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Friday's has brought this region that Panorama visited in December back into the headlines. Dozens were killed in the blast in the Khyber region in north-west Pakistan just 20 miles from the Afghan border. The area is has seen several such attacks linked to the Taleban insurgency and Sunni-Shia sectarian divisions.

This, on the same day . In a break from President Bush's strategy, Obama pledged to work with both countries to defeat al-Qaeda and militants in the region which he said threatened not just America but the people in the region. His commitment to Afghanistan, which he said had been under-resourced over the last three years, and Pakistan also signalled a change his predecessor's administration whose main focus was the Iraq war. noted Pakistan's positive reaction to America's change of approach.

Panorama's Jane Corbin visited the frontline in the War on Terror at the end of 2008, travelling to the mountainous region on the hazardous Afghan-Pakistan border. There she met US and Pakistani soldiers and would-be suicide bombers in her investigation into instability in the region.

If you missed it, you can still watch Britain's Terror Heartland online and an extended interview with Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik.

Monday's report from condemned a quarter of government databases as illegal and called for them to be scrapped or redesigned.

The following day, Labour announced plans for a new government database which will track social networking sites such as, and .

Unsurprisingly this has upset the blogosphere, not least Conservative political commentators including . His brief assault on the proposal which he blogged about encapsulates a growing concern about the "Big Brother" strategy of a government which already plans to store information about each phonecall, email and internet site visited by everyone living in the UK.

This certainly alarmed Panorama's reporter Simon Boazman after he investigated just how much information was stored about him in You Can Run, and how easy it was to obtain it. Putting concerns about privacy to the test he discovered how his mobile phone and laptop can give up secrets and even how hospital records can be passed outside the NHS.

Panorama's investigation into the Omagh bombing has been drawing more attention this week. Two days after was broadcast, a review was set up conducted by Sir Peter Gibson into "any intercepted intelligence material available to the security and intelligence agencies in relation to the Omagh bombing and how this intelligence was shared".

The report that vital intelligence about the Omagh bombing was deliberately held back. Panorama's reporter John Ware rejected his findings this week when he was called before the . He said that Sir Peter Gibson's report was flawed, saying the approach by the author was "adversarial, impatient and dismissive".

You can find out a lot more about Panorama's coverage on this in .

Maybe the British people just don't like change.

On the cusp of the 1960s - the decade that saw huge swathes of the old, established Britain swept away - the year 1959 can make claim to be the start of much of that excitement.

Certainly, that's evident in the output of the ±«Óãtv's Panorama programme during that year. Yet no-one really seems to have told the British people.

1959 - A Panorama Guide - tells the story of that year through the eyes of Panorama. As , Panorama - now firmly established in the schedules - took it upon itself to document the birth of modern Britain.

The programme shows how Britain finally realised that the old world was fast disappearing. There was no longer the will to keep - either financially or politically in the light of pan-African independence movements and attitudes to class, race and gender were also beginning to change.

Yet, the ordinary Britons Panorama spoke to seemed fairly happy with the status quo. Indeed, the 1959 general election was characterised by Prime Minister Harold MacMillan's phrase . A Panorama film on Harlow New Town highlighted the paradox.

The programme revisited in Essex - one of the first New Towns created by the - to see if the brave social experiment of creating a new town was working.

1959 - a Panorama Guide - spoke to historian Dominic Sandbrooke who said such town planning was an attempt to create "a new Jerusalem". offered people the opportunity to move from war-torn cities to green fields, fresh air and modern housing.

Unfortunately, out of keeping with the spirit of the social experiment, the inhabitants of Harlow New Town carried with them those old attitudes of class and division. Many that Panorama spoke to advocated the working class and the middle class live in separate areas of Harlow. Nothing like knowing one's place.

Many of the subjects Panorama covered in 1959 continued to illustrate the clash between changing Britain and its people - Panorama coverage of perennial hot topics like race; namely - proved this. The had formed in 1958 and was vehemently opposed to non-white immigration, as Panorama found when they interviewed its leadership.

Panorama saw visions of the future in its coverage of gang culture in the US and its possible effects of British youth, the rise of new spiritualism in the guise of health foods and popular protest with the growth of the .

