At the best price and either buy it online or go to a shop and buy there, because that will save you lots of time. Yesterday went online and there were so yesterday went online and there were so many e mails and you get sucked in. It is easy to get sucked in. You think you are getting a bargain. Do you fall for it . Yes. We are meant to know better. Hello, this is breakfast with steph mcgovern. Good morning. Heres a summary of todays main stories from bbc news. The universities minister, jojohnson, will issue his clearest warning yet that universities must protect free speech. He will say students must be able both to hear and challenge controversial views during their years of study. Some universities and student groups have refused entry to speakers advocating disputed points of view. The body representing british universities said it would not allow legitimate debate to be stifled. Millions of shoppers are expected to head out to the boxing day sales today, marking the start of a what has traditionally been a crucial period for retailers across the uk. But the majority of shoppers surveyed by bbc radio 4s you yours programme believe Online Shopping and early black friday deals have made the post christmas sales less appealing. A 20 year old man will appear before magistrates this morning charged with murder, after a fatal stabbing in a restaurant in middlesbrough on christmas eve. Efreeqi Mohamed Siddig is accused of killing 41 year old mazhar ali from stockton on tees who died in hospital yesterday. A british woman being held on suspicion of drug smuggling will appear in court in egypt later this morning. Laura plummer was arrested in october when officials found 290 tramadol tablets in her suitcase, which are legal in the uk, but not in egypt. The shop assistant from hull says she was carrying the pills for her egyptian partner, who suffers from back pain. The royal navy says there has been an increase in the number of russian ships travelling through, or near the uks territorial waters over the festive period. On christmas day, hms st albans was sent to escort a russian warship through the north sea as it passed close to uk waters. Defence secretary Gavin Williamson said he will not tolerate any form of aggression. Dr who fans were given a glimpse of the first ever female doctor in action in last nights christmas special. Jodie whittaker appeared in the final two minutes of the episode, which saw the departure of peter capaldi, as well as the shows writer steven moffatt. Now on breakfast, its a White Christmas for Sarah Keith Lucas and nick miller, as they take a look back at the year in weather. This time, we have come to a winter wonderland. Or have we . Look very closely in the next half hour, because all is not as it seems. So. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Welcome to weather world also on the programme, 2017s biggest storms. Tropical deluge, floods that carry a house and everything in it. Safe from the storm, near impossible escapes. And even record rain cannot stop another wildfire crisis in california. Humber, west or south west, five or six. Plus, we celebrate 150 years of the shipping forecast, its distinctive tones loved by sailors and landlubbers alike. And weather, but not as we know it. I will be taking a deeper look into space weather and the impact it can have here on earth. This time on weather world, we are having some fun. We have come to a company in gloucestershire, snow business, which for 35 years has been making real and fake snow on demand. It is mostly for film and television. They are the biggest winter effects company in the world. Some of their work includes the james bond films and star wars. Later i will be looking at the materials they use to make this snow. I am off to meet darcey, the owner, and he is going to show me how you create a wintry scene. Weve got a fairly green scene now, but we are going to transform it into something more white and wintry. I cant wait to see what it will look like. How are we going do this . We have a brand new machine, we have some specially torn paper which locks together, we spray it with water so it sticks to anything it lands on. We can transform this into a winter scene. Lets get started, then. Music. This looks amazing. Its as if we have stepped into narnia. How do you create the illusion of falling snow . For that, we have a special machine, which mixes a fluid with air to create snowflakes. Wow i feel like im in a snowstorm in lapland. So, creating this kind of snow is a really big business. In fact, you are the World Leaders in winter effects. How did you get into this . Purely by chance. I worked for a company which made paper and a film company came along wanting a lovely, biodegradable snow. And they got us to make paper snow. It turned out to be a world beater. So, this is artificial snow. And a little bit later on we are going to take a look at how they also make real snow here as well. This is real snow. But there is still something unusual here. Our weather review of the year begins injanuary on greek island beaches. Rarely does arctic weather on this scale reach so far deep into europe. And the bitter temperatures brought fears for migrants, at camps such as this one in serbia, with calls for them to be moved to better, warmer conditions. Then disaster in italy. 