´óÏó´«Ã½

After seven-and-a-half years, the American military's combat mission in Iraq formally ends today, though approximately 50,000 troops will stay to train and advise Iraqi security forces.

Our Diplomatic editor Mark Urban is in Washington for us where he has been speaking to veterans about what the Iraq war meant for the US. We'll discuss the legacy of the Iraq war and what the nature of future US interventions will be with Senator John Warner and the Iraqi Ambassador to the United States, Samir Sumaida'ie.

Also tonight, conservative Americans flocked in massive numbers to the Lincoln memorial at the weekend, the site of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago. The rally which was hosted by the controversial Fox News TV host Glenn Beck, known for making racially provocative statements in the past. "It's like the damn Planet of the Apes," Beck said of America on his TV show recently in a segment on pension policy and President Obama.

The US is caught in a whirlwind of racially charged debates in the run up to the crucial mid-term elections, in which Republicans are battling to take control of Congress. Across the country there are heated debates over immigration and the building of mosques. America's conservative Tea Party supporters, worried about debt and government spending too, are portraying America's first black President as unpatriotic and "un-American" for his stance on these issues, and their message is selling.

Hilary Andersson will be considering how the Tea Party has captured many Americans' imagination by instilling fear of President Obama and his promise of transforming America, and asks to what extent racial fears are bound up with this.

The official memorabilia to mark Pope Benedict's September visit to Britain is already on sale - so if you purchase a papal t-shirt, a Swarovski bracelet or a baseball cap the proceeds will go towards the costs of hosting him. Tonight we'll be speaking to Chris Patten, who has been appointed by the prime minister to help arrange the tour, and we'll be asking him about the costs, the red tape, and the controversy surrounding the papal visit.

And we hope to bring you the latest on the revelations in Tony Blair's new book, being published tomorrow.

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

Here's what is happening on Friday's Newsnight:

US Federal Reserve head Ben Bernanke is delivering a key policy speech as the US economy faces a sharp slowdown. He's telling fellow bankers what options - if any - remain to turn the stalling recovery around. So is the US on the verge of a double dip recession? We'll be hearing from our Economics editor Paul Mason.

Media execs are gathering in Edinburgh for the start of the annual international television festival, where the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Director General Mark Thompson is due to deliver the MacTaggart Lecture.

Last year one of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s biggest competitors, James Murdoch, launched an outspoken attack on the corporation in his keynote speech, describing the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s ambitions as "chilling".

So how will Mr Thompson respond? Stephen Smith will be watching.

UK scientists have released draft sequences of the wheat genome which they think could make a vital contribution to securing global food supplies.

The researchers also say their efforts could help farmers around the world to develop new strains with greater yields. Our Science editor Susan Watts will be considering how significant a development it is, and we'll be joined in the studio by one of the team of researchers who made the breakthrough.

We'll be asking whether science holds the answer to feeding a population growing in size and prosperity.

Do join Gavin Esler at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two for Friday's Newsnight. And don't forget we'll be off-air for the bank holiday, but we're back on Tuesday 31 August - usual time and place.

Tonight we have an exclusive investigation into how much money UK charities pay professional fundraisers - sometimes called chuggers - who approach people on the street or the doorstep and ask them to sign up to a direct debit.

Charities have admitted to Newsnight that they are paying these companies as much as £100 a time to sign up donors, and in total pay millions of pounds every year to these subcontracted firms. .

We'll also be considering the case against fugitive tycoon Asil Nadir who has flown back to the UK from his home in northern Cyprus, after evading trial since 1993. Mr Nadir faces fraud charges relating to the collapse of his Polly Peck business empire in 1990.

Tim Whewell is in Peterborough to examine how the labour market there is adapting, as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announces net migration to the UK rose last year to 196,000, up by 33,000 from the number in 2008. We'll discuss the figures with the immigration minister.

And Stephen Smith will be asking what made Fritz Lang's film, Metropolis, so hugely influential, as a newly restored version of the sci-fi epic is premiered on London's South Bank.

For the first time in 83 years the legendary silent film will be screened here as its director originally intended - including 25 minutes of 'lost footage' unearthed in an Argentine museum archive two years ago.

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

Here's Emily with news of tonight's programme:

An overhaul of the MPs' allowance system was, arguably, never going to be met with cheers all round.

But today, we get a first glimpse of the kind of response it elicited.

Conversations released under the Freedom of Information Act describe 'incidents of behaviour' by MPs towards staff at the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

It makes for quite colourful reading.
One word seems to crop up quite repeatedly in the dialogue. Indeed, we're still having a heated debate on Newsnight about how graphic we should make the expletives.

Tonight, we'll reconstruct some of the exchanges documented, speak to one of the MPs accused of behaving badly and ask if this tells us anything about MPs' attitudes to the expenses scandal a full year on.

