The former chancellor, George Osborne, has been in West Yorkshire today continuing to bang the drum for the Northern Powerhouse. 

Mr Osborne, who was sacked after the EU Referendum, has been at a railway engineering firm, William Cook, in Leeds. 

Nearly £1m will be paid to Leeds City Council to help cover the costs linked to dangerous winds near Yorkshire's tallest building. 

The money will be paid to the council by CPPI Bridgewater Place Limited Partnership, owners of the skyscraper, Bridgewater Place.

BBC Travel

Well, here we are. It's rush hour folks.

And to prove it, here's First Bus' daily delay tweet:

Oh, and if you're reading this in Bradford. Don't be too smug:

Same goes for you Halifax and Huddersfield:

Yorkshire Post

Morrisons is bringing back Christmas carols to its stores after 15 years, after listening to its customers who said they preferred traditional songs to pop music, external.

Image source, Yorkshire Post

BBC Travel

As we head into rush-hour proper, here's something else to watch out for:

BBC Travel

We've got some problems on the M1 in both directions, because of a lane closure on the exit slip road at J42, (M62 Lofthouse). Highways England are carrying out emergency repairs.  

Image source, Crown Copyright

Three people have been hurt in a bus crash in West Yorkshire. 

Image source, Google

The air ambulance was called when the bus went up an embankment in Aberford Road in Barwick in Elmet at about 10:30 this morning. 

One person had to be freed by firefighters, and all the casualties were taken to Leeds General Infirmary, although their injuries are not serious.  

West Yorkshire Police Christmas drink-drive campaign is highlighting that a typical drink-driver may not be who we think they are.

A conviction for driving while under the influence of drink and drugs will lead to a criminal record, a driving ban of at least a year and a fine of up to £5,000.　  

Image source, WYP

Construction work on reducing the effects of wind around Yorkshire's tallest building will begin in January. 

The installation of protective baffles will take around 16 months at Bridgewater Place in Leeds. 

The measures were called for following the death of Edward Slaney from Sowerby Bridge who was killed when a lorry blew over during gale force winds in 2011.   

Halifax Courier

A man who assaulted two others after they asked him for a cigarette has been jailed for six years, external.

Image source, Halifax Courier

BBC West Yorkshire Sport

Huddersfield Town's head coach has been speaking ahead of their match away at Blackburn Rovers on Saturday.

David Wagner has confirmed that Mark Hudson and Sean Scannell will be out for Saturday's trip. 

Scannell has an ankle injury that will keep him out until the new year, and Hudson has a hamstring injury which will keep him out for the next two or three weeks.  

Martin Cranie will come in for suspended Tommy Smith, but Wagner wouldn't confirm if he'll play four or three at the back.

Put the coats and scarves away again, summer's back!

Sort of...

Nick Wilmshurst
BBC Local Live, Leeds

Here's an update on the crash in Castleford I mentioned earlier this morning.

Police now say that two men were seriously injured in the collision. 

Image source, Google

It happened at about 08:05 on Queens Park Drive and involved a green Vauxhall Corsa and a blue Rover 45.

Officers want to speak to anyone who witnessed the incident or the manner in which the vehicles were being driven immediately before the collision.

Paul Hudson
Weather presenter, BBC Look North

This afternoon will be mostly dry with variable amounts of cloud and some sunny spells. 

The top temperature will be about 9C (48F).

A dramatic CCTV image from the scene of an armed robbery at a building society in Leeds yesterday has been issued by police, external as they continue their search for those responsible.

Image source, West Yorkshire Police

The robbery took place at the Leeds Building Socity in Station Road, Crossgates, at about 12:50 on Wednesday afternoon.

Two masked men entered the premises, one of them brandishing a handgun, and threatened staff and customers before taking an amount of cash.

Det Insp Phil Jackson says: "The CCTV image of the man with the gun clearly illustrates how frightening this incident was for the staff and customers involved. 

"We are continuing to carry out extensive enquiries into the robbery and would like to hear from anyone who witnessed the incident."

The men are described as white, between 5ft 7ins and 5ft 11ins tall and wearing grey hoodies and jogging bottoms.

The top stories from Leeds and West Yorkshire so far today include:

• Bradford schools are named and shamed again by the education watchdog Ofsted as some of the worst in the country
• While people in the Calder Valley are more prepared for flooding now, they're living under a constant threat of death from floods, a new report warns
• Muse has been named as one of the headline acts for Leeds Festival which will be held on the weekend of 25-27 August 2017

Bradford's been singled-out again in a report into standards in England's schools, with only 44% of the district's children said to be attending a secondary school deemed to be good enough.

Image source, Thinkstock

Bradford's primary schools rank 176th out of 180 and its secondaries 181st out of 184, according to education watchdog Ofsted's annual report, external.

As a region, Yorkshire and the Humber is the worst performing area in Key Stage 1, the joint worst in Key Stage 2, while it also has the second worst Maths and English GCSE results in England.

The region also has the lowest proportion of pupils in good or outstanding primary schools.   

Some Christians are too scared to speak about their faith in public because they feel so "picked on", according to the Bishop of Leeds.

Some secularists "have a problem" with religion being talked about, the Right Reverend Nick Baines has told the Press Association.

He adds that a brand of "intolerant" liberalism circulates in the UK which is dismissive of the Christian faith. 

Relations between different religious communities in the UK are good, but some secularists are intolerant of Christianity, says Bishop Nick.

Bradford has two of the worst areas in the country for road accidents involving pedestrians who are aged 60 and over, newly compiled statistics reveal.

The findings come from a report produced for the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.

They also highlight that those accidents are especially likely to happen in December with the constituencies of Bradford East and Bradford West being major hotspots.   

One of the most influential bands ever to exist were in Leeds last night.

Pixies are said to have inspired bands like Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Blur and  Radiohead.

In fact, Radiohead's lead singer Thom Yorke once said the band - originally from Boston, Massachusetts - "changed my life".

They're a very important band on the sonic landscape. 

Anyway, here's a nice picture the guitarist tweeted: