is that britain didn't send troops to vietnam but actually britain did send troops in the in the early one nine hundred sixty s. there was a covert operation by the british in north vietnam to link up with rebels who were fighting against the north vietnamese regime admittedly that did end in around one thousand nine hundred. three and not very much information has come out about that program but it is revealed in the declassified british files but in the late one nine hundred sixty s. in the wilson government although wilson didn't send troops the files show that britain did just about everything else to support us aggression in vietnam there were covert arms supplies from the british for example quite significant ones to the south vietnamese regime that was being backed by the us. there was a lot of up. apologies in the british media and in parliament for us policy there was there was very little outright condemnation by senior political figures in the ruling labor party of the massive bombing campaigns the us was undertaken undertaking in vietnam. so those final show that britain su

and britain will. exit saw will be a part. not the britain can do any negotiations as we know from the westminster context reason we agree yes so we think this is will create an opportunity for both countries britain we will have to search for new markets. russia is a free markets that britain can not ignore but what relations do you have as a trade ovoid with the trade department here i mean this is jury mind you of the context when the head of the british army doesn't think the head of the british army is saying russia poses a greater threat to the safety of british subjects than i says they have and you have a relationship with the trade the problem here this is they have the burdocks or all of their total data reality yes i think they have the their if you cute to believe dialogue with russia is more practical for example it was a couple of years ago because britain after the break as it will have to form new relations with or all comers of the war including russia. these means that the dialogue should be continued and eve

principles fundamental ones so britain britain itself violate the rules based into. system. thank you that's it for the show will be back on wednesday. predicted parliamentary defeat of a flagship policy of breaking up the united kingdom as part of the brics agreement until then. the leader will still win the day the united nations framework convention on climate change paris agreement now undermined by president will be the jewel of the u.s. . so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race. very dramatic development only mostly and. i don't see how that strategy will be successful very. time to sit down and talk. hard. dr vision between. economic consequences as a lot of consequences for people particularly those who live along the border there's a lot of free movement at the moment people move back going forward there's a lot of economic activity there's a lot of social social activity and nobody wants to see. you know world of big. lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream medi

bitterness with britain over and over again. the extent to which the americans felt that they had to defer to the british over and over again. it went back to the korean war with a minimal british presence in korea. it went back to what washington felt was a betrayal in vietnam by the british not aligning with us to likely intervene. it went back to guatemala in 1954 where the british threatened to have us censored at the un. in the cool collusion between britain, france, eisenhower saw as a direct assault on the united states and he spoke of being slapped in the face because it was all done deceitfully. suez was utterly a breakpoint, it all boiled over what had occurred in the previous years. but i point to sputnik because that was such a shocking horror for the americans. it was that which made us realize there are only two in this game, the continental size superpowers, yes britain got a hydrogen bomb in summer 1957, but by then the americans had gotten the and the teeth and were going to sit back and worry about allied sensi

british foreign policy over the last seventy eighty years since the end of the second world war is that britain is a systematic violator of human rights of the un principles is a systematic supporter of repressive regimes systematic promoter of wars and i think that this is been largely kept from the british public. you can go right the way back to the late one nine hundred forty s. when britain was engaged in of really brutal war in malaya terror bombing vast areas of a war which has been described as a kind of liberation for the for the malayan people right the way through to the current war in in yemen and many episodes in between i think highlight the fact that britain is not a promoter of human rights and not a not hold an international principles it is a serial violator of them and it's easy to find this out actually doesn't it's not rocket science to actually find out what britain is doing but it is largely kept

