Friday Drivetime

Fri02Aug – BCfm’s weekly politics show presented by Tony Gosling

At five: discussing the big stories in Bristol, Britain and around the world
After six:  straight talking and investigative reports with Martin Summers and Marina Morris

For all the shows back to Easter 2009  visit the Friday Drivetime archive page

First hour: news review concentrating on Bristol, Kingswood and South Gloucestershire Youth Services and the NHS with Labour Councillor for Hartcliffe, Derek Pickup. Cuts to youth services in the city and the macroeconomics; NHS 111 service a ‘costly disastrous reorganisation of the NHS’ and Channel 4 Dispatches undercover filming at Bristol’s private contractor ‘Harmoni’; victory for local NHS campaigners: Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary, has broken the law, loses court case on closing services, including A&E, at Lewisham hospital; private hospital in Stevenage, owned by Carillion, is sold back to the NHS due to incompetence; Money Advice Service survey shows over half of Britons are living over the financial edge, income does not cover outgoings; State owned bailed out bank RBS makes £1.4bn profits, and Lloyds £2.1bn but are these banking fairyland figures like back in 2007/2008? QE and fraud propping up an asset bubble; artificially inflated asset prices, Chairman of Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) Sir Ian Andrews, who refused to reveal the names of criminal blue chip companies and celebrities doing ‘hacking’ and ‘blagging’, resigns because he failed to declare his personal interest in a private investigation company; a government bee ‘expert’ has taken job with Syngenta who manufactures neo-nicotinides that are killing bees;  the BBC discussed.
[audio: 201308021700]
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Second hour:  Round up of international stories with Martin Summers.  Stories covered:  Bradley Manning & Edward Snowden with clip of Daniel Ellsberg;  the NSA, GCHQ  and private security;  Press TV YouTube channel banned after Ofcom banned in Britain;  prison breaks in Libya and Pakistan; documents reveal £400m arms deal with Libya to let Lockerbie bomber free, a distraction from Magrahi appeal where CIA were going to be implicated;  Israel strikes on Russian ships in Syria; Pentagon incredulous at MoD proposing to privatise procurement at Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) to BAe and Serco at Filton, Firms bidding to award MoD contracts already work for the department they would take over. David Powell from Friends Of The Earth discusses Fracking in at Balcombe in Sussex and on the Mendips in Somerset – Cuadrilla & big energy companies such as Centrica poisoning the countryside and us all, flying in the face of basic common sense and democracy. Oil and energy firms manipulating oil markets to get NATO zone populations dependent on oil and the taxation it brings in to the Treasury
[audio: 201308021800]
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