An experimental and unlicensed cancer drug has been fast-tracked to NHS patients under a new government scheme.

Pembrolizumab is a treatment for advanced skin cancer and is the first medicine to be approved through the Early Access to Medicines scheme (EAMS), launched in England last April.
The idea is to get pioneering drugs to severely ill patients much sooner.
Drugs signed off through EAMS have been scrutinised by regulators, weighing the risks and benefits.
A green light by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) means doctors anywhere in the UK can prescribe the drug in question before normal licensing procedures - which can take years - are complete.
Melanoma is the sixth most common cancer in the UK and kills more than 2,000 people in Britain each year.
Damage to the skin by the sun's harmful UV rays increases your risk of developing this cancer.
While advanced melanoma that has spread to other parts of the body may not be curable, targeted treatment can ease symptoms and may extend life.
Clinical trials of pembrolizumab, which is injected into the bloodstream, suggest it has great promise for treating advanced disease.
The treatment is considered a "next generation" drug in cancer care, stimulating the body's immune system to fight the disease.
It blocks a biological pathway that the cancer uses to disguise itself from attack.
Clinical trials are still under way, although the drug has already received a licence in the US for treating advanced melanoma.
Until now, UK patients would only have been able to get pembrolizumab if they were on a clinical trial.
Another government scheme in England, known as the The Cancer Drugs Fund, pays for cancer drugs that have already been licensed but not yet approved by the NHS watchdog NICE.
MHRA chief executive Dr Ian Hudson said: "We are delighted to issue the first positive Early Access to Medicines Scheme scientific opinion.
"The scientific opinion describes the risks and benefits of the medicine and the context for its use, supporting the prescriber and patient to make a decision on whether to use the medicine before its licence is approved."
Emma Greenwood of Cancer Research UK said: "Pembrolizumab is another example of the great progress we've made in developing immune treatments for cancer, so it's encouraging to see it being made available to patients earlier.
"NICE and the Cancer Drugs Fund only look at licensed drugs, so it's a step in the right direction in terms of patients getting access to new treatments faster. With this approach, relevant data will be collected and patients are closely monitored.
"We look forward to seeing whether it can be replicated with other promising drugs."


MK Dons' relegation was all but sealed after a 0-0 draw at 10-man Sheffield Wednesday left them nine points from safety with three games remaining.

The Dons' Samir Carruthers saw his first-half shot blocked before Daniel Pudil struck the post for Wednesday.
Owls substitute Atdhe Nuhiu failed to convert numerous headed chances, before Ross Wallace was sent off for violent conduct with 10 minutes remaining.
The home side, who remain sixth, poured forward late on but to no avail.
Despite Wednesday's inability to break the deadlock they managed to extend their lead over seventh-placed Cardiff City, who lost 2-1 at Brentford, to six points.
The Owls host Cardiff on 30 April but could already have a top-six place secured by then if results go in their favour on Saturday.
MK Dons are now winless in eight matches but were fortunate not to lose after Fernando Forestieri and Nuhiu spurned chances in a hectic second half.
Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Rotherham and Bristol City all sit nine points above the Dons, with three games remaining.


The crisis surrounding North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programmes has reached a new and more dangerous phase.

For decades efforts have continued to try to persuade or pressure Pyongyang to give up its weapons programme.
A fully-fledged nuclear capability - warheads that could actually be delivered to a distant target at the tip of a long-range missile - seemed years away. But no longer.
It is impossible to assess the exact capability that North Korea now has. It claims to have missiles that can reach the continental United States - and two recent tests convince Western experts that this may well be a possibility.
The Japanese government, in its latest defence white paper, suggests that Pyongyang may already have the capacity to miniaturise a nuclear warhead to be placed on such a long-range missile.
US officials, too, believe  that North Korea has manufactured small nuclear warheads suitable for a long range missile, but it is not clear- despite claims from Pyongyang - that these have been tested."
A working long-range nuclear capability for North Korea is not now a question of "if", but "when". And that "when" could be within the next few years.
That this time-scale coincides with President Donald Trump's tenure in the White House is an accident of history.
But while it gives the North Korean nuclear crisis an added danger, it also, perversely may offer a glimmer of a chance for progress.
The cacophony of foreign policy bluster, bravado and inexperience that makes up the US president's Twitter feed gives many cause for concern. The North Korean leader is seen in the West as unpredictable and very much a loose cannon. Well now, up to a point, the US has a loose cannon of its own.
Mr Trump, to paraphrase a former US defence secretary is a "known unknown". Nobody knows how he might react. And that makes things more dangerous but it also seems to be concentrating minds, not least in Beijing.
Of course, as in so many areas, we don't really know what US policy actually is. In complex diplomacy the clarity of messaging is important. So who actually represents US foreign policy?
Is it Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who under the right circumstances seems to be holding out the possibility of talks with Pyongyang? (Even Mr Trump himself has envisioned such a possibility).
Or is it the Oval Office's tweet-meister, who seems to be ramping up the pressure on Pyongyang?
There is no doubt that a fork in the road has been reached. North Korea's progress means that it will soon be able to threaten the US with a nuclear strike.
This is a game-changer and the policy options facing the Trump administration, the Chinese, the South Koreans and Japan are all difficult and unpalatable to varying degrees.
One option would be to confront the North Korean regime by every means possible. So stepped-up sanctions; a regional military build-up; and a willingness to go to war if necessary - ultimately, in other words, to seek a change of regime in Pyongyang.
That promises Armageddon on the Korean Peninsula and is not going to appeal to China, the pivotal diplomatic player in this drama.
Another option is containment.
It is kind of where we are heading right now. Stronger international sanctions - last weekend's UN Security Council decision represents almost a trade embargo against North Korea in a small number of sectors crucial to its foreign revenue earnings); the provision of defensive weapons - like the Thaad anti-missile system deployed in South Korea) to America's allies.
But containment is no solution in itself and it risks changing into confrontation as each new crisis develops.
Then of course there is diplomacy. This remains, for now,  a tall order.
But a combination of factors - North Korea's technical progress, the uncertainties prompted by the Trump administration's arrival in office and the fact that the world does now stand at crossroads on North Korea suggests that a diplomatic moment may just be possible.
An essential precursor was the tougher sanctions regime, passed by the Security Council, endorsed by both China and Russia together with the explicit calls from Beijing for Pyongyang to halt nuclear and missile tests. North Korea's foreign minister was engaging with other countries at the recent Manila meetings even though his message was as hard-line as ever.
Now - despite the rising rhetoric - there needs to be a stock-taking. Where will this crisis go? Can a space be created for some kind of diplomatic opening?
Diplomacy may not have worked in the past but it has certainly been tried. Remember the Kedo experiment back in the 1990s? This was the so-called Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization which was established after an agreement in 1994.
It was intended to provide two nuclear reactors to North Korea of a type less amenable to the diversion of nuclear materials for bomb-making. In return North Korea was to close down much of its existing nuclear industry.
There was a plan for improved relations between Washington and Pyongyang and so on. Key North Korean facilities were opened up to IAEA inspection.
But Kedo collapsed in 2002 amidst US fears that Pyongyang had a clandestine uranium enrichment programme and the international inspectors were expelled.
Kedo, though, had a clear purpose - to roll back and shutter those North Korean nuclear facilities implicated in its military programme. But that was more than 20 years ago. Rolling back North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programme is no longer a realistic option.
What would the goals of a new diplomatic deal be? Is Trump's America willing to live in the shadow of a North Korean nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile ? And would Kim's North Korea really want to open up or liberalise in any way that might call into question the future of the regime?
We now wait for a signal from Pyongyang. A temporary halt to testing could mean something of a pause for thought. But if missile testing is renewed then we will be on the launch-pad to a whole new phase in this potentially catastrophic drama.


Super League champions St Helens have named club legend Keiron Cunningham as their new head coach after the departure of Nathan Brown.

Their 14-6 win over Wigan Warriors in the Grand Final was Brown's last match with Saints after two seasons.
The club allowed the 41-year-old ex-Huddersfield boss to leave a year early to return to his native Australia.
Cunningham, 37, spent his whole playing career at St Helens before joining the coaching staff after his retirement.
The former Wales and Great Britain hooker made his St Helens debut in 1994 and went on to make 495 appearances at the club.
Cunningham scored the final try at Knowsley Road before the club moved to Langtree Park, and his legendary status has earned him his own statue outside the ground.
"When you finalise what's going on and you agree your contract and everything's done, it's sort of not real," Cunningham told BBC Radio Merseyside.
"It's almost like when your wife's pregnant and you don't see the baby, and the next thing is you sit in the press conference and the baby is there.
"I was never going to say no. It's something that I always dreamed of doing. I started coaching and I was always adamant I was going to be head coach one day. It's the proudest moment of my life.
"It's up there with lifting the trophy for the town at Wembley, I'm so proud to do it."
After his retirement in 2010, following a Grand Final defeat by Wigan, Cunningham joined the Saints backroom staff in an assistant coaching role.
"Keiron is ready for this professionally and totally committed to the task ahead of him," Saints chairman Eamonn McManus told the club website.
"He has been heavily involved in the success of this season and is ideally placed to carry it on for years to come.
"Not only does he understand our culture, he has been instrumental in its development since the inception of Super League."


A Sikh family was denied entry to Drayton Manor Theme Park after an adult refused to remove his ceremonial dagger, worn as a symbol of his faith.