The sixties are often cited as the birth of women's liberation. Panorama found attitudes rather different in 1959 when it looked at the lack of women in UK politics. Interviews with members of the public showed a lack of desire for female politicians in general. Several scoffed at the notion of a female prime minister. Rather ironic in the year that the future first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, entered Parliament as the Member for Finchley.

That election .

However, the party was to be brushed aside in the 1960s, with , satire, and the breaking-down of many establishment barriers ending their dominance.

Indeed, the party would enjoy only one more election victory after 1959, until 1979 and the coming of that first female prime minister. So maybe the British weren't quite so averse to change after all.

The way in which you can find and watch previous Panorama programmes online has changed for the better.

For those that don't know, in most cases Panorama programmes can be watched online for 12 months after they are broadcast, but where is the best place to find these films?

As ever you can go to for the most recent programme.

When you come to the you can also find clear links to the last four Panorama programmes.

Now there's a one-stop shop for catching up on Panorama programmes online.

All you need to do is click on "Previous Episodes" on the left hand side of the Panorama homepage.

There you'll find a brand new Panorama programmes page which allows you to watch the latest Panorama immediately.

It also looks ahead to next week's programme, has information and links to the previous four programmes before that and has a link to the nine programmes before that too as well as links to programme information dating back to 2007.

On Tuesday, Russia announced a until 2011. reported President Dmitry Medvedev as saying it was needed to fend off threats posed by Nato's expansion, international terrorism and local conflicts.

Amir Taheri writing in the however, believed re-armament is due, in part, to fears about ethnic unrest, China's rise and Islamist militancy and that no-one in Moscow believes war with Nato is even remotely probable.

Jeeves posting on the said the clues they were going to re-arm have been around for a while, but as points out, the move comes as Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered to "scrap" part of Britain's nuclear deterrent in exchange for a global disarmament deal.

In Panorama's 2008 Should we be Scared of Russia? reporter Mark Franchetti investigated the growing gulf between Russia and the West and asked if the current tensions might degenerate into a new Cold War or even a violent confrontation.

On Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI made his first trip to Africa and, as reported on the , he reignited the controversy over the Catholic Church's stance on condoms. The pontiff argued that distribution of condoms aggravated the problem, rather than helping to contain the virus, the blogger said.

commented that there is a need to acknowledge the quality of life wearing a condom can bring, to areas so heavily afflicted by Aids.

Also part of the debate, The Guardian's Comment is Free ran an article by Catholic writer who said, in ways the Pope was right - Aids cannot be solved by condoms, as they are only effective in reducing the spread of Aids if they are used in certain ways.

The article mentioned a Panorama from 2004 called which examined the science of condom use, asking if people promoting condoms, or those in the Catholic Church - who want to stop condoms being used - were risking lives.

Thursday, and claimed that Phill Woolas, the immigration minister, had gaffed by saying that a new Sangatte would be built by the French and British.

It comes after French Immigration Minister Eric Besson recently told an interviewer that his government would build in Calais - where migrants could get food, sanitation and information about their rights.

The news was perceived by some as a new era of "mini-Sangattes" which might signal a green light to illegal immigrants thinking about coming to the UK.

accused French officials of performing a U-turn to give the go-ahead - saying illegal immigrants "are set to flock to new mini-Sangattes".

When Panorama recently looked at the issue on Immigration - Time for an Amnesty? reporter Raphael Rowe hosted a lively debate about an amnesty for UK illegal immigrants on his blog

Also on Thursday, reported that a survey of 6,000 people by The Federation of Small business had found a third of small businesses are being hit hard by bank charges with banks either putting up their fees or making the terms of their loans more onerous.

Banks lending to small businesses came under scrutiny in a recent Panorama - Credit Where it's Due. In it Business Secretary Lord Mandelson told reporter and Dragon's Den star that it's not possible for the government to become a banker: "We have to get the banks to work," he said.

Separate from the Panorama programme, but on the same theme, the internet site gave Theo some questions to ask Lord Mandelson.

On Friday, as reported, former health secretary Patricia Hewitt declared her support for a law change which would enable people to take terminally ill patients abroad for assisted suicide, without fear of prosecution.

Jonny Wright in his blog said that although part of him wants to be cynical about her statement, he believes it is "genuinely a cross-party issue, and if she can achieve something with her campaign, then all power to her."

