Talking Points 31st October

Should the world talk to the Taliban? Governments in the region are certainly entertaining the thought, but as attacks continue like this one against the Afghan government – should this even be considered? Tom has been working hard over the last couple of days to set up a programme where you can speak directly to a spokesman from the Taliban.

Talking America – The View from Inside

The BBC “Talking America” bus has reached Nashville, Tennessee – and later on Sunday we’ll be holding the second in our series of debates looking at the issues affecting Americans ahead of the election.

On air: Is Obama’s skin colour harming his presidential campaign?

It’s taken almost seven weeks, but Democratic Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has finally distanced himself from his former pastor after a couple of recent speeches. Rev Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor for 20 years, the man who married him and his wife and baptised his children, claimed back in March that the United States had brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own “terrorism” and the government had invented AIDS to kill black people.

Originally Senator Obama denounced his comments as “incendiary” and “completely inexcusable”, yesterday his tone changed, “They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans and they should be denounced. And that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally today.” Here are a couple of blogs with their own views.

Talking points for 28 April

Good morning, thanks to Katharina in Belgium and Agostinho in Jamaica for a sterling job in moderating the fourth blank page. We’ll be reading through your ideas for programmes with great interest. Turning to today’s programme, a report by the World Bank says the Israeli blockade on Gaza is having a crippling effect on it’s economy. Not all that surprising you may think, but Palestinian economic recovery is seen as crucial for U.S.-backed Mideast peace efforts.