Question time on bbc one on thursdays is no stranger to controversy and last weeks edition started a row, stemming from this contribution from a member of the audience to a discussion about immigration. We should close the borders, completely close the borders. Because it has got to the stage now, there is no more education, schooling, infrastructure. It is enough. We are thinking. Surely someone has got to see common sense and say enough is enough. She went on to make comments that many viewers found highly offensive, including claims about immigrants who did not speak english and the cost of signage in different languages in nhs hospitals. Hundreds of viewers voiced their objections with neill when recording his thoughts on camera for us. As somebody who is married to somebody of italian birth, now a british citizen, who has worked for the nhs for a number of years, i find citizen, who has worked for the nhs for a number of years, ifind very offensive and in fact i felt it is bordered on hate speech and i appalled at the chair did not interrupt, stop the rant, or correct the rather uninformed and bigoted speech that was given. One member of the panel was allowed to respond very briefly before moving on to other points. The bbc made matters worse, of course, by allowing the extra ct to worse, of course, by allowing the extract to run on social media but did not include a response and correction from the panel member and that just made matters correction from the panel member and thatjust made matters worse and i really think they should issue an apology to the public. As you heard that clip was posted and circulated on twitter as a self standing contribution from the audience member. Though the question Time Programme also posted other clips expressing different views, including from one of the panellists, ash sykes r. Dianejoyce also had concerns. Well, we wanted to speak to someone from question time about those points but we were told no one was available, and instead were directed to this written response. Fiona bruce op each panel to respond to the points raised. One panellist strongly refuted the audience member claim before the debate continued, and we heard from other members of the panel and our audience on this issue. The statement went on. Over the past three weeks, large areas of the United Kingdom have faced some very challenging weather conditions with this weeks floods in the english midlands following widespread storms. In the midst of the latter, simon jones widespread storms. In the midst of the latter, simonjones was one of the latter, simonjones was one of the bbc correspondence sent out to report on location. So the advice very much is if conditions like these you can see what it is like. Asi these you can see what it is like. As i say, we are keeping safe but it does not stop me getting drenched by the waves here. Is it nice and. I say to you rather prematurely to stay away, really, and stay indoors. As we have mentioned before news watch, some viewers feel that if the advice is to stay indoors, abc staff themselves should be abiding by it. A couple of weeks ago Robert Singleton asked moira fowler added and mark hawkins had this question. Well, richard burgess, the bbcs uk editor, joins me now and lets start with the fact that anyone watching the Weather Forecast has been told that more storms are coming and where they might hit and im interested in how you decide where to deploy people. I think it is a mixture of things. I mean, we obviously listen to those forecasts but we also are regularly in touch with our local teams around the uk to get that kind of on the ground information. And the point to whether stories is difficult because you need to be there when the weather is happening and you cannot really deploy afterwards because you dont get to the heart of the story and can often be much harder to get there as well, once the weather has happened, the severe weather, and the impacts of it. So we take a lot of deployment decisions that we often will deploy people and we find the weather is not such a story and then that we are not necessarily getting on air so it is a mixture of using local knowledge and of course the information we get from the met office. Moving onto some of the criticisms which we have heard and saw, you know and im sure you have been on this show dealing with it before that when the headline is stay at home, viewers are infuriated to see reporters on the seafront on the waterfront battling to be heard in the wind and rain and i dont you stop doing it . Youre right, i think the first time i was on this was about this issue and i think for some viewers it seems like an odd contradiction but i think as journalist, we go to the heart of stories and we go to where stories are happening and we go there to assess the extent of the weather and we go there to assess the impacts of the weather. And i think we are really clear on our advice that we give out that the authorities are saying, and we also are really stringent on the Safety Measures that our teams take when they are out there, as you heard simon say on that clip we go through rigourous risk assessments and all of our people gather safety training. M actually i am far enough away i am ina actually i am far enough away i am in a safe area and being by the spray. But. You say reporters are safe but we know nowadays especially that many people go out and filmed themselves and go out on social media and it is a case to say that this is setting a bad example. Media and it is a case to say that this is setting a bad examplelj think this is setting a bad example. think you can tell from the comments of the viewers that actually i think viewers are a bit smarter than that and they can make the distinction between a journalist who is going out to cover a story who goes to try to assess the impact and speak to people on the ground and, you know, hold the authorities to account sometimes and somebody who is going there for the fun of it and putting themselves in danger. But maybe you are normalising that the risk is not that great because we felt it was all right to come out. I think actually on the few arrangements we reference the risks oakley marshall this week, ten oclock news spoke about how she was not that close to where the floodwaters were because the Environment Agency had recommended to her that she did not go further so i do not believe we are encouraging people to go out. People still think so when you use a long lens from further away in that situation so you still have