Man Alive

Is it murder or mercy to ' allow' a badly damaged baby to die? The dilemma was highlighted in a trial at Leicester Crown Court in November when a consultant paediatrician was found not guilty of the attempted murder of a baby. In the Special Care Baby Unit at Whickham General Hospital, mothers - and fathers - of badly damaged babies are encouraged to live in the unit, to share the life-or-death decisions with the nurses and doctors. The film follows three babies and their parents. Should the artificial feeding be stopped? Should the parents allow their baby to die? Can a mother be taught to love a baby she couldn't even look at?

The National Council for Civil Liberties has frequently clashed with the Police Federation, which represents the views of 116000 ordinary policemen and policewomen, over police powers and citizens' rights. But the two sides rarely meet to thrash out their differences. In this second programme Patricia Hewitt and Paul Boateng of the Mm. visit the Police Federation's annual conference in, Scarborough to put their

When Ian Coulter was Director of Information at British Steel he witnessed the closure of the steel plant in Ebbw Vale. Later, he too was made redundant. This evening he returns to tell an audience at the Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre that the days of their town's prosperity and full employment are over; they must be prepared to move to find work and not expect work to come to them. With him is ec3nomic planner Professor Nat Lichfield who spells out the choices facing Ebbw Vale, and give his views about the town's future.

It's 100 years since Darwin's death, but at the Institute for Creation Research at San Diego, California, they believe that in time his theory of evolution will become as extinct as the flat earth theory of the Middle Ages. They believe that the account of creation in the first chapter of Genesis is true and they claim they have scientific evidence to prove it. What's more, this month they are contesting a court case in Louisiana to have 'scientific creationism' taught in schools. Professor Michael Ruse, author of "Darwinism Defended", and The Rev Lord Soper are appalled. Confronting an audience of students and staff they maintain that 'creationism is bunk'.

Martin Webster is a founder member of a consortium of doctors seeking to build Glasgow's first major private hospital. He is also a National Health Service consultant at the Cannisburn Hospital, Glasgow. This evening in a lecture theatre at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary, he tries to persuade fellow consultants, hospital doctors, nurses and ancillary workers who are opposed to his scheme, that private and National Health Service hospitals should exist side by side. With him is Dr Stanley Balfour-Lynn , European Director of American Medical International, which owns or manages 120 private hospitals around the world, and would like to expand into Scotland.

It's the contention of the Glasgow Media Group, re-stated in its latest book, Really Bad News, that TV news is biased against the left. It has been called a ' shadowy guerrilla force on the fringe of broadcasting ', but this evening its spokesman, Greg Philo , with Michael Meacher , mp, emerge into the spotlights of a Lime Grove studio to argue their case against an audience of BBC and ITV news-men, reporters and producers.

While the Peace Now movement in Israel protests against Prime Minister Begin's politics, two British Jews - Rabbi David Gold-berg and The Rt Hon Reg Freeson , MP - visit Kibbutz Tirat Zevi overlooking the West Bank, to argue that peace will not come to the Middle East unless the Palestinians are eiven the homeland they deserve.

According to Susie Orbach it is. She claims that as a result of her bestselling book, thousands of women have stopped being compulsive eaters and thrown away their diet sheets. According to Weight Watchers, fat is not a feminist issue; fatness is the same problem for men and women and dieting is the best way to cope with it. Susie Orbach, with Clair Chapman and Katina Noble of the Spare Tyre Theatre Group, meet Weight Watchers from the Midlands and North in the Grand Hotel, Manchester, to argue their case.

'The unique character of our countryside is being destroyed by a far-reaching agricultural revolution,' says Marion Shoard , author of The Theft of the Countryside. She and Lord Melchett, farmer and conservationist, believe that this is a national scandal. Farmers, they say, are one of the most subsidised sectors of society; destroying hedgerows, wetlands and woods in their search for greater productivity. Tonight they meet farmers from the Midlands to argue that planning controls should be extended to cover the countryside and that the whole community should have a say in the future of the land.

The Marquis of Douro is a Euro mp, and a direct descendant of the Iron Duke of Wellington. With Spain in NATO and wanting to join the EEC. he believes that Britain cannot keep Gibraltar to itself. The Rock should be ruled jointly by the kingdoms of Britain and Spain. He is supported by Senator Fernando Moran , a major foreign affairs spokesman for the Spanish Socialist Party, which is strongly tipped to win the forthcoming general election. Is Gibraltar the last colonial outpost in Europe? Do some 28,000 Gibraltarians have the right to self-determination or must they pay the price for European unity? Lord Douro and Senator Moran will put their case to an assembled group of Gibraltarians who have just won a long battle to gain British citizenship.