I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room - just like I'd find it distressing if I saw a very drunk person stumbling across a bar or a heroine addict slumping in a chair.

This is what Maura Kelly a writer for the US edition of the fashion magazine Marie Claire said talking about an American TV comedy programme called Mike and Molly, the show centres around a couple who meet at an Overeaters Anonymous group . Since she said this she has apologized.

Believe it or not, I never wanted anyone to feel bullied or ashamed after reading this, and I sorely regret that it upset people so much. A lot of what I said was unnecessary.

Enough is enough posts on the Sydney Morning Herald:

I'm confused - on one hand we have countless governmental/health agencies telling us about expanding waistlines, obesity epidemics, fattest nations in the world etc etc, while on the other hand we have countless groups telling us it's ok to be overweight and if you want that 3rd piece of chocolate cake then you damn well eat it!!!

The sooner obese people are made to feel uncomfortable about their size the better it is for them. You've got to be cruel to be kind. Look at how smokers are made to feel like lepers these days.

AndrewS also in the Sydney Morning Herald says:

I agree, we need to stop normalizing obesity and sending that message that it's okay to be unhealthy or even, proud of it (especially to the young ones). That's why it's kinda not cool with these two people on this show. But for others who have medical problems etc - they deserve our genuine sensitivity.

There are more than 1600 comments on the Marie Clarie magazine site including this one from justforthis2

Don't try to act like you (or anyone else) doesn't want to see "fatties" on TV because you're concerned about their health or some other nonsense. The reason you don't want to see them is the same reason your magazine isn't going to hire a model with a harelip: nobody actually wants to be confronted with reality and with the possibility that people aren't perfect. TV and magazines are forms of escapism, so you pick the most beautiful people to be featured in those formats and then photoshop them, etc. so that they're even more "ideal" than they were before.

So is it about beauty or is it about pointing out how bad for your health being overweight is? like Ked on fashionista blog points out:

Maura has a valid point. She made it very clear in her post that she is only talking about the morbidly obese, even people with weight disorders don't get to the morbidly obese range of fat percentage. I think it's irresponsible of you to defend a disorder just as dangerous as anorexia, bulimia, or alcoholism. Obesity causes millions of deaths every year, people who would've otherwise been perfectly healthy. And don't try to say it's natural, America was not 34% obese 30 years ago, the foods we eat now and the sedentary lifestyle we lead contributes to this DISEASE.

So is it valid to criticise obese people if it's for health reasons?

This topic was discussed on World Have Your Say on 27 September 2010. Listen to the programme.

This week it's the turn of the Labour Party to have its conference in Manchester, and we will be broadcasting the programme from there on Monday. On Saturday the party elected a new leader, Ed Miliband, as Gordon Brown stepped down when they lost the election in May.

During the period from May till this weekend Deputy Party Leader Harriet Harman had been standing in as leader, and she will also be joining us on World Have Your Say.

Harriet Harman is currently one of the most important women in British politics. Since she became an MP 28 years ago, the number of women in the House of Commons increased from 3% to 20%.

In an article in Saturday's Times Miss Harman says that the low number of female MPs exists because there is still an entrenched pattern and expectation that an MP or Cabinet Minister should be a man - because traditionally, they have been.

In Switzerland last week, they did manage have female majority in their cabinet. This "shows a great deal of change in the country", as Ruth Dreifuss, the first Swiss female President, told me - especially as women were only allowed to vote in 1971.

Currently there are only 10 female Presidents in the world - in Argentina, Costa Rica, Finland, India, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Lithuania and Switzerland - and in the Federation of Bosnia within Bosnia-Herzegovina.

At the moment there are 10 woman Prime Ministers; in Australia, Bangladesh, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Slovakia and Trinidad and Tobago and in the self-governing territories of The Netherlands Antilles and the Åland Islands.

So why are there still so few women who chose politics as a career? Is it because politics requires full dedication and this is difficult to combine with having a family and children?

Harriet Harman herself says:

She wishes she could have spent more time with children growing up, and to be a working mother is to feel guilty, you always want to do more and better.

In Ireland, Olwyn Enright a 36 year old MP who is married to another MP, has said that she will not seek re-election because:

"With a young family, I will not be in the position to give the enormous commitment required and that my constituents deserve."