the impact of it but you do not have reporters buffeted by it dont have a case of flooding, use drones. We do, we do use drones. I do not think they can tell you the whole story again because i think it is really important to be on the ground speaking to people and assessing the damage and being able to assess the preventative measures that are there and, as preventative measures that are there and, as i say, hold authorities to account. For the action that they may or may not be taking. We do use drones but we cannot use them in all weather. And, you know, you need people to operate those drawings as well. I think there is a variety of ways that we try to cover those stories but i would really defend that it stories but i would really defend thatitis stories but i would really defend that it is important to be on the ground. It does seem are going to be having more and more of these extreme weather events and it can feel that, you know the way some of the American News network seem to go with crisis to crisis on extreme weather without time for analysis. Is there a danger that the bbc and its News Coverage kind of becomes the dick to certain kinds of oh, look, brink of disaster kind of stuff . I do not think that we are genuinely so our science editor David Sugarman has reported on quite a few occasions on this story in the last couple of weeks and is really assess the level of the impact of Climate Change on this but there are other factors as well, you know, increased urbanisation and growing populations and building on floodplains and we sent our environment correspondent Claire Marshall to cover the storage for the exact reason, to give greater context about not just what is happening but why. And he raised Climate Change. What is the bbcs position about referencing it . Still a divisive issue as you know for some viewers in connection with all of these storms and floods. We do reference it because i think there isa reference it because i think there is a general agreement among climate scientists that rainfall is becoming more intense. And a warmer climate leads to more rain in the environment. And, indeed, we know that sea levels are rising as well. We know that these type of extremes whether events are going to be more frequent. We reference to that. We do not say this storm is a direct result of Climate Change because i do not think you can say that and we also have tried to explain the other factors which i was talking about, which can explain some of these flooding events. Richard burgess, thank you. Thank you for all of your comments this weekend if you want to share your opinions about what you see or hear on bbc news, including its social media and online e mail newswatch. Or you can find us on twitter. You can also call us. You might even end up appearing on the programme. And to have a look at our website. But is all from us though. We will be back to hear your thoughts about bbc News Coverage again next week. Goodbye. Hello. Friday brought more rain to areas which didnt need it. Another io ismm fell across shropshire. Around 40mm of rain fell in around 12 hours in cardiff. Meanwhile, across scotland, theres been further snow. And through the weekend, parts of the highlands could see another 20 30cm of snow, and all eyes this weekend are on this area of low pressure. This is storm jorge, which was named by the spanish met service. Through the early hours of saturday morning, we will see further heavy, squally rain pushing east, cold air tucking in behind. We could see icy conditions across parts of Northern Ireland first thing on saturday. But the main focus this weekend is the strength of the wind. Gales, if not severe gales, across a large swathe of the uk, gradually easing down through sunday. Very wet and windy first thing across the eastern side of england. Sunshine following. Lots of showers pushing in from the west, likely to be wintry. Its very wet and windy across the Northern Isles through the afternoon. Some more persistent rain and maybe some hill snow across Northern England and into southern scotland. Its a cold day, particularly when you factor in the strength of the wind. So temperatures not much higher than 6 7 celsius in places and some gusty winds, quite widely 40 50 miles an hour, but through the afternoon, some really strong winds developing across parts of wales, Northern England and into southern scotland, where they could gust up to 75 miles an hour, maybe even 80 miles an hour for some western coasts of scotland. Also some heavy persistent rain for a time across Northern England, southern scotland, Northern Ireland and also some snow once again over higher ground. Through the early hours of sunday morning, we keep this focus of rain and hill snow across Northern England and southern scotland. To the north and south of this, some clear spells, but squally, blustery showers. The strength of the wind should keep the frost at bay first thing on sunday morning. So storm jorge slowly pulls away northwards through sunday. Were keeping an eye then on this feature here which will start to push outbreaks of rain into south east england through sunday morning. So two things to keep an eye on. The winds will be slowly easing down, but still some outbreaks of rain and snow across Northern England and southern scotland. Rain for a time perhaps across south eastern england. We will need to keep an eye on the timings of that. Then between all of this, therell be spells of sunshine, wintry showers, the wind slowly easing down, but its still a windy day. Its certainly still feeling cold, given the strength of the wind. But we start to lose those severe gales as we go through sunday. So its a blustery day and for most, a mixture of sunshine and showers. And thats actually the theme into next week. It wont be as windy, it will be somewhat drier for a time. But still, some showers around. Bye bye. This is bbc news welcome if youre watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. Im simon pusey. Our top stories the World Health Organization raises its assessment of the coronavirus threat to the highest level. We have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of covid i9 to very high. The virus causes another frantic day on global markets, hit with their worst week since the financial crisis. Nato calls for calm as turkey hits hundreds of targets in Northern Syria payback for a deadly airstrike on its troops. And we speak to asia bibi the pakistani christian who was sentenced to death for blasphemy after an argument with neighbours