What a Ripa!
Updated on 11 April 2008
Inside the morning meeting...
Unscientific perhaps, but interest shown in a story during the morning meeting is often a good barometer of its wider appeal.
So expect the news that a council has admitted that it used anti-terror laws to track a family it suspected of lying about living in a school catchment area, to feature prominently on tonight's programme. And in the pub tonight.
'But we wouldn't have this debate over the surveillance of suspected benefit cheats - the long term absentee with a bad back photographed on a driving range.'
Poole Borough Council in Dorset used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) to watch the family at home and in their daily movements.
The human rights pressure group has described the spying as "disproportionate" and "intrusive".
For its part, the council said: "[We are] keen to ensure that the information given by parents who apply for school places is true. This protects the majority of honest parents against the small number of questionable applications."
Cue much debate in the meeting.
"People do cheat there way into schools..."
"But this is about the sensible use of council money."
"And it's about human rights."
"But we wouldn't have this debate over the surveillance of suspected benefit cheats - the long term absentee with a bad back photographed on a driving range."
On the question of money, a producer is charged with tracking down a private detective to find out how much this type of surveillance would cost.
And in terms of guests, schools minister Jim Knight seems an obvious choice. Not only is this his beat, he happens to be MP for nearby South Dorset.
Elsewhere, we'll have more on United Nations secretary general Ban Ki Moon and his Olympic "diary clash"; some "striking" footage of violence in Sadr City; and possibly the return of the Madeleine McCann story less than a month before the anniversary of the little girl's disappearance.
Finally, a note for those who caught last night's programme and specifically our piece about the web phenomenon of Rickrolling.
After the package, Jon Snow enticed viewers on to the website to see his homage to Rick Astley.
Due to a number of technical and production problems - too dull to relay - viewers who clicked on channel4.com/news would have been disappointed/had a lucky escape.
Anyway, if you're feeling brave enough you can watch it now. Just click here.
Go on, you know you want to.
