good evening. the three contenders to become the next leader of the scottish national party have been debating tonight in edingburgh. the three candidates the msp ash regan, finance secretary kate forbes, and the health secretary humza yousaf were responding to questions from a live bbc audience. the voting opened yesterday, there are 100,000 snp members, who have just under two weeks left to decide who they think should replace nicola sturgeon as first minister of scotland. at the beginning of her time as first minister, she said judge me on education and tonight each of the candidates outlined what they would wish to be judged on if they become the next snp leader. eradicating poverty is the heart of everything. any inequality we have weathering education or health or in any other area of government, it always comes back to poverty. we must, if not eradicated, we have to substantially reduce poverty. whoever it is the first minister, certainly if i am, the common thread
is the director general of the wto, ngozi okonjo iweala. will rising geopolitical tensions lead to the weaponisation of trade? ngozi okonjo iweala, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen. now, you are one of the world s key advocates of ever freer trade, more globalisation. what s it like to be doing yourjob when the political tide across the world is running against you? the wto s purpose, the world trade organization, is. its purpose is to enhance living standards, to help create employment and to support sustainable development. there could be nothing more worthy than that. so, it s supposed to deliver for people. and that s what i want people to know about it, therefore. nobody could quarrel with those objectives and that sentiment, but the truth is you are a membership organisation with 160 plus members. you have clearly key members like the united states and china, and you can only work if there is an element of trust, of co operation, of a desire for common objectives
tonight with the context, brian taylor, political commentatorfor the herald, and leigh ann caldwell, political reporter for the washington post. welcome to the programme. there s been an evolution in the way the west views this war in ukraine, an evolution in the arms which nato countries are supplying first it was shoulder held stingers, then the hymars, next came the patriot missile systems, now it s a conversation over tanks. the red lines have shifted with the evolving nature of the war. in recent months, the allies have come to the opinion that a year long stalemate in ukraine is in no one s favour except russia s. so what would it take to allow ukraine to win rather than just avoid losing? what would ukraine require in order to punch through the russian defences in towns like bakhmut and soledar, from where the bbc s andrew harding reports. we are in an area where russian and ukrainian infantry now appear to be fighting at close quarters. clambering through the remain
scottish democracy. the electric car battery maker britishvolt has gone into administration, leaving hundreds of staff redundant. more rail strikes train drivers will walk out on the 1st and 3rd of february, after union bosses rejected a pay offerfrom rail companies. a double decker bus overturns in icy conditions in somerset. 56 people are injured. and after 31 years presenting his weekday mid morning show, broadcaster ken bruce announces he is leaving bbc radio 2. hello, good afternoon. for the first time, the uk government has announced it is blocking a law passed by the scottish parliament. the scotland secretary alisterjack told the commons he was blocking introducing reforms that would have made it easier for people to legally change gender. he said transgender people deserved respect and understanding, but he believed the bill would interfere with uk equalities law. the first minister, nicola sturgeon, says her government will take legal action against the decision,