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Press Releases
David Blunkett to host Christmas Day edition of Outlook
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David Blunkett MP, former Home Secretary, is to host the Christmas
Day edition of BBC World Service's magazine programme Outlook.
It is the
first time the politician has presented a World Service programme.
David
Blunkett has been involved in making the show, choosing the guests and
topics for discussion, aiming he says "to provide diversity in the best
traditions of the programme."
He says: "The World Service of the BBC is genuinely unique, offering, as it does, the opportunity to hear things that you would not
normally hear, to share opinions that are too often suppressed within the
home country of those with something to say, and a conscious avoidance of
bias.
"Wherever I've been, and whoever I've spoken to, BBC World Service had
been embraced as a voice of truth and a platform for reason, reaching out
across the globe."
In Outlook David Blunkett talks to:
Hilary Benn MP - International Development Secretary and
Blunkett's former Special Adviser. David Blunkett discusses Benn's commitment
to international development and the way he deals with the pressures of
political life;
Hyunah Yu – soprano. An opera singer whose career in music came relatively
late. After her husband was murdered and five-month-old baby kidnapped in a car
jacking in LA, Hyunah Yu turned to music to help her deal with her grief. She
made her debut this August as the slave in Mozart's Zaide and releases her
first CD in January 2007;
Lovemore Matombo - President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.
Lovemore Matombo has suffered ill-treatment for his trade union activities.
In September he needed hospital treatment after being beaten while in custody
for leading a peaceful protest about wages, taxation and access to
antiretroviral drugs;
Siphiwe Hlophe - Director of the support group Swazi Positive Living, an
organisation that receives no government funding and relies on charitable
donations. David Blunkett believes HIV/AIDS to be the biggest problem that
Africa faces and was keen to interview Siphiwe, whose story he found very
moving. Mother-of-four Siphiwe is herself HIV positive. She describes how
women cope with HIV/ AIDS, keeping families and communities going in the face
of stigma and discrimination;
Don Mackay - New Zealand's Ambassador to UN in Geneva and Chair of the UN
Disability Convention Committee. He discusses the importance of the UN
Disability Convention, which has taken five years to achieve and comes into
being next year.
Outlook can be heard from 10.06 to 11am (UK time) on Monday 25 December
2006.
BBC World Service Press Office
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