Earlier this week, news emerged that was thinking of in Manchester.
That caught the well-tuned ear of an iPM listener who has a special reason for being so interested in this. She wrote to us commending the project and suggesting something similar for Scotland.
teaches singing these days and loves it...but that wasn't the original plan. On a freezing cold October morning, Eddie and I went to meet Linda in London's Covent Garden.
And I should say a large thank you to for letting us in when we knocked on the stage door...sad I know.
Tomorrow's iPM will be on air at 05.45. We know there are hundreds of thousands of people listening at that time (as well as everyone who Listens Again or podcasts).
What I want to know is...what are our listeners up to at that time on a Saturday? Why are they up at all? Are they up late or early risers? Is it the body clock or is there a special reason to rise at that time on a Saturday.
If you are a "live" listener on Saturday morning, please click on comment to tell us.
And you'll find more information about Britain's early risers .
We were thinking about this weeks programme and Eddie had this idea. We didn't dare tell him what we really thought, so here it is.
Fill in the blanks and match up the authors: , , , , , , to find a common theme. Answers on Friday for your iPM cheque book and pen.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Update Fri 31 Oct: Spot on mtrcricket with the correct answers - did you know or did you Google them? Go on, you can tell us, you're amongst friends....
If you've experience, expertise, anecdotes or tales to tell - comment or drop us a line.
Is it harder to get sports funding if you live in outside the cities? Fifi writes
'Charitable funding for local sport, particularly in rural communities, is becoming impossible to get - and the unspoken truth is that the London Olympics are to blame.'
Is there a UK brain-drain of scientists and engineers?
Nick Ramsey writes
'Almost all the pharmaceutical companies, employing some of the country's top scientists, have made or are in the process of making, decisions to move abroad.'
'Overpayment accepted' - the rise of parking machines that keep the change Gary Skinner writes
'The pricing is set to make it more difficult, so it's 90p for half an hour, or £1.80 for an hour..How much 'overpayment' is made by the great British public to money grabbing local authorities, car park companies etc. per year?
'I suggest something about the scandalous failure of car parking machines to give change, and the rise of the statement 'overpayment is accepted'..the pricing is set to make it more difficult, so it's 90p for half an hour, or £1.80 for an hour.Â
..I would rather it actually cost a pound than have to scrabble around for a minimum of 3 coins to pay the 90p..How much 'overpayment' is made by the great British public to money grabbing local authorities, car park companies etc. per year?'
Writes Gary Skinner. Your 'overpayment accepted' tales and photos welcome.
It's your ideas and suggestions that are our starting point each week. Don't just shout at the radio. Help make it. Stories bubbling under so far
Military fuel tanks
We've made enquires about whether fuel tanks in military vehicles are as good as they could be, after receiving an email from someone who manufactures fuel safety products.
Scientist brain-drain?
Nick Ramsey's concerned that the UK is losing many of its top scientists because of changes the Government has made to the way companies are taxed and regulated.
Are pensioner's credit crunch concerns reflected in the news
80-year-old Aileen Cotton is worried that no-one's listening to her predicament amidst the downturn news coverage.
If any of these subjects chime with your areas of experience or expertise, drop us a line. Or if you hear anything else in the news which you know something about, well, share what you know.
Gate scandals
Nick Baker got in touch with us about what to call the latest scandal, 'The Mendelson, Osborne, Rothschild, Oleg Deripaska saga? Aluminum Gate?'.
We ask long-standing journalist, , why no political scandal worth mentioning has escaped having the suffix 'gate'. Chris began covering politics for before - and has a press bar in the Commons named after him to prove it.
Could John Snow have prevented the 1854 cholera outbreak if it happened today?
The Secretary of the took us on a tour of Broadwick Street and told us the story.
Professor of human geography, , also briefly gave his views on the challenges of getting data for his social research.
Maps played a key role in ending the famous in just a matter of days.
Given the sophisticated technology at our fingertips - it's quite a surprise to learn that had if it happened today, experts say couldn't have done what he did.
I went to Broadwick Street in London's Soho area with Secretary of the John Snow Society, Dr Rosalind Stanwell-Smith, to find out why.
The answers you've been waiting for...though, I have to say, you're pretty much there. The quiz was the brainchild of this week's Editor-in-chief, Ryan Dilley, who's been demonstrating his sharp Photoshop skills.
1.
2.
3.
4. Notting Hill Gate Gate (spoof scandal from Armando Iannucci's Whitehall comedy The Thick of It. The Minister for Social Affairs, Hugh Abbot weighs up whether to resign over a scandal to do with his ownership of a Notting Hill flat - which the press are dubbing "Flatgate", but which Abbot's secretary feels would better be named "Notting Hill Gate gate".)
5.