This was echoed by who said the ability and right to choose when we die is part of what defines us as human.

took a closer look at what was behind Patricia Hewitt's statement declaring that "she has been troubled for many years when contemplating her mortality and the dilemmas of people whose relatives find life unbearable".

But reported that the prime minister had signalled his opposition to the proposal.

Friday was also the

Six years on, and violence and insecurity are no longer the main concern of most Iraqis an , partly commissioned by the ±«Óãtv, suggested.

To mark the anniversary, Panorama reporter Jane Corbin put togetherfrom the five years she had been reporting from the country, since the invasion started.

Also to mark the date set up a thread of remembrance, but many bloggers like wondered why there has been so little in the news about it.

On Monday in Northern Ireland, a policeman was murdered by dissident republicans, just 48 hours after two soldiers were shot dead by the Real IRA in Antrim.

Panorama reporter John Ware, who has covered Northern Ireland extensively, wrote in that the unionists' response to the recent violence would be crucial for the peace process.

And Dean Godson, writing in , said the episode yielded impressive displays of cross-party unity but highlighted the risks in the dismantling of Northern Ireland's security structure.

Northern Ireland blogger said that while many of us are back to our "old roles as armchair generals" and "ideological analysts", there seems to be a consensus that heavy handed security swoops and mass arrests are not the answer.

Panorama's was made last year, 10 years after the Good Friday Agreement. In it we found that segregation was very much still alive.

Tuesday, and ±«Óãtv Secretary Jacqui Smith, was at the launch of a government inquiry into the apparent "sexualisation" of young girls by advertisers and manufacturers. said it has been unveiled as part of a wider probe into violence against women.

seemed especially qualified to comment. "As the mother of a teenage girl this is something that has concerned me since she was old enough to ask me for a one shouldered top, aged 8," the blogger said. And as a former designer of childrenswear, she thinks that retailers in most cases, are in absolute denial they have any part to play.

, looked at the issue - asking if and why children were getting older, younger.

On Thursday, child social services were once again under scrutiny with the publication of Lord Laming's review into child protection.

Lord Laming - who chaired the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie - gaveon how to protect children from harm.

said Lord Laming's recommendations after Victoria Climbie's murder, led to the expensive and disproportionate response and his new  proposals are more of the same.

pays less attention to criticising Lord Laming however, and prefers to point the finger at the media saying that over worked social workers make such great media scapegoats.

The influence of workloads on children's social workers was looked at during Panorama's into the mistakes and missed opportunities that led to the death of Baby P.

On Friday, campaigners lost their legal battle to block the expansion of Stansted Airport in Essex. reported that BAA is free to raise capacity at the airport by 40%- to thirty five million passengers - a year, but will face tough financial penalties if its service to passengers and airlines is poor.

The group opposing the proposals, the Stop Stansted Expansion (SSE), were ordered to pay the government's legal costs from the High Court hearing - up to an agreed limit of £20,000, reported .

Eamonn Walsh writing for the Panorama blog, at the start of the year, suggested that 2009 was seemingly continuing a trend of previous years for anti-airport expansion campaigns.

He blogged some video archive, showing the roots of post-war airport planning, by revisiting Panorama's 1985 film Blot On The Runway.

Over the weekend booze was in the news when the government's top medical adviser drew up plans for a minimum price on alcohol by saying no drinks could be sold for less than 50p per unit of alcohol they contain.

called it "the slippery slope to back door prohibition" while blogger did his maths and worked out that if he doesn't include the absinthe, his household will be looking at a £5.30 increase on the cost of their current drink's cupboard.

The increase has not pleased who said the government should change the behaviour of harmful drinkers "rather than punish everyone by setting a minimum price for alcohol." 

In 2004, how the drinks industry's legal offensive around 24hr drinking, had helped transform our high streets.

Many commentators, like this one in The Times, refer to it as a . The-then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher called her opponents . The language alone stands as testimony of one of the bitterest periods of industrial unrest in recent British history.

The year-long miners' strike - which began in earnest 25 years ago this week as a response to a government pit closures programme - has been variously defined as the last stand of the working class under attack or an attempt to curb union power which was claimed to have done so much damage to the British economy in the 70s.

The truth, as always, falls somewhere between the two.

Twenty five years on has seen the nostalgia industry move in - with a slew of , documentaries and - hard though it might be to believe - the strike making a charting the last 120 years or so of British life - and of course British baking.

