Newsnight Review 28 April, 2006

This week

• 16 BLOCKS
• EVERYMAN
• BRADFORD RIOTS
• DIRTY PRETTY THINGS

  16 Blocks

  Bruce Willis plays Jack Mosely, a beaten and tired New York Cop with a serious drinking problem.

  He is unhappily assigned to the simple task of ferrying petty criminal Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) who is set to testify before a grand jury at 10am.

  Eddie needs to be taken from the police station to the courthouse, 16 blocks away. It should take Jack 15 minutes to drop him off at the courthouse and get home.

  But things don't go to plan. En route, Jack soon discovers that some people want this witness dead. And when Jack calls for backup, he comes to realise that these people are actually his police colleagues.

  The film is directed by Richard Donner who made the original The Omen (a remake is being released this summer), Superman, Free Willy, and the Lethal Weapon series.

• CERTIFICATE 12A
• 16 BLOCKS IS ON GENERAL RELEASE FROM 28 APRIL, 2006

  Everyman
  By Philip Roth

  Philip Roth is one of America's best known authors.

  He's published 27 books, including Portnoy's Complaint, Goodbye Columbus and The Plot Against America and he's won some of America's most prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for American Pastoral.

  His new novel, Everyman, his fifth book in almost as many years, is an intensely personal story about regret, ageing and death.

  The title is taken from an anonymous 15th century English allegorical play, whose theme is mortality.

  Philip Roth's Everyman follows the story of an unnamed character, a retired advertising man, throughout his life from his childhood summer holidays, through his three failed marriages, to his final battle against his physical deterioration.

  Towards the end, his increasingly urgent surgical procedures become an annual occurrence and are described in detail. "Many great books treated adultery," Roth has said in interview, "but very few have treated disease. So I thought to make this man's biography his medical history – just make the medical history the narrative line – and see what happened."

• EVERYMAN IS PUBLISHED BY JONATHAN CAPE

  Bradford Riots
  Channel 4

  Written and Directed by Neil Biswas whose previous writing credits include Second Generation and In A Land of Plenty, this one-off drama marks the fifth anniversary of what has been called the worst rioting in mainland Britain for 20 years.

  Set in Manningham in July 2001, the story revolves around Karim (Sacha Dhawan) who returns from Manchester University to his home town for the summer.

  Unfortunately, racial tensions are brewing after a series of other riots in the North.

  The scripts are based on a year of intense first hand knowledge within Bradford's Pakistani community and the drama features music by anti-racist group Asian Dub Foundation.

  Neil Biswas said: "I would love this to lead to a different perception or understanding of Muslim communities in the UK – but I will settle for people questioning what they think they know already."

  Written very much from the perspective of the Muslim community, Bradford Riots attempts to explore why the violence happened, asks who was really to blame and how the sentencing of young Asian men took place.

  It asks the question, did they deserve such harsh treatment despite the majority of them handing themselves in and having no previous convictions?

  Our panel will give their verdict.

• BRADFORD RIOTS IS ON CHANNEL 4 ON 4 MAY AT 9PM

  Waterloo to Anywhere
  By Dirty Pretty Things

  Cult punk rock outfit The Libertines split up after two critically acclaimed albums.

  Co-founded by friends Pete Doherty and Carl Barât, Doherty's drug habits made him increasingly unreliable and he was expelled from the band.

  Doherty released an album with his new band Babyshambles earlier this year. In the meantime, Barat has been concentrating on touring with his new outfit Dirty Pretty Things, formed from the ashes of The Libertines with Gary Powell on drums, Doherty replacement Anthony Rossomando on guitar and Didz Hammond, ex of Cooper Temple Clause, on bass.

  Their first album Waterloo to Anywhere has been said to build on early Libertines' sound.

  Barat's thoughtful lyrics wrap around several styles from the poppy Gin & Milk, through the ska sea shanty the Gentry Cove to the exuberant punk rock anthems of the first two singles Bang, Bang You're Dead and you F***ing Love It.

• WATERLOO TO ANYWHERE IS RELEASED ON THE MERCURY LABEL

  Round-up

  JACQUELINE WILSON

  Author of over 80 works for children including the bestselling Tracy Beaker series, Jacqueline Wilson was created Children's Laureate in 2005.

  In this role she has chosen to campaign to get more parents reading aloud to their children.

