As usual on Fridays, I shall leave you in the more than capable hands of my co-presenter .
What a week it has been - with plenty of job losses and some job gains - and a £2.3bn rescue package for the car industry.
But for those facing redundancy, short-time working and temporary plant closures - things really couldn't be worse.
This morning for four months. And when it re-opens, it is ikely to reduce production by half - a bleak outlook for workers there.
And hundreds of workers at the are striking for a third day in protest over the use of European workers at the plant.
They want jobs to be kept for British workers. And there are signs the dispute is spreading - this morning workers at , and walked out in support of them.
We'll have the latest on the dispute and we'll be examing the Government's handling of the economic downturn with former Treasury Minister .
We'll also have news from Rotherham where people are already reeling from news over the last couple of weeks that both and are cutting jobs.
Also today we'll have the results of our exclusive poll on the Government's handling of the economy which has been conducted by the polling company over the last couple of days.
Thoughout the show today we'll have two Westminster watchers - Conservative blogger and publisher- and Labour blogger and former press officer .
And it's Friday so it must be Top of the Political Pops - will be on hand for his usual run down of the week.
Comedian has been having a look at the Cash for Ammendments story in the - and will explain just what the allegations tell us about the relationship between lobbyists and parliament.
Don't forget we want your views on all the stories of the week. Send us an e-mail us at daily.politics@bbc.co.uk and don't forget to check out our website at - where you can sign up to our .
See you from noon on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2.
It's not easy being a minority government, as Alex Salmond's Nationalist administration in Edinburgh is fast finding out.
First, the case for Scotland separating from England and joining Salmond's so-called "arc of prosperity" (Ireland, Iceland and Norway), suffered a blow because of the banking meltdown, which made may have made many Scots think again about the security and safety of being inside the United Kingdom.
Now the Nationalists have been hit by a full-blown budget crisis.
Last night Salmond's minority government in Edinburgh was plunged into crisis after the Scottish Parliament (all of which comes in a block grant from London). The SNP leader admitted that his government might have to resign if the budget, which he is reintroducing immediately, again failed to win a majority -- which could lead to a new government being formed or even an election. As we go on air, Scotland's First Minister will be answering his version of PMQs. We'll have the latest.
The country's other famous Scottish politician -- the Prime Minister -- is also having a tough time of it. According to the polls, the Brown Bounce is now a thing of the past and the Tories have a comfortable double-digit lead. It's not easy to see what will change that in the foreseeable future if the IMF is right (which would mean Mr Brown wrong) in claiming that, far from Britain being best placed to weather the recession (as the PM claims), we are heading for the worst downturn of any major economy.
As this blog has mentioned several times in recent months, the PM's claim was always a hostage to fortune and there are features of the British economy that made us especially vulnerable in this recession. Now the hit of all the advanced nations and that we are enduring the worst recession for 60 years.
The IMF thinks our economy will shrink 2.8% this year (we've already lost over 2% last year) versus a 2% average for developed nations. It also thinks, unlike the government, that there won't be much of a recovery in 2010 -- but then the Chancellor's claim that growth would return this autumn is already being seriously revised inside the Treasury (expect recovery to be postponed come the spring Budget forecast).
Given all that, the current Tory lead in the polls could be more than a blip. We'll be looking at this month's poll of polls with Matthew Taylor, former head of policy at Number 10.
And we'll be looking at the Equality Bill with Yasmin Alibhai Brown and that should make for a good discussion, because our guest of the day is former Editor of the Sun newspaper, Kelvin McKenzie. So expect some lively debate.
All that coming up from noon today on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 on the Daily Politics.
The government took three months to cook up its bailout plan for Britain's beleaguered car industry, then denied it was a bailout -- and left everybody from the Tories to the trade unions somewhat disappointed.
Business Secretary to support the carmakers but the critics think it's not enough. Part of it merely involves British government guarantees to unlock £1.3 billion in loans from the EU for the car industry.