the european union there was exasperated at britain's decision. at the european parliament breaks a coordinator he tweeted the following i can't follow anymore after two years of negotiations the tory government wants to delay the vote just keep in mind that we will never let the irish down this delay will further aggravate the uncertainty of for people and businesses it's time that they make up their mind hashed. brags that . all right john so you see right there i mean the european union i mean they must be scratching their heads and wondering well what does britain want from us correct it's impossible to know. theresa may says she wants some changes to the backstop but what changes to this no one backstop can the european union offer essentially british parliamentarians are saying britain wants the power to unilaterally be able to change that relationship at the northern border but why would the republic of ireland why would the e.u. possibly trust the u.k. in this situation and ultimately as well as the relations between the northern irish pol

there is economic confidence in britain right now. under a no-deal scenario there may be a temporary upset for markets. but for the long term markets will go -- melissa: we want to bring in johns lonski, moody's chiefs director and heather zumarriaga is vision four vice president. play out the rest of the scenario we were talking to nile about. when we get to the point, we do "brexit" with no deal in place, what does it mean from a practical point of view for people going to visit, for the currency, for all those kind of things? can you think through some of the scenario what that would look like both inside of the uk and outside? >> well if you have lingering uncertainty, that might weigh on the british pound. it would make it more attractively priced in terms of dollars, cheaper in terms of dollars. could help u.s. visitors but i don't know if that necessarily will become a permanent fixture. with uncertainty markets will move about but it will be the underlying fundamentals of british economy that will determine that country's fate

that britain is in the lead in the war in this and britain certainly hasn't publicly come out even from the melbourne road and who they are so all of the many people are or pointing the fingers for the air pollution in china but you're stuck to the north of their chinese government has been ticking were so very decisive actions he did simply because of the huge scale of their origin issue but very interestingly the trends on chinese air pollution is a showing of their. people should look at the bright side of the symbol lane because chinese governments of very much aware about the issue and they are taking a very decisive actions on it so i am more impressed by it there but it is decisive action which cannot be found in any other country or on the work chinese are showing the most impressive example of a clean energy and of human energy leadership or how they were and that they are forty percent thought whole energy mess money is coming from china so where are the seed not positive side as well double needs or something a point in their pollution at the core of stingy so in the long run

is that britain didn't send troops to vietnam but actually britain did send troops in the in the early one nine hundred sixty s. there was a covert operation by the british in north vietnam to link up with rebels who were fighting against the north vietnamese regime admittedly that did end in around one thousand nine hundred sixty three and not very much information has come out about that program but it is revealed in the declassified british files but in the late one.

is europe stronger with britain a member? yes. and once upon a time, even margaret thatcher was a euro enthusiast, campaigning in the 1975 referendum. but as prime minister in the 1980s, she became increasingly hostile to sharing more sovereignty. no, no, no. but her own downfall was accelerated by deep tory divisions over europe. in the 1990s, her successor, john major, could't turn the rising sceptic tide. he won opt—outs for britain, including from the euro in the maastricht treaty, but that wasn't enough. fast forward to this century, and in 2016, david cameron tried to see off a growing threat to his party from the right by betting on a referendum. he lost. the british people have spoken and the answer is we're out. i do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination. theresa may took over, but through the tortuous brexit negotiations, she's often found her own party harder to deal with than the governments of europe. the leading historian of post—war britain se

there was a small return for britain's rowers. two silvers and two bronzes all to show for their efforts. at gleneagles, golf‘s european debut had britain second to iceland in the team competition. whilejess learmonth's silver saw great britain finish second on the overall medal table, behind russia. well, as that heatwave baked royal lytham, georgia hall's putter was red—hot she won her first major. stateside, brooks koepka was at it again. the us pga this time. in hockey, ireland rewrote the script of the world cup. the part—timers, remarkable runners—up. at wembley, one side was shaking up the establishment. no french team had ever won the challenge cup. history is made by the catalans dragons! august was outstanding for our para athletes. sophie hahn, european athletics gold times three. alice tai, european swimming gold times four. and at the wheelchair basketball worlds, britain's men and women finished first and second. after his appointment injanuary, phil neville guided england's women to next year's world cup, wh

