Today - 27/10/2008

Presented by Edward Stourton and Evan Davis. Jeremy Bowen analyses the long-running dispute between Syria and the US. Jihad Makdissi of the Syrian Embassy in London says that the US position is an act of aggression. Gabriel Gatehouse reports on Ukraine's 16 billion-pound loan deal with the IMF. Colette Hume reports from the poet Dylan Thomas' restored childhood home. Ian Smith of Working Links and charity adviser Guy Parker discuss the new benefit system for sick and disabled people. Pollster Sir Robert Worcester predicts a win for Barack Obama in the US presidential elections. Thought for the Day with Rabbi Lionel Blue. John Prescott discusses his TV documentary about the UK class system. Howard Davies, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, discusses further falls in the value of the pound. Who Correspondent Paul Greer and Russell Thompson of the British Legion discuss the question of who should pay for the upkeep of war memorials. Angus Stickler talks to the grandchildren of Mary Allouis, a typhoid sufferer who was locked in an asylum. Professor Michael Shayer discusses the fall in brainpower of Britain's brightest teenagers. Kevin Connolly reports on what Barack Obama's presidential campaign means for black Americans. Lisa Harker of the Institute for Public Policy Research and Ian Mulheirn of the Social Market Foundation discuss whether Labour's drive to get people off benefits and into work can survive a recession.