Tuesday, 29 January, 2008
- 29 Jan 08, 05:48 PM
CONWAY
How many MPs have their own relatives on the payroll and is it a good use of tax payers' money? That's one of the questions thrown up by the case of the Conservative MP Derek Conway. Today the Conservative leader, David Cameron, withdrew the party whip from the MP who has apologised for misusing his expenses. Mr Conway paid one of his sons more than £45,000 to be his researcher - though there was no evidence that he did any work. The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is now considering a second complaint, regarding Mr Conway's employment of another son. David Grossman has been investigating.
We'll also be asking how much longer MPs can spend public money without being fully accountable. Is it now time for “root and branch reform of MPs’ pay and allowances" as Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life said?
MARKETS
Gordon Brown is meeting leaders of Europe's four biggest economies in Downing Street tonight for a special summit to discuss the credit crunch and what they can do to stabilise the global financial system. Stephanie Flanders will be telling us what they've decided to do to avoid another Northern Rock and Societe Generale
FOOD
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." These words sum up Michael Pollan’s In Defence of Food. Humans used to know how to eat well, Pollan argues. But the balanced dietary lessons that were once passed down through generations have been confused, complicated, and distorted by food industry marketers, nutritional scientists, and journalists - all of whom have much to gain from our dietary confusion. As a result, we face today a complex culinary landscape dense with bad advice and foods that are not ‘real’. We've got Michael Pollan in debate with the Chief Scientist at the FSA, and a director from the Food and Drink Federation. It will be a Newsnight Book Club too.
SILBURY HILL FILM
It's a mystery which has baffled historians for centuries. Silbury Hill is a man-made monument looming over the plains of Wiltshire, built out of chalk some 4,500 years ago. According to myth, a long-lost king was buried in it with a golden statue of his horse; either that, or its a homing beacon for UFOs! Many have tunnelled into the hill looking for answers - so much so that it was in danger of falling in on itself. In the past few months, archaeologists have uncovered extraordinary new findings. But this latest dig will also be the last: English Heritage has decided to close the hill up to preserve it. Newsnight recorded the last images inside Silbury Hill before it's sealed up for good. .
In the latest entry into the , journalist Michael Pollan argues that our idea of what food is and what we should be eating has been completely distorted by the food industry and nutritionists. He believes that people are now so confused about their diet that they have no idea what real food actually is any more.