´óÏó´«Ã½

Does prison work? That's the question we'll be asking tonight when we broadcast from inside HM Prison High Down in Surrey, home to some 1100 inmates.

Jeremy has been meeting the prisoners to ask them about their experiences of life at her Majesty's pleasure - how did they end up in jail and do they think some time inside will "work" for them?

Jeremy will also be joined in the prison workshop by the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke, who any day now will be unveiling his prisons Green Paper on rehabilitation and sentencing policy.

Jeremy will be asking Mr Clarke if short term sentences - which have drawn scrutiny as the cost and population of jails rise - really work, or if they're too blame for terrible rates of recidivism.

Then Ken Clarke will debate how we should rehabilitate the country's criminals with an audience including current prisoners, ex-police officers, prison governors and academics.

Do join us for Newsnight behind bars tonight at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

Tonight we have the latest instalment in our Emmy-award winning White Horse Village series, following China's attempts to transform its interior from an agrarian hinterland of subsistence farmers eking out a living in small plots of land, to a 21st Century powerhouse of cities and industry.

You can read more about this extraordinary project here and see a .

But we'll be leading tonight's programme on the release by the controversial whistle-blowing site Wikileaks of a cache of secret messages sent by US diplomatic staff.

We'll have the latest revelations just out, will be considering what the diplomatic fall out will be. and will assess the impact this most recent release will have around the world with senior diplomats and politicians.

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

Before then you can watch his full interview with author and journalist Christopher Hitchens - in which he talks about his cancer, life, politics + writing - at 7.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½2.

Here's Emily with more detail on what's coming up:

Christopher Hitchens is not "battling" cancer - "I rather think," he tells Jeremy Paxman, "it's battling me... you feel as if you're drowning in passivity".

In this painfully honest interview, Hitchens - writer, polemicist, commentator - talks to Newsnight about the disease and whether the diagnosis has changed his approach to death. We bring you that this evening.

In Australia they made voting compulsory when they realised how unpopular voting became under the Alternative Vote (AV) system. That's what the "No to AV" camp are telling us anyway, as they launch their campaign today.

Is it time to change this country's voting system? And will the referendum really rise above traditional party politics? We'll be speaking to Margaret Beckett from the No campaign and a supporter of AV.

Also tonight, we ask the inventor of the Innocent Smoothie and the chef Antony Worrell Thompson what legacy Bernard Matthews has left on the food industry.

The turkey baron - whose death was announced today - became a household name, then a global brand. His turkeys graced the tables of Number 10, and were subjected to much criticism - a la turkey twizzler - under Jamie Oliver. Did Bernard Matthews change this country's food production for good?

The government has issued warnings that Britain is on the verge of an obesity epidemic, and next week will publish a White Paper on the nation's public health.

They say the approach to a healthy nation should be based on voluntary agreements and personal responsibility, not top-down legislation - but why have big food and drink companies been able to heavily influence their policy?
Our Science editor Susan Watts has been finding out.

Our Economics editor Paul Mason will look at the risks of euro contagion, not least after some startling comments by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel today - almost designed to worry the bond markets.

We also have an interview with the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who has been a huge influence on David Cameron's approach to welfare and education.

"We're going to have a system where the middle classes are discouraged from breeding because it's jolly expensive, but for those on benefit there is every incentive. Well, that's not very sensible."

We'll consider how damaging Howard Flight's comments could be for the Tory brand.

And we'll be looking at the prime minister's £2m plan to measure our nation's happiness. From April, the Office for National Statistics will ask people to rate their own well-being with the first official happiness index due in 2012. We've had exclusive access to a YouGov poll which asks how happy, wealthy and physically attractive people are feeling as 2010 draws to a close.

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

The Education Secretary Michael Gove has unveiled his schools White Paper which signals a return to traditional educational values as it sets out wide ranging plans for school reforms in England.

Tonight Michael Crick will be assessing if this government plan can help more deprived school pupils achieve good results and get into university.

