Friday, 28 September, 2007
- 28 Sep 07, 05:35 PM
From tonight's presenter, :
How snap is snap?
It takes a certain talent - as Gordon Brown might say - to be in the right place at the right time.
Something the Secretary of state for Culture, James Purnell, is discovering to his peril today. But more on that later in the programme...
Timing will certainly be crucial to the call of an election. And tonight we'll be doing pretty much what we imagine Mr Brown will be doing this weekend. Consolidating the myriad polls, mountains of advice, and conflicting external factors to tell him on what date he should go to the country if he goes for a snap election.
We'll speak to a panel who know all about giving political advice - and ask them just how much is left to chance in these decisions.
Burma
What would it take to complete a full scale revolution in Burma? How close are the protestors to their end game?
The thing that tipped the 1988 revolt into a revolution was a split within the army and a general strike by Burma's working class. So how does a country - where trade unions are banned - mastermind a revolution?
Paul Mason has been speaking to some of those working - in exile - to exact change in their homeland, and asks whether a shift within the military could occur this time.
And we hear from Pascal Khoo Thwe - one of those politicised by the Burma uprising in 1988. His book - From the Land of Green Ghosts - puts the human face on the atrocities perpetrated by the generals who took over the country. Tonight, he tells us his story.