Also tonight, has the June budget - hailed by the Chancellor as 'progressive' - served only to penalise the poorest families? The Institute of Fiscal Studies reckons so.

It says those with less money will be disproportionately hit by the cuts the coalition government has made. Is this true?

Nick Clegg dismissed the study as 'partial' - but for a coalition that has staked its reputation on fairness, it makes for uncomfortable reading. We'll be speaking to the Treasury.

Is Mexico currently the biggest threat to America's national security?
Seventy two bodies have been discovered on a ranch in northern Mexico, following a shootout with a suspected drug cartel.

Indeed the murder stats are utterly outlandish - 28,000 people killed since 2006, and now a war being waged on the very government departments the drug barons are alleged to have infiltrated. We speak to Mexico's ambassador live.

Do join me at 10.30pm this evening, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two,

Emily

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From earlier today:

Our Economics editor Paul Mason will be delving into the report by leading economic think tank, the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), which says the coalition's first Budget has hit the poorest families hardest.

Was the Budget "progressive" as the government say, or "regressive" as the IFS has branded it? And what does all this tell us about the coalition's understanding of social justice?

Then we'll be looking ahead to next month's four-day Papal visit to the UK.

And we have a film about the independence referendum to be held early next year on whether or not southern Sudan should remain as a part of Sudan.

More details later.

Here's what we're planning for tonight's programme:

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley wants family doctors to decide where the NHS's money is spent as part of the government's plans for a major shake-up of the NHS system in England.

But not everyone is happy about the move. The UK's largest public service union, Unison, has launched legal action claiming ministers failed to ask the public if it wanted such fundamental changes in the first place. And a Muscular Dystrophy Campaign study seen by Newsnight found many GPs had no knowledge of muscle-wasting conditions. The charity warns that a move to GP-based commissioning would be disastrous. The Shadow Health Secretary and Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham joins us live.

We also have a film from Mark Seddon on the decline of the English elm, which is under threat from a fresh outbreak of Dutch elm disease. Watch out for the specially-commissioned poem dedicated to the elm written and read by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. , and .

And we'll be asking why President Barack Obama's disapproval rating is higher than his approval rating for the first time in an Ipsos poll.

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

From earlier:

The English elm - once a common sight in the British countryside - is under threat from a fresh outbreak of Dutch elm disease.

We have a film from Mark Seddon investigating the history and decline of the great English tree. It will feature a specially-commissioned poem dedicated to the elm written and read by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. , and .

We are also looking at a number of other stories, including plans in Germany to end conscription.

More details later.

Here's Kirsty with details of tonight's programme:

The UN estimates that the number of people in Pakistan who need basic shelter has gone from two million to six million, and the country is expecting more flooding in theÌýsouth. Water and silt have damaged and destroyed crops including rice, cotton, sugar cane and maize in an areaÌýof more than 4.25 million acres.ÌýThe IMF is considering how to help the country. But what brought about this devastation? Our Science editor Susan Watts examines theÌýclaims byÌýseniorÌýclimate scientists that global warming is aÌý"major contributing factor''Ìý(Dr Ghassem Asrar, director of the World Climate Research Program). What role - if any - has climate change played in this disaster?

Should women be allowed to be veiled in public? As Bosnia becomes the latest country to consider this difficult issue we have been talking to some young British Muslims who have adopted the niqab - even though no other members of their family are veiled. They insist they are not alienated from Western culture, nor are they making a defiant stand - so why the desire to cover their faces?Ìý.

The world has to produce more and more food to feed a burgeoning population, and to do that, fields need fertiliser. We delve into the battle over Potash reserves thatÌýcould soon become a geo-political battle for dwindling resources.
Ìý
AndÌýKeep the Aspidistra Flying? The row over the spend on expenses at the Audit Commission has now drawn in the DCMS after aÌýgovernment minister insisted there were no pot plants in HIS department... Can this be true? Newsnight investigates.

Join me, Kirsty, at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

From earlier:

Tens of thousands of people are trying to flee the latest flood surge in southern Pakistan, three weeks after devastating monsoon rainfall hit the country. Around 1,600 people are thought to have died. Twenty million people have been affected by the disaster.

Tonight our Science editor Susan Watts will be considering what role climate change may have played in the country's floods.

We have a film examining why increasing numbers of British Muslim women are choosing to wear the face veil. Two women explain to us why the adopted the niqab when their mothers did not.

And our Economics editor Paul Mason will be investigating what makes potash a hot commodity.

More details later.

Here's Laura Kuenssberg with news of what's coming up in tonight's programme:

Tonight, Newsnight reveals a new survey that shows the extent of the cutbacks to speed cameras being considered by councils in England. After losing some of the cash from central government others are set to follow Oxfordshire, and switch off the 'gatsos' for good. But will an increase in casualties be an inevitable consequence of ending what the government calls the 'war on the motorist'? Liz McKean reports from Wiltshire where speed cameras are on the way out.