Meanwhile, thousands of students have been staging sit-ins, occupations and walkouts at universities, colleges and schools across the country against proposed increases in tuitions fees.

Liz Mackean has been watching some of the protests and we'll be joined in the studio by students who've taken part in today's day of action.

A paedophile gang has been convicted today of raping and abusing vulnerable teenage girls in Derby. Detectives there say the case has been the most horrendous case of sexual exploitation they have ever faced.

Tonight Jackie Long talks to the victims of these crimes - girls as young as 12, groomed by paedophiles and pimped out - and investigates what is being done to tackle the phenomenon.

And we'll be asking what should be done with Britain's disused churches.

With congregations shrinking sharply and money drying up, should these religious buildings remain sacred places? Or should we chop up our churches and convert them into flats, pubs, gyms and shops?

This and more at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two, with Jeremy Paxman

Here's what's coming up on tonight's show:

In an unprecedented move, a British Muslim family has spoken openly to Newsnight about one of their own falling victim to radicalisation, a story which reveals serious flaws in how the UK deals with the threat of Islamist terror.

Umar Arshad's family repeatedly turned to the police for help as their son came under the influence of Muslim extremists, but believe that they were seriously let down by the authorities.

Richard Watson brings us this fascinating film from Manchester.

Mark Urban will be reporting on the artillery exchange between North and South Korea, one of the most serious clashes there since the Korean War in the 1950s.

We have a film from Berlin giving the German perspective on the euro crisis. How long will they put up with having to bail out weaker economies?

And following the success of Downton Abbey and with 70s classic Upstairs Downstairs returning to our screens this Christmas, we discuss the UK obsession with class interplay with guests including Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes - himself now a newly created Lord.

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

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From earlier today:

Richard Watson has a strong film on the radicalisation of a young British Muslim in which his family speak openly for the first time, and which reveals serious flaws in the way in which Britain deals with the threat of Islamist terror.

And Mark Urban will be reporting on the artillery exchange between North and South Korea, one of the most serious clashes there since the Korean War in the 1950s.

Ireland is to hold a general election within two months after the Green Party today issued a new year deadline for the vote. Less than 24 hours after a multi-billion bailout was signed, the Taoiseach has landed in a political crisis to match the country's economic woes.

The UK has offered a direct loan of around £7bn to the Irish Republic in addition to contributing to an international rescue package. Tonight Paul Mason will be asking if the Irish bail-out will work and if it will halt the threat of contagion.

Then Michael Crick will be considering how serious the dissent in the Labour Party is and what Ed Miliband needs to do as leader. We hope to be joined by the chair of the Labour Party policy review, Shadow Cabinet member Peter Hain.

And Stephen Smith will be meeting Gary Trudeau, creator of the satirical comic strip, Doonesbury, which this year celebrated its 40th anniversary.

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

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From earlier:
European shares and the euro have both risen slightly in value, as markets gave a muted welcome to the bail-out for the Irish Republic.

Our Economics editor Paul Mason is in Dublin today as Ireland begins the formal process of applying for up to 90bn euros (£77bn; $124bn) of European Union-led loans agreed on Sunday.

Tonight he will be considering if the Irish bail-out will work and if it will stop the threat of contagion. He'll also be examining the detail and finding out if there's any resistance to the deal.

More later.

David Cameron's enterprise adviser Lord Young has stepped down following Tory embarrassment over his claim that most Britons "had never had it so good," and that many people have gained from low interest rates during this "so-called recession".

The PM dubbed the remarks "unacceptable", and Lord Young has apologised for them, but did he in fact have a point?

Tonight, we will be crunching through the economic data to find out.

Mark Urban reports from the Nato summit in Lisbon, where Afghanistan is dominating the agenda as the alliance tries to work out an exit route from combat operations. Is the new plan realistic?

Surveying the state of their economy and the humiliation of IMF and European Union officials negotiating the terms of a bail out in Dublin, an Irish Times editorial asked this week, "Was it for this (that) the men of 1916 died for?"

Tonight we will examine Irish soul searching and angst with writers Edna O'Brien and Ruth Dudley Edwards.