the guardian, racism in britain, stark truth uncovered. the stark truth of the shocking, and that word is massively over used in journalism, but it does apply in this case. it is really shocking the way in which black and ethnic minority people are being discriminated against, compared to the way white people are treated. there is one stat i picked out, if you are black, your three times more likely to have been thrown out the clu b likely to have been thrown out the club or denied entrance to a restau ra nt club or denied entrance to a restaurant and a white person. that really does take me back and say, goodness me, we are in 2018 and there is still this huge problem, 55% of minorities have been mistaken for a 55% of minorities have been mistaken fora an 55% of minorities have been mistaken for a an employee rather than a customer. it makes you think, how much have we actually progressed. these things are happening. i commend the guardian for conducting the survey. that scenario that hasn‘t been explored before. they have launched this

hearing how how is britain being seen. well first of all it's not the number one priority there are many other priorities now in the european union but it is featuring yet again on the kunstler agenda on the agenda of the member states on thursday mainly because we as a nation can't make up our minds as to how we're going to leave the european union as far as it can see has closed the chapter it's offered a deal today i was there when president younker and you made a clip of this said very clearly the deal isn't going to be reopened i think there was some implication that there might be some tweaking of the political declaration but the deal itself legally is not going to be opened this backstop and so on so for that reason the european union is close the chapter but we as a country the united kingdom in acting at the will of the people in the referendum clearly have not close the chapter so what the how the e.u. perceives it is very clear but it's not clear from the united kingdom side and the reason for that as the previ

is europe stronger with britain a member? yes. and once upon a time, even margaret thatcher was a euro enthusiast, campaigning in the 1975 referendum. but as prime minister in the 1980s, she became increasingly hostile to sharing more sovereignty. no, no, no. but her own downfall was accelerated by deep tory divisions over europe. in the 1990s, her successor john major could not turn the rising sceptic tide. he won opt—outs for britain including the euro in the maastricht treaty but that wasn't enough. fast forward to this century and, in 2016, david cameron tried to see off a growing threat to his party from the right by betting on a referendum. he lost. the british people have spoken and the answer is we are out. i do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination. theresa may took over but through the tortuous brexit negotiations, she's often found her own party harder to deal with than the governments of europe. the leading historian of post—war britain sees an u

guest: in britain, there is a --ar belief that this is there in mind, britain has already been subject to this russian poisoning, state sponsored murder. political spectrum, there is a view that saudi arabia -- this is completely outrageous. the state has to take some responsibility. some complex trade ties with the saudis, particularly in the defense area , on a smaller scale than you do here, but there has not been much equivocation on the part of british political figures in terms of response ability. host: elodie cuzin? buenosduring the g20 in aires, we could see there was quite a heated exchange between president macron and mohammad bin salman. quite heated. u.s. and other european countries, sells weapons to saudi arabia and other goods. there is this mixed up being outraged and being careful about some economic interests. it seems like the response has been stronger from the white it is also a bit balanced. host: if you could use one or two words to explain or describe the relationship between the french president and president trump, what word would you use? guest: "complex." w

lobbyist investigated spin watch david thanks so much for going on with all being a legal activity here in britain what's in your new report concerning the united arab emirates when we look at the loping in this country which really starts as a result of the out of spring where the moving slowly perhaps towards democracy they see the arab spring which promises democracy and they don't like it so they just say that they're going to set the face against that and to try and undermine the possibility of democracy in their country or they would say standing up for us traditions and people will of course know the u.a.e. is a dubai is a tourist destination and so they spent a lot has been a lot of money particularly this country to try and marginalize the opposition and that country and also in this country so they try to pressurize the british government for example to investigate the muslim brothers and british government acceded to that demand they pressured them in particular by threatening to withhold b.p. contracts threatening possibility of three billion the systems. so there was a lot of arm twis