A year after Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was cheered onto Libyan tarmac, American senators continue their campaign to hunt out any hint of impropriety in the decision to release the only person convicted of the Lockerbie bombing. This afternoon they have published what they claim is evidence of commercial pressure behind the decision. We'll ask one of them if it really changes the fundamental facts.

And at a loose end? Well perhaps one of the Labour leadership contenders can offer you a hot ticket. David Miliband, the former foreign secretary, has issued instructions to his supporters on his website on how to host the perfect political party; 'give the place a quick vacuum and general tidy' and 'put the oven on and get the nibbles in'. It's all part of his plan to get activists excited and of course fighting for him in Labour's leadership campaign. Newsnight's Steve Smith has the drinks chilling.

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From earlier:

As more councils consider switching off their speed cameras, we will be reporting from Wiltshire on why fewer cameras are now flashing at errant motorists.

We will be looking at whether this is about saving money or ending the 'war on the motorist' as Transport Secretary Philip Hammond promised.

And what about plans for a David Miliband party? His on who to invite, detailed timings and who to invite.

We might be having our own event tonight.

More details later.

Here's Laura Kuenssberg with news of what's coming up in tonight's programme:

The cleverest appear to be getting cleverer, if today's A Level results are anything to go by. And more students than expected attained the new A star qualification that was intended to separate the brilliant from the merely excellent. Cue the annual bluster about whether the exams themselves are getting any easier?

But today's results also suggest that students whose parents pay for their education were proportionately three times more likely to receive that new top grade than those educated at comprehensives, and more than twice as likely to get an A grade.

So why, after Labour poured billions of pounds of taxpayers' cash into schools over the last 13 years does such a divide persist? And are the coalition's plans for free schools and many more academies in England any more likely to close the gap?

Also tonight, should freedom of worship allow you to build your house of prayer wherever you like?

It probably hasn't escaped your notice that President Barack Obama is under the cosh from the Republicans and some even in his own party, after wandering into the controversy over building a mosque near Ground Zero. He defended the right to worship, seeming to support the building plan, but then 'clarified' his position - political speak for rowing back - saying he was not commenting on the wisdom of the location of the mosque after all.

With buses plastered with posters opposing the plan driving up and down the streets of Manhattan we'll ask what should matter more - the feelings of New Yorkers caught up in the horror of 9/11, or the long held principle of religious freedom.

Tomorrow marks the 70th anniversary of Winston Churchill's tribute to 'the few' - the British pilots who valiantly kept the Luftwaffe at bay when Britain and the Commonwealth stood alone against Germany in the summer of 1940. The Battle of Britain was one of the first ever major military campaigns to be fought in the air.

But seven decades on, the nature of warfare has changed dramatically - airpower is required for different reasons. The MoD is undertaking a major review of its size and shape, and like every government department it is under enormous financial pressure. So despite the RAF's proud history, we?ll be discussing if it is time for it to give up its independent status.

And we'll be revealing the curious misfortune of one region of Venezuela, and one woman's extraordinary scientific journey to explain it. The area around Lake Maracaibo has the highest prevalence of Huntington's disease in the world. We'll report on American researcher, Nancy Wexler's, determination to find a cure. Read more about that story here.

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

Laura

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From earlier:

One in 12 A-level exams (8%) has been awarded the new A* grade as pupils today clocked up another year of record-breaking results.

But with leading universities split over whether to use the mark - introduced this year to stretch the brightest students and help differentiate between the best candidates - we ask whether the new A* grade has saved the A-level.

And Will Grant reports from the Venezuelan town of Barranquitas, which US scientist Nancy Wexler believes holds the key to finding a cure for the neurological disorder, Huntington's disease.

All this and more. Further details later.

Here's Kirsty with details of tonight's programme:

What price winter fuel allowances, free eye tests, child benefit, free bus passes? After 100 days in power the coalition government is weighing up a few blunt instruments. We may not be able to afford the Welfare Bill, but how would cutting winter fuel payments sit with pre-election pledges by David Cameron? George Osborne says cuts will be "progressive" so can they devise an easy, accurate, and cheap way of reducing the cost of universal benefits? And will Iain Duncan Smith, apparently in a stand off with the Treasury, get his way and make work pay - even if it costs billions of pounds in the short term?

We'll be speaking to David Miliband about tackling the deficit and asking him if he agrees with Alistair Darling's analysis that Labour's failure to persuade voters that it could tackle the nation's debt cost it the election. Then we will convene Newsnight's political panel to assess what happens next for the coalition - how can the Liberal Democrats retain their identity and where are some of the big fault lines?

Allan Little has returned to Bosnia, where he was during much of the war, to film an altogether different story. A little mountain village is a place of pilgrimage and healing for hundreds of thousands Catholics from all over the world. In 1981 six teenagers said the Virgin Mary appeared to them on what is now called Apparition Hill, and according to three of them she still appears regularly to them. The village of Medjugorje is booming, but for the Croats it is as much a place where they assert their national identity, as it is a religious site and a repository for the ethnic divisions that still haunt Bosnia.

