Blank Page No. 22

Abdelilah in Morocco and Brett in Virginia are your hosts for this weekend’s Blank Page with some help from Nelsoni in Nigeria. Over to you…

A ring tone to die (of shame) for?

It’s one of the first rules of radio — switch off your mobile phone before going into the on-air studio. Or, better still, leave it outside. Sounds easy enough. But most radio producers have committed this cardinal sin at some point — breezing in, forgetting to turn the damn thing off. And most of the time you’ll get away with it. But not always…

From Palin to power?

John McCain has picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. It’s fair to say people didn’t see that one coming. What do you think?

On air: Do speeches change the world?

And do they change how you vote? It had been previewed for months, and whether he wins or not, it’ll be talked about for years. But what real impact will Barack Obama’s speech have?

Do you still think Obama was the wrong choice?

Those of you who came on yesterday’s show or blog post and said the Democracts picked the wrong candidate, did his speech change your mind?

Should public money be spent on art?

This is a debate that’s been hotting up here in Britain after an appeal was launched to keep two 16th century paintings on public display, and they want to the government to help. I’m interested to know how this debate plays out where you are – does your government spend enough on art and culture — or too much?

Talking points for 29th August

Hi everyone, Kate here today – Thank-you to Sheikh for a great moderating debut.

On air: Did the Democrats pick the wrong person?

As I write Mark and Madeleine have hot footed it to a London pub where Democrats Abroad have organised a gathering of young supporters. We’re hoping to come live from the pub later………assuming we have no technical problems!

Talking Points for 28th August

Hello, it’s Kate with you today. Thanks to Nelson for moderating, if you’d like to try moderating just let me know.
Ex-US President Bill Clinton publicly gave his full support to presidential-hopeful Barack Obama yesterday…

Russia Defiant

The crisis in Georgia has been called the deepest in European security since the Balkan wars of the 1990s. And unlike the wars in Yugoslavia this one pits Russia against the US, although via a a proxy.