good morning from north yorkshire. millions of us go on coach trips every year but they are under really big financial pressure and hoping for a big summer to their losses. it's a huge day forjockey rachael blackmore. she's leading the way at the cheltenham festival and today aims to become the first woman to win the gold cup. raising a laugh, but at a safe distance. red nose day goes ahead in the face of covid restrictions. a spring equinox this weekend but the weather stays fairly cloudy for most of you, but most should stay dry. the full forecast coming up. it's friday the 19th of march. our top story. the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine will be rolled out in some european countries today after regulators found no evidence it causes blood clots. the prime minister borisjohnson will receive the vaccine today and has assured the public it is safe after more than a dozen countries paused their delivery of the jab. here's our health correspondent katherine da costa. the oxford astrazeneca vaccine is safe and effective at preventing covid with no increased risk of blood clots. that's the consensus among regulators and a message the prime minister hopes will be heard around the world. today, the european medicines agency has come to a clear scientific conclusion, and i quote, "this is a safe and effective vaccine". so the oxford jab is safe and the pfizerjab is safe. the thing that isn't safe is catching covid which is why it's so important that we all get ourjabs as soon as our turn comes. the european medicines regulator carried out a thorough review looking at data from 20 million vaccinated people. it looked in particular at rare blood clots in the brain and found 18 cases including five in the uk. there is no evidence of a link to the vaccine, but they will continue to monitor this condition and are advising people with a number of symptoms including a persistent headache or unusual bruising to seek medical advice. there is no increase in the overall risk of blood clots with this vaccine. moreover, because the vaccine is effective in preventing covid—19 disease, which in itself is a cause of blood clots, it likely reduces the risks of thrombotic events overall. italy and france are among the first to announce they will resume using the astrazeneca vaccine, and it can't come soon enough. they are among several european countries experiencing a third wave in new infections with further lockdown measures being introduced. katharine da costa, bbc news. the french capital paris is set to go into a month—long covid lockdown as the country fears a third wave. another 15 departments in the country will also be placed under the same measures from midnight tonight. these measures will not be as strict as the previous lockdown, with people allowed to exercise outdoors. france has recorded more than 35,000 new infections within the past 2a hours. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, is facing calls to resign, because a committee of msps concluded she misled them in their inquiry into the handling of harrassment claims against her predecessor, alex salmond. it's understood they voted five to four that she gave them an inaccurate account when she answered their questions two weeks ago. the first minister says she stands by what she said. our political correspondent nick eardley has this report. i solemnly, sincerely and truly declare... this is nicola sturgeon two weeks ago. giving evidence to the scottish parliament about how her government handled allegations of sexual harassment against alex salmond. it was a mammoth session, eight hours in total. but the committee has decided she misled them in the process. in a meeting last night, a narrow majority of the committee, five to four, made the decision. their full report will be published next week but opposition parties say ms sturgeon can no longer be trusted. it's absolutely, abundantly clear that nicola sturgeon has breached the ministerial code as first minister. you cannot continue if you have been untruthful, if you have misled parliament, and you've misled the people of scotland. it is a resigning matter, pure and simple. the first minister has always denied misleading msps and last night, she stood by her evidence. she said... this committee has unfortunately experienced an awful lot of leaking and information coming out in ways that are neither helpful nor necessarily accurate. i think that this is more of the challenge that we see again here, and i will be waiting to hear from the actual report. in under a week, the scottish parliament will break up for the election. the coming days will be dominated by questions over whether ms sturgeon misled parliament. the election campaign may well be too. nick eardley, bbc news, glasgow. the duke and duchess of sussex have issued a statement after it was revealed that the sun newspaper paid an american private investigator to obtain personal information about meghan markle in the early days of their relationship. the couple said now is a moment to reflect on the predatory practices of the media, which they say are "reaping irreversible damage on families and relationships". the publisher of the sun, news uk, accepts it paid the investigator but insists it never asked for, or knew of, any unlawful activity. the investigator admits to breaking the law. people in cumbria, cornwall and northumberland will be among the first in england to get ultrafast broadband. it's part of the government's plan to roll out high speed broadband to the majority of homes across the uk by the end of 2025. work will begin next year, with more than a million homes in rural areas set to benefit from the first stage of the scheme. poor dental health is still a significant problem in england according to a new report, despite it being largely preventable. the new study from public heath england looks for the first time at how people's circumstances can have an impact, and says inequality is a major factor. jon donnison reports. this report says that while overall, dental and oral health is improving across england, much still depends on your socioeconomic background and where you live. this is especially the case for children. in 2019, five—year—olds from the most deprived areas of the country were more than three times as likely to have tooth decay as those from the least deprived. there is a similar imbalance in dental health amongst adults. public health england says barriers to nhs care, including cost and lack of available services, are partly responsible. it says that people from the south of england have significantly healthier teeth and mouths