Is Eric Schmidt for real? The Google chief has warned that people put so much information out on the internet, that if they want to hold on to their identity, they may have to change it to escape their cyber past. This from the company that owns You Tube. But is he right? As soon as we put personal information online it shoots off into lots of different places and is irretrievable, so before you post your next summer holiday photo on Facebook, should you think twice? Steve Smith has employed a PR firm which specialises in online profiles to smarten up his and create a new identity....

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

Kirsty

From earlier:

The government is reviewing benefits available to "middle-class" families as it reaches 100 days in power.

We'll be asking what benefits are really in the firing line and whether David Cameron will stick by his pledge in the Bristol leaders' debate that stated "we will keep the free television licence, we will keep the pension credit, we'll keep the winter fuel allowance, we'll keep the free bus pass".

And today Google CEO Eric Schmidt has argued that young people should be allowed to change their name on reaching adulthood to escape their online past.

As hundreds of millions of web users worldwide divulge increasing amounts of personal information on social networking sites, we will be investigating how the idea of public and private space has changed in the digital age.

Here's Kirsty with news of what's happening tonight at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two:

The chancellor made big, if not promises then assertions, about social mobility today saying he wants "a child born at the end of this period of government to have better life chances than a child born at the beginning of this government if they are born in disadvantaged circumstances."

His aims are remarkably similar to those of the last government. But coincidentally, the TUC today released a study which indicates that our performance on social mobility is poor compared with other countries (including Canada, Australia, Denmark, France and Germany), and that social mobility is greatest in societies with low levels of income inequality.

So can social mobility be addressed without radical redistributive policies? Or are there other solutions? We will be exploring some big ideas tonight.

At least 59 people have been killed in the latest suicide bombing in Iraq. After seven years, US combat operations cease at the end of this month, with remaining troops focussing on training Iraqis. The country's politicians are still arguing over the formation of a new coalition government five months after elections produced no clear result.

Tonight we'll be speaking to David Kilcullen, one of the world's leading experts on counterinsurgency, about modern warfare and the future of Iraq.

We'll also be back on the Hastings roundabout with Stephen Smith in his quest to foster the 'big society'. He'll catch up with a very famous gardener, and Labour leadership contender, Andy Burnham.

.

And in the second in our series of interviews with chief executives, I sit down with Michael O'Leary to talk about where he sees future growth in the economy, customer satisfaction, his business model, and removing the lavatories.

.

Join me later,

Kirsty

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From earlier:

Former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn has accepted a role as social mobility tsar to the coalition government, it has been confirmed. David Grossman will be examining what it would take to make this country more equal.

We have the second film in our series meeting top bosses - tonight we speak to Ryanair's chief executive Michael O'Leary about his company, his business model and his visions for the future of the airline.

Stephen Smith continues his bid to test the government's idea of a 'big society' in Hastings, and this week plays crazy golf with ex-cabinet minister Andy Burnham and enlists the help of TV gardener Diarmuid Gavin.

And at least 51 people have been killed and many more injured in a suicide attack at an army recruitment centre in Iraq's capital as the US prepares to end its combat operations there by the end of the month. Jonathan Marcus will be considering if the Americans really can go in the absence of strong government and strong local forces.

More details later.

Here's Kirsty with news of tonight's Newsnight:

Competition for university places is expected to be particularly fierce this year, with fewer places likely to be available through clearing - the process that matches students who have failed to get the right grades with free places on alternative courses. But are university degrees worth the estimated £23,000 price tag?

As students and employers consider alternatives to a university education we will debate their value with a panel including Higher Education Minister David Willetts.

Naomi Campbell's appearance at The Hague created headlines around the world, but day and daily someone else is making a name for himself at the trail of Charles Taylor. We have an interview with Courtaney Griffiths QC tonight, the flamboyant lawyer who's representing the Liberian leader and has become "the personality" of the blood diamonds war crimes trial.

Then we have the first in a series of films from Hartcliffe in Bristol, where we meet those who rely most heavily on services under threat from planned public spending cuts which David Cameron has said will affect "our whole way of life". In the first film we focus on single parents.

Gie's a job! What do Labour politicians do to hold on to power (and make the country a better place)? We'll be joined by John Prescott to talk about coalitions and collaborators.

Do join me, Kirsty, at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.
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From earlier today:

David Cameron has warned planned public spending cuts will affect "our whole way of life", but has promised to protect society's most vulnerable. Tonight we have the first in a series of reports from Hartcliffe in Bristol, where we meet single parents who rely heavily on the public services under threat. .

More details later.

