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News from Jon Sopel and Tim Marlow about this evening's Newsnight and Newsnight Review.

From Jon Sopel:
What else do you expect to see but murk when it comes to whether Binyam Mohamed was or wasn't tortured before he washed up in Guantanamo Bay detention camp? However, today, perhaps, a little shard of light. An MI5 official visited Morocco three times during the period when Mohamed claimed he was being treated none too kindly. The ´óÏó´«Ã½'s security correspondent Gordon Corera will be reporting for us.

To parley or not to parley? The history of live televised debates between British party leaders in election campaigns is - err - short. We have never had one. Yes, the subject comes up, there is a brief glimmer, and then it fades away. The normal pattern is for the opposition leader to call for it, and for the incumbent prime-minister to poo-poo it. But Lord Mandelson this week has given the subject real air. So will it happen and would it be good for democracy?

And one of the giants of football, Bobby Robson has died. He has seen football move through all its different stages - from the 'noble' working class game watched on packed terraces with players taking public transport to the ground. Through the dark days of soccer hooliganism - the skinheads and the skirmishes, to its current incarnation as a game played by Ferrari-driving millionaires and watched by the prawn cocktail-munching, Chablis-drinking middle classes, and paid for by millions of satellite TV subscriptions. Gabby Logan and Arthur Smith will be with me to consider his contribution and the changing face of football.

Join me at 10.30pm with your rattle and scarf.

From Tim Marlow:
Tonight's Review looks at the life story (both human and simian) as inspiration for a recent spate of books and films, and will try to explore how art and fiction enlightens or clouds biographical fact.

The Booker longlist was announced this week and included two very different biographical novels. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is an epic account of the life of the Tudor enforcer Thomas Cromwell , while four hundred years later Me Cheeta chronicles the life journey of a chimpanzee captured in Liberia who becomes a Hollywood star.

Our panellists are film historian and broadcaster Matthew Sweet, biographer Kate Williams and actor and writer Kerry Shale.

We'll also discuss two new French biopics -Coco Before Chanel and Mesrine: Killer Instinct. Aside from the blurring of fact and fiction, we'll also be considering why the biopic is such a staple of the film world.

So join us on the purple sofa at 11pm for a mixture of crime, punishment, political scheming, elegant simplicity, psychological contradiction and some monkey business to boot.

Here is Martha Kearney with what is coming up on tonight's programme:

Debbie Purdy has won a landmark judgement today in the House of Lords.

The MS sufferer wanted to know whether her husband would be prosecuted if he helped her to die.

Now the Director of Public Prosections, Keir Starmer QC, has to explain on what basis he decides whether to bring charges in cases of assisted dying.

He will be joining me on tonight's programme, along with Lord Falconer, who tried to get the law changed to make assisted dying easier, and Baroness Finlay who is worried that elderly people could feel under pressure to take their own lives

We will also have a special undercover investigation into the exploitation of cleaners in some of London's top hotels.

We have also sent in an expert on cleaning whose tests show some horrifying results.

And on the day of the funeral of Henry Allingham, the last survivor of the Battle of Jutland, we will be discussing the legacy of the World War I for British life.

My guests will be Andrew Motion, the former poet laureate and Andrew Roberts, the military historian.

So do tune in to see me back down the "hard end" of the studio.

Makes a change from the sofa.

All the best,

Martha

From the web team:

Wind turbine company Vestas has failed - for now - in an attempt to force workers staging a sit-in protest at its Isle of Wight factory to leave the building. About 25 workers have been holed up inside the plant for over a week after plans were announced to close the factory. Vestas says the Newport site is being cut as the wind turbine market in the UK is "not big enough". This as many wind farms are struggling to gain planning permission. What does this mean for the green new deal - and the government's strategy for a low carbon economy? Justin Rowlatt reports from Newport.

Tomorrow the Ministry of Defence will publish its latest casualty figures for wounded servicemen. But should there be a more detailed breakdown to accurately reflect the nature of the injuries - or during a war is it not in our national interest to be so transparent? We'll be debating.

