Things Unseen

John Sweeney visits Ukraine to recall Stalin’s great famine with aged survivors, and to tell the story of two journalists – one who lied and won the Pulitzer, one who told the truth and was killed.

The pending Olympics are ‘an excuse for normalising the deployment of Action-men and women packing more heat than soldiers in Afghanistan’. [Image courtesy of Trojan631 via flickr.com ©©]

Our children are in danger, yes, but ‘from the jobsworth’s mindset, and from the rule book untempered by common sense’

‘I hate cigarettes, but as they’re legal people must be allowed to smoke them whether or not it hastens disease...’ Politicians should not intervene.

‘I often think that smug mums and dads will soon insist on pushchair lanes so that they don’t have to bother with us childless pavement pests’

The mother of the Yorkshire Ripper’s last victim discovered the police cannot be sued for negligence. 28 years later, the situation is the same. This is a scandal – not least for rape victims, who are often not believed.

The Berlin Wall, guarded for 28 years, saw many violent deaths and many ingenious escapes. Gerry Northam reports.

How and why the Berlin Wall went up 50 years ago.

Hundreds of troops die, yes, but thousands of civilians. And what do those soldiers – 404 so far – die for, exactly? [Image courtesy of AghanistanMatters via flickr.com ©©]

‘Prostitution is a cause and consequence of women’s inequality... Men need to be educated out of the belief that paying for sex can ever be a right’. [Image courtesy of Cédric Puisney via flickr.com ©©]

Where exactly was common-sense while 'appropriately-trained personnel' had to be summoned to fish the body out of three feet of water? [Image courtesy of Tomorrow Never Knows via flickr.com ©©]

The clash on a call for legalised assisted dying, without fear of prosecution

Net migration into Britain this year reached 250,000. On one side of the Immigration debate, capped levels, earned citizenship, ID cards, and annual migration reports - on the other, open borders, a welcome for all, a call to increase the size of the cake, a celebration of a multi-cultural society.... Emma Barnett interrogates David Goodhart, Director of the independent think-tank Demos, and Ceri Dingle, Director of Worldwrite, an education charity campaigning for global equality - and then lets them loose on each other’s arguments.

‘God exists, or doesn’t. It’s a 50-50 shot. Dawkins can’t call believers stupid for having taken a punt; after all, he did’.

‘Gender specific school uniforms can cause serious distress’ – one more example of saying goodbye to reason and good sense. [Image courtesy of Chris Millett via Flickr.com ©©]

Preventing ‘sneakily enhancing’ a school’s ranking with ‘soft’ subjects is a good move – but don’t put all the blame on schools

9 billion pounds for the sake of a tenth of a second, or a sponsorship deal... And, as for the ‘legacy’, well, just consider the fortunes of Greece. [Image courtesy of davehighbury via Flickr.com ©©]

‘Did nobody tell the energy secretary that on many of the coldest days the wind does not blow? That the wind is not a reliable source of power?’ [Image courtesy of Davie Dunn via Flickr.com ©©]

Daughter killed. Born-again Christian who has forgiven those responsible. Mary Colwell reports.

Brother of Michael, 17, shot dead. He hasn’t forgiven the soldier responsible. Mary Colwell reports.