Transcripts For BBCNEWS Newsnight 20170627

Plans for a second Scottish Referendum on independence have been put on ice. First minister Nicola Sturgeon has categorically not dropped the idea of another vote, but said today that no legislation will be brought forward until autumn next year at the earliest. Given the pace at which these things proceed, that means no vote would happen until 2020 and by then it would likely be delayed until after the next scottish elections in 2021. The reset amounts to a setback for the ambitions of the snp, but its arguably also a retreat for the forces of change and disruption that have been dominating politics for so long. It was scotland that led the world into a new era of voter restlessness. A nationalist surge that saw snp Majority Rule in scotland and which paved the way for that Independence Referendum. Scotland has voted no in this referendum on independence. It was a defeat for independence but it came closer than anyone anticipated when it all started. Something had stirred and quickly turned into a Voter Uprising against anything that smacked of politics as usual. In 2015, the snp broke all records, one half the vote in scotland and 5659 westminster seats. That turned out to be the high water mark. You have not seen the last of my bonnets and me. This time around they got 35 seats. A great result by normal standards but it was a huge drop. Volatile Voter Behaviour had now come back to hit the snp. Nationalism are a less winning proposition. That reality was infused into the words of Nicola Sturgeon today. Many of us already believe that independence is the right and the best answer to the many complex challenges we face as a country and also the best way to seize and fully realise our many opportunities. We must persuade the majority in scotland of that and we have not done that yet but i have no doubt that we can. Why did the momentum for Radical Change in scotland slow . Here are four theories. One, voterfatigue. After indyref1 and the brexit vote, the scottish people cannot face another decision. The snp are outsiders no more. Having once been the subversives, they then became the establishment. Ruth davidson of the scottish conservatives became the outsider. The price of oil has fallen and brexit makes the border issue less simple. A fourth theory. Some change in mood across europe. It looked as though populism could disrupt all before it but the success of Emanuel Macron is only one example of it being held back. Maybe populisms ultimate triumph gave it a bad name. Brexit proceeds now for the whole of the uk. It has the power to disrupt and surprise. So the Ground Constitutional Question has not gone away. For the moment at least, it is one great up evil at the time. Current polling has support for independence at about 40 by the way, and a recent daily record poll found that 60 wanted ms sturgeon to drop her plan for another referendum. Ian blackford is the snps new leader in the house of commons. Welcome. Thank you forjoining us. Did the Opinion Polls play a part in Nicola Sturgeons decision . We have reset the timing on when an Independence Referendum may take place. If we look at where we are, the snp has won the last three scottish elections. We have won the last 135 seats out of 39. We are still remarkably Popular Party and an remarkably popular government in edinburgh. We need to reflect the circumstances throughout the united kingdom. Now we have a Minority Government i would argue there is no longer a hard wrecks it. What we need to push for is representing scotlands interests. You have overreached yourself. You thought this was your moment for a second go. Actually, the polls, if anything, have drifted away from independence. What happened last year if we went with the manifesto seeking support of the scottish people. If there were to be a Material Change in circumstances, we wanted the option of a referendum. You are now breaking your own manifesto. Circumstances have changed. Our priority is to protect scotlands interests. It means remaining in the customs union. There will be an opportunity to push for that. That is the change in circumstances. You can now fight for the soft brexit that you want. You could not have done that before the general election. The uk government did not want to compromise with us. There was a compromised document. We recognise the uk voted to come out of europe. Well sue sought recognition of our position. We have not had a meeting of thejoint Ministerial Committee since february. So, to summarise, it was nothing to do with the polls showing a decline in support for independence. Other polls show higher than that. There were some showing it at 49. We will always listen to the people of scotland. We will understand we did less well than we did in 2015. We want to demonstrate to the people of scotland we are worthy of their trust. 