Being Alan Johnston

Hi, it’s Leonardo here, just back from White City where I went to see Alan Johnston. He was speaking at the BBC News & Sport Festival.

Always generous in his words, worried about not boring the audience with his stories (as if).

And as strange as it seems, a sense of humour that seems to have only been sharpened by four months in captivity.

But the main satisfaction was to see that the messages the WHYS played for him meant so much in those dark Gaza days.

Should the US be scared of Europe?

Morning / afternoon / evening, Peter Dobbie here with news of today’s World Have Your Say, on air at 1800 GMT :o) Today:SHOULD THE US BE SCARED OF EUROPE ?
One of the biggest threats to US security may now come from within Europe, according to the US Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff. He told the BBC that militant attacks and plots in Europe over recent years had made the US aware of the “real risk that Europe will become a platform for terrorists”.

The right to see a doctor

Hello, Leonardo back here at TV Centre with my initial thoughts for today’s programme.

Do illegal immigrants and failed asylum-seekers have the right to free medical treatment? Not in many countries and no longer in the UK, if the government has its way.

The British Department of Health is proposing new legislation to deny people who lose a claim for asylum the right to see a doctor from the National Health System.