´óÏó´«Ã½

Tonight, David Grossman has been examining some of the public service spending commitments that the Prime Minister announced yesterday in his big speech at the Labour Party conference - do the figures really add up?

In the latest installment of Sacred Cows or Prime Cuts, our Political Editor Michael Crick has unleashed his fuzzy felt on Brighton and has been asking conference delegates what areas of government spending should be saved and which should be cut.

An independent report into who started last year's conflict between Russia and Georgia has been seized on by both sides as vindication of their position. Russia said the EU-sponsored report recognised that Georgia had started the war. Georgian officials said it blamed Russia for escalating tensions. Tim Whewell will be bringing us the latest on the story, but before then you can watch his award-winning 2008 film, in which he discovered evidence that Georgia may have committed war crimes in its attack on the breakaway region in August 2008.

And following the announcement that Professor Stephen Hawking is taking up a new post as Director of Research at Cambridge University, we have on the quantum creation of the universe, motor neurone disease, and why his scientific research is better than sex.

Do join Emily in London and Jeremy in Brighton at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

"In the uncharted waters we sail, the challenge of change demands nothing less than a new model for our economy, a new model for a more responsible society and a new model for a more accountable politics."

So said Gordon Brown today as he sought to rally the Labour troops and reignite support across the country in a conference address which had - yet again - been billed the speech of his life.

The Newsnight team were in the auditorium as Mr Brown made a series of new commitments. He promised ten hours of free childcare a week for a quarter of a million two year olds; he said the most disruptive fifty thousand families in Britain would be part of an intervention project, with clear rules and punishments; councils would have the power to ban 24-hour drinking in problem areas.

There were new statements on constitutional reform: Gordon Brown gave a commitment to a referendum on whether there should be changes to the system for electing members of Parliament, and signalled he would make the House of Lords a totally democratic and accountable second chamber for the first time.

Tonight, Jeremy Paxman will present the show from Brighton - interviewing, among others the Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

Michael Crick and David Grossman will be analysing what the PM had to say, and Jackie Long has spent the day away from the conference, in Walsall, talking to people there about Gordon Brown's pledges to tackle anti-social behaviour.

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

Jeremy Paxman and the Newsnight political team are in Brighton tonight for Labour's last annual conference before the election.

"Operation Fightback" is in full swing, but can anything save Labour now?

Tonight, Jeremy will be talking to the Chancellor Alistair Darling, who on the eve of conference admitted that Labout had "lost the will to live."

David Grossman will be doing rounds in Brighton to take the pulse of the party faithful.

And Obama pollster, Cornell Belcher will be giving his diagnosis of how the electorate view Labour after 12 years in power.

And you can test your Labour knowledge in our latest conference season quiz from Michael Crick, .

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

The shortlist for Man Booker Prize for Fiction was announced this month and we want to know what you think of the books in the running for the prestigious prize.

Tells us your views of the six nominees - AS Byatt for The Children's Book, JM Coetzee for Summertime, Adam Foulds for The Quickening Maze, Hilary Mantel for Wolf Hall, Simon Mawer for The Glass Room, Sarah Waters for The Little Stranger - here.

Here is what is coming up on tonight's Newsnight and Newsnight Review:

By Emily Maitlis:

"This is it!" declared David Cameron, at the start and finish of a speech at the Carlton Club this week.

"This is it!" declared Michael Jackson launching his 02 tour, just before he dropped dead of a drugs overdose.

We all know the power of a pithy sentence which sets out your stall.

Where would Barack Obama be without "Yes we can"? Where would Bill Clinton have been without "It's the economy stupid"? Where would Gordon Brown have been without "Not flash, just Gordon".

Erm... Well, anyway.

Tonight our culture correspondent will pull apart the power and the pitfalls of the political slogan. But not until we've made you work first, by telling us your ideas for a Tory slogan on our blog.

Plus, now we are (G)20.

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, world leaders are crunching serious numbers. Tonight, we're more concerned with one very simple one. The leap from G8 to G20.

What does it mean? Well, in essence, it's a recognition that the old clique of a few rich Western countries no longer rule the world and that real power now lies with Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Saudi Arabia and others.

