Putin warns Europe, "Russia is ready to fight"; Lammy pushes button on Justice reform, and Spurs bounce back at Newcastle

On today's Smart7, Putin warns Europe, Russia is ready to fight. Lammy pushes button on justice reform and much more. It's Wednesday 3rd of December, it's Let's Hug Day and Happy Birthday, Julianne Moore. Donald Trump's peace envoy, Steve Wittkopf and son-in-law, Jared Kushner were in Moscow on Tuesday to meet the Russian president and discuss the Ukraine peace plan. Putin spoke before the meeting and warned that while Russia is not seeking a war with Europe, if Europe wants to fight, we're ready now. He was also dismissive of Ukraine's European allies' attempts to get involved in the peace process. Europeans have no peaceful agenda. They are on the side of war. We can clearly see that, when they try to make changes to Trump's proposal, they are aimed at one thing only, to block the entire peace process. There wasn't any significant progress from the talks and Ukrainian President Zelensky continued his tour of Europe, touching down in Ireland, where he addressed the parliament. As a neutral country, Ireland offered support for Ukraine's bid to join the European Union and Irish tee-shock, Mee Hall-Martin is no fan of the Russian president either. President Putin has shown a complete indifference to the value of human life, even as efforts to bring the war to an end advance. He seeks to gain advantage by intensifying Russia's relentless onslaught on Ukrainian cities. Justice Secretary David Lammy has moved ahead with his plan to scrap jury trials in a bid to tackle the backlog in the court system in England and Wales. The new system will see jury trials for offences that carry likely sentences of less than three years abolished and instead a new system of swift courts will tackle minor offences, while serious crimes like murder, robbery and sexual offences will still go before juries. Lammy says the current backlog, which could see some trials postponed until 2030, is no longer workable. And let's be honest, it's a peculiar way to run a public service. Our world-leading judges should hear the most serious cases, and I agree that they and the magistrates should decide where a case is heard. This will prevent defendants from gaming the system. His announcement came as it emerged that 12 more prisoners have been released in error with two still at large. Lammy says it's a consequence of an overloaded system that's still dependent on pen and paper. Tory Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride says the whole thing is a mess. The numbers mistakenly released in the last year is higher than in the previous year, and I think it is a case of the government needs to get a grip on it. After 13 years, the Independent Office for Police Conduct finally published its report on the policing of the Hillsborough disaster. The IOPC found that 12 officers would have faced gross misconduct charges over the policing of the events, which saw 97 Liverpool fans killed. The report identified both fundamental failures and concerted efforts to blame fans, although all of the officers had retired before the investigations began in 2012, and so families of the victims say they will never get justice. To date, the only person convicted over the deaths was the then-Stadium Safety Officer, Graham McCrell, who was fined £6,500. Deputy Director of the IOPC, Kathy Casual says that things are very different now. The professional standards in place at the time are very different. The law is different now, where officers who have retired can face gross misconduct hearings. And I think what our report really shows is how difficult it is when organisations prioritise defending their reputation rather than openly and immediately admitting the mistakes that they've made. There's bad news if you have a medical appointment between now and Christmas, as the resident doctors are set to stage another five-day walkout in the week before Santa arrives. The strike will start on Wednesday 17 December and run through to the 22nd. It's the 14th strike in the last two and a half years, and they continue to look for additional pay rises to compensate for what they say is wage deflation since 2008. Health Secretary West Streeting says the British Medical Association haven't even had a conversation with him and compared them to the Grinch who stole Christmas. Dr Tom Dolphin is the chair of the BMA, and he says the problem is bigger than that. That in itself is an argument that the government is making to distract people from the fact that you've got a long-term workforce problem that needs solving. You've got patients who need those doctors to be training so that they can get the waiting lists down, and that's not what's happening. Still to come on today's Smart7 in association with Metro, Spurs bounce back, and ITV might have reinvented the cube right after this. Tuesday night saw three Premier League games with Bournemouth welcoming Everton Man City travelling to Fulham and Spurs in Newcastle. Everton picked up a 1-0 win while Man City managed to close the gap to Arsenal, but only after a titanic nine-goal battle with Fulham that ended 5-4 to Pepside. Newcastle and Spurs started the evening in mid-table, but the Tottenham manager Thomas Frank has been under far more pressure than Eddie Howe. The game saw a frantic last 15 minutes and ended with two goals each and a point apiece, but Frank wasn't unhappy. I think it showed fantastic mentality and character. Every team needs that. It's been a tough week, I think that's fair to say. The early hours of Tuesday morning saw New York celebrate independent film at the Gotham Awards. The big winner on the night was one battle after another, the new dark comedy action movie from Paul Thomas Anderson, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Frankenstein director Guillermo del Toro made plenty of headlines when he declared feck AI from the stage, announcing that his project was made by humans for humans. The director and two of his stars, Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac, also picked up the vanguard tribute, which inspired a pointed political message from Isaac. I'm so proud to have watched you play such an incredible part with such sensitivity and grace. And I am proud to be standing here tonight, a Guatemalan, an Australian and a Mexican. Immigrants, baby, we get the job done. ITV has had some brilliant game shows over the years, including Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and The Chase, but it's also had its fair share of flops. Just recently, we had the most expensive game show ever, which was The Genius Game with David Tennant, that only lasted one season before it was binned. We've also lost shows like The Cube, after host Philip Schofield got cancelled, but it seems like some genius has come up with a new format, also based on people in boxes. It's called The Box, it's hosted by Gary Lineker and the premise is simple. Celebrities including Joey Essex, Ellie Taylor and John Burko get put in a yellow box and dropped at a mystery location, where they'll have to play games or figure out puzzles and it could just be mad enough to work. When am I going to be released from this wretched thing? They're scared. Oh my God, where am I?