.
1535 UPDATE: MCCAIN PICKS REPUBLICAN ALASKA GOV. SARAH PALIN AS HIS VICE PRESIDENTIAL RUNNING MATE -- FOX NEWS REUTERS
.
1545 UPDATE: ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News coverage .
1548 UPDATE: The same thing in French from AFP: DAYTON (Etats-Unis) - Le gouverneur d'Alaska Sarah Palin choisie comme
colistière du candidat républicain John McCain (équipe de campagne).
cha/chv
I was three. You were even younger. But I've greatly enjoyed Sir John Tusa's 1968 series which ends tonight just before PM (though there is an omnibus and podcast and for all I know knitting pattern - details here.) Sir John will join us tonight on PM.
Here's a line of 40 cars queueing for petrol. And a man topping up.
.... you have to guess which oil-rich country this is.
The prize is a copy of paragraph in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ guidelines that forbids competitions.
Hugh Sykes will be reporting from that country on Broadcasting House this weekend and on PM next week.
Zoom, which flew mainly to Canada from several British airports, has gone into administration. The CAA will appear on our programme tonight - there's more of their information . It seems there are lessons for everyone who flies...about whose money is protected and whose isn't. And some insurance policies might not protect you in the way you'd think.
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
Karen writes:"As requested by Big Sis and Humph this was the best of the 3 Felixstowe photos that I got. The other 2 had an awful lot of rubbish on the photo."
Whether it is a herd of camels wandering by, parties or semi organised beach games and activities there is always something to watch or join in with, so why not come and join us?
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
If you're a parent you'll know that people are always willing to give you advice on how to bring up your children. Grandparents, magazines, gurus off the television, complete strangers in the street - everyone has a word or two about how you can do it better.
Would you take advice on raising children from Battersea Dogs' Home?
Pat Moore, the deputy director of behaviour at the home will join us tonight. Let us have your view by clicking Comments below.
We'll have live debate in the programme. Read his speech in full .
"My daughter, who's 2 next month, has started doing an impression of the news pips followed by her voice for a newsreader. I think she's got it from listening to the start of PM, so I guess the voice she's doing could be her impression of Eddie. She often does her impression after hearing the pips, but she did it in the bath this week and I recorded it. It's only 10 seconds long, I can email it to you if you want. Andy Khan-Gordon"
Well, we said yes please. Her name by the way is Amaya.
Did I post this already? Karen sent this from Whitby. No really...
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in a Glass Box. This isn't it, it's a photo of Ben Elton:
Meanwhile, in the glass box, we talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
...and he's on PM tonight. .
Look what's been sent in:
"This is a photo of two mystified Italians, just arrived at London City airport on a full plane of people almost all of whom wanted to take the Docklands Railway to get into town.
But it was closed. For 'capacity improvements'. (I like it!)
Plenty of taxis rolled up, of course. But no one in the queue of about thirty people chose the taxi option. The Rip-Off London Black Cab Fares are too well known now.
So we all waited for a bus. None came for about 25 minutes.
Then two arrived.
The destination board on o ne of them said 'Stratford'. Just to be sure, I asked the driver if his bus connected with the Central Line underground station at Stratford.
'No,' said the driver, with an indifferent expression.
But - I pointed out - Stratford bus station is also a Central Line underground station.
"Yes," said the driver, with an indifferent expression.
Sigh. I told my Italian companions that I knew more than the bus driver, and that they'd be ok to connect at Stratford.
They were fine.
This was such a horrible, mean-minded, ignorant contrast with my experience of warm and generous politeness in Beijing that I have devised a London 2012 pre-Olympic award scheme:
THE 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS WOODEN SPOON RACE
The Olympic Replacement Bus Service: GOLD
The Olympic Essential Engineering Works: Silver
The Olympic Rip-Off Black Cab Fare £100 from Heathrow to London: Bronze
Runner Up:
The Olympic Stinking Hamburgers and Onions on a disgusting cart outside
the British Museum, the London Eye, the Tower of London and every other
tourist venue you can think of.
ADD YOUR OWN !"
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
The page you want is HERE.
The emails we've had about Gary Glitter have hit on similar themes - in essence - why is the media hounding him? You can read them later in this post.
