Say it's not enough. Meanwhile, Hamas claims 11 people have been killed in an Israeli air strike in Southern Gaza. Israel insists it targeted militants. Here, pro-Palestinian demonstrations are held around the country after the Prime Minister's call for tougher action on disruptive protests. Also, tonight, the former chair of the post office hits out at feckless ministers over the treatment of postmasters wrongly accused of theft. Gerri Horner stands by her husband, Christian, as the Red Bull Formula One boss faces more questions over his conduct.

Are you confident that you've got the full backing of everybody above you and that you'll be leading this team in Jedda next weekend? Yeah, absolutely. I wouldn't be here otherwise.

Plus, we'll be live at the Brit Awards, where singer-songwriter Ray is on track for a record haul as women dominate the nominations. We'll take a first look at tomorrow's front pages in our press preview from 10:30. Good evening. The US military has carried out its first air drops of humanitarian aid into Gaza after President Biden said more had to be done to help people in need. But aid agencies say the US intervention isn't enough, with a quarter of Gaza's population facing starvation. The aid effort comes as the fighting between Israel and Hamas continues. Tonight, the Hamas run Health Ministry says at least 11 people have been killed in Southern Rafeh in an Israeli airstrike. Israel insists it carried out a targeted strike against militants in accordance with international law. Around 1.5 million people are estimated to be living in Rafeh, most of them having fled their homes from the north to escape the Israeli military operation. These before and after satellite pictures show the scale of the tent cities set up there. Israel currently controls the aid that gets into Gaza on the ground level. Life-saving food, fuel, and medicine only comes in through just two crossings in the south.

The United States says its first AirDrop over Gaza of 66 pallets containing 38,000 meals could pave the way for more aid missions. Our Middle East Correspondent, Alister Bunkle, reports.

Make no mistake, the decision by the US to start air dropping aid into Gaza is a last resort, and it was done because the situation is now too desperate to wait any longer. Early on Saturday morning, three US aircraft dropped 38,000 meals into Gaza because America is now running out of patience. This is the problem with air drops. A few days ago, a Jordanian parachute failed to open properly, risking the lives of anyone beneath it. And some of the aid missed and landed in the sea. People swam out to try and reach it.

Any humanitarian aid is welcome because the situation is so bad. But air drops are inefficient, insufficient, wasteful, potentially dangerous.

They are only really a last resort when road or sea delivery is impossible.

In Gaza, both road and sea delivery can be carried out.

With no official organization receiving the aid and distributing it to those who need it most, it can be chaos when aid does arrive. That's what happened in the early hours of Thursday morning as an aid convoy tried to reach Northern Gaza. There is still confusion about what happened next and how more than 100 people died. Israel says there was a stampede that admitted did, some of its soldiers opened fire. The United Nations has now said that they have seen bodies with gunshot wounds in the hospitals. This hospital is treating more than 200 people that were injured yesterday. We have seen people with gunshot wounds. We have seen amputees, and we have seen children as young as 12 that were injured yesterday. These events cannot be allowed to go on. Today, an Israeli airstrike hit the main entrance of the Emirati Hospital in Raqqa, an unknown number of people were killed and injured. This is a medical facility in a supposed safe zone. In Gaza today, both death and salvation has come from the air of of them. As the Bunker Sky news in Jerusalem.

Let's go live now to the White House and our US correspondent, Mark Stone there. Mark, a last resort in a huge step for the Americans to be dropping aid from the air, a sign of just how desperate things have become?

Yes, desperate is the word. I think desperate in humanitarian terms and desperate politically, diplomatically as well. It is clear from conversations I've had today and from calls that we've had with senior administration officials here in Washington, that this is not something they wanted to do. It is something that they didn't think they would have to do because they thought they would be able to pressure the Israelis to open that northern border crossing, Erez, in the northeastern corner of Gaza. They hoped that they would be able to do that in the same way that they persuaded the Israelis the Israelis to open Kerem Shalom in the southeast of Gaza a couple of months ago, but they haven't. That said, they are not blaming, on the face of it at least, the Israelis for this problem. I was struck by the tone of the officials that we heard from today, where they were blaming this on a breakdown of law and order. They said it's because the Palestinian police are are not out and about, able to deal with the aid that is already being distributed in quantities that are far too small. But the reason the Palestinian police are not there is because they have been killed.

We've had reports, indeed, the Americans admitted they've had reports of the Israelis having killed the Palestinian police. They are taking their uniforms off. They are not operating. Of course, lawlessness is breaking out. Of course, it is chaos. The question is why there is chaos. If you talk to aid agencies are operating there, they say the chaos is because of the war that Israel is prosecuting with American weapons. This is a very desperate policy decision to decide to drop aid into a war zone which your ally has control of.

Mark, elsewhere, what more can you tell us about the sinking the ship off Yemen?