29 people are killed in the deadliest avalanche in a century. Amazingly, some survived, rescued more than two days later. February in the uk, and storm doris blows in, with high winds and some lucky escapes. And here is another remarkable escape. In peru, as a mudslide churns up the debris of what was once somebodys home, a woman emerges. Slowly shes able to scramble her way to help. But the flooding here did claim the lives of about 100 people in the first few months of the year. Disaster in colombia in april. Torrential rain sends a mudslide into the town of mocoa. More than 250 died here. In chile in january, a different problem. Drought, heat, strong winds, then fire. This was the town of santa olga, destroyed by wildfires, said to be the worst in the countrys modern history. Severe drought hit hard in africa. This is somalia, where a disaster was declared in february. Whether its drought or political unrest or both, millions across east africa started the year facing starvation and famine. In california, after years of drought, a remarkable transformation took place. Flooding rain from a succession of winter storms all but obliterated the drought. So much water so quickly that car swallowing sinkholes appeared. Any hope that the soaking start to the year would offer long term relief went up in flames, as we will see later in the programme. We often show pictures of the aurora borealis, or the northern lights. This is the Southern Hemisphere equivalent, the aurora australis, putting on a spectacular display above new zealand in may. When and where we see the light depends on the behaviour of the sun, and trying to predict what the sun will be doing has created an emerging area of science space weather. Matt taylor has been finding out about it. Imagine a few hours without traffic lights or your smartphone. Sounds appalling, doesnt it . Add to that trains, flights, your weekly shop, even money. And not just for hours. Potentially days, weeks or even months. It could become a reality. It is all down to the impact that space weather could have on things like this. Satellites shown here at the Science Museum in london. The systems on it, as well as electricity grids all around the globe. To the purists, space weather is not strictly meteorology, but it is driven by the same thing, and that is the sun. In this case it is all about coronal mass ejections and solar flares. To tell us about those i am joined by professor tim horbury, from the Imperial College london. Professor, tell us more about what solar flares and coronal mass ejections are. Most of us think of the sun as a fairly boring yellow globe in the sky. But as we study it more we realise it is a dynamic object. Solar flares are enormous releases of energy from the sun. They accelerate particles to high energies which can arrive at the earth and damage satellites, and they also release enormous amount of energy, coronal mass ejections. This matter floods out through the solar system and can arrive at the earth and impact us. You are the head of a mission investigating the sun. What does that involve . It is called solar orbit, being built by the esa at the moment. We will be going closer to the sun than ever before, closer than mercury. Well be measuring what comes off the sun and travels past our spacecraft on its way towards the earth. And its the Magnetic Fields which are important when it comes to impact on earth, isnt it . Yes. At Imperial College london, were building the instrument which will measure those Magnetic Fields in space, and when those fields arrive at the earth and interact with the earths magnetic field, and it is those interactions which drive things like the aurora and geomagnetic storms. Will this help us ultimately forecast space weather . Solar orbiter itself is not a space weather mission, but it is designed to study the fundamental physics of whats going on in the sun and inter planetary space and by understanding that that we hope to do better space weather forecasting in the future. Thank you. We will find out later in the programme a bit more about forecasting space weather and the impact it can have here on earth. At the start of the programme i said, look very closely this time on weather world, because all is not as it seems. It might look like i have entered an icy cave, but there isnt any ice in here. And none of this is real. It is another fake winter environment. Paul is here to tell us how they made this. What materials have you used . We use a lot of different materials here. Plastic, paraffin wax, recycled packaging material, litter as well. With led lighting we can bring it all together and give you the effect that you see here. The materials that are used to make something look wintry in film and television, they have evolved over time, havent they . What was used in the early days of film . In the very early days of black and white film they didnt have any materials at all. They had to wait for it to snow. That was time consuming, and it was also dangerous. Three members died from the cold while they were filming way out east. That wasnt good. Later they made it with different materials. Laurel and hardy used painted cornflakes, which was effective. By the time we got to the wizard of oz, they were using white asbestos. Obviously thats really bad, but they didnt know it was dangerous at the time. You use things which are good for the environment and good for people. What are the good materials Going Forward . Were developing materials like this, which is a glitter, which is made from cellulose. So within a couple of weeks or so that will biodegrade. Now, normal glitter, which is being banned in cosmetic use by the government, would just wash off your body when you come back from your festival, down the drain and out to sea where it gets eaten by plankton and fish and unfortunately by us again. This is gone in a week or two. It has the texture of icing sugar but you can see the glitter. What else are you using . We are using things like this, which is powder frost. This is pure cellulose. You could eat it if you wanted to, though it wouldnt taste very nice. Once that washes into the soil that completely biodegrades. It is no more harmful to the environment than dead leaves. Of course, the least harmful thing to the environment is real snow. We havent had much of that yet, but it can be made on demand, and sarah will be finding out about that