Only last week an Italian MEP attended a European Parliament session in Strasbourg carrying her baby in a sling. Licia Ronzulli says she wanted to make a point about the difficulties women face in trying to juggle careers and child care.

Some countries like Rwanda and India have opted for quotas to ensure more women become members of parliament.

But are quotas the answer? This blogger in the US thinks not:

We don't need to differentiate between women and everyone else. We've been correctly saying for the last three decades that affirmative action is insulting to minorities. We do not need our own Sexist Card.

This blogger thinks its all down to attitude :

The excuse that I have heard most often for why women don't run for office is that they don't want to take the time away from their families. How often do men worry about being away from their families when working or bettering themselves? I'd bet that generally men don't worry very much about being away from their families. Men understand that the better they are, the better their families are. And I get frustrated that women continue to put themselves in the back seat and allow men to take the drivers seat in politics and determine all of our destinies.

On Monday's programme we will be discussing women in politics and why there aren't more women choosing this as a career option. Is it down to difficulties of working fulltime, campaigning and being a mother? Or is it still down to attitude? Is it because the electorate is traditional prefer men to represent them?

See listeners' comments about this programme

When I worked covering British politics three years ago I went to the political party conferences but back then Labour was in power so this year it will all be very different, now that there is a coalition government. On Tuesday we will be broadcasting from Liverpool where the Liberal Democrats are hosting their party conference.

This year the Liberal Democrats are expecting to have the largest conference they have ever had in their 22 year political history.

"If you want Lib Dem policies to be implemented 100% in full, you need to vote for a 100% Lib Dem government. That is self-evidently not what happened at the last elections This is a compromise ... We've all had to make compromises about things we care about."

Many Liberal Democrats supporters like the band the Manic Street Preachers feel that Nick Clegg, has sold his soul, because by doing the coalition deal with the Conservatives this forced him to abandon many promises from the party's election manifesto. But others feel that these compromises are worth it:

dandan 26 Get over it!! Clegg has had to compromise but he has managed to enact many Liberal policies and long may it continue. Unfortunately the Libs aren't the bigger of the two parties so he can't have all his own way. God, why won't people grow up over this. It's not really rocket science to understand what coalition means is it???

Opinion polls say that the party may have lost three million supporters in the four months since it entered government, and as Julian Astle in this article suggest:

Nick Clegg needs to make the party feel good about itself by addressing, head-on, the central charge it faces: that in deciding to join the Coalition, the Lib Dems put their own interests before those of the country

Zoe Dixon a Liberal Democrat blogger says

Isn't it refreshing though, to see people who disagree holding their tongues and getting down to the business of running the country? I also believe that our response to the coalition should be positive. I am not saying that we should not challenge institutions or political powers; on the contrary, we should get involved and challenge from the inside

In countries where coalitions are the norm, people are used to their politicians having to make compromises on a regular basis like in Germany and Israel but here it's all still very new . So how far do you think a politician should compromise to gain power?

Hi I'm Gillian St Lawrence, In July The Washington Post published my story "By freezing embryos, couples try to utilize fertility while delaying parenthood."

Spurned by the strong reactions I received from people, Alexandra Frean of the Times of London decided to interview me and just published "The girl who's put family plans in the deep freeze."

At age 30, despite nine happy years of marriage, my husband and I were not able to offer a child the time and financial resources we believed our child deserved. But, our fertility clocks were ticking. We knew that once we hit our mid-30's we would face significantly greater risks of infertility, miscarriage and genetic abnormality. With no solution to this dilemma we decided that we would not have children - until we found out about embryo freezing.

We plan to wait until about age 40 to transfer an embryo to my uterus in the hopes of having a healthy baby. We figure that with an extra 10 years we should be able to reach our goals and be in a position to offer our child the time and resources to give him or her the best life we can.

Preservation IVF touches on many sensitive topics - the ethics of IVF, the fear of having to undergo "Desperation IVF" due to age related infertility, whether there is a "right" time to become a parent, what makes a "good" parent, and whether "rich" people are trying to buy the perfect child. And I have definitely received some passionate responses to my article.

