- Verity Murphy
- Fri 10 Feb 12, 01:25 PM
The grassroots website ConservativeHome has claimed that party insiders believe
growing public anger over the Health and Social Care Bill could damage future electoral prospects.
The site's editor, Tim Montgomerie, told the BBC he had written the piece because three Conservative cabinet ministers had contacted him with their concerns.
The Health Minister, Simon Burns dismissed the claims as "tittle tattle" when he appeared on the BBC's Daily Politics show.
Who is right and who backs the bill? We'll be finding out.
Our Economics editor Paul Mason is in Athens where protesters have clashed with police amid a strike against swingeing budget cuts approved as part of the latest eurozone bailout deal.
And we'll be examining the claim made by Downing Street adviser David Halpern that being lonely in old age will propel you to the grave more quickly than smoking.
- Verity Murphy
- Thu 9 Feb 12, 05:58 PM
Tonight we will have the latest on attempts to negotiate a European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout for Greece.
Eurozone ministers who have opened talks on the 130bn euro (£110bn) bailout fund in Brussels this evening have cast doubt on the Greek austerity plan which lenders are demanding is in place before the funds are unlocked.
We will have analysis from our Economics editor Paul Mason and be talking to Greek Minister for International Economic Relations Constantine Papadopoulos, Greek Communist MP Liana Kanelli and Peter Altmaier, chief whip of the CDU in the German parliament.
Mark Urban reports on the battle for Homs, the kind of armaments on either side and whether in response to the ongoing violence other nations are intending to step up arms supplies to the Free Syrian Army.
As debate rages about the state of English football following the loss of both captain and manager of the national team Peter Marshall asks whether the biggest problem with the game is actually the prevalence of big money.
And we have a report on what supermarkets pay their shop floor workers and how despite being in employment many of them are still reliant on benefits.
- Verity Murphy
- Wed 8 Feb 12, 01:41 PM
The prime minister has rebuffed calls from Labour to axe the controversial Health and Social Care Bill.
The plans to overhaul the NHS in England are being debated in the Lords, amid a row over proposals to let hospitals raise more money privately.
The government has tabled 137 amendments to the Bill in recent days to try to head off a rebellion by Lib Dem peers.
On tonight's programme David Grossman looks at the troubled progress of the legislation and how important the NHS is to the perceived success of the coalition government.
We'll be joined by Health Minister Simon Burns and discussing in the studio.
Also, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos is meeting coalition parties in an attempt to seal an austerity agreement to secure a new EU/IMF bailout.
The accord is likely to include a 20% minimum wage reduction, pension cuts and 15,000 civil service lay-offs.
Newsnight's Economics editor Paul Mason reports on why despite numerous fiscal measures the Greece crisis just won't go away.
And as tensions over the Falkland Islands increase ahead of this April's 30th anniversary of Argentina's invasion, we assess the impact of the recent war of words.
Finally, we have an interview with conceptual artist Yayoi Kusama, including a peek at her first British retrospective at Tate Modern.
- Verity Murphy
- Tue 7 Feb 12, 03:01 PM
Tonight, as the Syrian army assault on Homs continues we ask what talks between President Bashar al-Assad and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Damascus will have achieved.
And what will be the effect of six Gulf Arab states saying they are expelling Syrian ambassadors in their countries and recalling their envoys from Syria?
Also, on the day that the Commons Health Committee has been hearing evidence on the PIP breast implants case we take an in-depth look at the story.
We have a report from our Science editor Susan Watts asking who has let the women who have been given faulty implants down and whose responsibility it is to remedy the situation.
Plus in the studio Jeremy Paxman will be joined by Health Minister Anne Milton, former glamour model Katie Price, feminist author Naomi Wolf and a dozen women who have had breast implants to discuss this issue and the wider question of why women have breast enhancement surgery in the first place.
- Verity Murphy
- Mon 6 Feb 12, 02:32 PM
UPDATE AT 1810GMT:
There has been a change in the plan for tonight's programme. We will now have a report on the news that radical cleric Abu Qatada has been granted bail following a hearing at the UK's Special Immigration Appeals Commission instead of Paul Mason's Greece report.
Also on the programme Tim Whewell, who recently visited Homs, will be reporting on the situation on the ground in Homs, which has seen a day of heavy artillery fire in one of the fiercest attacks since an anti-government uprising began 11 months ago.
