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Here is Kirsty with more about tonight's Newsnight and Newsnight Review - the last programmes before our Christmas and New Year break - we return until 4 January 2010:

"Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen" croons Danny Kaye, but, "terrible, terrible Copenhagen" is tonight sounding more apt, as it may go down in history as the place where the Little Mermaid sang her siren call this week and a big climate deal almost hit the rocks.

We'll have the very latest on this day of frenzied activity to try to pull something half-way workable out of the waves.

Can arguments over money and transparency be resolved? Can Obama and Wen Jibao do a deal? Is Ed Miliband tearing his hair out? How is the Danish Environment Minister Connie Hedegaard, who has given her all to this summit, bearing up?

We are inviting them to come onto the programme live to tell us.

And then we have a bumper edition of Newsnight Review in which Michael Gove, Paul Morley, Ekow Eshun and Natalie Haynes will be in a fabulously festive fighting mood as they range over some of the big controversies, bright lights of the year and the ways the cultural world is moving.

We'll be talking about Lars Von Trier's "Antichrist" which sent the critics at Cannes reeling and Andrea Arnold's quite brilliant "Fish Tank" which won the Jury Prize at Cannes.

We'll visit arguments over fictionalising history that ignited around Jonathan Littel's Holocaust epic, The Kindly Ones, and Quentin Tarantino's Jewish revenge fantasy Ingloriuos Basterds.

David Hare played investigative journalist to create The Power of Yes. Can theatre based on verbatim accounts ever really be drama? And there was more on the economic crisis in Lucy Prebble's powerful play Enron.
And was this the year when Twitter went from a simple gossip site to a revolutionary tool?

Then we look back at the noughties decade - the decade of Newsnight Review and remind you that the show is evolving into The Review Show which will still be live on Friday night in the same slot, and with many of our well loved contributors - and many more besides, and it will be 45 minutes rather than 30 minutes.

Make a date with our first show on January 22nd 2010.

This is the last programme before we break for the Christmas holiday, and it the last Newsnight Review before it relaunches in Glasgow in January.

Tonight on Newsnight we are "going big" on Copenhagen.

US President Barack Obama has called on leaders to come together at the UN climate summit as a deal hangs in the balance.

Our Science Editor Susan Watts is at the conference, and we will be talking to key players and analysts on the programme, as we try to determine if the summit will end with a bang or as a damp squib.

More details later.

Here's Emily with what is coming up on the programme:

British Airways:

Today will either go down in history as a disaster for democracy or as a triumph for anyone who has to face Heathrow at Christmas, depending on how you view a 12 day airline strike.

BA is now hopping round more gleefully than Rudolph after a high court injunction forbade the Unite union from striking - over a balloting technicality.

The union says it is delighted not to be ruining travellers Christmases - no, they really did - but is considering a legal appeal.

Tonight we look at what's behind this strike - one of the longest attempts at industrial action the airline industry has ever seen - and ask if a power struggle within the union might lie at its heart.

Afghanistan:

Also tonight an incredible eyewitness film from Mark Urban who has been embedded with US marines as they try to push back the Taliban in Helmand province.

Expenses:

What happens if MPs decide not to pay back money that Sir Thomas Legg has declared they owe? We're about to find out.

Eighty Members of Parliament have begun a fight back, and accuse the man who reviewed their claims of behaving dishonestly.

Two hundred MPs were originally ordered to return hundreds of thousands of pounds - so how much legitimacy does he have if nearly half of them refuse?

And will the public chorus of "they just don't get it" continue? Or is the tide starting to turn?

Iran: Karroubi

And the man who lies at the centre of Iranian opposition politics have given us a rare interview - which he knows could land him in serious trouble.

What does he think of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and is he prepared to continue the fight against the current government?

Tonight, extraordinarily candid responses from a man who believes the Iranian revolution is only just beginning.

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

Mark Urban returned from Afghanistan last week having spent time with the US marines operating in Helmand.

