Is Dubai’s culture of excess too good to last?

South Korea,  India,  Canada, Mexico - you’ll struggle to find a market that hasn’t woken up to the here we go again syndrome today. 

A leading state-owned firm in Dubai has announced  it will be delaying debt repayments for six months, plunging markets into mayhem.

Are we about to embark on global financial crisis  ’round two’? And after decades of lavish living, is it time to say bye bye to Dubai?

Is the credit crunch reshaping our values?

Today in Newshour’s meeting we were chatting about how and if the credit crunch has changed our lives? Is having less money changing our values and our behaviour? Are we becoming less materialistic and is it possible that the credit crunch could actually be good for us?

Can you still afford private education?

It’s James here – scholars of WHYS cameos will know I’ve occasionally sat in the presenter’s chair in the past (I’ve posted the evidence below ).

At the moment i’m working as a reporter for World Service, and I’m wondering if the WHYS community can help with a story i’m looking into. I’m asking whether financial problems are forcing parents to take their kids out of private schools and put them into the public system.

Send me the money

Does your income rely on money sent from a family member working abroad ? Have you travelled away from home to find a job to help support your family ?

If so, you are part of a hugely important area of the world economy – remittances. Last year, an estimated 305 billion dollars of remittances were sent around the globe.

Talking Points for 4 March

Mourners lay wreaths at the site

The Sri Lankan cricketers have returned home and the hunt is on for the gunmen. A reward has been offered for more information. If urdu and cricket were what really united a country as diverse as Pakistan, what happens now?

 

William Dalrymple paints a grim picture of the year since the elections.

On air: Is direct action the only way for young people to get noticed?

On Christmas day we’re handing WHYS over to a panel of young listeners from Kenya, Bangladesh, India, Canada, Zimbabwe, Greece and the US.  We gave them the chance to set the agenda and this is what they want to ask you:

How should young voices be heard . .. .and taken seriously?

House votes down bail-out package!

What will this mean for the global economy?
This has been discussed on WHYS over the last few weeks and now the lower house of the US Congress votes down a $700bn (£380bn) plan to bail out Wall Street, as global shares fall.

Worried about recession in Europe?

So far Denmark is the only European country to be in recession. But there are fears that other EU countries might follow. Spain and Ireland have suffered a housing market collapse and many people have run up huge personal debts. Rising energy prices have added to the gloom. How worried are you about an upcoming recession? What are your worst fears?

Should the unemployed be made to work?

Here in the UK, the government has announced plans to force the long-term unemployed to work full-time or face losing their benefits. Does it sound like something you’d want in your country?

On Air: Has President Bush made the world a better place?

Today we’ll be discussing what’s very much on George Bush’s mind at the moment… how he’ll be remembered. On his farewell trip to Europe, President George W Bush has been thinking about his legacy

At the weekend, in an interview with the Times, he expressed regret of his legacy as a man who wanted war. And wonders if his “gun-slinging rhetoric” didn’t help him be thought of a man of peace. Today Max Hastings in the Daily Mail says that Bush has been the most disastrous president of modern times.

What will his legacy be? Is he the most disastrous president of modern times?  Or has President Bush made the world a better place?