Many readers seemed to infer that our decision to use Preservation IVF to delay parenthood meant that we disapproved of other families' decisions to have children earlier in life.

For example, Rebecca Odes wrote on her blog:

"But if St. Lawrence is saying it's not okay to have kids if you can't spend as much time with them as you want, what does that say about 99.98% of parents in the world? Should we all have engineered our conceptions, and lives, differently? St. Lawrence's quest for optimal parenthood may be personal, but there's a broader implication."

I was also confronted by people who, for reasons they could sometimes not put their finger on, have a burning desire to see our plan fail. One woman wondered "are these people so arrogant or naive that they honestly believe that they, and they alone, can control so many factors in their lives that they will be able, at a time of their choosing, to produce a child exactly when the financial, personal and professional stars are in perfect alignment? The world simply doesn't work that way, folks."

The infertility blogosphere was appalled by my use of the phrase "Desperation IVF" to describe the emotionally fraught process undertaken by infertile couples, many of whom are being treated for age related infertility. Critics saw the term as an insensitive swipe at the women undergoing infertility treatment, rather than an explicit warning to younger women who could do something to avoid it.

Although many have pointed out to me that there is never a "perfect" time to have a child, there are definitely the wrong times to have a child. But Preservation IVF gave us the option to become parents and offer a child the best we can at the best time for us. Once I had completed the process, I felt the need to share my story with other couples who might also benefit from this option.

My husband Paul and I will be coming on the show on Friday to answer any questions you have about our decision, feel free to post and talk to you soon.

See listeners' comments about this programme

"He was difficult, at times maddening? Yes. But he was also strong, capable and brilliant, and those were qualities for which I never lost respect. "

In a BBC interview he says:

"The relationship with Gordon Brown was very very difficult but also very close. Towards the end it was frankly hard, going on impossible but that for large parts of the time we were in government, he was an immense source of strength.

gabrielmilland tweets ‎: Why didn't Blair expose Brown as the dysfunctional monomaniac he knew he was. Why no offensive strategy? Why let him win in the end?

In the extracts you've read, what has it taught you about Tony Blair, the man and the politician? The BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson says in his blog

"I would like to apologise for my reporting of the relationship between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown in the years they were together in government......I now accept that I made mistakes. Things were worse - much worse - than I reflected at the time."

Some commentators have been surprised by his humour. Others like his biographer John Rentoul, asks where does all the rage towards Tony Blair come from?

Has what you've read changed any of your views about Tony Blair?

See listeners' comments about this programme

I'm overwhelmed by the tragic and unbearable reports that each year nearly 1.2 million people die and around 50 million more are injured or disabled as a result of road traffic crashes. Of the total who are killed, more than 400,000 are young people, millions more are injured or disabled.

My doubt is even with all these figures and statistics, there is still a lack of awareness and recognition throughout the world of the vulnerable position of young people when using the roads. It is time that young people take responsibility on their own shoulders to make road safer for everyone

Therefore, I recognised the efforts by YOURS: Youth For Road Safety, an initiative born from the first The 1st World Youth Assembly for Road Safety three years ago.

But now there is a new form of threat ravaging our young people on our roads on an alarming rate, that is the use of mobile phones whilest driving.

This is why I think using a mobile phone or a handsfree phone should be banned when people are driving. What do you think?

A new superbug called NDM-1 which is drug resistant has got you talking. Cases have been found in the UK, US, Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Sweden.

Update : Professor Timothy Walsh from Cardiff University one of the authors of the study published in the Lancet will be on the programme from 1800-1830BST ready to take your questions.

Conservative Liberal posts on the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail

So we've now heard there's a new bug in town... We've heard that there's no antibiotic for it... We've heard that all the big Pharma are looking for more money for "research"... But most importantly, what are the symptoms? You tried hard with the H1N1 fear campaign, and really I don't think you can fool us twice... first was the virus and now its bacteria? What are we to believe anymore?

KiranKS tweets ‎:

There's hardly any talk in media about NDM-1, the new superbug found in South #Asia, that's resistant to most antibiotics. Scary!

Good-bye H1N1. We hardly knew you. Hello NDM-1 . Panic de Jour.

