Episode 12

SOME OF YOUR COMMENTS

SHOULD IMMIGRANTS BE MADE TO SPEAK ENGLISH?

I think it is shocking that folk need to learn English before they live here. Shame as much thought isn't put into ensuring that English people speak a language when they go abroad!
Phil, Northamptonshire

I cannot understand why anyone would not learn the language of a country they live in. Why would anyone subject themselves to this kind of isolation. If you live in a country, you should adopt to it and not the other way around.
Kristine

I lived in Spain for 6 years and am still horrified at the attitude of British people towards learning the local language. Very few did, or cared, or even had the capacity to learn Spanish. This happens all over the world, British people are notorious for not learning local languages or integrating. We don't even support the learning of foreign languages in primary or secondary schools. We should stop being so hypocritical.
Sabera

Anyone wishing to come to live in this country for an extended period, other than students coming to learn the language, should have to learn English. By the same token the same holds for anyone moving to any country in that they should learn the main language of the land. I would also go further in so much as those that choose not to learn English should be required to leave.
Jeff


CAN ABORTION BE A KINDNESS?

I enjoy watching your Sunday debate but I am appalled at the comments made by one of the participants this morning where she mentioned "smothering someone with a pillow to put them out of their misery." For a Sunday morning show watched by families this person should be made to apologise.
Martin

If you know that your child will suffer the agony you have endured during your own life, not have opportunities that other children have and deserve in life then I absolutely agree with abortion and not a single person in that studio has known the suffering of a child with parents like that and have no right to judge.
Ansie

I have to agree with Virginia Ironside’s opinion in relation to abortion. I worked with the severely mentally and physically handicapped for many years. These most unfortunate patients who can only be described as men and women living in prams during their lifespan have no quality of life whatsoever. To hear them scream and cry for hours on end on a daily basis and only to be quietened through psychotropic drugs is cruel. How can anyone justify keeping these people alive when all they do is live in adult prams. Quality of life they say, well let those who disagree with abortion spend just one whole day of their life see how these people actually 'live'
Ged in Kent

Well done Virginia. People who do not look after ill people for years have no idea. Someone speaking the truth however hard it is.
Jenny

The Book of Ecclesiastes in the bible says 'It is better for a child NOT TO BE BORN than to live a life of suffering' If the people who wrote the bible could understand this thousands of years ago, why can't so called Christians understand this basic concept?
Dylan

Virginia is wrong! Abortion is never the right option. There are people in the world that contribute greatly to society, such as Stephen Hawking, who would not be here if their parents had decided to perform an act of “kindness”. Doctors are frequently wrong about how conditions affect a life and we have no right to start thinking of unborn babies as mere pets, to be put down because we don’t want them or want to be “kind” to them.
Dan


SHOULD GOD BE KEPT OUT OF POLITICS?

Religion is the backbone to moral behaviour. Whether you believe or not, our moral understanding originates from religion. Without it, I would be very concerned about the future policies of the government. I have always been a Labour supporter, but this outspoken opinion worries me.
Debi, Slough

I am so happy that Ed Miliband has said this. I am fed up with pious Christians moralising to the majority when they should be concentrating on getting their own house in order.
Kate, West London

I think it's great news that Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg are openly non-believers. They live by the law of the people, they represent all people - their responsibility is to the people and this world. They don't report to a "higher power" they believe in the here and now. If only more political leaders were focused on the here and now and the reality of the world we face.
Daniel