The family was celebrating their son's sixth birthday and had spent hundreds of pounds on tickets, a friend said.
Mr Singh, from Coventry was in breach of health and safety rules when he refused to exchange his Kirpan for a replacement necklace, the park said.
Sikh elders advised that could be worn as an acceptable substitute, it added.
Kirpans have not been allowed to be worn in the park for "a number of years" because of health and safety risks, the park said, adding, it was "regrettable" the family did not take up their offer and were denied entry.
The dagger, or sword, is one of five Ks initiated, or baptised, Sikhs wear.
The others are Kesh (uncut hair), Kara (a steel bracelet), Kanga (a wooden comb) and Kaccha - also spelt, Kachh, Kachera - (cotton underwear).
More on this and other stories for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire
The family friend described what happened at the park near Tamworth, Staffordshire on 2 June in a blog under the name of The Secret Psychiatrist.
The friend said they were "ashamed" and "disgusted" by the incident that had spoiled a happy family day out.
The Sikh Press Association, which is liaising with the family and a Sikh legal advocacy team, said together they were calling for the park's rules to be changed.
"In this day and age where the Kirpan can be taken into Parliament, it is disappointing to see an amusement park ban this article of faith from their grounds," a spokesman said.
Although Sikhs can choose to substitute their Kirpans, the park's offer devalued what the five Ks meant, he added.
"Sikhs treat them like their own limb.
"The word (Kirpan) means 'a blessing' so it's not just a physical item, and to use something that has probably been lying in a cupboard, it just devalues it."
In a statement the park said as well as consulting Sikhs, an independent health and safety report confirmed that wearing a sheathed dagger, or anything similar, "posed a viable compromise to safety" on a ride.
"It is for this reason that cameras and other similar articles are also forbidden on rides. The same rule applies to all visitors without exception."


Chancellor Philip Hammond has called economic forecasts in the Autumn Statement one of a "range of outcomes" after some pro-Brexit MPs criticised them for being too pessimistic.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast more government borrowing and reductions in economic growth after the referendum.
Ex-minister Iain Duncan Smith accused the OBR of "utter doom and gloom".
But Mr Chancellor Hammond said it was good to prepare for a "rainy day".
He added that the government was investing to boost infrastructure and economic productivity and there was a "downward path in borrowing".
BBC economics editor Kamal Ahmed said the chancellor "hopes that the forecasts do prove very gloomy" and he was "setting a bottom line from which he hopes the government can clamber upwards".
During Wednesday's Autumn Statement, Mr Hammond's first since becoming chancellor, he told MPs the UK's deficit would no longer be cleared by 2020.
And the OBR estimated the government would have to borrow £122bn more than forecast in March's Budget, with the referendum result accounting for £58.7bn of this.
The Brexit vote meant potential growth in the current Parliament would be 2.4% lower than forecast in March, according to the OBR who also admitted producing a forecast was "far from straightforward", as it had not been given any extra information from the government about its negotiation plans.
It said: "We have made a judgement - consistent with most external studies - that over the time horizon of our forecast any likely Brexit outcome would lead to lower trade flows, lower investment and lower net inward migration than we would otherwise have seen, and hence lower potential output."
The organisation said the economy would be affected by future choices that the government makes about regulatory and other policies and it "could move in either a growth-enhancing or a growth-impeding direction".
Asked about the OBR's predictions, the former Work and Pensions Secretary and Leave campaigner Mr Duncan Smith told the Daily Telegraph it was "another utter doom and gloom scenario" from the organisation.
The Economists for Brexit group predicted more "humiliating U-turns" from the OBR, saying it had  "assumed a pessimistic outlook for the UK economy outside the EU, based on bad economic policy-making".
Conservative MP John Redwood, who also supported Brexit, added: "Their [GDP growth] forecast probably is too low, their borrowing forecast is far too high, and we'll get good access to the single market once we're out of the EU."
But Downing Street dismissed the criticism, saying the OBR's role was to "provide transparency and credibility".
She added: "They are an independent forecaster. We won't get into second guessing them."
In his statement, Mr Hammond promised to invest £23bn on "innovation and infrastructure" over the next five years, with more money for roads, broadband and regional development.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There's a downward path in borrowing. We need to keep the downward path on borrowing... But we also need to invest in our economy, to generate the revenue that will drive down the debt."
Describing economic forecasting as "not a precise science", Mr Hammond said of the OBR's forecast: "We should think of it as one of the possible range of outcomes we need to plan for."
He added: "We have a very strong foundation on which to build."
Mr Hammond also said: "We should have a plan which both invests in our economy and puts a little aside for the possibility of a slightly more rainy day next year or the year after."
Uncertainty was "not just about" Brexit but the change of US government when Donald Trump takes office and the growth rate of the Chinese economy, he added.
Labour said the Autumn Statement offered no hope for the future after six "wasted" years.
Among Mr Hammond's announcements were:
The speech also triggered questions about the future of the so-called "triple lock" protection for state pensions, while campaigners criticised the lack of extra funding for social care.
The triple-lock guarantees that state pensions rise by the same as average earnings, the consumer price index, or 2.5%, whichever is the highest.
Mr Hammond said the government would meet this pledge, adding: "But as we look ahead to the next Parliament, we will need to ensure we tackle the challenges of rising longevity and fiscal sustainability."
Former work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb backed a review of the mechanism after 2020.
He told the BBC: "The fiscal impact of the triple lock is not something anyone can dismiss lightly and if we are serious about ensuring that our welfare system remains affordable in the very long term then my own view is that the triple lock has served its purpose and probably needs to get amended, to ensure that we don't have to keep going back to working age families and squeezing the same people's incomes time and again."
Meanwhile health and social care leaders have condemned the statement for a "missed opportunity" to announce new investment.
For Labour, shadow chancellor John McDonnell told BBC One's Breakfast that although he welcomed the government "moving on investment policy" there had been "mismanagement of the economy over the last six years".
"I find it extremely worrying that they've used the last six years with austerity measures and instead of investing they've been cutting, and as a result of that they're unprepared and ill-equipped for Brexit."
The SNP said Mr Hammond had offered little on Brexit, which it called the "elephant in the room".
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: "The government's mishandling of Brexit is hitting those on lower and middle incomes the hardest."
He added that "rhetoric" about helping those "just about managing" had not resulted in action, creating "surprising and massive disappointment".
But UKIP said billions were being wasted by the government "delaying" the UK's exit from the EU.
Plaid Cymru said there was little in the statement to help rebuild the Welsh economy and close the wage gap with England.
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Chancellor George Osborne has delayed his promised budget surplus by a year.

The Office for Budget Responsibility's (OBR) forecasts now predicts a surplus of £10.0bn in 2019-20.
In March, the OBR forecast a surplus of £5.2bn in 2018-19, but that has now been revised to a £6.4bn deficit.
The OBR had described the March Budget plans as a rollercoaster rise because of the cuts in the first two years of the parliament and increased spending in the last two years.
The plans have now been smoothed, with more borrowing in each of the three years following 2015-16.
International organisations such as the OECD had suggested that the government's plans should be smoothed.
In 2016-17, the predicted deficit is up from £39.4bn to £43.1bn, while in 2017-18 it has gone up from £12.8bn to £24.3bn.
Mr Osborne told the House of Commons that his economic aims could be "achieved without a rollercoaster ride", describing his new plans as a "smoother rise to the same destination".
The forecast for the deficit in the current financial year has been cut from £75.3bn to £69.5bn.
Mr Osborne had already cut back the pace of his deficit-cutting in the March Budget, when the surplus in 2019-20 was revised down from £23.1bn to £7.0bn.
In its commentary on the Budget, the OBR said: "The new government has used its first Budget to loosen significantly the impending squeeze on public services spending that had been pencilled in by the coalition in March."
"This is being financed by welfare cuts, net tax increases and three years of higher government borrowing."
There were only moderate changes to the OBR's forecasts of economic growth, which has gone down from 2.5% to 2.4% this year. It is unchanged at 2.3% in 2016, rising from 2.3% to 2.4% in the following two years.
The OBR forecast a rise of one million in the number of people employed in the next five years, but Mr Osborne said he aimed to double that.
July 2015 Budget full BBC online coverage
BBC Budget Live
HM Treasury link to Budget documents


The controversy over the use of the terms 'Derry' and 'Londonderry' surfaces in state papers that have just been released.

The British Government permitted changing the name of the local authority to Derry City Council in 1985.
The council's town clerk was instructed to write to NI Secretary Douglas Hurd.
He asked that staff in government departments be allowed to use 'Derry' or 'Londonderry' in official letters.
In response, Londonderry Unionist Association said it reinforced the claim for a separate district council for the East Bank of the Foyle.
Pat Carvill, a Stormont official, said its real effect was to force council staff and the public to indicate where they stood on the name-change issue.
His advice was that government bodies should employ the current terminology, using Derry City Council, but Londonderry as the postal address.
The controversy over the city's name re-surfaced the following year.
DUP MLA Gregory Campbell protested to David Fell, the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Economic Development in Stormont, about the use of the word 'Derry' in a job advertisement for the local Shantallow Area Workshop.
Writing from the Stormont Assembly on 22 April 1986, Mr Campbell told the official: "As you are probably aware, the way in which advertisements are worded can very often affect the type of people who apply.
"An ad placed in Londonderry with the term 'Derry' is virtually certain to preclude many Protestants from applying."
In this case, it suggested that the business in question was exclusively Catholic.
The MLA said: "Whether or not this is the case I feel a workshop sponsored by the DED ought not to have an incorrect or politically-motivated version of the city's name in the advertisement."
He asked if action could be taken by the department or if he should refer the case to the Fair Employment Agency for investigation.
In a minute on the file, Trevor Pearson of the Stormont Central Secretariat said on 30 April 1986: "The issue of the use of Derry or Londonderry drags on interminably.
"The government position is simply that the correct address is Londonderry and that Derry is used only when referring to the council.
"In the case of bodies funded from public money it is more difficult to apply the policy," he said.
"If a body insists on using Derry as its postal address, the only sanction which the DED can impose is the cutting-off of funds."
He very much doubted if any government department would wish to contemplate such drastic action.


Organisers of the Miss America pageant have apologised to actress Vanessa Williams, 32 years after she was forced to hand back her title.

