craig williams and laura saunders, on the date of the general election. on the campaign trail, labour is setting out changes to the process for someone to legally change their gender. the party is also offering to provide hundreds of thousands more dental appointments on the nhs. the lib dems release their analysis on hospital waiting times. leader sir ed davey claimed the country has ten days to save the nhs. the snp sjohn swinney will give a speech on brexit. while the dup is launching its manifesto in northern ireland. so it is a busy day for all of the parties today. we ll touch on all of the above in this programme, but let s start with the election betting investigation. here s tobias elwood speaking to the bbc radio 4 today. this betting saga has been deeply unhelpful, self inflicted distraction, and in what world they thought this was acceptable is beyond belief. the prime minister has expressed his anger, he said that at the leaders s question time debate. it has bee
interest rates have been held at 5.25% for the seventh time in a row by the bank of england, despite the rate of inflation hitting the bank s target level of 2% for the time in three years. of 2% for the first time in three years. economists have predicted that interest rates, which are currently at a 16 year high, won t be cut until august. with more, here s our chief economics correspondent, dharshini david. ok, so it s four bedrooms. first time buyerjames has his eye on his dream home in coventry. but getting the keys to the door has been more challenging than expected as higher mortgage rates have made the first rung of the housing ladder harder to grasp. we definitely had to make some cutbacks as a couple and look at our financial plan to see if we could afford the mortgage. with the rates being high, we ve had to save for effectively another year to come into line with that. it s also understanding, yeah, the term of the mortgage, you know, from looking at it, it s now
hello to you. it s exactly one year since the world health organization officially declared the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic that s the point the disease was confirmed as a truly global problem. covid 19 has so far claimed 2.6 million lives, but there s hope on the horizon as vaccines reach some of the furthest corners of the world. our global health correspondent naomi grimley has been looking at the pandemic one year in. it s been a year that most of us will remember for the rest of our lives. one of grief and loneliness on a scale none of us could ve imagined. it s exactly 12 months since the world health organization officially sounded the alarm about the seriousness of covid 19. we have therefore made the assessment that covid 19 can be characterised as a pandemic. and yet, after a whirlwind of scientific discoveries, we re now seeing vaccines being distributed to some of the most remote communities on earth. in brazil, they ve mounted a vaccination campaign reac
nearly half of young syrians have had a close family member or friend killed during ten years of civil war according to the international red cross. questions still remain after the palace responds to harry and meghan s damaging allegations about life in the royal family almost 50 million people around the world watched their tv interview. the brother of the british socialite, ghislaine maxwell tells the bbc the conditions of her detention in a us federal prison are degrading and amount to torture. it s the start of a 4,000 mile journey for black rhino chanua, who is leaving her home in yorkshire to travel to tanzania as part of a conservation programme. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. a serving police officer has been arrested in connection with the disappearance of a woman in south london. 33 year old sarah everard was last seen leaving a friend s house in clapham last wednesday. the met s assistant commisioner has called the developm