Yes, this is a development today, a British-owned, Belize-flagged ship operated by Lebanon that was hit a few weeks ago in the waters off Yemen by the Houthi rebel groups. It was attacked, as many have been over the course of the past five months or so. It has sunk today. No one injured. The ship had been abandoned, but it was taking on water and it has sunk. This is significant because it is the first ship to have been completely lost as a result of these attacks. Incidentally, it is also a big environmental issue because of the fertilizer the ship was carrying. The Houthi rebel group has said today as addressed Richie Sunak, given that it is a British-owned ship, and said, You can come and recover that ship if you start supplying aid to Gaza. You get a sense of the wider challenges here. I think over the coming week, the focus will be on any breakthrough, either here at the White House or indeed in the Middle East, on a ceasefire, a ceasefire that everyone now appears to be calling Okay, Mark, for the moment, thank you.

Here, pro-Palestinian marches have taken place in cities across the country, a day after the Prime Minister asked campaigners to prevent demonstrations being hijacked by extremists. The mayor of London, Labour's Siddiqu Khan, said, tonight, there is a concerted and growing attempt by some to degrade and humiliate minorities for political and electoral gain. Sky's Dan Whitehead reports.

It is a deadly conflict that's increasingly dividing parts of this country. Pro-palestine marches are a regular Saturday fixture. While most are peaceful, the Prime Minister says extremists are using the issue to target communities and our democracy. Antisemitism is a huge problem that's happening, as is Islamophobia. I think any hate rhetoric is designed to divide those communities. I think that a lot of this This rhetoric around extremism is actually encouraged by some of the policies and some of the language that's used to pitch people against each other. We are all actually pro-peaced human beings. The vast majority of protests are, of course, peaceful, but you are getting an MP elected and MPs facing death threats over what's happening in Israel and Gaza. With an election just months away, this issue is becoming ever more central in British politics. Rishi Sunak's call for unity last night comes after a difficult few weeks with the conflict impacting votes in Parliament and security concerns in the community. Earlier this week, the Prime Minister announced an extra 54 £4 million security package for Jewish schools, synagogues, and other community centers. It's after a record 4,103 anti-Semitic incidents reported in the UK last year.

The highest total ever in a single calendar year, and an increase of 147% compared with 2022. Thank you. London's mayor, Siddique Khan, who himself has been at the center of a recent race row, addressed the issue today. What we're witnessing is a concerted and growing attempt by some to degrade and humiliate minorities for political and electoral gain. As a poison of anti-Semitism and the poison of Islamophobia continues to infect our politics, now more than ever, we need to display our best values rather than our worst fears. In the exchange hall market in Bristol, nick has run his stall for the past 30 years. He feels hearing all sides of the argument remains vital to our democracy. There are big issues which have to split people up, and they That doesn't mean you're personally against another person. It's just you're expressing opinion. Don't start listening to people's view for points. That's where divisiveness and the breakdown in society will come from. The impact in the UK of the ongoing bloodshed in the Middle East is complicated. There is political capital at stake in a likely election year, alongside genuine fear for the safety of politicians, the public, and the democratic system.

What is clear is that the conflict is becoming an ever-growing backdrop to British politics. Dan Whited, Sky News in Bristol.

Well, tonight, it seems that the government now plans to expand powers to prevent extremists from entering the UK. Let's go live to Downing Street with our political correspondent there, Rob Powell. Rob, what do we know of the detail as to what the government is planning regarding extremism?

Not a lot, really. Last Last night from here in Downing Street, we heard Rishi Sunak vowing to tackle and face down extremists who undermine democracy. It was a speech heavy on language, but pretty light on substance. We were promised policy, and it seems that's what we're now getting, or something that looks like policy anyway. The Sunday Telegraph has a story, which we understand is correct, about the government essentially wanting to make greater use of powers to block people like hate preachers from entering the country. Now, if you're thinking that this stuff already happens, then you'd be right. What government sources say is this is about broadening the number of people that can be barred from the UK, to include people that incite racism or people that use intimidation to undermine democratic processes. I think critiques will say that this is less about getting out well-thought and evolved policy, and perhaps more about quite quickly trying to put some meat on the bones of some of those big lofty promises that Rishi Sunak was making last night.

Rob, what do we know looking ahead to next week's budget?

Yeah, Wednesday is the budget. I think this evening, what we can say is the chance of some big pre-election budget bonanza with tax cuts galore, that appears to be receding. The reason for that is because government sources say the amount of money that Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, will have to play with has dropped considerably since the start of the year. This is that fabled concept of headroom that's gone from 30 billion at the beginning of the year, I'm told, to just under 13 billion now. What that means is it leaves space when you account for leaving a bit of a buffer zone in there for either a one-penny cut in income tax or a one-penny cut in national insurance with a couple of billion pounds to spend on other things. Now, of course, the government can raise money as well. That's why we're hearing reports of consideration being given to pinching the labor idea of scrapping non-don tax perks, of potentially trying to throttle back public spending in the years after the election even further. But this gloomy briefing does suggest that the big ticket blockbuster items that many in the Tori Party want to see may not be on the cards on Wednesday.