Williams was the first black woman to be named Miss America in 1983 but resigned after a magazine published nude photos of her without her consent.
"I want to apologise for anything that was said or done," said Miss America CEO Sam Haskell.
A tearful Williams called the statement "unexpected" and "beautiful".
Now 52, she has forged a career as an actress, with major roles in Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives.
She also scored a global hit in 1992 with the ballad Save the Best for Last; and her recording of Colors of the Wind from Disney's Pocahontas soundtrack earned her a Golden Globe, a Grammy and an Oscar for best original song.
The New Yorker won Miss America in September 1983 but, months later, the pageant's executive committee voted unanimously to request that she resign after Penthouse magazine published naked photographs she had posed for several years earlier,
Williams remains the only title-holder who was asked to resign in the pageant's history.
She was invited back to the competition this year by Chairman Sam Haskell, who asked her to serve as head judge.
Before the competition started, he invited her on stage to receive the apology.
"I have been a close friend to this beautiful and talented lady for 32 years," he told the audience. "You have lived your life in grace and dignity, and never was it more evident than during the events of 1984 when you resigned.
"Though none of us currently in the organization were involved then, on behalf of today's organization, I want to apologize to you and to your mother, Miss Helen Williams."
He continued: "I want to apologize for anything that was said or done that made you feel any less than the Miss America you are and the Miss America you always will be."
The audience gave Williams a standing ovation and TV coverage showed her mother on the verge of tears.
"Thank you so much, Sam, so unexpected but so beautiful," said the actress.
"I did the best that I could as Miss America in 1983 to 84," she said.
"On behalf of my family, my mother in particular; [publicist] Brian Edwards, who orchestrated this entire thing to bring me back; and your leadership, your integrity and you bringing this pageant back to what it ought to be. I love you. I love the girls. And I'm so honoured to be back."
Williams then returned to her seat and helped select the new Miss America - 21-year-old Betty Cantrell of Georgia.


Pakistan has shut down several religious schools run by the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, Punjab province's law minister has said.

Fourteen people were arrested in a police raid on a mosque and seminary near the city of Daska, officials said.
The closures follow arrests this week of several members of the group, which India says was behind the recent assault on the Pathankot air base.
Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Maulana Masood Azhar is among those being held.
Seven Indian soldiers and six militants were killed in the gun battle at Pathankot, which lasted four days when heavily-armed gunmen entered the base dressed in Indian army uniforms.
The attack came days after the Indian and Pakistani leaders, Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif, met in Lahore to launch a surprise peace initiative.
Pakistan in the aftermath of the attack said that it would take action against Mr Azhar's group whose headquarters are in Punjab province.
India has repeatedly accused the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of providing militants with a sanctuary.
"Officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department raided the Jamiatul Nur seminary in the Daska area on Thursday and arrested more than a dozen people," Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told the Reuters news agency.
"The seminary has been sealed off and documents and literature have been confiscated from the premises."
Mr Sanaullah said other offices and seminaries administered by Jaish-e-Mohammad were also raided and closed, in addition to numerous arrests.
The law minister in a TV interview on Thursday said that Mr Azhar had been taken into "protective custody" prior to a decision being taken as to whether he should face legal action for his involvement in the Pathankot attack.
He said such a move would only be taken if it were proved "beyond doubt".
There has been no response so far from Jaish-e-Mohammad to the latest raids.
India on Thursday announced that it would re-schedule diplomatic talks with Pakistan which were postponed after the Pathankot attack.
It is not clear if any action has been taken by Pakistan against Jaish-e-Mohammad's two major seminaries in Bahawalpur, which many say serve as the group's headquarters.
Started by Muslim cleric Maulana Masood Azhar, Jaish-e-Mohammed has been blamed for attacks on Indian soil in the past, including one in 2001 on the parliament in Delhi which took the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war.


New Glamorgan captain Michael Hogan says he is trying to bring more "structure" to his team after winning his first two games as official Championship captain.

Previous captain Jacques Rudolph stood down from the four-day leader's role.
Glamorgan have defeated Durham and Worcestershire following two opening defeats and two draws in their Division Two campaign.
"It's a method in how we approach the game," said Hogan.
"We had a bit of freedom in the past to go out and play how we feel. We're asking for more of a structured innings or bowling performance."
South African batsman Rudolph, 36, who will retire at the end of the 2017 season, hit his first Championship century since 2015 to help spark Glamorgan's comeback at Worcester.
But fast bowler Hogan is not ready to discuss a push for the top of the division, with four sides having already notched up four victories.
"So far we've had two good games but it's a work in progress" Hogan added.
"It was a slow start to the season, we're looking for improvement and we can assess in August where we're at."
Croft calls for 'resilience'
Coach Robert Croft says the handover of the captaincy has worked smoothly with both men influential in the Worcestershire victory.
"It's the right time because it's fitted into people's lives, they're both performing and working as a team of captain and senior player with advice" he told BBC Wales Sport.
The former England spinner believes "resilience" is the key word in the Welsh county's recovery.
"It comes down to the word resilience, it's about making sure that when you do bat you understand your role in the team," he said.
"Part of that is resilience, particularly against the new ball when things are more in the bowler's favour, and playing each ball on its merit.
"Earlier in the season we weren't playing the ball on its merit, whereas now we have done in the last few games, though there were a couple of slack shots (in the first innings at Worcester)."
Dutch duties
Fast bowler Timm van der Gugten will miss Glamorgan's match against Durham starting on Monday, 19 June because of commitments with the Netherlands.
South African paceman Marchant de Lange, who was rested at Worcester, is expected to replace him.


London-based Inmarsat, which provides mobile satellite telecommunications, has launched its latest spacecraft.

Alphasat I-XL rode an Ariane 5 to orbit, lifting clear of the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana at 16:54 local time (19:54 GMT) on Thursday.
The satellite is the product of a major public-private partnership involving Inmarsat and the European Space Agency.
The 6.6-tonne Alphasat incorporates a host of new technologies that should benefit both parties.
Thursday's Ariane flight lasted just over half an hour and saw the rocket deploy a second satellite,  also - INSAT-3D, a meteorology mission for India.
Alphasat represents the first test of a new heavyweight class of chassis, or bus, that will allow European manufacturers to make telecoms spacecraft that weigh up to 8.8 tonnes with a power output of 22kW.
This has led some to refer to the Alphasat design as the "A380 of space".
For Inmarsat, the most important aspect of the new satellite is the inclusion of an advanced digital signal processor made in Portsmouth in southern England.
This processor, allied to the platform's smart 11m by 13m antenna system, can channel significant bandwidth and power on to specific locations on the ground.
It will ensure Inmarsat's L-band radio-frequency allocation is used in the most efficient way possible. It should also be much more responsive to customers' varying demands, be they big TV companies, shipping concerns, airlines, the armed forces, or any group that uses on-the-go telecommunications in remote areas.
"Agility is key to this kind of satellite," says Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat's CEO.
"Its technology will work into the mid-2020s and beyond, which is a challenging thing for an operator to back because you have to figure out how you can make that technology relevant for so long. That's why the flexibility in Alphasat is so important."
Inmarsat has invested £240m ($370m/280m euros) in the project. Esa has put up about £320m ($490m/340m euros). The French space agency, the other big institutional partner on the venture, has also made a considerable financial outlay.
In addition to its commercial duties, Alphasat has a number of experimental payloads to test.
The most noteworthy of these is a laser-based communications system.
Developed in Germany, this technology will form the basis of Europe's forthcoming orbital data relay system, which will permit gigabit connections between Earth observation satellites and the ground.
Alphasat will validate the laser terminal by downlinking pictures from the EU's Sentinel-1a radar spacecraft when it launches next year.
"We will use the Alphasat terminal with Sentinel-1a to check all the functionality is there. Then we will deploy the full European Data Relay System," says Magali Vaissière, Esa's top telecoms official now based at Harwell in the UK.
Alphasat was built in a collaboration between Europe's two big satellite manufacturers - Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. They will both be able to offer the new big bus in their product lines.
Quite how much demand there will be remains to be seen. When Alphasat was first envisaged, there was a trend towards ever bigger telecommunications satellites.  That trend may have stalled with telecoms operators currently showing interest in spacecraft that can be sized to launch on smaller,  cheaper rockets.
"This bus will not form a major part of the market; it is really just for the top end, for those who need a lot of processing power and flexibility. But we have a number of possibilities we are discussing right now," says Eric Béranger,  who heads up satellite production at Astrium.
Both Alphasat and INSAT-3D must raise their obits in the coming days to their final orbital slots. For Alphasat, this is some 36,000km above the equator at 25 degrees East. The spacecraft must also deploy its antenna, umbrella style. This is a critical event. Without this equipment, Alphasat has no mission.


The British man being held hostage by self-styled Islamic State fighters in Syria is 44-year-old David Haines.

The father of two from Perth has more than 15 years' experience with a number of humanitarian agencies.
He has worked on projects in Libya, South Sudan and the former Yugoslavia.
He was taken hostage alongside an Italian aid worker in Syria last March - barely two weeks into his posting with a French relief agency, ACTED.
The pair had been working in the Atmeh refugee camp in the Idlib province, close to the Turkish border, supplying water, food and tents.
Mr Haines's Italian colleague, Federico Motka, was released in May this year.
Mr Haines attended the Perth Academy in Scotland.
Since 1999 he has held a number of positions with aid agencies around the world.
He worked with a German charity on post-war reconstruction projects in Croatia, including housing and demining. He was also involved in efforts to help displaced people to return to their homes.
In 2011 he became Head of Mission in Libya for Handicap International.
The following year he joined another agency, the Nonviolence Peaceforce (NP), and went to South Sudan.
There, he and other NP staff worked as unarmed civilian peacekeepers.
The NP has issued a statement since Mr Haines's name emerged in the public domain, saying it joined people around the world in pleas, thoughts and calls for his safe release.
Mr Haines's parents live in Ayr.


