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The government has accepted that it cannot enact all its budget measures before parliament dissolves. And eating more fruit and vegetables only has a modest effect on protecting against cancer, a new study has found.

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0709
The political parties are trading blows over tax policy in the run-up to the general election. The Tories have denied Labour's claims that they will need to raise VAT in order to cover the costs of not raising their planned raise in National Insurance contributions. David frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, and John Whiting, tax policy director at the Chartered Institute of Taxation, analyses the main parties' VAT policies.

0714
The government has struck a deal with the British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline to cut its massive order for swine flu vaccine. Paul Flynn MP, who is part of a Council of Europe investigation into allegations of drug company influence on the World Health Organisation and government policies, reacts to the government's handling of a possible swine flu pandemic.

0717
The business news with Adam Shaw.

0720
At least 35 people are thought to have died yesterday in bomb attacks in Shia areas of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. There is a growing fear that insurgents are making the most of the power vacuum following last month's elections. The BBC's Jim Muir reports from the city.

0722
Would you like help with your housework? Researchers have created a robot that can pick up a towel from a pile of laundry, fold and then stack it. Pieter Abbeel, assistant professor at the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley, and Noel Sharkey, professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield, look back on how robotics have developed in the past 30 years.

0727
Sports news with Jon Myers.

0734
Conservative leader David Cameron yesterday said he was fighting to improve the lives of "the great ignored" - the hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding majority. Similar language was used during the Nixon era in the US, when the powerful idea of "the silent majority" become the prominent phrase. Reporter Sanchia Berg investigates who make up the 'great ignored'.

0739
As the general election campaign builds so will the war over statistics. Tim Harford, presenter of Radio 4's More or Less programme, is fact-checking the numbers and the Today programme would like listeners to help. If you spot any rogue numbers, please email [email protected], or send any campaign literature which appears to use ambiguous figures to: More or Less, Room 1210, White City, Wood Lane, London, W12 7TS.

0742
The paper review.

0745
Comedian Rory Bremner is on his Election Cattlebus comedy tour, performing in the UK's marginal constituencies. Mr Bremner gives his opinion on what can be expected from the election campaign trail.

0749
Thought for the day with Rabbi Lionel Blue.

0752
President Obama has announced a new defence strategy to significantly narrow the circumstances in which the United States would be willing to use nuclear weapons, including ruling out a nuclear response to attacks involving conventional, biological or chemical weapons. Lawrence Korb, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and former assistant secretary of defence under Ronald Reagan, examines the change in US policy.

0810
The Liberal Democrats have announced their plans to make savings of £15bn a year by 2012. The proposals include scraping ID cards, ending government contributions to Child Trust Funds, and introducing a new mansion tax on properties worth over £2m. In the first of the Today programme's party leader interviews, Nick Clegg outlines his party's policies.

0826
Sports news with Jon Myers.

0832
A Christian nurse moved to a desk job after refusing to remove her crucifix at work has lost a discrimination claim against her employers. Shirley Chaplin, who worked at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust Hospital, argued that taking the necklace off would violate her Christian faith, but an employment tribunal ruled that the Trust had acted in a reasonable manner. Ms Chaplin reacts to the ruling.

0836
A senior Taliban commander, Akbar Agha, has been released from jail in Kabul, the BBC has learned. The release has been questioned after friends of Mr Agha claimed that he had been granted a presidential pardon, which a presidential spokesman has said he can not recall. Kate Clark reports.

0842
Serial pole visitor and science writer, Gabrielle Walker, is writing a book about Antarctica due out next year to coincide with the centenary of the Great Race race to the South Pole. She explained the continuing fascination with the forbidding continent.

0845
The business news with Adam Shaw.

0849
The number of fathers giving up work to look after their children has increased ten-fold in the past decade, according to research released today by the insurance company, Aviva. Rob Williams, chief executive of the Fatherhood Institute, explains the new trend.

0852
Is this year's election turning into a presidential race? Yesterday Gordon Brown collected his team on the steps of Downing Street to call the election date. Daniel Finkelstein, columnist for The Times, and Julia Langdon, political journalist and author, assess whether the electorate will be voting for an individual leader or a party.

PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to offer transcripts for our programme interviews. Today is broadcast live and the running order is subject to change.

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