The taxpayer will also guarantee another £1 billion in loans to fund investment in greener cars, which may be good for our future but won't boost car sales now, which is the real problem. There are no plans to increase car sales by guaranteeing or even subsidising consumer loans, which is happening elsewhere in Europe.
Peter Mandelson announced the deal in the Lords yesterday in advance of a summit today with leading car manufacturers, suppliers and retailers. But union leaders have already declared the package a "massive disappointment" while Ken Clarke, on his first parliamentary outing as shadow business secretary, called it "pretty small beer". We'll be talking to Brendan Barber, the General Secretary of the TUC to see what he makes of it.
Also on today's programme, politicians from all sides are, with increasing calls for the expulsion of four Labour peers accused of being prepared to use their influence to amend legislation in exchange for money. Separate plans to deal with the naughty guys are being drawn up by Labour and the Tories. We'll have the latest.
Guardian cartoonist Martin Rowson will be attempting to draw a flattering "Gordon Brown". Apparently our PM thinks cartoonists make him look fat.
We'll be taking a look at ... are they more about making money rather than keeping our roads safe? Send us your thoughts on that!
And if that's not enough we'll have Rory Bremner here. He's got a to save us all from the downturn. Tune in for that!
Throughout the programme we'll be talking to the Labour peer, Baroness Jay, and the former Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith.
All in the Daily Politics from 11.30 till 1pm today on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 -- and later on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer.
"Faith in Brown collapses as Tories take lead on economy" -- when even the starts running headlines like that then you know the government is in trouble.
The daily drumbeat of grim economic news would take its toll on any incumbent and the Brown government is as vulnerable as any.
The puts the Tories on 44% and Labour on 32%. It's not clear what will change that in the months ahead.
You can forget talk of an early election. This parliament is set to run its course.
On top of his economic problems the PM now has a full-blown .
On the show today we'll look at the pressure building for new rules for the House of Lords after the allegations that were offering to 'change laws for cash' ( any wrongdoing).
Today the leader of the Liberal Democrats calls for a new power to bar peers from sitting in the House of Lords, to be used in extreme cases if they are found to have breached the rules. We've got the latest.
Also on the show today - the Government wants to give new powers to civil servants to enable them to take the of absent parents who refuse to make child maintenance payments to their former partners. Is that enough of a sanction?
Writer and broadcaster will be here too, talking about the decline of our public libraries.
And hedge fund bosses will be questioned by MPs in the Treasury over their role in the financial crisis - we'll have the highlights from that.
All that from noon on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 today on the .
Be the envy of your friends and click here to download the Daily Politics ringtone - provided by the News Online CTA.
Gordon Brown has hit the airwaves yet again this morning talking about the banking crisis and recession. He wants us to see what's happening as the but with the drop of each new grim economic statistic there's a danger that voters are more likely to see it as a return to 1930's-style depression.
It's not just the economic figures which are bleak: the . Most polls are now giving the Tories a lead of at least 10%, heralding the end of the Brown bounce and squashing any further talk of an early election. We'll be discussing the latest economic news with Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP.
In its current economic predicament, the last thing the government needs is a full-blown sleaze scandal. But it looks like it's got one: the Government's leader in the House of Lords is meeting four Labour peers today to discuss the allegations made in yesterday's Sunday Times that they . All four - including two former Labour government ministers - deny the allegations. But the affair brings out into the open questions about the credibility of the House of Lords, and in particular the rules governing outside interests of peers. We'll be exploring those questions on the programme.
Join us on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 at Noon if you can, or catch up later on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iplayer.
As usual on Fridays, I shall leave you in the more than capable hands of my co-presenter Anita Anand.
The UK is in recession. This might not seem like breaking news to you. After all with two bank bail outs, rising unemployment and a falling pound it feels like we have been in recession for a while. But .
But is the recession being felt equally across the UK? And will the government's attempts to extricate the British economy from this mess work in every corner of the country? We will be talking to the Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, about his hopes and fears for the economy in Scotland.