0ur priority is to protect the interests of the people of scotland. Lets talk about that. That is your case. A referendum should be seen as an Insurance Policy in scotland should be dragged out of the Single Market against its will. If you hate the brexit that theresa may is taking us towards, do you have the power to shout from the sidelines loudly and prominently to delay or obstruct . I think what people want is to see politicians working together. We are offering to the government to get around a table to see we can represent the interests of Those Averse In Scotland and Northern Ireland who seek to have access to Single Market. If theresa may does not play it like you want it, it you have the power to delay or obstruct the brexit that she wants, like not voting for the great repeal bill. We will have opportunities to influence the debate. There will also be a Legislative Consent Motion has to be presented to the scottish parliament. We are not talking about threatening anyone. In your back pocket it sounds like you do not have the power to stop it. We are going to have a Legislative Consent Motion. What is your understanding if you refuse to consent . If we are in a position where we are dragged out of the Single Market then we need to have the option of giving the referendum right to the people of scotland. That is the ultimate power we have. Will there be a second referendum before 2021 if britain adopts a softer brexit than theresa may has been talking about . If the position of scotland and the Single Market can be protected. If it cannot be protected, there will definitely be a referendum . In those circumstances, it is only right. You will definitely require one . At the end of the brexit process, every member state of the eu will have a vote. It is only right and proper that people of scotland are offered that opportunity as well. It is about making sure we have a parachute and can protect ourselves against the hard brexit. There will be a referendum. You will request a referendum annual do it before 2021. We will need to move as quickly as possible. Lets talk about the dup deal. Scotland has been short changed by money being sent to Northern Ireland. It is not a good deal for the union and the united kingdom. What you have is the conservative government buying votes from the dup with a £1 billion bribe. How are you being short changed . The Secretary Of State for scotland made it clear there have to be consequential is from the dup deal. That should happen across the united kingdom. If we were treated on an crippling basis, that would be an additional investment in Scottish Public Services and infrastructure of 2. 9 billion. That is a bit unfair on english taxpayers. It probably means another 30 billion for english taxpayers, doesnt it . They would not be treated on an equal basis if that were the case, would they . It is taking cash out of the pockets of the porous. We argue for an investment of 118 billion over the course of the parliament. Why would you want to leave . Your goal is to leave the united kingdom. We want to be a progressive force in parliament. We argued for investment across the united kingdom. Were not playing one part of the united against another. Thank you. You might never have heard of the Company Cambridge analytica but for many of those lamenting the result of last years brexit vote it has become a bit of a bogeyman. Some believe the firms psychological techniques were the Secret Weapon that swung the referendum. The idea that voters can be manipulated is not new, remember it was the sun wot won it in the 1992 election. These claims are always aided by the perception that right wing billionaires are pulling strings behind the scenes. So what is the truth of Cambridge Analytica, what is Cambridge Analytica . Gabriel gatehouse has been investigating. Every Political Campaign wants to get inside your head. The more they know about you, the more they can influence you. I think people understand that data is power. As we play out our lives online, were making things easy for them. It is possible to target messages at particular individuals, who will be unaware of the fact youve been profiling them. Are there people out there who know you better than you know yourself . This is not a normal company. Its using psychological techniques to change peoples thoughts and behaviour. Was britains Eu Referendum hijacked by the american alt right, using a technique known as psychographics. Brexit was the petri dish for trump. They said, heres this company, can it help you . This is the charge levelled at an obscure Data Analytics firm called Cambridge Analytica. They now deny they ever worked on the Leave Campaign but it wasnt always thus. So, is psychographics a menace or a myth . This is a complicated story involving politicians, financiers, and companies, on both sides of the atlantic. Its also a story in which the main protagonists keep changing their story. It raises troubling questions about whether, in the age of big data, our democracy is open to manipulation. Cambridge analytica is a Data Analytics company with offices in washington, new york and london. There are numerous, similarfirms, whose services are retained by Political Parties during elections around the world. But, Cambridge Analyticas approach is different, according to its eton educated ceo, Alexander Nix. Psychographics, that is an understanding of your personality, because it is personality that drives behaviour and behaviour that obviously influences how you vote. 0ur story begins in 2015 at a Press Conference for