the british with a bricks at ballad is entitled britain come back. we begin the day with one hundred days until the biggest economic and political divorce in modern history britain's exit from the european union is scheduled to begin on march twenty ninth of next year that is the plan but for both the u.k. and the european union breaks it is looking much more like a crash off a cliff than just a parting of ways the u.k. parliament hasn't even voted on the brics a deal and yet in parliament today lawmakers debated the country's immigration policy post brecht's it and in brussels the leaders have announced preparations for the worst a bright sit with no deal a nightmare scenario that in just one hundred days could be the reality britain and europe wake up to. the clock is ticking down to brag says but it's still unclear exactly how the u.k. plans to leave the european union in march prime minister theresa may reached a divorce deal with the e.u. in november but it's far from certain it will receive the parliamentary approval required so last happens of

the jewish lobby was growing in britain and the british government took its aim seriously. the british might also use the port for the jews to persuade the american government which included several jewish figures to join the war or. other factors may also have been at play the zionist movement itself and its leader high invites. were political zionists and there ain't from the very beginning the ultimate aim was an independent jewish state in palestine there in these early days they didn't say that because it had only evoked hostility to their project paper the effect of that on wish. would have not studied. and i fancy be formal had. a fifth also you know john i know you hold your core to. grieve and you're going to would feel so you don't have to trust him but i thought. amount of eric or not but they'll make we'll know there's a sawyer fee for us you know. for us the human friends even the last man it couldn't have met his likes because we've got to buy them out of. i want to push ahead of this of you new year to start off with on the out how to fix things. on the secon

it is not the britain that people from britain thought they knew. rajini: how do you think this affect the uwi. relationship the u.s. and with europe? : one of the claims of those who supported brexit is that there will be a big u.s.-u.k. trade deal as a result of it. clearly the deal that theresa may -- well, not putting to the house of commons anymore because she know it will fail -- will preclude the opportunity, and nald trump himself actually saidfu that, very unhelly for theresa may, he pointed out that britain would not bee to negotiate that with america. there is complete perplexity about what would emerge. b as christian hn pointing out, there is an understanding t at radical uncertainty t are faced with in britain of the staying inutcome europe at the end of this, potentially crashing out with no deal and having a serious self-induced recession in or least likely now, that parliament votes for theresa may's option -- any of these are possible, and they produceff ent relationships with united states depending on which britain stumbles into.

and people have tried it in britain and failed. i didn't dare do it in the six years i was in the treasury even though i was raising other taxes because it's so visible. it's visible to people when they fill up their car. i think the question here is what happens next. if it's confined to issues of taxation around energy then the government can deal with it. they can not go ahead with increases. they've already said that. they can even cut energy taxes. i think the challenge for president macron is going to be is this going to spill over into broader opposition into his reform package of labor laws, of the things that have stopped foreign investment coming into france. it looks like it's beginning to do that, and that's when it does get dangerous for president macron and for indeed the attractiveness of france, which has been a beacon of light over the last couple of years in europe. i know president macron reasonably well. i'm sure he will stick to his guns and i think indeed it's in the whole interest of europe that he succeeds.

is it the smugglers are using this as a way into britain? this is a slightly unusual trafficking network. these people from iran pay an awful lot of money for the trafficking to britain, up to £30,000. it tends to be middle class, university educated iranians. the way they have always used them previously as by this small craft. there has been a greater influx, so more craft. over 200 in the last few months. they can claim asylum in france? people are meant to claim asylum in the first safe country they come to, which is properly not france but well before france and eastern europe. its important european countries should honour their obligations under the convention is to ensure anyone passing through should be claiming asylu m passing through should be claiming asylum there, not coming through and continuing the dangerous journey across europe, and the particularly dangerous journey across europe. won the suggestion is to have more patrol boats in the dover strait but there is that concern that it is making it more of a magnet. do you go

