What do you expect from us?

Hi – I’m Tolu Adeoye and I’m one of a new group of trainees on the BBC’s Journalism Trainee Scheme. We’re all pictured here with Helen Boaden, Director, BBC News. The programme is designed to attract people to journalism who have not trained, or worked, as broadcast journalists before – recruiting people who can use their experiences and skills to reach diverse audiences. Krupa and Trish, who work on World Have your Say, were trainees on the 2008 scheme. We’d love to hear what World Have Your Say listeners want and expect from new BBC journalists.

Should security institutions be above the law?

The White House has confirmed there will be a new interrogation team for key terror suspects.The new team will be called the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.

This comes as the Justice Department launches a criminal probe of past CIA interrogation tactics during President George W. Bush’s war on terrorism.

Talking points 18 March

How far should a parent go to find a sexual partner for her disabled son? That’s exactly what one woman in the UK is actively doing. She’s even going as far to say she would consider paying for a prostitute for her son who has Downs Syndrome.

This blogger asks How many mothers seek hookers for their sons?

Here are some of the conversations going on on a BBC messageboard. This agony aunt in the UK says she believes this young man Otto Baxter, who has Downs, has the right to sex.

Back to the troubles?

As I write Shaimaa is grabbing our technical equipment and heading to the airport for tomorrow’s special programme live from Belfast. In the last 48 hours 2 soldiers and a policeman have been shot dead in two separate incidents. The first murders of security forces in more than a decade.

The programme will be hosted by the Sony Award winning presenter Stephen Nolan, from an as yet undecided location. He’s born and bred in Belfast and presents radio and TV programmes on BBC Radio Ulster and our sister station here in the UK BBC Radio Five Live. There is, frankly, no-one better to illustrate to the world what the mood is like in Northern Ireland at the moment.

What could the rich world’s banks learn from the poor world’s?

He’s an economist, a banker and the man who developed the concept of microcredit. Mohammad Yunus  set up the Grameen bank in Bangladesh more than 30 years ago, and in 2006 they were jointly awarded the the Nobel Peace Prize. In simple terms the concept he dreamt up was to loan small amounts of money to entrepreneurs, too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. His view was that rural poor people had skills that with a little financial backing could help lift them out of poverty. He also strongly believed that people from a poorer background were more likely to repay their loans.

On air: Is Sharia law a price worth paying for peace?

No peace, no Sharia. For many people outside Pakistan the idea of implementing Sharia law to bring peace to a once thriving tourist region was a controversial olive branch. But to others living in the Swat region it’s a welcome relief. As I write this the Pakistani President Asif Zardari has announced he will only sign such a deal, once peace there is fully restored.

Read more here from our talking points post. We’re planning on looking at this issue on Wednesday’s programme.

On Air: Zimbabwe – victory or sell out ?

Nearly a year after he won the first round of a presidential election, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangarai has been sworn in as the country’s Prime Minister by his long-standing enemy, President Robert Mugabe. But is it a victory, or a sell out?

Why we’re deleting so many of your comments…

We’ve got two debates on the blog at the moment (on Gaza and on homosexuality) that ARE leading us to delete well over half of the comments YOU’RE POSTING. So, to save your time and ours a little reminder of our blog rules…….

On air: Is it too late to save the planet?

Live from the Eden Project. Photostream updated here.

So you recycle, you try not to use your car and you switch off your lights as much as you can. (i appreciate this is a very western picture but bear with me). You follow the green debate with a mixture of helplessness and fear and you wonder if it’s all a bit too late ….

Talking Points 27th November

Gunmen have carried out co-ordinated attacks on high-profile locations, including two luxury hotels, across the Indian city of Mumbai, killing over 100 people. Events are still unfolding – you can read live updates on the situation here. But there are reports that foreigners, particularly British and American passport holders, were being singled out by the gunmen. Can terrorism stop tourism and bring a country to its knees? The Indian financial markets were shut after yesterday’s attacks. Are there places you now wouldn’t go on holiday?