Mark was with the marines as they fought to seize back control of the town of Now Zad from insurgents - he wrote about this in his blog while he was there.

And tonight, we will be broadcasting the film Mark has made on his time embedded with the troops.

We are also looking at the Copenhagen climate summit, MPs' expenses and British Airways.

More details later.

Here is Gavin Esler with the details of tonight's programme

Today's Quote for the Day.

"I know that for many people the Copenhagen conference seems like a grand talking shop with abstract arguments about issues of little relevance to their daily lives. But decisions we take in the next few days have the potential to be the most momentous for the world in more than half a century," - Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In tonight's programme we will try to find out whether "the most momentous" decisions are really about to be taken in Copenhagen, or if the great gathering is turning out to be going nowhere fast.

We'll be live at Ethical Man Justin Rowlatt 's house who will be joined by members of the public - and David King the former Chief Scientific adviser - to debate the science of climate change and why it's one of the most important issues facing the country.

We will also hear from the Greek finance minister who is in London to meet Alistair Darling. He'll be discussing his tottering economy and the austerity measures he thinks are necessary.

And the Supreme Court has waded into an issue which has been at the core of arguments about Judaism for centuries: who is a Jew and is a secular court the right place to decide?

And I would like to thank viewers for the deluge of Tiger Woods jokes. Among the printable ones, I particularly liked the thought that Tiger Woods crashed his car into a fire hydrant and a tree because, under pressure, he could not decide between an iron and a wood.

Gavin

UPDATE: Many of you have commented on the Ethical House section of this programme, you might want to know that Justin has blogged on the subject.

Here is what we are lining up for tonight's programme:

Our Ethical Man Justin Rowlatt returns tonight with an experiment to see if co2 really does heat up the atmosphere.

Our Science Editor Susan Watts will have more from the UN climate summit in Copenhagen where she will be talking to protesters.

We will also consider the ruling by the Supreme Court that the admissions policy at the Jewish faith school JFS discriminates on the grounds of ethnicity.

Here's Gavin Esler with more information about what is coming up on the programme:

The government has announced significant cuts in military personnel and equipment to fund a £900m boost for the Afghanistan campaign.

Citing "acute cost pressures" and "tough decisions" on reprioritising spending Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said that RAF Cottesmore in Rutland would be closed and defence jobs axed.

Mr Ainsworth's announcement came after months of criticism over the number of helicopters in operation in Helmand, in Afghanistan.

Under the new plan the MOD will buy an additional 22 Chinook helicopters - but here's the snag, they won't be operational until 2012/2013.

Gavin Esler is poring over the details of the plan right now as he prepares for an interview with Mr Ainsworth for tonight's programme.

Susan Watts is braving the cold, and the queues, in Copenhagen and will be bringing us the latest from the climate change summit live on the programme.

And Peter Marshall will be reporting on an expected announcement from the White House that it is to acquire an underutilised state prison in rural Illinois to be the new home for a limited number of Guantanamo detainees - which could be an important step on the thorny path to closing the US detention facility in Cuba.

And as the young people we have been following for our Leaving Care series prepare for Christmas, Liz MacKean has been catching up with them and has travelled to Sweden to see how youngsters turning 18 in care are handled there.

Here is what we are lining up for tonight's programme:

The government is to buy 22 new Chinook helicopters for use in Afghanistan, but they will be paid for by cuts elsewhere in the defence budget.

The Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth will outline the details this afternoon. We will have the latest.

Our Science Editor Susan Watts will also bring us up to date with events at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen where there have been more chaotic scenes today with people queuing for hours to get into the conference.

Here's Gavin Esler with more information about what is coming up on the programme:

It's an interesting comment on British newspapers that more column inches today are devoted to the winner of the X Factor than to the meeting which - we are constantly lectured - is going to save the planet.

But perhaps British newspapers have got it about right.

A talent show with a cheerful young singer may mean more to most of us than the world gathering in Copenhagen on the basis of climate change science, which opinion polls show many British people find a bit dodgy.

