incredibly mild day weather you've got sunshine or rain. air coming up from the south, temperatures well above where they should be. notjust in the uk but across much of central and eastern europe. 7—8d above where they normally are. we've got a southerly airflow driven by this area of low pressure out of the west. we a re area of low pressure out of the west. we are on the eastern flank and so close enough for the weather front to push its way in. turning wet across many western areas. the breeze not especially strong in eastern areas but picking up in the west, and temperatures widely into the teens. quite a bit of cloud though through today. let's take you towards the school pick—up time and into the rush hour. across western areas this is where we are more likely to see the rain. the odd rumble of thunder in the south—west but more persistent rain into western wales. pushing in towards the isle of man. the sunshine this morning in northern ireland, outbreaks of rain throughout the afternoon and turning patchy as we head towards the evening rush hour. that rain spreads into western scotland, and through tonightjust about anywhere could see outbreaks of rain at times. the exception in the far north—east of scotland and eastern counties of england where it will stay mild. the northern ireland staying dry with lighter winds and a bit cooler as well. tomorrow morning there could be some dense patches of fog around. starting dry in northern ireland tomorrow. elsewhere, outbreaks of rain possible anywhere. heaviest and most frequent in the west. into the afternoon, the main focus for some of the heavy showers and link the bursts of rain. tomorrow, stay mild with a bit of brightness either side of the country before the day is out. cooler as we get through the night and into thursday. quite a start for many on thursday with a bit more sunshine around. as the winds c0 nve i’g e a cross sunshine around. as the winds converge across this area from south—west england into wales, the isle of man, is up with scotland, this is the focused for some of the wetter conditions on thursday. persistent rain for some. some sunshine and whilst it is cooler, temperatures 14—15 towards the south—east corner. on friday, after a quiet night it looks like we are going to see some wet and windy weather with severe gales spread into the west. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. the polls open in america's crucial mid term elections. they're being seen as a referendum on donald trump's presidency — democrats hope to seize control of the house of representatives. that's all from the bbc news at one. so it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. good afternoon, and here's your latest sports news. ben foakes saved the day for england's cricketers in sri lanka — scoring a half century on his test debut. the first match of the series against sri lanka started badly — captain joe root out for 35. and when ben stokes went for just seven — england had lost five wickets before lunch. but foakes and sam curran steadied things — foakes batting out the day to finish on 87 not out. he said watching a video sent to the team by former captain alastiar cook had helped him prepare. england were 321 for eight at stumps. liverpool are favourites to win their champions league group, going into tonight's game away to red star belgrade. they easily beat them at anfield two weeks ago, with mo salah scoring twice in a 4—0 victory, but manager jurgen klopp is expecting a hostile atmosphere in serbia tonight. he's watched videos of the fans in the stadium but he says liverpool's experience will serve them well. the atmosphere, we are from liverpool so we know how big the influence of atmosphere can be. the only way i know to call the atmosphere down is playing really good football and that's what we have to do, we have to be ready for a big game and we will be ready. that's the only thing i can make sure. the boys have to do the job on the pitch of course. tottenham's situtation is a complete contrast — they're third in their group after losing to inter milan and barcelona and only managing a draw against tonight's opponents, psv eindhoven. if they lose at wembley, and inter beat barcelona, spurs will be out at the group stage for the second time in three years. when you compete at that level, if you're not good enough, if you're not clinical in front of the goal, if we concede again against inter milan in the last minute, i think you don't deserve to go. it's not embarrassing, it's disappointing, but not embarrassing. there's commentary on liverpool against red star belgrade on radio 5 live tonight — kick—off is at 5 to 6 — and then at 8 o'clock it's tottenham versus psv eindhoven. fran kirby and keira walsh are out of the england women's squad for this week's friendlies against austria and sweden. kirby scored in the recent games against brazil and australia, and she's been nominated for the ballon d'or award. both she and walsh picked up knocks in their league games at the weekend. karen carney and mel lawley come in as replacements. geraint thomas believes the team sky tactics will be similar at next year's tour de france, with him and chris froome both in with a chance of winning it. thomas became the first welshman to take the famous grand tour this summer, beating froome, who had started as the team's