An acknowledgement, you will say, that comes at least a year too late.

But how does this New World Order - disparate countries with very separate agendas - solve a problem like Iran.

It's the most pressing one on the table right now with the revelations of another nuclear facility in the country - something Tehran has denied for years.

We'll be asking the Foreign Secretary if the threats of sanction will ever become anything more substantial.

And we'll ask a global panel - including the flamboyant businessman David Tang - if the G20 can really solve the world's problems.

And here is Tim Marlow with what is coming up on Newsnight Review:

Tonight we put art, theatre and television drama on the couch and into analysis.

Last February, the National Gallery staged an exhibition exploring Picasso's relationship to the art of the past, but without actually hanging old master paintings in the same rooms.

Now Tate Britain is giving Turner the old master treatment, but this time the pictures go head to head and landscape to landscape.

Taking up the gauntlet thrown down by Rembrandt or Titian is difficult enough but having your work directly compared is ambitious and risky to say the least.

So how does Turner measure up and what does he seem to learn? Does the show diminish his radical status as a fore-runner of modern art or consign him to that of a mere academic artist unable to transcend the past? The answers, of course, will be complicated but worth tuning in for.

Over at the Royal Academy, sculptor Anish Kapoor is firing 20lb of red paint and wax at a gallery wall from a large gun, well - canon to be precise - every 20 minutes throughout his exhibition there which has just opened.

In the past Kapoor's work has been seen as contemplative, reflective, sublime and richly evocative.

Now, as he tells us in an interview, it has become more playful, more confrontational and more violent.

The US television series In Treatment has won Emmys and a Golden Globe and has already been screened extensively in Eastern Europe, Portugal, France and Sweden.

Britain's initial reluctance to buy into a series of programmes featuring Gabriel Byrne as Paul Weston, a psychotherapist who conducts real time sessions with five regular patients, is something we'll be analysing now that Sky Arts have taken the plunge.

Will it sustain nine solid weeks of screening and who is really being given therapy - Paul, his patients or the viewer?

Finally, former director of the National Theatre Richard Eyre has criticised the ´óÏó´«Ã½ this week for its failure to screen classic drama.

We'll be taking a look at the stage- screen divide and exploring the future possibilities for theatre on the box.

So join me and my guests Paul Morley, Lisa Appignanesi and Hari Kunzru on the couch on the box at 11pm.

Tim.

"This is it!" David Cameron declared at the start and end of a political speech at the Carlton Club.

Was the Conservative leader revealing his love of Kenny Loggins' 1979 song of the same name? Was it a nod to Dannii Minogue's 1993 hit, or was he, as some suspect, road testing the Conservatives party's election slogan?

We all know about the power of a pithy sentence which sets out your stall - "Never had it so good", "Labour's not working", "Things can only get better", "It's The Economy, Stupid", the list goes on...

And where would Barack Obama be without "Yes we can"?

But according to a new book about America's First Couple, Mr Obama hated the slogan when it was suggested by David Axelrod and it was actually Michelle Obama who saw its worth and set about persuading her husband to adopt it.

Tonight, our Culture correspodent Stephen Smith will be talking campaign slogans - what makes a good one, what a bad and how the political parties go about choosing theirs.

But before then we want to hear your campaign slogan suggestions for the Conservative Party - can you, like Michelle, spot a diamond in the rough, in short can you help Dave out?

Answers below please...

Here is Gavin Esler with what is coming up in the programme:

In tonight's programme:

Why are the British so hung up about the so-called Special Relationship with the United States?

Has Gordon Brown really been "snubbed" by the US president in failing to secure a one-on-one meeting this week at the UN, or are the British behaving like the shy girl in Dirty Dancing desperate to be asked to dance?

We'll explore the US-UK relationship and whether what has really been exposed is not a snub but British insecurity and the reality of a new world order with a diminished role for the UK.

Plus: How big a breakthrough is the new HIV vaccine? Could a new economic order emerge from the G20 summit, and what does the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s search for an older female newsreader tell us about ageism, women and the media.

