i am. beyond our american backpack and i am. a former russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent according to police in the u.k. so gay and you your school of power are now in a critical condition after being found unconscious in the city of sorcery on sunday the country's top counterterrorism officer mark ronnie's says the pair were targeted deliberately but this is being treated as a major incident involving attempted murder the administration of a nerve agents will not be providing credit for most of the state about the executive that's has been a good boy so to go screw polly used to serve in russia's military intelligence in

one thousand nine hundred ninety five he became a double agent passing information to the u.k. russia court's going about in two thousand and four and convicted him of revealing the identities of russian secret agents in europe he was sentenced to thirteen years in prison but he served only four years before being released as part of a high profile spy swap with the u.s. and he was later flown to britain u.k.'s home secretary on broad says caution must be exercised in apportioning blame for the poisoning. the use of a u.k. song is a brazen. act but if we are to be rigorous in this investigation we must avoid speculation and allow the police to carry on the first occasion well that was her updating the house of commons on this case and she cautioned against speculation and not just speculation in the media it's something that now the politicians are doing as well many of them have pointed the finger of blame

squarely at last and some are even using it as an opportunity to push for more defense spending take a listen the circumstantial evidence against russia is very strong who would harm. the. defense the first duty of the realm and spending two percent difference is now not enough there will come a time for tradition and there will be consequences and there will be further information that follows but now i'm concerned about the incident and the consequences around and actually speaking in an interview this morning the defense secretary gavin williamson pulled a thread as well he refused to say whether or not he thought moscow was behind the attack on sergei script but almost in the same breath he also referred to russia as an ever greater threat despite the home secretary's appeal for everybody to keep a cool head about this news stories about sergei script pollen the therese just

keep on coming one media report has even linked him to the intelligence that came up with that so-called dodgy dossier on donald trump so some pretty wild theories swirling around in the meantime the police are getting on with the police investigation somewhere where they might actually on a few facts it's now been divided into three separate sites that investigation the script files. the pub where they were drinking on sunday with their daughter and the pizza restaurant where sergey script found his daughter thought to have eaten and the police say that they're combing through all the c.c.t.v. footage that they have and they're building a detailed timeline of events they've got hundreds of offices working around the clock trying to find out who it was that used that gas on a scrip hour and his daughter and why. the war on this we're now joined by

former f.b.i. agent coleen rowley coleen thank you very much for joining us well as we just heard there a conservative m.p.'s or edward lee pointed the finger directly at russia and used the case to justify a boost in defense spending that's going to far. well it's not surprising in light of the rush to gauge hysteria here in the united states it's been going on i agree with the person who said we shouldn't speculate and should seek that so hopefully the police will have a lot of numbers and a lot of forty to go through i understand london is one of the places that has the most cameras in public places that's how they saw some of their bombings or major bombings and so we should hope that they will be able to spot something on scammers well if you're allergic to the home secretary urging caution saying we shouldn't speculate while the investigation is ongoing but do you expect the rest of the government to follow that line. well unfortunately politicians are what they are i

would just covered dick some of the politicians the ones said there's a motive if you think about motive you know if russia wanted to kill this guy they could should have killed him when he was in prison in russia years ago and also there's another factor that runs counter to that to the to this hypothesis that it was rushed out which is that the use of nerve gas in a public place to merely target two people would be extremely bad and dangerous and in fact in this case it's actually sickened a police officer so there are you even look think about a decade ago there was that rather that they would use to poke it with quite a sense you know i know not much russia but many states would have saw our better ways and methods. but generally a lot of people would have voted for fuel and virtual nationally if he was connected to us so much by networks like the double h.

not includes all that he wants also connected to spy networks and yet there would be all that of the monks those people just like there is in the mafia but it's also just our if i have a what do you think russia would stand to gain what they possibly stand to gain from getting rid of a double agent so long after the was that initial spy swap. well that's exactly right you know brazen is not the word for it it would be absolutely stupid and again there doesn't make any sense because if this if they really wanted to kill this individual they should have done it before the spy swap and in fact all it does is give the chance for more of this you know information warfare that's going on so it would make any sense now there would be some again some individuals and entities with motive potential motives and connecting things to crispy all and this dodgy dossier there's all kinds of you know who knows who's involved in that and

you know i think that there were be these are non-state actors and these double agent spies potentially dissidents just like the united states used akhmed shiela be ex-pats so there could be all kinds of things like that is motives but it's silly to speculate at this time they've been trying to save the ramifications on this former f.b.i. agent coleen rowley thank you very much indeed thank you well a growing number of people in but in say they feel unsafe in their own city that story and more after the break.