than those living in the midlands and the north. the research also says that women, who brush their teeth more often, consume less sugar and visit the dentist for checkups more frequently than men, unsurprisingly have fewer dental problems. jon donnison, bbc news. daniel craig, keira knightly and olivia colman are amongst the stars taking part in tonight's socially distant comic relief. the star—studded night on bbc one will raise money to tackle hunger, homelessness, domestic abuse and mental health stigma. our entertainment correspondent colin paterson has been finding out what's in tonight's show. this is the first socially distanced comic relief. red nose day will be different this year. we know that it's hard financially for so many people right now. but we'd love you to join us, even if it's just to share a laugh. tonight's show will be shorter, only three hours, but the vicar of dibley returns with a special message. last year, i was sponsored £5 per villager i could squeeze a whole granny smith into my mouth. job done. while david tennant and michael sheen take part in an historical version of their lockdown hit staged. i'm going to write about this. about the play? yeah. is that what people want? yes, they want social realism. do they? 0k. yeah. and catherine tate�*s nanjoins james bond for a secret briefing, so secret, all that's been released so far is this one photo. this is pretty funny. the money raised by comic relief will be used to support those who have been hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. but the night's other aim is to simply make people laugh. colin patterson, bbc news. it will be a big night tonight. let's find out what is happening with the weather. you have a big number for this time of year! i have indeed! it almost felt like early summer in scotland yesterday, but contrast that with the coast in norfolk. the temperature contrasts will still exist to a certain degree today, not quite as stark and there will be a little bit more cloud in edinburgh and more sunshine in sheringham but expect more cloudy day. it is thick enough to produce some light rain or drizzle in some spots but notice, brighter skies developing across east anglia and the south—east, a keen north—easterly wind will still make it feel chilly, not quite as cold yesterday but nine to ii it feel chilly, not quite as cold yesterday but nine to 11 degrees, knock a few degrees off for the feel of things. in the north—east, a grade a, patchy drizzle around. —— it will be a grey day. in scotland, the warmest of the air will be the glasgow side rather than the edinburgh side, here we could get to 17 degrees. most of us will be dry, that will be the story this weekend. still a bit of drizzle from the cloud tonight across england and wales, but tomorrow, the best of the cloud breaks to east of scotland and the north—east of england, where we will see the highest temperatures. but overall it will be a fairly cloudy weekend, but most staying dry. thank you. at the peak of the pandemic, as cases climbed and hospital admissions increased, the nhs was at risk of being overwhelmed. but tens of thousands of nursing students stepped in to volunteer, with many of them working on the front line for the very first time. now, many of those are preparing to graduate this year. we've been hearing from eight student nurses from across the uk, to find out what it was like to train in the middle of a national emergency. i would probably sum it up as a roller—coaster. my student experience before covid was absolutely amazing. socialising a lot with all of my uni colleagues and things. _ you were allowed to make mistakes, you are allowed to sort of take time in learning but i think that changed with covid. so, i'm just on my way to a placement. it's 6:30am. we were out on placement in march last year when the first few cases started coming through. things were changing on a daily basis, so one day the rules were this, the next day, the rules were this. it was just such a feeling walking in and thinking, like, wow, all of these beds could have been filled with patients with covid—19. even wearing the ppe - was challenging, you know, you were sweating. it's definitely a completely different experience from what it was like before covid. it's been a really difficult time just now in the hospital for the patients, not only because they're ill but because they're not allowed to see family and have no visitors. you know, the elderly like to talk about their grandchildren a lot. the younger patients, they kind of like to talk about missing the pubs, and missing seeing their friends. but for myself personally, although there is a big change in the hospital, not being able to see my family has been really, really difficult. hello! my mum and dad are both working from home at the minute so i've been quite cautious about obviously not wanting to bring it home. so, i'm just going to put my uniform straight in the washing machine. i've got little sistersl who are four and six, and i have missed birthdays, i i've missed them growing up. we are always on video and i ring them and stuff so it's ok - but i would like to hug them at some point. _ a bit of a tough day, one of our patients passed away unfortunately today. so it's been quite upsetting for obviously all the staff and their family as well. there's no words you can to sayi to someone who's just lost mum and dad to the same virus. i just sat with that person and held their hand and i said, you know, "i know your i'm not your family, you don't know me, but just know that you're not alone and i'll be here with you". i'm tired today. it's... it's sad going to all these people's houses that are completely isolated. i definitely struggled - during the first lockdown, with mental health. i spoke to my gp, because i wasjust finding it so difficult _ because you want to reach out and ask for support _ but this has never happened before to our generation. i when i was told i was going to the respiratory ward, i was very anxious, i was worried not for myself, i was worried about bringing something home to my family. try to keep positive, going for walks, watched a lot of stupid tv, just trying to lift my mood. it's always really good living with two other nursing students because the first thing we ask one another as we come home through the door is, how was your day? so everybody vents and tell their stories. unusually you end up laughing about it which is really nice, i'd rather laugh and cry. it's currently quarter to four in the morning, coming in for my break. say hello! you can definitely see there's light at the end of the