principle rider. i think we can do similar to this year. he was still ahead of me in the team in terms of leadership. i think the way we race, we could do that again next year. as long as we are honest and open with each other like we were this year, as they say let people decide and the best bible, it on top. and history has been made in australia, with a british—trained horse winning the melbourne cup for the first time. this is known as the race that stops a nation — and it was actually a british 1—2—3, kerrin mcevoy riding cross counter to victory ahead of marmelo and a prince of arran. winning trainer charlie appleby said it was "everybody‘s dream". there's plenty more on the bbc sport website, including news from the scotland squad announcement made in the last half an hour or so — steven fletcher and matt phillips have been recalled. i'll be back in the next hour. thank you very much. the eu's chief negotiator says a deal on the irish border to break the brexit deadlock is not close enough to call a special eu summit in november. michel barnier was speaking as theresa may briefed the cabinet on the latest negotiations. she told the cabinet she was confident of reaching a withdrawal agreement with the eu and wanted to do so as soon as possible, but that it must "not be done at any cost." our chief political correspondent vicki young is in westminster. bring us up—to—date with the latest. this is another quite lengthy cabinet meeting. we were told in advanceit cabinet meeting. we were told in advance it wouldn't be a decision—making cabinet. this wasn't a moment where theresa may handed the main draft deal document and said, do you want it or do you want to projected? said, do you want it or do you want to projected 7 in said, do you want it or do you want to projected? in that sense it's just another moment where they discuss the options on the table. as we all know, this idea of what happens to the irish border if a trading arrangement isn't ready at the end of the transition period, that's still a sticking point. today the prime minister's official spokesman has said we shouldn't underestimate how much work needs to be done on that. the broader picture is how much the uk is in control of that process. if we do go into the customs arrangement with the eu after we leave in order to prevent that hard border, how does the uk get out of that? the eu and dublin are seeing there can't be a time limit on it because then it's not a guarantee. the brexiteer and many others are saying we cannot be situation where the uk is stuck in this brother and having to take rules and no say over them. the latest discussion is around some kind of mechanism. the spokesman said he couldn't share the details of what those options are but it was discussed at cabinet today. that's all about whether the uk can unilaterally leave or whether it has to bea unilaterally leave or whether it has to be a joint decision. i spoke to one cabinet minister beforehand, a brexiteer, who said it doesn't necessarily have to be unilateral, it just has to necessarily have to be unilateral, itjust has to be a clear route out of the uk. we cannot be kept in there against our will and that is what the prime minister thinks too. that has not been resolved, although clearly there's lots of discussions going on, we know to reason a spoke to leo varadkar yesterday about all of this. and time is getting very tight. in terms of the parliamentary timetable and the european union timetable, for any potentially brexit deal. as long as it feels like it's only the clock that's moving and all of this, but i think deadlines of the end of november or the middle of december, it's very difficult, even david davis said this was always going to go to the wire. in terms of the parliamentary timetable here, people still see evenif timetable here, people still see even if it ran up to christmas you could still get something through in january. it's got to be done before march. i think these timetables are very difficult. the closer you get to the end of the year, the more people's minds focused and remember that ultimately both sides do not wa nt to that ultimately both sides do not want to be in a new deal situation, neither side wants that, they want to get a deal. they will try as hard as they can to do so and it seems this idea of some kind of mechanism, some kind of arbitration panel, some kind of committee that could assess the situation and decide whether the uk should be allowed to leave it or not, that could be some way forward. we are clearly not there yet. 95% done according to be prime minister, of the withdrawal agreement. if they can unlock that, things could move pretty quickly. thank you very much. more now on the mid—term elections. one of the states with a tight senate race is indiana — which is the biggest steel making state in america. kim gittleson went there to find out what role it's playing in the race. how you doing, sir? i didn't mean to disturb you. for the past few weeks, derek morris has been going door to door to convince his fellow steel workers to vote for labour friendly candidates. he's talked about health care and outsourcing, but one subject has been complicated — tariffs. it's helping some in the steel industry but it's hurting the farmers. so you help us, but you hurt them. at the end of the day, it's not about