Scientists from Canada and the UK published an article in the medical journal the Lancet, saying that the bacteria travelled back with patients who went to India and Pakistan for medical treatments such as cosmetic surgery. Take a look at this questions and answers page on the BBC which explains more.

Dr David Livermore, one of the researchers and who works for the UK's Health Protection Agency (HPA), said:

"There have been a number of small clusters within the UK, but far and away the greater number of cases appear to be associated with travel and hospital treatment in the Indian subcontinent. This type of resistance has become quite widespread there. The fear would be that it gets into a strain of bacteria that is very good at being transmitted between patients."

Doctors and medical authorities in India have played down the risk of an international public health scare. The Indian Council of Medical Research director general VM Katoch in this article says :

"While resistance to antibiotics is a matter of concern, it is unfair to cast aspersions on a country. There is no need to panic,"

But people do seem to be panicking a warning has been issued to New Zealanders planning hospital treatment overseas, and more cases are being reported around the world in places like in Vancouver and Australia.

So we will get an expert on today's programme to answer your questions and discuss about the new superbug.

LycoApollo on twitter says : The way the French police handled a baby and a pregnant woman in this video chilled me to the bone.

Benjamin Holmes writes on our facebook page: Brutal! Where was the brutality? French authorities are breaking up camps of illegal immigrants, who have no right to be in any country BUT their own. Show me the use of batons and fists, and I too will say brutality. But there was none.

French police say the video is misleading. .

This blogger says

that revoking citizenship is obviously a very touchy issue, even more so in race terms than on the legal level. Nonetheless, it needs to be assessed within a wider framework of a serious "citizenship policy" that fits the new European context.

So does this video tell us anything about the immigration debate in France? If you commit a crime in an adoptive country should you lose your nationality?

Nato troops could leave Afghanistan in 2014. The international community supports President Hamid Karzai's goal that Afghan forces should lead security operations across the country in four years time.

This article in the New York Times says one of the reasons why there is this new commitment is because countries who have troops there, acknowledged that neither the public in their own countries nor the Afghan people had much patience left.

The Western European democracies with the most troops in the country - Britain, France and Germany - are under great domestic pressure to reduce their presence, while the United States, which has by far the heaviest military presence, is hewing to a "conditions based" approach that allows its forces to slow any drawdowns in areas where the insurgency appears more tenacious or where Afghan troops and the police appear to have inadequate capabilities.

"The latest conference on Afghanistan set 2014 as the date for the assumption of military control of the country by Afghans. It is an ambitious timetable, and one that will require defeat of, or reconciliation with, the Taliban. With defeat unlikely, Canada expressed support for reconciliation at the conference. Now Canada must make sure it stays around, training troops and maintaining an energetic presence, to help give effect to reconciliation."

Richard Barrett co-ordinator of the UN al-Qaida Taliban monitoring team says in today's Guardian argues:

Afghanistan is a mess that everyone wants cleared up - but the problem is how to do it. It is clear that the military option has not succeeded. June saw the greatest monthly loss of life among Nato troops since the beginning of the campaign, topping 100 for the first time, and so far 2010 has been twice as lethal for Nato forces as 2009. The Taliban, meanwhile, show no sign of flagging - and, sensing victory, their morale is high.

Gerald Warner blogs

We are watching history in the making in Afghanistan; but it is history of a certain stamp - the slow-motion unravelling of a disaster. He also says :

Here we have high-ranking international diplomats and foreign ministers, the supposed "movers and shakers" of the world, but they have encountered the immovable and the unshakeable: the victorious Taliban and the treacherous warlords of Afghanistan.

Gerald Warner believes that behind Karzai's confident demeanour lies the uncomfortable reality that his recent back-door overtures to the Taliban have been contemptuously rejected. The same will happen to Nato: why should the Taliban negotiate the endgame to a war it has already won?

So does setting a date to get Nato troops out of Afghanistan mean the Taliban has won?

See listeners' comments about this programme

edelcarril tweets in spanish: you make me feel sad Argentina.

GuillermolopezV tweets : Congratulations Argentina on Approving gay marriage! I'm so proud as a Latin American.

jadaoz‎: Congrats to Argentina for being the first Latin American country to legalize gay marriage and gay couples to adopt kids!

