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26/03/2015

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

3 hours

Last on

Thu 26 Mar 2015 06:00

Today's running order

0650

Richard III will be reinterred today at Leicester Cathedral, the Very Reverend David Monteith is Dean of Leicester Cathedral and will be officiating at the reburial of today.

0655

Researchers from Iceland say they managed to map the genetic code of "an entire nation". The reports, published today on the journal Nature Genetics, combines DNA data with family trees. The team say they could now find every woman at high-risk of breast cancer "at the touch of a button" and it would be "criminal" not to use the information. Dr Kari Stefansson is a neurologist and CEO of deCODE Genetics. Β 

0710

Saudi Arabia forces have intervened in the conflict in Yemen. Its planes have bombed the airport in the capital Sana'a. The operation is in coordination with a 10-country coalition seeking to beat back Houthi militia forces besieging the southern city of Aden where the country's president had taken refuge. Frank Gardner is our security correspondent.

0715

Services in the NHS in England are deteriorating in a way not seen since the early 1990s, according to a leading health think tank. The King's Fund says the NHS has made some progress in improving efficiency under the coalition, but several targets on access to treatment are being missed, and the service is heading for a deficit. The government says the report shows the NHS has performed well in the face of huge challenges. John Appleby is chief economist at the health think-tank the King's Fund.

0720

The Conservatives and Labour made pledges to rule out tax rises through VAT and National Insurance yesterday on a day of political point-scoring and what appeared to be on-the-hoof policy announcements. Have the parties boxed themselves in, ruling out potentially big revenue-raising measures, for the sake of short-term political advantage? John Mann is a Labour MP and member of the Treasury Select Committee.

0730

Ahead of the first leaders’ event of the election campaign this evening, James Naughtie profiles the Labour leader Ed Miliband.

0740

The prospect of growing food seems too much hassle for most people, particularly those without a garden. However, a new book claims that creating your own kitchen garden can be a life changer, no matter how small it is. Mark Diacono, former head gardener at River Cottage, tracks how the kitchen garden has evolved from the elaborate walled gardens of stately homes to something as simple as a few pots on a windowsill. Mark Diacono is the former head gardener at Channel Four presenter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage and author of The New Kitchen Garden and Susan Campbell is a garden historian and author of A History of Kitchen Gardens.

0750

French air safety investigators say initial studies of the cockpit voice recordings from the German aircraft that crashed in the Alps suggest one of the pilots was locked out of the cabin and was unable to re-enter. David Gleave is an aviation safety researcher at Loughborough University and former crash investigator and Jenny Hill is a ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ correspondent and is at Dusseldorf Airport.

0810

Saudi Arabia forces have intervened in the conflict in Yemen. Its planes have bombed the airport in the capital Sana'a (see 0710). Jeremy Bowen is our Middle East Editor

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The Conservatives and Labour made pledges to rule out tax rises through VAT and National Insurance yesterday on a day of political point-scoring and what appeared to be on-the-hoof policy announcements (see 0720). David Gauke is a Conservative MP and Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Shabana Mahmood is Shadow Exchequer Secretary.

0825

The portrayal of travelling communities in mainstream culture usually takes one of two forms - complaints about gypsy sites, or the glitz of gypsy weddings. But it is a way of life with far deeper roots and the folk musician Sam Lee is among those concerned about its decline. He is a "song collector", trying to salvage the fading tradition of gypsy folk music - songs passed down through the generations - never written down nor recorded. Our reporter Tom Bateman joined him on a recent trip to southern Ireland.

0830

A last-minute bid to change the way the Speaker of the House of Commons is elected is to be debated by MPs today. Under the proposals, a secret ballot would decide whether there should be a contested election for the post. MPs currently have to file through the division lobbies to cast their vote which means it is clear who does or does not back the incumbent as Speaker. Labour has complained that there has been no consultation on the change, and it is being seen as an attempt to undermine the current speaker John Bercow. Julian Lewis is Conservative MP for New Forest East.

0840

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News will release a reportΒ todayΒ on tracking UK Jihadis. The research has been compiled over the past few months, in an attempt to map the scale of Syrian jihad. The result is a β€œsnapshot” database of their stories which reveals their links to each other, the geographic spread of the British jihad, what we know about their motivations - and what happened to them. The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Affairs Committee will also release a report on counter-terrorism today, urging police to work better with local communities and with airlines to stop extremists traveling abroad. Gordon Corera is ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ security correspondent and Khadijah Kamara is the mother of 19- year old Jihadi Ibrahim Kamara, who was killed in Syria in September 2014.

0845

It's the tale of possibly the most intriguing constituency contest in May's election. When George Galloway swept to power in Bradford West in the 2012 by-election it shocked Labour who'd held the seat for so long. Now after a controversial selection process we know he'll be running against a woman who also breaks the mould. Our chief correspondent Matthew Price reports from Bradford.Β 

0850

A new app that allows readers to replace swearwords with β€œcleaner” words is facing a backlash from furious authors who have accused it of censorship. Chocolat author Joanne Harris claims the app takes away authenticity and that the β€œacceptable alternatives” may be more offensive than the words they are supposed to replace. Joanne Harris is a novelist and author of 15 novels including β€œChocolat”.

0855

The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ has, in effect, sacked Jeremy Clarkson as Top Gear. Is there any truth to the argument made by his supporters that Clarkson appealed to an audience whose tastes and ideals aren't served by the rest of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ's output, and his departure means they will be even less represented on television. What are the chances of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ successfully relaunching "Top Gear"? David Elstein is a former chief executive of Channel Five and Daisy Goodwin is a TV producer and founder of Silver River Productions who has produced shows including The Apprentice and Grand Designs.

All subject to change.

Broadcast

  • Thu 26 Mar 2015 06:00