Now, pinch of salt warning here. There's nothing a Chancellor loves doing more than lowering expectations at the beginning of a budget week only to surprise everyone on the day. I think given where the polling is for the Conservatives at the moment, there's many in the Parliamentary Party that badly want to be surprised by the Chancellor on Wednesday. I think with an election closing in, there are many voters that might need to be surprised if the Tori Party can turn around the dismal electoral path it's currently treading.

Okay, Rob, come Wednesday, we shall see. Thank you. Well, the Chancellor will be speaking to Skye's Trevor Phillips tomorrow morning, and Trevor will get more reaction to George Galloway's win in Rochdale with Shadow Education Secretary, Bridget Philipson. That's Sunday morning with Trevor Phillips, live from 8:30 here on Sky News. The former Chair of the Post Office has accused the government of ducking its responsibility to compensate staff, wrongly accused of theft and fraud. Skynews has seen a letter from Henry Staunton in which he says, Postmasters have been treated shodily by ministers he describes as feckless. Molly Malone reports.

Can you stand by your accusation. He is the sacked former chair of the post office who says the government told him to slow down compensation payments for sub-postmasters. But Henry Staunton has continued to comment. So you stand by Absolutely. What you've said in public that compensation payments should be slowed down to minimize the financial liability. Yes, I do. Now, in a letter obtained by Sky News to the chair of the business select committee, Mr. Staunton is doubling down, accusing the government of ducking in its responsibilities to compensate victims. He said, The Department for Business and Trade have been allowed to use the post office as a figly for their stalling, their evasion, and their prevarication for too long. Adding, The post office needs to be removed completely from the process of administering compensation, and the responsibility handed over to a fully independent body created for that sole purpose. The government responded to say they're working tirelessly to get compensation into the hands of those postmasters and post mistresses wronged by the injustices of this scandal. Any discussion of ducking responsibility is completely inaccurate, which Mr. Stoughton knows all too Well. Accusations, allegations, and a continued war of words between the former post office chair and the government, a source at the Department for Business, saying this is mud slinging from Henry Stoughton to try and deflect from his time at the company.

And yet none of this will be helping in what both sides say is at the heart of their effort, and that's compensation for victims. Victims that have waited decades and don't want more delay. It doesn't do your mind any good. It's so frustrating. As I say, you think you've heard everything and then something else comes out, and you just don't know what to believe. I'm still waiting for compensation. I have received an interim payment. But you don't know when anything's going to happen. They're just trying to slow everything down, and it doesn't take an inquiry to teach you that lesson. Compensation and clearing their names. Two promises made to sub the postmasters, but still so many questions and no clear timeline in sight. Molly Malone, Sky News.

The Red Bull Formula One boss, Christian Horner, was accompanied by his wife, Gerry, at the Bahrain Grand Prix. As he faces more questions over allegations of inappropriate behavior. Mr. Horner, who is married to the former spy skull, says he won't comment on anonymous speculation after messages reported to have been part of Red Bull's recent probe into him leaked. Our sports correspondent, Rob Harris, reports.

A show of solidarity. Gerri Halliwell backing her embattled husband, parading in the paddock with Christian Horner after flying in for the Bahrain Grand Prix. This display of unity and very public display of affection between the Spice Girl and Red Bull team principal. Here at the F1 season opener, after he survived an investigation into alleged inappropriate It's a very accurate behavior towards a female colleague, cleared by Red Bull before leaks of alleged evidence sparked fresh concerns. It's lights out and away we go. He has a reputation to protect, but there was still a race to be won. Verstappen keeps the lead. Russell keeps third place. Red Bull and Max Verstappen have little problem doing that. Glory in the golf picking up where they left off last season. The defending champion on top here in Bahrain. He wins the Bahrain Grand Prix, and he won it with Leading home a Red Bull on two, with Sergio Perez joining Verstappen at the top of the podium. The Horner partnership on show again, too. Christian, are you a united team off the track at the moment? Yes, absolutely. We're a very strong team. This is you with the Thai owner, Yvillia.

I have to ask you about this. Are you confident that you've got the full backing of everybody above you and that you'll be leading this team in Jedda next weekend? Yeah, absolutely. I wouldn't here otherwise. He's still not commenting on the purported private messages anonymously emailed to F1 officials and media. Instead, celebrating a perfect start with his drivers. It's a really good group of people who are very confident and they work really well together. They all connect together very well with ideas, and they all make it happen. Triumph amid the turmoil, and questions of conduct that will to follow Christian Horner and Red Bull to Saudi Arabia. The next Grand Prix a week away. Rob Harris, Sky News.