Here's Emily with details of what's coming up on Friday's programme:

"We wish to express our concern about the conclusion as to the cause of death in the light of information now in the public domain" write legal and medical professionals in the Times today. They go on to say that the Hutton enquiry was unsatisfactory - and ask for a detailed investigation and a proper inquest.

The death of the government weapon's inspector David Kelly in the summer of 2003 rocked the nation. Seven years on and a new government could be about to re-open a controversial and emotional period of recent British history. The signatories insist it's not about conspiracy theories - it's about getting to the bottom of what happened the day his body was found, and finishing an inquest that was left incomplete. They believe the medical evidence that has been presented to the public does not, to be frank, stack up.

Con-dem-ned... Michael Crick has spent the day in Eastleigh, seat of the Environment Secretary Chris Huhne, to look at the possibility of an electoral pact between the Tories and Lib Dems. Will the two parties really fight the next election on a 'shared record'?

Feelin' good? Or a bit cheap? Dance band Faithless team up with Fiat to launch their latest pop video. Deeply naff? Or a sensible way to make sure creative arts don't bite the dust in a recession? They're hardly the first artists to take money from the corporate world, so are artistic scruples a bit irrelevant?

Join me at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Emily
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From earlier today:

A group of experts have renewed calls for a formal inquest into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly.

They say the official cause of death - a haemorrhage - was "extremely unlikely" in the light of new evidence. The claim comes in a letter from eight senior figures, including a coroner, published in the Times newspaper.

Will this government hold a full inquiry? Liz Mackean will report to later.

And Michael Crick is in Chris Huhne's seat, Eastleigh, where he's investigating if the Conservatives and Lib Dems are planning to cement their coalition friendship with electoral pacts in certain seats, and agree not to stand candidates against each other.

More details later.

Here's Emily with news of what's coming up in tonight's programme:

Fraud or freebies?

It cites the plasma TV, the Xbox, and the monthly mobile phone bills her boyfriend runs up of nearly £400. On the same page is an article by David Cameron that begins 'we have a problem with benefit fraud and it's a problem I'm determined to fix'.

Interesting, then, that fraud and freebie living have become merged. What exactly is this government trying to fix? And after years of trying to rid themselves of the 'nasty party' image - are they prepared to get nasty again if it saves a load of cash and strikes a chord with the public? We will be talking to the Sun's managing editor.

But first: boundary hunting. . It throws up some extraordinary results and questions. We'll be speaking to the main parties about our findings.

Martin McGuinness has told the ´óÏó´«Ã½ that the British and Irish governments are in talks with dissident Republicans. Both governments have denied the claims. Liz Mackean will be investigating what kind of co-operation - if that is the word - is or is not going on between the establishment and the groups they believe are responsible for a string of recent bomb attacks.

And a man from Massachusetts has been found with a pea growing inside his lung. Apparently he had laughed whilst eating a bowl of vegetable soup and it went down the wrong way - completely the wrong way. We're not doing that story tonight but we like to keep you well informed about global affairs.

Join us on ´óÏó´«Ã½2 at 10:30pm.

Emily

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From earlier today:

The Labour Party is opposing the coalition's Referendum Bill - paving the way for a referendum on electoral reform - because it includes constituency boundary changes that, it argues, would reduce the number of Labour seats.

The proposals to shrink the number of MPs from 650 to 600 and to create constituencies of equal size across the UK would benefit the Conservatives, Labour says.

Political editor Michael Crick has enlisted the help of two academics to assess the true impact of the proposed boundary changes, and will be canvassing opinion on the bill in Liverpool and the Isle of Wight.

We'll also have much more. Further details later.

Here's Kirsty with news of what's happening on tonight's programme:

Are you confident about the recovery? The Bank of England has today lowered our expectations with its revised economic growth forecast for next year. In May they forecasted 3.4 per cent, now its 2.5 per cent, and Bank Governor Mervyn King delivering his quarterly report said it will take many years before bank balance sheets and fiscal positions return to anything like normal.

There is a weakening in consumer confidence - is that because of the coming hike in VAT, combined with the knowledge that big spending cuts are coming, faster and deeper than was expected before the election? Or is it because people are simply saving what they have and not spending?

Tonight we'll examine the impact of the Coalition's hit-'em-hard-now-and-see-the-benefit-for-the-economy-later policy with John Redwood and Lord Myners, the ex-City minister.

Our Diplomatic editor Mark Urban is just back from Kandahar where he went independently to gauge local feeling, before embedding with the military. The city is the central focus of President Barack Obama's troop surge because it is here that Nato and Afghan troops are battling the Taliban in Operation Hamkari.

It is also the power base of Hamid Karzai's family, and possession of the city itself has long had a powerful symbolic importance for the country's dominant Pashtun tribes. Mark spoke to young women about their education, and how much they fear the Taliban, to a man who doesn't know which forces murdered his brother two weeks ago, and to a police lieutenant who is the only one of his 132-strong family who supports the state.

.

