| Friday 27 August 2010 at 10.30pm on BBC Two Presented by Gavin Esler US Federal Reserve head Ben Bernanke is delivering a key policy speech as the US economy faces a sharp slowdown. He's telling fellow bankers what options - if any - remain to turn the stalling recovery around. So is the US on the verge of a double dip recession? We'll be hearing from our Economics editor Paul Mason. Media execs are gathering in Edinburgh for the start of the annual international television festival, where the BBC Director General Mark Thompson is due to deliver the MacTaggart Lecture. Last year one of the BBC's biggest competitors, James Murdoch, launched an outspoken attack on the corporation in his keynote speech, describing the BBC's ambitions as "chilling". So how will Mr Thompson respond? Stephen Smith will be watching. UK scientists have released draft sequences of the wheat genome which they think could make a vital contribution to securing global food supplies. The researchers also say their efforts could help farmers around the world to develop new strains with greater yields. Our Science editor Susan Watts will be considering how significant a development it is, and we'll be joined in the studio by one of the team of researchers who made the breakthrough. We'll be asking whether science holds the answer to feeding a population growing in size and prosperity. Do join Gavin Esler at 10.30pm on BBC Two for Friday's Newsnight. And don't forget we'll be off-air for the bank holiday, but we're back on Tuesday 31 August - usual time and place. |