Monday, 4 December, 2006

By Robert Morgan
Producer, BBC Newsnight

Presented by Jeremy Paxman

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GENERATION NEXT

Twenty-nine children have died in custody in England and Wales since 1990. A terrible set of unlinked individual tragedies or an illustration of the inability of the prison system to cope with the vulnerable young people entrusted to its care? We jail nearly 3,000 children between the ages of 10 and 17 every year. But is it doing any of us - society or the children themselves - any good?

The latest in our series Generation Next investigates what it means to be a child in custody.

TRIDENT

Tony Blair has announced this afternoon that he wants to build a new fleet of submarines to carry the UK's Trident nuclear missiles. Some Labour MPs say they'll oppose him. We will be asking is this the right weapons system to address new global threats?

IRAQ

We will have an exclusive interview with former high ranking diplomat, Carne Ross. He quit his job over the accuracy of the intelligence about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. He is set to hand over his secret Butler inquiry evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select committee on Wednesday.

This has proved to be legally controversial as it could lead to a breach of the Official Secrets Act. But one leading member of the committee said he would be covered under Parliamentary privilege.

LITVINENKO

Tensions is rising between Britain and Russia over the poisoning of the former Russian secret agent, Alexander Litvenenko. Moscow is accusing British officials of helping to whip up an "unacceptable" campaign against Russia.

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that relations between the two countries were being harmed. We'll have the latest from Moscow.

ARMY

Plaid Cymru allege that that the Army is deliberately recruiting from the most deprived schools in Wales. The party says it's discovered that recruiting officers were far more likely to visit schools in poor areas.

The Ministry of Defence has rejected allegations. We'll debating this issue with the Plaid Cymru leader and a senior military officer.