And should we be flying the European flag more? EU head honchos certainly think so and have fined the UK government and organisations which have received EU funding. Why are we so reluctant? Is it because we don't want to admit to taking the money? Or that we don't really think we are Europeans? Or is it (my favourite) because it is such a dull flag?

Billy Bragg will be here to wade in to this discussion about identity.

Join us at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

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From earlier:

We have a film tonight from our Diplomatic editor Mark Urban who has recently returned from the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, Afghanistan's second biggest city. He spoke independently to people who are struggling to maintain normality in their lives amidst growing violence and also had exclusive access to the security offensive there.

More details later.

I am just heading off out the door for an interview with John Lewis. That is, an interview in which I get to ask the managing director about the state of the British economy (although there is no saying I wont see a career departure into retail in the fullness of time). Personally, I would like to ask him why, in this day and age, it takes them three weeks to deliver a new washing machine. But in the interests of drawing a line between the professional and the domestically mundane, I may leave that - as my editor delicately suggested - for off camera.

Instead, we shall focus on our new series - Britain's Bosses. At a time when there is concern over the possibility of a double dip recession, and the Bank of England looks set to revise its growth figures downwards I shall ask him what he makes of the austerity measures of the new government, and how badly the high street will be hit by the forthcoming VAT rise.

Civil servants at one department faced the sharp end of those austerity measures today - with the Ministry of Justice telling its staff to prepare themselves for £2bn of cuts. The unions say it will mean 15,000 of the 80,000 staff at the MoJ could be at risk of losing their jobs. We'll have the details.

Also tonight, from the coalition that fights for civil liberties comes a new idea. A snooper fraud detective agency. David Cameron has made clear he wants to cut down on benefit fraud and may turn to the services of private sector companies and credit rating agencies - paying them for the number of fraudsters they detect. How easily does that sit with ideas of small government and big inclusive society?

And an extraordinary film from Gabriel Gatehouse in Iraq. Five months after parliamentary elections and with no government in sight, could a Sunni militia hold the key to Iraq's security problem?

Join me if you can at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Emily

From earlier:

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors says house prices are starting to fall and the Bank of England is expected to revise down its GDP growth forecast on Wednesday. We'll be hearing from MD of John Lewis, Andy Street, and we'll be reporting on the US Federal Reserve's decision on whether to give the go-ahead for more quantitative easing.

We've got a film from Gabriel Gatehouse, who has been speaking to the leaders of Iraq's Sunni Sahwa militia. They tell him the country's current political stalemate and recent attacks on fighters could drive some back into insurgency.

We'll also be looking at government plans to give credit rating firms a bigger role in tackling the £5.2bn annual cost of benefit cheats and overpayments.

More detail later.

Here's what we are planning for tonight's Newsnight:

Downing Street has ruled out scrapping free milk for under-fives after Health Minister Anne Milton suggested plans for such a move were in place. Tonight David Grossman will be looking at the whole issue of public health, and asking whether the government's emphasis on individual responsibility - rather than intervention by the state - can actually change people's behaviour and make them healthier.

Ahead of the coalition government's Spending Review in October, Jackie Long has been asking a citizen's jury in Coventry where they think the axe should fall.

There is speculation that the US Federal Reserve will announce more quantitative easing (QE) tomorrow. Should they turn on the presses to print more money, and will they? Naga Munchetty will be putting these questions to leading economists.

And how do you make statistics look interesting? According to the writer and designer David McCandless a new solution is emerging that could help us cope with the oceans of data we're constantly bombarded with. He says it's straightforward - just apply the rules of visual design to information. David Sillito will be meeting him.

Join Kirsty at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two for all that and more.
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From earlier:

David Cameron and deputy Nick Clegg insist reducing the deficit is the "most urgent issue facing Britain".

Ahead of the coalition's Spending Review in October, Jackie Long asks a citizen's jury in Coventry where they think the axe should fall.

Also, Downing Street has ruled out scrapping free milk for under-fives after Health Minister Anne Milton suggested plans for such a move were in place.

We look at the whole issue of public health, and ask whether Health Secretary Andrew Lansley is right to question state intervention in the area.

Mr Lansley argues people need "nudging" towards healthy behaviour rather than being subjected to "lecturing" by governments.

More detail later.

Tonight at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two we have an exclusive interview with Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari. We will ask him about his decision to visit the UK while his country is battling to deal with the aftermath of the worst floods in its history which have now affected 12 million people, and challenge him about claims that his country is soft on terrorism. .

The price of wheat has reach its highest in two years following a ban on all Russian grain exports after a severe drought devastated crops there. Naga Munchetty will be investigating what the implications of the ban will be for business and for consumers both in this country and abroad.

Join Gavin at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.
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From earlier:

Prime Minister David Cameron and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan are trying to patch up their differences in formal talks at Chequers today.They will try to smooth tensions after the PM's recent comments that elements in Pakistan promoted terrorism.