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England centre Henry Slade says he has finally put his injury problems behind him after helping Exeter beat Wasps to reach their first Premiership final.

Slade broke his leg and dislocated his ankle against the same opponents in December, but returned two months ago.
"The first few games, I think I came back expecting to pick up where I left off and was getting frustrated by not being up to the form of pre-injury.
"I think it took a few games to get my confidence back," Slade told BBC Sport.
"But this game and the last game I haven't thought about it at all so that's definitely a massive positive in my head and I now feel I'm completely over it."
Having lost kicking duties and the number 10 shirt to Gareth Steenson this season, Slade impressed at outside centre before his injury, although he did not score a try until the massive win at Harlequins on the final day of the regular season.
"I had the same expectations of myself, and it was disappointing not quite being able to put it to the back of my mind and not being able to do it," he said.
"I had a lot of chats with the coaches on how I'm going to get through it and I just went back to basics and just focused on my job."
Exeter's win over Wasps means they will face European champions Saracens with the Premiership title at stake, just six years after reaching the game's top-flight.
And while the Chiefs may be underdogs, the players are confident they can win the domestic game's biggest prize.
"Maybe we're surprising other people, but internally as a squad and with the coacher and everyone behind us as well, there is a massive expectation for us and we know we have a lot of confidence in our ability and we've just got to show that next week," Slade added.
"I know Saracens have done the double on us this year, but we did the double on them last year.
"We definitely know we can beat them. At the end of the day it is another game of rugby, but there's massive stakes on the line and we've just got to go for it."


America Movil, which is owned by the world's richest man Carlos Slim, has offered 7.2bn euros ($9.6bn; Â£6.2bn) for the 70% of Dutch telecoms company KPN it does not already own.

The bid is widely seen as a challenge to last month's offer from Telefonica for KPN's German arm E-Plus.
E-Plus has a 15% stake in the German mobile market. The bid for it was backed by KPN's management.
Movil's 2.40 euros-a-share offer is 20% above Thursday's closing share price.
It is much lower than the 8 euros per share that Mr Slim paid in May last year for his original stake.
But it is considerably higher than the 1.60 euros at which the shares were trading in July before Telefonica announced its bid.
A KPN spokesman said the company was studying America Movil's offer.
KPN's shares have been falling sharply in recent years as the introduction of smartphones has eaten into its margins in the Netherlands, where it has a 40% share of the market.
The company has taken on a lot of debt as a result of paying more than expected to the Dutch government in an auction of fourth generation mobile phone licences.
Mr Slim has topped the Forbes list of the world's richest people for the past four years, with an estimated wealth of $73bn (Â£49bn).
America Movil, the Latin America mobile phone operator, is his most valuable asset, but he also has industrial, mining, financial, retail and real estate assets.
Buying the KPN stake was America Movil's first venture into Europe. It has since bought a 24% stake in Telekom Austria.


The number of people who could contract cancer from asbestos poisoning in London's hospitals is a "ticking time bomb", it has been claimed.

BBC London has found 94% of hospitals in the capital contain asbestos.
About 1,000 people have died from mesothelioma since 2011 in London, seven of which were doctors and nurses.
The Unite union and a leading lawyer in asbestos claims both say the figure is increasing, but the Health and Safety Executive said hospitals were safe.
White asbestos, the type used in hospitals to protect piping, has been deemed safe as long as it is not disturbed.
But Jerry Swain, acting national instructor for Unite's construction centre, and lawyer Isobel Lovett, who has dealt with asbestos cases for 17 years, have both described the number of people who are developing mesothemelioma as a "ticking time bomb".
Source: Doctor Peter Szlosarek, consultant oncologist at Barts Hospital who is studying mesothemelioma
"White asbestos in hospitals is still a danger - there's no safe form of asbestos," said Ms Lovett. "There's no safe level of dust to which you can be exposed. All asbestos dust, once breathed in, presents a hazard."
She added that while the source of white asbestos remains in hospitals, there was always a danger that someone could inadvertently disturb it in some way and release the dangerous fibres.
Mr Swain added: "It's very hard to imagine a killer being safe. Asbestos is a known killer, people are dying from it. The only safe asbestos is asbestos that's been removed.
"If we're going to leave asbestos in places, we have to be aware that we are taking a conscious decision and that people will die."
He said a plan was needed to eradicate it because some workers may be unaware of the dangers.
Juliet Cohen, whose husband Andrew Lawson was an anaesthetist and specialised in intensive care medicine and chronic pain management, claimed he was exposed to asbestos walking through the underground tunnels linking hospital buildings at Guys and St Thomas Hospital when he trained there between 1976-82.
He died in 2014, seven years after being diagnosed with mesothemelioma.
"At the time there was asbestos lagging in poor repair in these underground tunnels linking hospital buildings," she said.
"It means that every single person walking through was exposed on a daily basis. The risks of asbestos were well known at the time, that is something that is completely indefensible."
She said her husband was contacted "on a daily basis" by doctors and nurses who were concerned about their exposure.
Ms Cohen added that all the health trusts knew about the dangers of asbestos.
"They simply failed to take enough action to remove the risk for people who work there," she added.
The hospital said the asbestos in the basement area which Dr Lawson was exposed to was removed in the 1990s.
The government has not yet responded to the BBC's requests for a comment.


Police are treating the death of an Irish woman found near a beach in the southern Indian state of Goa as murder.

Danielle McLaughlin's body was discovered in an isolated spot close to tourist resorts in Canacona on Tuesday.
Ms McLaughlin, who was 28, and grew up in Buncrana, County Donegal, suffered injuries on her face and head.
Police are treating her death as murder. A post-mortem examination has taken place to establish if she was sexually assaulted.
Police said a 24-year-old man has been arrested and remains in custody.
Ms McLaughlin, who had dual Irish and British citizenship and had lived in Liverpool, travelled to India using a British passport.
'Happy-go-lucky person'
Suresh Velip, head constable at Goa Police, said Ms McLaughlin's body was found in a remote area near Deobagh Beach in Canacona on Tuesday morning.
He said a post-mortem examination had been carried out. Details of the findings have not been made public.
Fr Francis Bradley from St Mary's Church in Buncrana, who visited the McLaughlin family on Wednesday morning, described the death as an "immense loss".
"Her family are understandably distraught at what has happened," Fr Bradley told BBC Radio Foyle.
"They are a family who have suffered a lot of loss over the last number of years, her mother in particular.
"The loss is immense and the circumstances of that death, the distance between where it happened and where the family are, adds to the difficulty that the family feel at this time."
Fr Bradley described Ms McLaughlin as a "happy-go-lucky" girl who loved to travel.
"I met the young lady in question a few months ago at the time that her grandfather was gravely ill and she was very close to her grandfather, who subsequently died.
"She seemed a happy go-lucky, friendly, quiet girl.
"To find that there could be malice or something very sinister involved in the way in which someone died is particularly disturbing and has its own challenge that we, as a community, will have to face," he added.
Ms McLaughlin went to Buncrana's Irish language school, Scoil Mhuire.
The school principal, Rosaleen Grant, said teachers and pupils alike were "just utterly shattered and devastated".
"She was a very confident, sociable, outgoing girl of a very caring nature," said Ms Grant.
"A number of the staff would have known her really well, so it's just the sense of loss and the fact she's so far from home makes it so tragic.
"She loved taking part in school musicals, she did Irish dancing, she was involved in sports and athletics. She was just an all-rounder really."
Liverpool John Moores University said it was "shocked and saddened" to hear of the death of one of its former students.
Michael Safi, the Guardian's South Asia correspondent, said a candlelit vigil has been held in Goa, close to the spot where Ms McLaughlin was found.
"The murder has left people "absolutely shocked," he told the BBC.
"This is not the first crime to occur of this nature in Goa. The place is a big tourist engine for India. For the locals, there was concern this could impact very badly on their little slice of paradise.
"Many locals gathered with tourists at the nearby police station in order to put pressure on police to ensure people are watched and to get this case investigated thoroughly."
The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed it was in close contact with the British consulate.
"The Irish Embassy is liaising closely with the British authorities and an Irish consular official is travelling from New Delhi to Goa today," said a spokesperson.
The Foreign Office said they are liaising closely with Indian police.
"We are supporting the family of a British-Irish woman following her death in Goa, India. Our thoughts are with them at this very difficult time," a spokesman said.
Last year, an Indian court cleared two men of raping and killing British teenager Scarlett Keeling.
The 15-year-old was found dead on Goa's popular Anjuna beach in 2008, having drowned after allegedly being plied with drugs.
Miss Keeling's mother said her heart sank after hearing of Ms McLaughlin's death.
"It is horrific," Fiona MacKeown said.  "My heart breaks for her family and friends.
"I know what they are going through."


One of the 21st Century's grand scientific undertakings has begun its quest to view the "Cosmic Dawn".

