7/7 accused trained in Afghanistan

Last Modified: 20 May 2008
By: Alex Thomson

In tonight's show...

Where we start with the trial of three men accused of helping the 7 July bombers on their deadly mission.

The defence case has opened up with some fascinating insights into training trips in Pakistan and fighting against the US-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.

Thus far the lawyers are saying: the fact that our clients knew these men (the bombers) does not mean they helped them.

Abortion debate

To embryology, the abortion limit, and the importance of having a father figure in a child's life. Well, you can't knock parliament for ducking the big issues today.

It's one of those great set-piece moral debates on the embryology bill and much besides.

Needless to say - but I will anyhow - the Catholic church has been right in there lobbying for all its worth.

Which is odd in a sense, since it presumably wants all abortion outlawed rather than shifting the limit from 24 to 22 weeks or whatever.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor is going to speak to me about what his organisation's been doing, and why, in about an hour.

Aziz on trial

The Goebbels of our era? Or a nice bloke trapped in a bloody circus?

Yes, it's Tariq Aziz's turn to be in the Baghdad dock accused of ordering the hanging of dozens of Iraqis.

You can't help observing that the prima facie case does put Mr Aziz at some removal from the hangmen.

But whether or not the public face of the Saddam machine can evade the gallows himself is a very open question.

Barton jailed

Lots more around, with Chinese authorities warning that they expect another major tremor, and Newcastle United's Joey Barton imprisoned for six months for assault (conveniently well timed for the off-season).

Champions League look-ahead

Staying with what passes for football, we are in Moscow looking ahead to tomorrow's Champions And Plenty Of Other Teams Too League final.

Either it's proof that the English game is in the rudest of health - or proof that if you turn sport into big business you destroy real competition because of money.

So... the same teams "contesting" the English championship now "contest" the European Cup. Am I alone in saying wake me up when it's over?

Right - that's lit the blue touchpaper, I hope...

From Jon Snow in Crewe

I am in the Bombardier railway repair shop in the heart of Crewe.

This used to be the railway capital of the world. All lines ended in Crewe.

It's not quite that now, because although they make Bentleys here, the town centre also sports a lot of boarded-up shops.

A good deal of peeling paint at the central bus station.

Why am I wittering on about Crewe, you may well ask? It is currently the epicentre of Britain's political world.

For there is a commons by-election here - the first parliamentary test of Gordon Brown premiership.

Now, if the constituency was only Crewe, Labour would probably hang on to it. But it isn't. It's got Nantwich, and that is leafy and prosperous, and judging by the candidates' signs, firmly Conservative.

In microcosm this really is a wonderful English constituency in which to test political opinion. It's got every facet. Even a pie-rolling championship in two weeks' time. Oh, and they also do worm-charming.

We should be coming live from Crewe tonight, from these railway workshops, with an audience of ordinary punters and three cabinet-ranking politicians from each of the major parties.

There's another carriage coming down the line. I'll see you at seven from under the wheel.