President Zardari is also under intense pressure to show he can talk tough to the British prime minister and justify his absence from his country, at a time when devastating floods have caused a national tragedy.

Frank Gardner will be bringing us the latest on today's meetings.

Vladimir Putin has announced a ban on all Russian grain exports after a severe drought devastated crops and wildfires spread across the country.

The ban has caught traders and food producers by surprise and pushed the price of wheat to its highest in two years.

Naga Munchetty will be investigating what the implications are at home and abroad, for business and for consumers.

More details later.

Here's Kirsty with news of what's happening on the programme:

We begin with the first in a series of films about an educational experiment in Oldham designed to bring two very separate communities together. At the moment there exist two secondary schools very close to each other - but at one more than 90 per cent of the pupils are Asian, and at the other more than 90 per cent are white.

From next month the schools will merge to become a joint academy, with a brand new uniform. This development grew out of a report into the Oldham riots a decade ago, and the realisation that since then separation of these communities has got no better. Will it work? We'll be following the project for the next year.

Naomi Campbell, supermodel, has dominated today's news stories, not only because she appeared - extremely reluctantly - at the European War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, but also because she was granted utter privacy on her arrival, and at her departure - no matter the whole testimony in court was live on TV!

At issue, whether she accepted so-called "blood diamonds" from the then President of Liberia Charles Taylor, on trial accused of trading weapons with groups in Sierra Leone, in exchange for blood diamonds.

She told the court she received some dirty looking stones in a pouch after a dinner in honour of Nelson Mandela. But at the end of proceedings today it was unclear whether she was a witness for the prosecution or not, lending the impression that we were witnessing a fiasco which might bring the tribunal into disrepute, or will the fact the court received such publicity, especially in such a serious case that has been largely ignored by the media, be good for its business?

Are standards of grammar, and literacy falling? Simon Heffer has sent an e-mail to his colleagues on the Daily Telegraph castigating them for misspellings and misuse of language, and or course, issuing warnings about a descent into split infinitives. Here are a couple of examples; mixing up prostate and prostrate, and literals like pubic and public. He bemoans simple grammatical errors such as "compared with" and "compared to."

I remember a real clanger of my own. I wrote that MPs were ennervated by the fierce debate on the House of Commons chamber, thinking it meant het up, when it meant the opposite. Do you have such guilty secrets? I have a horror of split infinitives, do you?

Join me at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

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From earlier:

Tonight we have a film from Oldham in Greater Manchester where two of its most segregated schools are merging in a bold attempt to bridge the racial divide.

Race riots in the town almost a decade ago revealed deep divisions between its white and Asian populations. The Home Office said it was a place of "deep-rooted" segregation, with communities leading "parallel lives".

Nine years on, many feel little has changed, and some fear the education of Oldham's children could be overshadowed by potential racial conflict. .

Then we'll be doing something on model Naomi Campbell's appearance at the war crimes trial of the ex-Liberian leader, Charles Taylor. Ms Campbell says that in 1997 she was given "dirty-looking" stones after a dinner attended by Mr Taylor which she was later told were likely to be diamonds.

Prosecutors had said her evidence could help link Mr Taylor to the stones, which he is accused of using to fund civil war in Sierra Leone.

Then we'll be considering the evolution of language while poring over .

More details later.

Here's what we're planning for tonight:

Sorry? What just happened with the BP oil spill? One minute it's being described as the world's worst environmental disaster, the next we're being informed that it might not have been that bad after all - or at least that 75% of the leaked oil has actually evaporated or been contained.

BP is saying nothing. Though you can imagine Tony Hayward might be permitting himself a wry smile and a fun-sized Mars Bar and wondering if he has been vindicated. Does this mean that the right measures were taken in time? Or that a post-Katrina administration in the US might have over reacted? The questions are already coming thick and fast. We'll debate what happened tonight.

First though, we will be looking at Pakistan President Zardari's reasons for being in the UK. Yes we know relations between our two countries are important and there are key talks to be had, but there's also the small matter of his son's political career which some suggest will be launched this Saturday in Birmingham.

We're on the ground there tonight, asking Britain's Pakistani communities what they make of the fact Zardari is 4,000 miles from home at a time of national crisis.

We also have a film on fostering tonight, from Liz MacKean, and we'll be looking at Rwanda before it goes to the poll. Sixteen years on from the genocide it has been called the Singapore of Africa - an emerging beacon of stability and reform in an unstable continent. But lurking beneath the surface are claims the government there - much praised by the international community - is suppressing dissent and even assassinating political opponents.

We'll speak to Rwanda's foreign secretary live in the studio.

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

Emily

From earlier:

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari is facing growing criticism for visiting Britain while his country struggles to cope with the worst flood for 80 years.

We'll be canvassing opinion about the trip in Birmingham, where a rally will be held later this week to launch the political career of the president's son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

We also have a film on Rwanda ahead of elections next week, and a report from Liz MacKean on foster care.