Unofficial reports suggest that the turnout in Iran's parliamentary election has hit an historic low of around 41%. It's the Iranian government's first major test since large-scale protests followed the death in custody of Mahsa Amini two years ago. She'd been arrested for allegedly wearing her hijab incorrectly. Mourners in Moscow have continued to leave flowers at the grave of Kremlin critic, Alexis Navalny, following his funeral yesterday. People queued to pay their respects to the Russian opposition leader who died suddenly in a Siberian penal colony last month. A killer whale has been filmed attacking a great white shark. The male Orca was seen off the Coast of South Africa, killing the shark and then consuming its liver in less than two minutes. It's the first documented incident of its kind. It's time now to get all the latest sports news with Matt. This Sky News Sports Bulletin is brought to you by Vitality.

Getting more people, more active. Live life with Vitality. Now, this signifies A corner. I don't want this and I don't want that. I need to hand up here. That is contested. It's school on a Sunday, but nobody's complaining because the lesson is the laws of the game and the classroom is Villa Park. The FA wants to find 1,000 new black, Asian and mixed heritage referees from different communities around the country. It's part of the Reflective and Representative campaign. We want to increase the pool of referees from these communities at a grassroots level, with the hope that in the future, that these individuals can then go through the referee and progression pathway, and then eventually, a referee within the Women's Super League and in the Premier League. Historically, maybe the interest wasn't there, but actually, we haven't probably done enough to actually showcase what referee is about. You're going to go there and blow the whistle and give a direct free kick. A lot of challenges that people talk about, the themes were, your referee courses were too expensive, and that's why we've employed a bursary scheme as part of this campaign. You two go. Going into grassroots football and going into it as a referee with all the other challenges that I have, the other added challenge will be the discrimination angle.

You need to blow the whistle and put your hand like this. It's got to be like this on every single cone. The achievements of Sam Allison, Rebecca Welsh, and Sonny Singil have highlighted the importance of role models and mentors within refereeing, with new refs coming through, having people to aspire to. The organization BAMref was set up to increase levels of representation in refereeing and we're in attendance on the day. Straight arm out.

Well, I've never seen this before.

It's absolutely amazing to be part of a room full of young, black, Asian, mixed heritage, young people ready to start their refereeing journey. Do you remember when you first stepped into a room ready to do a referee call? I was the only female and I was the only black and Asian mixed heritage of that community.

To see this happening right now, this is what we need. We need people to feel that they belong in refereeing.

We're going to stop, blow, and give a penalty. Yeah, it's all got it there. What I'm really, really so pleased about today is the fact that we've got a huge, wide range, young 16-year-olds all the way up to adults, really. Twelve years ago, it was literally I walked into the room and it was a room full of about 45 people, and I was the only person of color. When you look at the makeup of the football clubs, the players themselves, there's a very wide, diverse background.

But actually onto the field of play, as the officials, no, there isn't.

Over 200 people access the bursary scheme between September and January, with more to be added across 13 courses over February. Referee courses can cost up to £140, but were lower to £40 this time round. I want to broaden my knowledge in football, and in the future, I wish to have a full-time career in football in some aspect, whether that's refereeing, coaching, or whatever. But I just want to be involved in football because I love the game.

What I like about reffing is that you don't have to be a great player or anything.

It's just about showing your leadership skills and also enjoying the game alongside the players. Go, Kit. I'm enjoying how it's teaching people independence and things. I quite like how I'll be able to choose what matches I go to and work on my own time schedule. What would the dream be in refereeing for you? Champions League final. The Champions League is the dream. Sunday League is the start. It's time to stop the caution on new faces in refereeing. Chris Reedy, Sky Sports.

This Sky News Sports Bulletin is brought to you by Vitality. Now, the singer, songwriter, Ray, is having a bumper night at the Brit Awards, where female artists dominate the nominations. She's already won five awards could win a record two more.

I don't really know what to say right now, but thank you. Thank you to my team. Wow, I've always dreamed of saying that. Thank you to my team.

Thank you to my distribution company, who are called Human Resources, a small little imprint in America, who no one else would take my songs.

But Jay, thank you for believing in this music.

For our Arts & Entertainment Correspondent, Katie Spencer, joins us live from the ceremony in South East London. Katie Ray is definitely the name of the evening. Has she added to her tally? Do we know?

Barefoot and breaking records tonight. We know that already before we know what the final few awards are, she has already made history as the winning the most awards by any single artist in one ceremony, which in itself is just a magnificent achievement. It has been such an emotional thing for her. It is this strange sense of this is an industry event watched on by the industry.

So in a way, there should really be a collective sense of shame on the part of a lot of the executives who are inside there. Many of them are the ones who refuse to put out her material.

