We’ve moved…

After a very happy two and a half years with WordPress, we’re moving back onto the BBC blog platform. This I hasten to add has nothing to do with WordPress, and everything to do with it making sense for a long list of reasons to be back in the BBC fold.

So, please head to worldhaveyoursay.com to carry on the conversation. You’ll need to sign up for a BBC ID, which takes under 5 minutes and then you’ll be in business.

I’m afraid that we we can’t promise to moderate comments on this blog from now on, so it’s much better to make your thoughts known on the new blog. See you on the other side… Cheers, Ros

Normal service resumed

You’ll have noticed that there was a rogue post on this blog for a few hours. We apologise for that. Someone managed to get access while taking away ours. Thanks to the swift assistance of the VIP guys at WordPress, things have been put right. We’re now just starting to go back through the comments that have been left unmoderated today. Meanwhile, the discussion goes on over here.

On air: Should smoking in cars be banned?

I have to confess that when I smoked (which was a very long time ago), driving along with a cigarette was something I used to enjoy. Not that I had any young children at that time, and that is the factor that’s causing some for argue for a ban on smoking in cars. The Scottish government has today said it’s not persuaded, but this is the argument for a ban…

Should gay teenagers be able to express their sexuality at school?

“All I want is the same chance to enjoy my prom night like any other student. But my school would rather hurt all the students than treat everyone fairly”. I know a lot of you have seen the story about Constance McMillen. She’s 19 and has been stopped from going to her school prom in Mississippi, USA. The reason is that she wants to go with her girlfriend, something her school was not prepared to allow. As you can see, she’s got plenty of supporters on Facebook. Even Ellen DeGeneres has got involved. Now while the specifics of the case are being played out in the courts, a broader discussion has started about the right and wrongs of gay teenagers expressing their feelings at school.

Moving home

Nuala’s at the controls today as I’m spending the day with the department who looks after the World Service’s website. After a couple of years with WordPress, we’re coming back within the BBC fold. This is our new blog. We’re still tinkering with it, but from tomorrow we’ll start posting here as well as on this blog. Then if all goes to plan, we’ll move over next Monday. We’re quite restricted by the BBC blog template, but do let us know if there are featrures you’d like us to add.

Luis Moreno Ocampo on WHYS

On Friday, Alicia from the WHYS team will be travelling to International Criminal Court to visit its prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo. He’s kindly agreed to take questions for the whole hour, and you can either leave them here, or email me your comment and your phone number if you’d to come on air. Here’s some more info…

On air: Do women need to better promote themselves in the workplace?

CLAY SHIRKY IS OUR GUEST TODAY AND HE’S WRITTEN THIS POST FOR YOU TO RESPOND TO…

I wrote “A Rant About Women” for several reasons, but mostly because I see my great female students go out into the world and under-promote themselves. For me, the key idea in that essay is that women should get better at “behaving like arrogant, self-aggrandizing jerks”, as I put it then.

Clay Shirky’s ‘Rant About Women’

I saw a blogger responding to a Clay Shirky post the other day. Nothing unusual in that, but the more I looked, the most the particular issue he’d raised had struck a nerve. I’ve been burned so many times paraphrasing people that I’ll not even try this time, but he addresses the reasons why women don’t make the same progress as men in the work place. He’ll be on Tuesday’s show – and you can read his post in full here.

Do we really want to talk?

Here’s a post I’ve just put up on the Wemedia blog. Thought you might want to take a look.

On air: Are you proud of your country’s richest people?

I’m sure he’s coping, but Bill Gates is no longer the world’s richest man according to Forbes magazine. That honour goes to the Mexican telcom giant Carlos Slim. The Chinese and Brazilians are also making a march on the top spots. So is the rise of these developing world billionaires something for their countries to be proud of? Do you look at the richest where you live and think they reflect well on you and your fellow countrymen and women?

Or do you have an issue with anyone having wealth on this scale? Is it obscene for one individual to have more money than whole cities in their country?