President Obama is due to meet the Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and the policeman who arrested him in his home "over a beer" at the White House tomorrow. We discuss President Obama's handling of the sensitive issue - which has ignited the race debate in the America.

Plus, Oscar-winning director James Cameron's film Avatar promises to take 3-D cinematography to an unrivalled level. Tonight Click Online's Spencer Kelly investigates why 3-D film is having a resurgence. .

Do join Nick Robinson at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

News of what's coming up in tonight's programme, brought to you by the web team:

"Mandelson is the only one with the clout, intellect and charisma who could realistically take on the Tories and win."

So said Dr Peter Slowe, chairman of Labour's finance and industry group, today as he called for MPs to oust Prime Minister Gordon Brown and replace him with the business secretary.

At present, as an unelected life peer, Lord Mandelson is blocked from taking up some of the most senior government posts, including foreign secretary, chancellor of the exchequer and prime minister.

But all that is about to change, with the government tabling a proposal that would give life peers the right to resign from the House of Lords - something hereditary peers have been able to do since 1963.

So could it be Prime Minister Mandelson in the future?

Tonight, our presenter Nick Robinson will be talking to Lord Mandelson about his future plans and his plans for the government and UK businesses.

Also, Michael Crick reports from Totnes in Devon where three Conservatives are vying for votes in Britain's first US-style primary election to select a parliamentary candidate.

The contest follows MP Anthony Steen's decision to stand down at the next election in the wake of the expenses scandal.

And Stephen Sackur reports from Greenland on the effects of climate change.

Join Nick at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Former chancellor Nigel Lawson famously said that the NHS was "the closest thing the English have to a religion".

Even in these financially squeezed times, both the government and opposition argue the NHS' funding should be specially protected and that other areas of public spending like education and defence should carry an extra burden of savings.

However, .

Tonight, in a special programme, we will be taking a close look at the challenges facing the NHS during the recession and asking what needs to be done to trim the fat off this sacred cow.

We will talk to the experts about where money could or should be saved, and Lord Darzi will be giving his first television interview since stepping down as health minister last week.

And you can tell us what you think and if you have had any first hand experience of waste in the NHS by clicking here.

Also, talking to the Taliban. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has urged the Afghan government to talk to moderate members of the Taliban as part of efforts to bring stability to the country.

Our security correspondent Gordon Correra reports on what such a policy would mean and whether it would work and we ask two senior Afghan experts for their views.

Nick Robinson, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s political editor, is in our presenter's chair tonight - do join him at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Here is what is coming up in tonight's programme

Presented by Gavin Esler:

Tonight we'll be dissecting the result of the Norwich North by-election. It's a terrible result for Labour but we'll be asking whether the by-election could have been avoided altogether if the party had handled the expenses scandal more deftly.

We'll be asking Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw how Labour recovers from this. We'll also be joined by a senior Conservative, as yet undecided, to ask whether David Cameron has done enough to "seal the deal" with the voters ahead of next year's general election.

We'll also be discussing how much impact the expenses scandal still has on our perception of politics.

Newsnight Review follows.

From presenter Martha Kearney:

The image was a shocking one - a book being burnt on a British street. It was twenty years ago that angry Muslim protesters set fire to Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. Tonight we'll explore how the fatwa has affected freedom of expression, and the relationship between culture and religion.

That's a theme explored in a new play at the National Theatre adapted by Hanif Kureish, from his novel The Black Album which is set in 1989 at the height of the protests.

I'll be discussing that and other questions of race and identity raised in a new film Skin starring Sophie Okonedo. She plays a black girl born to a white South African family.

Do join me and my guests Ekow Eshun, Germaine Greer, Kenan Malik and Tariq Madood.

Martha

On Monday we are presenting a special Newsnight - The NHS: At What Cost. We would like to hear your views. Do you think money could or should be saved in the NHS?

What reforms might make the NHS more efficient?

Have you any first hand experience of waste in the NHS?

Tell us what you think on our special blog..

On Monday, Newsnight will be presenting a special programme on the NHS and we want to hear from you.

Despite huge pressure on public spending both the Government and Opposition argue the NHS should be specially protected and that other areas of public spending like education and defence should carry an extra burden of savings. Why?

