Newsnight - 13/08/2009

In-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines, with Gavin Esler. Why have the French and German economies come out of recession and the economy of the UK has not? The BBC's economics editor, Paul Mason, is in Paris. Lynddie England became the poster girl for US abuse in Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail. In her first UK television interview since leaving prison, the disgraced former soldier talks about the death threats she received, her agony over how to tell her five-year-old son about the photographs, and her refusal to accept she did anything wrong. Professor Stephen Hawking has defended the National Health Service from attacks by the American Right, claiming that he would not be alive without it. He spoke after Republican politicians labelled the NHS as 'evil' in their efforts to stop President Obama's reforms of US health care, which will widen the availability of treatment, but at a cost to higher earners. The programe also looks at the extraordinary double life of Swallows and Amazons author Arthur Ransome. A new book about his life reveals he was married to Trotsky's personal secretary, had close links with the Bolsheviks, and at one stage was considered so dangerous that while on a visit to London he was arrested, with a view to prosecution for treason.