hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: the home secretary says police must "raise the bar" by taking the harassment of women more seriously. her thoughts are echoed by health secretary sajid javid. the metropolitian police have said about the reforms that they will be looking at, i think it is absolutely right. we need to also be looking at what more government can do to help build that confidence. the army will begin delivering fuel to petrol stations across the uk from monday, after days of queuing at the pumps. an experimental drug for severe covid is thought to cut serious symptoms and death risks by half. now on bbc news, it's the travel show. you have to love it, proper british coastline. earlier this summer we went on an adventure across the uk as it opened up for travel again. we are open! from rugged coastlines to breathtaking landscapes, we met all kinds of people along the way, as we headed down the road to recovery in our head—turning, all—electric travel show van. this time we're leaving britain and heading to the republic ireland. i am going to be finding out how this country has adapted, both to the challenges of the pandemic and to changes in irish society as a whole. we are ireland's first drag house, and now you see all these different styles of drag and performers that we did not have before. to rediscover a modern ireland, looking forward to a world beyond covid. i'm going to be travelling from the capital city of dublin through cork and onto ireland's most south—westerly point at mizen head. i have actually only been to ireland once or twice before, and that was quite a while ago, so i'm looking forward seeing how it's changing. of course covid has changed the country in many ways, at least in the short term. ireland's cautious approach to covid meant some of its pubs and bars were closed for 18 months, and as the industry begins to recover, i'd heard that it might be the signs of more changes on the horizon. myjourney begins at ireland's most visited tourist attraction, the guinness storehouse, which had to close its doors to tourists during the pandemic. the story of the brand is told over seven floors, at a site that has been here in dublin since the 18th century. this is our historic passenger tunnel, it was built in 1895. do you know how much guinness is made here at the moment? would you believe that we produce about 25 pints of guinness every single second, that's 880 million pints every single year, and sometimes you would have three generations of the same family working for the brewery at the same time. but i'm heading up to the top floor for a taste of the brand's future in the form of a new 0% alcohol beer. while other brands may have had alcohol—free beers for some time, the question is, does this still deliver on its iconic flavour? you genuinely wouldn't know, well, i genuinely wouldn't know. tell me, though, why you think this will be popular? why will people want to buy this? there's a number of reasons. 0ccasions are changing, people are looking for alternative options to alcohol, and zero alcohol is becoming very popular, and it is essential i think in today's society, people want to have those options. we brew it in the exact same way, it is brewed as guinness and later, at the end of the process we decide ok, that vessel is our guinness zero vessel and we remove the alcohol from that vessel using a cold filtration process, so you retain all of those flavours, you just remove the alcohol. so the pandemic has been terrible for the whole world, but when visitors come here, can you see that they are really happy to be somewhere like this now? can you feel the excitement? even irish visitors and tourists alike, a huge amount of irish people are coming into the storehouse, and the excitement to see the building open, the storehouse has been talking to the world virtually and it's great to see people coming back and through the doors people are excited. it's notjust the drinks that are changing. irish pubs are found all around the world, but back home here in dublin, the city's first alcohol—free bar has just opened its doors. we offer a wide range of drinks, pie and cocktails, to local beers, like the one you are drinking there, and i think it reallyjust gives people the choice because when they go to establishments that have alcohol, the choice is very limited when it comes to non—alcoholic. a lot of people have mentioned that there is a mindset of people taking care of themselves more because of the pandemic or the psychological effects. do you see that as being a better time, a better climate for you in a way to prosper? we are moving away from an alcohol—free bar to being a well—being bar. a lot of the drinks we have here are plant—based, they are very good for you, they can help boost your immune system, they are full of vitamins, they can calm you down in a way that a red wine might calm you down. you are kind of surfing the zeitgeist in a way, aren't you? we are. that has been a great experience, that bar is really cool. to think that i spent a whole day in dublin in bars drinking, but not actually drinking alcohol, it goes to show that the stereotypes we have of these cities have got to change because i suspect this will be a big part of the future of socialising in places like dublin, and i will drink to that. nice. next, i am leaving dublin to be myjourney west. charging the van should not be too much of a problem here. there are around 2000 charging points which actually compares better than the uk by charger per person basis. so, this is ennis, county clare, a lovely old town, narrow streets, bookshops, just what you would expect from an irish town. but where i am going is actually a car park because it is here where the aerial dance company fidget feet are doing a performance of their first show since the start of the pandemic, made possible largely through local authority finding. the show is designed to give a child's view of the world, as it emerges from the pandemic. the group is led by chantelle mccormick, a leading voice in the challenges for the arts in ireland during the covid crisis. in terms of the performers, how much training, education, how much do they have to learn before they could do this? it's a long journey because it is a very highly skilled thing you need to get, and that was hard during lockdown because these artists need to keep their skills because they have to do it every day. we are kind of looking at ireland almost through a post—pandemic