Newsnight's Science Editor Susan Watts is in Copenhagen and will be reporting on today's walk-out by African nations.

Are the developed and developing world now further apart?

Is a deal looking less likely, or just as likely but less effective?

We'll be joined in the studio by the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn and we hope to speak to the president of the Maldives, where rising sea levels are of more significance than rising stars on the X Factor.

Speaking of which... Kirsty has been interviewing the grand impresario Simon Cowell - who tells her about his plans for a political discussion show in the run up to the General Election, taking the X Factor to America and his duty of care to Britain's Got Talent winner Susan Boyle.

And, with just 10 days to go before Christmas, Newsnight has been catching up with the soldiers of the Green Howards, the 2nd Battalion, the Yorkshire Regiment.

They will be on duty in Helmand while their families try to celebrate the holidays as best they can back home.

And finally... Kyle sends me the following topical, but inevitably bad taste, joke:

"What do Tiger Woods and Canadian seals have in common? They both get clubbed by Scandinavians."

Newsnight is on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two at 10.30pm.

Gavin

Here is what we are lining up for tonight's programme:

As the UN climate summit resumes in Copenhagen we look at the tensions between the developed and developing world in how best to tackle global warming.

We also have an interview with Simon Cowell about his life and career. Our interview was long in the negotiation, but remarkably obstacle-free once we entered the rather lovely Sony HQ where he has a suite of offices.

And as Gordon Brown outlines new efforts to counter the roadside bombs that have led to rising UK deaths in Afghanistan, we have a special report about British troops serving in the danger zone and the hopes and fears of their loved ones back home.

Here's what is coming up on Newsnight:

Tonight, Richard Watson has new revelations on the chaos in the student work visa system.

We also have the first British TV interview with Curt Knox, father of Amanda Knox, the American student convicted last week of killing her British housemate Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007.

Amanda Knox faces a prison sentence of 26 years for the murder of the woman she described as her friend.

Her father Curt has vowed to fight on to clear her. Prosecutors portrayed Amanda as manipulative and promiscuous - but her supporters argued she was the victim of a vicious character assassination.

And after two days of tense discussion in Brussels, EU leaders have agreed to pay almost £7bn over the next three years to help developing nations adapt to climate change.

But are poorer countries taking enough action themselves? Christian Fraser reports from Egypt, where a one metre rise in the sea level could displace eight million people from the Nile Delta and destroy Egypt's most fertile farmland.

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

On tonight's show - it's all about the kids. Are adults muscling in on children's culture?

Two film adaptations of classic children's books, directed by two of Hollywood's hippest filmmakers, have recently arrived on British cinema screens.

Spike Jonze's interpretation of Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are, and Wes Anderson's stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox both offer dark and idiosyncratic takes on childhood classics, but who will they really appeal to?

We'll look at the latest in the run of family friendly productions at the National Theatre - Nation, adapted from the Terry Pratchett novel.

Can theatre that aims to attract audiences of all ages really please all generations?

And in the week that Thomas the Tank Engine was attacked by a Canadian academic for its "conservative political ideology" and failure to represent women properly, are we still trying to impress adult ideas about gender into the books kids read?

Our panel discuss two very different books. Girls Are Not Chicks, a feminist colouring book which playfully examines female gender stereotypes and Battleground by ex-SAS soldier Chris Ryan - an all action thriller for boys aged 11+.

Do join me this evening.

Here is what we are lining up for tonight's programme:

Tonight we have an interview with Curt Knox, father of Amanda Knox, the American student convicted last week of killing her British housemate Meredith Kercher in Italy in 2007.

And we have a fascinating film from Christian Fraser reporting on how climate change is affecting the Nile Delta region.

More details later.

Here's Emily Maitlis with what is coming up on tonight's programme:

Tiger's Birdies:

Forget all that you've heard about Tiger Woods' sponsorship deals running out. A brand new one came in just today. It's from Paddy Power, Ireland's largest bookie and it is offering the beleaguered golfer a million dollars.

