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A daily selection of interviews, comment and debate from the BBCÂ’s flagship Radio News programme, Today. For more information and the podcast Terms of Use go to www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 Primary Format : Language : Unknown Also Listed as: City : Unknown State/Province : Unknown Country : United Kingdom Region : EU User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: View this Podcast on a Google Map. Podcast iTunes Link Text Only listing of Today Lead Interviews Podcasts Methings.com listings of Today Lead Interviews Podcasts If you like this podcast, you might also like:

Today: Ministers plan services shake-up The government is to set out plans to reduce Whitehall targets and extend new rights to the users of public services. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liam Byrne explains why he believes there is a need for a "power shift" away from civil servants and towards the public. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Should Bank of England regulate institutions? How will the government regulate the banking industry to avoid another financial crisis? Gillian Tett, of the FT, considers if current plans are tough enough on the financial sector. Shadow chancellor George Osborne says his party is considering giving the Bank of England the power to regulate individual banks. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: BBC's Mark Thompson defends expenses The expenses of some top BBC executives have been published. BBC director general Mark Thompson explains why he made some of the claims - including£2,236.90 to fly him and his family back from a holiday in Sicily to deal with the fall-out following calls made to actor Andrew Sachs by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Jackson 'was the consummate star' Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles at the age of 50, after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in Beverly Hills. Friend Uri Gellar and music journalist Mark Ellen react to the death of the star. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Gay liberation riots remembered It is 40 years since a riot began outside a bar in New York which is credited as giving birth to the modern gay liberation movement. Jim Fouratt, who was there, and Kenneth Partridge, who was on the London gay scene at the time, discuss the lasting significance of the Stonewall riots. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Iran protests 'will not continue' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's calls for the protests in Iran to stop appear to have gone largely unheeded. Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen considers whether eyewitness accounts of clashes near the parliament building in Tehran can be verified - as BBC journalists face severe reporting restrictions. An anonymous protester gives his account of events in Tehran. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Why are family court cases under-reported? It is a shame that journalists are not taking the opportunity to report how family courts work, a judge working in the courts says. District Judge Lynn Roberts explains what she thinks of the new rules concerning the reporting of cases. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Ex-detainees allege abuse at Bagram A BBC investigation has revealed allegations of abuse at a US-run military base in Afghanistan. Correspondent Ian Pannell reports on former inmates' allegations of beatings, sleep deprivation and being hung from the ceiling. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Can family courts be reported? Why has there been so little reporting of the Family Courts since they have been opened to the press? Reporter Sanchia Berg spends a fortnight in different Family Courts following various cases. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 'Three Tories' voted for new Speaker Conservative MP John Bercow is to begin work in his new role after being elected as Speaker of the House of Commons. Political editor Nick Robinson considers whether some MPs are already plotting a challenge to unseat him after the next election. Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, Vernon Bogdanor professor of government at Oxford University, and Alan Duncan, shadow leader of the House, discuss whether Mr Bercow will be a successful Speaker. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Rehearsing the end of the world The government War Book, in use during the Cold War, set out in great detail exactly what was to happen in the countdown to nuclear war, and is now to be released in full to the public. Reporter Sanchia Berg examines the procedure if nuclear war had became inevitable. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0737 Swifts Demolition works and repairs to properties are affecting the swift population, conservationists say. Gemma Rogers, of the RSPB, says swifts now figure on the charity's list of "at risk" birds. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0810 The Speaker As MPs prepare to vote in a new House of Commons Speaker, the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett remains bookmakers' favourite to win the post. But at least one Labour MP has accused the government of trying to install her into the prestigious position. Nick Robinson and Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman discuss the rumours that government whips are "touting" Ms Beckett. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today 0810 The Speaker As MPs prepare to vote in a new House of Commons Speaker, the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett remains bookmakers' favourite to win the post. But at least one Labour MP has accused the government of trying to install her into the prestigious position. Nick Robinson and Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman discuss the rumours that government whips are "touting" Ms Beckett. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0810 G20 protests begin A coalition of campaigners from a variety of charities and unions will march through London to demand action on poverty and climate change ahead of the G20 summit. 'Put People First' will urge world leaders to come up with a "fair, sustainable route out of recession" that also factors in environmental issues. Brendan Barber, General Secretary of TUC discusses the policy changes that 'Put People First' would like to see implemented after G20. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0810 'No split' between bank and Brown Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has warned against further significant government spending to stimulate the economy, given the high levels of UK debt as a result of recent stimulus packages. He was answering questions from MPs at a Treasury committee. Former minister Geoffrey Robinson, Professor David Smith, chairman of the shadow Monetary Policy Committee, and Hugo Dixon, editor-in-chief of BreakingViews.com, a city commentary service, evaluate the governor's warning. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0830 'Absolute right' to free speech 14 Mar 09 The Conservative MP David Davies wants to make it illegal for people to demonstrate against the military. He discusses if protests - like the one in Luton when a small group of anti-war protesters held placards saying "Anglian soldiers go to hell" and "Butchers of Basra" - should be made illegal with Abu Omar, who went to the demonstration in Luton but couldn't get inside the police cordon. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0810 G20 finance ministers to meet 14 Mar 09 Ministers from the G20 group of rich and emerging countries are to meet in England amid growing rifts over how to tackle the worst downturn in decades. Chancellor Alistair Darling discusses if the countries will be in agreement on the major issues. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0810 Will Bank of England cut rates? 08 Jan 09 The Bank of England is widely expected to cut rates to their lowest point in the Bank's 315-year history. Correspondent Greg Wood, John Redwood, chairman of the Conservatives' Economic Competitiveness Policy Group, and Roger Bootle, managing director of Capital Economics, discuss what they think the Bank should do. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0750 Sex Offenders Register 20 Dec 08 When the sex offenders register was set up ten years ago the rule that applied to the more serious offenders was simple: once you're on it you're on it for life. Now the high court has ruled that shouldn't happen: it's a breach of human rights. The Home Office is thinking of appealing. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0810 US unemployment rate reaches 6.7% 06 Dec 08 The jobless rate in the US has risen to a 15-year high of 6.7%, another indicator of the global economic downturn. North American Business Correspondent Greg Wood, employment workplace correspondent Martin Shankleman, and Kevin Green, chief executive of the Recruitment and Employment Federation, discuss if this dramatic rise in unemployment could soon be seen in the UK. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 0750 Alistair Darling 30 Oct 08 Alistair Darling has signalled a new approach to fiscal policy, saying his "core objective" must be to help the UK through a likely recession. He says that he will unveil a new £4bn package to help small businesses. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website