substance. he's not the only one struggling to figure out where trade fits in this particular election battle. phil ramsay has been a farmer his entire life, but this year he's only sold half his soy harvest after demand dried up due to a trade war between the us and china. although indiana is heavily reliant on agriculture and manufacturing, tariffs have yet to really be felt here economically, which is why voters have chosen to focus on other issues. i don't think tariffs are going to have much to do with voters' decisions one way or another. maybe i% will even think about tariffs. they're going to be thinking more about immigration, they're going to be thinking more about those hot button social issues. with the booming economy brunting the pain from tariffs, here in indiana this midterm election fight has become more of a referendum on president trump's personality as opposed to his policies. kim gittelson, bbc news, indianapolis. britain's biggest food bank charity says it's given out over 658,000 food parcels in the past six months — that's a 13% increase they say year on year. and the trussell trust goes on to warn today that many more people will be forced to turn to them this winter, unless the government makes even more changes to universal credit. andy smythe has been talking to people at one foodbank in north tyneside in the north east of england — an area which moved to universal credit six months ago. my name is reverend alan dickinson and i am the chair of the bf food bank. when we started in 2012, my expectation that we would probably be going for maybe two years and then we'd finish. i'm really sad to say we're still here five and a bit years later and we've seen increase year on year on year. my name isjackie dickinson and i'm the food bank manager. in here, we have baby milk. people donate it and we quite often get asked for it. there's a huge increase in the amount of families that we're serving. personally, i would put it down to universal credit. we do ask people when they're referring in what the issues are and it's usually benefit sanctions, benefit delays. it's usually when you get the crunch of it, what they're saying is it's universal credit, we're not getting our money for five to six weeks. it's the same old story every time they're coming in now. we used to do on an average 20 to 22 parcels a day. now we can reach anywhere over 30 to 40 in a day, which has happened today. it is busy! we will deliver the food directly to the client's house. it will be in an unmarked van and they will get their food in supermarket carrier bags just like you would get from a supermarket delivery. and we want to offer the highest level of dignity we can to that individual. makes me sad, yeah. when i was made redundant after 36 years of being a service engineer, i started to volunteer doing the work. they ended up taking me on as a driver. i'm lucky. but unfortunately most our clients aren't in that fortunate position. the driver then will come back to us and they'll say the state of some of the houses he's delivering to. it's not just food they're lacking, they haven't got the furniture in the house, or they're living with no carpets. it's just shameful, shameful. about 36% of our clients actually are working. they‘ re not all unemployed. it's surprising how many of our clients have come here who have worked most of their lives, but find themselves in a difficult situation. the phone often rings in here, doesn't it? the phone rings quite regular, the phone never stops, to be honest with you. phone rings all right, yes, who's it for, emily? we have a number of bed and breakfast families who are referred to us, who are in a local bed and breakfast. that means normally all they can use is a kettle. we have to give them food to last them three or four days and it'll be pot noodles, soup, anything that they can do with a kettle and that's it. right, no more now! there's nojobs, they're applying forjobs, not getting them, or they're getting jobs as zero hours. they're still coming in for food because they're getting a wage, they're not getting a referral but they're still running out of food. i think that's down to lack of employment in the area. i'm not a politician and it needs a political answer. i really wish i didn't have to run a food bank. i really wish that there was no food banks. but the reality is there is a huge demand out there. i think we're just touching the tip of the iceberg, if i'm being honest. —— i don't think. in a moment we'll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news. polls have opened in the us mid term elections, as americans decide whether president trump's republican party should keep control of congress. vital home care services for thousands of elderly people across england could be disrupted after the regulator issued a warning about the future viability of one of the country's biggest providers, allied healthcare. the brexit campaign group founded by businessman arron banks and an insurance company he owns face fines for data protection breaches. i'm maryam moshiri in the business news. lloyds has confirmed it's to cut more than 6,240 jobs as part of a digital overhaul. the high—street lender said that as part of the shake up, it will also create 8,240 new roles, resulting in a net creation of 2,000 jobs. it also says the cuts will come in back—office