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Talk about Newsnight

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Thursday, 15 May, 2008

  • Newsnight
  • 15 May 08, 06:39 PM

Hello readers and viewers,

brown203.jpgDay 3 of the Gordon Brown relaunch. We've had the mini-budget. Then the new policy plans. Today the PM was selling the message to the media. But has this flurry of activity achieved anything in turning round how the Labour government is viewed? Michael Crick has spent the day in Crewe and Nantwich finding out what voters there thought. David Grossman has been seeking the counsel of the wise sages at Westminster. And Jeremy Paxman will be asking Labour spin guru Alastair Campbell what if anything can be done. Their chats are always interesting and informative.

The China news agencies are reporting that as many as 50,000 people have been killed as a result of the earthquake in the South West. The infrastructure in the area has been decimated. But are there further threats from damage to the dams and power plants in the area? Our science Editor Susan Watts is assessing. Jeremy will be speaking to Naomi Klein about who will profit from the disasters in both China and Burma.

Finally we have a disturbing report from the Congo. It appears the latest development strategy of the Department for International Development is to fund public private partnerships. But what exactly should we make of the mining company that our government is teaming up with and should they really receive UK taxpayers cash?

Read the government's statement in full .

Do join us at 10.30. With Jeremy and Alastair in the studio together it promises to be lively at the very least.

Simon Enright

Prospects for Thursday, 15 May

  • Newsnight
  • 15 May 08, 11:12 AM

Good morning. Here's today's e-mail to the production team from output editor Simon Enright:

Dear All,

Day Three of Gordon's fight back. After the budget, then the draft Queen's speech, now it is face the media time. Will Gordon Brown do an interview with Jeremy Paxman today?

What else should we do? Should we do China - and if so what. Bush is in Israel. Can he realistically achieve anything? Burma has voted to back the proposed new constitution. Did they care about turn out in the south west? Or are there other stories we should do?

We also have a story about how Gordon Brown is extending public private partnerships. Not just at home now but abroad too. Tim Whewell reports on the mining companies in the Congo who are more than happy to work with the British Government - and ask whether this is the right way to deliver aid?

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