The catch? Well, the endorsement is of a new product they're calling Tiger's Birdies. And, as you correctly surmise, it's a bet based on predictions of the number of birdies holed by Tiger over four days of a golf tournament.

Well that is what you were thinking, isn't it?

We'll be talking about Tiger, sponsorship, modern infidelity and its cost a little later on the programme.

First:

MPs' expenses. It takes a serious claim to knock the duck house from its poll position of numero uno expense gaffe. But today, Quentin Davies is revealed to be vying for the award. He tried to claim for repairs to his bell tower.

Doncha just hate it when your bell tower starts leaking? No-one should have to tolerate that in modern-day Britain.

We'll be looking at this new lot of expenses and we'll debate what the revelations say about MPs and what they've learnt.

Noughties:

Newsnight's trawl through the last decade comes to a close tonight when we land on fashion in the Noughties.

It was the decade when fashion got fast - and, arguably, democratic. The turnaround from the catwalk to the high street became obscenely quick.

The focus, like never before, was on the dressing of the celebrity - the rest of us were then shown how to get the same look at a hundredth of the price. What has that done for the way we view celebrity and the way we dress ourselves?

Here's a sneak preview of the film:

Tonight, we'll be talking to one of the most thought-provoking designers in the business - Hussein Chalayan - who once proved so brilliantly that a skirt didn't just have to be a skirt, it could also be a table.

Confused? All will be explained later. Join us at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Emily

It is all a bit nebulous at the moment - but here are the things we are thinking about for tonight's programme:

The latest details of expenses claimed by MPs under the controversial second homes allowance have been published - we are sifting through the particulars.

And we are looking at the joint letter issued by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling for urgent global reform of financial markets.

One item which is firm is the last in our Noughties series - we have had and .

Tonight we will be looking at fashion in the Noughties and discussing the impact, if any, events like 9/11 have had.

More details later.

Here's Kirsty Wark with what is coming up on tonight's programme:

If Alistair Darling didn't have to countenance an election within six months would his Pre-Budget Report have looked very different?

He kept banging on about fairness, so is it fair? And fair or not is it the right PBR to get us out of the doldrums?

Tonight we'll be deciphering it all with our editors Michael Crick and Paul Mason, senior politicians - Liam Byrne, Phillip Hammond and Vince Cable - and our Newsnight political panel.

The headline grabber was the attempt to cut off bankers' bonuses at the knees, levying a one off tax of 50% on awards over £25,000, payable by the banks - the chancellor promised there could be no avoidance.

Is he right to be so sure? And how can he assert it will garner half a billion for the unemployed when we have no idea whether the bonuses will be paid or not?

And how does this PBR really help the lower paid when there's to be a cap of 1% on public sector pay rises for two years from 2011 AND a doubling of the planned increase in National Insurance, and how does it encourage aspiration when the Inheritance Tax threshold is now to remain the same?

And then there is the massive deficit - £178bn (double the amount that drove Denis Healey to the IMF cap in hand) - an upward revision from £175bn, which Mr Darling forecast would be cut to £82bn in four years.

But he is refusing to make targeted spending cuts until 2011, and indeed benefits are to rise - both the state pension and child and disability benefits.

The shadow chancellor George Osborne insists that public spending needs to be cut now - and we'll be trying to get to the bottom of how they'll fill the hole .

And then there's the nod to the environment, including a scrappage scheme to replace 125,000 home boilers - yes that's a whole 125,000!!

So it's all about bankers and boilers. A May election anyone?

Here is what we are planning for tonight's programme:

It is pre-Budget report day, in which Chancellor Alistair Darling will be making his statement on the state of the economy to parliament.

Unsurprisingly tonight's programme will be dedicated to the PBR - what is said, what is not, and what it all means.

Our Economics Editor Paul Mason will be crunching the numbers, our Political Editor Michael Crick - who is down at Parliament right now - will be unpicking the politics.

Paul has already blogged on the new territory Britain is moving into - which you can read here.