She was signed to a record label aged 17, who gave many of her best records to other bigger artists, and they refused to to put out her own debut album, she claimed.

It was only by going independent, putting out the material herself, that she managed to get this album out to such critical acclaim.

The performance she gave inside tonight was one that documented, that detailed an incident she had of sexual assault by a music producer. To get here tonight, she has been incredibly damaged along the way, but she is such an important voice within the music industry. It is thoroughly deserved to deserve the number of wins that she's got tonight. And to think that actually she could be an artist that we still hadn't heard any of these songs for, if she'd have just gone along with what her label had wanted, it's terrific. The one thing we don't know yet, though, is whether or not she's one album of the year. So that is the one, really, to stay tuned for, and to see Kylie Minogue's performance wrapping up the ceremony tonight.

Katie, we'll be back to you. Thank you very much for the moment. Well, that was Skynews at 10. Coming up, we'll take a first look at tomorrow's Newspapers in the Press Preview. Tonight, we're joined by commerce for The Independent, James Rampton, and writer and broadcaster, Esther Craken. Amongst the stories, we'll be discussing this on the front of The Express. Their headline, Cut Tax or Lose Great Vote. We'll be right back with that and other stories. Do stay with us.

We've got your Sunday Mornings covered. From the front page and the sounds of the streets to the voices of the people who make the major calls and big picture politics beyond Westminster. We'll put you at the heart of our story. And you start to Sunday. I'm ready. Are you? Join me, Trevor Phillips, Sunday Mornings on Sky News. I'm Alex Crawford, and I'm Sky's special correspondent, based in Istanbul.

Welcome back. You're watching Sky News. In just a moment, the press preview a first look at what's on the front pages as they arrive. But first, our top stories. The United States has airdropped aid into Gaza for the first time since the start of the conflict between Hamas and Israel. But human rights campaigners say it's not enough. Pro-palestinian demonstrations have been held around the UK as the government lulls over plans for tougher action on disruptive protests. The Red Bull Formula One boss, Christian Horner, has been accompanied by his wife, Gerry, at the Bahrain Grand Prix, as he faces more questions over allegations of inappropriate behavior. You are watching the Press Preview, a first look at what's on the front pages as they arrive. In the next half hour, we'll see what's making the headlines. We with Esther Crecu and James Rampton. Welcome to you both. Let's see what's on some of those front pages for you now. The Observer has a warning from a top economist to the Chancellor that tax cuts could backfire. That's ahead of a Jeremy Hunt's spring budget on Wednesday. The Express also leads on pre-budget warnings. Their headline, Cut Tax or Lose Greyvote.

The Times reports that the Prime Minister and Chancellor are to find the money to slash personal taxes by 2P in Wednesday's budget. The Mirror has an exclusive. Their headline, Andrew, faces fresh caught bombshell as further evidence relating to pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is going to be made public by special decree. The Daily Star features a woman's claim of being addicted to mayonnaise. There are worst addictions, I'm sure. A reminder that by scanning the QR code you'll see on screen during the program, you can check out the front pages of tomorrow's newspapers while you watch us. We are joined tonight by Esther Crecu and James Rampton. Thank you both for being with us tonight. Let's start with the Express and tax cuts, potential tax cuts. We don't know as yet. As we read in some of the papers, they are still being decided on as late as tomorrow. Tomorrow evening, James.

Yeah, it's fascinating because the budget is on Wednesday, as you mentioned, and apparently, there are some behind-the-scenes tussles going on between numbers 10 and 11 over the extent of tax cuts, if they even have the money to bring them about at all. I think this is a very well-placed story, and the Sunday Express notably has an older readership. Also, it's worth noting that the gray vote is absolutely crucial in any election. They are the section of society that votes They're the most per capita. They're the most keen voters in any general election. It's very important to play to them. This is interesting. I didn't know this, that since the Tories came to power 14 years ago, the tax burden, particularly income tax, has doubled on pensioners. They've been dragged into paying more because of the continuing freeze on personal allowances, and more than a million more pensioners now pay tax. This is vital for them. But a key caveat here is that Mr. Hunt has been considering a 2P tax cut, but his dwindling kitty, as they say, means that he may not be able to afford it. As Liam Byrne famously said, when he left office in 2010, there's no money left.

The note that was left.

Was left for his successor, yes.

Yes, and this fabled headroom that we've been hearing a lot about. The school headroom. At the beginning of the year, 30 billion, and it has now been reduced to 13 billion, we read.