That and more at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

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

Something extraordinary happened in Alaska last night. A candidate who didn't even appear on the ballot paper - won the senate seat. What's even more extraordinary was that her name was Lisa Murkowski - a name voters had to be able to spell themselves if they wanted to write her in.

How did she pull it off? Bracelets. She handed out a zillion wristbands with "M U R K O W S K I" clearly visible, as a kind of aide-memoire.

But this is not just a Spelling Bee exclusive - the political relevance of this is that she beat the favoured Tea Party candidate, parachuted in by one Sarah Palin. And Alaska, of course, is Palin's political home.

Tonight, in a British TV first, we ask Michele Bachmann, congresswoman and leading member of the Tea Party, about the fight that's splitting the Republicans in two.

First though, we're looking at the subject of Fat Cat pay. Why are some council bosses refusing to cut their own pay - sometimes double or more than that of the prime minister - when they're about to cut tens of thousands of jobs within local government?

We'll bring you the very latest on Ireland as the country admits it will accept help in the form of tens of billions of euros from the international community.

And a special report from Mark Urban ahead of the Nato summit in Lisbon. How prepared is Afghanistan to take over security of its own country?

Plus as The Sun's Page 3 celebrates 40 years, we'll ask if it's offensive in this day and age, or not.

Join me at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½2.

Emily

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From earlier:

Nine years after the ousting of the Taliban, security in Afghanistan - where it exists - is still predominantly down to Nato. The US has reportedly spent more than $25bn training and equipping Afghan army and police forces since 2001- but to little effect. Many troops have failed to meet required standards or have simply deserted.

Now a new, expanded recruitment and training programme is underway and the US is ploughing in another $14bn in the hope of meeting the 2014 security target - when President Hamid Karzai believes that Afghan forces can take over security of the country.

But is at all realistic? Our Diplomatic editor Mark Urban reports later.

Then we have an interview with the conservative congresswoman Michele Bachmann, heroine of the Tea Party movement and arch-rival of Sarah Palin.

And as The Sun's Page 3 celebrates 40 years, we'll ask if it's offensive in this day and age, or not.

More details later.

Coming up on tonight's programme:

There have been unconfirmed reports that the UK is considering going it alone, offering billions of pounds of direct loans to the Irish Republic to ease its economic crisis.

Chancellor George said the UK was "ready to support Ireland", as he arrived for an Ecofin meeting in Brussels, adding: "We're going to do what is in Britain's national interest."

Tonight, Paul Mason reports on the likelihood of a UK-Ireland bi-lateral deal, whether it would serve Britain's interests, and on what would be the political fallout of the coalition government using British tax-payers' money to reduce Ireland's economic woes.

The man who chaired the European finance ministers' meeting, Belgian politician Didier Reynders, has played down talk of a potential EU bailout for Ireland, saying the ministers did not discuss the issue in detail as the Irish have not asked for help.

But he did nonetheless say that the EU was "ready to act" if needed.
Tonight we will also be looking at the wider crisis in the Eurozone, and whether it spells disaster for the European project with commentators from Britain, Germany and Ireland.

We have the last in our series of films on Vladimir Putin's Russia. In this report correspondent Rupert Wingfield Hayes, who spent four years reporting in Russia, asks whether Russians are really looking to be led by a "Good Tsar".

Trollope biographer Victoria Glendinning has complained of a lack of appetite among publishers for serious biography nowadays, and the judges of the Costa biography book prize have said they could not find enough biographies of merit to fill their shortlist.

Tonight our reporter Stephen Smith asks if we're seeing the death of the serious biography - a subject we will also discuss in the studio with two biographers.

Prince William is to marry long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton next year after proposing on holiday in Kenya last month.

Tonight Stephen Smith will ask how significant an event the 2011 royal wedding is likely to be in the political and cultural life of Britain - are there really any parallels that can meaningfully be drawn with 1981? And how have we and the royal family changed since then?

Also, we consider how the Coalition may hope to harvest any goodwill for political ends, and what kind of ceremony will be appropriate in these austere times.

