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As I write we are on a ... Sounds like something from the 1970's and Everybody Out!, don't you think? It means the journalists are only doing what we must in order to fulfil the terms of our contracts - no extra hours and meal breaks are compulsory. The unfortunate result is I'm putting on weight... We normally just work right through and grab a sandwich. Apart from my waistline, we'll see what effect it has on the programme.

It's part of the ongoing action against changes to our pensions. After the breakneck this week, we are living in a more frenetic age than usual in the broadcasting business. Most people I meet really value the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ but also have a strong suspicion that our world is gilded compared to most. That's at least partly true but there are vast disparities in terms and conditions among staff and we try to look after everyone, especially the worse off. Feel free to disagree. As they say: .

On Newsweek the show goes on. No shortage of material this week but most with numbers attached. Personally I am barely numerate so I hate Budgets and spending reviews. You hear someone say: The education budget is down and you rush off to check and find it's actually gone up. Then the answer turns out to be that the CAPITAL education budget is down but the revenue one is UP. Still we can't ignore what is a massive event in the life of the country and the government so we have some nippy debate from the Great Lewis man Angus Macleod and James Cusick of the Sunday Herald.

And being Newsweek we have a twist - John Swinney says we can't afford the Union so we take him at his word and ask what would a spending review look like if Scotland had been independent as he wants. gives us some surprising insights into that very scenario, on the line from the Washington studio on M Street.

One of the things I love about this programme is the eye-popping array of talent The Producer unearths from around the world. Some of these people have brains the size of my garden shed. It can be intimidating and just occasionally I ask a question and a Nobel-winning professor says: You're absolutely right. But he has no idea I'm just guessing. Thus... who does global governance at the LSE. She puts me right on the defence review and says we think about conflict the wrong way. She is "reconceptualising" war and she leaves me in her slipstream.

We're also in France - sur la grève - it's a bit like the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ industrial action except completely different. And we as it sweeps away homes and lives to devastating effect in Pakistan.

By the way, just as the kids started sleeping through the night at long last, the younger one got chicken pox... you can play join-the-dots on her little tummy.
Join me in the morning - at 8.