later on. Now, from snow to extreme heat. Our weather review of the year continues with a scorching summer in southern europe. Wildfires led to thousands being evacuated from campsites in france, spending the night on beaches near st tropez. Portugal injune, and a catastrophic forest fire kills more than 60 people. It is the countrys worst disaster for more than a quarter of a century. When a flash flood rages through a major city, disaster strikes. In august, a massive downpour sends muddy water surging through the streets of sierra leone in west africa. And then a mountainside collapses in an avalanche of mud, burying whole communities as they slept. Hundreds of people are killed, thousands lose their homes. Now, more snow, and your bbc weather watcher pictures of the wintry weather which swept across the uk in early december. The most widespread december snow since 2010. You can become a weather watcher by signing up at bbc. Co. Uk weatherwatchers. Still to come on weather world, we head to the alps to discover how sometimes, the old ways are still the best, especially when it comes to predicting an avalanche. This time on weather world, sarah and i are looking at how they make snow for the film and television industry. We have seen fake snow, the material they use, but now this is real snow. This may look like something which came from the clouds, but actually, it came from this metal box. Darcey, explain to me how we are about to make real snow inside this box, then . The box is a cryogenic chamber. A gun fires water, and adds compressed air, and the water is smashed into tiny, tiny pieces. We also fire liquid nitrogen. So the smashed water is like a cloud inside a box, with liquid nitrogen, freezing it down to 20, so it falls like snow inside the box. Wonderful. Lets close these doors and get started. So, darcey, this has been churning away now for about 90 minutes now. Shall we crack open the doors and have a look at the snow inside . Yes, indeed wow, check this out look at that snow. I can tell you, that is soft and fluffy and freezing cold. It feels just like real snow. Is it exactly the same as naturally occurring snow . . Its exactly the same as natural snow. So once youve made all of this snow here, how do you transport it to a film set . We literally shovel it into a refrigerated truck and we set the temperature at the perfect temperature to keep it in top condition. And do people tend to like to use more real snow or fake snow . They think they want to use real snow, but fake snow is faster and warmer. You can imagine, if you lie on this all day youll get pneumonia. If you lie in the fake snow all day, its lovely and warm and cosy. Thank you so much for showing us around and showing us how this snow is manufactured here. For now, where is nick . Heavy snow in february led to avalanches in afghanistan and the french alps, both resulting in several fatalities. Sarah thornton travelled to austria, where heavy snow in the first part of this ski season has meant predicting avalanches is especially important. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people descend here to the alps looking for some winter fun, but for the thrill seekers, and especially those who like to go off piste, avalanches are an ever present threat. The main methods of protection date back decades and theres not a computer in sight. I put the shovel on the top and i pound like 30 times, with different intensity. Now, here we can see the first crack. After the 27th time of pounding. Youre saying it took quite a few times for you to pound this and get this crack here . Here in the tyrol, theyre concerned about two key danger patterns for avalanches. Early season snow forming a weak ground level layer and forecast winds leaving fresh powder around. But the team say on piste skiers are protected. They have the avalanche barriers, they have in the morning the avalanche commission, who is opening the runs or completely closing the runs if its unsafe. Off piste skiers and snowboarders are most at risk from avalanches. There are high tech gadgets that can help save anyone caught up in an avalanche, but its low tech tools that keep people away from danger in the first place. Some of the biggest weather headlines of 2017 came during a record breaking atlantic hurricane season. Texas, in august, where harvey becomes the first major hurricane to hit the usa in nearly 12 years. Scientists have estimated harvey dropped 127 billion tons of water, no other Tropical Cyclone has produced so much rain in the usa. Hurricane irma is next, slamming into the caribbean. Its getting really intense now in the centre section. More than 100 people are known to have died as a result of irma. Its september and theres another category five hurricane in the caribbean, maria. With ten consecutive hurricanes, this was one of the costliest atlantic seasons on record. August, and typhoon hato slams into china with the same terrifying mix of destructive wind and torrential rain as a hurricane. The pacific typhoon season was much less active than normal. Even so, there were several powerful systems, including this one in vietnam, in november. But as a cyclones every twist and turn is tracked minute by minute, the annual monsoon deluge in South East Asia goes on for months, causing the worst floods in decades. In india, the eastern state of bihar is hit hardest. In total, millions of people are forced from their homes and more than 1,000 are killed. This is whats left behind after a flash flood in pakistans most populated city, karachi. The monsoon rains bring much needed moisture for crops, but they always come with a human cost. In september, the weather in space was as tumultuous as it was on earth. So much so that it led to radio blackouts. Nasa recorded the biggest solar flare for over a decade. But why should a flare have such an impact . Matts been