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A daily selection of interviews, comment and debate from the BBC’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:

View the full archive of Today Lead Interviews Today: UK 'is real frontline' in terrorism fight Britain's presence in Afghanistan has been seriously questioned this week following the deaths of seven army personnel, and calls from former junior Foreign Office minister Kim Howells MP to withdraw all troops from the country. Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday defended Britain's continued presence, saying that troops there are "our first line of defence" against terrorist attacks on British streets. Shadow security minister Baroness Pauline Neville Jones and the chairman of the Royal ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Jan Morris's 'glimpses of people' Travel writer Jan Morris has changed tack for her latest book, by writing about people instead of the places she visits. Miss Morris comments on her latest travels. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 'Nerves miraculously disappear' What is it like for the soldiers on the front line in Afghanistan? Major Richard Streatfeild has been keeping a diary for the Today programme as he leads his troops in the Sangin Valley, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting in the war. The latest instalment describes how his first patrol was hit by an roadside bomb. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: RBS recovery 'a marathon not a sprint' RBS has made a loss in the last quarter, despite the government pumping billions of pounds into the failing bank. Profitable parts of the bank will have to be sold off under news measures imposed by EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes. RBS chief executive Stephen Hester discusses the bank's future. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today:'Rude, whimsical and late' A selection of unpublished letters sent to the Telegraph is being released. Am I Alone in thinking? is a collection of some of the letters sent the the newspaper that were not appropriate for publication. Deputy head of the Telegraph letters page, Iain Hollingshead, and author Robert Popper, comment on the letters. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Russia's admiration for Stalin Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev has made an unusually outspoken condemnation of attempts to rehabilitate the reputation of Joseph Stalin. In a message posted on his blog President Medvedev called on people to remember the "millions who died because of Stalin's terror". Last year, in a nation wide television poll to name the greatest Russian ever, Joseph Stalin came third. Moscow correspondent Rupert Wingfield Hayes reports on how Russians view their former leader. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Afghan police are 'undisciplined, badly trained and corrupt' The killing of five British soldiers in Afghanistan by a police officer has raised questions over security progress in the country. The British army has been training Afghan security and police forces to enforce the rule of law for the long-term future of the country. Mark Grant-Jones, padre with 2 Rifles Battle Group, and Mark Christian a padre serving with British soldiers in Helmand, comment on the implications of the killings on the British cause in Afghanistan, and Afghan journalist Na ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Is Obama losing his charm It is the first anniversary of Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential elections. But in the intervening year, the Democrats have lost gubernatorial seats in both Virginia and New Jersey to the Republicans. The Republican's chairman, Michael Steele, says the results are a rejection of President Obama's reckless spending, and what he calls "the far-left policies that are hurting our nation." North America editor Mark Mardell examines President Obama's popularity a year after his electi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Five British troops die in 'rogue' attack Five British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan after a policeman they were training opened gunfire. Defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt reports on the latest in the incident. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Bank shake-up creates 'more competition' New plans for a big shake up of banks have been announced. Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group are to sell off a large number of their branches after the European Commission demanded that banks bailed-out by taxpayers should be scaled down. The changes will, it is hoped, ensure there is more competition for loans and mortgages in the banking industry. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, outlines the banking reforms. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Does the US still want Obama? The first anniversary of President Obama's election takes place tomorrow. A year after his election, Washington correspondent Kevin Connolly went to Colorado to talk to some of President Obama's supporters, to see if they are happy with his presidency. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Clarke: Brown 'error' led to drug row The Home Secretary Alan Johnson is coming under pressure to make a Commons statement following his sacking of the chair of the Advisory Council on the misuse of drugs Professor David Nutt. But what is the correct relationship between scientific advisors and policy makers? Former home secretary Charles Clarke, home affairs editor Mark Easton and political editor Nick Robinson analyse the issue. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Tall tale from storyteller laureate Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin. Britain is to have its first laureate for storytelling. The new post is being filled by Taffy Thomas, who discusses his repertoire of 300 stories culled from oral sources as a professional story teller for the past 30 years. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: 'Take drug laws out of party politics' The government's chief drug adviser has been sacked after claiming cannabis, ecstasy and LSD are less dangerous than alcohol and cigarettes. Professor David Nutt, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, responded by lashing out at the government's "Luddite" attitude to science. Professor Nutt, and the government's former chief scientific adviser Sir David King, discuss the relationship between the government and its advisers. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Colonel's Iraq warning leaked The most senior British officer to be killed in Afghanistan Rupert Thorneloe, who commanded the 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards, had warned about the risks posed to his troops by a shortage of helicopters. It has emerged that Lt Col Thorneloe, killed by a roadside bomb in July, had written to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) warning that a lack of helicopters meant that too many trips were being made by road, leaving forces vulnerable to improvised explosive devices. The memos were leaked by an of ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Kaminski 'today against anti-semitism' A wartime massacre in the Polish town of Jedwabne came the centre of debate between Foreign Secretary David Miliband and shadow foreign secretary William Hague on the Today programme yesterday. The argument centred on the views of Polish MEP Michal Kaminski, leader of a new group in the European Parliament, which includes Tory MEPs. The Foreign Secretary claimed that Mr Kaminski is an anti-semite, and cited the Chief Rabbi of Poland and Mr Kaminski's controversial statements on Jedwabne, in ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: What makes a hero? What is the nature of heroism? Captain Sully Sullenberger has been hailed a hero for safely landing 155 passengers and crew on the Hudson River but is he a hero, or simply showing courage while doing a job he was trained for? Alexandra Shackleton, grand-daughter of the explorer Ernest Shackleton and the Evening Standard's defence correspondent Robert Fox discuss what makes a hero. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Inside the life of the Coen Brothers The Coen brothers are among America's most prolific and inventive film directors, and are releasing a new film in November. A Serious Man will join the brothers' long list of successes, which include the Oscar winners Fargo and No country for Old Men, to Raising Arizona, Barton Fink and Blood Simple. The new film tells the story of the unbearable pressures on a Jewish academic in the mid-west in the sixties. Evan Davis spoke to Joel and Ethan Coen about their new movie, and whether the film ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: Miliband and Hague clash over Blair EU role European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss a wide ranging agenda, from climate change to the economy. Foreign Secretary David Miliband and shadow foreign secretary William Hague discuss the EU summit's agenda. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Today: MPs 'might baulk' at new mortgage rules The BBC understands that the review of MPs' allowances will recommend a number of measures to reform the current system. MPs will no longer be able to employ family members on the parliamentary payroll and will be banned from claiming expenses for mortgages for their second homes. And MPs who represent constituencies within a reasonable distance of London will no longer be able to claim expenses for a second home. The changes will be phased in over five years. Labour MP Sir Stuart Bell, who ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website