hello and welcome. president emmanuel macron of france has told xi jinping that he s counting on the chinese leader to bring russia to its senses over the war in ukraine. mr macron made the comments at the start of a meeting with mr xi in beijing. the french president is in china on a state visit. in his opening remarks, the chinese leader told his guest that the two countries could overcome their differences. but on the issue of the war, that will be difficult. france has aligned itself firmly behind ukraine. china has given support to moscow. earlier, the bbc s mariko oi explained what a good outcome might look like from the meetings. well, i think it s fair to say that there is a lot to discuss, as president macron has been facing those rather embarrassing pension protests back home so he wants to score some economic victories and he wants to push for closer trade and investment ties, basically an accord which if ratified could boost investment ties there. and of course is
people aren t allowed to camp there without the permission of landowners. now on bbc news, political thinking with nick robinson. hello and welcome to a new series, conversation with rather than an interrogation of someone who shapes our political thinking about what has shaped theirs. my guest this week is the leader of britain s second largest trade union, sharon graham who replaced the rather better known len mccluskey. we are at a time with strikes on the health service, strikes on the railway, strengths and schools, strikes in the civil service. for years, there s been talks of a new winter of discontent must be honest, it has been largely that. talk. now, trade unions to have a mandate from members and have the backing of large sections of the public to have a fight over the standard of their members living. sharon graham, welcome to political thinking. because you ve been around a long time, your perspective of this, does it feel like the beginning of a new balance of
northern scotland could see a shower, one or two down the north sea coast as well, but otherwise dry with plenty of sunshine. feeling pretty chilly outside, six and seven is pretty commonplace, well below average for the stage of november. into the second half of the weekend, this weak area of low pressure moving on from the west, bringing subtle changes to our weather. another cold and frosty night then damp weather pushing into northern ireland, wales and west in england. ahead of that, after a cold and frosty start, temperatures slow to rise, but turning mild in western areas. otherwise, it called a feeling day, temperatures are around five or 6 degrees, the cold weather staying with us for next week. and that s bbc news at six. the news continues here on bbc one with the news where you are. in terms of timings and it does not need much to do this which is why i have always exercised or urged caution here because both sides have theirfingers caution here because both sides
Who are already here are going to stay here. My own view is that the lords would be much better advised to concentrate on the real issue which is parliamentary consent to whatever final deal berries than this particular point. I personally am not concerned about this. I can understand people who are here in this country, 3 million or whatever, who are anxious about their future would like it resolved. But the europeans have made it clear they will not do anything until after brexit has been declared and the negotiations begin. That will be the first item on the agenda, so i do not think it is a substantial issue. Ido not think it is a substantial issue. I do regard the parliamentary approval of whatever deal there is as crucial. We can discuss that in a minute because that will be coming up minute because that will be coming up this week, but you could be thrown out. There have been 2896 of applications for permanent residence which have been rejected by the home office. Some of the di