Elian in Buenos Aires says:

Most Argentines feel that our wishes were not represented today. Me and my family have participated on that protest against this same-sex marriage because of their controversial possibility of adopting children, we have no problem with gays and their proper rights to have the same rights, but CHILDREN is what we care and worry about, children have right to rise in a natural environment which just a proper family can offer.

Others feel proud like Damian who also emails from Buenos Aires:

I'm very happy and proud of this outcome. I'm not homosexual, and probably it will not affect me or my close circle directly at all., but this will help building a better society. With gay marriage legalized, homosexual relations will be seen more "normal", it will be considered in school education, and discrimination will diminish. A society where we respect and don't discriminate each other is peaceful and happier for everyone.

The story has been picked up by newspapers and websites not just in Latin America but also by The Times of India, The Dawn in Pakistan, Angola and in the US.

PJFormaini comments on CNN :

It'd OFFICIAL!! Gay marriage has come to South America! Amazing that, while Americans talk a good game about human rights and freedom, it is OTHER nations that seem to be able to actually ACT on said belief system - and provide social systems that make ours look more and more like a 19th century relic.

This is a first for Latin America, should other countries follow?

"Some of the parents don't want children to play musical instruments and they don't have music in their homes. For goodwill I allow that parent to withdraw their child from all music but I am in fact denying the child the opportunity that the other children in the class have"

Is what Eileen Ross the headteacher of the Herbert Morrison Primary School in south London told the BBC .

Many of you have been reacting to this story: On twitter timfoxon says

Many Muslim children are being deprived of school music lessons by their parents.

If it's true, this is stupid. I believe that a minority of Muslims think music is evil, per se, but not all. In my option music is important in its own right but it also helps to cement community. And why put the extra pressure on teachers who have to provide cover?

This blogger disagrees and says it's irresponsible reporting and it just feeds an Islamophobia that depicts Muslims as an alien presence in British society.

Josh Reiter on this site remembers how it was at his school:

Back when I was in elementary school there was a muslim kid in my class who always sat out in the hall during music class because, "it was against his religion to sing". Then, he complained because sitting out in the hall felt like he was being punished. Even back then I felt that it wasn't the teachers fault to put you out there. YOU were the one that opted out the class participation.

Inayat Bunglawala is the founder and chair of Muslims4UK comments on The Guardian site:

The majority of Islamic scholars, however, have taken a more nuanced view and have recognised that, as with most things, music can be utilised for good as well as bad ends. And just in case you aren't convinced by that, do have a listen, if you haven't already done so, to David Gilmour's guitar playing on Comfortably Numb at Earls Court back in 1994 and tell me with a straight face that your spirit wasn't transported to the very heavens.

So is it anti islamic to ban children taking part in music lessons or is it just a way of stopping children having fun?

We got this email from someone in Osh:

I am living here in Osh - in an Uzbek neighborhood that was attacked Saturday. We are right now in the middle of a standoff between the Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. It is very tense, but since I have contact with the outside, we can help to stop this standoff so that more people will not get killed.

I was born and grow up in Osh. My Mother, Father, Brother, Sister and their kids are also there, it's very very bad. I'll be glad to share more information, I'm praying for my people, please God help them.

The exact cause of the latest clashes is unclear, but it comes two months after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a violent uprising. On World Have Your Say we discussed this back in April.

Kyrgyzstan has appealed for outside help in quelling unrest in the south, Daniel J Grestle in his blog says:

You thought that the political arguments going on in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan faded away, think again. Kyrgyz leaders are calling on Russia to help with peacekeeping and other countries to help with humanitarian response to support its first large wave of families displaced by violence.

Artur comments on global voices:

It is unbelievable. There are two strongest political players in the world - USA and Russia having their military bases in Kyrgyzstan - and they do nothing to stop these irreversible clashes. How to save these people when they no longer feel responsible for stopping the massacre just outside their interests?

This blogger asks if the supporters of President Bakiyev are trying to provoke inter-ethnic clashes and if Bakiyev's people behind the violence?

Aangirfan another blogger thinks its all has to do with the drug trade in the area, he says Kyrgyzstan is an important hub for distribution of Afghan heroin to Eurasian markets.