More later.

Here's what we're planning for tonight:

Dave and Nick have sent their fellow Cabinet colleagues a billet-doux of sorts, an open letter, really to the voters, reminding them that cutting spending and coming up with ingenious ways to revitalise the public services has to be all cabinet ministers think about when they are in Arran/Tuscany/Suffolk.

The Prime Minister has been speaking to - and hearing from - voters in Birmingham in a hall decorated with banners saying "PM direct", rather like an advert for an internet shopping service.

Tonight David Grossman gauges just how good David Cameron is at selling the cuts.

An astonishing 15 million Americans are unemployed - 10% of the population, and Nevada is the worst hit state.

Peter Marshall has been there visiting some of America's middle class who never thought they'd be out of work, but who are relying on food stamps, and slipping towards poverty with nothing in sight that suggests they'll find their way out of the economic downturn.

.

Is pay-TV the only model that will turn around ITV's fortunes? We'll be looking into the news that ITV is moving into pay-TV after agreeing a deal to launch high definition versions of some of its channels on Sky - part of an overall strategy to increase revenues from non-television advertising sources.

The news comes in the same week as the publication of a report from a right-wing think tank which states that the television licence fee is "obsolete and unfair" and should be replaced with a voluntary subscription service for certain programming. So should we all just pay for the media we consume? We?ll discuss.

And Bikini Atoll is one of the nine sites that UNESCO has added to its World Heritage List. Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was home to a series of nuclear tests in the 1940s and 1950s. UNESCO said the tests "had major consequences on the geology and environment of the atoll and symbolised the dawn of the nuclear age."

We ask how sites such as this should be remembered.

Join me at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

From earlier:

David Cameron is holding one of his PM Direct sessions (the regular series of town hall style events where the prime minister takes questions from local residents) in Birmingham today. He'll be using the opportunity to explain the need for continuing cuts and tonight we'll consider if this is the best way to sell big controversial government programmes to the public.

Peter Marshall reports from Nevada - the state with the highest unemployment in the US - on the plight of those worst-hit by the economic downturn.

And we'll be looking at the news that ITV is moving into pay-TV after agreeing a deal to launch high definition versions of the ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 channels on Sky. The move is part of an overall strategy to increase revenues from non-television advertising sources.

The news comes hot on the heels of a report from right-wing think tank the Adam Smith Institute which states that growing use of the internet for viewing has made licensing TV sets outdated, and that the television licence fee is "obsolete and unfair" and should be replaced with a voluntary subscription service for certain programming.

So should we all just pay for the media we consume?

This is the week for banking results - and the profits are likely to be sky high. Today HSBC was first to announce half year profits, and they reached $11.1 billion, more than double last years figure and $2 billion ahead of forecast.

Lloyds results are Wednesday, Barclays on Thursday, and "the people's" bank, RBS, on Friday. All are expected to show signs of recovery. George Osborne says banks should lend more to small and medium sized business, but will they? And what can or should be done to make them?

Paul Mason is out filming with a small business at the moment, and we'll debate the issues.

There are apparently 500,000 Blackberry subscribers in the United Arab Emirates, and they are about to be bereft. The UEA contends some of the device's features operate outside the country's laws, causing judicial, social and national security concerns, (and if you have a Blackberry and you are planning to travel to the United Arab Emirates, beware, it looks as if the ban on Blackberry e mail, messaging and web-browsing will extend to visitors).

Tonight we explore the real reasons for the crackdown, and find out whether its relatively secure communication channels act as a way to avoid government attention.

Also tonight we have the second of our films interrogating the 'big society'. Nick Hurd MP, son of Douglas Hurd and a fourth generation conservative, is the minister responsible for Civil Society and comes to give Steve Smith a lesson on the big society.

Join me at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Kirsty

From earlier:

The UK's biggest bank HSBC has reported pre-tax profits of $11.1bn (£7bn) for the first six months of 2010 - more than double its profits for the same time last year.

In the UK, profits totalled $2.1bn - a rise of 26%.

The UK's other major banks Lloyds, Barclays and RBS are due to report their results later this week.

But the Chancellor George Osborne yesterday added to calls for banks to lend more to businesses in order to sustain the economic recovery.

Our Economics editor Paul Mason will be considering why the banks are still not lending.

Struck by the government's idea of a 'big society', Stephen Smith has become a volunteer in Hastings and we'll be returning to the Sussex coast this evening to see how he is getting on.

And we'll be doing something based on the news that two Gulf states are to ban some Blackberry functions.

The United Arab Emirates is to block sending e-mails, accessing the internet, and delivering instant messages to other Blackberry handsets.

While Saudi Arabia is to prevent the use of the Blackberry-to-Blackberry instant messaging service.

Both nations are unhappy that they are unable to monitor such communications via the handsets.