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18/06/2015

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

3 hours

Last on

Thu 18 Jun 2015 06:00

Today's running order

0710

The government has confirmed that subsidies for onshore windfarms are to end a year earlier than planned. The move is in line with the Conservative Party manifesto commitment to end any new public subsidy for onshore wind. Gordon Macdougall is chief executive of RES and member of British Wind.

0715

Athlete Mo Farah missed two drugs tests a year before the London 2012 Olympics, a newspaper has claimed. The report comes after doping allegations were made against his American coach in a Â鶹ԼÅÄ investigation. Dan Roan is the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s sports editor.

0720

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has said the government will consider capping early exit charges imposed when people withdraw money from their pensions.  Since new rules came into force in April, allowing people over 55 to spend their pension savings as they wish, many have complained about restrictions and charges.  Mark Wood is former chief executive of Prudential.

0725

Peter Humphrey, the British corporate investigator who became embroiled in the GlaxoSmithKline bribery case in China, has said that prison authorities in Shanghai attempted to extort a confession from him by denying him urgent medical treatment. Mr Humphrey was deported from China yesterday after serving nearly two years of a two and a half year jail sentence on charges of trafficking personal data. Carrie Gracie is the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s China editor.

0730

Today is crunch day. European finance ministers of the 19 countries sharing the euro currency, and the IMF, meet in Luxembourg as Greece faces a new deadline to unlock aid payments. It’s thought to be Athens’s last chance to secure the vital funds it needs to meet a debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund at the end of the month. Francesco Papadia used to be head of Market Operations at the ECB.

0740

Elmore Leonard was described by Martin Amis as the closest thing America had to a 'national novelist'. When he died in 2013, he left behind a legacy of forty-five novels, characterised by a direct narrative voice and short, witty dialogue. Much of his work was adapted for the screen, including 'Get Shorty' and 'Rum Punch', which became Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. Now an unseen collection of Leonard's early work is being published for the first time. We hear from his son, Peter Leonard.

0750

The government has confirmed that subsidies for onshore windfarms are to end a year earlier than planned (see 0710). Amber Rudd is energy and climate change secretary.

0810

Today is crunch day. European finance ministers of the 19 countries sharing the euro currency, and the IMF, meet in Luxembourg as Greece faces a new deadline to unlock aid payments. It’s thought to be Athens’s last chance to secure the vital funds it needs to meet a debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund at the end of the month. Guest tbc. Plus - Katya Adler is the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s Europe editor.

0820

The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and David Cameron will attend a national service to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Amongst the congregation will be senior representatives of the Armed Services, representatives and ambassadors of all combatant countries involved in the Battle, and descendants of men who fought in the Battle. Sylvie Bermann is French ambassador to the UK. Bernard Cornwell is bestselling author of the Sharpe Series and ‘Waterloo’.

0825

For hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang the Universe was just a big, dark, ball of gas.  But slowly, as gravity began to take effect, the atoms in that gas began to clump together forming the first stars, and light streamed out across the cosmos.  That's the theory, but no one knows for sure, because no one has ever seen one of these first "pristine" stars, until now.  We hear from David Sobral, who led the research.

0830

The Pope's encyclical on climate change, poverty, justice and changing habits finally comes out today. According to a leaked draft of the document, Pope Francis will call for swift action to protect the Earth and fight global warming. George Marshall is founder of the Climate Outreach Information Network. Ellen Teague works for the Columbans Justice and Peace network and is a long-time climate change advocate from a Christian perspective.

0840

Work is starting this week on a rather unique archaeological dig in Cambridgeshire. Buried under 3 metres of sediment in a quarry at Must Farm near Peterborough is a Bronze Age settlement that, according to what's been found so far, is extremely well preserved. It's thought it will reveal surprising insights into how life was lived, including a level of foreign trade and sophistication not previously seen. Mark Knight is site director from Cambridge Archaeological Unit, Cambridge University.

0845

On the south-eastern land border of the European Union, Bulgaria faces a constant influx of migrants. Most now are Syrian Kurds. A new fence along the border with Turkey discourages those who try to enter, but most of those who do succeed are granted asylum. At the same time, the country is under pressure from European police and intelligence services to control exactly who passes through its territory, in both directions. Nick Thorpe reports.

0850

It's one of the most anticipated publications of 2015. When the clock struck one past midnight, thousands of fans had the opportunity to purchase the 4th instalment of the 50 Shades of Grey saga. But this is not so much a continuation of the sadomasochistic story of dominant tycoon Christian Grey and his shy lover Anastasia Steele, it's just the same story from Grey's point of view, the other 3 being from Anastasias. Professor Margaret Reynolds lectures English Literature at Queen Mary University of London.

0855

A teenage cancer victim begged doctors to take her seriously in a series of desperate messages written shortly before she died. Bronte Doyne, 19, said she was 'fed up of trusting' medics who refused to accept she was dying and was told to 'stop Googling' the rare illness that would eventually kill her. Miss Doyne died in March 2013, 16 months after she developed a rare form of liver cancer which only affects 200 people a year worldwide. Lorraine Doyne is Bronte’s mother. Dr Clare Gerada is a GP.

All subject to change.

Broadcast

  • Thu 18 Jun 2015 06:00