join me every thursday on the alex i'm sure and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm sure i'll see that. in the book come back racially motivated crimes against germans in but in all

becoming more commonplace according to the capitol security chief peter olivia has more. the berlin interior minister has had some pretty unexpected things to say about how native germans attrit in the nation's capital i have heard it's not the norm but it is becoming more common to keep quiet about it would be wrong a recent survey has shown that where is this time last year around two thirds of the said they felt safe in their city that's around just over half these days while those that said they felt very insecure it risen from nine percent a year ago to around sixteen percent right now as for what is fueling those fears are sort of pointed towards the influx of refugees and migrants into areas like this. district the local integration officer here says this well refugees don't fear arrest is they know that they'll be instantly released by the

police should they be caught breaking the law does is the i don't think crime has decreased on the contrary it's actually increased i'd say ninety five percent of the crimes here are committed by foreigners that's way too much i think in general . people start to panic way earlier and this is way news spread quite quickly and. i would say that berlin has gotten more dangerous than any pain i think it's just because of all the new stuff like it's spread all over the balloon and they just make a big deal out of every time the crime that's committed. this is also political our politicians should be made to commute using the underground for one week and they made to hang out in this neighborhood that way they would see what the situation is really like it's become very hostile and aggressive not nice at all. some of the politicians who represent the area say that perception of danger could become the

new reality if a majority of the people have the feeling that they don't feel secure anymore and there is some simpson basics for that many things that are not even declared to the police as crime or as a rassmann or whatever you can call it because you know well the police cannot do anything about it because our justice system is like that well they come in for maybe five hours and then they let them off again punishment is something that evidently or apparently in the berlin context isn't there anymore and perhaps it's the feeling that things could get worse that's driving public opinion to feel that the german capital has become less safe peter all over. california is seeing a backlash against self driving cars amid fears over safety there's been a number of attacks on autonomous vehicles in san francisco with passers by banging

on their windows and bonnets and in the same city a robotic god was taken out of service after a public outcry well the security bought two was given the job of moving homeless people from outside office buildings it was vandalized several times during its patrols and now i knew you were a particular kitchen assistant in a burger restaurant has also been slammed. well flippy the robot as it's known has prompted the twitter hash tag riots of the robots with some complaining jobs are being stolen from people while others see automation as inevitable physicist wrote good broad says it's no surprise some people are angry. robotics is developing very fast and it's going to have big

impacts and it's already having big so it's not surprising that you're already seeing these kinds of reactions from people when you start to talk about. half of jobs threatened by the introduction of it into the economy. fifty percent unemployment ok that is a crisis of social political economic crisis one of the possible outcomes and one of the likely possibility. is is massive violence you know a lot of this kind of vandalism and sounds honest i think you'll be seeing but you'll be seeing even larger scale disruptions here there are appropriate adjustments in in our political and economic arrangements we need to start redistributing things more fairly we need to start to pay people to take care of people and clean up the communities and to do so many things and we in the end to

make sure that people benefit from technology instead of being dispossessed by technology. i'll be back with the latest headlines in just over half an hour meanwhile for more on or about stories. it's a global trade war imminent if donald trump follow through on increasing keris and ending existing trade deals it seems very likely after all this was at the very center of his campaign for the presidency it was a promise he made to space will it make america great again. hey everybody i'm stephen bob. taft hollywood guy you know suspects every proud american first of all i'm just george bush and r.v.'s to suggest this is my buddy max famous financial guru well just a little bit different i'm not a neighborhood you can find out there are no windows up with all the drama

happening in our country i'm shooting the road have fun meet everyday americans. and hopefully start to bridge the gap this is the great american people. out. there you go the full economic war is unfolding in the realm of education the right to education being supplanted by the right to access education alone it's higher education is becoming just another product that can be bought and sold but it's not just about education anymore it's also about running a business there where you could do the most at bruges you can look at this also the fruit tree in the fairly couldn't you. want is the place of students in this business model before college i was born now and i'm extremely more higher

education the new global economic war. welcome to the show and as you see i made a few changes to speak to mark international women's day across the world this day has been celebrated for more than a century and indeed can be traced right back to one thousand eight hundred ninety eight when fifteen thousand women marched through new york city demanding voting rights and better paying conditions. that campaign continues to this day and i'll be interviewing a quality campaigner helen pancoast his grandmother and great grandmother lead the suffragette movement in the united kingdom and the today show includes interviews the three remarkable individuals each of him in quite different ways making