Do you think money could or should be saved in the NHS?

What reforms might make the NHS more efficient?

Have you any first hand experience of waste in the NHS?

Tell us what you think.

Here's Gavin Esler with what is coming up on tonight's programme:

Today's Quote for the Day comes from the leader of the country which produced, among others, Cicero, Ovid, Catullus, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Verdi, Rossini and... Berlusconi.

"I am a person of good taste, culture and elegance" - Silvio Berlusconi, the scandal-ridden prime minister of Italy, who also admitted he was not a saint.

In tonight's programme:

Unfortunately we have no room for Signor Berlusconi but we do have room for the Norwich North by-election - what will be the impact of this by-election result on Gordon Brown and the Labour party?

Michael Crick will join us from Norwich where the polls will have just closed.

We also will have the latest on swine flu and a troubling film about the unintended consequences of the government trying to avoid forced marriages taking place in Britain.

One of the apparent victims is a Canadian woman who married a Welshman and has been told she has to leave Britain and go back to Canada.

Since her marriage was not forced and was perfectly legal, not surprisingly this raises quite a few questions which - again - we would like the government to answer.

Plus Newsnight has been given special access to the memoirs of Anthony Blunt, the man who spied for the Soviet Union for years. What have we unearthed? Watch Newsnight at 10.30pm to find out.

Gavin

Here is what is coming up in tonight's show:

From Gavin Essler:

"Dealing with this pandemic is a marathon, not a sprint" - Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer for England, on swine flu.

Does the old-fashioned family doctor have a future? As we brace ourselves for what could be the worst flu outbreak of our lifetime, swine flu, Newsnight has uncovered evidence that raises a number of important questions over the future of GPs who work on their own. They are six times more likely to be subjected to disciplinary hearings than GPs working in group practices. That's according to GMC figures. We'll explain in the programme.

Usury is a sin. The old biblical injunction about money lending underpinned some of today's protests in Britain and the United States against those lending money at very high interest rates. So what is the morality of the money lenders? We'll debate.

Plus we have a report on the Pirate Party of Sweden who say they're taking the first stand in a new fight for civil rights in the 21st Century. They want reform of copyright and wiretapping law. They already have an MEP and have ambitions way beyond Scandinavia.

All in Newsnight at 10.30pm. Gavin

Here's what is coming up on tonight's programme:

From Kirsty Wark:

The former editor of The News of The World, Andy Coulson, now a key advisor to David Cameron, has told MPs he has never condoned the use of phone hacking, and that he made it clear to his staff that they should not use subterfuge unless there was a clear public interest.

Mr Coulson resigned as the editor of the paper after its royal editor and a private detective were jailed for phone hacking, but it has been alleged that a long list of celebrities and sports stars came in for the same treatment.

So what does the fact that Mr Coulson knew nothing about all this say about his powers of discipline? Should he be the opposition leader's right hand man?

We have an exclusive film about the practice of polygamy in the UK - a number of British Muslims are 'marrying' multiple wives in unregistered religious ceremonies.

We speak to one woman (anonymously) who fled a polygamous marriage and another Muslim woman who actively sought a polygamous marriage.

Should it be outlawed? Baroness Warsi tells Newsnight the government is turning a blind eye to the practice.

And today Ben Bernanke the Federal Reserve Chairman said the outlook for the long suffering US economy appears to be improving, but he cautioned that unemployment was also likely to remain high until 2011 and that this could sap fragile consumer confidence.

But the big story would appear to be that the stimulus package is not kick-starting the economy in the way that Barack Obama hoped.

David Grossman gets the reaction in Washington.

Do join us for all that and more at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

This eveningÌýJames Purnell gives Newsnight his first television interview since he resigned from the cabinet urging Gordon Brown to stand down as leader. He claimed that if Mr Brown remained as prime minister it was more and not less likely that Labour would lose the next election.

It was a rabbit punch that could have knocked the PM out, butÌýin the event no contenders challenged Mr Brown and James PurnellÌýclaims he has no desire to return to front-line politics.