And we will be joined in the studio by senior politicians and by our political panel - Peter Hyman, Tony Blair's long time head of strategy, Danny Finkelstein, former head of policy at Conservative Central Office and Olly Grender, who was the Liberal Democrats' Communication Director.

More details later.

Here is Emily Maitlis with what is coming up on the programme.

The pre Pre-Budget Report report:

Trucker's Weekly magazine once voted Alistair Darling the most boring MP in Westminster. Not once - twice actually. It's the kind of accolade he dreams of these days. Life has, in recent times, been anything but dull for the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Tomorrow, the politician-turned-banker will once again find himself in the spotlight when he lays bare the exact state of Britain's finances. What policies does Labour have up its sleeve for the last six months before a general election must be called? And with a deficit edging towards £200 billion, does any party have any real choices?

We ask big business - in the name of Sir Gerry Robinson - how he would cut the national debt if GB were a limited company. And we talk to former chancellor Lord Lawson.

Iraq Inquiry:

On the day that more than 120 people are killed in Bagdad bombings, the former head of MI6 - Sir John Scarlett - gives evidence at the Iraq Inquiry - a big beast in the run up to the Iraq War. David Grossman is on the case for us.

Schools:

And what happens when you really don't like the choice of schools in your neighbourhood? Well, if you're journalist Toby Young, you build a new one - all funded by the taxpayer. Is it necessary? Will it catch on? We'll debate all that in the studio.

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

Emily

On the eve of the pre-budget report we will look ahead to the prospects for the economy and the big issues of the moment - spending and cuts.

The Chancellor needs to save billions of pounds. How deep will public sector cuts go?

We will also have a special film by the author and journalist Toby Young - who has been trying to set up a school in London.

He will take part in a discussion on the programme too as we examine possible future priorities for education policy.

The Copenhagen climate change summit finally got under way today with a call for decisive action from the host of the conference, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, who called the event an "opportunity the world cannot afford to miss".

Tonight, Science Editor Susan Watts will report on what the delegates drawn from 192 countries hope to achieve at the meeting and what stumbling blocks remain.

We will be discussing the issues in the studio with guests including John Prescott, who helped broker the original UN climate change deal in December 1997.

Also, ahead of this week's pre-Budget report, the Prime Minister has been outlining measures to streamline central government and improve efficiency.

Mr Brown said that planned money saving measures include halving the amount spent on consultancies, slashing communications budgets and ending the "culture of excess" in some parts of the public service.

But how much of this is new? And even if implemented, how much efficiency will these measures deliver? David Grossman reports tonight.

And Jackie Long has a report on a homeless charity in North Wales which has been working to help the most troubled families in society - instead of taking the children into care, they effectively take the whole family in.

Here is what we are lining up for tonight's programme:

The Copenhagen conference has opened today with delegates from 192 countries attending the two-week meeting, which is intended to come up with an agreement to supplant the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

We will be looking at what the summit is trying to achieve and what might a deal look like.

Also, Jackie Long has a special report on Britain's troubled families.

And we expect to be hearing more from Mark Urban who has been on an offensive to clear insurgents from a town in Helmand with US marines - as you can read in his Afghan blog.

More details later.

PS Thanks to those of you who made suggestions for Steve Smith's film on pop-ups. It was a bit last minute, but your help was much appreciated.

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

On tonight's show - how much would you pay for a postcard of Jeremy Paxman or Kirsty Wark? That's what Steve Smith is attempting to find out on his pop up stall in Carnaby Street. He's reporting on the whole pop up phenomenon - from shops to restaurants to Nissan cars. *

Funnily enough that won't be our lead story though. Instead, as the United Nations decides to conduct its own investigation into e-mails leaked from the University of East Anglia, we'll be hearing from inside the bunker for the first time. A scientist there tells us that his colleagues have been traduced. A sceptical voice from the US responds.