All that in Newsnight at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Gavin

US President Barack Obama has delivered his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Mr Obama named global challenges including nuclear proliferation, wars, climate change and the economic crisis. He said he was "well aware of expectations" in his presidency - but said that tackling global challenges could not be solely a US endeavour. Tonight we'll be outlining the big issues for the UN General Assembly and Obama.

President Obama will chair a UN Security Council summit on nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament tomorrow, at which Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to announce that he wants to cut the UK Trident fleet of missile carrying submarines. Mark Urban will be considering the diplomatic impact and political significance of the move and how it fits into the UK's defence plan.

And following Labour MP Stephen Hesford's resignation as a parliamentary aide over the Baroness Scotland affair, we'll debate if she really ought to now stand down, and ask if Gordon Brown understands the concerns of the public on this issue.

In Bournemouth Nick Clegg has delivered his keynote speech to the Liberal Democrat conference. Our Political Editor Michael Crick has written that "Nick Clegg's talk today suggesting he's planning to become PM next spring is utterly bogus" - we'll be hearing more from him tonight.

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

Tonight we'll be hearing what our Science, Economics and Diplomatic Editors make of today's crucial international gathering in New York.

One hundred world leaders are meeting ahead of December's make-or-break conference in Copenhagen aimed at approving a global climate change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

Our Economics Editor, Paul Mason will be live in New York and our Science Editor Susan Watts will be assessing the chances of success.

And Jeremy will be speaking to Tony Blair who is also in New York about the obstacles to an international agreement.

Plus, shortly after President Obama's UN address on climate change he'll be hosting talks with the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Our Diplomatic Editor, Mark Urban will be watching for signs of a break through.

Also tonight Paul Mason reports from the small, working class town of Clairton, Pennsylvania, famous as the location for the 1978 film, The Deer Hunter. He asks what America needs to do to reinvent itself.

And to complete the set, our Political Editor, Michael Crick is at the Liberal Democrat conference in Bournemouth, from where we'll be speaking to Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg.

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

Coming up on Newsnight:

At the beginning of a crucial week for international relations, our Diplomatic Editor Mark Urban will assess whether President Barack Obama is failing to deliver on the world stage.

The lack of success in Afghanistan, highlighted in a leaked report by General McChrystal today, the stalled Middle East peace process and accusations of "appeasement" in US/Russian relations suggests that Mr Obama's new multilateralism is running into trouble.

We'll speak to key players on both sides of the Atlantic.

And at the Liberal Democrats' final party conference before a general election, Nick Clegg's difficult rebalancing of the party continues.

How will tandem messages about "savage" spending cuts and plans for a tax on owners of £1m-plus homes effect the clarity of the Lib Dem message and their chances at the ballot box?

Michael Crick and David Grossman will have the latest from Bournemouth, and US pollster Cornell Belcher will be meeting a focus group of voters and revealing what they think about Mr Clegg and his party.

Plus, Jeremy has just spoken with Spike Lee about race, racism and America - a fascinating interview that shouldn't be missed.

All coming up with Jeremy Paxman at 10.30 on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Coming up on Newsnight:

We've had a week of pronouncements from the political parties on cuts in public spending.

Today we learned the Chancellor Alistair Darling is meeting Cabinet colleagues to identify savings.

We'll be analysing what looks like a change in Labour's rhetoric and strategy, and what it means for the Conservatives.

We also have a fascinating film from American pollster Cornell Belcher.

Mr Belcher worked for the Democratic Party and Barack Obama ahead of last year's presidential election.

He has visited two marginal constituencies to hear people's views and its not good news for Gordon Brown.

And we'll also be joined by our usual political panel to discuss.

Here's Kirsty with what is coming up on Newsnight Review:

Our guests Germaine Greer, John Harris, Oliver Kamm, who is a banker-turned-leader writer, and comedian Robin Ince, bring their own perspectives and prejudices to the Newsnight Review trading floor.

This week they've watched and listened to two ´óÏó´«Ã½ dramas about the collapse of Lehmans, and a documentary, and read a book by a Lehmans insider.