We will be joined live from New York by journalist Martin Bashir, and in the studio by historians David Starkey and Simon Schama.

Our Economics editor Paul Mason will bring us the latest from Brussels where Europe's finance ministers are holding talks this evening.

There is intense speculation that debt-stricken Ireland may be forced to use EU money to resolve its financial problems and avert the possibility of a Greek-style sovereign debt crisis.

And we have a film from Rupert Wingfield Hayes - who has come to end of his spell as the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s correspondent in Moscow - about the 'new Russia' President Vladimir Putin claims to have created since coming to power ten years ago.

That and more at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.
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From earlier:

The Irish government are continuing to resist intensifying international pressure to accept a bailout this morning, as fears that the country's financial problems are spreading through the eurozone sent shares falling across Europe.

Europe's finance ministers are gathering in Brussels today and our Economics editor Paul Mason will bring us the latest from there tonight.

Around a dozen men who accused British security forces of colluding in their torture overseas are to get millions of pounds in compensation from the British government.

Some of the men - all British citizens or residents - were detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, and at least six of them alleged UK forces were complicit in their torture before they arrived at Guantanamo.

Tonight we'll discuss the significance of the government offering this compensation.

And we have a film from Rupert Wingfield Hayes - who has come to end of his spell as the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s correspondent in Moscow - about the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

More details later.

Making his first Mansion House speech, the Prime Minister will tonight say that he rejects the idea that the UK is in decline.

David Cameron says Britain is still a major power although its economic might needs to be repaired.

The speech is viewed as a major event in the political calendar and traditionally focuses on foreign policy issues, but can Britain remain a world force or should it accept that it is a declining power?

Our Diplomatic editor Mark Urban will bring us his analysis and reaction to this keynote address.

The Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has told the ´óÏó´«Ã½ that her aim is for a peaceful revolution.

Ms Suu Kyi, who was released on Saturday after seven years under house arrest, said she was sure democracy would come to Burma eventually, although she didn't know how long it would take.

We'll bring you John Simpson's interview with Ms Suu Kyi and discuss what her freedom will mean for the estimated 2,000 other political prisoners in the country.

Are the government's plans to reduce the number of MPs and introduce changes to the electoral system a fundamental assault on the powers of Parliament?

Peers have tonight rejected a proposal which would have delayed plans for a referendum on the voting system. Our Political editor Michael Crick will bring us the latest.

And Tim Whewell speaks exclusively to the senior Russian policeman accused of involvement in the mysterious death in jail of prominent Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky.

Lt Col Silchenko denies inflicting treatment amounting to torture on the jailed lawyer, who was being held on tax evasion charges when he died in unexplained circumstances in Moscow's Matrosskaya Tishina detention centre one year ago.

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

Our Diplomatic editor Mark Urban will be bringing us reaction to David Cameron's first big foreign policy speech - happening tonight at the Lord Mayors Banquet.

Our Political editor Michael Crick will report on the progress of the government's Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill.

And Tim Whewell investigates the death in a Russian jail of Sergei Magnitsky, including an exclusive interview with one of the officials who deny inflicting suffering amounting to torture on the Russian lawyer.

More details later.

Here's what we are planning for tonight:

Our Political editor Michael Crick is in Oldham East and Saddleworth tonight. The former minister Phil Woolas is seeking a judicial review of last week's election court verdict that he made false statements in his winning campaign for the seat.

Mr Woolas was barred from standing for elected office for three years and suspended from the Labour Party. Michael is watching preparations for the re-run of the election, and we'll debate the political and legal consequences of the case.

Reports are coming out of Burma that the military authorities have signed an order authorising the release of the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Nobel laureate has been detained for 15 of the past 21 years, and her house arrest term expires tomorrow.

There has been increased police activity outside her house in Rangoon, but as yet no official confirmation.

Sue Lloyd Roberts who has reported for us extensively from Burma and who met Ms Suu Kyi in 1998, will be bringing us the latest tonight.

Do join Gavin at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two for Friday's Newsnight.