6. (Bearing in mind that of this alleged scandal.)
In this week's programme the long-serving journalist, , who spent nearly 40 years reporting from Westminster, will join us to discuss the use of the 'gate' suffix to describe scandals.
And as we ask with - we tell the story of the map that helped rid the UK of cholera.
Nick Baker emailed yesterday asking: "So what shall we call this? The Mendelson, Osborne, Rothschild, Oleg Deripaska saga? Aluminum Gate?"
The Guardian, The Times and Sky News have decided that the brouhaha previously known the "donations" or "funding" row is now worthy of a "gate" suffix. Yachtgate.
iPM has been looking at gates. When Eddie blogged on the topic yesterday - it quickly descended into anagrams of the key players' names (eg. Mandelson = Loan Mends).
You want to play games? Name the 'gate' scandals of yesteryear depicted in the following images (and also share what you know about the 'gate' suffix, too).
If there's something you think iPM should be cover, a discussion you want to hear or an individual you think we should interview - this is the space to share your ideas and knowledge. Comment below, or email us - thanks.
Also, our second credit crunch map is up and running. and as it grows.
We're mapping what's hurting you during the credit crunch, and already food prices and utility bills look like they are causing iPM listeners considerable pain.
But as we all worry about the financial future, new data from suggests that we are increasingly looking for second hand bargains online.
The firm found that UK searches for "second hand" had increased 22% year on year
They also found traffic to classifieds websites was up 47% year on year. And web users weren't just looking to buy second hand, visits to were up 35%
Adam Paul who moderates a in London told iPM, "in the last 8 months one of the groups in north London has reported a doubling of membership from 2000 to 4000 members" has also seen consumer behaviour change. Julia Hutton-Potts head of consumer PR for Ebay said "spikes " in purchases for some goods suggested cash strapped consumers were increasingly mending-and-make-do, "we've seen a 40% increase in the sale of sewing machines in the last 3 months" and purchases also indicate that food prices rises may be weighing on web-shoppers minds "we've seen a 30% increase in the sale of bread makers"
Hutton-Potts said they'd also seen a 15% rise in the past year in so-called "neutral shopping" where people sell old possessions to buy new goods.
But if online shoppers are moving to second-hand, others are finding it hard even to afford previously owned products. left a job in the city to found Junk collection firm . The feedback they'd had from second hand dealers suggested that those on low incomes were cutting back, "despite what you see on the web the vast majority of second hand goods are brought by people on low incomes". In Mohr's view they're a group hit hard by the crunch, he's observed that, "second hand resellers are selling less."
There's more on the podcast. In that we hear the Managing Director of the peer-to-peer explain how lending that bypasses the banks has proved increasingly popular. There's an extended version of that interview in the player below.
Back by popular demand, here's the running order for 0545 Saturday (and of course the podcast). It's a screen grab which is the news computer system we use here. All the scripts across ´óÏó´«Ã½ News output are stored in this system, as well as things like newsgathering diaries which say what stories we're looking at and where reporters are deployed, and it's also where news agency copy comes in vis this mornings headline gem from Reuters, "REF Slug Missing":
To explain the lead story it will be about how our habits are changing as the crunch bites (I'm sure you can figure out the rest - without my breaking the embargo on the stats we'll be revealing).
Any thoughts, great opening lines, questions for guests, etc would be very welcome.
Significant coverage Wednesday of the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's speech on communications data interception and retention. According to
Her department, the Home Office, said one option being considered was a database that would store the phone numbers dialed, the Web sites visited and the e-mail addresses contacted by every one in Britain.
But while the who, what, when of communications may be retained the content of communications will not be stored:
"There are no plans for an enormous database which will contain the content of your e-mails, the texts that you send or the chats you have on the phone or online." said Jacqui Smith
There's in-depth reporting and analysis of Jacqui Smith's speech
All this is inline with the claims we reported back in July The , conducted a few days after that initial report, has been widely quoted today.
And a reminder that if you haven't heard the podcast there's a timely discussion of a major US study into databases and the limits on their usefulness in combating terrorism. The discussion on the difficulties of combining different data-sets seems particularly relevant.
We've reported on the government's competition on iPM before. It's now in its closing stages, and joined us to tell update us on the runners and riders.
We hope to hear from Tom again once the results are announced.towards the end of October.
Have you had problems with private parking companies? As you know data-sharing has been a bit of an issue for us so, via I was very interested in . As I understand it at issue was whether data provided by the DVLA to, "companies and landowners that require vehicle keeper information to enforce penalty charge notices", was used appropriately and securely. Here's the FOI request:
"I note from form that: "DVLA's authorised personnel shall be permitted access to the company's operational areas to check the methods of processing. The company must agree and make available to DVLA's authorised personnel such files and records as may be required for them to be satisfied that data is only used for the purposes for which it has been released"
Please let me know: 1. How many such investigations took place over the past 5 years, 2. What were the results of these investigations?...."