lands. —— lens. how can you see irish culture moving forward and progressing? are you seeing optimistic signs? when you are a company, a lot of the times i feel to be recognised as an aerial company or a dance company, it's like you have to go international and when you are international, then you can come back to ireland and then you are famous, and it's really interesting what this pandemic has taught us is we cannot rely on constantly going out of your own country to be this, so what is the riches inside of here, so this is the irish language, the dancers and the music and it's the area we now have, so i don't doubt that cultur will not survive the pandemic, because sometimes it's not a choice that you choose, it's something inside you that goes, i have to dance, or i have to do aerial, or i have to sing, you know, and you just have to keep doing it. and what better way to finish the show than with a traditional dance. if you think about it, during the pandemic these guys could not really perform, and that must be desperately sad for them, and thank goodness they were funded and kept going by grants, because the result of them being able to perform again today, now, that is incredible, thejoy and pleasure they give people. wow. long may that live. the next part of myjourney will take me south towards ireland's second largest city, cork, but i could not pass by it without stopping at one particular famous landmark. the place we're going to now is somewhere i have heard an awful lot about, and you may have too, but if i told you it's connected to a little town and castle called blarney, and by going there i will improve my social skills to no end, you might guess what i'm talking about. the 600—year—old blarney castle is set across a 60—acre site, but its most famous attraction is of course the blarney stone. it said that the gift of the gab is given to those who kiss it. this is our first view of where the famous stone is. up there? can i have a go? absolutely, let's do it. it was brought to the castle during the crusades. the lord of the castle saved a witch from drowning, who thanked him by casting a spell on the stone to cure his speech impediment once he had kissed it. of course, with the onset of the pandemic, kissing the blarney stone stopped, but now, with a strict disinfecting procedure in place, it's once again open to those eager to pucker up to stone. here we are, the world—famous blarney stone. just here? 0k. the last six inches of the wall, they are just cleaning it there now for us, so today you are going to have to lie down on your back, grab the two bars, and then you will slide in, but dave will be holding on to you the whole time so you are in a safe pair of hands, but you have it easier nowadays. the old way is we would have got you by your ankles and held you on outside of the wall. literally dangling over the wall? absolutely. i feel lucky. whenever you are ready. 0ver we go. dave will lower your down, grab the two bars and slide back and kiss the last six inches, right at the bottom. 0k. that was a real smacker. it feels like a real proper old—fashioned ritual, that has gone through centuries and i was part of it. thank you! the question is this. paul, i am now supposed to be more eloquent and charming? after kissing the stone, we have now bestowed the gift of eloquence or gift of gab to you. i don't know about that, but at the risk of being platitudinous, you do look particularly handsome at the moment. how kind of you. now, i'm taking a short drive to the east of cork, out to the coast. this part of the country is considered by many to be the culinary capital of ireland. one big reason for that is this cooking school. it's a place where people have been coming from around the world in recent years to learn cooking skills, and taste some of the food created by internationally renowned cook darina allen. darina, thank you so much for having us here. you're going to demonstrate something to cook for us, but what is it? very simple. i cannot let you leave ireland without being able to make a soda bread. irish soda bread is thought to date back to the early 1800s and was popular partly due to its simplicity. really important thing to remember with soda bread is that you don't knead it, so no need to knead. it can be made in minutes from just four ingredients — flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk. see how lovely and gloopy that is? yeah. that's from my own jersey cows. how cool is that? so just flatten it out. finally, darina adds the traditional blessing of the bread by scoring a cross in the top of the dough to help it open out as it cooks. and then — very important — you've got to let the fairies out of the bread. you prick it in the four corners like that and that lets the fairies out of the bread, because the fairies are always up to mischief in ireland and they'll jinx your bread if you don't let them out. so if you are pure of heart or if you had a good night in an irish pub last night, you'll have seen those fairies coming out. and now, we need to put it straight in the oven. so you have a huge estate here, darina. well, it's.. darina began the cooking school here in the �*80s on the same estate where her mother—in—law myrta allen established a restaurant two decades earlier. within a few years of starting the school, people began coming from around the world. so if you had to define what irish cuisine is, what would you say? well, know, i know a lot of people might have thought we live on corned beef and cabbage, but of course, it's changed so much over the years but the fantastic thing is that here in ireland, we have such brilliant raw materials and such great produce so what we would serve at ballymaloe — our basis of what we do is irish country house cooking, but then with all kinds of influences from all over the world — from india, mexico. because we can grow things — we can grow epazote from mexican food. of course, we grow those curry leaves, lime leaves — all kinds of things. and there we go. and before i leave darina, there is one more thing we must do. that is so nice. it's soft, spongy almost, you know? it's — the taste is lovely. and you made that, just like that. back on the road, i'm heading into cork city. here, old stereotypes of ireland's conservative outlook are once again becoming outdated. a growing drag community has emerged in cork. they've been through a difficult covid period and tonight will be the first public performance for some drag artists here