The Atacama large milllimetre/submillimetre array (Alma) in Chile is the largest, most complex telescope ever built.
Alma's purpose is to study processes occurring a few hundred million years after the formation of the Universe when the first stars began to shine.
Its work should help explain why the cosmos looks the way it does today.
One of Alma's scientific operations astronomers, Dr Diego Garcia, said that the effective switching on of the giant telescope ushered in a "new golden age of astronomy".
"We are going to be able to see the beginning of the Universe, how the first galaxies were formed. We are going to learn so much more about how the Universe works," he told BBC News.
Alma consists of an array of linked giant antennas on top of the highest plateau in the Atacama desert, close to Chile's border with Bolivia.
It has been under construction since 2003. With the addition of new antennas, the telescope has been able to see progressively deeper into the cosmos and discern star formation processes in ever greater detail.
The full testing and commissioning of its 20th antenna has enabled Alma to record events that have never been seen before. It is now that the first scientific discoveries can be made.
As a taster of what is to come, the European Southern Observatory, one of the organisations that run the facility, has released the first images taken by Alma. They show - perhaps appropriately for the occasion - the collision of two galaxies known as the Antennae Galaxies.
These colossal collections of stars can be seen using optical telescopes, such as the Hubble Space Telescope. But Alma, which gathers light that is not visible to the eye, is able to pick out clouds of dense cold gas from which new stars form.
The images show concentrations of the star-forming gas at the centres of each galaxy and also in the chaotic region where they are colliding. It is here that new stars and planets will be born.
The image was taken using just 12 antennas. The sharpness and resolution of images will increase dramatically as more antennas are added. The aim is for Alma to have 66 antennas by 2013.
So what do the researchers hope to discover?
Alma observes light at millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelengths. It is at these wavelengths that astronomers can make out the swirling gas that came together in the very early Universe, more than 13 billion years ago, to form the very first stars to shine in the Universe.
Cosmologists have their theories of what happened at this time. Now, astronomers will be able to literally see for themselves whether these theories are correct.
Alma will also enable them to see the formation of planets around distant stars. One of the early projects is the study of a very young star called AU Microscopii which is just 1% the age of our own Sun.
It is thought that it has a "birth ring" of matter around it that is in the process of coalescing into planets.
Astronomers are also studying processes around another young star 400-light-years away, given the functional designation HD 142527 that may be forming up to a dozen Jupiter-sized planets.
Another intriguing project is to study the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy known as Sagittarius A. Dust prevents it from being seen by optical telescopes - but using Alma, astronomers will be able to see this mysterious object in unprecedented detail.
In addition, a Japanese team plans to use Alma to study another cosmic oddity: a dazzlingly bright galaxy called Himiko, creating the equivalent of 100 Suns each year, while around it little else is happening.
It is hoped that Alma can show the processes occurring deep inside Himiko's star-forming nebula.
But as well as being scientifically ambitious, the project is an incredible feat of engineering. The man leading the European Southern Observatory's efforts to construct the array, Pascal Martinez, described Alma as the "Pyramids of the 21st Century".
He tells me: "The sheer scale of the engineering project, its technical complexity and what this hardware will achieve in terms of our understanding is really at the cutting edge and a tribute to humanity."
Mr Martinez's job is to supervise the assembly of antennas on Alma's lower site, which is still at very high altitude - nearly 3,000m above sea level.
Each antenna is carefully put together from components shipped in from a number of high-tech companies around the globe, and then carefully transported up the plateau to the "high site" on giant 28-wheeled transport vehicles. The antennas are then placed on to their slots and connected to the rest of the array.
Alongside the European assembly site are the Japanese and North American astronomy agencies also assembling their antennas as part of their contribution to this huge international project.
Each agency, in friendly rivalry, claims that their design of antenna works best. But although the European, Japanese and North American systems each look subtley different, they do exactly the same job.
In collaboration with the Republic of Chile, each international partner has helped construct a new generation of telescope that has now begun to probe deeply into the origins of the early Universe.


Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo beat Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares to win the men's doubles final of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

The third-seeded Croatian and Brazilian beat the second-seeded Scot and Brazilian in straight sets 6-4 6-4.
Rain had forced a lengthy delay with Murray and Soares a break of serve down at 4-3 in the first set.
Murray will team up with his brother, two-time Wimbledon champion Andy, 29, at the Rio Olympics.
Meanwhile, the victorious Melo will play in his home Olympics alongside Soares.
You can now add tennis alerts in the BBC Sport app - simply head to the menu and My Alerts section


Winning the Europa League is now Manchester United's "easiest route" into next season's Champions League, according to manager Louis van Gaal.

Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Sunderland means United remain six points adrift of the Premier League top four.
Asked afterwards if United can still make the Champions League places, Van Gaal said: "It will be very difficult.
"After this match, the Europa League is our best route but it will not be easy because there are so many good teams."
Since last season, the winners of the Europa League have been rewarded with a place in either the Champions League final qualifying stage or the group stage.
United play the first leg of their Europa League last-32 tie against Danish side FC Midtjylland on Thursday.
They play Shrewsbury in the FA Cup next weekend and do not return to Premier League action until 28 February when they play third-placed Arsenal at Old Trafford.
Van Gaal says he has not given up hope of matching United's fourth-place finish from his first campaign in charge, but has warned his squad that it now looks unlikely.
"We have given five points away against Chelsea and now Sunderland, so it is too much at this time," he added.
"I have said that also to the players, because you cannot close your eyes to it. It is still possible but the Europa League is easier I think.
"It is also not so easy, because there is also a fantastic level in that competition, so we will have to fight for it."


The creator of the "beehive" hairstyle, made popular by many famous women, has died aged 98.

Margaret Vinci Heldt "peacefully" died from heart failure in Illinois on Friday, her family has confirmed.
The cone-shaped hairdo was popular among first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and actress Audrey Hepburn in the 1960s.
Heldt ran a salon in Chicago, where she was born, and first debuted the hairstyle for a magazine cover in 1960.
According to the Chicago History Museum, Heldt attended the Columbia College of Hairdressing before opening her own salon.
"She had a zest for life, the most positive attitude," her daughter Carlene Ziegler told Reuters. "She was the life of the party right up to her last days."
In pictures: Best of the beehives
The mannequin Heldt used to make the hairstyle can be seen at the Chicago History Museum.
According to the museum, Heldt wanted the hairstyle to fit under the fez hat, using the hat's shape as an inspiration.
Others who enjoyed the hairstyle including cartoon mother from TV programme The Simpsons, Marge Simpson, music group The Supremes, rock band the B-52s actress Brigitte Bardot and even Beyonce.
English singer Mari Wilson, a famous exponent of the hairstyle, told the BBC World Service that late British singer Amy Winehouse was her favourite beehive-wearer, though hers was a wig.
Wilson said she also loved the women of the 1960s who wore the hairstyle.
"There's something lovely about taking time over your appearance," she said. "It's like not leaving the house without your lipstick."
BBC World Service - The beauty of the beehive


Europe is struggling with its biggest migration crisis since World War Two, with unprecedented numbers of refugees and other migrants seeking asylum in the EU.

The 28 EU interior ministers will hold an emergency meeting on the crisis on 14 September. July was a record month, with more than 100,000 reaching the EU's borders.
But it is proving difficult to get agreement on joint action, as migration pressure varies from country to country. What are the biggest obstacles to a solution?
Free movement arguments
The EU core principle of free movement - embodied in the passport-free Schengen area - is in dispute.
UK Home Secretary Theresa May called the EU migration system "broken", saying the Schengen system had "exacerbated" the problem of large-scale irregular migration.
The UK and Ireland are not in Schengen, but nearly all of their EU partners are, as well as some non-EU countries.
Nationalists across Europe, such as the National Front (FN) in France and Italy's Northern League, also blame Schengen for the ease with which many migrants have travelled from southern to northern Europe.
But the governments in France and Germany are among those who value Schengen for its contribution to the European economy. Schengen makes it easier for firms to hire workers from other EU countries, or to post workers abroad.
The principle of free movement also has huge symbolic value for the EU. East Europeans embraced it eagerly after decades of communism, when travel to the West was impossible for most ordinary citizens.
But Schengen members can re-impose border controls temporarily for national security reasons, for example if they face an extraordinary surge of migrants. There is pressure in the EU now to give authorities more discretion to do that.
Why do Europe's political leaders seem unable to act?
Arguments over barriers
Hungary, which is in the Schengen zone, has built a 175km (110-mile) razor-wire fence 4m (13ft) high along its border with Serbia, which is outside the area.
The barrier will be strengthened in the coming weeks, but it is highly controversial. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius criticised it, in remarks rejected by the Hungarian government as "shocking and groundless".
In the first quarter of 2015 Hungary became a new migration hotspot, as thousands of asylum seekers saw it as an easier gateway to northern Europe.
Of the 32,810 asylum applicants in Hungary in that period 70% were from Kosovo. Most Kosovans are fleeing dire poverty, rather than political or religious persecution, so in most cases their asylum claims are rejected.
But now, many of those reaching the fence have fled the war in Syria and have legitimate asylum claims.
Trainloads of migrants are heading for Austria and Germany from Budapest - and Hungary's neighbours worry that it has merely shifted the problem on to them.
Bulgaria - not in Schengen - has also put up a razor-wire fence on its border with Turkey, to keep migrants out.
Spain's small territories of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa are similarly fenced off.
The UK's investment in extra border security at Calais, in northern France, is less controversial, as the UK is not in Schengen and migrants have been risking their lives jumping on to lorries and trains.
But it suggests a growing "fortress Europe" attitude in the EU, contradicting the liberal values on which the EU was founded. Many Europeans cherish their hard-won democratic freedoms, and oppose the creation of new border fences.
Many also argue that, instead of erecting barriers, the EU should do more to tackle the people-traffickers who make huge profits from migrants' misery.
Quota disagreements
EU ministers have rejected binding quotas for the distribution of refugees, despite the difficulties faced by Greece, Italy and Hungary. They are the main entry points for migrants crossing the Mediterranean and the Balkans.
The European Commission urged EU governments to accept a mandatory "distribution key" to resettle 40,000 Syrian and Eritrean refugees. Instead, they agreed to accept 32,500 on a voluntary basis.
The UK has opted out of any quota system, amid a widespread hardening of attitudes towards immigration.
There are tensions in the EU over the whole European asylum policy, because of the disproportionate burden faced by some countries.
The EU is trying to adapt the rules to deal with the crisis, but politicians want to see rapid progress, not just long-term plans.
The controversial Dublin Regulation is under review, and Germany has stopped abiding by it.
Under Dublin, the EU country where an asylum seeker first arrives has a duty to process their claim. So if that migrant moves elsewhere in the EU he/she can be sent back to where they first arrived.
Extra EU help has been promised for the countries most in need. Of the €2.4bn (£1.7bn; $2.7bn) approved for the next six years, Italy is to get nearly €560m and Greece €473m.
The UK, France and Germany have called for migrants to be fingerprinted and registered when they arrive in Italy and Greece.
But the migration hotspots need more EU help, as their reception centres are overcrowded.
Burden-sharing is a divisive topic. Germany accepted by far the largest number of asylum claims last year and expects to see as many as 800,000 this year.
Sweden had the second-highest number, yet it has a far smaller population than the UK, which accepted fewer asylum seekers.
There are calls for eastern European countries to take in more asylum seekers. Slovakia argues that most migrants will still move to richer countries, where wages and welfare are better.
Arguments over conflict zones
Many Europeans are calling for much greater EU efforts to end the conflicts in Syria, Libya, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan that are fuelling the exodus of refugees.
The UK government is among those arguing that the EU aid budget can help stem the flow of poor and desperate migrants seeking a better life in Europe.
The UK says it is contributing generously to refugee welfare in countries bordering on Syria, which are housing far more Syrian refugees than the EU. Most refugees, it is argued, want to go home as soon as peace and stability are restored.
And projects to ease poverty in sub-Saharan Africa can help to stem the considerable exodus from there.
But critics of the UK stance say those are longer-term goals, whereas the crisis demands urgent action and co-operation among all 28 member states.
Improving the economic prospects of young people in the Western Balkans - still recovering from war - could help stem the migrant surge from there.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says the EU should do much more to raise living standards in poor Balkan countries, which are negotiating to join the EU.
Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kosovo are all experiencing an outflow of frustrated citizens seeking a better life in the EU.
But EU countries cannot agree on the amount of aid those countries should get. There are fears that corruption could undermine aid projects - something that has bedevilled Kosovo.
Nationalist arguments
Nationalist parties and movements have played a big role in hardening attitudes towards immigration.
Far-right Jobbik won 20% of the vote in Hungary's 2014 parliamentary elections, making it the most successful anti-immigration party in Europe.
But even in the powerful, long-standing EU member states many mainstream politicians have taken a tough stance towards migrants.
The UK Conservatives are urging new EU rules to limit migrants' access to welfare benefits. The UK Independence Party, demanding strict border controls and exit from the EU, also has a strong following.
France's National Front has wooed many voters away from right and left. Meanwhile, ruling coalitions have done deals with the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) in the Netherlands and the Danish People's Party (DPP) in Denmark. In Finland, the nationalist Finns have entered government.
In neighbouring Sweden, which has an open-door policy towards Syrian refugees, support for the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats has soared to almost 20%.
Even in Germany - seen as profoundly loyal to EU values - nationalists and Eurosceptics have staged anti-immigrant marches, under the banner of Pegida, and have been elected to regional assemblies.
Insecurity about migrants is widespread in a Europe blighted by unemployment and welfare cuts. So politicians are anxious not to appear "soft" on immigration. It means less hospitality towards migrants, even genuine refugees.


