Every week, we summarise the news to give you some insight into what is happening in Britain, and what people are talking about:

UK has warm and very wet December 

The UK has had the warmest December since records began over a hundred years ago. This is the first month of our winter, but there has been almost no frost and temperatures have been similar to those in late Spring or early summer. 

But we have also had a series of bad storms which have caused big floods in the North of England. Parts of Cumbria have been flooded three times, and there have been problems in the big cities of Leeds and Manchester. York had floods in many central parts of the city, and in another Yorkshire town, Tadcaster, part of a 300-year old bridge was washed away by the river. In Scotland, people had to be rescued from a bus when a road flooded very suddenly.

The Government has now promised more money for flood repairs and defences.

Nightclothes become more popular

UK shops say that we are buying more casual clothes to wear while relaxing at home. John Lewis, a department store, says it sold 20 per cent more "loungewear" just before Christmas than usual, and other shops sold up to 60 per cent more than usual.

Stores think people are influenced by celebrities taking selfies of themselves relaxing at home, and putting them on Twitter and Instagram and other social networking sites. They also say that more people work from home rather than in an office, and are buying soft pyjama bottoms and tops to do this.

Sherlock returns for a New Year special

Sherlock is one of the most popular shows on British TV - and around the world. But the actors and writers on the show are very busy with other projects including Dr Who, so not many episodes of Sherlock are made. This year there is just one - the New Year special which was shown in cinemas as well as on the TV. 

The show got millions of viewers and some very different reactions. The characters were shown solving murders of a hundred years before, and moved between Victorian times and the present day. Most viewers either loved it or found it very confusing.