Has Iraq gone back in time ?

    ‘Just when you thought that Iraq was the sideshow and Afghanistan the main event, the far-too-familiar sound of sirens screeching and the bereaved wailing in the streets of Baghdad remind you otherwise…..Yesterday’s attack inevitably raises the question: how fragile is Iraq?”

What’s wrong with being ‘too Westernised’?

Police in a Phoenix suburb are looking for a father who is suspected of running over his daughter for being “too Westernised” and not living according to traditional Iraqi values. Here’s more on the story.

Can religion change a leader’s ways?

Over two hundred Roman Catholic bishops from across Africa have issued an ultimatum to corrupt Catholic political leaders on the continent to repent or quit. Without naming any specific politicians, they believed the continent and the church had been given a bad name. The region needs “saintly politicians who will clean the continent of corruption,” declared the bishops at the Vatican earlier today.Will this ultimatum have any impact? Do we underestimate the impact of faith on a leader’s behaviour?

Are the rich morally obliged to share their wealth?

  This is the story on bbcnews.com. ‘A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes. The group say they have more money than they need, and the extra revenue could fund economic and social programmes to aid Germany’s economic recovery.’ Would you like a tax hike for the rich in your country?

Could we live without rubbish?

Will mountains of rubbish always be with us or could we move towards a zero waste society?

The concept of zero waste has been around since the 70s but more and more companies are shunning land fill and incinerators in favour of recycling, composting – or of getting rid of waste altogether.

But is this just wishful thinking on behalf of a few idealists or could the notion of a society without waste one day be reality? And what about the effect on the economy? Is it worth the sacrifice?

Black Barbie: A good idea?

Meet Grace, Kara and Trichelle. They are the new black Barbies released by Mattell in their latest So In Style or S.I.S line. Why? To fill a gap in the market for young black girls who for so long have been playing with dolls that don’t look like them.

Is famine inevitable in some countries?

After 25 years of a famine that has killed a million people Ethiopia prompted one of the largest charity campaigns in history, the hunger-stricken country is asking for emergency food aid for 6.2 million people.

Is the best way to fight extremism to ignore it?

 It is not often that we pick a completely British story, but this one got us talking most in the meeting.

It is quite close to home - there are protesters outside the BBC’s TV studios because of it.

They are angry because the leader of the far right British National Party, Nick Griffin, will be appearing on BBC TV’s top political programme Question Time tonight.  He was invited on after getting 6% of the vote in recent European elections, as the BBC’s chief political adviser Ric Bailey explained a few weeks ago.

Fat cats ; time to go on a diet…

How would you react to a 90 per cent pay cut ?

leaders of  the seven companies that received bailout cash from the US government, will have to cut their salaries.

  Is this a big triumph for the little taxpayer in the midst of a downturn where unemployment rates are shooting up through the roof? Like this blogger suggests?

Should this man be allowed on TV?

If you allow politicians with extreme views to share a platform with mainstream parties do you run the risk of legitimising them?

In the UK the BBC have invited the leader of far right British National Party to appear on its main political discussion programme.