There have been similar articles too by (who will appear on PM tonight) who argues that Gary Glitter has "served his time...so is it right that he can now be subjected to any degree of persecution?"
in The Independent today makes a similar case: "His life is destroyed so why hound Gary Glitter>". For an alternative view - there's . You can read more of our emails in this post. But what do YOU think?
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
This is The . And this is, arguably, part of his best work:
The company is always engaging and there is usually a something going on at 'The Nick Clarke' bar where tipples and nibbles can also be had. There are hammocks to laze in, a dog walking area and even a naughty step for those that want to self administer mild punishment!
Click on Comments.
Often on PM we've brought you stories which directly or otherwise revolve around the question - is it ART?
Tonight - news that a local council is trying to stop an art installation at Regents Park in London in which visitors can smoke - the council says it's not art.
It's called The Straight Story, by an American artist Norma Jeane. For a few days in October, the park would host three transparent booths each big enough to fit a person inside. Members of the public would be invited to take turns standing inside the booth and smoke. The artist intends to highlight the way smoking has changed from a social activity to an antisocial one as a result of the smoking ban.
I'll hear live from the person who has stopped it, Daniel Astair who is the Cabinet member for Community Protection at Westminster council, and from Emma Dexter who's an active member of the artistic community - she's curator at the Timothy Taylor Gallery in London and until last year was the head curator at Tate Modern. **1600 UPDATE: the gallery concerned has asked Ms Dexter not to take part in our programme and she has agreed. But we are not being put off. 1640 UPDATE: The item WILL run!
Not this Norma Jeane, silly.
Listen in, and let us know what YOU think.
We're chasing for tonight.
We had this discussion yesterday and now Richard Wenner emails: "Eddie, you may like this that we hotographed, from your very own homeland!" Richard is cycling from "John OG to Lands End".
1315 UPDATE: And Jonnie sends us .
"Ohurogu wins Gold
The Bolt
Andy finally makes it to the birdsnest
Assembled hacks in the Birdsnest
Finally trying
Musical fountain
Chris Boardman explaining the unexplainable"
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
in recent days about the non-functioning Listen Again function.
We're sorry that you've been greeted with this sight when trying to listen to the last week's PM via our website.
As I write, it seems it's being fixed. The programmes from Tuesday and Wednesday are still not there but that should change.
At the end of June, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio stations were added to the iPlayer.
Apparently we've had some tech trouble hooking up our old system to the shiny new iPlayer and some confusion between longwave files and FM files, blah, blah, blah.
As I say a fix appears to be happening but in the meantime, with Jennifer's help, here are links to last seven days of PM
Monday
Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday
1230 UPDATE: We're told it's all fixed. Please let us know it it isn't!
or not at all these days. Jennifer of iPM fame has been working away on this with the people who can fix what's broken. I hope to have some news soon.
in England and their counterparts from different months elsewhere in the UK. You heard Kim's report. What do you think?
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News coverage is . is the information released by the SAS group which is the parent company of Spanair.
The programme tonight which will feature much , and I fear the death toll mentioned in that link (at least when I created it) will be much higher. Awful.
But in an effort to cheer us up, I notice on a lighter note that we've had a bit of a run of Foreign Ministers on the programme. Last night, France and Georgia. Tonight - Poland. I've just recorded that interview.
Do you have a favourite foreign minister you think we should hear from? Tell us an we'll try to get them on air. The person with the best reason for getting a foreign minister on air will win a foreign minister, who will be kidnapped by PM from the United Nations. Please don't tell the DG. Technically this is a competition and we haven't done the paperwork.
Should this road sign, warning drivers of elderly people ahead, be changed?
Age Concern thinks the motivation behind the sign is good but a reduced speed limit would be more helpful. Others argue that there should be a generic sign warning of vulnerable people ahead - whether they're children, older people or those with a disability.
What do you think?
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
Is that signed copy by your favourite author ?
Let us know what you think here.
from mittfh who writes "What's more pointless than a postcard? Sending a blog a birthday card! Two days late"
all the way from Miami...
