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Politics UK Archive

A weekly look inside British politics from the BBC

*** This programme is no longer on-air, but please listen to our archive of available episodes ***

Issues affecting British social and political life.

*** This programme is no longer on-air, but please listen to our archive of available episodes ***

Politics UK is the weekly programme that covers British political and policy issues, economic and cultural change and Britain’s standing in Europe and the rest of the world in a way that is relevant to an international audience.  
It's the flagship programme for UK political analysis and debate on the BBC World Service.  
Leading politicians, commentators and intellectuals take part each week to discuss and reflect on the main events shaping British politics.

Politics UK

Politics UK Archive: 10/12/2010 Student Fees | Prison | Science & Society | Brown

Factual: Politics

10/12/2010

10/12/2010 Student Fees | Prison | Science & Society | Brown

BBC World Service - Politics UK Archive, 10/12/2010 Student Fees | Prison | Science & Society | Brown

A weekly look inside British politics from the BBC with Susan Hulme.

A weekly look inside British politics from the BBC with Susan Hulme. Student fees, prison reform, science and society and a study of Gordon Brown.

The Coalition faced its first big challenge over student fees and won, but how far has it tested the new political partnership and can the Lib Dems recover from the split in their ranks? Let the punishment fit the crime used to be the Conservative approach but does prison work? The Coalition have other plans for some offenders, but are they taking a risk? What happens when scientists and politicians clash?  In the battle between scientific evidence and the desires of society, who has the trump card? And Gordon Brown and the verdict of history. Presented by Susan Hulme.  

Riot police and angry students clashed outside Parliament, while inside MPs voted for a big rise in university tuition fees. Norman Smith, the BBC's political correspondent, analyses the result and its cost to the coalition.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has set out plans to reduce Britain's huge prison population, this week, by locking up fewer criminals, having more community sentences and helping with rehabilitation. Lord Ramsbottom, former Chief Inspector of Prisons, reflects on whether society really understands the penal system and knows how to improve it.

Last year, ministers clashed with scientists on the Advisory Commitee on the Misuse of Drugs, ignoring their advice. Now the government's new, more flexible rules do not require scientists to sit on the committee, causing concern for some. Dr Julian Huppert MP, a former research scientist at Cambridge University and Professor Robert Dingwall, recently director of the Institute for Science and Society at Nottingham University, consider the implications.

Anthony Seldon's biography of Gordon Brown, called "Brown at Ten" examines the three turbulent years when Mr. Brown was Prime Minister. Professor Seldon joins us to review his unique take on Gordon Brown's life at No.10 and compares his legacy.

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