Friday, 10 March, 2006

DETAILS OF TONIGHT'S PROGRAMME

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From Kirsty Wark:

NHS

What's the NHS service like in your area? Ahead of the publication of the latest NHS accounts which are expected to show that deficits in NHS trusts have more than doubled compared to the previous financial year, Newsnight has carried out its own survey and it makes bleak reading for the incoming Chief Executive Ian Carruthers.

We've found the picture differing wildly around the country - and sometimes for the strangest of reasons.

DAVID MILLS

The Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell's estranged husband David Mills - whose business dealings threatened her job - is today closer to a trial in the Italian courts.

Prosecutors in Milan have formally asked for the tax lawyer and the Italian Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to be tried on corruption charges. Michael Crick is on the case.

PROFUMO

John Profumo - the architect of perhaps THE biggest scandal of the 20th century has died at the age of 91. As Minister of War in Harold Macmillan's government he was forced to resign in 1963 for lying to the House of Commons about his affair with Christine Keeler - who was also sleeping with a Russian naval officer. Keeler apparently naked astride a chair became one of the iconic photographs of the era, and the film Scandal helped to keep the whole affair in the public mind.

Tony Blair described John Profumo as a politician with a glittering career who made a serious mistake - he devoted the rest of his life to charity work in the East End of London. Tonight we discuss redemption with Jonathan Aitken. Should politicians who transgress just lead a quiet life thereafter?

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