2? other states. 27 other states. there has there are 27 other states. there has been a free trade deal struck with japan, the eu and japan. there is no freedom of movement, no single market, but a free—trade deal. freedom of movement, no single market, but a free-trade deal. we are looking for a similar thing. keepin are looking for a similar thing. keep in mind we are a member of the eu, and the smoothest transition to become out of the eu would be with access to the single market or the customs union. we are looking for a different position from japan, but we wa nt different position from japan, but we want something similar. in years to come... in years to come, it won't be the same kind of smooth and frictionless borders we have at the moment to do the trade. the president of the bdi, the federation of german industries, says it is the responsibility of the british to limit damage for both sides. he is talking about imminent effects. limit damage for both sides. he is

talking about imminent effectsm it all down to political will on both sides? we can have a very, very nice arrangement if everyone is of a like mind, but they are not. we cannot. there are straightforward rules when the eu is set up. these are the cornerstones of keeping the eu as it is, which we signed up to, and also 27 other member states signed up to. if you want a single market, we have to accept freedom of movement. that is what people voted against when they voted for brexit. there is no way of squaring that circle. we go with the rules or we don't. if you want to be in the club, those are the rules. and we made those rules clear to other nations who joined. it will be interesting to see what the negotiation is, because it can't be about that. and finally,

shared glory as lions win. it is a little bit of an anti—climax, it is like here is your brexit cake, but i think in terms of the fact that the lions were seen as the underdogs, they were going to take on the mighty all blacks, they won, we won, a draw seems like a good deal to me. nigel, you have been saved by the bell. i know you had much to add about the lions. we will talk of set. how about that? visit from the papers this power. thank you very much indeed —— that is it from the papers this hour. migration, human dislocation is one of the dominating political themes of our day.

and it is the springboard for neel mukherjee in his new novel, a state of freedom. set in india, which portrays five different, but sometimes interlocking, lives that are in flux, on the move, looking for escape, or at least something better. a story for our time indeed. welcome. on the frontispiece of the book, before the story begins, you quote a syrian refugee on the austrian border, saying: "migrants, we're not migrants — we're ghosts. that's what we are, ghosts". now, the ghost is sort of suspended between this world and the next. is that the guts of that idea? yes, that is exactly the soul of my book. i wanted to look at migration, which is the thing that most characterises our times. people moving, mass movement

of people from one place to another. and i wanted to sort of splice their history by thinking about the ghost story. because, what is a ghost? a ghost is something, a ghost is a creature that has not found settlement in some way. which exactly is what a migrant is. and the unhappy history of migration in the 20th and the 21st century. and i wanted to look at the history of people moving. but not in the form of the immigrant novel, which has become sclerotic, i think. but i wanted to look at the movements of people, whether voluntarily to look for a better life or enforced by warorfamine... within one country? within one country. in this case, india. your country of origin, obviously, where you were born and went to school. we're just about 70 years since the partition of india. so that must be very heavily on your mind at the moment. it wasn't in my mind when i wrote the book. but now that you mention it, i think, you know, when you think of partition, what is it that...

what is the first thing that you think of when partition was mentioned? you think of migration, of people, you think of the movement of people, and the very unhappy movement of people. and people being cut off as well. people are being cut off, carnage, violence, destruction. we now have to look at 70 years of partition, we have to focus on that kind of migration, too. the book is structured in five sections, really. and you look at different people. but we discover as we go through that there are links, slightly elusive links, very slightly. again, this is touching a new sort of ghostlike theme. yes. and of course in india, i think people who go there for the first time often find that the closeness, the gritty reality around them, and the world of the imagination and the spiritual, i mean, there's a very, very small gap between the two in the culture. and i wanted to do something like that with the book, to sort of, you know, bend realism within,

if you will. to have that surface of nitty—gritty realism, as you call it, and not to blink while i was sort of detecting that on the page. and at the same time, to push that realism into its anti—form, if you will, by thinking about ghost stories, by thinking about migration, and by also letting the coherence brought to the book by the reader in the way with those elusive links. of course, there's an irony in the title. you call it a state of freedom, but it's a strange kind of freedom. well, when you think of freedom, the first thing you think of is constraints, don't you? and i also wanted to play on the notion of state, you know. notjust a mental state or a state of being, but state is in a nation state. and i am trying to say something about india now. and i was also trying to allude to nehru's great speech during independence. the tryst with destiny speech. and i wanted to have,

the title to have all of those echoes behind it. but the destiny that you implied that awaits us is a pretty bleak one? yes, at this moment in my life i do not feel very hopeful about our species. yes, i must admit that. i mean, you can't get blu nter than that. no, this is the truth. you think we're done for? i think we're done for, yes. why? well, you know, climate change is one very obvious reason why i think we're done for. i think we've run out of time. i think politically, the whole world is headed towards a certain way that is leaning on perhaps the worst in ourselves. but there is also the best in ourselves. and even in this book, where people are lost, adrift, there are glimpses of humanity, and you must believe in the power of that humanity. i do believe it on the individual scale, yes, of course. but aggregated, something happens, we become something different, i think. no, of course, i give you that there are hopeful things

