Archives for July 2009
Do you believe we should send more British troops?
Welcome to leafy Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. We're at the home of a serving British soldier.
Ross Meehan is a 27-year-old sapper in the Royal Engineers. He was due to go back to Afghanistan in September for a six-month tour of duty.
This morning we will be live from the family home with Ross's mum Jane, stepdad Steve, brother Alex and nanna Gladys.
We're here to talk about the family's hopes and fears when it comes to this war in Afghanistan.
Do you believe we should send more British troops?
From the home of a serving soldier
Tomorrow we are broadcasting from the home of Jane Horrey - her son Ross is a Sapper in the Royal Engineers and is preparing to go back to Afghanistan. We're hoping to invite the Armed Forces Minister back onto the programme so he can answer questions from serving soldiers.
If you're in the armed forces right now, please post a question here or call tomorrow morning from 10 - 0500 909693...
Life under a control order
This morning: an exclusive interview with someone living under a control order. Control orders were introduced by the government in anti-terrorism legislation in 2005. They gave ministers the power to place terrorism suspects, who they say can't be prosecuted in the courts, under close supervision. The reason the suspects can't be prosecuted in the courts could be because the evidence against them has been collected by methods that could inlcude bugging - and so are inadmissible - or because using it could reveal intelligence sources.
Last month nine Law Lords ruled it was unfair that three terrorism suspects should be kept in the dark about the allegations against them. The ruling has called into question the future of control orders.
I've just finished recording an interview with a man known as AR - he's been living in Greater Manchester on a control order since April 2008. He's accused of being a senior member of a terrorist organisation called the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which has links with Al Qaeda and opposes the Gadafi regime in Libya. The conditions of his control order mean he cannot leave his house between 8.30 at night and 8.30 in the morning. He can't use the internet. He can only call essential telephone numbers agreed with the police. He cannot go further than a 3 mile boundary around his house - and all his home visits are restricted to one guest at a time.
Support for British troops?
We reported today the deaths of two more British soldiers in Afghanistan. Judging by some of your messages there's quite a lot of confusion and anger about the reasons why the British are there, and also, I sense a feeling that people here want to do something to show support for the soldiers.
Ian in Luton asks "What can we do? Is there a way of sending something to our troops? How can we show our support?" Do you feel the same as Ian?
Should the NHS pay?
We receive many many emails from listeners every day as you can imagine, but one in particular caught our eye. It was from Jackie Thorn, mum of 23-year-old Paul who's recently lost 17 stone after having a gastric bypass operation (stomach stapling).
Jackie wanted to tell us that rather than Paul being delighted with the weight loss, he's actually very depressed about the way he looks. She told us his body looks like that of a 70 year old man. You'd never know by looking at him - he looks healthy and well - but the amount of excess skin that has been left after losing the weight means he's very insecure.
So we went to meet him at his home in High Wycombe. Here's the film we made....
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Listen to Paul and Jackie on the programme:
Before and after
This is 5live listener Paul Thorn. Two years ago he weighed 28 stone. In December 2007 the NHS paid for him to have a gastric bypass. He now weighs 11 stone 5. But as you can see he's been left with excess amounts of skin. You can hear his story on the programme tomorrow and also watch a film we've made with him. We'll put the video on the blog tomorrow morning.
A family holiday together in quarantine
Victoria's been speaking to the Aylott family. Roger and Marion Aylott, their son Caspar and his wife Victoria, and their grandchildren Meredith and Celeste, all went on a trip to Wenzhou in south-eastern China, to see where Roger spent time as a child.
When the family arrived in China, they were tested at the airport for swine flu. Because Meredith and Celeste both had temperatures, the whole family have been kept in quarantine on the top floor of a motel.
Victoria Aylott talked to the programme about her family's experience; you can listen to the interview below.
Fighting to see her children
I've just recorded an interview with a British mother who was jailed in Dubai for adultery.
Her name is Marnie Pearce - she denies ever being unfaithful to her then husband.
Marnie now claims her ex-husband is stopping her from seeing her two young boys.
In this exclusive interview, Marnie talks about what prison was like and how she's about to start the fight to get to see her children once more.
Can England regain the Ashes?
The Ashes kicks off today in Cardiff. The programme is coming live from the ground from 10.
In the build up to today's first Test, listeners taking part in 5Live Sport with Mark Pougatch last night told him they were delighted to have the First Test here. The front of the Western Mail's headline is this - "As Wales welcomes the Ashes, we say....Come on England".
I was chatting to Aggers last night - turns out he's a big fan of Twitter (you can follow me on Twitter, look for vicderbyshire). I also met the legendary Australian commentator Jim Maxwell. His 15 year old boy is pretty good at cricket he was telling me, so I asked him how I could get my 5 year old into it. "Give it a year" he said in his dry Australian twang.
Join us for the build up. We'll be hearing from England's spin bowler Graeme Swann, you can hear the toss live at 1030, plus we'll talk to the parents of Australia's opening batsman Philip Hughes.
And the big question is - Can England regain the Ashes?
Sacked "racy" novel teacher speaks out
Tomorrow, your chance to hear the first interview with an English teacher who was sacked for writing a book about some of her pupils' fantasies, underage drinking and hints of drug use.
Leonora Rustamova, who was known to her pupils as Miss Rusty, was dismissed from Calder High School in Mytholmroyd in May after publishing her novel "Stop! Don't Read This!" on the internet. She's just lost her appeal. The book features some of the actual names of pupils and fellow staff.
More than 1000 people have also joined a social networking group on Facebook called Save Miss Rusty's Job.
You can speak to Leonora Rustamova and one of her pupils, Travis, on the programme tomorrow.
The Wiggles
They're the biggest band in the world - for under 5s, with 30 million videos and CD sales world-wide, they play sell out tours in front of audiences of up to 12,000 people, and children in over 100 countries watching their TV show; Kylie Minogue has performed with them but they beat her and Russell Crowe to remain top of Australia's rich list for the fourth year running. Last year they earned a cool £20.4m. They're the children's entertainers the Wiggles - currently on tour in Britain...and on the show today. Here they are performing with Kylie...
Plus we're going to talk to the Manchester United supporter who runs this website
Will Young and his brother
We'll talk to Will Young and his twin brother Rupert at 10am.
While Will was winning Pop Idol, his brother was drinking heavily, cutting himself and at one point attempted suicide. It's their first interview together and you can talk to them - call 0500 909 693 or post a message for them here.
Rupert has set up the Mood Foundation, a charity that will build a national database of private therapists who can offer free, one-to-one treatment to anyone over 18 diagnosed with depression or anxiety.
Have a look at the Mood Foundation website.
Plus - we'll bring you the all the details of the Government's plans to try and stop people from getting into debt.
Welcome to Edinburgh
Today we are here, along with the Queen, to mark 10 years of the Scottish parliament: to find out if devolution has resulted in a healthier, happier, better-educated and more prosperous nation.
What has devolution done for you?
Victoria chairs our People's Panel in Edinburgh
Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond and Iain McMenemy
Panel members Mairi-Clare McKinlay, entrepreneur Sanjoy Prasad, political editor of The Scotsman Hamish MacDonnell and comedian Scott Agnew
Author Irvine Welsh joins the debate
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