Iraq hostages: a bungle on all sides?

Last Modified: 29 May 2008
By: Jon Snow

Snowmail: In tonight's show...

Britain has more hostages in Iraq than any other nation in the world. I think that statement is true, but it's hard to prove. It is certainly remarkable that one year after they were snatched from an Iraqi government ministry the "computer technician" and four British bodyguards are still nowhere to be seen.

Very little is known about them except they are being held by a Shia militia group. The British government says it doesn't negotiate with hostage takers. The foreign office advice is to say as little as possible. Jonathan Miller is on the case.

House prices tumble ===================

A dramatic downturn in the housing market is underlined by Nationwide's figures. Tonight Faisal Islam is on a toboggan cascading down steep graphs. We fear for his safety at the bottom.

In other news tonight ====================== A very emotional appearance by the sister of the boy killed over the weekend in Dewsbury. Nick Martin is there.

John McCain and George Bush have been fundraising together behind closed doors. At the same time Bush's former press aide Scott McClellan has been behind open doors talking volubly, Nick Paton Walsh has been listening.

Finally the Chapman brothers have unveiled a second version of Hell, the first having been incinerated. Nicholas Glass reports on whether it's anymore bearable.

More4 News ========== We talk to Terry Waite about what must be going through the heads of those still held kidnapped in Baghdad and whether their families are doing the right thing in publicising their plight now.

A senior Shia cleric will also be here to fill us in on who might be behind the kidnappings and the negotiations that are likely to be going on behind the scenes.

And who should be believed? Architects campaigning to save an iconic Sixties housing estate, or the residents who have to live in it?

Designers claim that Robin Hood Gardens in east London, just one among thousands of similar estates in Britain, should be granted heritage status as an icon of its era. Its residents say the fact that it's such a good example of type is exactly the problem.

Tower blocks may make for dramatic photographs, but they don't make good homes. Girish Juneja pits the designers against the dwellers.

Join Andrew Thomas, on More4, at 8pm.