Original version

BBC World Service Online

From Our Own Correspondent

News

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers.

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.

From Our Own Correspondent: Libya and the Czech Republic

Libya and the Czech Republic

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Libya and the Czech Republic

John Murphy presents wit and analysis from correspondents Andrew Harding and Helen Ford

John Murphy introduces insights from  correspondents around the world. Today, Andrew Harding on defiance and frustration in the Libyan city of Misrata and Helen Ford on the meaning of Czech name days.

John Murphy introduces insight and analysis from BBC correspondents around the world. In this edition, Andrew Harding describes his final impressions of defiance and frustration in the besieged Libyan city of Misrata, while Helen Ford reflects on the deeper meanings - and limits - of Czech names and name days.

When even rebellion becomes routine

The city of Misrata has been a key strategic base for anti-Gaddafi fighters during the conflict in Libya. In recent weeks the fighting there appears to have settled into a stalemate. Elsewhere, rebel forces have been pushing towards Tripoli, but they now say they have slowed their advance because they don't want to cause heavy civilian casualties in the capital. NATO, meanwhile, continues to bomb Colonel Gaddafi's assets. 

Andrew Harding has just been back to Misrata to find a city growing frustrated by the wait. 

A "Rose" by any other name - but not in Prague

Choosing a name for a new baby can be tricky. You could always plump for a grandparent's name - very traditional. Or you could follow the American practice and simply recycle the father's name, tacking on "the second" or "the third," or "junior". Or you could trawl through books of names and try to come up with something more original, or perhaps even  peculiar. 

But in some places, as Helen Ford has found in the Czech Republic, the choice is limited by a surprisingly heavy set of historical and cultural baggage.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

From Our Own Correspondent

Libya and the Czech Republic

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service