of goods how is business in britain reacting to all that. business is desperate the c.b.i. the business lobby the biggest business lobby here are really wringing their hands on a daily basis and they've been warning against this for months but they are simply not being heard and they say for instance that some of the very big corporations here the main car makers the pharmaceutical industry they of course have started preparation there has been stockpiling of materials and of certain parts however there is not a single warehouse left in britain that could be filled with was product so anything they are simply sold out they are finished and also and that is one of the main and really damaging factors that are beginning to emerge is that four fifths of small and medium businesses have not made any preparations whatsoever and the answer to that is they do not have the money and they don't have the expertise and they simply don't know what to do if they mainly export to the e.u. they are really really the ones that are going to be the losers in

thing for britain and britain needs to stay in the you because britain will otherwise get much poorer actually no bracks deal is good enough for the british people because the best deal that we've got is the one inside the european union theresa may is seeking legal changes to the withdrawal agreement in particular the irish backstop a red line for you leaders who want to guarantee that a hard to border between ireland and northern ireland be avoided at all costs to harm the to the old one salute of course we have our principles and i don't see that we will be changing it with the dollar going again but we can certainly talk about it dishing the insurance if you don't give in. but will that be enough for may to win over support at home for now lou is a political issue or an sos and some cosmetic wording seem to be all she can get despite the empathy. yeah and our very own max hoffman he is following the talks force in brussels that evening to you max we understand the german chancellor angela merkel she has said that and i'm quoting here we can talk about additional assurances i mean

britain's parliament will not photon prime minister teresa mayes breaks a deal on tuesday may admitted lawmakers would reject the deal by a significant margin she said she needed more time for urgent talks with e.u. leaders european president donald tusk has called for a meeting to discuss break that on thursday but he said the bloc will not read negotiate the terms of the deal. french president manuel my car has reached out to protesters who reject his reform plan c. they proposed raising france's minimum wage by a hundred euros a month and scrapping a solidarity tax for bill pensioners and excepted partial blame for the protesters anger but also warned the violence would not be tolerated and often most of. the recipients of this year's nobel peace prize have called on world leaders to take action against sexual violence as a weapon of war crime to lese dr denis mukwege and iraqi activist ninety emira were accepting the prize of the ceremony in hospital. about one hundred fifty countries have adopted a landmark pact on migration at the united nations conference in america the proposed

how is britain going to support russia after brexit ? >> your characterization of relations are right. when you see people poisoned with legal -- lethal nerve agents on our soil, it is hard to have a good bilateral relationship. we wish relations with russia were not as they was, but when things like that happens, the ukraine, it is just one example and the relationship is not good. we have expelled number of russian diplomats and they have expelled some british. we had good reason to and they didn't. we are pretty small in terms of embassies as well. we would like to have better relations with russia and and big plans on the global energy scene. that is not possible while russian behavior continues on the lines that it does. things are not going to change for us but we will keep the channels open and we will keep talking to them until the behavior changes and that is just a sad reality. >> with the china situation, situations may be more complex. the relation some ways at least an outsider looks better, but there seems to be some emergi

does britain do through that process? i don't think it would take until september, i think it would be until september, i think it would be until may because of the damage because. we don't have a choice at this point, we leave by operation of law at the end of march we have to look at the situation we're in right now whereas there is no time and the eu is unwilling to negotiate a different deal so we either accepted government accept the deal we have or remain in the european union. young people voted heavily against brexit. it is our future that are being trashed by it. we are the generation were connected to the outside world than any generation before us and this deal takes away our right to live and work in 31 countries, it is fundamentally against our interests. three movement is by definition three anti—immigration policy would mean that... my firstjob after university was working in a hotel in france. i was not making £30,000. we have removed the ability to export our continent into an elitist system —— exp