Plus, Mark Urban looks at what pressure the international community can bring to bear on the Assad regime, given the division in the UN Security Council. And what the Russians hope to achieve when Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, along with Foreign Intelligence Service Director Mikhail Fradkov, visits Damascus on Tuesday.
We look at the decision by Network Rail bosses, including chief executive Sir David Higgins, to not accept bonuses this year, and Jeremy Paxman will be speaking to Transport Secretary Justine Greening.
And our Culture correspondent Stephen Smith has an interview with the comedian and actor Jackie Mason.
ENTRY FROM 1432GMT:
The Syrian city of Homs is being bombarded by artillery fire in one of the fiercest attacks since anti-government unrest began 11 months ago.
The army assault comes after Saturday's veto of a UN draft resolution criticising Syria by China and Russia.
Tonight Tim Whewell, who recently visited Homs, will be reporting on the situation on the ground and why this is happening now.
Plus, Mark Urban looks at what pressure the international community can bring to bear on the Assad regime, given the division in the UN Security Council. And what the Russians hope to achieve when Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, along with Foreign Intelligence Service Director Mikhail Fradkov, visits Damascus on Tuesday.
We look at the decision by Network Rail bosses, including chief executive Sir David Higgins, to not accept bonuses this year.
As government talks in Greece to try to agree new austerity measures needed to secure bailout funds and avoid defaulting on its debts are delayed, Paul Mason reports on what measures the EU, ECB and IMF troika are actually demanding.
And our Culture correspondent Stephen Smith has an interview with the comedian and actor Jackie Mason.
- Verity Murphy
- Fri 3 Feb 12, 02:10 PM
Tonight we lead on Chris Huhne's decision to resign as energy secretary after learning he was to be charged with perverting the course of justice over a 2003 speeding case.
Mr Huhne said he was innocent of the charge, but would stand down to "avoid distraction".
Tonight we examine where the decision to quit leaves Mr Huhne, how damaging it is for the Liberal Democrats to have a second member forced out of the cabinet, and the impact on the coalition.
Also, bankers have been in the political crosshairs this week with RBS boss Stephen Hester waiving a £963,000 share-only bonus following widespread anger over the award, and his predecessor, Fred Goodwin, being stripped of his knighthood.
Today Labour leader Ed Miliband called for an overhaul of banking culture, saying that the sector was at a "crossroads" and adding that Labour will press for a vote on bonuses in Parliament next week.
Tonight our Economics editor Paul Mason reports on whether this is just a case of politicians taking aim at an easy quarry with little prospect of long term change, or whether reforming capitalism will be the lasting legacy of the economic crisis.
- Verity Murphy
- Thu 2 Feb 12, 04:18 PM
Last night we broke the news that the Student Loans Company's chief executive Ed Lester received his £182,000 pay package without deductions for tax or National Insurance.
Tonight we have a follow up report in which we reveal which ministers and senior officials knew about the arrangement.
Tim Whewell looks at the political dimension to the deadly football clashes in Egypt.
And we examine the call from almost 100 Anglican clergy based in London for priests to be allowed to follow their individual conscience on whether to hold civil partnership ceremonies in their churches.
And ahead of a major National Portrait Gallery retrospective of the work of Lucian Freud, Steve Smith has been talking to one of the artist's daughters, Esther Freud.
All of that with Emily at 10.30pm on BBC Two.
- Verity Murphy
- Wed 1 Feb 12, 03:26 PM
An urgent review into claims of tax avoidance by top civil servants has been ordered by Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, after a BBC Newsnight investigation.
The chief executive of the Student Loans Company (SLC), Ed Lester, has received his £182,000 pay package without deductions for tax or National Insurance.
The arrangement was agreed by the tax authorities and potentially saved Mr Lester tens of thousands of pounds.
Richard Bacon MP, who sits on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, described the figures as "outrageous".
The SLC said it had "followed all government guidelines" on remuneration, but as Richard Watson reports, how does such tax avoidance sit with the coalition's stated aims to tackle tax avoidance and unfairness? We'll also be discussing the issue with Jeremy in the studio.