contribution to enhancing the position of women but first here's alex with your tweets your messages and e-mails. well lots of reaction to somebody of programs on the island and breaks that boating boat brought back very sad memories to me listening to many michael east talk of the troubles in northern ireland be a thirteen year old son of a scot a british army soldier lived in lisbon for two years and nine hundred sixty nine shops swimming pools cars blown up all around us people tarred and feathered terrible. rob says just watched alex salmon shows trip this is a great wardrobe of broadcast focusing on the island and the consequences of bricks that they pull off being informative and entertaining and charles macdonald back set up by saying watch the repeat of the interview with me mike lisa smiling part of the trilogy of programs about island excellent and free scott adds another great sure the interviewers were back to have a million new mcdonald

a million accolades what a delight if only to these or me had the vision and insight of these three the u.k. wouldn't be in such a mess and from dave yellin who says much praise for various john major interviews this week but only samba's interview of the former president of violin minimax lee's was better it watch to understand island border and why it's so important to support the e.u. project and to feel bret's it when phyllis and says hi alec could you please see if you can a few the proclaimers i'm going to see them later me here keep up the great work with the tale and it will tell charlie unclick the proclaimers that's an open invitation to come on the alex salmond chill and finally from loans winston i'm really enjoying the show and in particular the last few episodes and the impact to bricks and ireland great presentation style a pleasure to watch your show or thank you very much laughs so back to tires where you'll notice that normal service in the set has been resumed. among the star turns

at last sunday's march for women in london was a speaker the most famous name of all in the historic struggle for women's rights however she has a formidable record in her own right of equality campaigning and i'm delighted to be joined by her to welcome helen packers and happy international women's day to the place to be broadcasting and such an important day for women i want to start to ask you a bit about your heritage as we all know you are either a great granddaughter or a granddaughter off air and we. respectively how much of an influence has been related to the leaders of the british suffragette movement had on your life how could you not be influenced by two such amazing people and you know carrying the surname it had to be part of what i did with my life and you know they were so amazing because of what they did in the past but the fact is that that still relevant today the issue of women's rights resonates through the ages so that name is not just part of history it's part of the present absolutely and of course this

is a quite important you know to say is don't need to and we've seen the anniversary of certain women having the right to vote earlier on this year november will bring i think that a verse in the twenty first of the first one being able to stand there for parliament so great you know i support you but it's come out which came on the sixth of february on the anniversary of women second woman or an import to having the right to vote i knew just getting some great views tell us a bit about the so the book has got three aspects i speed's not words i should seize name of that is these are not words the story of women's rights then and now so it's in three parts the first bit the prologue looks at how we got to nine hundred eighteen and that's a personal reflection on my family's background and the whole suffrage campaign and it's such an exciting and interesting issue one that increasingly i think we've been a learning all girls are learning at school and that's important so we keep that alive so it's a personal perspective on how we got to nine hundred eighteen and then the body of the book is to mattick on issues such as politics what's been happening since. such

as women in the workplace what's been happening what are the key stories that women told me about full of anecdotes the third is about women's domestic life their personal relationships their family their health their sense of identity and what was interesting as i did all of that and i pulled it then conclude on issues around the power is that violence against women kind of infects all the other aspects of women's lives so as we think about how much things have or haven't changed that issue about violence against women in the workplace in the political sphere at home in culture you can't go very far in terms of thinking of how much we progress without identifying violence as a key constraint that number of elections coming up the number of by elections going on in scotland and you know i will knock tours then women will see to me i'm not going to war i don't want to put men women and men but because i was talking specifically about women to be how do you think we tackled our hard fought and hard

won success of getting women the right really really important question so a number of thoughts i mean firstly it's approximately the same numbers men and women that vote this about one percentage difference over time and it goes both ways sometimes it's slightly more men sometimes slightly more women so we shouldn't just say there are fewer women i think we feel that women have fought so recently so hard for it that they really should but then we can also ask given how poorly the system represents their interests you know maybe it's not surprising that they're not voting does not reflect the reflected by the policies and by the people there maybe it's really surprising that so many women do vote but what i would say to all the women and the young girls out there is it's a habit and it's a really really important habits it's habit that links to you to your society and to your country globally we only have two countries where there are at least the same number of women represented in parliament as men twenty eighteen only to

