Many of the uks highest infection rates are in london and the south east of england. With a new variant in coronavirus believed to be particularly prevalent was that millions of people had to change their Christmas Plans at the last minute or abandon them altogether. Mark easton has been to essex, one of the most affected areas. Thurrocks Christmas Wonderland is closed by law. The vast Lakeside Shopping Centre almost deserted on what should have been one of the busiest days. At santa clauss grotto, another sign of the times. This part of essex appears to be the current epicentre of the outbreak, with the fastest rising rate of infection anywhere in tier a. Plans have been thrown into chaos. People are making the best of it, but the joy and good will of christmas 2020 have been replaced by fear, frustration, and, in some cases, fury. Yes, im saving christmas, and then, no. Youre not having christmas. How do you feel about that . Im really angry. What the Prime Minister is offering is do
On Christmas Day up to three households are being allowed to mix in england, scotland and northern ireland, with slightly tigher rules in wales. Around half the population is planning to form a bubble with friends or relatives for christmas according to research by the office for national statistics. Our home editor mark easton reports. The season to be jolly, careful since the prime minister, how will britain celebrate christmas in the strangest of yea rs 7 christmas in the strangest of years . And what is peoples reactions to the decision to relax the regulations on festive get togethers just as the pandemic threatens to overwhelm parts of the nhs . With the help of analysts, they have assembled a focus group of people from across the uk. Seasons greetings to all, im interested to know how your Christmas Plans have changed and specifically, how many people will you be sitting down with a christmas dinner. There will be seven. There will be six of us. Six. Five. Four of us. By myself,
Are cricketer, formula i driver, lewis hamilton, Ronnie Osullivan and other awards too including a special award for Marcus Rashford to recognise his campaign against child food poverty. It all gets under way at eight oclock and it is live on bbc one. Much more about tonights award on their bbc website. Thats sulphur didnt know. Thats it from us sulphur didnt know. Thats it from us tonight. Well be back at ten oclock tonight. And now the news where you are. Goodbye. Hello there. Today its been another day of sunshine and showers. The showers have been pretty widespread. You can see the speckled shower clouds here on the satellite picture, butjust to our west, weve got a rather bigger area of cloud. This is the next area of low pressure that is going to be bringing some fairly strong winds and cloud and rain as well. Overnight tonight, showers for Northern Ireland and scotland. It will turn quite blustery here for a time. The winds pick up later in the night further south as cloud and r
To the deal been across the uk . Well be hearing from our scotland correspondent james cook in glasgow, our wales correspondent tomos morgan in cardiff, but first heres our ireland correspondent emma vardy. Just think back, the Brexit Process was so seismic for the island of ireland, because it threw up all of those questions over what to do about the irish land border and it reminded everyone of the troubled history of this place. But now many of the issues which once seemed unresolvable, there are now agreements on. And Northern Ireland enters this new era where doing trade here will be different from the rest of the uk, those special arrangements in order to keep that irish land border invisible. Now, the trade deal has been welcomed here, it is likely to make some of those special arrangements for Northern Ireland easier to carry out in future and it will bring great relief in the irish republic, where many peoples livelihoods, particularly in the food industry, depended on there b
The world heavyweight boxing champion has warned that the next generation of boxing stars could be lost to the sport if it is not supported financially during the pandemic. He is making a substantial donation himself to help amateur clubs, he says, many of which were forced to close during lockdown. He recently defended his world title and that has paved the way for an all british title fight against tyson theory next year. He has been speaking to the bbc sports editor. He may be on top of the boxing world, but anthonyjoshua is now fighting for those starting out in the sport. The heavyweight champion making what he has called a substantial donation to boxings governing bodies to help amateur clubs survive the pandemic. Today, in the finchley gym where it all began for him, he told me why such places needed help. So i am a professional now, but i am so close to, like, the grassroots sport. I believe in the next 10 15 years you will see the next, you know, leaders of tomorrow coming thr