They've been to London's Royal Court Theatre to see a preview of Enron, Lucy Prebble's new play which turns that spectacular crash into a song and dance affair, and to the Shunt theatre company's Money - a multilayered performance piece in a giant warehouse in London Bridge, based on Zola's story of a 19th Century banking scandal.

And... Oh how we laughed! Comedians, satirists and cartoonists have found easy prey amongst the banking giants who fell to earth. Does humour help us through the crisis, or reinforce a simplistic view of it?

Join us for all that and more.

President Barack Obama has announced a major overhaul of the US missile defence system in Europe, with bases which had been planned for Poland and the Czech Republic to be scrapped after a review of the threat from Iran. The US decision marks a major foreign policy shift which could impact on its dealings with Europe, Russia and Iran. We'll debate if it's been a good decision by President Obama or not.

Also tonight we have a moving film on the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment, known as the Green Howards, as they get ready to return to Afghanistan after just 18 months at home. Over the past four months a Newsnight team, including producer Jonathan Bell who is an ex-Green Howard himself, has filmed the troops as they completed training exercises and said their goodbyes to friends and families. Tonight is our first film and we will be following the progress of both the soldiers and their families through a six month tour in Helmand.

And we'll be considering the fate of the attorney general who is being investigated by immigration officials after employing an illegal worker. Baroness Scotland says she took on Loloahi Tapui - who arrived in the UK from Tonga in 2003 - in good faith and thought she was working in the UK legally. Under laws passed when Baroness Scotland was a Home Office minister, even employers who unknowingly take on illegal workers face a £10,000 fine.

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

News of tonight's programme from Gavin:

Tonight we're leading with a sensational development on a Newsnight investigation about a multi-national company and the dumping of hazardous waste in West Africa. Today we've had it confirmed that the largest class action ever brought before the British courts is about to be settled. The case follows the illegal dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast three years ago, which has been the subject of two Newsnight films. More than thirty thousand people from the West African country who say that they were harmed by the waste were involved in the action against Trafigura, a multi-national mineral trading company with a base in London. .

Then we'll be assessing what the latest unemployment figures tell us about the recession, especially the news that the public sector is creating jobs while private sector employment continues to shrink. Justin Rowlatt investigates the public/private divide from Yorkshire.

And we'll be hearing about the leaked Treasury spending figures, and trying to understand whether Barack Obama really is a President who transcends the race issue - or not - following former President Jimmy Carter's surprise intervention: "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man"

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

Tonight in a special edition of Newsnight we explore the consequences of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and how it has changed Britain and the world, and consider whether the crisis will lead to an ideological and cultural revolution as it did in the 1930s.

Joining the debate will be economist David Blanchflower, playwright and author David Hare, historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

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

The Cabinet met today to discuss political strategy in the run-up to the election. The cameras were let in briefly ahead of the get together and a team from Newsnight was there. We didn't get to film the meeting, but we did get a close up of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's notes and we want your help to decipher them - what do you think was top of the PMs list?

Here is what is coming up on the programme tonight:

With public debt heading for a historic high, it seems there is no escape from tighter public spending in the months and years ahead.

Lord Mandelson told the ´óÏó´«Ã½ today that that the Conservatives are "salivating at the prospect of wielding an axe over public services".

He was speaking ahead of a speech on the government's plans for reform of public services and spending, in which he called Labour the party of wise spending, not big spending.

The Conservatives however, accuse the government of "reckless" spending and of being oblivious to the economic conditions. They say that public spending must be reduced now to cut government debt.

Tonight, David Grossman will be assessing who is right, when it is best for the axe to fall and how the party's strategies are changing to deal with the cash-strapped times we live in.

We will be asking the government to explain what measures it could introduce which would effectively reduce costs without compromising frontline public services and talking to politicians of every stripe about what needs to be done.

Also, on the day TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber gave his opening speech to the TUC Congress in Liverpool, Matt Prodger is in Doncaster to report on the rise of a new trade bloc, the Workers of England Union.

And, as Newsnight prepares to mark the year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman's Brothers which set us on the path to global recession with an hour-long special programme on Tuesday, Robert Peston reports tonight on the year following the crash and the lessons learned.

