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Private Notes
Will government plans to spend £23 billion on Britain's roads ease traffic jams or encourage more people to take to their cars? Transport secretary John MacGregor does not believe the public rejects the prospect of bigger and better roads, saying: "If they felt that strongly, they wouldn't drive as much as they do."But former minister George Walden MP, argues: "They [the government] have no idea where our transport policy is going other than building more and more roads for more and more cars." With some Tory backbenchers arguing against government policy Mr MacGregor faces opposition other than banner-waving protesters. Reporter John Penycate talks to people affected by schemes such as the widening of the M25 and M62 and to the strategists, including John MacGregor , who must tackle a seemingly intractable problem.
Simon Studholme died of leukaemia in 1992. His bedroom was next to the electricity meter and outside the house stands an electricity substation. Now the family lives in the half of the house furthest away from it, convinced that electromagnetic fields were responsible for Simon's disease. His father Ray says: "You take responsibility for your children. You don't let them cross the road on their own - you're there, holding their hand. For God's sake, you don't think that they're going to be in danger when they go to bed at night. Tonight, Sarah Spiller asks why the public have been told nothingof the possible link between electricity and childhood cancers, when statistical research in the US and Sweden suggests that the link exists.
With 1994 designated Year of the Family, it is disturbing that trends emerging from the 1980s show that more children than ever will go through not just one, but two or even more family breakdowns before they are out of their teens. It has been suggested that one cause of divorce is the changing expectations of men and women's roles within the family - particularly in relation to childcare and household chores. The idea of warring couples "staying together for the sake of the children" has generally been rejected as old-fashioned, but is it such a bad idea? Francine Stock talks to children, parents, step-parents and experts in the field to find out how family breakdowns can affect children's health, schoolwork and behaviour.
Two thousand people die of asthma each year in Britain. The number of sufferers is growing, and blame is being leveled at air pollution. Asthma blights the lives of perhaps one in seven children, and many more young asthmatics remain undiagnosed and untreated. Tonight, Roger Harrabin investigates Britain's hidden epidemic and reveals how traffic pollution may be shortening people's lives.
Five years ago the government created the personal pensions industry -and a big problem. The government now promises that the industry's system of "self-regulation" is to be tightened up, but reporter Vivian White reveals that even after all the publicity, there are still pensions salespeople giving expensive, bad advice.
America began to conduct atomic tests at Yucca Flats in Nevada soon after the Second World War, and the "down-winders" across the border in Utah were repeatedly told they were safe. Now whole families have been devastated by cancer. Elsewhere, American doctors apparently administering radiation therapy were in fact experimenting with potentially lethal doses. After half a century of atomic and nuclear bombs, the horrors inflicted by America on its own people, in the interests of the arms race, are coming to light with the release of previously secret documents. Julian O'Halloran, who talks to "down-winders" and radiation doctors among others, investigates a scandal that has been compared to the experiments carried out on humans by Nazi doctors.
The Scott Inquiry into exports to Iraq has put the inner workings of the government on public display as never before. Using new evidence, this programme reports on an investigation that has become a devastating exploration of how we are ruled and the integrity of those who rule us.
An investigation into one of the biggest killers of middle-aged women in Britain - breast cancer. The programme reports on how doctors are either unaware of or are apparently ignoring the latest research on treatment, and questions whether Britain's hospitals are giving sufferers the best available treatment. "I feel that had I been assessed properly I would have had a much better prognosis. I feel that I've had years taken off my life because of somebody's mistake at the outset", says breast cancer sufferer Suzanne Judge. Steve Bradshaw investigates why Britain has high rates of breast cancer and low rates of survival compared to other European countries.
After the success of Vladimir Zhirinovsky in Russia's recent elections, Panorama examines the threat to world peace. "Zhirinovsky epitomises the strong and aggressive nationalist feeling in Russia, with talk of invading Finland and the best borders being sea borders," says editor Glenwyn Benson. "His election result has made people stop and think that Russia might be a force to be reckoned with after all." Presented by the BBC's former Moscow correspondent, Bridget Kendall , the programme examines the dangers Zhirinovsky's popularity poses to the west in terms of stability. The strongfeelings of national pride and resentment running high in Russia could form the seed-beds of nationalist aggression, with attempts to regain control of former territories such as the Baltic lands and the Ukraine.
In 1987 the BBC's Michael Buerk (along with Peter Sharp of ITN) was refused a renewal of his work permit to report from South Africa - effectively he was expelled, as part of the increasing government clampdown on coverage of the apartheid regime.Now Buerk has returned to follow and talk to a man who was then a prisoner, Nelson Mandela , in the build-up to an election that should confirm him as president of the country that once tried to crush him. Can the country Michael Buerk knew really become the nation Mandela has dreamed of for 75 years? Mandela talks to Buerk about his early life, the days of his imprisonment and his solitary decision to open talks with the white government.
Government schemes to train the long-term unemployed sound like a good idea but this investigation reveals they are often very expensive, ineffective and merely a way to massage the unemployment figures. "People on government training schemes not only come off the unemployment register, but they are also included as people at work. So, the government gets a double effect," explains Dan Finn of the independent research body the Unemployment Unit. But the government is also being swindled out of millions of pounds. One former manager of a training company reveals that the schemes were primarily tailored to make her company a fat profit while an unemployed man tells how his "training" consisted of weeding railway tracks all day.
