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14/02/2015

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

2 hours

Last on

Sat 14 Feb 2015 07:00

Today's running order

0710
Intense fighting has been reported in eastern Ukraine, a day after a peace deal was reached in Minsk. The fiercest battles were over control of the town of Debaltseve, a strategic town in between rebel-held areas.听 The group responsible for monitoring the ceasefire, due to start at midnight on Saturday, says there is still "quite serious live fire" in several areas. 91热爆 correspondent David Stern reports from Kiev

0715
The bitter row over alleged tax avoidance by wealth clients of HSBC is threatening "the fabric of society", Labour leader Ed Miliband will say today. But the Conservatives are focusing on a different issue this morning 鈥 David Cameron will set out plans later which would see obese people without jobs forced to diet or lose their benefits. 91热爆 Political Correspondent Alex听Forsyth provides analysis.

0720
Following on from yesterday鈥檚 commemorations which took place in Dresden in Germany to mark the seventieth anniversary of the Allied fire-bombing, two of our listeners got in touch to tell us about their family's personal connection to the Dresden bombings. An estimated twenty five thousand people died in the British and American attack, which created a firestorm that left much of the city in ruins. Jeremy Nichols and Rosalyn St Pierre explain their personal family connections to the anniversary.

0730
Ukraine has taken delivery of 20 out-of-service British military armoured vehicles in a commercial arms deal. The Ministry of Defence confirmed the deal last night and said another 55 of the British Saxon armoured vehicles were due to arrive in Ukraine soon. Robert Fox is defence correspondent at the London Evening Standard.

0740
The work of HMRC has been under the spotlight this week following revelations that the department was notified in 2008 that HSBC had helped clients avoid tax through its private bank in Switzerland. Then last night, more revelations by the 91热爆's Panorama programme has learned that HMRC didn't prosecute a wealthy businessman -- even though he told inspectors he hadn't paid tax for twenty four years. John Christensen is from the Tax Justice Network

0745
Its Valentines day today. The release of 鈥淔ifty Shades of Grey鈥 has cast light on the portrayal of love and gender in film. We鈥檙e talking to two filmmakers, Kim Longinotto and Topher Campbell, who have looked at the subject.

0750
One of Google's Vice Presidents has said he is worried that we are entering a digital dark age - where no record of the 21st century will be held. As we reported yesterday Vint Cerf, described as one of the fathers of the internet, says that he is concerned that pictures and documents will get lost as hardware becomes obsolete. It's not the same as paper which can last for centuries. How are our own national archives tackling this? Jeff James is Chief Executive of The National Archive

0810
Obese people without jobs will be forced to diet or lose their benefits under plans to be set out by David Cameron today. Alcoholics and drug addicts will also face being stripped of their benefits, worth about 拢100 a week, if they refuse to accept a recommended treatment plan. David Cameron has asked Dame Carol Black to conduct a review into how best to get those suffering from these 鈥榯reatable鈥 conditions back into work. Susannah Gilbert is co-founder of Big Matters and Mark Harper, Conservative MP, is Minister of State for Disabled People.

0820
In a programme on Radio 4 at 8pm this evening Jonathan Powell who served as Chief of Staff to former prime minister Tony Blair explores the principles which underlie some of the most famous political speeches of the last century. He joins us in the studio with Miranda Green, former press secretary to Paddy Ashdown and journalist.

0830
Intense fighting has been reported in eastern Ukraine, a day after a peace deal was reached in Minsk. The fiercest battles were over control of the town of Debaltseve, a strategic town in between rebel-held areas.听 The group responsible for monitoring the ceasefire, due to start at midnight on Saturday, says there is still "quite serious live fire" in several areas. Ian Pannell, our International Correspondent, provides analysis from Donetsk and Sir Andrew Wood, Former British Ambassador to Moscow, and Andrei Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council, discuss.

0840
This week the actor David Tennant became the first debut contestant on Radio 4鈥檚 Just A Minute to speak uninterrupted for 60 seconds. His subject to speak on, without repetition, hesitation or deviation, was "exit, pursued by a bear". Tennant was encouraged to appear by Nicholas Parsons himself who thought the actor's "natural delivery" would suit him for the show. Sir Nicholas Parsons, chairman of Radio 4 show 鈥楯ust a Minute鈥, joins us in the studio.

0850
It used to be that you if you got into a relationship the chances were that you'd meet the person through work or through a friend of the family, but online dating has changed that. Sites like Tinder which works by flicking through profiles on your phone, swiping right for 鈥測es鈥 and left for 鈥渘o鈥 have billions of members and have changed the way many people look for a partner. What effect has the internet had on ritual of courtship? How do these sites work? And is there formula to successful online dating? Dr Catherine Hakim is a social scientist and author of The New Rules: Internet Dating, Playfairs and Erotic Powers and Charly Lester is founder and CEO of UK Dating Awards and Global Head of Dating for Time Out.


All subject to change.

Broadcast

  • Sat 14 Feb 2015 07:00