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31/10/2014

Morning news and current affairs. Including Sports Desk, Yesterday in Parliament, Weather and Thought for the Day.

3 hours

Last on

Fri 31 Oct 2014 06:00

Today's running order

0632

Officials from the inquiry into historical child sex abuse will meet groups representing victims today, for the first time since it was announced in July. Tom Bateman reports.

0637

The government is failing in its effort to tackle corruption around the world through the overseas aid programme - that is the scathing assessment of the watchdog monitoring the aid budget. Correspondent Ben Ando.

0640

For a long time we were told that the ISIS fighters were about to take control of the Syrian town of Kobane on the Turkish border, but it seems the opposite is happening. Jiyar Gol, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ reporter in Orfa, near the Turkey Syria border.

0649

Medical staff aboard the Royal Navy ship the RAF Argus will begin their work tackling the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone today. They will be supporting local health workers and the foreign volunteers already there - one of whom has been sending us audio diaries about her experience in Sierra Leone. This is the latest one from Dr Geraldine O'Hara, who is based at an Ebola treatment centre in Kaliahun with Medecins San Frontieres.

0653

Bonfire night is coming and firefighters are going on strike. They will end it on the night before Guy Fawkes. Tam MacFarlarne, official from the South West Fire Brigades Union.

0709

More questions are being raised about the inquiry into historical child abuse. This time it's because it's being claimed that the home office helped the woman who's been appointed to lead it. Fiona Woolf was helped by home office officials to cover up the relationship between her and a senior Tory figure who's expected to have to give evidence to the inquiry. Keith VazΒ  is the home affairs select committee.

0713

Business with Simon Jack

0716

Pretty much all food we buy now will tell you how many calories it's got. Alcohol does not, but the Royal Society for Public Health says it should. Shirley Cramer is Chief Executive of the Royal Society for Public Health.

0720

Does the benefits system in this country make the UK a soft touch for migrants? That's what the mayor of Calais told MPs this week. The Deputy Mayor of Calais is Philippe Mignonet.

0730

There's probably never been as much interest outside Scotland in who leads the Scottish Labour Party as there is now. The party seems to be in real trouble and if it collapses at the general election in May as the latest poll suggests it will, the effect on Westminster would be massive. It could put the Tories back in power. Neil Findlay MSP and Sarah Boyack MSP are both contenders for Scottish Labour leader.

0739

The US mid-term elections take place next Tuesday - a barometer of Barack Obama's second term, with the results set to shape his last two years in office. For Republicans who want to frustrate him, the big prize is control of the Senate, which they've been confident they can wrestle out of Democrat hands. But that will depend on the outcome in a handful of states – and Today presenter Jim Naughtie reports from one of them, where he’s been watching the most unexpected of close races.

0750

The charity Childline is reporting a sharp increase in the number of children contacting them wanting to talk about taking their own lives. And - those doing so are younger than in the past - some as young as twelve. Sue Minto is Head of Childline.

0810

There was never any doubt that when the government announced there was to be an enquiry into the sexual abuse of children it would be a huge task. Its remit is to find out how we could have allowed generations of children to be horribly abused and why the abuse was so often covered up by the very people in power who were meant to stop it. It's got off to the worst possible start. The first person appointed to chair it was forced to resign and the second - the Lord Mayor of London, Fiona Wolf - is under great pressure to do the same. The latest revelation is that she was helped by home office officials to cover up the relationship between her and a senior Tory figure who's expected to have to give evidence to the inquiry. Peter Saunders is Chief Executive of National Association for People Abused in Childhood and Ken McDonald is a former Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales and Lib Dem Peer.

0818

It is a challenging time for perceptions of the British Muslim community - young menΒ  going to fight in Syria - and a few months ago the allegations of an attempt to impose conservative Islam on some Birmingham schools. But a very different take on the British Muslim experience returns to Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One tonight - 'Citizen Khan' about a self-styled Birmingham 'community leader'. Creator Adil Ray.

0830

The overseas aid budget enjoys a special status as one of the few areas of government spending protected from cuts. But today the reputation of the Department responsible has suffered a blow with a report saying it has 'little understanding' of its anti-corruption programmes and in some cases those programmes are perpetuating systems that force the poor to pay bribes.

0834

Business with Simon Jack

0838

We have been warned for a long time now that we have been abusing antibiotics to such an extent that we risk being plunged back into a medical dark age when treatable infections and minor injuries could once again kill. Scientists, politicians and health care officials have been meeting at the Royal Society of Medicine this week to try and work out what to do about it.  Today’s science correspondent Tom Feilden reports.

0845

Foreign fighters are flocking to join the ranks of the Islamic State group in unprecedented numbers -- heading to Iraq and Syria from more than 80 countries according to a UN Security Council report. Why is this group proving to be such a potent recruiter? Shiraz Maher is senior fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London.

0850

Modern teaching theory encourages teachers to tell children they're really clever even if they're not. Self-esteem is what matters. However, according to the latest research this is the wrong approach.Β  Durham University has produced a report for the Sutton Trust that concludes it might actually be harmful. Professor Rob Coe is director of the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at Durham University and author of the Sutton Trust report and Professor Sonia Blandford isΒ  CEO of Achievement for All, an education charity.


All subject to change.

Broadcast

  • Fri 31 Oct 2014 06:00