tormenting english bowlers once again, as is his way. in sapping temperatures, at least england kept his mercury below 100. anderson dismissed him for 93. but his face told the price. we had reached the party at the back end of the innings. australian tail—enders swatting away tired english bowlers until they reached 473. when they declared and put england in, under lights, under pressure, underperforming. mitchell starc picked up rory burns. he had made four, england had made seven. 0n came michael neser for his test debut. 0ut went haseeb hameed with more regrets. but australia weren't the only thing striking. that storm will pass, but, for england, the heat won't. patrick gearey, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's stav da naos. it has not been too bad today for many, ending the working week on a fine note in many northern parts of the uk. glorious sunrise here in scarborough. much of scotland and northern england are sunny and further south, grey skies continue. an example there in cornwall. this is the cloud in southern areas. same through parts of wales but in northern england and eastern scotland, it is glorious with plenty of sunshine and that is how it will stay much of the day. because of clear skies we had frost during the night, so not as warm here as it will be further south where we have more of the cloud. top temperatures here 10—11, further north with the clear skies but where we have the sunshine, 5—7 but it will feel pleasant. fog could be a problem in eastern england and east midlands, east anglia. dense in places. most places cloudy tonight. across parts of northern england, scotland, under clear skies, of northern england, scotland, under clearskies, sam of northern england, scotland, under clear skies, sam frost. where we hold onto the cloud, 5—8 . into the weekend, high pressure with us. drifting northwards which will allow a north—easterly to develop so i think by sunday, looking cooler particularly in northern and eastern areas. for most of the weekend with high—pressure, largely dry, and for many remaining cloudy and gloomy. some of the fog could be dense in eastern england and probably stubborn to clear. the best of the sunshine across parts of scotland into northern england. the picks of the pennines poking out above the cloud. temperatures in double figures, above parfor the time of year. sunday, cloudy, limited sunshine. signs of something cooler across northern and eastern areas. still 9-10 across northern and eastern areas. still 9—10 in the south. mid single figures further north and east. monday, high—pressure, dry weather, plenty of cloud and limited sunshine, probably the best across scotland. and similar temperatures. low single digits in the north, 8—10 in the south. keep watching the weather in the run—up to christmas. there is a question about air mass but it looks like the uk is a battleground of them through the christmas period. stay tuned. good afternoon, it's 1.30pm and here's your latest sports news... hello i'm sarah mulkerrins at the bbc sport centre. sport's battle against covid is intensifying — premier league clubs will now meet on monday to discuss the escalating issues in the game due to the pandemic. manchester united, brentford, watford, norwich and leicester all have covid outbreaks amongst their squads, leading to their games being cancelled this weekend. the clubs want a chance to discuss topics including rearranging games and fixture congestion. 0ne game due to go ahead this weekend in manchester city's trip to newcastle on sunday. pep guardiola cancelled his planned pre—match media confrerence a short while ago, while he waits on the result of a pcr test, but other managers have been giving their views... mm in --ivin their views... terms of the competition, we much in terms of the competition, we need much more _ in terms of the competition, we need much more clarity, rival games are getting _ much more clarity, rival games are getting not— much more clarity, rival games are getting not played and what do you need not _ getting not played and what do you need not to play a game so the most important _ need not to play a game so the most important thing is we are able to maintain— important thing is we are able to maintain within the context the fairness — maintain within the context the fairness of the competition and for me this _ fairness of the competition and for me this is — fairness of the competition and for me this is a — fairness of the competition and for me this is a big thing. it is probably on a knife edge would be my verdict. when you start losing players to covid then the worry is the competition becomes slightly unfair and i don't think anyone wants to see that, we want to see a fair league, don't want to see disparity in games and players missing. we want to continue but the welfare of the players and supporters has to come first. elsewhere, the chelsea women's boss, emma hayes, blamed anxiety and worry over covid, for her side's below par performance, as they were knocked out of the champions league last night. a few days ago we had two players are struck down with covid and we know there will be positive cases tomorrow. arrowheads are over the place, we are human beings, the stress and anxiety of having to perform in a game when you are thinking ijust want perform in a game when you are thinking i just want to go perform in a game when you are thinking ijust want to go home, i haven't seen my family, i have been to an 0lympics, another christmas at home, i am to an 0lympics, another christmas at home, iam not to an 0lympics, another christmas at home, i am not making an excuse for the players but i can tell you that the players but i can tell you that the last three days have been all over the place with the worry that we have to this game. rugby union is being affected too. in the last few minutes it's been confirmed that the european cup matches involving french teams have been postponed. (00v)france is restricting travel for those arriving from the uk amid concerns over the 0micron variant. so that is seven games postponed across the champions cup and challenge cup — including the defending champions toulouse's trip to wasps. france is restricting travel for those arriving from the uk amid concerns over the 0micron variant. so that is seven