Newsnight 23 March

Presented by Jeremy Paxman.

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11 September attacks

A parade of officials from the Bush and Clinton administrations testified in front of the special American commission reviewing the 11 September attacks. Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell were joined by their predecessors, William Cohen and Madeleine Albright.

The importance of the hearings have been highlighted by the row over claims by the former White House counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke, interviewed on Newsnight, that the Bush team were more interested in attacking Iraq than in tackling al-Qaeda.

We asked what effect this might have on President Bush's re-election campaign.

The contributors to our discussion were:
Gayle Smith, National Security Council 1998-2001
David Frum, Former Speech Writer to President Bush

Terrorist attacks

Closer to home we had new evidence of continuing delays and disagreements over Britain's own preparations for dealing with 9/11 or Madrid style terrorist attacks.

We put the concerns to Nick Raynsford MP, Local Government Minister.

Estate agents

A report into estate agents by the Office of Fair Trading calls for more competition - but stops short of recommending a compulsory registration scheme. Given our national obsession with property, why do we continue to tolerate the present degree of under-regulation?

Female genital mutilation

And we had a shocking report on the rise of female genital mutilation in Britain - the practise of circumcising young girls for cultural reasons - despite recent laws intended to stop the practice.

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