And if you go to our website now you can see some of the key Wall Street players .

And finally, the Cabinet met today to discuss political strategy in the run-up to the election. The cameras were let in briefly ahead of the get together and of course a team from Newsnight were there. We didn't get to film the meeting, but we did get a close up of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's list of notes and we want your help on deciphering them - what do you think was top of the PMs list ?

Here are details of what's coming up in a star-studded Newsnight and Newsnight Review this evening:

"Nice to see you, to see you nice!"

Tonight we have an interview with Mr Saturday night himself - Bruce Forsyth. The Strictly Come Dancing host will be talking about "event television" programmes, stars' pay and the future of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ with Gavin Esler.

Also tonight, under new rules confirmed by the Home Office today parents who regularly drive children for sports or social clubs will have to be vetted and registered, or face a fine of up to £5,000. They are the latest measure aimed at child safety following the murder of two 10-year-old girls by school caretaker Ian Huntley in Soham. The rules will come into force from next month in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A separate, but aligned scheme, is being set up in Scotland, to be introduced next year.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling was scathing in his assessment of the move, saying: "Of course we have to check out those people who have jobs working with children, but the idea that we would vet eleven million parents is complete nonsense."

Child protection minister Baroness Morgan, said the new scheme was "a proportionate, common-sense system". Tonight we will be asking who is right. Is this a necessary response to the threat posed by paedophiles or has the government most perspective?

Join Gavin at 10.30pm.

And at 11pm on Review:

It is the single most explosive idea in history. Darwin's Theory of Evolution is almost as controversial today in some places as it was 150 years ago. We have an amazing panel to discuss the cultural legacy of On the Origin of Species in the light of a wealth of new artistic work - Richard Dawkins, whose new book champions evolutionary theory in the face of creationism, Margaret Atwood whose latest novel deals with the consequences of modern science, Ruth Padel who is a descendant of Darwin and bases many of her poems on his life and work, and one of our regular guests Reverend Richard Coles - who has been devouring Darwin all week with gusto.

We will be discussing Darwin's work, his home life through a new film, Creation, and his cultural impact - then and now - through two exhibitions.

And we'll also hear from Kevin Spacey and Trevor Nunn about an Old Vic production about Darwin.

Do join us later,

Martha

Here is what is coming up in the programme:

Tonight in a special programme we will be considering the future of Afghanistan as the presidential election grinds to an unsatisfying and potentially dangerous conclusion.

Today, the Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission invalidated some ballots because of fraud.

So where does this leave the legitimacy of the leading candidate, incumbent Hamid Karzai, and the West's mission in the country?

Our Diplomatic Editor Mark Urban will be providing us with the latest analysis, while Jeremy will be speaking to US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke, presidential candidate Dr Abdullah Abdullah - who believes the election has been stolen - and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Richard Watson has a report about the realities of security on the ground with one man who should know, Pakistan's North West Frontier Province chief of police.

And nine years after the Taliban destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan, Lyse Doucet reports on the man they call Afghanistan's Indiana Jones and his search for a giant Buddha he believes is hidden in the hills.

Join Jeremy tonight at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

In 89 days time more than 180 countries will gather in Copenhagen to thrash out a new international deal to tackle climate change. Tonight Susan Watts will be asking if there's sufficient political will to make the talks a success.

Justin Rowlatt has been at Heathrow Airport as Rochelle Wallis, the Canadian woman who became one of the first people to fall foul of the unintended consequences of rules brought in last year to stop forced marriages, prepared to leave the country. In a letter to Mrs Wallis the Home Secretary Alan Johnson described what was happening to her was "an inconvenience" - .

The mother of WPc Yvonne Fletcher who was murdered by a Libyan gunman in 1984 fears that the release of the Lockerbie bomber means she may never get justice for her daughter's killing. Queenie Fletcher has been speaking to Jeremy.

And on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the discovery of DNA fingerprinting Claire Marshall has been , and to Kirk Bloodsworth - . Have you taken a DNA test?