Also on tonight's programme, Pakistan's foreign minister says her country has no hidden agenda in Afghanistan, in response to a leaked secret Nato report on Islamabad's links to the Afghan Taliban.
Speaking alongside her Afghan counterpart in Kabul, Hina Rabbani Khar said allegations in the report were "old wine in an even older bottle".
The report says the Taliban are helped by Pakistani security services.
Tonight, our Diplomatic and Defence editor Mark Urban investigates how much support the insurgents have from the Afghan people and outside forces, and where their campaign is headed.
And, yesterday the removal of Fred Goodwin's knighthood was lauded widely, but today it has been described as "anti-business hysteria" by the Institute of Directors.
They were joined by ex-Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling, who said the decision appeared to have been taken "on a whim", as Mr Goodwin was not the only banker to cause problems.
David Grossman asks if Fred the Shred has been made a scapegoat for the wider failings of the financial industry?
- Verity Murphy
- Tue 31 Jan 12, 04:53 PM
David Cameron has described the removal of Fred Goodwin's knighthood as "the right decision".
Following RBS boss Stephen Hester's refusal of a bonus, it will be another bit of banker-bashing publicity for the prime minister to wield.
Previously, only convicted criminals or people struck off of professional bodies have had knighthoods taken away.
Tonight, David Grossman looks at the seemingly insatiable appetite for retribution against those deemed responsible for the financial crisis, but are the punishments just token gestures?
The Western-Arab drive to adopt a UN resolution on Syria is a "path to civil war", Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov has warned.
He said demands for President Bashar al-Assad to stand down would "not lead to a search for compromise".
But the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC that Russia would be increasingly isolated across the Arab World if it vetoed the UN resolution.
The resolution will be discussed at an imminent UN Security Council meeting on the deepening Syrian crisis, after a day of particularly heavy bloodshed and with the army on the streets in Damascus.
Our Diplomatic and Defence editor Mark Urban will be unpicking the key players' positions.
And the BBC's technology correspondent will be taking a look at the finances behind the floatation of internet megalith Facebook.
- ADMIN USE ONLY
- Mon 30 Jan 12, 11:38 AM
Tonight, Mark Urban will be reporting from the EU Summit in Brussels, where the eurozone crisis is expected to dominate debate.
We have an interivew with the Egyptian-born internet activist Wael Ghonim.
Peter Marshall looks at the alarming number of mentally ill people dying in police custody.
And can the Royal Bank of Scotland survive in its current form?
- Verity Murphy
- Fri 27 Jan 12, 02:59 PM
A £963,000 bonus in shares awarded to Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester has been strongly criticised.
The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said the payout represented a "disgraceful failure of leadership by the Prime Minister".
And the Conservative Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said RBS was "not a normal bank" and there "should be a concept of public service and duty to the wider British public".
Tonight, our Economics editor Paul Mason investigates how the bonus was approved, and why.
And as the great and the good of politics, economics and business meet in the stunning Swiss mountains, has Davos come up with a plan to get us out of the economic crisis? Steve Smith has been going off piste to find out.
Also on the programme, Guillermo Arriaga, the Mexican screenwriter, director and producer who has received accolades for his films 21 Grams, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Babel, and has a strong view or two on the economic crisis.
- Verity Murphy
- Thu 26 Jan 12, 06:26 PM
How fair is the UK's tax system?
The Deputy PM Nick Clegg has called for the pledge to stop tax on earnings under £10,000 to be brought in more quickly, "because things are very tough".
Labour has said that the coalition was to blame for the "squeeze" on families.
So will a rise in the personal allowance threshold address perceived unfairness in the tax system, or is it just tinkering around the edges? David Grossman reports.
Also on the programme, shadow health minister Diane Abbott has resigned from a cross-party group on counselling given to pregnant women by abortion providers, dismissing it as a "front" for those who want it outlawed.
She said she had "no doubt" the government wanted to bring about such a change.
But Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who is in favour of altering the law, said Ms Abbott's comments were "nonsense".
Both will be joining Kirsty in the studio.
Also tonight, how vulnerable is our digital world from cyber attacks? Our Science editor Susan Watts has been finding out.
And after a list of those who declined an honour between 1951 and 1999, and who have since died, has been published for the first time, Steve Smith asks what value is placed on receiving an OBE, CBE or knighthood?
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