However, tonight he launches Open Left a three year project with the think tank Demos, to define what "being on the left" means in the 21st century.ÌýÌýÌý
ÌýÌý
55,000 cases of swine flu were reported in England last week. A new system in England to deal with swine flu was announced today by the Health Secretary Andy Burnham. A pandemic telephone flu line will manage diagnosis and delivery of anti-viralsÌýand will go live at the end of the week. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not involved as yet.ÌýAndy Burnham also announced today that swine flu vaccines will be available from next month.

Our Science Editor Susan Watts has been investigating if the vaccine will be safe and who will get it.
Ìý
Did you leave your house today? If the answer is yes it is more than likely someone somewhere was watching you. For example two small local authorities in the UK have between them more close circuit TV cameras than the entire San Francisco police department. The government is engaged in consultation to decide whether every CCTV camera should be registered and the sector regulated, especially as it is debatable whether they are actually of value to law enforcement.

.

Do join Kirsty for all that and more at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Here is Gavin Esler with details of Friday's Newsnight and Newsnight Review

Quote for the Day

"What we seem to be witnessing in Iran is the first spasm of the death agony of the Islamic Republic" - Writer Martin Amis.

In tonight's programme - we will be trying to figure out if Martin Amis is right - especially in the light of comments by the former President Rafsanjani today which may well stir the Persian political pot.

But we'll be leading on the fight against swine flu. How well are we doing? How much can really be done? Why do we have so many cases in Britain - is it because we are simply better at reporting it than other countries? Our Science Editor Susan Watts reports from one of the hot spots, Birmingham which has important lessons for the rest of the country.

And in Newsnight Review - we'll be examining the flipside of the American Dream. The latest Thomas Pynchon novel - Inherent Vice - has at its heart a spaced out private eye, Doc Sportello, who smokes so much weed it is not entirely clear what he's investigating. Plus we'll have the Oscar contender Frozen River, about the smuggling of illegal immigrants over the Canadian border; the latest Adam Curtis documentary It Felt Like a Kiss which explores in typical Curtis style part of our love-hate relationship with the United States; and the great American novel, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath - but how well does it adapt to the stage?

The academic and critic Sarah Churchwell, historian Dominic Sandbrook, and the writer and London Correspondent for The Nation DD Guttenplan are with me. Plus Martha will be at a rather rainy Latitude festival in Suffolk with some guests of her own to assess the state of the British festival scene. With three cabinet ministers due to turn up there this weekend, has it all got a bit tame?

Gavin

Tonight we'll have the latest on the news that 12 people have died from swine flu since Monday.

Our Economics Editor Paul Mason will be looking at the big problem that nobody knows the answer to: the double dip recession. Are we going to see it happen, and if not what will stop it? And, live from Tokyo, we hope to be speaking to economist-of-the-moment, Richard Koo, of the global finance house, Nomura.

"We must work globally both to establish the security conditions that will enable a world free from nuclear weapons," Gordon Brown said today in a statement on nuclear proliferation. However, it has also emerged that the government will delay a key spending decision on the replacement of the Trident missile system until after May 2010, in the hope of smoothing the way for the conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) scheduled for spring next.

Meanwhile, the influential Commons Defence committee has warned that a shortage of helicopters is harming military operations in Afghanistan. There are clearly tough choices ahead on defence spending... but how should those choices be made, and what impact will they have on our national identity?

Plus, as the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi continues in Burma, we have film showing a rare glimpse of life in the military dictatorship and assessing the mood of the country's opposition movement. .

We'll also be speaking to the best-selling children's novelist Antony Horowitz about a new law requiring anyone who has "regular" or "intense" contact with children or vulnerable adults to sign up to the Vetting and Barring Scheme at a cost of £64. Several other high-profile authors, including Philip Pullman have already announced that they will stop visiting schools in protest. We'll debate.

And, of course, forty years ago today, a little after half past nine in the morning, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins blasted off from Cape Canaveral on board Apollo 11 on their mission to the moon. It was a historic moment that grabbed the attention of the United States and the world. When they safely arrived a few days later they had fulfilled President John F Kennedy's aim of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s. In his famous speech given before a joint session of Congress on May 25th 1961, JFK had said:

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

So what kind of challenge should we set for our generation? What similarly ambitious goal should we commit ourselves to achieving before a decade is out?