The response is interesting. Of the 373 company audit visits in the past 5 years the following "recurring issues" were found by DVLA inspectors:
"- On some occasions the storage of information was not secure (i.e. not locked away)
- Passwords and user IDs are sometimes being shared within companies.
- Companies were supplying information through e-mail/fax.
- There were some possible unauthorised accesses that were investigated
further.."
Help make next week's iPM. Leave a comment under this post or send us an email with your ideas for subjects and stories we should be looking at. It's more fun than plumbing*
A major study suggests that using isn't feasible. provided context. We also spoke to Co-Chair of the commission which carried out the investigation
Global votes and how far should the rest of the world get involved in US politics considered. offered some thoughts. Extended interviews with The Economist and Iftheworldcouldvote here
And citizen plumbing. Can you crowdsource your boiler repair?
Please do suggest more topics to cover next week (when Eddie returns.) If you are looking for pilot-cam you can see it live by . Enjoy
People on the website have been venting their anger at the financial sector, and the Government
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to STOP giving OUR money to super rich international bankers to fix a mess THEY created ()
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Hold to account both the incompetent regulatory bodies and financial houses that are responsible for the current financial crises ()
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to bring to justice those responsible for poor lending decisions who have been paid millions in salaries and bonuses rather than bailing out the companies with public money and agreeing to the creation of superbanks ()
..and , more. However, not many signatures for any of them. Compared to the widespread anger in the US we reported on earlier it seems pretty muted, but maybe we're missing something.
Today would be a good day to bury bad news. Of course we're not suggesting for a moment that any of the nice people who spin for the great and the good would do such an underhand thing, but just in case we'd like you to "keep 'em peeled"
If you see a bad news sneaking out under cover of the financial crisis drop a note in comments.
What can virtual economies tell us about real economies? The current financial crisis is proof, if proof were needed, of our imperfect understanding of economics. Part of the difficulty economists face is that the markets upon which people's livelihoods depend are not analysable in vitro.
But virtual worlds represent an opportunity to observe emerging economies and societies without many of the complicating factors real life tends to impose, hence the interest in the Eve Online. Set in the distant future, commerce is central to game play and the game's laissez-faire economy is the subject of professional scrutiny from the resident .
is feeling pretty clever: "Chris - it amused me to look back to your 27 March piece after we'd spoke on the 'phone: you quoted me thus "Another chat with the City Unslicker team raises the question of whether the spin on the crisis we get is too positive. It was put to me that Government and financial institutions and indeed the market have an interest in talking down the crisis... Are they right, are we underplaying the risk of an economic melt-down ?" So - were we right, or were we right ?!"
I'm also reminded of a conversation with another of the CityUnslicker team who was keen to stress that crashes happen slowly. Let's hope that's one forecast that doesn't come true.
22, 000 of you singled out filling up you car as your biggest concern in May of this year after we asked for your views on the credit crunch. These are the final maps - and - and you can also see a .
We made no great claims to it being a rigorous scientic experiment, but it was an interesting snapshot. That was then, but what about now? Again we'd like you to help us build a mood map.
CASA (Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis) based at the University College London, has kindly stepped in again to plot the results on MapTube, their map-sharing website.
The question remains the same - what single factor is hurting you most about the credit crunch? But we decided to change the categories slightly:
* Mortgage or rent
* Petrol
* Food prices
* Job security
* Utility bills
* Not affected
* No data
We're putting the map together over the next few days - so let us know if there's something you think should be changed. Otherwise - watch this space.
Broadcast opportunities, as empty slots in the running order are known, abound in the coming weeks on iPM.
Hopefully we'll fill the void with some ideas suggested by our blog readers. Leave news tips for us to investigate in the comments below, or email us. It doesn't have to be a completely worked-out news item, the roughest of rough ideas can be the start of a good story. Often great stories can come from the unlikeliest places, even the bottom of the sea.
This week's podcast can be . On the show we looked at:
The Wall Street Bailout Bill passed the Congress second time around and was rapidly signed into law by President Bush. We looked at the campaign to defeat the first bailout bill vote said about .
We asked you to help us find relevant research as we attempt to get a sense of how prostitution has moved outside the big cities
Following a listener email we asked and to discuss the merits of using polygraphs
Next week we'll take a look at experiments to get the world to virtually vote in the US election and The Guardian's Jonathan Freedland talks about why he feels people outside the US have a right to pass judgement on politics within the US.
The programme that starts with its listeners. Join daily discussions online and contribute ideas for a weekly programme presented by Eddie Mair and Jennifer Tracey.
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