After his piece in the online today, Jeff Randall gets a variety of comments about the state of BAA airports, some of which argue that BAA ain't so bad and that a would be worse. Let me know what you think please by clicking on comments.
on the PM Blog or the iPM Blog by the famous "profanity filter"? It's infuriating, we know. It cuts you off from us. We have obviously asked about the problem. We've been told to "keep it in perspective" and that a fix is on its way. We don't know when, sorry.
So in the absence of being able to fix it ourselves...we're asking for your help!
Please don't post here - go HERE. (And please, no profanity...)
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
.....having a good time in North Devon...
..."I thought Welsh pigs would make a change from Welsh sheep..."
R Karen sends this postcard. No idea where from...she has seen a red squirrel but no wild haggis...
Amazon makes recommendations to you on the strength of previous purchases? It can be quite handy. You know: "you recently bought Star Trek season three...have you tried Boston Legal?"
But I just got this baffling email from them. And by the way, the Lucy dvd WAS a gift for someone else:
"Dear Amazon.com Customer,
We've noticed that customers who have purchased or rated I Love Lucy - Season One (Vol. 4) have also purchased Math in Our Lives: Measuring-Metric (Home Use) on DVD. For this reason, you might like to know that Math in Our Lives: Measuring-Metric (Home Use) is now available. You can order yours for just $17.99 by following the link below."
...and it goes on to explain...
"Measuring-Metric focuses on the metric system. Viewers learn about the metric units used to measure length, volume and mass, and how to make metric conversions. Interesting examples from real life will help viewers develop a sense of size in metric terms - from very small to very large. The program includes a discussion of where the metric system has become dominant, and why it is considered an improvement over the standard (English) system still used in the United States. Part of "Math in Our Lives," an innovative nine-program series that uses practical examples and realistic models to provide students with an accessible context for mathematical concepts. (For Home Use Only)
This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply."
Got any other good examples?
Henry and Jo Dodds emailed: "It may be lashing it down in England but twenty miles north of Ullapool it's warm and sunny. This is Theo and Celia engaged in traditional seaside pursuits at Achnahaird."
Tonight, Michael Buchanan reports for us from...well, Poland. Here are some of his words and pictures:
"Amid all the obsession about property prices, spare a thought for those people in Poland who still don't have a house they can truly call their own. Communism resulted in all property being nationalised and though its almost 20 years since the collapse of that system, unlike other former Soviet-bloc countries, Poland has never been able to find a way of returning property to those who lost out or indeed compensating them. So people like Piotr Sokolowski still can't claim ownership of this smart villa in central Warsaw that his grandmother once owned.
There are claims on almost 90,000 such properties in Poland, a minority of which come from the country's once thriving Jewish population. Before the Second World War, Poland was home to Europe's largest Jewish population - 3.5 million people - but 90% of them didn't survive.
Today there is growing interest in the country's Jewish heritage and culture. This klezmer band 
were playing at one of the many festivals and events that have sprung up in recent years. The festival they were playing at was taking place in the town of Kazimierz Dolny, 
which once had a large Jewish population, started - according to local legend - because a former Polish king once had a mistress from the town called Ester!
But despite the burgeoning interest, some Jews in Poland feel that anti-semitism has contributed to Poland's inability to come up with a compensation package. And the cost of not doing so increases every year. The latest estimate suggest the government would have to spend a quarter of its entire national budget to fully compensate all claimants. The government isn't going to pay that much out but has vowed to finally address the issue soon.
Finally a picture to cheer us all up on this miserable Monday. As I was ambling through central Warsaw, Dorota and Rafal were getting married at the historic St Anne's Church. 
This was a vertible conveyor belt of matrimony - later on, this car was parked outside the same church waiting for another newly-wed couple."
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
Did you doze off reading that sentence because your attention span is shot to hell?
In tomorrow's iPM, we devote some time to important questions raised by someone with great insight into how our minds work.
Are serious thinking and the internet incompatible?
You can have a listen now here - and please add your thoughts on the iPM blog page. We'd like to know what you think not least because we're planning a follow-up next week.
after our item last night about the confusion between two of the world's Birminghams, we got some emails approving of the Mayor from Alabama who featured in the programme.
Among them, this from Simon Bergman:
"I agree - Mayor of Birmingham Alabama - Top bloke - check his . Bring him to UK to show the elected members of Birmingham West Midlands how to treat the public - he gets my vote!"
