washington. glad to have you. here right now in south carolina, there are major developments in alex murdaugh s double murder trial. the prosecution now respond ing after the defense presented its closing arguments yesterday. defense attorney jim griffin made an emotional plea when wrapping up his presentation. there are two words that justice demands this thises case and those two words are not guilty. the oath you have taken in this case it requires a verdict not dwlt. on behalf of alex, of buster, on behalf of maggie and on behalf of my friend paul, i respectfully request that you do not compound a family tragedy with another thank you. just before closing arguments began, the judge remove d a jurr for discussing the case outside of the trial. diane gallagher is outside of the court in south carolina. diane, what more did the defense say today as they were presenting to the jury in these final hours of this trial? reporter: jim griffin spoke for about 2 hours and 15
some simple questions. biden racking up the lowestt poll numbers of his presidency. only thirty seven percent ofing. americans approve of the job that he s doing. and that assumes biden biden is actually doing his job. turns out he only works part time as president. most of bif biden s public evenn happen between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 pm, which amounts to ah 30 hour work week. meanwhile, his screw up son , hunter, can t seem to get out of the headlines. this week, the first son sto attorneys met with doj prosecutors to discuss resolving their criminal investigation. hunters also got some child support problems. cl s being forced to appear in person in court next week after claiming poverty relating to his four year old daughter. itse is the case involving the grandchild that president biden refused dise to acknowledge. x gran i have six grandchildredcn and i m crazy about them.y si and i speanglek to them every h single day. nots ou a joke, but hunters i of wedlock daughter
that anything that is happening in the uk today can come close to what happened in the holocaust. ifind it a lazy and unhelpful comparison to make. , , . a lazy and unhelpful comparison to make. , ., , ., a lazy and unhelpful comparison to make. , ., ., ., make. just a short time ago the former england make. just a short time ago the former england footballer- make. just a short time ago the former england footballer has l make. just a short time ago the - former england footballer has taken to twitter again, to thank people who supported him. police officers spend an estimated 20 to 40% of their time dealing with mental health calls and incidents. now new data obtained by the bbc shows the number of these incidents recorded by forces in england, wales and scotland have increased significantly over a five year period. newsnight s uk editor sima kotecha has had exclusive access to a triage vehicle in liverpool attending mental health calls with a medic and a police officer.
immune to the venom of hatred to achieve the peace and prosperity that have eluded them through years of bloody ethnic conflicts. more news at the top of the hour. now it s time for political thinking with nick robinson. his guest this week as mary bousted, one of the teaching union leaders. hello and welcome to political thinking. it was another week when children and parents had to wait anxiously for an early morning text or an email to tell them whether their classroom or their school would open that day. thanks not to covid 19, not to a big dump of snow, but to strike action by members of the national education union this week on political thinking, a conversation with rather than an interrogation of someone in the news, my guest is the joint general secretary of that union, the neu, mary bousted. she is notjust the general secretary of the largest education union in europe, she has been a leader of a trade union for longer than almost anybody else in the country. she w
as thousands of teachers and junior doctors walk out in disputes over pay. oscars glory for the short film an irish goodbye. james martin talks to us about hobnobbing with the stars on the day he turned 31. manchester city in seventh heaven as star man erling haaland scores five. pep guardiola s side thrash rb leipzig and ease into the champions league quarterfinals. good morning. under clear skies last night, the northern lights once again when clearview, but under those same clear skies it is a cold start with a widespread frost, the risk of ice and some sunshine, but rain piling in from the west preceded by snow, but also milder air. i will have more later. good morning. it s wednesday 15th march. our main story. chancellorjeremy hunt will today announce his spring budget, with an expansion of free childcare for working parents in england expected to be top of the list. getting thousands of people into work, including those with disabilities and people on universal credit,