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

As our Economics Editor Paul Mason points out in his blog, today is a big day for politicians to craft their evasions about what public services they are going to cut.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has delivered a lecture on the future of public services in which he said the government will have to make "tough choices" to deal with the effects of the recession.

And Conservative leader David Cameron has made a speech promising to cut £120m from the cost of politics - slashing MPs' pay and allowances, quangos and the like.

But although Mr Darling used the word "cutting" 11 times, it was mainly in the context of "cutting costs" not services, and even Mr Cameron admitted his proposals were a pinprick in relation to the £175bn deficit we expect by the end of financial year 2009-10 and

Tonight, Paul will be taking a look at the fine print of both speeches and their likely effects on the economy and the electorate.

Also tonight, provisional results in Afghanistan show President Hamid Karzai has passed the 50% mark needed to avoid a presidential election run-off with rival Abdullah Abdullah, but fraud claims are casting doubt on the result.

Mark Urban will be assessing where the UN-backed election complaints commission's warning that it had found "clear and convincing evidence of fraud" leaves both Afghanistan and its international backers.

And we have a film from Nick Bryant in Australia on how the lucrative business of luring foreign students to Australia is being jeopardised by a series of racist attacks on Indian students and questions about the quality of the education on offer. .

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

"You have persisted in trying to humiliate us, kill us and destroy us. Sheikh Osama warned you many times to leave our lands or you will be destroyed, and now the time has come for you to be destroyed."

That was the chilling warning in a video prepared by Abdulla Ahmed Ali, one of three men convicted of attempted murder today by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court.

Along with Tanvir Hussain and Assad Sarwar, Ali plotted to kill thousands of people by blowing up planes over the Atlantic with home-made liquid bombs disguised as drinks. Four other men were found not guilty of involvement in the airline plot.

Tonight, Richard Watson will be reporting on the plot, the intelligence operation, the trial and perhaps most importantly, on whether such a plot could happen again.

Also tonight, Jerusalem correspondent Katya Adler reports on the rise of the military rabbis, who are changing the face of the Israeli army.

Once proudly secular, its combat units are now filling with those who believe Israel's wars are "God's wars".

And as Sir Terry Wogan announces that he is to step down as presenter of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 2's breakfast show, we'll be asking Nick Ferrari and Matthew Bannister what Radio 2 is for now Wogan has gone.

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

Here is what is coming up on the programme:

Remember April and the G20 and all that talk about saving the world's economy? Has anything really happened?

Today finance ministers from the Group of 20 richest nations are back in town to talk about global deals on ending the recession, and to look at plans to curb bankers' bonuses. But despite all the talk there is a danger of inertia.

Our Economics editor Paul Mason will be reporting on what is really going to be done to sort out the global finance system and whether the continuing focus on bonuses and bankers' pay is just a political sideshow.

And Kirsty Wark is at this moment at Number 11 Downing Street talking to the Chancellor Alistair Darling about all of this.

Our Political editor Michael Crick is out and about too.

He is in Buckingham - where the leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage, has decided stand against the Commons Speaker John Bercow at the next General Election.

So can UKIP break through at a national election? How will the Tories cope with the dilemma Mr Farage has presented them with?

And as he claims that Mr Bercow was "embroiled in the expenses saga and presides over a Parliament that virtually does nothing", how much is the expenses saga still resonating with people?

We will see what Michael finds out on the ground and Mr Farage will be sprinting away from his from his party's annual conference in Southport to join us live from Liverpool.

And now here's Kirsty to tell you what is coming up on Newsnight Review:

On Review authors Ian Rankin and Kate Mosse and the academic Sarah Churchwell join me to discuss some of the most anticipated novels from this autumn's bumper crop as the literary world waits for next week's Booker shortlist.

As the G20 finance ministers gather in London, author Sebastian Faulks also has the banking crisis on his mind.

He has been lauded for his historical fiction including Birdsong and Charlotte Grey, but in his latest novel A Week in December Faulkes plunges into a 21st Century nightmare of market meltdowns and venal hedge funders alongside the madness of reality shows, family dislocation, skunk and mental illness.

