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02/05/2015

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

2 hours

Last on

Sat 2 May 2015 07:00

Today's running order

0710

Ed Miliband was in Glasgow last night, saying that his party's fight with the SNP wasn't a clash of two nations, but of two visions - and saying again he wouldn't deal with them.We'll hear from a former Labour first minister of Scotland later, and I'll report on that party's struggle with the nationalists, which is beginning to look apocalyptic. One of those I've been speaking to is Murray Pittock, Bradley professor at Glasgow University, about the nationalist rise and how Labour, over the years, has responded.

0715

There are 650 seats in the House of Commons but the number required for a majority in the last parliament wasn’t half of that (326) – it was 323. That’s because five of those seats were taken up by a party who refused to sit in it. They will refuse again in the next parliament. Sinn FΓ©in MPs refuse to recognise that body's right to legislate for any part of Ireland. Given how close this election is likely to be, and therefore how pivotal their role could be in the parliamentary arithmetic – should they reconsider that position? Mairtin Γ“ Muilleoir, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and former Lord Mayor of Belfast.

0720

More than 35,000 migrants are thought to have crossed from Africa to Europe this year and at least 1,750 have died while attempting the journey across the med. In April we got the news that more than 750 migrants are thought to have died when a single boat capsized off the coast of Libya. European leaders have come together to promise to do more to help migrants who make the dangerous crossing but since the Β Italian navy's search and rescue operation, Mare Nostrum, was discontinued in November, more and more people are dying in the waters around Sicily and Malta. Medecins San Frontieres has equipped its own boat alongside an organisation called MOAS - the Migrant Offshore Aid Station - funded by a wealthy American couple – to try and save some of those getting into difficulty. Dr Erna Rijnierse - a nurse turned doctor from Amsterdam.

0735

It was Tony Blair who first lapsed into 'mockney', apparently to try to sound more streetwise - and was duly mocked for it. And in this campaign it's back.Β Β  This week Ed Miliband broke out into his own half-cockney when he sat down to make that video with Russell Brand - which in turn reminded us of a performance by George Osborne, a master of the art, at a supermarket distribution centre a couple of years ago.

0745

Protest turned to jubilation on the streets of Baltimore last night after the city’s Chief Prosecutor charged one police officer with murder and five others with lesser crimes in the death of a young black man, Freddie Gray, who suffered a critical neck injury in the back of a police van in a case that fuelled new anger over police treatment while in custody. Β All six Baltimore police officers charged in Freddie Gray's death have posted bond, and five have been released. The sixth officer, Sgt. Alicia White, had not yet been released. The officers, three white and three black, include a lieutenant with 17 years on the force, several near-rookies and a woman who had just been promoted to sergeant. Bryan Pendleton, President of the National Black Police Association's Western Region in San Diego.

0755

On Thursday night Ed Miliband ruled out any kind of deal with the SNP.Β  What happens in the event of a hung parliament when a party decides to go it alone as minority government – without a confidence and supply deal? What is the convention on who advises the Queen about the formation of a minority government in these circumstances? Are there any recent historical parallels? Dr Catherine Haddon, Fellow at the Institute of Government

0820

Police in Northern Ireland say a β€œsignificant, viable” bomb found in north Belfast could have caused "carnage" if it had gone off. The PSNI says the device targeted police officers. Dissident republicans are being blamed for planting it. Chief Superintendent Nigel Grimshaw in Belfast.

0830

British consumers are buying more coffee than ever before, but what does that tell us about the state of the economy? Despite Tory and Lib Dem ambitions to rebalance the economy more towards manufacturing, latest figures show the service sector still accounts for 78 per cent of GDP. While the manufacturing sector is 4.8 per cent smaller than before the crash, the service sector is 8.5 per cent bigger. Shops, hotel and restaurants contributed two thirds of all growth in the latest quarter, with Costa coffee this week posting a total sales growth of 17.9 per cent. So is economic growth largely based on the coffee and restaurant boom something we should be concerned about? Is it really viable for a population to rely for its economic growth on a sort of cappuccino merry-go-round involving us all selling one another expensive cups of coffee? Aditya Chakrabortty, senior economics commentator for the Guardian and Merryn Somerset Webb, editor in chief of MoneyWeek magazine .

0835

A Nepali minister has admitted that the government didn't do enough to prepare for last Saturday's catastrophic earthquake.Β  The information minister, Minendra Rijal, told the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ that too much time had been spent on seminars on disaster preparedness that were now of little use. He also said projections of the likely impact of an earthquake on Nepal had been inaccurate. Many Nepalis have criticised the government for being too slow to distribute aid.Β  Villagers living close to the epicentre say they have received nothing.Β  More than six-thousand-two-hundred people died in the quake. Sir John Holmes, Director of the Ditchley Foundation and Former UN Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in Oxford.

0840

We've been talking this morning about Labour's problem with Scotland. There's no doubt that it's a problem for them. The leader of Scottish Labour, Jim Murphy, himself raised the prospect the other day of the SNP getting more than 50% of the vote - he was saying it would be a disaster - but it was a remarkable acknowledgement of his party's predicament. Joining me from Dundee is the former Labour first minister of Scotland, Henry McLeish.

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0850

Excitement is building ahead of the richest fight in history - Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao.Β  Mayweather is unbeaten in 47 fights and calls himself 'the best ever'. Pacquiao has won world titles in eight different weight divisions, more than anyone else in history. They've been considered among the best boxers in the world for a large part of the last decade. The fight nearly happened on a few occasions over the last 6 years only for negotiations to fall through. Now, with Mayweather 38 and Pacquiao 36, it's finally going ahead with both men probably past their peak. Colin Hart, The Sun's boxing columnist.Β 

0855

Over four million people watched the Question Time special with the 3 main party leaders on Thursday evening. Much of the praise has gone to the audience, who put the leaders through a relentless barrage of questioning. There has been very little contact between the party leaders and the public in this election campaign. What has happened to politics on the stump? Has the old fashioned hustings event and town hall meeting disappeared from election campaigns? We also want to ask both about their experience of the last Labour minority government between when the Lib Lab pact collapsed in September 1978 – what was it like a government had to survive deal by deal? Baroness Williams, former Labour Cabinet Minister and Lib Dem peer, and Lord Heseltine, former Deputy Prime Minister.

Broadcast

  • Sat 2 May 2015 07:00