The question is why not just raise personal tax threshold because they've been frozen for so long. Like you said, a million pensioners have been dragged into it because of inflation. But it's who you want to annoy less and what you can get away with because obviously, fewer people, few There are fewer working people than, say, people that will be affected if you raise the personal tax threshold. You can see that he's been trying to spin it as something as to not punish productivity. But obviously, that's not going to work because as a working person, if you hear, Oh, I get 2 P off taxes, Can I get an extra 2 P off? That's not really going to get you out to vote for the Tories. It looks like they're probably going to have to pander to the pensioners. I just don't think it's going to be possible this time around. But it's going to be interesting because like you said, the gray vote are the most active. They tend to be the least apathetic, if you would put it that way. It's important to not annoy them. That's why the Tories have been so adam on maintaining the pension triple lock, even though it's costing the country a lot of money, because you don't want to annoy that section of the public.

Do you think, James, that what we're reading now, today's Saturday, do you think it's all about lowering expectations so that whatever is the outcome on Wednesday, people aren't too disheartened and disappointed?

Yes, this has changed in my lifetime. There used to be something called purda, where the Chancellor went incommunicado for several days before a budget. No leaks emerged from number 10, but now all of it is in the Sunday papers. There are no surprises, and I absolutely We agree, Gillian. It's about lowering expectations. There are lots of very, very eager right wingers on the Tori backbenches who are saying our only chance of winning the election is to cut taxes. Which is very optimistic. It is optimistic, if not absolutely fantasy land. The Observer story, which I think we're going to talk about, it warns two ex-Tresury aides as saying, We must stop being obsessed with the short term.

Let's move on to that.

If Jeremy Hunt does to cut taxes. If he finds this mythical headroom, all he will be doing is sabotaging the prospects for the next government. But in the process, he'll be trashing what is left of the Tories reputation for economic competence, which after Liz Truss's disastrous as many budget is not much. Many mortgages doubled in the wake of that. It doesn't look good for the Tories however you spin it.

Yes. Esther, the Economists are warning that the country needs to break out of a cycle of short-termism, as they are describing it.

Well, No, he's completely right. At the end of the day, it doesn't do the country any good to tink around at the edges and set false expectations. The Tories should be known for fiscal discipline, not just tax cuts. I find it absurd that the damage of the last 14 years can be undone with the 2P cut in national insurance. It's completely ludicrous. But it just shows how desperate the Tories are. Unfortunately for labor, they don't have to contemplate this. They just don't have to completely destroy their image before they effectively become the next government.

They can do that when they're in power.

Exactly. But the Tories have to... They're in damage control mode. They have to do something that still harks back to some conservative policymaking. I think it's unfortunate. But yes, this country's obsession with short-term thinking and, Oh, what can I get out of the next election? As opposed to what's the best direction for the country to head in, is probably why we're in this mess, because we haven't thought long term about energy policy, about taxes, about interest rates, or any of that. That's why we're in the mess we're in now.

James, what the Economist is saying is the chance it should focus on the long term national interest with measures to spur investment and growth. I mean, that's key, isn't it? Investment and growth.

Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with Esther. I'm sorry that we're supposed to probably be log ahead, but we actually agree on this. They've been so short-termish that the idea is always, how are we going to win the next election? What's going to seduce voters? Are they shallow enough to fall for another minimal little tax That's cut. Will that be enough to dilude them all so that it's the economy's stupid that everything's rosy in the economic garden? Well, people aren't that stupid. They know that the pound in their pocket is worth much less than it used to be, that the cost of living has gone through the roof The food they buy costs two-thirds more than it did five years ago. They are very well aware that we're in economic crisis, and any amount of window dressing for the Matooris is not going to dissuade them of that.

I think they'd actually buy into a big vision, which neither party are offering That's what they're too scared to offer. They're terrified of offering an actually compelling vision for Britain because they think, Oh, but if I don't get this right, then they'll lose the next vote. No, it's about a consistent, realistic, optimistic vision for this country, and you have to be bold enough to back yourself.

James, are you surprised at how last minute it is? Because we read that the Chancellor and the Prime Minister will be meeting tomorrow evening to fine tune what they're going to present on Wednesday. There's no further information that's going to come in tomorrow night that we don't know today.

No, the words 'back of a fad packet' do ring a bell here. I'm certainly no fan of the Tories, but I think Jeremy Hunt has done as good a job as possible, inheriting the disaster situation from Liz Truss, a Prime Minister who was out last by a lettuce. So he did inherit an almost impossible economic situation, and he's tried his best. But I'm afraid I think him and the government are toast.

Esther, your thoughts on the last minute element?

Well, it just reeks of desperation. I mean, now everyone is looking towards when the next election is going to be, and I suspect it's probably going to be November, December time, because they need to buy themselves as much time as possible to try and put a bit more window dressing in. I mean, obviously, the economist saying that you don't want to stimulate the economy too much and incentivise summer shopping because you've cut taxes by 2P is economically illiterate, and that's true. But I suspect the Tories might do that as a last-ditch effort to not completely obliterate the party, which I think it might be too late for that.