Europe is going back to Mars. Engineers have finished their latest prototype for a European Rover that's due to land on Mars in 2015 and begin a search for life. Our Science Correspondent, Pallab Ghosh, is the only journalist to have been allowed in to see the Rovers. He'll be live on PM tonight, and you can see more .
I am trying to post some photos but I'm hopeless.
1545: Success! Pallab Gosh writes: "Meet Bruno and Bradley. Prototype Mars Rovers for Europe's mission to search for life on Mars - due to land in 2015. I've had exclusive access to these space vehicles and have seen that they really can go where no rover has gone before"
He is our star of the Games. Here are some photos of Andy, the team, and the scenes. And of course the Desk of Sport....
"The Team Day 1
The desk of Sport
that young bloke
10m Sync dive Team GB
Recording in the cube
Andy and Peter (the technical wizard) in the Pool
The Birds Nest at Night
Andy and Peter with Karen our fixer in the pool
The Mascots"
In tomorrow's iPM, we ask an expert to assess all the entries. You can read more HERE . Also, there's a diary-related piece in today's ...though the online version lacks the cracking photos that are in the paper.
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
...we ask that tired old question about the secret of their longevity.
Here is a clip of the legendary Ernest Borgnine yesterday on Fox News.
The weather is always perfect, the sea is never cold and the breeze always warm and gentle, ideal for blowing away the woes of RL and flying kites.
For the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Olympic site, click . For A-Levels click . For everything that's happening in Wiltshire click ! Frasier fans click !! (That's enough click here-ing, Ed)
is of course, a legend. His work on PM is award-winning. We know from feedback on this blog and from our letters and emails that listeners greatly appreciate his work. His most recent reports from China have been widely praised. We are second to no-one in our appreciation of Hugh's work.
So you can imagine how much it saddens us to conclude that he's going off the rails. Is it overwork? Is it the Beijing smog? I mean, the incident in the gay bar was one thing, but a source in China has sent these photos of Hugh - these are genuine snaps - at work in the Olympic Media Centre.
Hugh, if you're reading this. GET HELP.
of Hugh Sykes!
Yvonne Murray writes: "150 dollars. That's where the price of barrel of oil peaked this summer. And it's not expected to fall below $100 any time soon. For most people, that means misery at the petrol pump. But for others, it's a tremendous opportunity. When we think of oil in this country, we think of the North Sea. But for a long time before it was discovered there, prospectors were drilling on dry land. There are recognised reserves across the UK. They're small, but they've suddenly become a lot more interesting to oil companies. In the latest licensing round, the government awarded 96 for new onshore projects. And ministers are keen to see as much exploration for Britain's own carbon resources as possible."
Yvonne will report for us on PM tonight - and here are some snaps and words to go with it.
"This is a nodding donkey in Hampshire. It's been there for over twenty years but it's tucked away behind woodland, so from the ground, you wouldn't know it was there quietly pumping oil from a mile below the surface."
"The report for PM can also be seen on Newsnight. The pictures below are of the news helicopter which we borrowed for an hour to fly over the South Downs and film the oil wells that are hidden away in the countryside."
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
Chris Vallance of iPM reports here.
of Lock Cottage, Stoke Pound, Worcestershire.
And from GM...a claim that Nessie is here:
He will report for us tonight...
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
...scanned for my computer but it won't let me save them. I will keep trying if I get a moment.
Nice though...thank you Sue and GM.
apologies again for the problems some people have had posting. We know it's infuriating, and one of our colleagues who knows about such things has posted this in the diary section of the iPM blog:
"Apologies to people having difficulties posting. We should have small improvements at first & much larger improvements later on."
So, sorry once again, and hopefully, the problems will not last for too long.
If you want to read the diary entries for Saturday, or contribute your own, click here.
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
are part of the Environment Agency's latest plan. We'll talk to Lord Smith about it tonight. You can read more .
In tonight's programme we'll hear from Bill Emmott, who wrote piece in today's Guardian.
We're going to talk about tonight.
...in Beijing today, Monday. Weather: Warm, 89% rel humidity. Air quality: Clean, after hours of rain on Sunday."..
Please do NOT post it here...this page is only for reference, and to send you to the REAL place to go....which is HERE.