since the pandemic began. just so many different genres of drag in cork. i mean, you have everything from your club kids to your more burlesque to your more classic drag. yeah. and there is the likes of me — say, a girl doing drag — and it was certainly quite unusual, you know? in ireland, anyway. change has come here only relatively recently, however. but legendary female impersonator danny la rue came from cork and went on to become one of the 1960s' highest—paid entertainers. but that success and acceptance was mostly found in britain after moving there as a child. ireland back then was such a different place, entirely different — different attitudes and different outlook. it was only in i believe �*93 that homosexuality was actually decriminalised, so i — lots of people that i know from that time upped sticks and moved — might have gone to the uk or wherever they went — went to a country that was more liberal with its attitudes or where the community was larger so you could feel that security. and then, of course, ireland has progressed so much. # gonna get married... ireland was the first country to legalise gay marriage in 2015 through a referendum. all cheer. covid aside, cork has vibrant pride celebrations and now, danny la rue's grandnephew has established a leading collective of drag performers — the house of mockie ah! we are ireland's first drag house and we are now the biggest house — other ones are springing up — and there's this incredible scene where, like, you see all of these different styles of drag and performers which we didn't have before, and a lot of that comes down to the fact that we now have social media and things like ru paul's drag race, which bring drag into your home. so it's like, you know, before, we found out about drag through, you know, through family but now, you can literally go on instagram so there's styles of drag everywhere, so it's more easy to be inspired, which is great. and tell me about how the pandemic affected you and the whole scene here. specifically with queer people and the lgbt+ community, again, our space has been taken away. and for the likes of myself and the other queens, our work was taken away. yes, it has taught us a lot and what i have loved personally seeing is how resourceful queer people are. i have not seen some of my friends in 18 months all in the same room, i haven't seen a proper audience in so long, but i'm ready to not do drag in my bedroom any more! i'm pretty excited to come back on stage! soft music plays. so you did not think you would do it again after the first time? no, no. what?! no. well, the first time i was in drag i fell on the parade day, broke my heels, my wig came off and i still kept going. persistence! and determination! soft music continues. well, that was brilliant fun! flamboyant, yes, but also wickedly satirical in places. but what i ultimately saw was a bunch of really good friends — brilliant entertainers — but loving performing live together in front of an audience who loved it as much as they did. soft music continues to finish, i'm heading to the most south—westerly point in ireland, mizen head. well, this is simply glorious. beautiful sandy beaches. some brave souls out there in the sea. wow! incredible. they call this coastal region the wild atlantic way. stunning stretches of coastline go on for miles and miles. so that's it, the most south—westerly tip of ireland, and there, the vast atlantic, stretching all the way over to the americas. soft music plays embracing change is nothing new for people here. this is the last sight of home that many irish migrants saw as they headed to a new life in america in the 19th and early 20th century, and a lot has changed since then. the famous dublin—born writer george bernard shaw once said that "the heart of an irish man is nothing but his imagination" and while i have been here, i've witnessed first—hand how people have used their power of imagination to survive, adapt and stay in business during the pandemic. their creativity, good sense of humour and sheer grit and determination have been truly inspiring and ifor one wouldn't have missed any of this for the world. good morning. didn't our lead looked lovely in the sunshine. a different story for us in the uk. we have seen a big weather system put in, quite a few of us will see rain, but tomorrow more sunshine around. things have brightened up in ireland and northern ireland where we have seen outbreaks of rain clear away. 0n the eastern age of the low pressure system we have seen the strongest winds. falling lighter in the west. england and wales will see rainfall, the heaviest across southern counties. driest conditions in the far north of scotland. a cool day for all, up to 15. the strongest winds will be in the south and east, gusts up to 60mph, with torrential rain at times, some travel disruption. that will clear away tonight, the strong winds will affect the far north of scotland. elsewhere, clear skies, a few showers. a fresh night to tomorrow morning. —— into tomorrow morning. tomorrow, strong winds, up to 70mph in shetland. blustery elsewhere. sunshine and showers from the start of the day. eastern scotland and eastern england, a sunny start. the breeze will pick up with a few showers, temperatures on the call side. it will be sunnier tomorrow. as we go through into sunday, we will see the london marathon and a few showers cropping up in the afternoon but most of the time it is fine and we will see some sunshine between the showers for the belfast marathon. the week ahead, another low pressure arriving bringing heavy rain particularly across the south. for the rest of the week, looking drier and brighter and warmer. this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines: the home secretary says police must raise the bar, by taking the harassment of women more seriously. her thoughts are echoed by health secretary, sajid javid. what the metropolitan police have said about the reforms that they will be looking at i think is absolutely right. we need to also be looking at what more a government can do to help build that confidence. the army will begin delivering fuel to petrol stations across the uk from monday, after days of queuing at the pumps. and this is the scene alive at holyrood where the queen is arriving to open the sixth session of the scottish parliament. the ceremony would normally take place injuly, but was postponed because of a pandemic for so she is accompanied by her son, prince charles, and by camilla who,