into saturday, albeit slightly less strongly. Its going to be another cold start to the day, and theres the threat again of a bit more rain running down into parts of east anglia in particular. Further west, actually, pressures building a bit, so it should be a drier kind of day, showers fewer and farther between. Temperatures, though, still struggling and still feeling cold in the wind, and were going to have cold nights around as well. As we head through saturday night, itll be cold enough for some frost patches in the countryside in scotland. Weve still got those northerly winds with us as well across eastern parts of england. Still potentially a few showers or spots of rain. Further west, its brighter with some sunshine. The winds turning a little bit lighter here, so perhaps not feeling quite as chilly. Now, looking into the forecast into next week, it stays unsettled with low pressure with us. Those temperatures coming up, though, a few degrees. Thats your weather. This is bbc news. Im Samantha Simmonds with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. France warns of a race against time in the fight against coronavirus as fears grow across europe of a second wave. Once again, donald trump casts doubt over the chances of a Fair Election but republicans distance themselves from his comments. The First NationwidePolio Vaccination Campaign since the start of the coronavirus pandemic gets underway in pakistan. And back on the stage the Ballet Company that is resuming performances after months under lockdown