No. Not really.
But American officials are concerned about what might be crossing the frontier from Canada. Some of the world's most sophisticated organised crime networks operate in Canada, smuggling drugs and counterfeit goods. Their operations are so well-oiled that police on both sides of the border fear it is only a matter of time before they are paid to transport terror into America. Humphrey Hawksley will report for us tonight. And if you can't wait...
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
sends this:
"Eddie, Alan Titchmarsh completes scaled-down redesign of Dalek for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳. (from an idea by ErikZDundee) David McNickle St Albans"
Please don't leave your entry on the PM blog where it will wither and die like a withery dying thing....leave it HERE!.
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ website is . And Hugh's snaps are here.
You never know what will happen after something's appeared on PM or iPM. Following our recent interview with the Land Girl, Hilda Gibson, Chorus Girl wrote on our blog that women who'd worked on the waterways during the war also deserved recognition from Downing Street....now read !
If you want to contact us, you can write to :Idle Women, PM, Room G601, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News Centre, London W12 7RJ, or email: pm@bbc.co.uk...or just add your comment by clicking on Comments.
Please don't post anything here: the place to do it is HERE.
and will last for six months.
Meanwhile, Hugh has been to a registry office in Beijing, (hear that tonight) and he's also sent some words and photos to illustrate last night's report from the velodrome in Lanzhou.
"Auspicious day for getting married.
It's the day the Olympics start.....
....and it's the 8th of the 8th, 2008. 8 is a magic number in China.
16.400 couples registered to collect their marriage certificates today.....
......including 3,000 couples just at this Beijing register office.
And back at the track...the velodrome in Lanzhou.
Ma Yan Ping, champion cyclist who was in the Chinese Olympic teams in Athens and Sydney. She is expecting her 'Olympic' baby on August 13th.
16 to 18 year old mountain bikers with their eye on London 2012.
I asked if they wouldmake it to London. There was a chorus of 'Yes!'"
Figures out from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that in the first half of of the year 18,900 people had their home repossessed, up a third on the same period last year. That compares to 27,100 repossessed homes in 2007 and 17,000 in 2006
Tonight we'll talk about the situation in the UK, and hear from the US where, just like here, it seems everything is getting more expensive, from the cost of housing and child care, to food and fuel. At the same time, wages have stagnated and jobs losses are becoming more widespread.
Our North America business correspondent Greg Wood visited one family to find out how they're coping:
And here is Cathy and her neighbourhood:
We'll tell you how to do it on PM tonight, and there's more on iPM tomorrow. The inspiration? They're putting George Orwell's diary online from tomorrow.
Allan Massie writes about it in today's Daily Telegraph - he says . There's more from Radio 4's Today .
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in this Glass Box:
We talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
From the listener log:
PM
TX Date: 07/08/08
"Eddie Mair created a story about stamp duty. I think this kind of speculation must stop, as it is bad for the country."
Welcome to the Beach. The off topic place for froggers and peeps to be frivolous, have fun or just to chill out.
I know Im not won to talk. The blog and newsletter are wriddled with bad spelling. But tonight we're going to talk about :
The Glass Box is a real place where the PM production team meets every night to discuss the programme. What worked, what didn't etc. You're looking at a virtual glass box, which is also a part of the production process...it is read by the production team and the programme editor should respond in the comments page. So if you have a comment of your own - please click on Comments.
"What am I bid for this?
Broom, "Push off you old rake!"
Rake, "Trying to brush me off, then?"
David McNickle"
Are you affected by the delay in hearing what Alistair Darling plans to do? We'd love to hear from you.
We wanted to hear from Alistair Darling himself. Robert Peston was ready to talk to him, then.... .
Robert will join us on PM tonight.
writes about the murder of Margaret Hassan in today. Of course we covered the story at the time. I thought you might like to read his piece.
and whether its certificate is wrong.
Is it right to take babies and very young children to see ANY film? We're talking about it on this week's iPM. Just recorded an interview with a child expert who says - DON'T take babies to the movies. Ever.
Here are some of the places and people featured in Hugh's report from China about evictions and unemployment, on last night's PM:
Condemned. The old houses in the foreground may already be rubble when you read this.
