A colonial life

We’re off air now, but you can listen again on our podcast page from 2000GMT.

Hello everyone. Two topics today and both chosen by you. Africans and smokers we particularly want to hear your comments (and if you’re an African smoker then you score double points).

PARENTS SHOULD BE BANNED FROM SMOKING AT HOME
Lydia in Canada sent me this email earlier… She’d like to talk with you.’A town in Canada recently voted in favour of making it illegal for parents to smoke in the car while minor children are present. I think it’s a great law and would love to see it extended to include smoking in private homes (when children are present). Could make for an interesting discussion.’If you’d like to come on air and counter or support Lydia’s argument, please email me with your comment and phone number.

WAS AFRICA BETTER UNDER COLONIAL RULE? I’m sure most of you saw that the former Zimbabwe leader Ian Smith died on Tuesday. Since then, thousands of people have been getting in touch… Many of course to talk about the man, but others are raising the issue of whether Zimbabwe was better under Smith than under black African rule. Others have gone further still suggesting that this applies to many other countries in the continent.We’d like to hear from those of you in Africa… Is your life better than it would be under colonial rule? Here’s the debate about Ian Smith.

SHOULD WE HAVE INCLUDED THESE DEBATES? Here are some ideas (all tied to news stories and debates this week) that didn’t quite make the cut today.

If you’d like to hear them on later editions let us know.- Should we take more care of the elderly?-

Is being an honest and successful politician impossible?-

Is Afghanistan going to fall to the Taliban again?

And are the efforts of the British and Americans coming to nothing?

- Is the world too obsessed with sport? (England went out of the football European Championships yesterday and the reaction is certainly not understated.)

Peter’s back at the controls tomorrow. I’ll speak to you later and again on Monday.

Goodmorning…

Hi again..it’s Karnie blogging again..I finally got the hang of getting here on time..just get up really really early and plant yourself at a train station so you have so many options that you have NO chance of getting stuck on a delayed train into London!  Well that method worked today at least!  Hope you are all well..

England are out of the European championships!  The country that “sold” football to the world failed last night to qualify for a major tournament.   The coach Steve McClaren  has been sacked.   Is English football just not good enough and where does it all go wrong?

Middle East Peace talks, Condoleeza Rice says talks at Annapolis  (next week)  represents a big step forward..politicians can talk all the want but  are they really listening to what the people in the Palestinian territories and Israel really want?  

In South Carolina in the United States political consultants will go to great extremes to smear the the character of political campaigners.   Flyers appeared on cars calling Obama a muslim extremist, a theory he was forced to deny during his campaign tour. An anonymous email claims Hillary Clinton was having a lesbian affair with her aide, Huma Abedin…Rob Shealy a Republican consultant says: We’re going to see new lows in dirty politics that would have been unthinkable.” Outrageous or just simply an essential political tool?

“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad behaviour is dangerous for Iran”.   These are comments coming from a hardline newspaper within the country.   Such a direct personal attack against President Ahmadinejad is  rare in official media in Iran.  Is this criticism reassuring and does it take away the feeling of apprehension about Iran’s nuclear development programme?

Marriage in the UK is at the centre of political debate.  With the politicians agreeing that stability is hugely important for children. A columnist here in the UK talks about:   “Why we all need to commit”. Have we lost the way in relationships and is stability too boring?