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Politics UK Archive

A weekly look inside British politics from the BBC

*** This programme is no longer on-air, but please listen to our archive of available episodes ***

Issues affecting British social and political life.

*** This programme is no longer on-air, but please listen to our archive of available episodes ***

Politics UK is the weekly programme that covers British political and policy issues, economic and cultural change and Britain’s standing in Europe and the rest of the world in a way that is relevant to an international audience.  
It's the flagship programme for UK political analysis and debate on the BBC World Service.  
Leading politicians, commentators and intellectuals take part each week to discuss and reflect on the main events shaping British politics.

Politics UK

Politics UK Archive: 26/02/2010

Factual: Politics

26/02/2010

BBC World Service - Politics UK Archive, 26/02/2010

A weekly look inside British politics from the BBC, presented by Susan Hulme.

A new book accuses Gordon Brown of being a bully: do we need our leaders to be nice or tough? And a former British Ambassador tells us what an apology is worth to the child migrants sent to Australia.

After a new book raises questions about Gordon Brown's character, we ask do we need our leaders to be nice or should it be tough at the top? Also - saying sorry isn't hard to do - but a former British Ambassador tells us what it's worth to the child migrants who were sent to Australia. After the expenses scandal, MPs are still left fighting for their reputation, but where will the real power lie in the proposed reform of the House of Commons? And how to explain the birds and the bees - we examine the row over sex education in schools. Presented by Susan Hulme.

The political commentator, Andrew Rawnsley, claims in a new book that the Prime Minister frequently bullies his staff. Those close to the Prime Minister have emphatically denied the charge, saying he is just a strong leader who is passionate about his job. John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University in Scotland, and Jennifer Palmeri, former speech-writer for US President Bill Clinton, examine whether it is right to focus on the personality of our leaders and, as a consequence, ignore their policies.

This week Gordon Brown apologised for a child migration programme, which ended forty years ago, that saw thousands of children forcibly separated from their families and sent to Australia and other Commonwealth countries - supposedly to a better life. Grant Macauley, professor of social anthropology at the University of New South Wales in Australia, says that some of the 130,000 child migrants did go on to lead successful lives but many experienced hard labour, violence, and sexual abuse. 
Gordon Brown's apology for the suffering that had been caused was warmly welcomed by the former child migrants themselves. Sir Brian Barder, ex-British High commissioner to Australia, discusses the value of a government apologising for something for which it was not responsible.

Many ordinary MPs are increasingly concerned that it has become more and more difficult to hold the government to account: ministers can now organise matters so that often the government's new laws go sailing through parliament, with very little scrutiny from MPs at all. Chris Mullin, a former Labour Minister, is a member of a committee which is looking into parliamentary reform. He cites an example of a recent vote where there was absolutely no time to debate a controversial matter before MPs voted on it. 

The vote that Chris Mullin mentions concerns making sex and relationship education compulsory in English state schools. The government plans to give faith schools the right to adapt the teaching of the subject to fit with their own religious beliefs, but critics say this means some schools could teach in a way that was homophobic or fail to give children proper guidance on contraception. The Emmanuel Foundation runs a number of state schools in the north of England.  They're not church schools, but the Foundation says its ethos is a "Christian" framework. Its chief executive is David Wooton.

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