James, to the Times and the post office still in the news. Tell us about the latest twist and turn.

We were talking about this before, Astera and I, and the optics of this are terrible. In January 2023, and I have to say this is all allegedly because nick Reid denies this, the chief executive of the post office apparently demanded a pay package of more than a million pounds a year. He was only, in the inverted commas, on a salary of 573,000 the year before. According to this report, this exclusive in the Sunday Times. He said he was going to make a drama of it. His patience has expired. He was basically throwing his toys out of the pram, according to this reporter, if he didn't get paid more money. This was at a time, some of the compensation claims had been settled, although because of the huge legal bill they faced, they only got, I think, was it £15,000 each when they were expecting £50,000? Of course, there are hundreds who are still uncompensated, which the recent panicky government action is trying to counteract. But the fact that the chief executive appears to have been demanding almost double his salary at a time when so many of his workers were suffering and four committed suicide, many bankruptcies, many divorces, I think, It seems outrageous.

The optics are terrible because we're not focusing on, Well, has he done a good job? This is probably someone just triangling to try and get more money, which is his right as an employee. But actually, if you look at the fact that the case was settled, I think at the end of 2022, and the victims were awarded in total £60 million, and many of them are still waiting for their compensation because they haven't been legally exonerated. Then you have the CEO trying to basically double his pay. It doesn't look very good, but we actually have to look at it from the perspective of, does he deserve it? Is he just someone just trying to ask for more money? But clearly, at this particular time, the optics are terrible.

Indeed. Esther and James, thank you very much for the moment. We're going to take a break. Coming up much more from the newspapers, including claims of an addiction to mayonnaise. That is in the Daily Star Surprise Prize. We'll be right back with that and other stories.

What we're doing right now is we are going out to some of the remotest parts of the small bar in Archipelago, where polar bear mums are in their den still tucked in with their still-growing cubs. And we're setting up remote camera systems. We're setting up both high-definition video systems and then simpler trail cam systems. And we're trying to get information on when polar bears come out of their dens, what they do when they're there and what condition they're in. When polar bears are born sometime around the first of the year, they're about the size of a human fist or a stick of butter. There's another way to look at it. They are blind and hairless. They need that protection of the den, and they need their mother's really fat, rich milk so they can grow quickly and get to the point where here, pretty soon, within the next couple of weeks, they'll start to emerge from their dens, and that mom is going to make her way back down to the sea ice where she can eat here. In Svalbard, we've seen average winter temperatures increase as much as 7 degrees C, and that is dramatic.

In places I've spent most of my career, I've seen sea ice go from being close to shore, where I could see it within a few miles in a given year, to now that same place, that same ice, is 4 to 500 miles offshore. You're talking about dramatic change, dramatic habitat loss across the Arctic. One One of the most important parts of a polar bear's life is that maternal denning period. It's that critical time when these young cubs are at their most vulnerable. So we need to learn as much about what they require from us in terms of a lack of disturbance, in terms of the habitat that they need to be successful there. If we don't have cubs coming into the population, we're not going to have polar bears around very long. So we really need to protect the mums and cubs. Every morning here from on out, we get up pretty early, check the weather, and if it's a go, which today is a classic day of maybe, we will load up with the Search and Rescue helicopter team here, and we will head out to a den site to deploy cameras. It's an all-day operation.

When we get back, we have to get the gear set up for the next day's deployment. And I should mention, we wouldn't be here at all without our partners at Norwegian Polar Institute and our partners at San Diego Zoo who work closely with us on this project.

Welcome back. You are watching the Press Preview. Still with me, James Rampton and Esther Crecu. We're going to take a look at the Times front page, first of all, and this very worrying story about an anti-anxiety drug that has been linked to hundreds of deaths. Esther, take us into this story.

So prigabolin, which is a drug prescribed for anti-anxiety, is a very highly addictive drug, and it's apparently causing the fastest rising death toll of any drug in the UK. Apparently, medical experts have been recommending it or prescribing it because of the lack of non-chemical alternatives like therapy, Which is quite strange, actually, because you don't usually have medical experts going for a less conservative approach when it comes to treatments of particularly mental health issues like this. Apparently, it's so addictive. It's harder to come off that drug than morphine and oxycodone. It's really causing a lot of concern. I mean, I obviously have always been more concerned about the medicalisation of daily life and the rise and the prescription of mental or psychotic drugs. But again, this is something that That's probably concerning because it's actually extremely addictive. So you have people that just cannot come off the drug, and their physical side effects are quite debilitating.

James, the patients describe the withdrawal effects as hell on Earth.