On the South Seacroft estate in Leeds, syringes lie in gutters and drug dealers cruise the streets in fast cars confident the police won't catch them. For the children in this area, drugs are a way of life. But this estate is not unique according to West Yorkshire chief constable Keith Hellawell : "What's happening on the Seacroft estate is happening in many other British towns and cities. Seacroft is Britain." In tonight's programme Hellawell takes reporter Steve Bradshaw on a tour of the area to meet the users, addicts, burglars, young offenders, parents and teachers who face this problem daily. He believes drugs are responsible for much of Britain's property crime and that present policies on drugs are inadequate. It's time, he says, to take radical action - policing alone won't work.
NOTE: As we went to press, the topic of this week's edition of Panorama was unconfirmed, and therefore subject to change .
PLO Chairman Arafat "is no Nelson Mandela" according to a Palestinian commentator, but he has agreed a fundamental change in the way Arab and Jew will live together in the Middle East. Panorama reporter Jane Corbin charts Arafat's historic return to Jericho, a symbol of the new mutual recognition between the Palestinians and Israel. There is no way back, but will the deal succeed?
Are our dental fillings making us ill? Tom Mangold reports on alarming new evidence about amalgam, the substance metal fillings are made of.
The police force should not be enticing people to commit crime... Ana that is what they have been doing," says James Daniels , a small-time villain who claims he was set up by a police informer on a major firearms charge, although the charge was later thrown out by a judge. Informants, grasses, narks - whatever they are called, they have always played a vital role in the police's fight against crime. However, disturbing evidence is revealed in tonight's programme that informants are now being used to set up crimes so that the police's success rate is boosted. John Penycate examines the work of three police informers and uncovers a pattern of set-ups, pay-outs and headline-making arrests that points to a corruption and devaluation of the system.
"If the baby comes out and looks a 'goer', we will try for it" says a doctor to a woman who is 22 weeks pregnant and starting contractions. In tonight's programme, Salvaging Babies, Sarah Barclay examines whether it is miraculous or madness to try to save babies born so prematurely that they fall within the legal limit for abortion. She talks to those doctors who argue that too many of those who survive are likely to be seriously damaged and also to the parents of a premature baby who died because it was not hospital policy to try to save babies under 24 weeks.
The landlord is back. But is he up to the job? In tonight's programme, Mike Embley investigates the rent revolution - millions of people who've always looked to the state for a home are being forced to go to private landlords. As the home ownership boom is followed by bust, will landlords be the winners?
What is the future for the Rwandans who survive the refugee camps? The United Nations is trying to persuade survivors to return to what is left of their homes in Rwanda but many refugees see little alternative to the life of dependency of the camps. As the biblical proportions of the Rwandan tragedy continues to unfold, Steve Bradshaw asks - is there the will in the UN to provide a future for this desperate country, and can it succeed?
Why should a company director of two years' standing get a "golden handshake" of half-a-million pounds when a middle manager has to work for 20 years before he or she is offered a year's salary? Panorama investigates the pay-off culture: are "golden handshakes" rewarding failure or justified by the entrepreneurs that receive them?
Tonight Panorama introduces Tony Blair , the man behind the rhetoric and headlines. In the town of Southampton, Blair meets the middle England he is said to represent. What does he have to offer?
Peter Jay, BBC Economics Editor, looks at job insecurity, the issue of the 90s. With "a job for life" now an outdated concept, parents fear their children will suffer a drop in their standard of living. But is this sense of anxiety justified?
In the wake of the IRA ceasefire, Panorama reports on the mood of the Unionist community. A member of the unionist Orange Order alleges that Northern Ireland has been undergoing IRA "ethnic cleansing" for some time. What future does the unionist community see for Northern Ireland? Fergal Keane reports on the troubled mood of the Unionists as the British goverment tries to reassure them of the future. Is the IRA ceasefire the breakthrough it promised to be?
From babyhood to boardroom, women are now set to out-achieve men. Panorama reveals evidence that the future is female - and the weaker sex is now male. Girls now do better than boys at virtually every level of education; even the best schools can't close the gender gap, and many employers now favour women for top jobs. Have women won the war of the sexes?
He was the boy from the other side of the tracks, poor, black, who made it in a white man's world. The trial of 0 J Simpson, one of America's greatest sporting heroes, on charges of brutally murdering his wife and her friend has become the crime story of the decade. Panorama investigates the public and private sides of O J Simpson and reports on the issues behind the trial - race, domestic violence, money and justice, and the power of fame.
Is "the greatest nightmare" of being "old, sick, poor and uncared for" referred to by John Major at the Conservative Party Conference already a reality for thousands of Britain's sick and elderly? Panorama reveals how local authorities are swamped by the people that the NHS will no longer pay for. The programme uncovers evidence that money put aside for care has run dry. Not only is none available for nursing-home places but home help is also being withdrawn. Reporter Sarah Barclay talks to the elderly people who cost too much to care for.
On 28 September the ferry Estonia sank in minutes in the Baltic Sea with the loss of 900 lives. It was the second major accident involving roll-on roll-off passenger ferries in seven years. Jane Corbin reports on the failure of governments and ferry companies to address the real problem of these vessels - their design, which makes them fatally vulnerable once water gets onto the car deck. Why were warnings ignored and why have considerations of cost been allowed to prevail over safety at sea?
In the wake of books, biographies and annus horribili, the monarchy is facing its biggest crisis for half a century. Even establishment circles are now worried that the cracks in the royal facade are beginning to show. Nicholas Witchell reports on the personal, public and political pressures on the royal family. How is the monarchy going to retain public support? Is it still too grand for modern Britain, and what shape will it be in for the next century?
As British Rail is broken up into more than 80 new companies, trains are grindingto a halt with more cancellations and late trains, leaving even more passengers waiting at the station. Panorama asks whether the Government's railway privatisation will be back on track before the next election?
