大象传媒

0650
The UK now has more than twenty Confucius Institutes at our Universitites - they're centres for the study of Chinese language and culture. It might sound like a good thing, but not everyone's convinced. Confucius Institutes are partly paid for by the Chinese government and staffed with Chinese trained and paid teachers. Critics say they risk undermining Britain's long cherished academic freedoms. our reporter John Sudworth has been granted a rare interview with the senior Chinese official in charge of the project and he joins me now.

0710
The inquiry into 聽child sex going back over the decades 聽has been plagued with problems ever since Teresa May set it up in the summer. Now she's decided to disband the panel appointed to conduct it. And that is proving highly controversial. Some approve. Some don't. 聽Simon Danczuk is the Labour MP for Rotherham who's been making much of the running into 聽allegations that some of the most serious abuse by leading members of the establishment has been covered up.聽

0713
President Obama says his administration is going to review whether to restore North Korea to its list of state sponsors of terrorism after blaming Pyongyang for a cyber-attack on Sony pictures. Mr Obama describes the hacking incident as a very costly example of cyber vandalism. 聽North Korea has called the allegations slander. We speak to Dr James Hoare, a historian specialising in Korean studies and a career diplomat in the British Foreign Office.

0716
The lights are going out all over Europe. That was the sombre message from the foreign secretary a century ago as Britain entered the first world war. And (slightly amended) it's the message today. Not Europe but England. Three quarters of them, according to a survey by the Labour Party, are 聽switching off or dimming the street lighting to save money on the electricity bills. 聽And not everyone's pleased about it. We hear from Neil Sinden, director of policy and campaigns at the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and Joe Irvin, chief executive of the charity Living Streets.聽

0733
A big step towards the brave new world of personalised medicine will be taken today with the launch of the 100,000 Genomes Project at eleven centres across the country. The project aims to sequence the DNA of patients suffering from a range of cancers and rare diseases, and to cross reference that data with information about their lifestyles, and - crucially - their medical records. We hear from Sophie Lewis, who has a rare heart condition and is part of the 100,000 Genomes Project and Graeme Black, Professor of Genetics and Ophthalmology at the University of Manchester, he leads the project at the Genomic Centre in Manchester.

0742
The actor Billie Whitelaw, who was best known for her work with Samuel Beckett, has died aged 82. We hear from Lisa Dwan, actress and friend of Billie Whitelaw.

0750
South Korea is to hold an exercise testing its ability to withstand a cyber-attack on its nuclear power system. It follows threats made by a hacker who published internal documents online and threatened to damage nuclear power plants if they weren't shut down. It follows the cyber-attack of Sony Pictures though it's not known if the two hacks were linked. We speak to Professor Peter Sommer, Cyber Security Expert, visiting professor at the Cyber Security Centre at De Montfort University and Brian Lord, Managing Director of "Protection Group International"聽

0810
Dozens of victims, social workers and child protection experts have signed a letter urging the home secretary to scrap the current public inquiry into child abuse and rethink its structure. 聽 Its expected Theresa May will announce she's disbanding the expert panel that's been continuing the inquiry's work while the government looks for a new chairman. 聽The new inquiry is to have legal powers to compel witnesses to give evidence. We hear from Peter Saunders, chief executive of The National Association for People Abused in Childhood and Tim Loughton, Former Children's Minister and Member of the Home Affairs Select Committee.聽

0818
Most people are now fully into the Christmas spirit but with the decorations up and people singing carols how did these customs develop? We thought we'd look at the history behind some of our best known traditions. We hear from Jeremy Dibble, Professor of music at Durham University and Hannah Fleming, curator at the Geffrye Museum.

0829
Wikileaks last night released two classified documents by a previously undisclosed CIA office detailing how to maintain cover while travelling through airports using false ID - including during operations to infiltrate the European Union and the Schengen passport control system. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner reports.

0838
It is that time of the year when we put our editors to the test and return to the tradition of inviting three of them to chance their arms at Mastermind.

0849
Today's comedy Christmas Cracker comes from writer and star of Cabin Pressure and John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, John Finnemore.

0851
Legendary Observer photographer Jane Bown, known for her portraits of famous people including the Queen, the Beatles and Samuel Beckett, has died aged 89. We hear from Luke Dodd, the Observer's archivist and her long-time friend and collaborator and Eamonn McCabe, photographer who worked alongside her for 15 years at the Observer.