A council's leader and deputy leader have resigned from their roles, blaming "political games" and "bickering" among colleagues.

Jonathan Bacon and Steve Stubbings said the "damaging behaviour" of Isle of Wight councillors was "overwhelming" efforts to deal with government cuts.
Mr Bacon said a lack of support had made his position "intolerable".
He led the council for two years despite his independent group having no overall majority.
In a resignation statement, Mr Bacon said: "We now have a situation amongst elected members where party politics and ego are being put before the concerns and issues of island people."
In October, Mr Bacon reversed a council vote against devolution, saying a £900m deal to set up a new authority for the Solent area was the only way to address the authority's "perilous financial state", following budget cuts of more than £50m over the previous five years.
Announcing his own resignation, former deputy leader Steve Stubbings said the devolution deal had been "effectively withdrawn" by the government.
But a deal partner, Portsmouth Council leader Donna Jones, said the claim was untrue and she hoped a deal would be announced in the budget in March.
Another member of the island council's six-person executive, Gordon Kendall, has also announced his resignation. He was the member responsible for major contract management and car parking.
Conservative group leader Dave Stewart said he would hold talks with other parties to form a "caretaker cross-party administration" ahead of elections in May.
"It's clear the independent administration has been in disarray for some time now, and it was proving increasingly ineffective in even adequately running the council's services," he added.


(Close): London's benchmark index, the FTSE 100, closed marginally higher on Wednesday, gaining 4.65 points in late trading to close at 6336.48.

The FTSE had fallen earlier in the day, with investors concerned about the continued plunge of the rouble.
However the index strengthened on news of the Russian central bank's pledge to provide additional capital to the country's banks, if necessary.
Figures showing a rise in UK wage growth also cheered investors.
The price of Brent Crude oil, which has been falling for weeks, recovered by almost 4% late on Wednesday, reaching $62.32 a barrel.
Shares in oil firms Tullow Oil, BP, and BG Group all rose more than 3% as a result, with Royal Dutch Shell 'B' rising by 2.9%.
Meanwhile British Airways owner IAG fell by 4%.
Dixons Carphone rose 3% after it reported a 30% rise in underlying half-year profits.
The firm, which owns the PC World and Currys chains as well as Carphone Warehouse, said its UK and Ireland business had enjoyed a "barnstorming performance".
All eyes will be on the US Federal Reserve later when it announces the results of its latest meeting.
There is speculation that the US central bank will end its commitment to keep interest rates low for a "considerable period", suggesting a rate rise is moving closer.
On the currency markets, the pound fell 0.55% against the dollar to $1.5664 and rose 0.16% against the euro to â‚¬1.2609.


Van Morrison has marked his 70th birthday with two concerts on Cyprus Avenue in east Belfast.

Around 3,000 people attended the shows, which were held on the street he immortalised in the album Astral Weeks.
The concerts are the climax of the EastSide Arts Festival and fans travelled from across the world to attend the gigs.
Morrison played hits including Moondance, Brown Eyed Girl and Baby Please Don't Go.
Among the thousands in the crowd were politicians and celebrities, including Robert Pattinson, Kim Cattrall and crime writer Ian Rankin.
Rick Haught, 57, from Eugene, Oregon, travelled to Belfast with his wife Carla for the first concert.
"I'd be lying if I told you when I stepped onto Cyprus Avenue I didn't get goosebumps," he said.
"I always wanted to see Van in Belfast, but to see him on his birthday on this street is something special."
Morrison was born a short distance from Cyprus Avenue, on Hyndford Street, on 31 August 1945.
He has described the avenue as a "very mystical place".
"It was a whole avenue lined with trees and I found it a place where I could think," he said.
Cyprus Avenue is best known for a pair of songs from his 1968 album Astral Weeks.
The song Cyprus Avenue closes side one of the album, while the street is also mentioned in the famous opening to Madame George on side two.
You can listen back to Van Morrison's first Cyprus Avenue concert on BBC Radio Ulster online, while BBC One Northern Ireland will screen it on Friday 4 September at 22:35 BST.


British gymnast Ruby Harrold, who competed at the Rio Olympics, has ended her Team GB career, aged 20.

Harrold, part of the British team that came fifth in the women's all-around final in Rio, will compete for a US college team instead.
She also secured team all-around gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, as well as silver in the individual all-around and bronze on the bars.
"I've grown more as a person than I ever thought I would," Harrold tweeted.
"Special thank you to all the girls in the GB squad," said Harrold, who first started competing for GB in 2010. "You've helped make the tough times manageable and the great times unforgettable."


Surrey have agreed a deal to sign Somerset all-rounder James Burke on a two-year contract.

The 23-year-old former England youth international, who also plays Minor Counties cricket for Devon, will move to The Oval at the end of this season.
Burke's sole first-class appearance for Somerset came in 2012 but he featured in three T20 Blast matches this summer.
"James is a genuine all-rounder of great potential," Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart said.


An infants and nursery school in Torfaen has reopened 10 days after it was gutted by fire.

The blaze broke out at Coed Eva Primary School, in Cwmbran, at about 02:25 GMT on New Year's Day.
Most pupils returned on Monday, though nursery children will have to wait until 25 January when temporary classrooms will have been installed.
Six people, including four teenage boys, arrested in connection with the fire have been released on bailed.


Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald says there has been no approach from Swindon Town and "it would need to be a good offer" to prise him from Firhill.

BBC Scotland understands Archibald is on a shortlist of candidates for the English League One club's vacancy.
But Archibald said: "We've not heard a thing. That's all it is - speculation.
"Regardless, I'm in a good place here, there's a good structure at the club and we've had our highest finish in a long time."
The 39-year-old is the longest-serving manager in Scotland's top flight and was on the four-man shortlist for the PFA Scotland manager of the year, won by Celtic's Brendan Rodgers.
Swindon are looking to replace Luke Williams, who left the Wiltshire outfit last week after they were relegated.
"There's nothing to report; the club put out a statement saying something similar," said Archibald.
"We just move on and get on with work as normal. I would need to wait and see if there's an approach made.
"There's not been, as far as I'm aware. I'm not going to talk about it unless there's something to speak about."
Archibald was approached by Shrewsbury Town in October but decided he had "unfinished business" with Thistle.
While Shrewsbury avoided relegation from League One, Swindon will be dropping down a division.
However, Archibald would not be drawn on whether that made the Robins a less attractive prospect.
"If there is something there to speak about it, I will go away and think about it and see what's there," he said.
Archibald did stress that, with Thistle having secured their first top-six finish since the Premiership was created, he was still enjoying his time with the Glasgow club.
"In the last four seasons, we've progressed all the time," he added.
"We're in a good position on and off the pitch."
Departed Swindon boss Williams had worked under director of football Tim Sherwood, but chairman Lee Power has told BBC Wiltshire that there would be a change of structure once they appoint a replacement.
Power would be less involved in player transfers, with the new manager given a budget to control.


The number of trains that run on time in the UK has reached its lowest level in a decade, figures show.