games postponed across the champions cup and challenge cup — including the defending champions toulouse's trip to wasps. two other games, had been already been called off because of covid outbreaks in squads. well, some action going ahead is the ashes series in australia, but not the best news if you're an england fan. the hosts tightened their grip on match on day two of the second test in adelaide. they declared on 473—9, and in reply, england, with the new ball under the lights lost two early wickets in their innings to end on 17—2, after lightning halted play. however, ben stokes is still confident. it has been a tough couple of days, we spent time on the field, it was nice to get off at the end and watch the guys but and we came off in strange circumstances, i'm not sure i have been a game cold off because of lightning but they get to turn up tomorrow under natural light which i think as you would agree is the easiest and best time to bat. tiger woods is preparing to make his comeback this weekend at the pnc championship in florida. the is—time major champion has not played competitive golf since sustaining serious injuries in a car crash in february. the 36 hole event sees major champions playing alongside their children — woods will be playing with his son charlie. they'll be paired with justin thomas and his dad mike in saturday's opening round. i'll have more for you in the next hour. let's return now to the north shropshire by—election — where the liberal democrats scored a surprise victory by taking one of the country's safest conservative seats. helen morgan overturned a tory majority of almost 23,000, declaring that the "party is over" for the pm. she won by nearly 6,000 votes — that's a swing of 34% from conservative to the lib dems — the seventh biggest by election swing since the war. speaking at a vaccination centre this morning, the prime minister gave his reaction to the conservatives' defeat. clearly, the voting in north shropshire is a very disappointing result and i totally understand people's frustrations. i hear what the voters are saying in north shropshire and in all humility, i have got to accept that verdict. yes, sam. what i would say is of course i understand that what voters want us as the government to be doing at all times is to focus on them and on their priorities, and myjob as prime minister is to get the focus onto the stuff that really matters to all of us. so, notjust the vaccine roll—out, i'm getting boosted now. but what we are doing to fight crime, to sort out our borders with the borders bill, the human rights act, and what we are doing to keep the economy going, we've got the fast—growing economy in europe — more jobs now than there were before the pandemic began — what we are doing to train up our country and prepare our economy for what i hope will be a great recovery. but i totally understand why people were frustrated and are frustrated in north shropshire. i think viewers willjust have heard you not accept personal responsibility, you deflect with a list of other things your government is doing. can i try... you accept you are to blame? look, i am responsible for everything that the government does. so of course i take personal responsibility. so which bit, what things that went wrong under your watch, that are your responsibility, are partly to blame? for instance, do you think the absolutely cavalier approach to lockdown rules by you and your staff in downing street, played a part in last night's defeat? i think people are frustrated and i understand that... basically what has been going wrong, sam, is in that in the last few weeks, some things have been going very well, but what they going very well, but what the people have been hearing, what people have been hearing is just a constant litany of stuff about politics and politicians and stuff that is not about them and isn't about the things that we can do to make life better. so to that extent, of course, you are right, and i think thejob of the government is to make people like you, sam, interested in the booster roll—out and in skills, and in housing and in everything else that we are doing. and unfortunately, you are totally right, we have not been able to get the focus on those issues. so, prime minister, it sounds to me like you are quite clearly blaming the public for being focused on the wrong things and the media for reporting the wrong things. so can i try again and ask a number of things on whether or not you think the following are responsible? i think that is very unfair. this is what tory mps are saying to us. so forgive me, this is what your colleagues believe. do you believe that you trying to change the sleaze rules in favour of you and your colleagues, which triggered the by—election, which caused this defeat. do you accept hands up responsibility for that? yes, i do because it goes back to exactly what i was just saying, sam, which i think it comes into the overall category of politicians talking about ourselves and those issues, and seeming to be focused on those issues, at the expense of the things that really matter to people. so i think myjob is to get over what we are doing more effectively and to show people that, as a result of the fastest vaccine roll—out and the fastest booster roll—out in europe, that we have got more jobs before the pandemic began, and i have got to my hands up and say, have i failed to get that message across in the last few weeks? has it been obscured by all this other stuff? yes, i am afraid it has. what needs to change, given it was your advisors laughing on video, about breaking covid rules? you've got a tory donor to pay for the refurbishment of your flat — how do you stop those things happening again? that is the question tories are asking today? yes, i know. with all humility and respect to you, sam. those questions are exactly the kind of questions about politics and politicians and all those kinds of things... the running of government that i am going to have to fix, of course. but the real issue, that i think we want to focus on, is what we are doing to sort out the nhs, the investment we are putting in to get us through a very tough time and what we are doing to tackle the pandemic. and that is the number one priority for the government. because if i may say, respectfully, 0micron