G8 emission cut promises: Can you wait till 2050?

It’s been described as an historic agreement by the British PM Gordon Brown. The world’s richest industrial nationshave agreed to cut their carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 and to try to limit global warming to just 2C (3.6F) above pre-industrial levels. But is 2050 too little too late? If we’re feeling the impact now why plans being made for the next 41 years?

On Air: Does everyone have the right to be a parent?

You’ve been sharing your thoughts and stories on whether everyone should be a parent for a week now and the latest is scientists are suggesting that everyone might be able to. Scientists claim to have created human sperm in the laboratory and believe the work could eventually help men with fertility problems.

The power of women protesters

As riot and paramilitary police flood the city of Urumqi in China’s Xinjiang region, Uighur women took to the streets in to protest the imprisonment of their husbands and loved ones.

Obama and Africa

President Obama makes his sub-Saharan Africa debut with a visit to Ghana next week and WHYS is doing a TV special to discuss it. We’re looking for African and American guests in London, Johannesburg, Lagos, Washington and New York to take part in the discussion (that’s where we have TV studios), so let us know if you’re interested in participating.

On air: Is the Islamic world guilty of double standards?

We had such an overwhelming response to yesterday’s programme on the burqa, and many of you have told us you’d like to continue the discussion, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do today. There were a few clear themes that emerged out of show – Maxine summed up the thoughts of quite a few of you…

Should politicians’ kids be off limits ?

President Obama says photographers cannot take snaps of his children unless they’re at official events. 

 But if it’s OK to use your kids when you want to get elected, can you then decree when and where they get their picture taken once you’re in power?

Raping a woman: one man’s story

“When I was fifteen years old,I look part in a gang rape”

One in four South African men has raped a woman, according to a survey out this month. It’s a saddening, but not suprising statistic for Dumisani Rebombo to learn. When he was fifteen, he joined in the gang rape of a woman, under pressure from his friends to prove that he was ‘a man’. Dumisani has written about the experience for the BBC website. Read his story here.

Are symbolism and revenge part of justice?

Extraordinary evil. That’s how the judge described the actions of Bernard Madoff, before sentencing the convicted fraudster to 150 years behind bars.

There’s no doubt that Madoff has ruined countless lives with his litany of lies over decades. There have even been suicides attributed to the damage he caused.

Madoff: did the judge get it right?

150 years for Bernard Madoff. Is that the right figure? His lawyer had complained before the sentence about a sense of “mob vengeance” in the way victims were campaigning? If that’s proved to be the case, would you mind?

Are we rewriting history over Michael Jackson?

At the Black Entertainment Television awards on Sunday night, there was one comment that got a bigger cheer than any other. To screams of support, host Jamie Foxx yelled, “We want to celebrate this black man. He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody else.” Isn’t this the same identity that Michael Jackson rejected as his skin became lighter and lighter? With his death are we rewriting the history of Michael Jackson’s life?