This is a typical Shanghai 'lane'. People value the neighbourly atmosphere of old parts of Shanghai like this. But they also appreciate indoor toilets and bathrooms.
Mrs. Wang. "This is the best place".
Mr. Dai and Mrs.Chen. "The government know best".
Lu Ja Tai, Lu Fei Fei (aged 7) and Zuo Dong Qing in the home they are being forced to leave.
Fei Fei with the stickers she is saving for her new bedroom wall.
And the last four photos are of unemployed men in Lanzhou, hoping to get work on construction sites.
Zai Zhen!
H"
The other day we brought you the latest US Presidential campaign ads.
As a follow up....
The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News coverage is .
(We're talking about this tonight.)
are very excited about their protest. The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ News coverage is . This is the front page of China's .
We asked you yesterday.
Today the answer: £7,500. Nigel Wrench writes:
"It's an ordinary working broom (on the right in the corner), bought in an ordinary hardware store by the London artist Susan Collis (all pictures by the way are courtesy the artist) and inlaid with precious stones (opals, an emerald, black and white diamonds, among others).
The broom is part of the Edinburgh Art Festival, in the first exhibition at the new premises of the Ingleby Gallery, just behind Waverley Station. The artist calls it Love is a Charm of Powerful Trouble (2008).
Also on the floor there's a wooden block. Here's a close-up: 
Falls from Grace (2008), wooden block inlaid with mother of pearl, 18 carat white gold, diamond amber and topaz, £5,000.
I chatted to the artist who says, ""It appeals to me to use a grand process on a humble object.
"For me I'm dealing with weighty issues. What makes one thing valuable over another?"
All that said she did once walk into a gallery to find a cleaner using one of her works to clean up with."
The Glass Box is a real place where the PM production team meets every night to discuss the programme. What worked, what didn't etc. You're looking at a virtual glass box, which is also a part of the production process...it is read by the production team and the programme editor should respond in the comments page. So if you have a comment of your own - please click on Comments.
Not you, Al.
As I was saying on the show, every winter you can be sure that Scotland's mountain rescue teams will be kept busy, attending to the people who fall, or become ill or lost in the hills.
The conditions can be terrible and time of the essence. Which is why researchers are developing a stick on patch to give rescue teams information about casualties who're being recovered. It's hoped that wireless monitors could collect, and transmit, life saving information about vital signs like heart rate and blood pressure.
Huw Williams reported on the research. One of the people he spoke to was Jim Martin, who suffered terrible injuries when he fell on Ben Nevis in 2006. He's exactly the kind of casualty the technology could help. If you like hearing injuries described in some detail, here's a chance to hear more of that conversation:
and old fashioned testing. What do you think?
Answer tomorrow on the blog...
is still here and this morning the Buddleia in the garden is covered in Peacocks. When I walk past the whole lot rise into the air, flutter about and land again. DiY"
Hugh and the PM China team (producer Daniel Tetlow, translator Patrick Carr and hair stylist Jerome Fopp) saved the licence payer airfares and the cost of hotel rooms for a night, by making the one thousand mile trip from Urumchi to Lanzhou by train across the Gobi desert. It took 21 hours. I've said it before and I'll say it again. It's hell on the road.
Anyhoo, here are Hugh's words and pictures:
"Train 296, leaving Urumchi at 15.00.
Immediate welcome from our travelling companions, especially music student Miao Miao. Her favourite composer is Mozart.
This is Li Hui shielding Tie Xinghan's eyes as he starts a card trick. Lie Hui also uses the name her English teacher gave her - Caroline.
Got it right! Success for Tie Xinghan, who is thirteen.
Gobi Desert:
Sunset at Hami, an oasis town in the Gobi.
Miao Miao teaches Daniel the tune for the Chinese classic, 'Jasmine Flower'. Daniel is a professional fiddle player.
Rapt attention in the carriage as Daniel plays a Hungarian Dance by Brahms.
Yawn. Stretch. Another day.
Early morning tea and chat with Wang Bo, a captain in the People's Liberation Army. He told me about a new 20 kilometre tunnel we passed through - opened last year and cutting an hour off the train's journey. He also said that during the night we had passed the western end of the Great Wall, at Jiayuguan - 4000 miles (as the wall wends) or 1000 miles (as the cliche flies) from its eatern end at Shanhaiguan, on the coast near Beijing.