leave. Eu, one of the two main groups campaigning for britains exit from the european union. One of the people on the platform is from Cambridge Analytica. Were going to be running Large Scale Research throughout the nation to really understand why people are interested in staying in or out of the eu. And the answers to that will help inform our policy and our communications, to make sure we turn out more first time voters, more unregistered voters, more apathetic voters than ever before. In february last year, Alexander Nix gave a progress update. He wrote in an article that Cambridge Analytica had, and i quote, already helped supercharge leave. Eus social media campaign. And that the campaigns Facebook Page was growing in support to the tune of about 3000 people every day. Leave. Eu was the ukip led campaign for brexit, fronted by aaron banks and nigel farage. Cambridge analytica is financially backed by Robert Mercer, an american Computer Scientist turned hedge fund billionaire. He also backed the alt right news site, breitbart, founded by steve bannon, who was also on the board of Cambridge Analytica, until he became Donald Trumps campaign director. Robert mercer was a major contributor to Donald Trumps president ial campaign, which Cambridge Analytica also worked on. Cambridge analytica and the Leave Campaign. It was through this network of mutual acquaintances that Cambridge Analytica and the Leave Campaign. At least thats how a spokesman for leave. Eu told it to a reporter from the observer newspaper. I went and had a cofee with andy wigmore of leave. Eu and he said it was just because nigel is a good friend of the mercers Robert Mercer and of course knows steve bannon a long time, and they were happy to help. Its all the same family. We were after the same ends. Political campaigning is strictly regulated. Whatever money you spend needs to be registered. Leave. Eus Spending Returns make no mention of Cambridge Analytica. When leave. Eu were first challenged about this, they said, oh, well, they did some work for us but they were just helping out and they didnt get paid. But that would be problematic, too, because donations in kind have to be registered as well and foreign donations are not allowed at all. In april, the Electoral Commission launched an investigation into leave. Eus spending, including potentially impermissible donations, saying it had reasonable grounds to investigate whether the law had been broken. But now, in his first on camera interview addressing this interview, Cambridge Analyticas ceo claims his Company Never in fact did any work on brexit for any of the campaigns. Id like to think weve been pretty clear about this and consistantly clear over the last year or so that we had absolutely no involvement in the Leave Campaign we did not do any paid or unpaid work for brexit. Why did you initially say you had . Well, actually, that was reallyjust an example of the cart pulling the horse. We had a slightly overzealous pr adviser, who released a press statement. You also had a colleague at the launch of leave. Eus campaign. Thats correct, yes. You were still saying you werent working for them, you didnt do any work for them. Thats absolutely correct. So, what were you doing there . We were exploring the possibility of working with them, as we were with actually other parties at that time. Right. So, what does Cambridge Analytica do . Essentially, its all about targeting. It uses data to help politicians get the right facebook ad, for example, to the right voters. Every Political Campaign uses these sorts of companies but Cambridge Analytica claims to have something extra, a secret source, and thats psychographics come in. Cambridge analytica is a behavioural science and Data Analytics company that tries to synthesise both psychology and big data and Predictive Analytics to understand audiences, both in the political space and the commercial and brand space, as well as the government space, such that it can improve the efficacy of communications. Cambridge analytica was formed in 2013 and is affiliated with a group of companies called scl. Scl began developing a psychological component to marketing and messaging back in the early 1990s. Their work isnt confined to elections. Sels website says their services have been used by the Us State Department and nato. This has led some to accuse Cambridge Analytica of using techniques known as psyops, or psychological operations. This has come out of a background of doing 30 years of doing psychological operations all round the world. When people talk about winning hearts and minds in afghanistan, this is what theyre talking about. Its using psychological techniques to change peoples thoughts and behaviour. Cambridge analytica is sensitive to the charge that theyre using Military Grade psyops on elections in western democracies. We train militaries all over the world in psyops and our Military Division is very separate from our political division. In fact, so much so its a different company, its in a different building, it has a firewall between it, its governed by a different board, it has its own security clearances. The only commonality between the two might be some key personnel and possibly some