If you're too young to remember the strike should fill in the gaps.

Alongside the nostalgia, the writers of history on both sides have been busy creating their own drafts - a Tory Radio blog reprints on the strike - and the old leader of the National Union of Mineworkers Arthur Scargill has been writing at length with .

Interestingly, alongside the Scargill article, the Guardian felt the need to print an some of his comments. The wounds are still deep.

Not surprisingly, many events of that year became ingrained on the conscience; , , flying pickets and bussed-in police, , of a dead south Wales taxi driver and the colliery bands playing on the march back to work.

±«Óãtv has used the anniversary to present a wide-ranging collection of material looking at the importance of coal mining to Britain. Several Panoramas about the strike feature; The Coal War, Is the Coal face Crumbling? and How Much Longer?

One Panorama film which didn't make their collection - The Bitter End? - was broadcast in December 1984 as the strike entered its ninth month. The film looked at the violence of the strike - police on miner, miner on police and perhaps most caustic of all - miner on miner as the ferocity of the struggle reached a peak. You can watch an abridged sequence here.

That peak though also marked the beginning of the end of the strike - unable to achieve the aim of forcing the government's hand by bringing about power cuts, the strikes leadership saw the government's resolve harden and by early 1985 a return to work seemed inevitable.

Such a left no real winners. The miners returned to work en masse defeated but proud. The government continued with its pit closures programme. The Conservative hierarchy of the time, in the shape of former Trade and Industry Secretary "the scale of the closures went too far. The damage done to those communities was enormous".

Lord Tebbit's comments highlight the obvious losers - the rank and file miners who found themselves between a government intent on the closure of much of their industry and a union leadership which backed them into a corner.

The mine-workers' unions never had widespread public support for the strike - the lack of a national ballot on strike action was often said to be crucial in that - but the dignity and strength of the miners and their families .

Public sympathy was not enough to stop the pit closures programme of course and today - 25-years on from the miners' strike - operate in the UK.

On Wednesday, the ever prevalent issue of knife crime was back in the news, as Karl Bishop was of Harry Potter actor Rob Knox outside a bar in south-east London.

Bishop had repeatedly stabbed the 18-year-old to death. He was also convicted of wounding the young actor's friends. Eric Ditzian, writing for MTV online, reports that Rob Knox had at the time of the incident, and signed up for another Harry Potter film.

Panorama has looked at youth crime and knives a number of times, most recently when Raphael Rowe spoke to convicted knife attackers in their cells for Panorama's Jailed for a Knife.

In contrast to Bishop, all five young men interviewed for the programme claimed to have been carrying knives for self-protection, and although they were aware that using a knife was illegal, insights from these young men suggest that the immediate threat of violence held greater sway than the distant threat of a prison sentence.

On Thursday, , with the help of a Swiss assisted suicide clinic.

Peter and Penelope Duff, who both had terminal cancer, have reignited the debate around euthanasia. The Telegraph reported that and Ruth Gledhill writing in The Times' blog, Articles of Faith, wrote that the paper had obtained copies of the draft General Medical Council guidelines, which suggests .

In May 2006, Panorama asked if we should with terminal illnesses to receive medical assistance to die.

We spoke to people from both sides of the debate, including the husband of the late Diane Pretty who is forceful in his belief that assisted suicide for the suffering and terminally ill should be legalised.

Panorama, with politician and Parkinson's sufferer Margo MacDonald, also looked at the truth behind assisted dying last year, in the programme I'll Die When I Choose.

In this film we uncovered shocking evidence of 'suicide hoods' and showed a moving interview with Margo's life-long friend and leader of Scotland's Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien.

On Friday, Lauren Milligan writing in vogue.com reported that Katherine Kirk, formerly of Gap, has been brought on board by Primark - as a about the brand.

The Times reported back in October how the country's 'green' consumers believe that, out of all the clothing retailers on the high street, when it comes to failing to address social and environmental issues. This is noted by a blogger at Daisy Green Magazine who says it will make them on whether to buy cheap clothes, which may have been made by children.

Panorama recently won awards for it's expose on Primark which aired in June last year but as recently as January 2009, the a Primark supplier -TNS Knitwear - was employing illegal workers in poor conditions at its Manchester factory.