in the world, there are good people in the world, and good happens. but i think good is losing at the moment, ifeel. in that case, where do you think these people in the book are going to end up? i think perhaps the children of one of the characters in section... the central character of section four, they are going to end up in a better place than their parents. this is something ifind very effecting about india, actually. the fact that education in the country is aspirational, it's a key to a better life, which is what migration is all about, movement to a better life. and i think she will give, her name is millie, she will give that key to her children. and i hope that beyond the page you can imagine a better life for the children. do you find yourself becoming more depressed about the world around? i mean, you say that you need to look at the world as a writer and not blink, because all of your instincts are that you want to turn

away and close your eyes. but that is the only trick a writer needs to know, actually. you know, i keep saying that great writers don't teach you how to write. like older writers i look up to, older writers who are considered the masters, they don't teach you how to write, they teach you how to look at the world. and i think one of the ways to look at the world is in a very unblinking way. and i think this is what i want to do, this is what i attempt to do, actually try and look at the world without blinking. when you say that great writers have inspired you and taught you how to look at the world rather than how to write in some mechanical way, who are the great writers who've most influenced you in that regard? i think vs naipaul has been a very great influence on me. and also i read a lot of speculative and science fiction and imaginative fiction. a very underrated writer called m john harrison, who thinks very carefully about form. so, m john harrison once said in an interview that always think of what it is that a genre cannot do, and then push it

in that direction. i think it's current in my heart, that's a great lesson. and science—fiction writers can imagine things, or they want to imagine things, that others don't. on a cosmic scale, it goes without saying. and that appeals to you, because you seem to believe that the planet would do a lot better without any of us around. yes, this is a central theme of a lot of speculative and science—fiction writers now. saying actually, you know, if you take out the humans as a species, maybe very peacefully and quickly so that there is no pain, i think that the planet would be doing a lot better. it can recover, ifeel. so, when you finished the book, does that mean there was no sense of elation, that you still felt trapped in this veil of tears? well, i don't normally feel elation when i finished the book. i feel bereft. but i felt, you know, the book does not end hopefully. and it ends with a kind of freedom for a particular character, but it's a very radical kind of freedom, a liberation that he finds. and i thought i'd written a more hopeful book than my previous one, but then my editors disagreed.

but, you know, as i said, not to blink when you're writing something. neel mukherjee, author of a state of freedom, thank you very much. thank you. good evening. well, it has been a warm and sunny day for most places on saturday. not aware, a bit of rain across the far north—west. he was the view from one of our weather watchers in the north—west as the sun is setting in the evening. for many of us, dry, clear and sun is setting in the evening. for many of us, dry, clearand humid overnight, this frontal system approaching from the north—west already bringing some rain across the north—west of scotland. it will be moving further south across scotla nd be moving further south across scotland and northern ireland to the

rest of the night. england and wales remain dry and muggy. a bit more cloud drifting in from the west as we move through into the early hours of sunday. patchy rain further north, heading in across northern parts of northern ireland into the west of scotland. temperatures to the south of that rain band still 13 to 17 degrees, quite muggy. further north across scotland, fresh air starting to move in. through the day into tomorrow, we will keep patchy rain across northern ireland, central, south—western parts of scotland. to the south of that, much of england and wales having a fine and dry day. more cloud than we had during saturday. around the country, 4pm sees the reappearance of the sunshine in scotland, stornoway and inverness, for instance. wet weather across northern ireland into the south—west of scotland, but heading your way south, most pieces staying dry through the day and we will see some long spells of sunshine. more cloud than we have had over recent days. the chance of catching one or two showers to the east of wales,

south—west england, through the midlands and much of the south—east should remain largely dry. for the fourth day of the test match at lord's, we expect another dry day, no interruptions to play, just a small chance of an afternoon shower. into the evening hours that rain across northern ireland and the far north—west of scotland and southwards and eastwards so clear and fresher conditions moving in after that. on monday many of us. cloudy, some thunderstorms in the south—east should clear away fairly quickly and many places largely dry. some showers in the afternoon. hit and miss so not all of us seeing the showers and temperatures not quite as warm as the weekend. during tuesday, some showery rain across northern parts of the country. further south we could see more persistent rain working its way and west to east across south wales and southern england, and temperatures area southern england, and temperatures are a little cooler than recent days. around 16 to 21 degrees, and we could really do without rainfall

in the south. you can a detailed 10—day forecast on our website. —— you can find a detailed 10—day forecast. this is bbc news. i'm alpa patel. our top stories: the g20 summit in hamburg wraps up without agreement on how to tackle climate change. the host has no doubt the us is to blame. translation: i think it is very clear, but, unfortunately, we could not reach consensus. but the differences were not papered over, they were clearly stated. president trump leaves without making a final statement but having established, at least, a working relationship with his russian counterpart. translation: donald trump on television is very different than in real life. he is very concrete. he a nalyses real life. he is very concrete. he analyses things quite quickly. iraqi government forces begin celebrating in mosul, with the announcement of a final victory against so—called