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06/01/2015

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

3 hours

Last on

Tue 6 Jan 2015 06:00

Today's running order

0650

The government of Pakistan seems to be taking notice of protests in this country and others against the way it applies the death penalty. It’s delayed the execution of a man who'd been convicted at the age of 14 after claims he'd been tortured into confessing. Maya Foa is the director of the death penalty team at Reprieve.

0710

Managers have declared "major incidents" at hospitals across England, saying their staff are struggling to cope with patient numbers. Later Tuesday morning (9.30am) figures on NHS waiting times will be released and they are expected to show that the performance of A&E units in England has dipped to its lowest level for a decade. It's thought highly likely that a government target, for 95% of patients in England to be seen within four hours, will be missed. Clifford Mann is president of the College of Emergency Medicine.

0715

The world's biggest consumer electronics and tech show began Monday night in Las Vegas. Rory Cellan-Jones is our technology editor.

0720

A number of anti-immigration marches took place across Germany last night as part of the β€˜Pegida’ movement, with demonstrators protesting against the β€˜Islamification’ of their country. Around 18,000 demonstrators took part in a protest in Dresden, but in other German cities such as Berlin and Cologne, the demonstrators were outnumbered by counter-protestors who waved placards with slogans such as β€œI heart immigration”. How do these protests fit into what's going on in German politics at the moment? And are these anti-Islam/anti-immigration protests a sign of the rise of the far right more widely across Europe? Jenny Hill is the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ β€˜s Berlin correspondent. Professor Simon Green is from the Aston Centre for Europe.

0730

The Government’s controversial new Counter Terrorism & Security Bill comes back before the House of Commons today. The Bill is mostly aimed at countering the threat of Islamic State. The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Secretary, Theresa May, is hoping to fast-track it through Parliament before May’s election. The most controversial part of the legislation is the so-called temporary exclusion orders, which would allow Mrs May to control the return of UK citizens suspected of involvement in terrorism abroad, in other words, take away someone’s passport to prevent them coming back. David Anderson QC is Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.

0740

Oldham Athletic say talks regarding the possible signing of the footballer Ched Evans remain ongoing. The convicted rapist was set to join the club on a long-term deal and train with them on Monday, but more than 30,000 people have signed an online petition urging Oldham not to sign him. Will Oldham be worried about the morals involved with signing him, or are football clubs generally only concerned with scoring goals and making money? Dr Emily Ryall is senior lecturer in philosophy at the University of Gloucestershire. Geoff Pearson is senior lecturer in sports law at the University of Liverpool.

0750

A new study conducted by researchers from the US, Australia & Sweden has measured behavioural changes in people with dementia. Patients suffering from fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) in particular often experience severe changes in behaviour, such as criminal acts and lack of inhibitions. Dr Laura Phipps is from Alzheimer’s Research UK. Lee Pearse’s mother experienced severe behavioural changes as a result of dementia.

0810

Further NHS analysis (see 0710). Mike Proctor is deputy chief executive of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation. Jeremy Hunt is Health Secretary.

0820

Labour has said they will β€˜knock on four million doors’ over the next five months, in the hope of winning the general election in May. But at the last two elections, the ratings of the major parties stayed largely consistent between the beginning of the campaigns and polling day. Does this mean electioneering is essentially meaningless? Peter Kellner is director of YouGov. John Braggins is director of Campaign IT and former election campaigner for Labour.

0830

When he came into office at the end of September, the new Afghan president Ashraf Ghani said he should be judged after 100 days. Today marks 100 days since then, and the record is not good. He has failed to form a government, and talks with his coalition partner Dr Abdullah Abdullah are deadlocked. Mohammad Halim Fidai is a former governor of Wardak province in Afghanistan and is now an advisor to President Ghani.

0845

Are we one nation when it comes to food? Or do we have marked regional tastes with the more exotic food enjoyed in the wicked fleshpots of London while the rest of us stick to steak and chips? Β The question was raised when the figures came in for Christmas sales and it was noted that some cookbooks sold better in London than elsewhere. Yotam Ottolenghi is a chef and the author of 'Plenty More'. Mary-Ellen McTague is a food writer for the Guardian and the head chef at Aumbry restaurant in Manchester.

0850

California's SpaceX company will try to soft-land part of its Falcon rocket when it launches a cargo mission to the space station later on Tuesday (11:20 GMT). All segments of a rocket are usually discarded after use and are destroyed as they fall back to Earth. Β SpaceX, however, has been practising the controlled return of the first stage of its Falcon vehicle. It now wants see if it can land the booster on a sea barge positioned in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. If it succeeds, it could point the way to dramatically lower launch costs. Jonathan Amos is science correspondent.

0855

The world's biggest electronics fair is taking place in Las Vegas. How much of the tech comes from Britain? We have some very good firms doing good things here, but is there something missing? Jessica Bland is a principle researcher at Nesta, a charity that supports innovation in the UK. Fran Bennett is the CEO and founder of Mastodon C "agile big data specialists".

All subject to change.

Broadcast

  • Tue 6 Jan 2015 06:00