The Office of Rail and Road said 12.3% of trains - nearly one in eight - were not on time last year - the worst performance for a 12-month period since the year ending September 2006, at 12.5%.
More than a quarter of Govia Thameslink Railway services, owner of strike-hit Southern, were not on time, it said.
Rail operators said strikes had hit punctuality in south-east England.
But elsewhere, punctuality was at a "record high", said the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union announced on Wednesday that its members on Southern will walk out for 24 hours on 22 February in the row over guards' roles on trains.
And on Thursday, it was announced that drivers' union Aslef had rejected a deal with Southern rail that would have ended their dispute.
The rail industry counts trains as being on time if they arrive at their terminating stations within five minutes of their schedule for commuter services and within 10 minutes for long-distance routes.
Lianna Etkind, of the Campaign for Better Transport, said the figures showed that train firms were "still delivering a very lacklustre service" despite "sky-high prices".
The figures also showed 3.8% of trains across Britain were cancelled or at least half an hour late last year.
Ms Etkind said the government needed to give passengers "an affordable and reliable rail service".
"They should begin by ensuring that rail contracts give stronger incentives for punctuality, reliability and passenger service, as has successfully happened on London Overground and Merseyrail," she said.
She also said there should be "investment into those worn-out parts of the network which cause delays".
A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group said: "In London and the south east, a combination of congestion on the network, prolonged strike action and disruption while major upgrades take place is hitting punctuality.
"Across the railway, train operators and Network Rail are working together every day to deliver more reliable and safe services for passengers."


Australian Cardinal George Pell, one of Pope Francis' most senior advisers, is facing criminal charges for alleged sex offences dating back several decades.

Cardinal Pell has emphatically denied the charges.
At the Vatican, it's being seen as a punishing body-blow to the reputation and credibility of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church.
Cardinal Pell, 76, is a former Archbishop of Sydney who now resides inside the Vatican. He was summoned to Rome by Pope Francis in 2014 to try to sort out scandal at the Vatican Bank, and to reform a particularly messy situation in Vatican finances.
Three years ago, the cardinal pleaded health reasons for refusing to return home to face questioning at a public hearing by a Royal Commission set up to investigate allegations of child sex abuse inside Australian institutions such as churches, schools and sporting groups.
However, he agreed to answer questions by video link from Rome, vigorously denying any wrongdoing, although arousing some public criticism over a surprising analogy that he offered.
He likened the Catholic Church's responsibility for child abuse to that of a trucking company for the behaviour of its employees.
"If a driver picks up some lady and then molests her," the Cardinal said, "I don't think it is appropriate, because it is contrary to the policy [of the company] for the ownership, the leadership of that company, to be held responsible."
The Australian Trucking Association, representing 170,000 local truckers, said it was "deeply insulted" by his remarks.
The cardinal has been granted a leave of absence by Pope Francis to return to Australia to defend himself in court in Melbourne on 18 July.
A Vatican statement said that Pope Francis "...has appreciated Cardinal Pell's honesty during his three years of work in the Roman Curia, is grateful for his collaboration, and in particular, for his energetic dedication to the reforms in the economic and administrative sector".
It went on: "The Holy See expresses its respect for the Australian justice system that will have to decide the merits of the questions raised.
"At the same time, it is important to recall that Card Pell has openly and repeatedly condemned as immoral and intolerable the acts of abuse committed against minors; has cooperated in the past with Australian authorities (for example, in his depositions before the Royal Commission); has supported the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors; and finally, as a diocesan bishop in Australia, has introduced systems and procedures both for the protection of minors and to provide assistance to victims of abuse."
At a news conference Cardinal Pell told reporters: "There has been relentless character assassination for months ... I am looking forward finally to having my day in court, I am innocent of these charges, they are false. The whole idea of sexual abuse is abhorrent to me."
The decision by Australian prosecutors to take Cardinal Pell to court comes at a particularly significant moment in Pope Francis' four-year reign - his handing over this week of red hats to five new "princes of the church".
Pope Francis is selecting new church leaders - and perhaps his own successor - from clerics of a very different mould to that of his predecessors. In fact, he emphatically told his new cardinal appointees not to consider themselves "princes" but "servants of God and the people".
Instead of promoting to top positions in the church former administrators of great metropolitan Catholic dioceses around the world, like Cardinal Pell (who has already submitted his resignation having reached the compulsory retirement age of 75), Francis is increasingly choosing new cardinals from among bishops in countries "on the periphery" as he puts it.
Four of the five cardinals he appointed this week come from countries - Laos, Mali, El Salvador, and, surprisingly, predominant Lutheran Sweden - that have never had a representative among the Sacred College of Cardinals, the elite churchmen who alone have the power to elect future popes.
A church dominated for centuries by Italians in particular, and Europeans in general, is reconfiguring itself to reflect the real and diverse world of the 21st century.


Darren Clarke has withdrawn from next week's US Open at Oakmont because of his commitments as Ryder Cup captain and poor form.

The former Open champion from Northern Ireland will lead the European team at Hazeltine in September.
"I'm dedicating all of my time to our Ryder Cup preparations and the US Open is not the place to be when your game isn't 100%," said the 47-year-old.
"I'm very sorry to miss Oakmont but I'm sure it will be a brilliant week."
He added that he will be watching the tournament "very closely".


A video of people apparently breaking into an airport hangar has sparked a police inquiry into an alleged security breach at Doncaster Robin Hood Airport.

The clip of people seen getting into a hangar was posted on YouTube at the weekend but has since been removed.
South Yorkshire Police said it was investigating an "incident of trespassing at Doncaster Robin Hood Airport".
The airport confirmed an "incident" took place at its hangar on Saturday.
In a statement, a spokesperson said: "We can confirm that an alleged incident took place on Saturday evening in a hangar on the airport site and did not occur in a passenger area.
"It was immediately reported to the relevant authorities, with whom we are now working alongside in full support of their investigations.
"The ongoing safety and security of our passengers remains our number one priority."


Police in the Mexican resort town of Acapulco say eight people were killed there on Sunday and the bodies of another three found in a shallow grave.

The town, which used to be one of Mexico's most popular tourist spots, has seen a rise in violence in recent years as criminal gangs fight for control over illegal activities.
According to a recent report, the city is now the most violent in Mexico.
The government wants to bring the city back to its former popularity.
Officials from the Guerrero state prosecutor's office said three men were killed and another injured in a shoot-out in a bar in the early hours of Sunday.
Also on Sunday, two men and a woman were found murdered in a car. Their bodies showed signs of torture.
In the port area of the city, two young men were killed in their vehicles in separate incidents.
And an anonymous call led police to a shallow grave on the outskirts of the port, where they found the remains of three people.
The Guerrero state prosecutor had warned of a rise in violent incidents less than two weeks ago following the jailing of a local drug lord.
He said taking David Analco Palma, alias El Deivid, off the streets would create "a reaction" and a "reshuffle" among criminals active in the area.
In July, the Mexican government announced a plan to "restore the glory" of the resort town, which was once a popular destination for celebrities and Hollywood film stars.
Despite the arrest of a number of high-profile criminals in Guerrero state and beyond, the government has struggled to curb the high levels of murder in some of the states most affected by drug-related violence.


Lee Haskins retained his IBF world bantamweight title with a unanimous points win over Mexico's Ivan Morales.

The 32-year-old from Bristol won his first title defence emphatically at Cardiff's Ice Arena after being crowned champion out of the ring last year.
He beat 24-year-old Morales - younger brother of the multi-weight world champion Erik - 118-110 on two of the judges' cards and 119-108 on the other.
Haskins said: "It's absolutely amazing. I am flying at the moment."
Haskins was due to box Randy Caballero for the title last November but was crowned champion when the American was stripped of the belt after failing to make the weight.
He now wants an all-British title fight with former IBF champion Stuart Hall, who lost to Haskins in 2012.
"All I was thinking during the training for this fight was about Stuart Hall," said Haskins.
On the undercard in Cardiff, Welshman Andrew Selby won the British flyweight title with a unanimous points victory over Leicester's Louis Norman.


Three cleaners who went on strike over a pay dispute have been sacked in a move branded Scrooge-like by one MP.

The women, who worked at Kinsley Academy, claimed their pay had been cut after the contract switched from Wakefield Council to C&D Cleaning.
The three women were reportedly dismissed by C&D Cleaning on Monday.
C&D have been approached for comment but confirmed to the Guardian the trio had had their employment terminated.
Labour MP for Hemsworth Jon Trickett said: "With only days till Christmas it looks like Scrooge has been brought back to life from Victorian times."
For updates and more stories from across West Yorkshire
Lesley Leake, Karen McGee and Marice Hall went on strike in September saying their pay had been slashed and their pensions, holiday and sick pay had also been cut when the contract changed hands after the primary school became an academy.
In October about 100 people joined the women on a protest march through Barnsley, where C&D Cleaning is based.
According to reports the women were sacked following a disciplinary hearing on 19 December.
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "I am angered that three striking primary school cleaners from Kinsley have been sacked.
"When I met them, they explained how their wages were cut following the outsourcing of their contracts to a private company.
"Outsourcing is bad for our public services and workers. The cleaners' jobs must be brought back in-house with fair pay and conditions."
The BBC has approached C&D Cleaning for a comment.
In a statement published in the Guardian, the company said the women had been invited to a disciplinary hearing to "respond to allegations of gross misconduct".
It said: "The outcome of the hearing was termination of employment.
"The company will not comment further at this stage so as not prejudice any internal process."
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: "These women bravely took action to protect their wages and employment rights.
"To then sack them just days before Christmas is heartless in the extreme."


Welsh squash player Tesni Evans hopes to end her season on a high at the women's World Championships from 5-14 April in El Gouna, Egypt.