Yeah, and the really shocking The statistic here is 3,400 deaths over the past five years have been linked to taking this drug, which is a shocking amount. There are 8.6 million prescriptions were given for this drug just in England in 2022. An expert says there's a woeful lack of provision in psychology, and it's easier, and perhaps this is the keyword, cheaper to chuck drugs at a patient. That's the problem, isn't it? The lack of funding, talking therapies, they're known to be successful, but you have to pay people, and it's very expensive to do that.

I think maybe we have to explore more creative approach, like community-led approach to mental health. I'm deeply uncomfortable with this idea of someone being anxious and then chucking a pill at them. I think that's completely unhelpful. I think it's something that only benefits one party, and that's probably the pharmaceutical companies. I think there has to be a more proactive approach to treating mental health issues rather than just throwing pills at people. Yes, it does have to do with the availability of therapy and these appointments, but also has to do with community and actual people's social support and the lack thereof. I think that's something that's definitely not addressed by taking this approach of giving people drugs, and certainly not drugs like this that are now seen to have.

So you're suggesting more scrutiny of how these drugs are?

Of course, just more creative and proactive approaches to dealing with people's mental health issues as opposed to the medical route, which makes me quite uncomfortable, if I'm honest.

I agree. It used to be called the Liquid Kosh, didn't it? Because it was a way of controlling people, and it was much easier and cheaper. But you're right, we've got to be more creative. But the problem, I imagine, for the NHS, is that that would be more expensive. So they're thinking, help, we already have no money.

You might have to outsource it. You might have to look at different departments that can help. You might have to look at, I don't know, religious communities and faith-based approaches. I mean, it really has to be all hands on deck because this is completely unacceptable.

Staying in the field of medicine takes us to the front of the Observer and a story about children and asthma drugs that have been prescribed to them, causing side effects.

James. I mean, two very strong anti-drug stories, really, on the front pages of these papers. This is also very shocking. That's an overused word in journalism, but it really applies to this. Montelucast, this drug that's prescribed for children with asthma, apparently has these very serious, in some cases, not in all, very serious serious side effects, including night terrors, depression, and in rare cases, hallucination or suicidal behavior. This is a report from the MHRA. A very respectable body is saying that it's reviewing it because it has further concerns about it. It does make you very alarmed that so many children have been prescribed this. Some children have even been reported attacking family members when on this drug. It's obviously got potentially Obviously, very, very grave side effects. Again, it clearly needs looking at and possibly regulating because the first line of the Hippocratic Oath is first do no harm. This drug appears to be doing serious harm to children.

I guess that the UK Action Group are calling for more prominent warnings.

Yeah. The difference, I think, with this and the previous story is obviously asthma is a biological condition. You have to treat it with drugs. You could talk about air quality and the fact that inner city. In inner cities, air quality has gotten worse. You see the rates of asthma amongst young children has worsened. But this is clearly very concerning. I mean, this drug looks to have quite serious hallucogenic effects. You have to question the extent to which it was tested Obviously, you can't test on children. That would be immoral. But you do question the extent to which this was tested, because for parents to think that their children are getting treated for asthma, and then they wake up with these night terrors, depression, and rare case of suicidal behavior. It's deeply concerning. Obviously, this is something that will make the industry sit up and look at their practices.

Indeed. Now, something completely different. Front page of the Star, a mayonnaise addiction.

Well, if we're on the subject of health, we were talking earlier, what is the health effect of being addicted to mayonnaise and getting through three bottles a week? Having said all that, the caveats about the possibly disastrous effect of eating so much of that, there's something that I love about the Daily Star. When the world is in complete crisis, many parts of the world are on fire, they have a story about someone who, and they made up a word, mayo-holic. I love the detail that she smothers it on curries and porridge. Everyone will go, That's disgusting. But it's adding to the gaiety of nations, isn't it? It's a bit of fluff, it's a lightness, perhaps a bit of escapism from the horrors of the news.

Exactly. While the world is on fire, let's celebrate someone whose taste buds clearly are not working whatsoever. Anyway, I wish this young lady all the best.

They can't work because they only taste their taste. Esther and James, thank you very much for taking us through the papers. We'll see you in the next down. Let's take a look at the weather for you now.

Warm memories wherever you go. The weather, sponsored by Qatar Airways.

All conditions will be unsettled over the next few days as weather systems move in from the Atlantic. However, there's a strong signal for some quieter conditions in the next week or so as high pressure builds over Scandinavia. Many parts of the country will become dry overnight as rain and hillsnow clear the far north. A few showers will persist in the west, but clear skies over central and Eastern areas will allow temperatures to fall low enough for a frost. Easing winds will allow patches of freezing fog to form around the dawn. Well, these will clear by mid-morning to leave some bright or sunny spells, temperatures will recover by a degree or so, reaching a high of 10 Celsius.

The weather, sponsored by Qatar Airways.

Coming up next on Sky News at 11: The US carries out its first AirDrop of Humanitarian aid into Gaza, but critics say it's not enough..