Want to sound informed, but just couldn’t find the energy or inclination to watch the BBC's Newsnight? Well, no worries because I’ve done it for you. Here’s a recap of last night’s Newsnight, this morning.

Is inflation getting stuck in reverse?

Turning good news into bad news, heralding the information that inflation has lowered to 1.2 %, Evan tells us “Britain is sliding into deflation and stagnation”. Newsnight illustrated that by showing a clip of George Osborne announcing the happy news. BUT IS IT HAPPY? Trying to make economics fun, Duncan Weldon goes to the mall with cheery backing music. Apparently, the UK aims for an inflation target of 2% because anything below that starts having a bad effect on households, because people stop spending. A handy graphic shows us that in Sep 2009 inflation fell to 1.1% - and that was not a good time. High inflation has its own problems, such as people asking for higher wages, but now we’re at the other end of the spectrum.  Experts talk about cutting wages, a problem which has clearly been highlighted with recent, fully justified NHS strikes. This is happening on a bigger scale in the Eurozone, where inflation in countries is all below 1%. Inflation is low because spending is low.

Evan asks whether we should be pleased or peeved. Thanks Evan.

In the studio: George Magnus (columnist and author), Zanny Minton Beddoes (business affairs editor of The Economist) and Stewart Cowley (Investment Director, Old Mutual Global Investors). Zanny is worried. George is also worried. We don’t enjoy “good deflation” anymore, because we have a chronically deficient demand. Basically, we are all tight wads. Stewart says the balance is off – the real economy is far removed from the new money, such as financial assets, which are rocketing. George who explains ‘secular stagnation’ it for us: a condition in the economy where we are stuck with low interest rates. This happens for a number of reasons – everyone’s saving money, and people get used to this. We get stuck in a vicious cycle. Zanny stresses this is happening all over the world. She blames austerity – politicians are sending fiscal policy in the opposite direction of the market. George is concerned that we will get stuck down here and there will be no sign of escape. Evan’s using some top metaphors, as per – referring to the economy as a dog barking. Zanny is being very pessimistic. She basically says we’re going to create a deflationary world for ourselves. George absolutely concurs. Stewart looks uncomfortable.    

Western Strategy in Iraq and Syria

Is there one? Nick Hopkins says there is. There was a meeting regarding this yesterday – Phillip Hammond has hinted there might be a little more British aid on the way: we are prepared to provide specialist roles for training but NO COMBAT LEAP. Nick says that Britain is training Syrian rebels and Iraqi security forces in Saudi Arabia or Jordan. The West has already spent quite a lot on training the Iraqi army, but apparently there are only 3 battalions that are up to scratch. A soldier told Nick: “For want of a better phrase, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. The Iraqi army need the backing of the people of Iraq…they need something worth fighting for.” This is something worth fighting for. Nick concludes that Britain has slowly been drawn into the conflict evermore…”Mission Creep”.

The Man Booker Prize winner

Richard Flanagan’s ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’. Kirsty Wark is at the Prize Winning dinner with Richard. It’s a book about the building of the death railway in Japan, about his father. Richard describes it as the “book he had to write” and could “not escape from” the novel. Threw away 5 books before writing this, and felt he had to write the book before his dad died. The book and the experiences of those working on the death railway sound incredibly harrowing. Richard is also an environmentalist, so Kirsty asked him his reaction to Tony Abbott’s words that ‘coal is good for people’. He’s very angry, and claims to be ashamed to be Australian. He wants to preserve the beautiful places of Australia, and believes that the majority of Australians feel the same way. He’s a very gracious winner and is proud to be amongst the other Booker nominees.

Evan wants to know what Richard would do with the money. Typical.

The Need for Speed is Evan’s bizarre segue into Cameron’s English Votes for English Laws spiel. Where is he going with this? Seriously. Laura Kuenssberg is here. She says the Tories think the current situation is very unfair, but really they want to beat UKIP to tackling the issue because then there will be no hope. Laura says most of us don’t care about it. Speak for yourself, Laura. Labour don’t think that it’s worth taking seriously…they don’t want to piss off the Scots, and don’t think they’d win a load of votes from actually talking about it. There’s another debate on Thursday…

…But first there’s a debate in the studio, with Peter Oborne and Sue Cameron of the Telegraph. Peter thinks that Cameron being a bit rash – this is a very important issue and they are putting it in the hands of William Hague, what a joke! Peter says Hague knows nothing about the constitution and calls the Tories’ committee “grubby”. Sue Cameron (relation?) thinks this is not true and it won’t make a big difference either way. She thinks they should just get on with it and not bother taking a great deal of time over the matter. Peter obviously disagrees…he asks if we have EV4EL, will we need a separate PM for England and not Britain??  It is getting feisty between Peter and Sue. Peter wants to safeguard the constitution while Sue thinks it is not a big deal at all…I think Peter called her a proto-fascist?

Ched Evans

He was convicted of rape in 2012 and sentenced for 5 years in jail. Evans is being released on parole three years too early, and he wants to start playing football again for Sheffield United. However, around 150,000 people have signed a petition to tell SU not to sign him. Evan is joined by Polly Neate from Women’s Aid, who says employing a convicted rapist would not do wonders for Sheffield’s reputation. She says rehabilitation into society is important, but as a footballer it’s a different type of integration – he is held up as an idol, being a footballer, and SU has shown little remorse for the situation. Evan is also joined by Shehneela Ahmed, a Football Agent. She also says that the fact he’s a footballer makes all the difference – he’ll be earning a whack and is a role model. She points out that little is being said of the victim. Evan asks whether the nature of the crime makes a difference, and Polly notes that for any serious crime a similar approach would be taken. It’s important to protect the principle of integration after a release, but both Shehneela and Polly agree that the fact he’s in the public eye, the very nature of his occupation, is the key factor.

We finish with John W Kempster’s photo album of the Olympic and the Titanic. Very nice pictures, you can see some here at The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/14/unseen-titanic-launch-photographs-exhibited-belfast

And that’s it from Evan and the team, Editor Ian Katz.