| MONDAY 23RD MARCH 22.30 GMT - BBC TWO PRESENTED BY JEREMY PAXMAN Jeremy Paxman presents Newsnight tonight. Our Economics Editor Paul Mason begins his tour of countries formerly behind the Iron Curtain in Latvia tonight. There the end of easy credit and a housing boom has left the emerging middle class high and dry. Eastern Europe faces a slump on the scale of the 1930s as the newly emerging market economies wither under the onslaught that stronger countries can for the time being still weather. But what happens in the Eastern bloc could actually have an impact on all of us. Find out how tonight - and follow Paul's progress through Latvia, Ukraine and Slovakia on his blog here Back in the UK, Ken Clarke waded in over the weekend to say that the all-important Tory Inheritance Tax promise was no more than an aspiration, political code among the cynical for 'we probably aren't going to do it after all'. The Conservative High Command sprang into action to affirm that this was a solid promise firmly in the next election manifesto and would be honoured come what may. End of story? Well perhaps not. As the bill for the economic rescue packages mount, there's a growing political acceptance on all sides that high taxes or austerity will be required once the current crisis is over in order to balance the books. Our Political Editor Michael Crick reports on what that means for the next election campaign if no-one can convincingly promise anything but a long miserable slog out of recession. Meanwhile, the US Treasury Secretary today announced his latest plans to neutralise £1tn of toxic debts in the US banking system. Put simply that means that a whole lot of those sub-prime mortgages that kicked off the credit crunch in the first place will soon be sealed in concrete and buried deep under ground for a thousand years. And thus set free, the banks will start lending again. It all sounds good but will it work? And, perhaps just as importantly, will the Obama presidency stand or fall on how effective the plan is in rejuvenating the US economy? All that and IPL cricket too. That's Newsnight at 10:30 on BBC2. Click here to watch the latest programme online | 
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