Talking points 27 June

Good morning! It’s a slightly bleary-eyed Priya blogging today after last night’s Euro 2008 semi final in an especially boisterous World Service bar. Thanks Mike and Bob for watching the blog while I slept.

It’s also Fuchsia’s last day on the programme 😦 From now on she will be far far away from us (sitting about three desks down at Newshour). So I’ll begin with her suggestion:

Is there anything wrong with swearing?

She has blogged about it already, so keep leaving your comments there.

What’s on John McCain’s ipod?

Barack Obama has told the world what tickles his musical fancy. Howlin’ Wolf, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones and Jay Z tick most of the electoral demographic boxes on his wannabe presidential ipod (where’s the Latino artist though?) What might be on his rival John McCain’s MP3 player? Any suggestions?

On air: Has Mandela turned the tide against Mugabe?

Just a few words, but what difference will they make? Last night Former South African President Nelson Mandela used a London dinner marking his 90th birthday to criticise Robert Mugabe’s regime he spoke of the “tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe.”

Is there anything wrong with swearing?

British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has been so foul-mouthed in his series ‘Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares’ that Australian senators are considering changing their country’s broadcasting standards. According to one senator, Ramsay used the ‘F-word’ 80 times in one 40-minute show (“And I’m not referring to fondue,” he added).