arrested following clashes with police outside a hotel providing refuge for asylum seekers in merseyside in northwest england. you re watching bbc news. now its time for sportsday. hello, and welcome to sportsday. i m hugh ferris. 0ur headlines this evening putting themselves into six nations pole position. ireland win what could be an early tournament decider against france. it s been a rare thing this season. but now it s twice in a row. leaders arsenal drop points in the premier league england off the mark as they beat west indies by seven wickets in the women s t20 world cup opener. also coming up in the programme and from the streets of scotland to the red carpet in hollywood we ll being you the remarkable story of how this triathlete helped make an oscar nominated movie. hello and welcome to sportsday. a match between the top two teams in the world to potentially decide the northern hemisphere s big rugby tournament. and it was ireland. top of the pile in the rank
in russia, and the euro s chances of survival. finally, what are we bringing back from iraq? you ll be amazed. but first, here s my take. time magazine announced its person of the year this week the protester. from the arab spring to athens, from new delhi to new york, people power is stronger than it s ever been. and now it s reached moscow with the protests there last week. the great drama of russian history has been between its state and society. put simply, russia has always had too much state and not enough society. historians have pointed out that the russian nation was literally the property of the czar, that serfs were more like slaves than simply peasant workers as they were in europe, and that the country lacked any institutions that contested the authority of the government. the communist takeover in 1917 only enhanced these features by building a soviet superstate that dominated every aspects of people s lives. when it collapsed in 1991, it turned out th