We'd like to hear your suggestions - leave your comments by clicking here.

Do join Gavin for all that and more at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Forty years ago today, a little after half past nine in the morning, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins blasted off from Cape Canaveral on board Apollo 11 on their mission to the moon.

It was a historic moment that grabbed the attention of the United States and the world.

When they safely arrived a few days later they had fulfilled President John F Kennedy's aim of reaching the moon by the end of the 1960s.

In his famous speech given before a joint session of Congress on May 25th 1961, JFK had said:

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

So what kind of challenge should we set for our generation?

What similarly ambitious goal should we commit ourselves to achieving before a decade is out?

We'd like to hear your suggestions. You can leave your comments below.

From the web team:

UK unemployment is now 2.38 million. Some of the hardest hit are the 16-24 age group. Tonight we'll be asking if the recession is creating a lost generation. The Employment Minister will be face- to-face with some young people who are finding it difficult to get a job. If you'd like to tell us your experience of youth unemployment or the experience of members of your family you can leave your comments by clicking here.

Our political editor has been to Norwich North. Next week's by-election there takes place following the resignation of Labour MP Ian Gibson after he was deselected over his expenses claims. Michael Crick assesses how the parties campaigns are going, and it's an uncomfortable watch for the Labour candidate.

And have you ever seen an Amish man yodelling to a horse? Newsnight's Justin Rowlatt was invited to stay with an Amish family in Indiana. A famously closed community, it is highly unusual for them to welcome outsiders into their homes. You can watch a sneak preview of tonight's film .

Do join Gavin Esler for all that and more at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Newsnight and are looking at the issue of youth unemployment.

The recession is hitting the 16-24 age group hard, with some describing it as the lost generation.

What is your experience, or the experience of members of your family, and what could the government be doing to help?

We want to hear from you. Leave your comments below.

Here's what is coming up on tonight's programme:

From the web team:

Tonight on Newsnight a world exclusive interview with Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska.

He told Newsnight's Tim Whewell that he is considering severing his ties with the UK after last summer's when there was controversy over a party on his yacht attended by the-then EU trade commissioner Lord Mandelson and shadow chancellor George Osborne. Read more about that story

Our Science Editor Susan Watts has a strong new line on the swine flu story and we hope to be speaking to Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson, the UK government's principal medical adviser.

Also, more on the claims that News of the World journalists hacked the mobile phones of public figures. Newsnight has tracked down the lawyer at the heart of this story and he tells Richard Watson he's preparing to launch a class action on behalf of 20 people.

Plus, lawyers representing , a British man accused of committing the biggest US military computer hack of all time, are making a last ditch bid to avoid his being extradited to the US. They say the "UFO eccentric" who targeted Nasa and the Pentagon should be tried in the UK because he has Asperger's syndrome and could suffer severe mental distress if sent to the US for trial.

Jeremy Paxman will be speaking to Mr McKinnon's mother, Janis Sharp about the campaign to have her son tried here.

Do join Jeremy for all that at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Here's what is coming up on tonight's programme:

From the web team:

Why are we in Afghanistan?

A poll carried out for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Newsnight and the Guardian suggests public opinion is split over the UK's mission in Afghanistan.

Of 1,000 people questioned, 47% said they opposed the British operation, while 46% said they supported it. A similar poll in 2006 found 31% backed the UK's action while 53% opposed it.

The UK forces death toll in Afghanistan has now matched that suffered in Iraq, and tonight in a special edition of Newsnight we'll be examining the government's Afghanistan strategy.

Our Diplomatic Editor Mark Urban will be scrutinising our objectives in Afghanistan - what is it our troops are fighting for? And he'll be analysing the British military's tactics - do our troops, who face a determined enemy in the Taliban, have enough resources?

One of the brigades badly hit in operations in Afghanistan is the Welsh Guards. Matt Prodger will be visiting South Wales to speak to some of their relatives and friends ahead of the
battalion's return to the UK in the autumn.

