Snowmail: Iraq hostages still held

Updated on 22 December 2008

In tonight's programme...

It may be three days before Christmas but the world is still turning fast and there's plenty of news out today, not least the fact that when I went to get my lunch from my usual branch of Pret, the place was completely sold out because they hadn't bargained on many people turning out for work.

We're topping out on the second Christmas in captivity for the five British hostages in Iraq. Hostages about whom the Foreign Office would rather we said nothing but whose release looks no more probable now than it did a year ago.

We have an interview with their families, who for now still trust the Foreign Office to take a lead on the matter. Andy Davies has collected some very telling material. It would be no exaggeration to say that there's a good deal of frustration for those who are near or dear to the missing men. His comprehensive report at seven.

Watch our report - Peter's Friends: here

TORIES AND POLICE CHIEF DEBACLE So to the bizarre fracas between the Conservative party and the head of the Scotland Yard anti-terror squad. Mr Quick suspects the Conservative party of some involvement in a tabloid story which seems to be about a business his wife runs from the marital home.

It seems his security has been compromised and he's not entirely happy with the Tories. His actual mission in life apparently is to investigate the Tory front bencher Damian Green and any role he may or may not have had in leaks of sensitive material from the Home Office via a civil servant with Tory party ambitions. In this matter we seem no further ahead, but Gary Gibbon is cast tonight as Inspector Clueso, his magnifying glass to the fore.

Read Police chief 'sorry' to Tories: here

DEMENTIA DEBATE We are reporting the latest bid to track down dementia in older people in the hope that inhibitor drugs can be used earlier. We're asking whether knowledge of dementia too early in the condition may cause more distress than assistance. James Blake is on the case.

CAR INDUSTRY IN DIRE FINANCIAL STRAITS Toyota has made its first loss in 70 years of production. What is seen as a model car company is in trouble with profound implications for the true scale of the credit crunch. It seems that Jaguar and Land Rover will be bailed out by Tata for now. But the government still seems to be under some pressure to shell out too. We'll be asking tonight: should the car companies be bailed out at any point?

Read Why bailout the carmakers? here

SWINDLE VICTIMS We have a marvellous piece of on-the-ground reporting from Manhattan tonight. Inigo Gilmore has been out and about in search of the victims of Mr Madoff and his Ponzi scheme. He's come up with a New York socialite who seems to have banked with the man and lost every single cent of the money she once had.

Watch Madoff: 'it's just one big lie' here

THE SECOND CHANCE SECONDARY SCHOOL Katie Razzall has a report from Westside - not a new shopping centre in west London but a school for excluded kids. Does it work? Find out at seven.

INTERNET BREAKDOWN Finally normal service should be restored, by Christmas at the earliest, according to French experts trying to repair a series of damaged cables beneath the Mediterranean. It's already caused widespread disruption to internet traffic between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

A robot submarine has been sent to the bottom of the Mediterranean to try and reconnect the cables - which got severed by a ship's anchor or seismic activity.

Our technology correspondent Benjamin Cohen reports.

Lots more moving, see you at seven, Jon.