great britain, albeit, britain dominions, power, and all the rest of it. fast forward six months. how many have they got now. they have got the soviet union, nited states, great britain plus empire. it's just not going to happen. it really, really isn't. across this amazing note research in ing and it was ch is -- written by general george thomas, who was ahead of the okw.mic department of the the german general staff but it was signed by hitler. his artistic scroll at the end of it. it said, one of the lines in this, okay, this is fourth of december, 1941. just think about that. that's three days before pearl harbor, it's a week before hitler declares war on the united states. literally the day before the red army counterattacks outside moscow, so a big world is about to happen and in we have tog it says, stop making such complete and antiseptic weapons. wow! read this and i just thought, hallelujah. john starlin was right. an m-44 at home as you do. >> as one does. >> as one does. with only one barrel in my box. so what it comes with, and this amazing. has it hasn't got a wooden

people look as britain exiting the european union and they think britain is wanting to step away from the world and i say this quite the reverse. britain wants to play a more significant part on the world stage. and exiting the european union gives us the opportunity to be more precise of and more clear about standing up for our values, not just talking about our values but defending them. let's not forget britain has been involved in european security, not just the creation of the european union but it is fair to say we have been interfering in european security growth a few centuries before that. we are going to have no less an interest in making sure our interests and values and friends are properly defended whether they are in the european union or not but i do think for us, for britain the importance of nato grows even more than it was before, to reach out and talk and there's a challenge of influences in the european union, gallic influences that will have a different vision as the european union without britain there. this is why it is so important to make it clear what nato de

is that britain didn't. break into a program to westminster and the british house of commons where prime minister treason may is just beginning a statement to m.p.'s it's a vote in parliament let's listen and after we have left i've listened very carefully to what has been said in this chamber and i know what is being said in this train and out of it by members formal side it's from listening to those views it is clear that while there is broad support for many of the key aspects of the deal i. guess on one issue on one issue the northern ireland backstop there remains widespread and deep concern as a result if we went ahead and held the votes tomorrow the deal would be rejected it was significant. we will therefore defer the vote for tomorrow. and not proceed to divide the house at this time i set out in my speech opening the debate last week the reasons why the backstop is a necessary guarantee to the people of northern ireland and why whatever future relationship you want there is no deal available that d

we heard yesterday on especially reassuring about the capacity of britain to be able to on that being gauge me to conclude we are going to be short prepared possibilities including that of a new deal with this. this is not a brussels in day two of the last european union summit of the migration and euro zone reform on the agenda but britain's departure from the block is still dominating conversations prime minister to the seventy has made french president in money and mccrone this morning on tuesday you need is rebuffed mainsprings changes to have brakes and dean the e.u. leaders were united in saying that the existing the could not be renegotiated and are preparing for the specter of a no deal breck's it. steer opinion us nice we confirmed that backs up these two parts of the trial agreement it's not just an irish issue to european issue because of the signals that we heard yesterday on especially reassuring about the capacity of britain to be able to on the engagement to conclude we are going to be short prepared possibilities including bout of a new deal. and for more i'm joined by

and that's at the heart of the issue that britain faces today. and i'm afraid europe is the anvil on it. >> zanny, put this in broader perspective for us in the european context. you look at europe now. britain is in this chaos that you've so well described. macron is crippled in france. italy remains on the verge of a -- you know, of a bank failure, which could then trigger a eurozone exit. germany has a lame duck leader. it does feel as though europe is sort of falling apart. >> yes. i can see why you say that. although i have to say that politics on your side of the atlantic doesn't look so great either. and i think that there are actually big themes which are fueling frustration, anger -- actually, on both sides of the atlantic. and we have discussed them on your program before. large numbers of people feel left behind, feel that, you know -- are worried about their future. are not happy with the status quo. and i think that there are elements of that in the brexit debate. there are elements of that, the protests in france, which are driven b

threes amazes britain can turn a corner if britain bracks —— backs are brexit deal. the referendum 2016