roles and not in bank branches. a new energy price cap will come into force on the ist of january next year. the regulator says it will save 11 million customers an average of £76 a year on their gas and electricity bills. sales at primark fell in the year to september — blamed on bad weather. the budget fashion retailer, which is owned by associated british foods, reported a 2.1% decline in like—for—like sales. primark has — until now — been reporting stronger sales year on year — as it cashed in on demand for so—called fast fashion. from today, women in the uk will begin to qualify for their state pensions at the same age as men — currently 65. women who are 65 on 6th november will therefore be the first to wait for as long as men. but critics say that women are still a long way from pension equality, as the amount they typically receive is lower. let's talk to the former pensions minister, baroness ros altmann now. lovely to have you. explain to me, is this pensions equality in reality? absolutely not. state pension age is being equalised but state pensions are not equal, women get less than men and private pensions are certainly not equal, women get a lot less than men from private pensions. yes, the age at which you can start getting your state pension is the same for men and women from their wine, but that doesn't mean we have a quality even in the state pension system. cleared of those inequalities still live? historically the state pension discriminated against women in a number of different ways and anyone coming up to pension age now will have been in the labour force when the state pension did not equate them properly. they would have built up them properly. they would have built up less of the earnings related state pension and also potentially lower basic state pension. private pensions are also a problem for women if they earn less than men than they receive less. you've still got cracks in the state pension system, got cracks in the state pension syste m , eve n got cracks in the state pension system, even for younger women know. we need to get rid of those problems. for example with child benefit, if you know you're not eligible for child benefit because your partner earns more than £60,000 a year, you actually have two apply for this benefit that you know you're not entitled to or you get no credit towards your state pension. this is something that women are particularly vulnerable to if you're staying at home to look after children. do you think there is a case that people don't want to think about their pension until the time comes and bury their heads in the sand, or is the informationjust comes and bury their heads in the sand, or is the information just not out there? i think there is a problem because the system is so complicated, even having information ona complicated, even having information on a website doesn't make things clear enough. but also there shouldn't be these cracks or naples in the system. if you're a woman who is failing to qualify for the state pension eitherfrom the is failing to qualify for the state pension either from the child benefit issue or because you and very little money in a number of part—time jobs, very little money in a number of part—timejobs, which never qualify you for national insurance, it should be possible to claim that the credit towards your state pension. at the moment you can't do that. the system seems to be designed by men for men with women as a bit of an afterthought and it needs to start accommodating any much more flexible way, the weight women's like school. it's looking pretty bleak for the future if you're hoping to retire early that state retirement age for women is getting later and later. how old are you going to have to be to retire in the next 20 or 30 yea rs ? to retire in the next 20 or 30 years? it's important to recognise the state pension age isn't a retirement age, you're not forced to retire, it is your choice what you do. but the state pension age is certainly going to continue to keep rising. by 2020 it will be to 66, during the 2020s it will go up to 67 and then to 68. there are already changes in the system. but i think more and more people may start to think about the idea of working part time even if they're in their 60s and into the 70s, if they are fit and into the 70s, if they are fit and healthy and want to keep earning and healthy and want to keep earning a bit of extra money. that's going to bea a bit of extra money. that's going to be a change in society that is coming. it's important to recognise that you don't have to retire at a certain age and it's now illegal to sack someonejust certain age and it's now illegal to sack someone just because of their age. lovely to have you, thank you so age. lovely to have you, thank you so much. and other business stories in the news today. reports say new look is to close about 100 uk stores. it's part of a radical turnaround plan amid an ongoing fall in sales. and that could already be paying off, today it posted improved profit of more than £22 million for the first half of the year compared to a loss of more than ten million in the same period last year. shares in morrisons dipped today after britain's fourth largest supermarket group reported sales growth slowed from the quarter before. morrisons is under pressure from the rise of discounters