What will the dividing lines be for the next general election? Next week, the chancellor will lay out his forecasts for the economy and plans for tax and spending in the pre-Budget report. Given the size of the national debt, can he credibly offer an alternative to the Conservatives? Or will every party have to get real about spending cuts? Our Economics Editor Paul Mason will give his thoughts.

We'll be continuing the debate on climate change in Review, though in a very different way with my panel Simon Armitage, Johann Hari, Tiffany Jenkins and Jonathan Bate. Exploding volcanoes, tsunamis and a quivering Earth's crust form the centrepiece in the blockbuster cinema release 2012. The forthcoming film The Road also takes place in a post-apocalyptic landscape. Are films like this simply drawing on the visual drama of climate change or do they have a deeper message?

Tracey Emin, Anthony Gormley and other artists from around the world take the planet Earth as their theme in a new exhibition at the Royal Academy. We'll look at that and the impact of protest art on its way to Copenhagen.

And in recent years there's been a new wave of nature writing. How far does it engage in climate change or offer an escape from worrying about it? We'll be discussing Sara Wheeler's new book The Magnetic North.

Do join me at 11pm.

(* what kind of poxy stall is it anyway? Steve didn't even bother to sell my postcards).

Tonight we will be talking pop-ups - not the children's book variety - but the restaurants, bars, clubs and shops that spring up in unexpected locations only to quickly melt away.

It used to be sellers of fireworks, Halloween costumes and Christmas tat taking over disused shops around the time of our winter festivities.

But with the advent of enterprises like The Reindeer restaurant, The Double Club, The Foundry and the Proud Galleries - they couldn't be hipper.

Stephen Smith will be reporting on this phenomenon tonight - and if you've spotted any pop-ups in your area, have tips on cool places to go or experiences to recount he wants to hear from you.

You can leave a comment here or e-mail us at newsnight@bbc.co.uk - putting the words "Pop-Ups" in the subject heading.

Tonight, we will also have the latest on the ongoing CRU e-mail row and Paul Mason is looking into the reports that Chancellor Alistair Darling has decided it is too soon to announce plans for a substantial fiscal tightening in next week's pre-Budget Report without jeopardising a recovery.

More later

RBS' board has threatened to resign if the government blocks its plan to pay a reported total of £1.5bn in bonuses to investment banking staff.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable has said the government should "call the bluff" of the RBS directors and accept their resignations.

Should it? Tonight, our Economics Editor Paul Mason will be reporting on the predicament now facing the government, and its likely course of action.

Jon Sopel has this afternoon been talking to Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani about security concerns, the hunt for Osama bin Laden and Prime Minister Gordon Brown's claim that three quarters of terrorist plots originate in the Pakistan-Afghan border regions - we will have that interview tonight.

And Science Editor Susan Watts will revisit the Climatic Research Unit stolen e-mails row.

It was announced today that an independent review will investigate claims that the e-mails showed scientists were manipulating climate change data.

Tonight Susan will be revealing new information about what went on inside the prestigious institute.

And we have the last film in our series on make do and mend.

As reporter Mary Jane Baxter's trip to test whether the current vogue for make do and mend is more than a fad draws to a close we will be joined in the studio by a high street trend spotter and social commentator to talk frugal fashion.

Join Jon Sopel for all that at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Here is what we are lining up for tonight's programme, which Jon Sopel will be presenting:

Tonight we have the last film in our make do and mend series for which milliner Mary Jane Baxter travelled the length of the country to find out if the current vogue for make do and mend is more than a fad.

For accommodation and funds Mary Jane had to rely on her make do and mend skills, and the hospitality offered by you, the Newsnight audience.

As part of the trip we visited the V&A where staff are taking part in a lunchtime quilting club - we have an of what they are up to on our site now.

Tonight, you can see how Mary Jane got on and afterwards we will be talking fashion in the studio with high street trend picker Juliet Warkentin and social commentator Peter Yorke.

We are also looking at the RBS bonuses story.

More details later.

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

Half of the programme will be coming from Washington DC tonight as we take a closer look at President Barack Obama's speech in which he announced that a further 30,000 US troops will be sent to Afghanistan.