And Jeremy Paxman will be speaking to the government who claim the UK's Afghanistan mission is key to preventing terror attacks at home, and to relatives of those who have died in the fighting.

Do join him at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

From Gavin Esler:

Hello,

With more deaths of British soldiers reported in Afghanistan we will be assessing whether the UK and US are pursuing the correct strategy. Is there any alternative? And has it become the classic guerrilla war in which all the Taliban has to do to win is not to lose ... and sap the morale of the outsiders who have come to pacify them?

Peter Marshall investigates the case of Nico Bento who was convicted of murder on the basis of CCTV evidence which is now being disputed by forensic experts.

And The News of the World - what was it like working at Wapping? Richard Watson will be reporting.

And then on Newsnight Review at 11pm:

Martha is the only straight in the village on Review tonight as the playwright Mark Ravenhill, columnist Johann Hari, author Stella Duffy and fashion writer and man-about-town Henry Conway join her for a very gay Friday night Review.

As the flamboyant fashion TV host Bruno unleashes his outfits on middle America, the panel will look at whether Sacha Baron Cohen's new film critiques or panders to homophobia.

And how did he get Paula Abdul to talk about human rights while using a Mexican gardener's back as a chair?

Mark Ravenhill makes the case that recent British TV comedy has dumped political correctness in favour of jokes about gays. Is he right? Or is the ability to laugh at a community a sign of its strength?

The National Portrait Gallery's new exhibition offers up a range of faces under the headline Gay Icons from Graham Taylor and Nelson Mandela to Princess Diana and The Village People.

Is there such a thing as a gay icon in this day and age?

And we look back at the documentary Before Stonewall which shows the secret life of homosexuals in 20th Century America. Forty years on from the riots at The Stonewall Inn, which started the gay rights movement, is gay culture now mainstream?

Join us at 11pm for all that.

Here's Gavin Esler with what is coming up on tonight's programme:

Hello,

Heard the one about the leader of the Conservative Party and the former editor of the newspaper affectionately known as "The News of the Screws"?

Well, as of writing this e-mail David Cameron is standing by his press adviser Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor linked today with allegations that reporters on his former newspaper may have been involved in a pattern of telephone bugging and "blagging" - in effect, lying - to obtain stories.

We'll be devoting most of the programme tonight to this bizarre tale.

Why did the police not alert all those whose phones were bugged? What was the Press Complaints Commission up to? And - whatever he is supposed to have done or not done - how exactly does the former editor of the News of the World fit into David Cameron's new Tory party?

And there was much made of the US-Russia talks this week aimed at reducing the two countries' nuclear stockpiles.

But despite all the hoopla in Moscow doesn't the real nuclear threat to world peace come from Iran?

We'll be speaking to the man President Obama calls his "nuclear guy", non-proliferation adviser Dr Gary Samore, about the harsh reality of post-cold war nuclear security.

Join us at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Gavin

From Emily Maitlis:

The task ahead of us tonight, viewers, is to get through the programme without using the phrase 'macro-prudential regulation'. In fact, we are providing an office swear box. 5p goes in every time it slips from the lips. And as you can imagine, it already feels heavy enough to bail out a small building society.

But enough of that. I have just returned from Number 11 Downing Street where I have been interviewing the chancellor. We talked about his plans to stop 'kamikaze bankers' and a future market crash, and what he really made of that £9.6m RBS bonus. As we discussed financial regulation, I also asked him about that other curious 'tripartite system' - Brown/Balls/Mandelson - which appears to be trying to make decisions without him. , and if you'd like to read our Economics Editor Paul Mason's reaction to today's banking White Paper click here.

The full interview with Alistair Darling will be in tonight's programme, when we'll also be asking the head of the OECD what he makes of the economic position Britain is in.

As yet another major company, this time IBM, announces that they plan to close their final salary pension scheme to existing members, we discuss whether we are witnessing the death of retirement. Will we have to work until we drop? What are the cultural implications of an army of young working to support the elderly and infirm? And should we be looking at an entirely radical new way to work and save?