  To help this along she has compiled a list of 70 tried and tested books for parents to start with.

  With suggestions for three age groups, the chosen books range from Wilson's own favourite, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are to classics such as TS Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

  The book features recommendations from celebrity parents and tips on keeping children's attention.

• GREAT BOOKS TO READ ALOUD IS PUBLISHED BY CORGI PRESS ON 4 MAY, 2006
• CLICK HERE FROM MORE INFORMATION

  Newsnight Review is broadcast after Newsnight every Friday at 11pm on BBC Two.

  Don't forget that you can watch Newsnight Review online via this website. The programme is available in broadband from 1200 BST on the Saturday after originally broadcast for one week.

Parents offered NHS baby minders

First-time parents are to get "NHS minders" to help them through the first two years under a new pilot scheme.

The government has set aside £7.5m for midwives and health visitors to offer support in 10 of the poorest areas.

It is based on a US system which has been proved to help improve health and cut accidents and is being specifically aimed at single mothers.

But midwives said it was the sort of care every professional wanted to provide but could not because of cuts.

The Royal College of Midwives estimated another 3,000 midwives are needed by 2012.

This comes after 17,000 posts have been cut in the last year as the NHS struggles with its finances.

RCM spokeswoman Mervi Jokinen said: "Help like this is undoubtedly beneficial.

"But the problem is that in places where midwives are providing intensive help, their posts are being cut or are under threat.

"All midwives want to provide this sort of care and support, but we are just not able to."

The scheme is being jointly overseen by the Department for Education and Skills and Department of Health in some of the most deprived areas, including Southwark and Tower Hamlets in London, Manchester, Walsall and Derby.

It will see single mothers and other vulnerable first-time parents offered regular visits by an "NHS minder".

They will be given tips on parenting and relationship skills as well as advice about exercise and diet.

The visits could start as early as four months into pregnancy. If the scheme proves successful, it could be rolled out across England within two years.

Health Minister Ivan Lewis said: "The importance of health in the early years cannot be underestimated, pregnancy and the first few years are vital to child development, life chances and future achievement."

Back to the day job

BBC producer Stuart Hughes lost part of his right leg after stepping on a landmine in northern Iraq.

Stuart, 31, has returned to work part-time in London, after months of recuperation and getting used to his artificial leg in Cardiff.

Here's the last in his BBC News Online diary series.

I never imagined the day would come when I'd look forward to going to work.

But, more than five months after losing my foot, returning to the workaday world feels like the culmination of all those long weeks of rehab and recuperation.

I was filled with apprehension – even though my hours are only part-time to begin with.

Would I remember how to do my job? Would I be able to cope physically and mentally? Would people treat me differently as a result of what has happened?

I felt rather like a child returning to school after the long summer holiday – except that in my case the break has been almost six months long.

I needn't have worried.

Within a few hours of getting back to the office it was as though I had never been away.

It's easy to be dismissive of the 9-to-5 routine but at this stage of my recovery that's exactly what I need.

From the start I've been clear in my mind that I'm a journalist first and a landmine survivor second – and not the other way around.

Getting back to work marks another stage in moving on from my accident.

I can never forget what's happened but over time I hope it will become just another part of who I am – an important part, for sure, but not the defining characteristic.

Within a few days of returning of work I was able to test my prosthesis out "in the field" for the first time. I was sent to Rome for three days to cover a summit of European leaders.

Summit venue

It was strange to see the flight cases full of broadcasting equipment stacked up in my hallway for the first time since I left for Iraq in February. So much has changed since then.

When I arrived at the summit venue on the outskirts of Rome I quickly realised that I need to learn the words "artificial leg" in every major European language.

The entrance to the press centre was guarded by armed police officers from the Italian carabinieri and security guards manning airport-style metal detectors.

Of course, the metal in my prosthesis set off the scanners, causing the policemen to reach instinctively for their pistols.

Carabinieri

'Artificiale' I said in my best comedy Italian accent, while at the same time pointing to my right trouser leg.

I had no idea whether "artificiale" was the Italian word for "false." It just sounded like it should be.

The carabinieri looked at me suspiciously, clearly unconvinced by the one-legged Welshman gesturing wildly in front of them.

I hitched my trousers up a few inches to try to prove to the doubting cops that my leg really is 'artificiale'.

It seemed to work.

I was waved through security with a dismissive grunt.