Stoops of straw in fields as we near Lanzhou.
Industry is never far off."
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in a Glass Box. This isn't it, it's a photo of David Tennant, who gives us his Hamlet tonight:
Meanwhile, in the glass box, we talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
Or just very overweight? We'll talk about this story tonight: here's how PA is reporting it:
"MINISTERS WANT CURB ON WORD 'OBESE' IN LETTERS TO PARENTS
By Jane Kirby, PA Health Correspondent.
Ministers want to refrain from using the word "obese" when telling parents
their child is overweight, under plans announced today.
We're talking about them tonight because of .
We're asking, not about all those hits but whether they EVER made a bad song. Do you remember any ABBA stinkers rather than stonkers?
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in a Glass Box. This isn't it, it's a photo of ABBA:
Meanwhile, in the glass box, we talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
There's a bit of a row about the 12A certificate given to the new Batman movie. Keith Vaz, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee is worried about the use of knives in the film, and says the 12A certificate is too low.
is how the BBFC explains the 12A to its younger audiences. The main BBFC site is . We'll talk to them on the programme tonight.
Have you seen the film? What did you think of the violence and the 12A certificate?
Scott and Ryan Fletcher, at rehearsals for the new play from the National Theatre of Scotland.
Nigel writes: "They're brothers in real life -- and on stage. Scott (on the left) is just 20 and still at drama school. Both should be on PM tonight. The play is 365 by David Harrower, one of Scotland's leading contemporary playwrights. Here's another photo from rehearsals, in the extraordinary building that used to be Govan Town Hall in Glasgow.
365 is about young people emerging from a lifetime spent in care. Not you might think a recipe for an evening's entertainment, but Mr Harrower is a master of devising rivetting theatre out of dark material. In his critically-acclaimed play Blackbird, a hit at the 2006 Edinburgh Festival, a man meets a woman he first had an affair with when she was 12 and he was 40. David Harrower is on PM tonight too.
First performances of 365 are in Inverness next week, before it goes on to the Edinburgh International Festival and, in the autumn to London. Obviously there are no reviews to point you to yet -- but if you do see it, I for one would be fascinated to hear what you think.
(All photographs by Pete Dibdin for the National Theatre of Scotland)
PS Forgot to say: The National Theatre of Scotland doesn't own a building, despite its name. It was responsible for the multi-award-winning international hit Black Watch, about soldiers in Iraq."
on the internet? Every week, iPM asks a well known person about their internet favourites or bookmarks. Tonight it's Mr Cleese. The programme also discusses malaria, hears from a Chinese blogger who wants the west to shut up about censorship...and asks for your help on ID cards.
Oh and did iPM really bring the 2012 Olympics to London? It's all here.
Be your own radio critic! Tell us here, frankly, what you thought of tonight's programme. In the PM office we meet every night at 1800 in a Glass Box. This isn't it, it's a photo of Martha Stewart: 
Meanwhile, in the glass box, we talk about the content of the programme and try to give an honest assessment of what worked and what didn't...the things we missed and the places where our ambitions were not met. THIS virtual glass box you are looking at is where you are invited - indeed encouraged - to be your own critic. Comment on our hour by clicking on the comment link. Members of the production team will read the comments, and the editor should comment too. Click on The Glass Box link on the right of the page to read previous entries.
Yes! I took this with a camera phone off the TV coverage of the eclipse! Then emailed it to myself! Isn't it incredible?! Nice picture too.
Witchi sends this "to show I still care".
1150 UPDATE:
Karen and her mum send this: "no snow here today. Weather warmish - high 70s in old money. Unleaded is 113.9p per litre." The photo is Diss Mere in winter.
I now realise Witchi's postcard was actually this:
Quite what I was thinking I don't know. So who the hell sent the cow? Mmmmm?
Everyone should have a Beach to go to, chill out, meet their friends and relax.
In other words it's the off-topic area of the Blog, renewed every week on a Friday, to keep it to a manageable length. Bad attitudes not welcome. No bridges for Trolls to hide under. Just warm sun, sand and virtual sangria. Plus the odd (make that very odd) camel wandering around.
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