It has not all been doom and gloom this week. At least not for the 2 million people who descended on a freezing Washginton DC on Tuesday to see - well a few of them could - the inauguration of Barack Obama. It is impossible to imagine similar scenes this side of the Atlantic. But why are we so different from our American cousins? Are there no British politicians who can inspire such devotion and hope or is it just our reserved stiff upper-lip nature? We will be discussing the differences and similarities in British and American political cultures with the American playwright and critic, Bonnie Greer.
Also, the state-run Northern Rock has paid most of its staff a 10% bonus. The government has supported the decision but it has caused outrage amongst opposition parties. We will have all the reaction.
And as always we will have a rundown of what's up and down in the political charts.
With us for the whole programme will be the journalist, Toby Young, and the commentator, Peter Whittle.
The latest crime figures, out this morning, say overall crime is down 3% but some of the crimes that worry people most are up: or sharp instruments increased by 18%; domestic burglaries rose 4%; police-recorded drug offences increased by 9% and the level of fraud and forgery went up 16%.
All these figures compare Q3 last year with the same period in 2007, so they are only a snapshot, not a trend.
But we now know that several of the biggest police forces in England and Wales were among those which had been under-recording the level of serious violent crime for many years.
The 18 forces were named by the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Office in response to a Freedom of Information request.
Meanwhile one national newspaper is reporting this morning that 40% of serious offenders are being let off with just a caution, with the number of cautions being given to violent criminals rising by 82% in just five years.
With crime still very high up the political agenda, we hope to be talking to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Secretary, Jacqui Smith.
After yesterday's -- well, it confused us on the --we'll be talking MPs expenses, again.
They'll be debating the issue while we're on air. Gordon Brown has been forced to shelve plans to conceal the details of , though why the back-tracking is disputed.
We'll be talking to two MPs on either side of the argument: Tory , and Labour's .
Throughout the programme we'll be talking to the broadcaster, Joan Bakewell.
And on the day that , we'll be talking broadcasting standards.
We'll also be looking at MPs' taste in music with the DJ Tony Blackburn.
All that coming up on today's show on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 - starting later than normal today due to the live tennis - or catch up afterwards on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iPlayer.
for the first time this morning to begin work on the in-tray from hell. His priorities will be domestic -- the recession, health reform, the environment -- but his allies (and the force of events) will force him quickly to turn his attention to foreign affairs too.
We'll be asking former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell and former Labour Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett what we should expect on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the special relationship.
While our eyes were diverted by the coronation across the pond, the grim realities of the British economy continued to unfold. The banking crisis is unabated, despite a second multi-billion pound bail out. Some say it will take a decade to put things right, which will undermine the global status of the City of London.
The EU Commission in Brussels forecasts that the British economy will suffer more than any other in the current downturn, which is the opposite of what Gordon Brown and the Chancellor have been telling us.
The next three months could see the publication of economic statistics more dire than any of us have seen in our lifetimes.
Some Tories are now privately predicting that their lead will be back up over 20 points by Spring; it is already over 10. Suddenly all Labour talk of a snap election is drying up. The smart money is on the Spring of 2010 -- it always was.
So once again we'll have plenty economy to talk about. We'll hear from the Conservative's new Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Theresa May, and, as the government unveils a brand new NHS constitution, which sets out what we can expect from the health service - and a new set of 'rights and responsibilities' for the public, we'll debate what this means for patients.
We'll hear from controversial commentator Rod Liddle on climate change. And of course we'll have live coverage of Prime Minister's Questions from noon.
All that, from 1130 this morning on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 - or you can catch the programme later on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iplayer.
Inflation is plummeting - it has on various measures published this morning - and unemployment is soaring but for today at least we lift our heads from our domestic travails and look across the Atlantic to the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States.
At precisely 5pm our time, as Mr Obama is being sworn in, a metal briefcase containing the codes to order a nuclear strike will pass from the control of George Bush to the new President.
are the closest America comes to coronations but today will be even bigger than a coronation because of its historic significance: the of the country's first black president.
