creation podcasts: westminsterwindow

As the recession bites ever deeper into our lives, how far will the government go to rescue ailing businesses? Should we follow the United States, and rescue, not just the banks, but the car industry as well? We also meet an MP who has been campaigning to get ministers to do more to make sure that young people who want to undergo body piercing dont suffer from serious infection as a result of unqualified workmanship. And how feasible is it to harness the heat generated in undergound train systems to create a viable alternative energy source?

This week Brian Shallcross discusses whether our children should havehave lessons on how to be good parents in the future as part of the national curriculum. And with thousands of innocent people whose DNA is stored on the national police DNA database, we ask - is the intrusion into privacy justified by the fact that a number of crimes are solved as a result. Also this week- are the government doing enough to prevent flooding after the flooding of 2007 and is government legislation responsible for the demise of seaside resorts?

This week Brian Shallcross takes a close look of two of the most controversial bill sin the Queens Speech- on immigration and airport security. The immigration Minister speaks exclusively to Window on Westminster. We also visited the European parliament in Brussels and ask how the European Parliament has a real impact on our everyday lives.

Brian Shallcross debates whether visitors from foreign countries should be able to receive free medical treatment on the NHS and should the government exert more control over internet content. He also speaks to one MP who wants to rethink the physical relationship guidelines between teacher and pupil and another looking into alternative energy sources.

Brian Shallcross discusses whether cigarette vending machines should be banned entirely, should the government be allowed to keep detailed reports of our phone calls, emails and visited websites. Also do the government need to toughen up on drug driving, and should we take another look at speeding limits on country lanes?

On Window on Westminster this week, Brian Shallcross discusses whether there should be a British day, what should be done about teenage binge drinking and pregnancies and how we can tackle the problem of abandoned cares in the countryside.

This week Brian Shallcross discusses whether Barclays Bank was right to accept money from the Middle East rather than the British government to get them out of financial troubles. He asks wether we are too strict on foster parents and those who want to adopt and should supermarkets simplify the labelling of the contents of the food products we buy.

Brian Shallcross takes an in depth look at Britains defence policy, looks at the legacy that will be left behind after the Olympic Games 2012 and we meet the youngest member of the House of Commons, who is campaigning for fixed term parliaments.

This week's Window on Westminster with Brian Shallcross tackles some controversial topics from prostitution and binge drinking to bringing back Victorian watermills as a modern source of sustainable energy.

This week on Window on Westminster Brian Shallcross discusses whether there is a case for the abolition of the traditional television licence, animal rights and also a case of an exceptional teacher in New Zealand who was banned from teaching because she lacks the equivalent of one O Level, despite being highly qualified in her subject.

A number of, well, 'diverse' topics have been raised in the Commons this week by MPs, even though the main issue on everyones mind is the credit crisis. Its good to know the rest of the world goes on for good or bad, as Brian Shallcross returns to Westminster after the party conference season.

A Window on Westminster this week comes from the first Conservative Conference to be held in Englands second city, Birmingham. This week we hear from leading members of the opposition how they believe they would make a difference, not only in the current economic crisis, but in our lives generally. Among those we talk to are William Hague, Michael Howard, Michael Gove, Dominic Grieve, London Mayor, Boris Johnson, and David Cameron himself.

Labours conference in Manchester was billed as Gordons make or break week. Here, it was almost as though there were two conferences in progress. One; a party united behind their leader, anxious to get on with the job of governing the country, and the other - the gigantic elephant in the room; a party worried they will be annihilated at the next election if Gordon is still in Number Ten and keen to get rid of him now. Which previaled? Brian Shallcross reports.

Now that the political season proper is with us again, with the beginning of the party conferences, Window on Westminster returns. This week, weve been to Bournemouth, to the first Liberal Democrat conference to be addressed by their new leader Nick Clegg. We meet the leader himself, as well as his deputy, economics guru, Vince Cable, and we discuss the job of leading the party with two former holders of the office, Charles Kennedy and Sir Ming Campbell. And we talk to Lembit Opik about his bid for the Party Presidency, and his campaign to get the Segway made legal.

This week we take a pause from the usual hurly burly of Commons politics to meet a remarkable man. Born in Prague, Lord Dubs was one of 669 Czech, mainly Jewish children saved by English stockbroker Nicholas Winton from the Nazis on the Kindertransport. He only discovered that he was one of the "Winton children" a few years ago after a relative saw his name on a television programme by Ester Rantzen. Brian Shallcross heads to the Upper House to meet Lord Alf Dubs, and talk of those distant, but agonizing memories.