shareholders. Cambridge analytica went on to work for the Trump Campaign. At the time, they appeared to suggest they were using psychographics but they later clarified that they hadnt. Perhaps thats because when they did use psychographics on an earlier campaign, that of senator ted cruz and his bid for the republican nomination, it didnt really seem to work. What the company itself had promised to deliver and what they delivered fell short. And so we were paying a premium for something that we thought was a strategic advantage and turned out to have no Strategic Value at all. Id like to believe that the theory works and that it could be put to good use but, in the end, it was just bullshit. Cambridge analytica says psychographics is a legitimate and effective component of its methodology. Scientists have, for years, been working on models that combined personal data with psychological tests, to better understand what messages will likely be effective. In the 1990s, Barrie Gunter was one of a number of psychologists, hired to help scl with the science. This was two decades before Cambridge Analytica was formed. Even in those early days, there were concerns that the marketing of psychographics, sometimes got ahead of itself. 0urjob, mine and other psychologists, was really to make sure the science was adhered to properly and that the claims were not too outlandish. In the end, im afraid, thats where we parted company because he couldnt reach an agreement on that. But psychographics isnt science fiction. Its all about targeting. Heres how its supposed to work. People volunteered to take a psychological survey online. Their answers are then matched up with details about their personal lives, their shopping habits, what car they drive, what they post on social media. Put that together and it builds a psychological profile that can help politicians hone their message. Eventually, once youve got the software and youve got the methodology that can accurately identify the mark as a personality, then it is possible then to target messages at particular individuals, who will be unaware of the fact youve been profiling them and that indeed you may be able to find out things about them, which they might not be consciously aware of themselves, becaise they wouldnt think about the information theyre providing publicly in that way. Theyre very sophisticated systems of analysis which are being developed which, in the future, could potentially have powerful effects. And thats where some people get concerned. Could the stuff we post on facebook and other social media sites be used without our knowledge to bombard us with psychologically tailored political adverts . Last month, the Information Commissioner opened a formal investigation into the wider use of Data Analytics by a number of different providers in Political Campaigns. What were looking at here, and what the allegations have been about, is mashing up, scraping, using large amounts of personal data, online data, to micro target or personalise, or segment, the delivery of the messages without individuals knowledge. I think the allegation is that fair practices and fair democracy is under threat if large Data Companies are Processing Data in ways that are invisible to the public. As part of their inquiries, both the Information Commissioner and the Electoral Commission are trying to establish whether Cambridge Analytica did in fact do any work on the Leave Campaign. If, as the company now said, they did no work at all, then perhaps they are simply a victim of a tendency to talk up their own achievements. You said you were working on the Eu Referendum and it turned out you werent. You said you were using psychographics on the Trump Campaign and it turned out you werent. Are you a con artist . Thats not a fair question. Weve been absolutely consistent in saying we did not work on the Eu Referendum, and we said this to you, and to your colleagues repeatedly. We made statements to that fact over a nine or 12 month period, and we have also been consistent in saying when we transferred our Data Analytics capability from the Cruz Campaign across to the Trump Campaign it was only five months until polling and we did not have time to employ the rigorous psychological approach we had used on the Cruz Campaign. And our story hasnt changed. So, the answer to your question is, of course, no. For some opponents of brexit, the idea that the Eu Referendum was hijacked by alt right hypnotists, wielding hi tech, psychological weaponry looks perhaps like a reasonable explanation. But the known facts dont quite support this theory. Perhaps this is simply a case of theatrics and overzealous pr. Perhaps. But it remains a story of contradictions and unanswered questions. More developments today on the investigations into the use of cladding in buildings. We are up to 95 buildings with cladding found to be unfit here all the ones tested. There was, incidentally, one in germany today as well. An 11 storey block of flats was evacuated there. Here, the government has appointed an expert group to make recommendations, but the industry itself is already adapting. Chris cook is with me. Remind us how many buildings can have the wrong cladding on . It