14/02/2011

David Cameron is to attempt to breathe new life into his Big Society initiative by announcing that it has become "his mission in politics". We speak to Rodney Schwartz, the chief executive of ClearlySo - an online marketplace for social business and investment, about whether the Big Society bank is a good idea.

More than a trillion pounds was put into the banking system by the Government to help bail out the banks, but, according to a report by the New Economics Foundation, the banks have benefited from the bailout in the form of hidden subsidies. The programme hears from Tony Greenham, head of banking and finance at the NEF.

Figures show that Japan has lost its spot as the world's second-biggest economy to China -its economy shrunk by 0.3% in the last quarter of 2010. We ask Seijiro Takeshita, director at the Japanese bank Mizuho International PLC, what the main issues are facing the Japanese economy.

And more inflation data are on the way tomorrow from the Office of National Statistics. We've seen steep increases in the price of bread and pasta, among other things, over the past few months and according to the National Pig Association, pork could follow suit. Richard Longthorp, a range pig farmer at Kilpin Hall Farm, discusses the reasons behind a possible rise in pork prices.