And it's 25 years since Bob Geldof sent Band Aid to the top of the charts in the name of famine relief. But what has actually changed in Ethiopia since then? Can aid ever cure a country? As the G8 pledges to put Africa high on the agenda this week, we have an indepth report from Ethiopia. .

Join us at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

From Emily Maitlis:

A small, deeply unscientific poll in this office has revealed that most colleagues start laughing when you mention the Italian PM's name. Which is probably the least of Silvio Berlusconi's problems right now, but it does suggest - if this is in any way representative - he may struggle to get people to take the G8 seriously when he hosts it, in the earthquake struck town of L'Aquila tomorrow. For its duration, world leaders will be housed in an "austere police training school", which may come as a disappointment to anyone expecting a Sardinian villa, with all conceivable extras laid on. The agenda for the G8, it's being reported, is in such disarray that the Americans have had to step in and sort it out. Meanwhile, three Italian academics have written an "appeal to the first ladies" asking them to boycott the summit in the name of women everywhere. Will Signor Berlusconi be put off his game by this? We'll be joined by his communications chief tonight.

Our Economics Editor Paul Mason asks if the unrest coming out of China's north west has been fomented by its economic problems - at what point does nationalism re-emerge as a response to poverty and instability?

Plus we'll have the latest on the 10p tax fiasco, as Gordon Brown faces a Commons revolt.

The nearest most of us get to understanding the dire state of US healthcare is when we repeatedly see US TV networks going to adverts for incontinence and impotence drugs during their commercial breaks. While nothing President Barack Obama does with his healthcare plan may cure this particular ill, we'll be analysing the scale of the problem across the pond and what the White House calls "The McAllen problem", as politicians here squabble over how best to preserve the NHS health budget.

Join us for all this and more at 10:30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

From the web team:

President Barack Obama's new foreign policy comes up against its hardest test yet tonight - the masters of cold hard diplomacy - Russia. In Moscow talks today Mr Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev struck a deal to cut back their stockpiles of nuclear weapons.Speaking at a press conference afterwards, Mr Obama said the two countries were both "committed to leaving behind the suspicion and the rivalry of the past". There is plenty of room for improvement - under the previous Bush administration relations between Washington and Moscow deteriorated to levels not seen since the Cold War. But how likely is rapprochement given their differing perceptions of issues such as Russian military action in Georgia and the planned US missile defence shield?

Also tonight, we have the last in this current run of the Politics Pen in which candidates go up against our panel of political animals to pitch ideas on how to slash public spending. Items on the chopping block tonight include civil servants' pay and the Houses of Commons. .

And talking of Politics Pen it seems David Cameron must have been watching . Today Mr Cameron pledged to cut the number of unelected quangos to save money and increase accountability. Tonight we will be discussing his proposals and whether they go far enough.

Do join Jeremy Paxman for all that and 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Here is what is coming up on tonight's programme:

From the web team:

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said he is "urgently seeking clarification" of the announcement by a senior Iranian cleric that local staff working at Britain's Tehran embassy will face trial.

Nine embassy staff were held in Tehran last weekend. Britain says all but two have now been freed. Today Ahmad Jannati from Iran's Guardian Council said of the still detained members of staff: "Naturally they will be put on trial, they have made confessions."

Tonight we will be discussing the British-Iranian relationship and why the UK has replaced the United States as the bete noir of Iranian hardline rhetoric.

Also tonight, Palin for President? Not if some in her party have anything to do with it.

We report from Washington on the Republicans who want to destroy Sarah Palin despite her popularity with the party's grassroots.

And Andy Murray's Britishness - is his relationship with the English just a marriage of convenience?

And here's Kirsty Wark with what is coming up on Newsnight Review:

And then on Review, is the Iran of our imagination the real Iran?

It is one of the oldest civilizations, has an extraordinarily young population, is one of the most literate countries in the world, and is a cultural cornucopia.

In the UK the cultural response to the post-election uprising was swift.

On Wednesday the Royal Court theatre mounted a powerful short "scratch" production distilled from the millions of Twitter "tweets" from Iran and beyond.