aldi and lidl — but has signed up to provide groceries via amazon and ocado. and retail figures out today from the latest barclaycard consumer spending data confirm the gloomy retail outlook. department store spending slumped almost 6% while clothing spending fell 2.4%. markets lack direction ahead of mid terms and the pound fell after comments from a member of the northern ireland dup about it looking like britain would leave the eu without a deal. those comments have impacted pound sterling negatively today. that's all the business news. as the country prepares to mark 100 years since the end of the first world war, the house of commons and the house of lords have adjorned business this afternoon so that mps and lords can attend an armistice commemoration service — just like parliamentarians did a century ago. our political correspondent, matt cole, joins me now from westminster. what's going on exactly? hello. just shy of 100 years on from armistice day, shy of the few days. mps and peers are recreating a rather iconic moment from the end of the war. on the 11th of november 1918 david lloyd george the then prime minister went into the commons and announced the terms of the armistice. after reading the vote to mps he told them, this is no time for words. our hearts are too full of gratitude to which no tongue can give adequate expression. he then called for the adjournment of parliament and moved the suggestion that we proceed as a house of commons to saint margaret ts, house of commons to saint margaret ‘s, the church here opposite from the palace of westminster, to give humble and reverend thanks for the deliveries of the world from this great peril. today mps have adjourned to recreate that moment, walking over from the chambers of the commons and the lords to a service here. they'll be addressed by the prime minister who will give a reading recreating some of those words from lloyd george, all ahead of armistice sunday. thank you. a really fascinating be creation of what happened the century ago. moore throughout the afternoon. simon will be here at the top of the ala with the latest now it's time for a look at the weather. good afternoon. it's one of those days where it smiled, there are some cloud, there are some sunshine. with the cloud will come rain across western areas at the moment. the reason we've got such one condition is not just here reason we've got such one condition is notjust here but across europe the winds are coming from the mediterranean, listing temperatures well above freddie should be. that's been driven by an area of low pressure to the north—west of us which will hang around for a few days yet, we are on the fringes of it. we will see more rain across western areas in particular during the next 24 hours, spreading elsewhere though. south—west england and wales towards northern ireland and wales towards northern ireland and site where scott had seen the rain. the gloom breaks up at times to allow the sun shine through. temperatures around 16 degrees for some. it might be a degree or so higher before the afternoon is out. let's look at what to expect into the rush hour, the wettest conditions will be in the south—west of england, western wales will see the most persistent of the rain. fringing into dumfries and galloway, the rain will ease off at times in northern ireland after it stayed wet during the past few hours, still if you showers free time. into tonight the showers will spread across most other parts of the of the country. the north—east of scotland could stay dry and eastern counties as well. a breeze strengthening in into tonight. sky is clear for well. a breeze strengthening in into tonight. sky is clearfor a time when slovenia users but some dense fog patches for tomorrow morning's rush hour. elsewhere rain as possible anywhere through the morning rush hour, it will come and go. more persistent rain in the afternoon. maybe thundery showers towards the south—west. sunshine either side of that and temperatures not as high as today but still only mild side for the time of year. wednesday night into thursday morning there will be eight weeks of rain, clearing fora morning there will be eight weeks of rain, clearing for a time. whilst many will get away with a largely dry day, some sunny spells on thursday, longer spells of rain from the south—west through wales towards northern england and southern scotland. temperatures dropping a little bit in scotland and northern ireland. a quick look towards the end of the week because whilst rain eases for a time to take us into friday, as freddie goes on the winds pick up and severe gales are possible in the south—west and some heavy rain as well. by far now. hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at 2: the polls open in america's mid—term election — seen by many as a crucial test of donald trump's presidency. under threat — home care services for thousands of elderly people face disruption following questions over the future of allied healthcare. a pro—brexit campaign group, and an insurance company ownedby businessman arron banks have been fined £135,000 by the uk data watchdog. urgent talks to try and safeguard more than 800 jobs — as michelin announces plans to shut its tyre factory over the next couple of years. hello everyone, this is afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy.