Wednesday, 30 May, 2007
- 30 May 07, 04:45 PM
From tonight's presenter, .
Kidnapped in Iraq
Our diplomatic editor Mark Urban, recently returned from Iraq, pieces together the who, what, when and how of yesterday's kidnapping of five British nationals in Baghdad.
If the kidnappers really are taking orders from a Shia militia, what do they want? And will they get it?
The leader and his deputy
Gordon Brown will be speaking tonight on the hustings for the leadership of the Labour Party - even though he does not face any challenge.
But the Conservatives today have released some information on the donors behind the Brown campaign.
We'll be having a look at that and also following up last night's Newsnight debate between the candidates for the deputy leadership.
It sparked off a renewed debate today between the candidates and their supporters.
Sierra Leone
Tony Blair's farewell tour of Africa takes him today to Sierra Leone where he is being greeted as a hero for helping end the country's catastrophic civil war.
Newsnight has commissioned a personal report from the Sierra Leone film maker Sorious Samura who says he personally would shake Tony Blair's hand to say thank you.
But he believes Britain must do even more otherwise the country could risk slipping back into chaos.
Lives of Others
If you've seen the recent film Lives of Others - about the former East German secret police, the Stasi - you'll know that all across Eastern Europe people are still trying to come to terms with their recent communist past.
In Poland the files on those who collaborated with the secret police are being made public - but in a way which some think is tearing the country apart.
Should the past remain a secret? Tim Whewell has a moving report from Poland on a great national dilemma.
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Great prog last night chaps! Did anyone else notice that in opening statments three of the 6 used the word 'aspire' and two more 'inspire'? Political muzac in symphony! No change there. The only candidate not in concert was Mr Cruddas who struck a refreshingly discordant descant. He'll get my vote if only for real appeal!
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Who needs secret police files to drum up a village hatred? In the mining towns of the north the miners strike casts a long shadow to such an extent that parents are telling their children who the 'scabs' were and who their children are and how to 'treat them'. How mad is that? When Nottingham teams used to play Leeds the leeds fan greeted the nottingham fans with a chant of 'scab'.
This tradition of passing on the historical divisions goes back to the civil war. I lived in a cotswold village where locals still talked about 'that end of the the village' and 'them' as roundheads or cavaliers [depending upon who you spoke] and so would not 'mix' with them at the annual summer village garden show. Not shy of expressing their views the villagers went on to say the only thing worse in their mind than coming from the wrong end of the village was to be a 'newcomer' which tended to abbreviate the conversation somewhat.
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Tim Whewell's report last night was extremely fine; he deserves a resounding embrace. It'll be a crime against language if he never writes a book.
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There was something terribly confused about the Polish report. The fact that the files are being used in a right-wing witch-hunt by the most extreme right-wing government in the EU was unmentioned until half-way through.
The student procession featuring bikini-clad girls used to start the report is not much of sign of changing times when lesbian and gay and women's rights are completely trampled, when women are denied abortion in even the most terrible circumstances, and homosexual civil rights marches are not only banned but those protesting are prosecuted for irritating the fascist thugs in the counter-demonstration and allowing themselves to be beaten. Poland is a country with religious pressure (including their own radio stations) so extreme that even the current Pope has suggested it might be toned down a little.
There are so many breaches of EU and CoE legal and human rights standards (including this witch-hunt) that it is a complete mockery. The country's EU membership should be suspended.
But then Poland is of course the closest state to the Bush White House amongst the new EU members, supporting the war on Iraq, accepting the new US missiles, disrupting EU relationships with Russia, and trying very hard to export its politics to The Ukraine. And preventing the EU from reaching fruition as a beacon of harmony and human rights would also be in line with US policy.
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