Talking points 18 March

How far should a parent go to find a sexual partner for her disabled son? That’s exactly what one woman in the UK is actively doing. She’s even going as far to say she would consider paying for a prostitute for her son who has Downs Syndrome.

This blogger asks How many mothers seek hookers for their sons?

Here are some of the conversations going on on a BBC messageboard. This agony aunt in the UK says she believes this young man Otto Baxter, who has Downs, has the right to sex.

On air: Should we try to understand Josef Fritzl?

It’s the second day of the trial of Josef Fritzl in Austria. He’s been labeled a monster but his lawyer says he’s a human being, and Fritzl blames his mother for bullying him.

Does Josef Fritzl deserve some understanding? Can there be any justification for what he did or is he simply evil?

Apologise – or commit suicide ?

Iowa senator Charles Grassley has ATOW jumped to the top of the “most read” charts with his suggestion that disgraced AIG executives should resign – or kill themselves.

“I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.”And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology.”

Talking Points: 17 March

Selling sex legally works according to results in New Zealand. Prostitution has been de-criminalised there for six years. According to one of the women working as a prostitute, conditions have improved and the image of sex workers as poor and vulnerable has been destroyed.  It’s an age old argument, but do the benefits of legalising the sale of sex outweigh the negatives?

On air: Are employers killing you by making you work nights?

The Danish government has set a precedent by paying out compensation to women who have developed breast cancer after working night shifts. The move comes after the UN-backed International Agency For Research On Cancer found that there was an increased likelihood of developing cancer for those who worked nights.

Are you a night worker? Do you feel you’re risking your health for the sake of your job?

Talking Points: 16 March

The trial has begun of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man accused of holding his daughter captive for 24 years and fathering seven children with her. He faces charges of rape, incest, coercion, enslavement and deprivation of liberty. He is also accused of the murder of one of his daughter’s children.

On air: Why is the world full of climate change deniers?

We’ve discussed the issue of climate change on many occasions on WHYS and as each month goes by more experts, more reports come out saying that we are approaching a “tipping point” beyond which we will struggle to reverse the effects on the planet. That’s exactly the message coming from scientists at a climate congress in Copenhagen this week.

Yet as the evidence continues to mount – why as individuals and countries are we failing to take significant action?

On air: Is this justice for the shoe thrower?

Back in December he took out his anger on President Bush by throwing his shoe at him during a trip to Iraq. A grave insult in Arab culture. Today that same journalist, Muntadar al-Zaidi, has been jailed for three years for assaulting a Head of State, despite being hailed a hero in the Arab world.

On air: Should there be a global drug policy now we’ve lost the war?

We are losing the war on drugs in almost every country according to a European Commission report out yesterday. There’s a major international conference in Vienna today to decide how the UN should to tackle the international drugs trade and according to the report the UN’s drug strategy has been a definite failure so far. So why is it so difficult to tackle the international drugs trade?

The right to bear arms?

Why did an apparently perfectly normal 17-year-old in Germany go onto kill 15 people?  It seems he used one of his father’s guns ….So should people be allowed to keep guns at home?