Snowmail: US jobless at 15-year high
Updated on 05 December 2008
On tonight's programme.
The American jobless figures have hit a 15-year high meaning well over 6.5 per cent of US workers are now unemployed.
This is grim news and grimmer still against the imminent collapse of the car industry in Detroit.
And the truth of all this is that, whatever China and India may be doing, the biggest economy in the world still calls the shots.
The British economy is simply experiencing a time lag behind the Americans.
The wholesale lack of economic confidence is everywhere this side of the Atlantic, not least in the banking sector.
It is under pressure from the regulator to build up its capital and under pressure from politicians to pass on interest rate cuts to lenders inhibiting its ability to build up its capital.
Our business reporter Katie Razzall is on the case, Sarah Smith is across events in the United States and we'll be talking live to the former financial regulator and now head of the London School of Economics, Sir Howard Davies.
He says, rather cryptically, he has some ideas. Me thinks we might need them.
Mosley on Honda's F1 exit
From American cars to very fast ones - Honda has pulled out of Formula One motor racing.
Eight hundred jobs are at stake in Northamptonshire where the company headquarters are located.
Tonight we talk to Max Mosley, president of the F1 Association. He admits F1 is in a dreadful state.
It's currently costing Honda approximately £200m annually to put a team on the tracks and his solution is a uniform regulated engine across all the cars, making it a straight contest between the drivers.
But one driver in particular - Phillipe Massa - despairs. He says regulate a Ferrari engine and you will lose that je ne sais quoi.
Shannon Matthews: the day after
There are assorted follow ups on the Shannon Matthews case.
Social services are in the frame again - they've launched a serious case review.
But one wonders whether at the end of all this anyone will spend a single penny more on child protection, despite dumping so heavily on the relatively low paid people who have to try and make it work.
There's a whole lot more moving but I've got to run.
See you at seven,
Jon.
And on More4 News with Kylie Morris
Tonight on More4 we plunge deep into the world of social networking sites.
Our technology correspondent Ben Cohen has done some interesting research into the demographics of social networking.
If you're over 30 and live in London the chances are you'll be meeting your friends on MySpace but if you're young and from Northern Ireland or Scotland it's Bebo that's your digital destination of choice. Online Britain by age, gender and social class - we'll have it all at 8pm.
Also tonight - extraordinary economics times demand imaginative bold measures.
Here Prudence Brown has opted for more conventional and cautious measures to kick start our faltering economy with a small cut in VAT and a tweak of tax rates on house purchases, while in France President Sarkozy has gone down an altogether more Gallic route by offering drivers a 1,000 euro voucher to trade in their old car for a shiny new "greener" model.
It gets France spending and helps the environment. We'll explore some clever ideas to get us spending again.