is a tale of two rule books. The government issues its own Building Regulations with guidelines. Those guidelines say if you are going to put something on the outside of a building, a tall building, it has to be a minimal level of flame proofing, basically. In the jargon, it has to be level a2. But when you get the building inspector, what matters is the building is safe overall and nobody checks the fine print unless things go wrong. So the building inspectors have a different rule book and they say instead of everything having to be at that a2 level, they say, if we do at test and using this context, this bit is said, if you do this over here, you can use this slightly more combustible material. When the government has gone round pulling stuff of buildings and checking it, they have discovered it is not all to the high standard. So the industry is basically reacting to grenfell . Yes, the nhp sea, one of the esteemed sector bodies, produce guidelines who have said so many people have done investigations and collected data and tests that showed that sub a2, insulation, could be used with what they call b grade cladding, so it is below the standards required by the government. In certain context and certain limitations, that was probably going to be fine. They have got in touch tonight to say that because of the concerns about grenfell tower, which this body was not involved in at all, they have pulled that stuff because they are concerned about, in particular, the use of polyethylene tiles, such as reused at grenfell. They should point out the guidance they issued was never used to approve the tiling at grenfell. Thank you very much. Yet another massive cyber attack Hit Organisations across the developed world today, a Ransomware Attack like the one that hit the nhs among others last month. This one has been called petya, and it seems that ukraine was particularly badly affected. But as always, these viruses are to trace to a source. Becky pinkard is Vice President for Intelligence 0perations with the Cybersecurity Firm digital shadows. She spent ten years at an institute specialising in Cyber Security training. What do we know . What we are learning is they are calling it petya and not petya. There is still a lot to be learned about what is happening with this particular strain. It originated in the ukraine. It appears potentially to have been spread through a Software Company which is a financial Programming Type of software. What they are saying and what Security Researchers are looking at right now is potentially the Software Company was attacked. The malware was embedded into their process and that was shared out. What happened, back in early may, the nhs and other institutions were attacked, the data was locked up. Did they get it all back . Highly doubtful. We saw this system was able to send the key to decrypt information and get any information back from the Malware Authors to perform the decryption. That was not working properly. There was no way for that experience to be completed successfully. The assumption is a lot of people did lose a lot of data. Absolutely. You would make the same assumption about this one. The bigger problem is there was an E Mail Address associated with this. That has been shot of by the e mail provider. Evenif even if you want to pay the ra nsomwa re operator you even if you want to pay the ra nsomwa re operator you cant even if you want to pay the Ransomware Operator you cant send them the money . There is no way for the Malware Author to connect to that account. You could make a payment to the bit coin used separately e mail your information to get the decryption key. And are they making money . My understanding is it can look at the Bitcoin Account and it is barely anything. I last looked about an hour ago. There were 31 payments, about the time about 80,000. 8,000. That is unbelievable. What is your feeling about the people who are hit by this, have back up data or have it stored somewhere separate, completely untouchable from the machines that have been hit . What were seeing again is because of the madoc experience, where clients are using that Software Companies have been infected, hopefully those kinds of companies will have back up programmes in place. The fear of what some will run into our Interview Systems and potentially they will not have those back up programmes. Some companies are basically not saying when this hits them, i think. The data is not being stolen. It is not like the Customer Data is being taken away. Is there any good, Public Policy reasons for them telling us . Is it helpful that the Ransomware Purveyors never find out that they have never actually succeeded . If personally identifiable information, if that is impacted, a lot of companies will have a regulatory need to report that. If there is Credit Card Information for example by banks which have impacted access to services, National Critical infrastructure, they have some regulatory requirements as well. For companies who do not have those impacts, we probably will not see. Thank you. The americans said today that they had evidence of president assad planning another chemical attack and that it would be punished if it happened. Its a measure