in a second you mentioned media why do you think corporate media in britain and in nato nations isn't so interested in any alleged chemical attack even in through your own constituency in a way exactly if they're not interested because it doesn't. it doesn't serve the regime change agenda that they have been advocating for for the for is that i mean for years the media outlets stood with the jihadi. gangs and they call them one day they call them rebels one day they have all the freedom fighters one day they call them. people on the oppression i mean they are jihadi guys that we don't do more than one hundred nationalities the one next to my house like a mile away from my house. on a budget to spend they don't even speak arabic. they brought from central asia thirty. by anyone i invite anyone who really has any doubt about what i say business and i will show you where that. i can point you i can take it to my room and you can see their locations i mean this is really sick and it was trying to you know remove warm trying to revive trying to work again and unfortunately they don't count

well, the britain i know today is not the britain we've known for decades. it's behaving in a very un—british way. we don't understand what's going on. we thought you didn't do ideology. you have been doing it for 2.5 years. we were relying in europe for you to not do passion, which is so dangerous and politics. look at what has been going on in paris. you've been doing it for 2.5 years. we hope that somehow you will become british again. i put my hope and faith in the british parliament, because britain is a great democracy, after all. and the end of the nightmare could come from british mps, if only they decided, british mps, to revoke article 50. i know it's wild optimism on my part. so you think anybody in brussels who seriously thinks that theresa may could win this vote on tuesday, that is for the birds. we should look for another option, whichjeremy corbyn has said to allow for more negotiations, were he prime minister, that is an option he would consider. it would not be easier. it wouldn't be in the interests of britain. but we haven't talked abou

, sovereign britain. we get our country back today. it is independence day. the woman who took over as prime minister echoed that sentiment. brexit means brexit and we are going to make a success of it. but it would lead to legal rows, division and anger. from leavers... if we bottled brexit now, believe me, the people of this country would find it hard to forgive. and from remainers. why do we just get on with it, many people ask. but the reason our agreement on what it is. the government who called the referendum did not have a plan for brexit nor did the leave campaign, nor did theresa may's government until a few weeks ago. leaving the eu was never like leaving a club, let alone going back to what things we re let alone going back to what things were like before we were members. it involves rewriting, tearing up thousands of rules, regulations and relationships. negotiationsjust thousands of rules, regulations and relationships. negotiations just was not as easy as some had predict it. hello, jean—c

paddy ashdown, the former leader of britain's liberal democrats, has died. after leaving british politics, he served as the international high representative for bosnia and herzegovina. a former royal marine, lord ashdown led the lib dems to their best election result in 70 years in 1997. a partial us government shutdown is now set to last until at least thursday. earlier, the us senate ended talks to resolve an impasse over the budget without agreement. democrats are refusing to give in to president trump's demands for $5 billion to build a border wall with mexico. now on bbc news, it's time for dateline london, where our panel take a look back at the big global stories of the past 12 months. hello. welcome to dateline. for the last two programmes of the year, we're in a seasonally reflective mood. next weekend, we'll look forward to what 2019 may bring. today, though, a reminder of the things we've loved and loathed about 2018. if there's a theme, it's leadership and why it's been lacking. with me to discuss the year almost gone, the usjournalist stephanie

there are remarks made by britain at the time i think are very important. the britain concern was a colonel called lieutenant colonel alexander leslie and is an important figure in the story though rather neglected because he was the senior british army officer in boston on the night of december 16, 1773. and he commanded the 64th regiment afoot which was located on castle william, the island in the harbor. he wasn't allowed to be in boston itself because he didn't have orders from governor thomas hutchinson to put his men into the city. so he had to stay out there somewhat frustratedly on the castle island. now, the 64 foot was supposed to have 500 or 600 men on its strength but didn't, only had 3400 plus a small battery of field guns and not much ammunition because in peacetime, and it was peacetime, they weren't supposed to have their ammunition and supposed to be down in new york at the arsenal several hundred miles away. you can imagine the lieutenant colonel leslie was feeling rather frustrated about all this. he came from a very distinguished scottis