Is There an Alternative to the License Fee?

The US and Russia have held high-level talks over the tension in Ukraine, aimed at lowering the chances of war. The BBC’s Diplomatic Correspondent, James Landale, and Steve Rosenberg, our Moscow Correspondent, join Adam to try and figure out what both sides are thinking.

Armando Iannucci, creator of satires like ‘The Thick of It’ and ‘The Death of Stalin’, gives us his take on the political turbulence, at Westminster in particular, as well as his reasons for campaigning to protect the BBC’s long-term funding.   There were two big music stories today too: Adele’s Las Vegas postponement and the death of the rocker Meat Loaf. Entertainment reporter Sinéad Garvan drops by to tell us more.

First stop: we hear from a pretty recognisable voice on the government’s plan to limit the number of “spam” tannoy announcements on English trains.   Today’s Newscast was made by Daniel Wittenberg with Ben Cooper and Georgia Coan. The studio director was Emma Crowe and the assistant editor was Sam Bonham.