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

This is the day the universal benefit became real - from 2013 dozens of work related benefits will be swept away, in what the Work and Pensions Secretary said would be a fair deal for both the jobless and the taxpayer.

Iain Duncan Smith says it would ensure people were always better off in work than on welfare. Tonight we will interrogate this new deal with a live debate in the studio with several of the benefit claimants Newsnight has featured since the election and the Welfare Reform minister, Lord David Freud.

Obvious areas of enquiry - what if there are no jobs to be had? What if there is no suitable childcare? Will employers be incentivised to hire long term unemployed? Will there be guaranteed "back to work" courses for those no longer deemed unable to work?

Then, who is leading the upsurge of violence in Northern Ireland? Are republicans, disillusioned with Sinn Fein, regrouping as a major threat to peace? And is the Police Service of Northern Ireland up to the task of ensuring law and order? Liz Mackean has just returned from Belfast where she's been talking to dissident republicans to try to find out how great the danger they pose is.

What price a happy dog? Apparently the EU thought it was worth doling out £350,000 for a dog fitness and rehabilitation centre to improve the lifestyle and living standards of dogs in northern Hungary. The money improved someone's living standards, but it wasn't the dogs - the centre was never built.

According to the annual survey by Open Europe a euro-sceptic think-tank, amongst the 50 questionable EU decisions highlighted comes my favourite, £14,000 for Tyrolean farmers to boost their emotional connection with the landscape in Austria.

But tonight on Newsnight, it's a dog's life. Join me at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

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From earlier:

Ministers are setting out how they plan to overhaul the benefits system to provide greater incentives for work and sanctions for those unwilling to do so. David Grossman will report on that.

Liz MacKean has just returned from Belfast where she has been looking into the growing strength of the Real IRA.

We are also looking at continuing fallout from the Woolas re-run judgement, Ireland's debt crisis, the G20 meeting. And of course it is Armistice Day.

More details later.

More details on tonight's programme:

A huge demonstration by students and lecturers against plans to treble tuition fees and cut university funding in England descended into violence today when a group of protesters smashed their way into the headquarters of the Conservative party in Millbank Tower in Westminster.

National Union of Students President Aaron Porter condemned the violence as "despicable", saying: "This action was by others who have come out and used this opportunity to hijack a peaceful protest."

So who are the people behind the violence? Are they a fringe minority not representative of how the vast majority of students feel, and perhaps not even connected to the tuition fees protest, or are they more representative than students leaders would have us believe?

Tonight we will be trying to find out. We hope to be speaking to both students and a coalition minister.

We'll be discussing whether the claim by a group of former military commanders that the decision to scrap the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and the fleet of Harrier jets will leave the "newly valuable" Falkland Islands open to attack is correct.

And in the latest report in our council cuts series, Stephen Smith has been in Somerset on the day the county council voted to cut the arts budget by 100%.

Incidentally if you missed Matt Prodger's council cuts report on street lighting last night, .

Plus Allan Little has a film on how French President Nicolas Sarkozy's programme of radical reform is going, why he is so unpopular in France and whether he could win the next election.

.

Tonight Matt Prodger reports on how many councils in England and Wales are saving money by turning off street lights.

Councils are not actually obliged to light the streets, so at a time of cuts, flicking the switch is an easy option. But what about the effects on public safety and crime? We'll be finding out.

Paul Mason will give us his take on Ireland's debt woes and the likelihood that Dublin will have to seek a bailout from European Union partners if it cannot get the crisis under control.

Plus we will be talking to Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan.

Michael Crick reports on anger among Labour MPs over their party leaders' treatment of former immigration minister, Phil Woolas, who has been suspended after an election court ruled that he should be stripped of his parliamentary seat, after he was found to have made false statements about an opponent.

George W Bush's memoirs are hot off the presses and we have had two people - former US Assistant Secretary of State Colleen Graffy and journalist Jonathan Freedland - speed reading all afternoon to give us their thoughts on the former president's tome.