We'll be talking about the impact of technology in closed societies with our guests Jonathan Freedland, Baroness Haleh Afshar and Iranian writer Azadeh Moaveni.

We'll be revisiting two of the most powerful accounts of modern Iran, the Oscar-nominated film Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, based on her graphic novel, and Azar Nafisi's bestselling Reading Lolita In Tehran.

Shirin is the new film from the Iranian arthouse director Abbas Kiarostami in which we watch 100 Iranian women as they watch a filmed performance of a 12th Century Persian poem about Shirin the Queen of Armenia.

And more on the impact of the net when revolution threatens to destabilise closed societies.

The film Burma VJ is the account of the pro-democracy uprisings in Burma in 2007 as told by citizen journalists with forbidden cameras.

Do join us for all that and more.

Tonight on Newsnight we will be discussing Andy Murray and the English - is it just a marriage of convenience?

Tell us your view on the Murray Britishness debate here.

From Kirsty Wark:

Last night Review's editor Liz Gibbons and I went to see an extraordinarily moving short "scratch" play at The Royal Court in London called "The Tweets of Tehran". It was a fortuitous last minute change of programme on the launch night of the theatre's "Rough Cuts" season of plays related to Article 19 of the UN Convention on Human Rights.

The actor/director Ramin Gray had searched through the thousands upon thousands of "tweets" on Twitter about the Iranian protests, and in a matter of days had constructed a selection of them into a brilliantly coherent and moving play ().

I say fortuitous because we had already decided to devote Review this week to a discussion about cultural representations of modern day Iran in the wake of the post - election crisis.

Our guests, the Iranian academic Baroness Haleh Afshar, the author of "Lipstick Jihad" Azadeh Moaveni, and the journalist and author Jonathan Freedland are revisiting the Oscar-nominated film Persepolis, and the bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, and viewing the new film Shirin by the Iranian arthouse director Abbas Kirostami, in which we watch Iranian women as they watch a movie of a 12th Century Persian story.

We'll also discuss new work from artists working in Tehran, and we'll explore the phenomenon of the world watching and reading about protests on the internet. That's where the The Royal Court play comes in.

We'll also talk about a new film, Burma VJ, about the men who risked their lives to record the Burmese uprising in 2007.

From the web team:

The US army has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in south Afghanistan's Helmand province. We'll be considering if their approach is likely to be more successful than that of the British and bring you the latest on the news that a US soldier is thought to have been captured by militants in the east of the country.

The Health Secretary Andy Burnham today announced that the rising number of swine flu cases in the UK mean that trying to contain the virus is no longer an option. The UK's emergency response will now move to a new "treatment" phase as there may soon be as many as 100,000 new cases a day. Mr Burnham confirmed that swine flu vaccines currently in development should be available from next month, with 60m doses available by the end of next year. Tonight we'll be investigating just how prepared we really are.

It's almost 40 years since the first man walked on the moon and to mark the anniversary our Science Editor Susan Watts will be examining what the future holds for space flight and Nasa, and Kirsty Wark will be speaking to the legendary Apollo 11 moon walker, Buzz Aldrin.

And our culture correspondent Stephen Smith has been sifting through a television treasure trove - bringing a glimpse of how we lived 40 years ago.

Do join Kirsty at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

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From the web team:

Tonight we devote a large part of the programme to examining what has changed in the financial industry nearly a year after the banking crisis. Paul Mason will be giving his assessment on whether regulations to be introduced in next week's White Paper could prevent another crash (follow ). We'll be joined live by the Minister for the City, Lord Myners. Meanwhile Justin Rowlatt has been investigating if the age of excess in the city has been curtailed and we'll be debating if the culture has changed at all.

Also tonight - should a broadcaster that's funded by the Iranian government be allowed to operate in Britain? Press TV, the English language international television news channel is being investigated by OFCOM for breaching its duty to be impartial and accurate and one of its presenters has resigned following the station's coverage of the Iran protests. Our culture correspondent Stephen Smith investigates.

Plus we'll have the latest from Michael Crick on National Express, and, of course, highlights from Andy Murray.

Do join Jeremy at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.