to cambridge to get the answer from the British Antarctic survey. So antarctica is a brilliant place to observe space . It is, actually. Its very, very radio quiet, so we can pick up radio signals in the antarctic which we cant do elsewhere. We detect special types of radio waves and those charged particles, when accelerated at high energies, pose a risk of damage to satellites. In fact, they are called killer electrons, because theyve been known to kill spacecraft in the past. One of the largest solar flares ever to be witnessed was the carrington event, named after the british astronomer who observed it in 1859. He sketched what hed seen on the sun, telegraph systems went haywire worldwide. Scientists have estimated that something similar today could cost billions, if not trillions, given our ever increasing reliance on satellite technology. Colour coded here, you can see the radiation belts, the regions of high Energy Charged Particles, electrons. Theyre trapped in the earths magnetic field. Geostationary orbit is out here, in the outer edge, and the gps satellites, they fly pretty much through the heart of this radiation belt here, where the radiation is most intense. Ideally you want the satellites to be stationed in between the radiation belts . Theres a gap between inner and outer belt where the radiation is much lower, but there are periods where that region gets filled with high Energy Charged Particles and thats a high risk period for those spacecraft. And that can have a big impact on daily life here on earth, cant it . Well, if you think that we rely more and more on our satellites for mobile phones, for tv, for internet, for all kinds of communications, banking, that kind of stuff, yeah, its a really important major part of our life in the modern world. So next time you gaze skywards or simply pick up your smartphone, just think how seemingly small changes in the sun could cause sudden and drastic changes to the way you live your life. November marked 150 years of the shipping forecast. The shipping forecast for the next 12 hours. The disturbance near the hebrides is almost stationary. Produced by the met office on behalf of the maritime and coastguard agency, its believed to be the longest running forecast of its kind in the world. That crucial forecast data is produced daily here at the met office. There was just a feeling that there was too much risk of loss of life. Catherine ross, the chief archivist, showed me the first weather charts from 150 years ago. What they did rather cleverly was basically put pins through the paper, and so you can kind of see just about these little pinpricks here, and that meant they were always plotting the same information in the same place. And you can see how they changed from having no maps to very detailed maps and it was known as the storm warning service, but it became known as the iconic shipping forecast. Humber west or south west, five or six, occasionally four later. The shipping forecast is notjust for mariners but its also listened to by hundreds of thousands of us every day on radio 11. South west, five to seven. Occasional rain, good, occasionally moderate. And thats a flavour of the bulletin which is broadcast four times a day. At 5 20am it needs to be exactly nine minutes long, so on a calm day i can take my time in describing the weather conditions for the 31 different sea areas, whereas on a stormy day ill have to speak much quicker in order to fit all that information into the same nine minute window. Storm warnings in october as the remnants of hurricane ophelia hit ireland and the uk. Ophelia was the easternmost major hurricane ever recorded in the atlantic. This roof was ripped from a school in ireland. The government here called the situation a national emergency. And ophelia had a stranger side to it, turning the sky an eerie orange because of saharan dust swept up on the storms path to the uk. But when it comes to air pollution, this is just about as bad as it gets. Delhi, in november, and the smog so thick and toxic its said to produce effects equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day. In the usa, more tropical rain and flooding and this remarkable view of a house being swept along a river in new hampshire, as Tropical Storm philippe hit the east coast of the usa at the end of october. But over in california, fire, as months of hot, dry weather followed last winters record rain, plunging the state right back into wildfire crisis. In december, fires hit the south of the state, near los angeles. The largest burning an area the size of new york. In the uk, storm caroline arrives in december. Scotland bears the brunt with winds of up to 90 miles per hour, but colder air that follows caroline is felt across the uk, blanketing large areas of snow. The most in seven years. Not everyone is a fan of snow. But if its the very first time youve seen it, you cant help but be excited, even if youre a dog. Truffle, the yorkshire cocker spaniel puppy, trying to get to grips with the white stuff. And thats it for this time from our weather world winter wonderland. And for highlights from our previous programmes, go to bbc. Co. Uk weatherworld. Theres one thing i want to know about fake and real snow. Which is the best for a snowball fight . Lets find out bring it on they are quite hard, arent they . Yours are harder come on, sarah youre not even trying 0h thats right in my ear hello, this is breakfast, with steph mcgovern. Universities are warned they must protect free speech and allow students to both hear and challenge controversial views. The universities minister says academic institutions should be places that open minds not close them. Good morning, its tuesday the 26th of december. Also this morning the boxing day sales used to be a big dealfor bargain hunters, but new bbc Research Suggests that the traditional post christmas