And Stephen Smith has been meeting the legendary jazz pianist Herbie Hancock.

Join Jeremy at 2230 on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

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From earlier:
Paul Mason will give us his take on the likelihood that Ireland will have to seek a bailout from European Union partners if it doesn't get its debt crisis under control.

As the cuts bite here, Matt Prodger has a report on councils turning off streetlights to save money.

We are speed reading our way through George W Bush's memoir Decision Points and have a film from Allan Little on how France's President Nicolas Sarkozy is doing.

More details later.

More detail on tonight's programme:

Does the 21st Century really belong to China?

If the size of the trade delegation he is leading to Beijing this week - comprising of four senior ministers, 50 business leaders, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who is already there - is anything to go by, David Cameron seems to think so.

Tonight, Paul Mason reports on the Chinese threat to US global hegemony and we will be joined in the studio by a supporter of China as an economic powerhouse, and another who is much less of a fan.

From today the plans of each government department will be available online, in what Mr Cameron promises is a move towards greater transparency in Whitehall, and part of a radical "power shift" giving people the information to hold government to account.

"We will be the first government in a generation to leave office with much less power in Whitehall than we started with. We are going to take power from government and hand it to people, families and communities," Mr Cameron said as he launched the transparency website.

Tonight, we report on what the website offers, what the government expects it to deliver, and where it fits in to Mr Cameron's Big Society aspirations.

Susan Watts reports on Rolls-Royce's investigation into the cause of engine problems on the Airbus A380 - we'll discuss the reputational damage sustained by the failure of the "Rolls-Royce" of jet engines.

We're also joined by the Bishop of Fulham who has just left the Anglican Church to become a Catholic.

And we have Sue Lloyd-Roberts' second report from Burma. In this film she reports from the border between Eastern Burma and Thailand on how the Burmese generals are dealing with the ongoing resistance from Burma's ethnic minorities and making money at the same time.

A tube strike, a fire-fighters' strike to coincide with Bonfire Night, and another strike rather closer to home...

As we head into the kind of public sector belt tightening which has in the past been characterised by widespread industrial action, will it be three strikes then everybody out, or has union power dissipated to the point where the threat of a winter of discontent no longer exists?

Tonight, we'll be discussing what happened to worker solidarity with guests including one of the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s last industrial correspondents, Nick Jones.

We also have a film from Sue Lloyd-Roberts about how democratic the upcoming election in Burma is likely to be.

Travelling undercover, posing as a tourist, Sue secretly meets a monk who was a senior leader in the Saffron Revolution and is now in hiding in a monastery in Mandalay.

She also talks to satirical cabaret performers, who use traditional folklore to lambast and attack the junta, and three women known as The Three Princesses, who are all childhood friends and key allies of detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but who have nonetheless decided to ignore her call for an election boycott.

Also, as more and more of us share personal data online, how important is it that we have the "right to be forgotten" from sites like Facebook or Google? The European Union has today unveiled a strategy document calling for new rules to give citizens more control of their online personal data.

We will be discussing the impetus behind and practicalities of web users seeking to disappear from the internet with technology expert Dr Aleks Krotoski and philosopher Dr Anders Sandberg.

PS PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO INDUSTRIAL ACTION, NEWSNIGHT WILL NOT BROADCAST ON FRIDAY. THE PROGRAMME WILL BE BACK AS NORMAL ON MONDAY.

Here's what is coming up on tonight's programme with Jeremy Paxman in London and Emily Maitlis in Washington DC:

A key part of the Conservatives' election manifesto was an annual cap on immigration aimed at cutting net migration from its current level of 196,000 a year to "tens of thousands". Today, the prime minister, David Cameron, indicated that thousands of employees of multinational companies will be exempt from the cap.

Intra-company transfers last year accounted for over 60% of the skilled migrants who enter the UK from outside the European economic area.

But speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Cameron said "Intra-company transfers shouldn't be included in what we are looking a". Tonight, our Science Editor, Susan Watts will be looking at concerns that the immigration cap will damage Britain's scientific prowess as institutions are stopped from recruiting and retaining talented international scientists.

