Today - 03/02/2009

Presented by Edward Stourton and Evan Davis. Prof Sube Banerjee discusses the problems with diagnosing dementia. Phil Mackie visits the National Transport Centre in Birmingham to discover how public transport is being disrupted by the bad weather. Shadow Children's Minister Tim Loughton discusses if excessive bureaucracy and low morale has caused a recruitment crisis for social workers. Correspondent Nick Bryant reports on the most severe heatwave in Australia for over 100 years. Mark Doyle discusses calls from the African Union for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe. Foreign Office Minister Mark Malloch Brown says the UK will be generous donors. Peter Hendy, Commissioner of Transport for London, discusses if the capital was prepared for the snow. Jack Izzard finds a sense of community in London brought about by the weather. Thought for the day with writer Anne Atkins. John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, discusses if free trade should be maintained during a recession. John Ransford, of the LGA, discusses if councils were underprepared for the bad weather. Economist George Magnus and Prof Andrew Kerslake discuss the provision of care for dementia. Singer Alvin Stardust and Mark Ellen, editor of music magazine The Word, discuss Buddy Holly on the anniversary of his death. The government is to pilot an approach called social pedagogy in a bid to improve the lives of children in care. Barry Sheerman MP explains. Mark Easton visits Denmark to see the scheme in action. Tarek El Diwany, founder of Islamic Finance, and the Right Rev Peter Selby discuss if religion should interfere in market regulation. Simon Barnes and Con Coughlin discuss if winter is a joy or a messy hassle.