Evans, 24, is ranked 18th in the world after reaching the quarter-finals of the £40,000 Cleveland Classic in March.
"I'm seeded 16th. I've sneaked in as a few people have pulled out," Evans told BBC Wales Sport.
She says there will be a high standard of competition at the World Championships.
"They'll be girls who are 16 or 17 who you've probably never hear of and they are very good," added Evans.
"You never have an easy game in Egypt. You go there and you get locals and qualifiers who are never easy.
"It would be good to end on a real high. Egypt is always a place I've played well in."
Six of the top 20 female squash players in the world rankings are Egyptian and Evans says it'll be a challenge playing in the North African nation.
"They love it. It's a big thing for them. It's their biggest sport and they are taking squash to a new level right now," she said.
"It's in their genes. From a young age they take it so seriously. When they go to school they play squash. It's amazing.
"We could learn a lot from them."
Evans competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, but was knocked out at the final 16.
She hopes her experience in 2016-17 will help to secure a medal for Wales in the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia.
"Glasgow is one of the best things I've ever done so I'm very excited there's a chance of me going to the Gold Coast," she said.
"I will be in a better position than I was four years ago and I'm hoping to do really well there. I would love to win a medal. It is definitely a goal for me.
"I think the doubles is a definite opportunity for a medal just because doubles is a different game.
"If we can get enough practice in there's no reason why any of us in the Welsh team cannot grab a medal."


The mum of two boys killed in a house fire started deliberately by their dad has held a vigil to remember her sons.

Jack and Paul Sykes, aged 12 and nine, died when their father Darren, 44, set fire to the property in Penistone on 22 October 2014. Mr Sykes was also killed.
During the service at St John's Church in Penistone, Claire Throssell recited words from the last Mother's Day card she received from Paul.
Candles will also be lit at 17:00 GMT and two doves released after the vigil.
Ms Throssell said: "It's an extremely painful day today. A few weeks ago, from one of my bag's, Paul's last Mother's Day card fell out.
"I read it again and I was stroking it because I knew his hands had touched it and the words in it were so beautiful.
"I thought these words need to be heard... so I just thought it was a good time to do that today, on Mother's Day.
"It's a very poignant day, which is why I wanted to do something positive to keep the boys' memories alive and keep that love burning for them, rather then being dimmed by despair and hate really."
Ms Throssell is also a supporter of the Women's Aid charity and is backing its campaign to protect children from abuse and domestic violence.
An inquest into the boys' deaths heard they had been lured to their father's home with a new model train set before Sykes, who had recently separated from Ms Throssell, set fire to the building.
Sykes and Paul died in the fire, while Jack died in hospital six days later.
A coroner ruled both boys had been unlawfully killed and recorded a verdict of suicide in the case of their father.


A judge has blocked Arkansas from using one of three lethal injection drugs the US state planned to use in a series of executions next week.

The Supreme Court of Arkansas has also granted an emergency stay of execution for one of two inmates scheduled to die on Monday.
In an unprecedented move, the state had planned to put seven prisoners to death over an 11-day period.
Lawyers said the state was acting unconstitutionally and recklessly.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen issued a temporary restraining order on Friday barring the state from administering one of the drugs used in its lethal injection cocktail.
The suppliers of the muscle relaxant, vecuronium bromide, argued that it had been sold to the prison system on the understanding it would be used solely for medical purposes.
Separately, a stay of execution was granted in the case of Bruce Ward, who was convicted of strangling to death Rebecca Doss, a teenage shop clerk who worked in Little Rock.
The executions in Arkansas had been arranged to take place before a batch of one of the drugs used by the state expires later this month.
The move has drawn international attention and has been condemned by rights groups as an "assembly line" and a violation of the US legal process.
On Thursday, two other pharmaceutical manufacturers asked a federal judge to bar the state from using their drugs.
Midazolam - one part of the three-drug lethal injection "cocktail" - is set to expire at the end of April, and has been criticised as contributing to several botched executions in other states.
Drug companies Fresenius Kabi USA and West-Ward Pharmaceuticals filed a motion as part of the federal lawsuit by the condemned inmates on Thursday, claiming that the drugs were secured in an improper manner, and could affect their ability to sell in Europe.
The companies said that it appears the drugs were procured through a third party, since the companies say they only sell to medical providers.
They also argue that the executions could limit their ability to trade in the European Union, which has prohibited the buying or selling of products used for capital punishment.
Governor Hutchinson earlier said he was confident that the drugs would work, and that he was satisfied that the prison staff could handle the executions.
A group of former prison officials had written to the governor in late March to say that the quick pace would place undue physical and emotional burden on prison staff.
But he dismissed that, saying that he had met them and "they don't take it lightly".
"I have a responsibility to the voters, I have a responsibility to my oath of office, but I also have responsibility to a higher power, God and eternity, and I understand that," he said.
"I feel comfortable in my understanding of my responsibilities both in terms of faith and scripture and in terms of as governor," he added.


Michael O'Halloran scored twice as St Johnstone beat a Motherwell side that had three men sent off.

Steven MacLean's flicked shot and O'Halloran's first put Saints in charge but Well's Andrew Rose headed one back.
Goalkeeper Trevor Carson was dismissed for handling outside his area and O'Halloran fired his second.
O'Halloran also had a penalty saved after Carl McHugh and Charles Dunne had been sent off and Murray Davidson swept in Saints' fourth late on.
Though Saints exited the League Cup in midweek and Well progressed to the last eight, the two sides have had contrasting starts to their Premiership campaign with St Johnstone now on two wins out of two and Motherwell having lost their opening two league games.
And Tommy Wright's side were quick out of the blocks. MacLean was the sharpest player in the box, the veteran striker reacting well to lift the ball past Carson from close range after Stefan Scougall's shot had been partially blocked.
The hosts were soon two up. O'Halloran gathered on the left wing before drifting in dangerously to the Motherwell box and guiding a curled right-foot shot just inside the far post. It was a goal that underlined just what a big player he could be for St Johnstone this season.
The Motherwell defence looked shaky. From a corner Davidson got a head to the ball at the near post, but his effort flew over.
The initial St Johnstone pressure relented slightly and Motherwell got a free-kick 35 yards from goal. The ball was lofted in to the box and Cedric Kipre flicked it on to the back post, where Rose was waiting to nod home from two yards out.
Gael Bigirimana fired just wide and Rose was denied a headed second by Alan Mannus' save early in the second period.
Given their uncertain start, Motherwell started to dominate the play and threw on striker Louis Moult.
But then the roof fell in on the visitors. Under pressure to gather a long through ball, Carson picked it up. Referee Craig Thomson ruled that the keeper had handled the ball outside his area and immediately brandished a red card.
It was a hammer blow for the away side, who immediately sacrificed Bigirimana as back-up keeper Russell Griffiths took to the pitch.
There was nothing Griffiths could do as O'Halloran conjured up another moment of class. A great run from the on-loan Rangers winger ended with a drilled low shot into the centre of the net.
Then the roof caved in on Motherwell as McHugh - already on a booking - was shown a second yellow card for a late lunge on Brian Easton.
Incredibly, Motherwell were then reduced to eight men after Dunne tripped Graham Cummins in the box. O'Halloran stepped up to take the resulting penalty but he was denied a hat-trick by Griffiths' save.
But there would be a further St Johnstone goal, Davidson finishing confidently at the edge of the box following Richard Foster's cut-back.
Match ends, St. Johnstone 4, Motherwell 1.
Second Half ends, St. Johnstone 4, Motherwell 1.
Goal!  St. Johnstone 4, Motherwell 1. Murray Davidson (St. Johnstone) right footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Richard Foster.
Attempt saved. Callum Hendry (St. Johnstone) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Corner,  St. Johnstone. Conceded by Cedric Kipre.
Corner,  St. Johnstone. Conceded by Russell Griffiths.
Penalty saved! Michael O'Halloran (St. Johnstone) fails to capitalise on this great opportunity,  right footed shot saved  in the centre of the goal.
Charles Dunne (Motherwell) is shown the red card.
Penalty conceded by Charles Dunne (Motherwell) after a foul in the penalty area.
Penalty St. Johnstone. Graham Cummins draws a foul in the penalty area.
Attempt missed. Ben Heneghan (Motherwell) right footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is close, but misses to the left.
Corner,  Motherwell. Conceded by Michael O'Halloran.
Attempt missed. Blair Alston (St. Johnstone) right footed shot from the left side of the box is just a bit too high.
Corner,  St. Johnstone. Conceded by Charles Dunne.
Corner,  St. Johnstone. Conceded by Cedric Kipre.
Substitution, St. Johnstone. Callum Hendry replaces Steven MacLean.
Attempt missed. Ben Heneghan (Motherwell) right footed shot from the left side of the box is high and wide to the right.
Corner,  Motherwell. Conceded by Steven Anderson.
Corner,  Motherwell. Conceded by Alan Mannus.
Attempt saved. Andy Rose (Motherwell) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the centre of the goal.
Foul by Craig Tanner (Motherwell).
Paul Paton (St. Johnstone) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Second yellow card to Carl McHugh (Motherwell) for a bad foul.
Foul by Carl McHugh (Motherwell).
Brian Easton (St. Johnstone) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Substitution, St. Johnstone. Blair Alston replaces David Wotherspoon.
Goal!  St. Johnstone 3, Motherwell 1. Michael O'Halloran (St. Johnstone) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the centre of the goal.
Substitution, Motherwell. Craig Tanner replaces Richard Tait.
Substitution, St. Johnstone. Graham Cummins replaces Stefan Scougall.
Chris Cadden (Motherwell) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by Brian Easton (St. Johnstone).
Attempt missed. Louis Moult (Motherwell) right footed shot from very close range is close, but misses to the left.
Alex Fisher (Motherwell) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Steven Anderson (St. Johnstone).
Substitution, Motherwell. Russell Griffiths replaces Gael Bigirimana.
Trevor Carson (Motherwell) is shown the red card.
Gael Bigirimana (Motherwell) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Foul by David Wotherspoon (St. Johnstone).
Substitution, Motherwell. Louis Moult replaces Ryan Bowman.
Steven MacLean (St. Johnstone) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.