Good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. The duke of edinburgh has returned to sandringham in time for christmas, after leaving hospital in london. Prince phillip, whos 98, spent four nights in the king edward vii hospital on the advice of his doctor. In her Christmas Day message, the queen will describe 2019 as a bumpy year. Heres our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. Afterfour nights in the king edward vii hospital, the duke emerged this morning and walked slowly but without assistance to the waiting vehicle. Theres been no information about the reason for his stay at the hospital. In the past hes been treated there for bladder and chest infections. Whatever the nature of this latest episode, the duke, who is 98 now, has clearly satisfied his doctors that he is well enough to return home. A helicopter took him from Buckingham Palace to the queens sandringham estate, where the royal family is gathering for christmas. In her christmas broadcast tomorrow, the queen will talk about a
Behind by the International World that has come into business, whether you would rather your life was structured in different ways. In the end, for me, it wasnt really about europe at all. I mean, the question that people answered was a question about themselves. Its perfectly reasonable, but it did not have anything to do with the eu. So we managed to politicise, essentially, a cultural divide. Which is why we have ended up with three years of people shouting at each other. And interestingly, the last three years has furnished your covers with some very loud characters. What does that do for satire, though . Does satire become easier or harder when you have the stranger than life characters . I mean, it does two things. One is everybody says to you satire is over now because you cannot satirize trump hes doing it to himself. Or, you know, boris is funny, you know . Theres nothing more to add. Which is not true. But you have to work harder. Because you have to find the areas where they
It, but then you do get the odd little bargain, so you think, 0h, its worth doing, rather than just buying online. Probably still be here on Christmas Eve next year but, again, ill probably do quite a lot of it online. Perhaps not exactly the three wise men, but their last minute present dash is no longer the daft idea it once was. Colletta smith, bbc news, in manchester. Now its time for a look at the weather with nick miller. The weather looking much quieter for Christmas Day tomorrow. The showers we have had today fading away as we get into the night. Still some coming along the breeze across western scotland and north west england. By the end of the night just western scotland this showers still with us. When the easing about, clearing skies, dropping temperature close to freezing. Ground frost in some places going into the morning, one or two icy patches. A few early showers north and western scotland, even these will fade, sunshine around on a dry Christmas Day. Patchy cloud in n
Tamara ecclestone the daughter of former formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has had a reported £50 million worth of jewellery stolen from her london home. After his performances in englands world cup win and his heroics in the ashes, ben stokes wins the bbc Sports Personality of the year. Good morning, and welcome to the bbc news at 9 00am. The Prime Minister, borisjohnson, will welcome more than a hundred new conservative mps to westminster today as he aims to deliver on his election promise to get brexit done. Parliament wont officially open until thursday, so what can the new intake expect from their first week in westminster . Today, therell be a minor Cabinet Reshuffle to replace ministers who lost their seat or didnt stand for re election. Tomorrow, the speaker will begin the process of swearing in mps, who are required to take an oath of allegiance to the crown. On thursday, the queen will formally open parliament with a shorter than usual speech, which focuses on delivering brex
This is bbc news. The latest headlines. The duke of edinburgh has left hospital in time to spend christmas with the queen at sandringham. The queen will use her Christmas Day message to say that the past year has been quite bumpy adding that small steps can heal divisions. Thousands of volunteer firefighters will spend Christmas Day battling wildfires that are still ravaging australia. And a warning to parents to keep button batteries away from children. Sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, heres olly foster. The england all rounder ben stokes is a doubt for the first test against south africa. His father ged, who is 64, was taken ill yesterday and is in a Critical Condition in a johannesburg hospital. The four test series starts on boxing day. I just want to throw all our support behind him and his family and just stress the importance of respecting their privacy at this time. But it is really sad news. We are all there for him. You have no idea if he is going