Gavin Esler is in DC and will be speaking to Senator John McCain - among others. It is Mr McCain's first in-depth interview with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ since his failed presidential bid.

Presenting the London bit of the programme will be Jon Sopel, who is doing another stint on Newsnight. Up for discussion tonight, google's decision to limit free news access.

And for those not signed up to our daily e-mail here is Gavin's message from the US today (with anecdotes like this on offer can you really afford not to subscribe?)

Hello from Washington.

America, as we British sometimes fail to notice, is another country.

When I arrived from London two days ago I was stopped as usual by the immigration authorities. I handed over my passport, my completed immigration and customs forms, was fingerprinted and photographed.

"Why are you here?" the Homeland Security lady asked me.

"Because the president is scheduled to announce a big increase in US troop numbers in Afghanistan."

"Who do you work for?"

"The ´óÏó´«Ã½."

"How do you spell that?"

Hmmm. A tricky one. How do you spell ´óÏó´«Ã½?

"Er, B... B... C..."

The lady looked at me.

"Do you have any identification?"

"You are holding my passport," I said, with a smile.

I tell this story because, while I love America and lived here for many years, the ways of the US bureaucracy are often beyond weird.

And now the day after President Barack Obama's big speech that huge bureaucracy, military and political, will slowly grind through to put more troops in Afghanistan and find out how to pay for it.

We'll have a full report on the impact of the speech, and I am heading off to Capitol Hill to interview the man who could have been president, Republican Senator John McCain.

That's if my identification papers are acceptable to the gatekeepers.

Gavin.

Here is what we are planning for tonight's programme:

Half of the programme will be coming from Washington DC tonight as we take a closer look at President Barack Obama's speech in which he announced that a further 30,000 US troops will be sent to Afghanistan.

Gavin Esler is in DC and will be speaking to Senator John McCain - among others. It is Mr McCain's first in-depth interview with the ´óÏó´«Ã½ since his failed presidential bid.

Presenting the London bit of the programme will be Jon Sopel, who is doing another stint on Newsnight. Up for discussion tonight, google's decision to limit free news access.

More details later.

Here is what is coming up on the programme:

After over two months and 10 top level meetings with senior advisors, President Obama is ready to announce that 30,000 more US troops will go to Afghanistan in the next six months taking the American deployment there to 100,000*. It's arguably the biggest moment of Obama's presidency thus far and a decision he's been wrestling with since he was handed the report from General Stanley McChrystal back in September.

In a speech at West Point Military Academy Mr Obama will lay out the American strategy in Afghanistan and seek to allay fears that this could be an open ended mission. Gavin Esler is in Washington to consider the merits of the Commander-in-Chief's military strategy and we will ask whether he can sell it to an increasingly sceptical American Public.

Sting has been campaigning to save the Amazonian rainforest and its indigenous people from destruction for over 20 years. The musician has just returned from a fresh trip to the region, highlighting the importance of the rainforests in mitigating against the effects of climate change. We have exclusive footage of that trip and Jeremy will be talking to Sting live about his campaign.

David Cameron made a speech earlier today attacking the excesses of health and safety culture and setting out how the Conservatives might tackle this thorny issue. Steve Smith went along, well once he had filled out an appropriate risk assessment form. We will be donning hard hats and fluorescent jackets to discuss whether as David Cameron said "a noble intention to protect people from harm has mutated into a stultifying blanket of bureaucracy, suspicion and fear".

Join Jeremy at 10.30pm.

* If you received our daily email, please note that an incorrect figure for the number of US troops was quoted. The correct figure is 100,000.

Here's what we are currently planning for tonight's programme:

Tonight we have a live interview from New York with Sting. He has just returned from a trip to the Amazon to re-launch a campaign he first started 20 years ago. But how convincing an environmental campaigner is he?

As we go on air Obama will be just hours away from his expected announcement of more troops for Afghanistan. We will have a full report.

Mark Urban is with US forces in Afghanistan.