We will discuss on the programme what is happening in Kyrgyzstan, and try and answer your questions?

I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming. It's so beautiful -- wake me up! We want to say to the world - Thank you for helping this worm to become a beautiful butterfly.

This is what a very exited Archbishop Desmond Tutu said last night at the World Cup Concert in Soweto.
As the biggest sporting event starts today in South Africa, many of you are discussing if there are benefits to hosting a World Cup and if it is good for business.

Time Magazine in this atticle says that the World Cup has become such a force that it triggered a cease-fire in the civil war in Ivory Coast, caused stock markets of losing nations to tumble and catalyzed a spike in the birthrate of the 2006 host, Germany. And that hosting the World Cup allowed Germans to express a nationalist spirit that had been understandably dormant for 60 years.

"What the World Cup did was increase maybe consumer confidence and gave that sort of wave of euphoria which lead to stronger consumer spending,"

Smooth5PFM‎: tweets FIFA World Cup is going to be Crazy,South Africa can raise a lot of money "Let's Go TeamBrazil".

Lauri Elliott in this article Afribiz says he hopes foreign investment will come into South Africa.

This blogger says that despite the South African government spending $5 billion dollars on the World Cup there wont be large economic benefits for South Africa.

One thing that is guaranteed says this blogger is that:

South Africans may not economically benefit from the tournament but the tournament will offer sheer joy and enjoyment as they watch top football teams compete each other .

So is it worth hosting a major sporting event like the World Cup or the Olympics if the country doesn't gain from the event?

Four of the Elders - all of them African - Desmond Tutu, Graca Michel, Kofi Annan and Ladkhar Brahimi - will be meeting Lyse Doucet in South Africa at the weekend to talk to the audience of young people, but she also wants to put your questions to them.

Together they highlight what they see as pressing issues that the world must address, particularly humanitarian and peace issues. They want more than just talk about problems at conferences and at the UN, but for us to actually act upon them.

Discrimination against women. Ladkhar Brahimi talks about his 72 year old sister who is now learning to read.
Graca Michel warns that traditional practises put girls at risk and a disadvantage.

Desmond Tutu has spoken out on the lack of progress since Sri Lanka's fighting ended a year ago and the need to do more to help the displaced and vulnerable civilians. And slams the Arizona immigration law as "the wrong answer".

And Kofi Annan watches Zimbabwe worried. In the last two years they have called for more aid to stabilise Zimbabwe and ease the humanitarian issues.

Are they speaking out on the right things? This is your chance to get some answers. Unfortunately it's not a live programme but we will post the link to the recording when we broadcast it - which will be the 12th June.

When the Haitian earthquake struck on the 12th of January I was in Florida for WHYS. The sense of grief and agnst was everywhere as there is such a large Haitian community in Florida, who were desperate to know what was happening back home to their loved ones. Mobile phone lines were down, so it was very difficult to contact people in Haiti, but we did manage to connect Haitians in Fort Myers, Haitians in 'Little Haiti' in Miami with people in Port au Prince.

One of those people we spoke to was Dixie Bickel, who runs an orphanage just outside Port au Prince. When Dixie came on the line I will never forget the atmosphere in the studio at WGCU where we were broadcasting from, everyone was silent taking in every word she was saying, it was very moving.

Dixie has kindly offered us her orphanage for our first broadcast on the 28th of April. Since the earthquake she is now looking after 60 children, some she has taken in from from other orphanages which were destroyed by the quake and from families who are living in camps and currently can't look after their children but she will be handing them back once these families have sorted their homes and living conditions. Other children are up for adoption.

We will also be talking to Haitians guests who were with us at WGCU in Florida. Jean Larose who will be on the show on the 28th said to me he hasn't forgotten Dixie and what she told them on the 13th of January, he also says that he lost 5 members of his family who lived in Port au Prince.

On the 29th of April we will be broadcasting from a camp in Port au Prince which is currently housing 5000 displaced people. We will be talking to residents in the camp, people who work there and members of the Haitian government.

What questions you would like to ask Dixie? and the staff who work with her? What questions would you like to ask the people in the camp? Who else would you like to hear from?