country. is that have both a male and a female lends a status in terms of who you look at and what policies are implemented to me that is really sad in the comments of where we are and that we must change you like i encourage women continuous into some great projects that there's a fifty fifty project the pilot project women for independence so many american assistance with the support of men also causing women to come into politics then we have to be aware that once you do enter politics there's another world with which unfortunately women are having to deal at the moment and support needs to be offered in relation to that what do you think can be done from a social media perspective from other platforms exist to offer women greater protection then of course that will be actors in cars meant to bring them into politics or vice i think there's so much that can be done at different levels i think parties have a sponsibility for support i think the government has a responsibility to support any woman that starts to emerge and to encourage them i think that. those who provide media platform who after all are now saying they can

identify. the language around terrorism they can do something about that well why can't they identify a mechanisms to really do something decent and proper about all this vilification of women on the social media so i think at every level if we challenge it and i think also there's somehow there's a permissiveness of speaking in very unpleasant ways that has been allowed in social media may be allowed in society more generally and i think that has to stop i think that you know there is a decency about how we need to talk to each other and listen to each other across our differences and we need to promote that and we all can promote that we can disagree with people but we have to listen and we have to be able to express that disagreement in a in a in an in a in a decent way not with the abuse people feel that they have an increased opportunity to be negative and to say nasty racist things to people and if there's one thing the last couple of years have done is just as it has given power. our voice to some

of that really negative things it is give power and voice to those who say enough just enough is enough and we're going to stand up shoulder to shoulder we're going to march and we are going to support each other and hold me to campaigns that every day in the media and for the last months every day there's a new item that is speaking truth to this idea of saying enough to all this discrimination wherever it's occurring and let's stand up for something better because we can change things so the positive angle on all of this is that because something start moving backwards anough people and the world is divided up you know in a way by most people who are in that middle and don't do much and if most people wake up to the dangers and say ok we're going to side with a more positive world which is more supportive of each other then we can and in a better place what would you see we need to do now then to continue that cause which is a see it's it changes as time goes on because different challenges come our way and

we have to face to face those what you think we need to be doing now to make sure the world is a better or safer feared or more equal place for women so firstly there's the the. the issue of legal change so act and act one hundred years ago started to change things not everything as we were talking earlier we had to wait another ten years for equal rights but the acts of parliament the acts around violence against women the x. factor equal pay incredibly important and we need to keep doing those but they're only happen if individuals start to push for change and they only happen if society also acknowledge change so individual agency yours mine everybody else is standing up for something that's better and doing something is really important but individuals don't change it's society together that changes so for me the title we connect to those to be aspects individual saying enough society saying oh yeah maybe we can change and laws that that ground that if we can do all those to be

things then. then we achieved change when i was in in parliament elected and was going to a very difficult time because of high levels of social media abuse that's my life that's my family etc i received a card from you saying by you personally it just telling me to keep going i wanted to let you know how much that meant to me and i'm very grateful for it thank you for mentioning that because that card it was actually the idea that we could a group of women just it's actually the olympics suffragette so women they came together through a volunteering at the olympics and other friends we just thought the people today women today who stand up get so much abuse it's the same type of abuse as the suffragettes used to get a hundred years ago and if we could offer some kind of support maybe just maybe that might help so number of us got together in the house we just signed and sent it to all the women m.p.'s irrespective of political backgrounds and i just think that sometimes individual actions like that of support and appreciation can go

a long way in my book there's a quote of the eleven year old girl and she say she'd like to see that young girl's dream of becoming princesses and fairies but also astronauts and superheroes so if we can support each other's dreams as parents as workers as as members of the general public then i think by the end of the ten years we can be proud of what we've done not just of what women did for us one hundred years ago well more power to elbow and thank you for all that you do get this started many many years ago with your with your great grandmother who should be extremely proud of all of you've done to continue honey thank you very much indeed telapak pleasure thank you . fascinating stuff from helen pankhurst join us after the break when alex will be back to interview tricia marwijk the first woman presiding officer of the modern scottish parliament and i'll be speaking to leon by a woman who is currently making the transition from reality t.v. star to campaign against poverty and the oppression of women.

it's been almost fifty years since we've had human beings on the surface of another planetary body and i hope that we could actually put together an international lunar exploration initiative much like we have the international space station consortium and together the countries of the world cooperating with the private sector could afford to get back into real space exploration and i think that would that would create a real a lot of excitement. for. your call and say that. something is good in kosovo oh bad for barcelona. bad fall for crimea. or whatever.

i did the principle is good all the principle is bad has to be apply equally and that is not being done. often some is not is not i can put in place it is not a good country and. try to secure it by showing up in this in the bush family as well but still. exist that this is police. state. which. the cult of the less sure of the family of the tragedy of christmas. morning and just the embrace from within the realm of oneself to be the rhythm. mostly albums fossil. play are more friendly to the members.