of the strangely intense times that we are living through in international affairs. The global role of the us is in flux are they keeping out of wars, or getting into them . Meanwhile, russia is flexing its influence and the eu is working out how to respond to it all. A good time to hold a conference on international security, as the Centre For Policy Studies did today. Among the speakers there, was the former chief of the defence staff, the professional head of the armed services, general, lord richards. I went to meet him at the event in the city of london, to get his take on where the world is. But first, Should Britain Support the us in any retaliation against a Syrian Government chemical attack . I think the british reaction should be supportive, as i think sir Michael Fallon said, it should be proportionate. Im not quite certain what that means, but basically we should be there in support. I think the key thing here, and its nice to see a bit of statesmanship or state craft at work, is that they dont really want to do it. What they are saying is, we are happy to work with you against isis, but dont, for goodness sake, make the mistake of using chemical weapons again, because all bets are then off. And if we felt the intelligence was adequate, would you think we should actuallyjoin in, for example, Punishment Attacks on assad . Yes, i do. At a time when the relationship with america is probably more important than ever for us, certainly no less important than it has been than at other critical times in our history, i think its very important that we are alongside america if they ask us and they want us to be there. Beyond the moral imperative to demonstrate to the man, he is not going to use chemical weapons and get away with it. There has been a dilemma in our foreign policy, in American Foreign policy about which of the two objectives defeating isis or defeating assad is the more important. In your view, it should be isis, i think . It always has been. Theres no doubt the american focus is isis. They will then say once isis is defeated, who knows . Assads future might then be on the table. But i think it unequivocal in the american thing, its definitely isis. They want to work with russia to get rid of isis as quickly as possible and they dont want the syrians to interrupt that. Right, do you think on syria we can work with putin . Or we should work with putin . I think it should be part of a bigger deal. There are things we could do with putin that would be part of a deal that might be involved with iran. The iranians will very much not like the americans and russians to get closer together. Because they are very happy with russia being clearly on their side and they dont want to see their great ally russia, being drawn towards the western orbit. In a way, as you speak, one can sense your frustration with the lack of Global Leadership at the moment. You are not a fan of trump, i wouldnt have thought, you were not a particular fan of putin, strong man as he is. Who is the sort of Global Leader that you admire . I have been banging on at this conference about the need for statesmanship and the absence of it. And i do think we are at a point in World History where there are all sorts of risks. I think we dont understand what i called at 0pac, wrongly, the anarchic effect. I am not necessarily thinking negatively here. 0n social media, of the undermining of the state because the state is no longer fully trusted by populations, how are we going to deal with that . Because everyone believes whatever they read on social media, which may be completely incorrect or distorted. Where is society pulled, in what direction . So climate change, international crime, mass migration, theres all sorts of things that make me think the world is in a very troubled state and needs leadership and needs, what in the past, if you are like me, would have called a grand strategy. Where you try and solve multiple problems at the same time, because often there are deals to be done when you bring them all together. Exactly the point, none of that is happening, its very transactional at the moment. It may take ten years, its going to be difficult, it will take a lot of willpower and a lot of leadership. But in answer to your question, i think president xi is a statesman. Now, is one of our deductions that democratic countries no longer can breed statesmen because they are beset by near short term political requirements . If thats so, thats very worrying. How worried should we be in the uk . Because there is a sense at the moment we are under attack, we have had terrorist attacks, weve had the grenfell disaster. So there is a feeling of a nation thats been through a lot. We have a weakened government with a Prime Minister who is limping along in a minority administration. And we have, to put it mildly, an unsettled status with regard to our relationship with europe and an awkward relationship with the guy running the united states. We are floating without an anchor here, in a big ocean and where are we going to land . I think, while i was thinking internationally of the need for strategy and strategic leaders and statesmanship, there is absolutely no doubt this country is crying out for