tunnel. we've come out of it a lot stronger, a lot more positive. i'm definitely proud to say that i was a student nurse during the pandemicjust because, because we got through it, really. when i look at all my friends and fellow nursing students, i'm just so proud, you know. not only proud of myself, but proud of them. i'm so excited for everybody graduating, to start their proper nursing journey. i'm studying for an exam that we have again a couple of weeks, our last exam of the three years. i know in my little tutorial group, we are always, every week, someone saying, please, when this is all over, let's just go for dinner, drinks, and pretend life is normal. so, yeah, i think we're all looking forward to that. really interesting in hearing their reflections. so many of those comments reflect what we have heard from nurses all the way along the line. first thought is always about other people. in that case it was about the patients, and they are learning, student nurses, and then about theirfamilies, thinking learning, student nurses, and then about their families, thinking about the risk they were to their families and how they were not able to see their families for fear of passing on the disease.— on the disease. also what they learned from _ on the disease. also what they learned from talking _ on the disease. also what they learned from talking to - on the disease. also what they. learned from talking to different people and how to connect, that is their skill, just those small conversations that make people feel better when they're away from home. a little later on this morning we will be talking to the royal college of nursing, to get a sense of how those people have been getting on learning such an extraordinary time. let's take a look at some of today's front pages. many of the papers lead with those reassurances about the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine. the telegraph quotes borisjohnson saying: "the jab is safe. the thing that isn't safe is catching covid." the times has a similar lead story on its front page, which also features a photograph of the duke and duchess of cambridge visiting an ambulance station in east london. "sturgeon misled parliament" is the banner headline in today's daily record reflecting claims that scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon gave incorrect statements to the alex salmond inquiry. ms sturgeon has said she stands by her evidence. and the sun follows up on a story we mentioned yesterday on breakfast about a horse racing fan who stood to win half a million pounds on an accumulator bet but was being offered £250,000 to cash out. so that was to not go for that last race. the paper has a picture of the punter, paul dean, looking very pleased that he made the right decision. he did cash out, and the horse fell. so it would have all gone. a sigh of relief. absolutely. _ so it would have all gone. a sigh of relief. absolutely. yesterday - so it would have all gone. a sigh of relief. absolutely. yesterday i - so it would have all gone. a sigh of relief. absolutely. yesterday i gave ou oats relief. absolutely. yesterday i gave you goats and _ relief. absolutely. yesterday i gave you goats and cows, _ relief. absolutely. yesterday i gave you goats and cows, remember? i relief. absolutely. yesterday i gave - you goats and cows, remember? today, i give you ponies. these are konig ponies in cambridgeshire, and ijust like the picture. it is the foaling season which has begun so there is a picture of them treading out their turf, establishing the hierarchy. fix, turf, establishing the hierarchy. a subject close to our hearts here in connection with the sleep and waking up, it is apparently well sleep day—to—day. one in four people say they struggle to stay asleep or asleep long enough. it is world sleep day. there's issues have been got worse through the pandemic. they got worse through the pandemic. they go to timeline about getting good sleep and it starts at 7:30am, and one of the things it says is, open the curtains quickly and get a blast of light, hopefully bright light, and thatjolts your brain into action more than gradually turning the light on. so just go for it right from the start and then all the usual rules about not watching tv and computers late at night. but when ou tv and computers late at night. emit when you wake up at the time of mourning when we wake up for this job, it is light outside, you need a big light on. job, it is light outside, you need a big light om— job, it is light outside, you need a bi liuht on. i. .,, ., big light on. everyone has their own little rituals- — britain's coach industry is gearing up to get back on the road as restrictions ease but the pandemic has taken its toll on many operators. sarah's been finding out about this. she's at a depot in yorkshire for us this morning. good morning. are you between the coaches? yes! good morning from ingleton, on the edge of the yorkshire dales today, and we are talking about the future of coach tourism. thousands of trips have been cancelled, coaches like this in depots across the country have been sat idle for many months. this sector says it hasn't had the same level of support as other businesses. that's because it isn't classed as part of the tourism sector. so it hasn't had the same level of grants and it has been really tough for family businesses like this. they are hoping to get going again in may and june, as are some restrictions are lifted, and they really need a busy summer to recoup their losses. out on the road again. driver roy has been taking people on coach holidays for the last four decades. after much of the last year on furlough, he is gearing up to get going again. what have you missed the most? i've missed meeting the people. they're like an extended family. we get christmas cards off them. you know them by name and ijust can't wait to get back to see them. where do you think will be most popular for people on the coaches? oh, blackpool, definitely. you're biased towards blackpool, though, aren't you? well, no, i'm not biased! we get so many people who come back to this hotel year after year after year. but through the pandemic, it's been a bumpy ride for coach holiday providers. this lancashire firm has nearly 50 coaches and a network of hotels. a lot of our customers have already been vaccinated so they really are, just, we want to get going now. we want to get on holiday. most of the 750 staff here are still on furlough. the boss says there is huge pent—up demand but the sector will take time to recover. we should have a good summer but make no mistake, you know, we've lost pro