But it will be historic for another reason: has inherited such an in-tray from hell -- a , two unfinished wars abroad and unresolved major problems in , and .
The is a one-party state for Obama.
But how long will that last when the new president starts placing demands on his allies to help resolve problems in ways they might not like?
And will he even have much time to devote to foreign problems when his re-election (and be in no doubt his team will already be thinking about that) will depend on progress on pulling America out of what is likely to be its worst downturn since the ?
We'll be live with in Washington and throughout today's show will be talking to John Micklethwait, the editor of who knows America well and an old friend of the show, Jamie Rubin, who'll be joining us from New York.
That's all on the here on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 from noon. It's your official warm up for the inauguration!
Another Monday morning, . This one is taking place, appropriately enough, on "Blue Monday', apparently the most depressing day of the year, as Christmas credit card bills roll in and New Year's resolutions are broken.
It certainly must be pretty blue over at the Royal Bank of Scotland, which has and has had to succumb to even more state ownership to stay afloat. But it's hardly alone: the government is launching a second huge life-raft for all the major banks in yet another effort to get lending going again. Having already pumped £37bn of taxpayers' money onto their balance sheets, this time we're being saddled with another £200bn of risk as the state offers to insure the banks' bad debts (of which they have a lot).
Ministers are worried that the public's patience with bank bailouts is wearing thin, even if opposition politicians are broadly going along with it. Certainly the so called "Brown Bounce" is showing signs of being a dead cat bounce, with recent polls now giving the Tories a clear lead of 10 points or more. We'll be looking at the economics and politics of today's announcement.
Also today, David Cameron shuffles his team, Ken Clarke to shadow Peter Mandelson's Business department. And veteran Liberal Democrat Shirley Williams will be here too. We'll be asking her why the Liberal Democrats are losing support under their young leader, Nick Clegg.
All that on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 from noon today on the Daily Politics. It'll sweep Blue Monday from your furrowed brow!
As usual on Fridays, I shall leave you in the more than capable hands of my co-presenter Anita Anand.
Another day - another banking bail out... you may have thought the Government had done rather a lot on this front - and you'd be right.
But the banks are still in trouble, they're still not lending to one another which in turn stops the flow of credit into business and threatens jobs.
This morning there are reports that the Prime Minister is which will buy up billions of pounds of `toxic' assets from banks in a bid to get them to resume normal lending.
So how much further will the tax payer have to buy into the banking industry to clear up the mess they've got themselves into?
Also today a new dawn for America as next week.
President-elect Obama has already said he will make the crisis in Gaza one of his top priorities - so what difference will his presidency make to US foreign policy and also what difference will we see here in terms of British foreign policy.
The Foreign Secretary David Miliband this week appeared to distance Britain from the Bush years when he said the use of the term ...so how much repositioning can we expect?
We'll hear from former Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells.
And this week has seen some pretty big political beasts returning to hog the headlines. We've had the return Labour's Alan Milburn and speculation about the return of former Tory Chancellor Ken Clarke.
So as the lions from the past line up for another roar - is bringing back the old guard a good or bad thing in modern day politics?
And as ever we'll have the usual run down of the political stories you've been most interested in this week in Top of the Political Pops.
We're joined throughout the show today by Danny Finkelstein of the Times and political comedian and satirist Andy Saltzman.
So do join us at noon on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2.
Don't forget if you want the latest on the programme sign up to our daily email at bbc.co.uk/dailypolitics and email us with your thoughts on all the stories that are making the news at daily.politics@bbc.co.uk
And so, finally a . I suspect it was never in doubt: ministers simply had to go through the motions of consulting and making some more concessions to the green lobby (which it won't satisfy but could stave off any cabinet resignations).
We're expecting an official announcement at lunchtime, while we're on air. Business leaders and trade unions say it will create jobs, boost Britain's competitiveness and enhance what is already one of the country's most important assets for the 21st century. Critics maintain it will cause irreparable damage to government's credentials for tackling climate change.