is a, if i can move onto that for a second, 0micron is a very serious threat to us and we are seeing a considerable wave coming through. and people have got to be prepared and they have got to understand what it entails. and that is why the best thing everybody can do is notjust follow the guidance, the advice we have set out, but get boosted now. that is the crucial thing that we need to do. we have now, as of yesterday, vaccinated 25 million people with a booster, which is a great number. but we need to do a lot more. and we have got the... everybody is coming forward to help. you have got the army here giving massive assistance, you have got volunteers, the teams are expanding the whole time. we have the capacity to deliver the get boosted now campaign. what we need is for people to recognise the urgency and to forward themselves. but, prime minister, tory mps say the dysfunction of your administration is having real—world consequences about exactly what you're talking about. for instance, your cabinet ministers are contradicting your scientific advisors over the rules and over the guidance. should people be cancelling social events in the run—up to christmas, yes or no? well, i have said already that people should be cautious. but what we have also said is that people should decide what they want to do, it is a matter for their personal choice, we are not closing things down but we do think people need to be cautious. but your chief medical adviser goes further and urges people to prioritise. is he right? look, i think what both chris and i, chris whitty and i are saying is that there is a big wave of 0micron coming through. people need to be prudent, they need to think about your budget of risk, as it were, sam. we are not in a position that we were in last year of closing everything down and trying to mandate exactly what people do. we want to leave much more to people's responsibility and choice but we want them to be aware of the facts, and the facts are that 0micron, it does represent a very considerable risk and people need to be aware of that risk. they need to take the steps and above all, they need to get boosted now. final question, tory mps are saying publicly that conversations have begun about your future — whether you should stay in thatjob. if it was the interests of the country, if it was in the interest of the conservative party, would you resign? sam, can ijust remind you of everything i have been saying throughout this interview. which is that is exactly the kind of question that qualifies, that breaks the golden rule. what we are focusing on is getting thejob done. on is trying to make sure that we not only have the fastest vaccine roll—out in europe, the fastest booster roll—out as we have already done, but we are able, because of the get boosted now campaign, to avert some of the more damaging consequences of 0micron. that is what the government is engaged in doing now, that is what i am focused on. and do you know what, i think that is what people want me to be focused on right now. now it's time for across the uk the environment agency has won its appeal against a high court judgement that would have forced it to limit emissions of noxious gases from a landfill site in staffordshire. the ruling sets aside the original judgement in favour of 5—year—old mathew richards — who has a chronic lung condition and who lives close to walley�*s quarry in silverdale. phil mackie has been following the judgement. well, the result isn't what people who live near walleys quarry in silverdale wanted to hear. it came very quickly at 10.30 this morning when the three court of appealjudges returned to court just to read out theirjudgment. they say they will give further detailed written reasons for those judgments at a later date. essentially, this means that the environment agency no longer has that deadline hanging over it, which meant that because of the earlier high court ruling by the beginning of next month, effectively the end of the year, they have to make sure that there were no emissions of hydrogen sulfide in particular that breached world health 0rganisation recommended levels. they say they're working with the operators of the site and they are reducing the levels of hydrogen sulfide. they give that really horrible rotten eggs, stink bomb odor that has made people's lives such a misery and that they are working to reduce that and they are successfully reducing it, capping parts of the site, for instance. but they've still got some way to go because the most recent figures that they published show that at least one of the four monitoring sites near the landfill site itself shows that there were still problems with excess levels of hydrogen sulfide just a couple of weeks ago at the beginning of the month. i haven't yet heard from the family of matthew richards. becky currie, his mum was in court earlier this week during the hearing. she wasn't there today to hear the final ruling, but she has been incredibly concerned about matthew's health. he's got a chronic lung condition. we heard medical evidence in earlier on in this year that suggests that the effects of these emissions could be life limiting for him. now, lawyers representing becky currie, matthew richards, said that they may even consider asking for a furtherjudicial review. but in the meantime, the problems will probably persist. unfortunately, for all those people who were pinning their hopes on this appealfailing, it's bad newsjust in the run up to christmas. gatwick airport is experiencing its busiest day for two years — and nearly three quarters of a million people are set to travel through the airport this christmas, seven times more than last year. some people are rushing to reach france before a new travel ban comes into place tonight — with others thinking again about their winter holiday plans. 