Jeremy will be joined live by the Immigration Minister, Damian Green.

Paul Mason will be giving us his analysis of the US Federal Reserve's decision to pump $600bn into the US economy to try and boost the fragile recovery and we will be talking to leading economists - Nobel Laureate Professor Edmund Phelps and Raghuram Rajan.

And here's Emily with what is happening in the US:

Early morning Washington is deserted. Anyone interested in politics in this town - and that's everyone in this town - was up till four in the morning watching the election results come in. The Republicans - written off so comprehensively just two years ago, and threatened with 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, have returned, resurgent to take control of the House of Representatives.

As I write President Obama is sounding a conciliatory note and talking of the need for co-operation with the new majority leader John Boehner.

Just a few weeks ago the president referred to him as "the other man of colour" - an allusion to his rather orange tan. There are probably easier ways to begin to talk about consensus.

Tonight, we'll consider how Obama will govern now that Congress is divided. Will there be deadlock on some of the most important issues facing the world today - or will the man once hailed as the great communicator refine those skills at a crucial time?

We'll be talking to a couple of great communicators - Simon Schama and Piers Morgan about the Obama phenomenon and asking those on both sides of the House what this new look administration will mean for the rest of us.

Emily.

David Cameron has said new treaties on defence and nuclear co-operation with France marked a "new chapter" in a long history of defence co-operation. Speaking alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the UK PM said it would make both countries' citizens safer and would save money.

Colonel Tim Collins - who has served with the French many times - will join us tonight. We'll discuss if the deal is a challenge to our sovereignty and if it will work.

The US Federal Reserve is set to launch a second round of quantitative easing, known as QE2 today - probably the US policy community's last shot at averting a double-dip recession. The Bank of England holds its monthly meeting tomorrow and QE will also be on the agenda there. Tonight our Economics editor Paul Mason will explain what the bankers are doing and why, and explain the argument raging among economists over the dangers of QE2. Read more on

Meanwhile, voters are going to the polls in the US mid-term elections which will see a new House of Representatives and a third of the Senate elected. President Barack Obama's Democratic Party is expected to lose its majority in the House of Representatives, but may hold on to the Senate. Republicans hope to capitalise on voter discontent with the economy.

Tonight Peter Marshall reports from the key swing state of Pennsylvania where Democrats could lose house seats, the governorship, and a crucial race that could ultimately decide who controls the senate.

And Emily Maitlis will be joined in Washington by Howard Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Party who himself ran for President in 2004, and by the satirist PJ O'Rourke.

Do join Kirsty and Emily at 2230 on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.

the prime minister somewhat unconvincingly told the Commons today as he expressed regret about describing a ´óÏó´«Ã½ licence fee freeze as "delicious" when he .

For unbounded joy then the PM should tune in tonight when Michael will have the latest on the political row surrounding the use of control orders.

The government had been expected to scrap the orders which are part of counter-terrorism legislation introduced in 2005 and restrict the freedoms of terrorist suspects.

Now there are indications that they might be maintained causing a major rift within the coalition government. The former Liberal Democrat leader Ming Campbell will debate with Tory MP Patrick Mercer.

Home Secretary Theresa May has made a statement to the House on the discovery of a US-bound bomb at East Midlands airport last week. The package, sent from Yemen, contained the explosive device PETN - an odourless, colourless powder - pushed into printer toner cartridges.

Initial tests did not pick up the explosive; it was only in the second search that the bomb was found. Theresa May announced that air freight from Yemen and Somalia is now to be suspended and that carrying large printer toner cartridges will be prohibited.

Tonight our Diplomatic editor Mark Urban will consider if there are security loopholes in the international freight business and consider if proposed measures to increase security would be possible to enforce.

Then we have a film from Peter Marshall who is in Florida to assess the impact of the Tea Party movement there ahead of tomorrow's mid-term elections. And we'll debate how divisive the campaign has been and how divided the US now is.

Gavin is in London and Emily is in Washington this evening - join them at 10.30pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two.