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21/10/2015

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

3 hours

Last on

Wed 21 Oct 2015 06:00

Today's running order

0650

A study has identified a gene that scientists believe is linked to an increased risk of heart disease in women.

0655

The Local Government Association (LGA) has called for an end to the blanket ban imposed on parents in England taking children out of school for holidays.

David Simmonds, Deputy Chairman of the LGA, is live on the programme.

0710

Hospitals should build their own care homes to look after the elderly when they first leave hospital, a new report on efficiency in the NHS recommends.

Professor Tim Briggs, newly-appointed National Director for Clinical Quality and Efficiency, is live on the programme.

 0715

The self-styled National Salvation government, which controls Tripoli but isn’t recognised by the international community, has proposed that experts investigating the Lockerbie bombing should come to Tripoli to interview the two prisoners whom Scotland and the US accused of responsibility.

0720

The charity CARE was set up after the Second World War to allow Americans to send food packages to people in England who were short of food. Earlier this year CARE appealed on this programme for people who received those packages to come forward and share their stories.

Tim Thomas, who received gift packages from CARE, is live on the programme.

0730

On the first of November Turkey will go to the polls for the fourth time in 18 months. On top of political instability, Turkey is also facing recession, financial stress, terrorist attacks, and a flood of Syrian refugees.

0740

Today is “Back To The Future” day, the day the film trilogy’s main character Marty McFly, played by Michael J Fox, time travelled from 1985 thirty years into the future – arriving on the 21st October 2015.

0750

Today will see a string of business announcements between the UK and China including a deal by Chinese investors to take a one-third stake in Hinkley Point.

Wu’er Kaixi, a Chinese democracy activist who was among the leaders of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, is on the programme.

Professor Zhangfeng Cui, a member of the ‘Chinese Life Scientists Society UK’, is live on the programme.

0810

The Local Government Association (LGA) has called for an end to the blanket ban imposed on parents in England taking children out of school for holidays.

Craig Langman, founder of the organisation ‘Parents Want A Say’, is live on the programme.

Nick Gibb, Schools Minister, is live on the programme.

0820

The Chinese president's meeting with the Queen yesterday included the exchange of gifts. Mr Xi gave the Queen folk music featuring his wife Peng Liyuan, a renowned singer in China.

0825

'Something Inside so Strong’ - released in the 1980s by British musician and singer-songwriter Labi Siffre - became an anthem of the anti-apartheid movement. Next month Siffre will be appearing in concert for the first time in fifteen years.

Labi Siffre is on the programme.

0835

The case of British nurse Pauline Cafferkey, who remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital, is a reminder of how little is known about the lingering after effects of the killer virus Ebola.

Dr Ian Crozier, Ebola survivor and infectious disease specialist, is on the programme.

0840

Conservative MP Heidi Allen used her first speech in the Commons yesterday to criticise the goverment's proposed cuts to tax credits. Maiden speeches are normally uncontroversial as newly elected MPs tow the party line - but every now and again there is one that stands out.

0845

The state should stop subsidising the roll out of broadband, according to the chief executive of Virgin Media.

Tom Mockridge, chief executive of Virgin Media, is live on the programme.

0850

50 years ago today a wave of nationalist protest was unleashed in Wales at the opening of a new reservoir. Some have claimed it led to demands for power to be devolved from Westminster to Wales.
 

0855

Unfortunately for many fans, not all of the technological predictions made in ’Back to the Future’ came true.

Sumit Paul-Choudhury, editor of New Scientist magazine, is live on the programme.

Dr Louise Horsfall, a scientist in the field of Synthetic Biology at the University of Edinburgh, is live on the programme.

 

 
All subject to change.

 

 

 

Broadcast

  • Wed 21 Oct 2015 06:00