Is this the big British contemporary novel we've been waiting for?

Novels from two quiet men, JM Coetzee and William Trevor are the last books to be published that have made it onto the Booker long list.

Both are in the later stages of their careers, are they at the height of their powers? And we will be asking what the Booker list tells us about contemporary fiction.

Plus, Audrey Niffenegger follows her blockbuster The Time Traveller's Wife with Her Fearful Symmetry, a spooky tale set in Highgate cemetery, whilst musician Nick Cave's second novel is a freewheeling, obscenity packed tale of the quiffed would-be ladies man Bunny Munro. Will either entertain our panel?

Do join us.

On the eve of the G20 finance ministers' talks that Chancellor Alistair Darling is hosting in London, we'll be examining how close countries really are to reaching any kind of agreement.

Two young brothers have admitted to luring two boys to a ravine before brutally torturing them in South Yorkshire. Liz McKean has spent the day in Edlington - and we hope to bring you some new details on the story.

Should a formal apology and posthumous pardon be awarded to the wartime code-breaker Alan Turing? He was chemically castrated for admitting to his homosexuality and written out of history. More than 26,000 signatories have been gathered on the petition to the prime minister. Our Science Editor Susan Watts has been speaking to some of Turing's relatives.

And on the 70th anniversary of Britain declaring war on Germany we explore WWII's enduring role in national mythology.

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

"This tragic event reminds us of the challenges facing the authorities and the people of Afghanistan to ensure the stabilisation of the country."

So said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner today as he commented on the news that Afghanistan's deputy chief of intelligence, Abdullah Laghmani, had been killed in a bomb attack in the east of the country.

Mr Kouchner was speaking as he joined European and US envoys in Paris for talks on a new strategy for Afghanistan. A unified response to allegations of fraud in the August presidential election is one of the main items on the agenda.

That election was meant to demonstrate the country's transition into a democratic age.
The latest counting figures released show that incumbent President Hamid Karzai has slightly extended his lead over rival candidate Abdullah Abdullah.

However, the poll has been blighted by more than 2,000 complaints of voting irregularities to the Afghanistan election commission and reports of low turnout.

Tonight, we will be looking at how the international community can maintain its support for Kabul in the face of questions over the vote, the government's track record on human rights and a bloody military campaign.

Also, Boris Johnson is in Brussels to argue against legislation proposed for finance businesses. He says the moves to control the activities of hedge funds would target London directly and could be construed as a "naked attempt by Paris and Berlin to attack the competitiveness of London".

Our Political Editor Michael Crick is in Brussels assessing how the London mayor has fared.

We have a film on the man known as Russia's Obama - a watermelon seller and former student from Guinea Bissau who is attempting to become the first black man ever to be elected to public office in Russia. .

And we will be asking what a degree is worth following The Howard League for Penal Reform's call for all prison officers to have one.

Are they right, or is it wrong to value educational qualifications over workplace experience?

Join Jeremy at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

News of tonight's programme brought to you by the Newsnight web team:

Beslan is preparing to mark the fifth anniversary of the school siege tragedy in which more than 1000 hostages were taken. Three hundred and thirty four people, including 186 children, died. Chechen militants took control of the school in North Ossetia for three days before Russian forces stormed the building. Ewa Ewart, who directed the documentary Children of Beslan in the months immediately after the attack, has returned to Beslan for Newsnight. Tonight we'll be showing her powerful film which reveals how the children have struggled to make sense of the attacks and how they are still traumatised by the events of five years ago. .

Documents relating to the release of the Lockerbie bomber are due to be published by the UK and Scottish governments. Was Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi used as a pawn in UK/Libyan discussions?

Plus, is Keynes still relevant today? Recent arguments about the deficit and public spending in the UK suggests that the question is central to our understanding of the recession. Tonight we'll be joined in the studio by author and professor of political economy, Robert Skidelsky, who advocates that adopting reforms based on the British economist John Maynard Keynes' explanation for the cause of the Great Depression should be central to our strategy for economic recovery. And our Economics Editor Paul Mason will be explaining why there has been a resurgence in Keynesian thought in the current economic climate.

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