This week im in vevey, a small swiss town on the shores of lake geneva, as it hosts the worlds biggest and perhaps most infrequent wine festival. As well as being home to unesco projected lavaux vineyards, vevey is known for its living tradition, the fete des vignerons, a three weeklong celebration of wine that transforms the town. While switzerland might not spring to mind when you think of wine, they actually produce around 100 million litres a year, exporting only 2 of it. It is said that during the fete des vignerons, visitors to this unsuspecting lakeside town work their way through are you ready over half a million bottles of wine. The festival itself actually began as a one day feast, hosted by an ancient brotherhood, as a way to reward the best winemaker in the region, and it clearly takes locals a while to recover, as the festival only takes place once every 20 to 25 years. The fete des vignerons began in 1797 as a small parade through the streets of vevey. But because of unre
When almost 15,000 people, mainly elderly, died during a heatwave. Now its time for a look at the weather with darren. It has been warm in the sunshine, chili and a cloud. Then we have some rain arriving from the west. Initially across scotland and Northern Ireland then western parts of england and wales, heavy rain at times. Nowhere near as chilly as it was last night with more cloud around. In east anglia we will have clearer skies for a bit longer. Tomorrow, a cloudy day with outbreaks of rain, rain pushing into eastern parts of england, in Northern Areas the rain easing off into the afternoon. The wettest weather continues to be across wales and the south west of england. Some heavy rain, possibly thundery. And it will be chili underneath that cloud at around 15 celsius in many areas. For tuesday, things looking brighter. Some cloud that might produce showers, but on the whole, much drier with some sunshine. It will feel quite a lot warmer but there is some wet and windy weather th
The parents of a severely brain damaged 5 Year Old Girl are going to the high court on monday to try to persuade judges to allow them to take their daughter abroad. Tafida raqeeb is on a life support machine at the royal london hospital. Doctors there will argue that further treatment is futile. Our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports. Here i am, here i am. Tafida was a bright and lively girl until february, when she suffered a ruptured blood vessel due to a rare condition. Now, she is kept alive on a ventilator and fed through a tube. Barts nhs trust says she has very serious, permanent and irreversible brain damage, and there is no further treatment to help her. But tafidas mother believes video taken in intensive care shows that she is responsive, and simply needs more time to recover. She and her husband want permission to transfer tafida to an italian hospital. It is my main argument that she continues to improve. Why would you want end a childs life when she shows signs th
The speaker of the house of Commonsjohn Bercow has confirmed that he will stand down by the end of october and wont stand as an mp at the next election. His time in the chair has, at certain moments, been highly controversial. John pienaar reports. The referee who became a player, loving every minute as much as many conservatives hated him for siding with the commons against a no deal brexit. March on our way. Speaker today, he told them hed planned his own exit in his own time, on brexit day. Not much warmth on the tory side but it was his moment, as he thanked colleagues, friends. And above all, my wife sally, and our three children, oliver, freddie, and jemima. Cheers john bercows supporters saw him as defender of the commons, champion of mps, though he sometimes put them in their place. I dont require any comment or signalling from the honourable gentleman. Im giving a ruling. The honourable gentleman will listen to it and he can like it or lump it. Be quiet. If you cant be quiet,
Have the energy ombudsman. The final port of call for complaints. In this instance, extra energy does not exist anymore as a company and the administrators of extra energy are pwc. If you want to complain about your bill, go to pwc and complain but afterwards you cannot go to the ombudsman, ofgem, because pwc is not an energy company. Ive had it described as a regulatory black hole in this. Has anyone from nc described as a regulatory black hole in this. Has anyone from m the company commented . They said they are looking at bills of 130,000 companies, they say they have done a sig can majority and anyone with a problem with their bill, pwc is encouraging them to get in touch. And how would you change things . Is it about changing regulations . At the moment, it has been described as a regulatory black hole, something needs to change to protect those customers once the supply has gone into administration. Thanks very much. You can listen to the full report on radio four at midday today