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1200 Andrew welcomes our guest for the whole programme today: Lord Powell, Charles Powell as was, who was Margaret Thatcher's private secretary for foreign affairs and is now President of the China-Britain Business Council.

1204 Nine years would seem a reasonable amount of time for a government to make the criminal justice system work. But Tony Blair has finally admitted today that it's not happening. A catalogue of mishaps in the last few weeks has forced Mr Blair into his "mea culpa" and he's now told his ministers to get a grip on the situation. Laura reminds us how they lost it in the first place.

1206 Laura speaks to the Director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti.

1208 Andrew gets the views of the former Labour minister and member of the constitutional affairs committee, Keith Vaz, and Laura looks at your emails on criminal justice.

1216 Supermarkets have come in for a fair slice of criticism in recent months. Whether it's their impact on our high street, their dealings with farmers, or what's on the shelf, it's hard to get through a week without hearing one gripe or another about "big food". As the Competition Commission gears up to investigate the sector, some people won't be happy until we give up our weekly supermarket shop altogether. Giles has been let out of the office to meet a man who favours finding his food right under his feet.

1221 If we were to say Hugo Chavez to you, you could be forgiven for thinking "Who?" - but the arrival of the Venezuelan President on a visit to Britain has got lefties everywhere in a state of near-frenzy. He may be on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world, but who is he?
Well, the baseball-loving Chavez was elected in 1998 and survived an American-led coup four years ago. He opposed the Iraq war and has called Tony Blair an "ally of Hitler". He says he's a champion of the poor, using his country's huge oil reserves to help Venezuelans buy food, learn to read, and write and improve healthcare.
Last night, Signor Chavez arrived in the UK where he spoke at a rally organised by the Greater London Authority. This morning, he met trade unionists and he'll shortly be having lunch with the London Mayor Ken Livingstone. Laura speaks to Aleksander Boyd, a Venezuelan writer who's less convinced.

1224 Andrew talks to MP Colin Burgon, who'll be meeting Mr Chavez later as head of the Labour Friends of Venezuela.

1227 Your emails and questions for our guests.

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