The Tories say if they win the next election, it will never get off the ground, so today's announcement might not be the final word on the matter (though many wonder aloud that, if the Tories were in government, would they really scrap it?).
Throughout the programme we'll be talking to the Shadow Business Secretary, Alan Duncan and the former Labour MP, and proponent for a third runway, Lord Soley.
Also today, as the , MPs will be debating the situation in the Commons this afternoon and so will we.
And we'll be discussing the pro and cons of entering the euro.
All that coming up at midday on the Daily Politics here on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 and online.
Peter Mandelson, the Business Secretary, outlined the to underwrite loans to small and medium-sized firms this morning, so we'll take a forensic look at them.
The proposals involve providing state guarantees to encourage banks to start lending again to business, which is suffering because credit has dried up.
It is the government's latest wheeze to free up the credit markets, which remain frozen since the banking meltdown last autumn.
We'll be asking: will it work and what risk is there to the taxpayer.
Also on today's programme ahead of the first reading of the Borders and Immigration Bill we'll be looking at migration.
Yesterday the said immigrants to Britain had "been treated like hotel guests who don't belong" but he blamed decades of multiculturalism for not making immigrants feel at home: "Any sense of a shared common culture is eroded, risking increasing segregation".
We'll be talking to the immigration minister Phil Woolas, and former Tory Party Chairman, Norman Tebbit, both of whom are with us for the whole show.
It's also the first PMQs of the year, so naturally we'll have all the action at midday, and top analysis, of course, from our Political Editor, Nick Robinson.
Broadcaster, Anne Diamond will be here telling us .
And, ahead of his inauguration next Tuesday, we'll be asking what tricks Barack Obama will have to pull out of his hat to get the US economy back on track.
We'll be live from Washington with US commentator Irwin Stelzer.
That's all on today's from 1130am on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2.
The mood music to yesterday was yet another raft of redundancies, from Merrill Lynch to JCB, and the recession is now clearly taking its political toll on the government.
This morning's has the Tories back to a 10-point lead over Labour (43% to 33%, with the Lib Dems languishing at 15%), the second poll to go against the government in as many weeks.
There is clearly much worse to come on the jobs front, with the British Chamber of Commerce forecasting that current unemployment of 1.8m will reach over 3m by early 2010, still the most likely date for the general election.
Many forecasters now think the economy will decline by over 2% this year, much more than the official forecasts, whose prediction that the economy would start to recover in the autumn must now be in doubt.
Undaunted, the government continues to be anxious to give the impression of activity: yesterday's job summit is now about to be followed by a new loan guarantee scheme for small and medium sized businesses, with the aim of getting credit flowing again.
The Tories have been pushing the government to do something along these lines for sometime, though the idea has its critics. We'll be looking at the details with Shadow Chancellor George Osborne.
The move comes as Britain's retail sector reports the worst Christmas trading figures on record ... we'll hear from businessman Mark Constantine.
And the former health secretary Alan Milburn will be joining us to talk about social mobility -- or the lack of it -- as the Government unveils new ideas for increasing the chances of the poorest in Britain.
All that on the Daily Politics on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 from Noon today.
After three weeks off, MPs return to Westminster today for what promises to be a rollercoaster political year.
Gordon Brown is setting the pace this morning with a much-trailed 'jobs summit' where he and a handful of Government ministers will unveil a package of measures to help people who lose their jobs get back into work.
The headline-grabbing idea is a £2,500 'golden hello' paid to any company taking on someone who's been out of work for more than six months. The Tories say the summit is more spin than substance and won't make much of a difference in the gloomy months ahead.
We'll be analysing the proposals. Also on the show today - as the conflict in Gaza continues, we hear from the Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague.
And we look at what's in store in the political year ahead with Kevin Maguire of the Mirror, and Matthew D'Ancona of the Spectator.
All that on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ2 from Noon today - or catch us later on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ iplayer.
They want jobs to be kept for British workers. And there are signs the dispute is spreading - this morning workers at , and walked out in support of them. 