that sort of leadership. Now, i am a crossbencher in the House Of Lords and i am very careful, or i try to be careful, not to get drawn too much into Party Political issues. But as far as i am concerned, we have a Prime Minister thats within our constitution. You know, her deal with the dup, people may not like, but it gives her the majority she needs. I think, echoing one or two other people, we now must get behind the Prime Minister. If there is a lot of debate and discord over brexit, that alone, let alone all the other things we have just been talking about, it means that this country is in a pretty sorry state at a Critical Point in its history. Probably more so than the other nations weve been talking about at this conference. You are not a fan of the eu, you called them arrogant, i think and implied they had overreached themselves, this morning. What should the british be thinking in terms of security in a relationship with europe . Because the europeans are beginning to think those americans are perhaps not quite the allies we thought, they will go it alone a little more. Nato becomes weakened and then where are we left . Clearly, our security is completely dependent on the security of europe as a whole. So nato remains critical and if there are european leaders that are silly enough to disentangle themselves in some way from america, that would be a huge problem, a Lesson Learned bitterly through the 20th century, you dont do that. You need america to be locked in to the security of europe. Lord richards, thank you much. Thank you. Thats it for tonight. Now sensitive viewers really should look away at this point, as we leave you with a salute to englands hardest hard man. Simon smith was walking through reading on saturday when an out of control Double Decker Bus ran into him full tilt. Amazingly, with no major injuries, mr smith got up, dusted himself off and, rather understandably, went into the nearest bar. Its not known what he drank, but i bet it was carling black label. Goodnight. A very lucky man. We will talk about driving conditions in a moment because the weather has turned ever since the start of the week. In the big turning more unsettled, which means more rain around. Good news for the gardens but for some areas too much rain. In 2a hours we have close to one months rain, in the isle of man. The rain pushed into scotland, and more recently weve seen another batch of rain developing through today into this evening across the South East Of England and across into east anglia. Here weve had already two inches of rain, 50 millimetres, in parts of suffolk. More rain to come. Not far offa suffolk. More rain to come. Not far off a months worth of rain in half a day. The rain is developing in the south east of the uk and moving northwards and developing widely across england and wales overnight. We could see some rank and Northern Ireland. Showery burst in scotland as well. Showery rain. It is easing off in the morning. The wettest conditions pushing north, up into Northern England as well, where we are now encountering these brisk winds the north sea. Cold and wet here. The rain is the big issue if you are going to be out and about in the morning. A lot of water on the roads. Spray as well. Difficult travelling conditions. The wet weather continues to drift slowly northwards, never quite reaching scotland. It clears from Northern Ireland. Not moving away for much of wales and the south west of england. Rain on and off you. For the south east it might brighten up eventually. That could give us a bit of warmth, which could give us a view sharp showers. Cooler further north where we have the wind and Rainfor North where we have the wind and rain for the north midlands, north wales and Northern England. A dry day from Northern Ireland and probably a much better day for scotland. That is unlikely to continue. Low pressure dominating not just our shores but continue. Low pressure dominating Notjust Our Shores but well into the heart of europe where we will have some Flash Flooding lightly. Torrential and thundery downpours around at the moment. Not as blundery in the uk, but on thursday the rain is in scotland and Northern Ireland. Easing off in Northern England. Most of england and wales missing the showers. A bit of warmth and humidity. Call the further north in the wind and rain. That rain will push into england and wales again on friday. Into the weekend a glimmer of hope. Not completely dry, the pressure will be higher so it should be drier and brighter when the sun does it should feel warm. This is newsday and the bbc. All top stories Companies Across the globe are reporting they have been struck bya are reporting they have been struck by a major cyber attack. The us accuses russia and china of complicity in trafficking forced labour from complicity in trafficking forced Labourfrom North Complicity in trafficking forced labour from north korea. Also ahead in the programme what next for google . The online giant is given 90 days to get its house in order after being hit with a record fine. And the chinese art it talks to us about his latest work attributed to those who fight for freedom. Live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news