0ur correspondent fiona irving is at gatwick airport. it is the start of the big christmas getaway and things are very busy. bosses are optimistic, they think 750,000 passengers will travel through gatwick during the christmas period and that is significantly higher than last year when the restrictions were so tight. it is a five under percent increase on passenger numbers from last year and despite france's travel bans and the omicron bosses are quietly confident. it's definitely a bit of a blip in the road, but at the same time as 0micron's, you know, popped up, british airways only last week have announced that their short haul programme will return to gatwick next year. we had scoots arriving here yesterday with a brand new service from singapore and bangkok. emirates have returned. they're going to introduce a second flight injanuary. so, yes, 0micron is definitely a short term blip and we'd rather it hadn't sort of presented itself. but alongside that, we've got real confidence. we can see the airlines are keen to get buy back flying at gatwick as soon as possible. there were only 1a flights to france from gatwick today. the mass getaway to try to beat those travel bans has not been seen here but that is not what we are hearing in dover and eurostar and other bosses are confident outwardly they must be some jitters from them about what this means for booking injanuary and whether travel confidence has taken a blow because of the france travel restrictions. a children's charity in liverpool says more needs to be done to protect the children of prisoners — as they often end up being stigmatised and judged. �*children heard and seen' say around 60% of boys who have a parent in prison go on to offend— and the charity's working to try and stop that pattern, as kelly foran reports. one thing that i miss about dad is when we used to have christmas dinners together. at christmas eve i watch football. when there's a family member in prison, the children are often stigmatized, sometimes feeling like they're being punished for a crime they haven't committed. one woman i spoke to has had to move to a completely different area of liverpool. so basically i've moved areas because i felt like i was being watched all the time. people were talking like discriminated against when it's not something that we've done. and how does that make you feel as well, that, you know, your children a victim of that as well? kids are innocents. and at the end of the day, you know, i've had to move schools and stuff as well, you know, to me, which is just been more upheaval, really. it's just a nightmare. these children meet santa behind the red gates of strawberry fields, a world away from prison gates, and a charity who supports them says more needs to be done to protect them. a child still, you know dearly loves the parents, regardless of what they've done wrong. and then unfortunately, they are also then tarred with the same brush. it's nearly 2022, and there is absolutely no recognition of these children. it's estimated 300,000 children impacted by parental imprisonment at any given time. and we don't know who they are. nobody knows who they are. events and days like this make them feel included and like they haven't done anything wrong. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav. hello there, mixed fortunes of weather to end the week. some areas have started grey and gloomy, like we've seen throughout the week. other areas have started cold, frosty with some fog, but with some sunshine around, too. and this weather watcher picture in north yorkshire just proves that further south, gray, leaden skies, grey, leaden skies, bit of mist and murk, pretty much as we've seen throughout this week so far, all down to this area of high pressure, which is sitting right on top of us, slightly stronger winds across the far south west, the far north, the country for most of those winds will be very light and no movement to stir up the cloud. however, we will continue with the best of the sunshine throughout the day across scotland, northern england, a few glimmers further south but otherwise largely cloudy skies here. top temperatures ten or 11 degrees cooler where we have the clearer skies because it was a cold start there. now, through this evening and overnight, it stays cold with clear skies, parts of northern england into scotland. elsewhere, though, it's cloudy, misty and quite murky. temperatures should hold about five to eight degrees in the south, but colder with a touch of frost where those skies are clear. and again, we could see some fog patches developing. little change as we head into the weekend, areas of high pressure continues to bring largely cloudy skies, a lot of dry weather, and it will be turning slightly cooler, particularly during the course of sunday across more northern and eastern areas. this is the picture for saturday, plenty of cloud around that cloud could be thick enough for the odd patch of drizzle, the odd glimmer of brightness here and there, probably the best. the sunshine, though, across parts of scotland and northern england. those temperatures range of around seven to maybe ten or 11 degrees across the south. similar pictures we had on into sunday. again, a lot of cloud around limited spells of sunshine. start to pick up more of a northeasterly breeze, though, and that will be noticeable across north sea coast. and it's here where we'll see the temperatures drop a little bit, but the temperatures will be edging away generally across the country. as you can see, single figures for most. it's a similar story into monday, very little change. an area of high pressure close by. a lot of cloud, limited sunshine, but with the best of it, again, across the north. and again, those temperatures in single figures, most just about ten degrees there for plymouth. big question mark to what takes place in the run up to christmas. it looks like the uk will be in the battleground of some colder air to the north. some milder air to the south. so stay tuned. this is bbc news, i'm rebecca jones. the headlines: a shock defeat for borisjohnson as the conservatives lose the north shropshire seat they held for nearly 200 years to the liberal democrats. if you are incompetent, it turns out if you tell lies, it turns out that if you take the people for granted, there is a price to pay. democracy and justice is alive and well in britain, and the people in north shropshire have spoken for the whole of britain. it's the seventh biggest by—election swing in modern political history — with the prime minister accepting personal responsibility for the defeat. i hear what the voters are saying in north shropshire, and in all humility i've got to accept that verdict. a 27—year—old woman has been arrested on suspicion