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Love Is Power

Sherita Searcy — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:09:18 +0000

"If you have enough love, you'll be the happiest and most powerful person in the world." Dr. Emmet Fox

friends quotes for aim buddy profile

derekorihiem — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:57:04 +0000

Before I got in touch with u,
I used to gaze at stars as they were only my friends.
But after I met u,I started believing
that stars do fall on Earth.

Cool Friend Quotes
Cool Profile Quotes
Cool Summer Quotes
Sweet Cool Quotes
Cool Guy Quotes
Cool Friendship Quotes
Cool Short Quotes
Cool Myscpace Quotes

Friendship is a promise spoken by the heart
is not given by plege, nor written on paper,
but promise renewed everytime friends keep in touch.

Friends are like bum cheeks.
Crap might separate them,
But they always come back together.

Funny aim profile sayings

raimialders — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:46:22 +0000

What if there were no hypothetical questions?

Don t cross your bridges until you come to them.

I lost my phone number. Can I have yours?
~sweet saying by Cool Pickup

There are only two type of aircraft... fighters and targets.~Major Doyle "Wahoo" Nicholson, USMC

Important documents will demonstrate their vitality by moving from where you left them to where you can't find them.
Love is like the measles, we all have to go through it.

Funny cute profile quotes

raimialders — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:44:45 +0000

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten.

It takes more faith to believe that I came from a monkey than to believe that I came from God.

Make it too tough for the enemy to get in and you can't get out.
~sweet saying by Cute Girl

Sometimes the best helping hand you can give is a good, firm push.

Live bombs in court create chaos

Nelson — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:54:58 +0000

A court in Bangladesh trying suspected Islamic militants was thrown into panic when five live bombs were produced as exhibits during the hearing of a case.

The discovery prompted the presiding judge to order a hasty adjournment as the court was evacuated.

A security force officer said that he got the "shock of his life" when he realised that the bombs were live.

Officials blame police for not defusing the devices before coming to court. The police say they were not asked to.

Heart failure

The incident happened during the trial of five suspected members of the banned Islamist organisation, Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

The JMB is accused of carrying out a string of bomb attacks across Bangladesh at the end of last year.

They were alleged to have been caught in possession of the explosives in December 2005, and the devices were brought to the court as evidence.

The BBC's Qadir Kallol in Dhaka says that the only trouble was that police forgot to defuse them.

When Captain Tareq Rahman Khan of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) saw the Public Prosecutor, Shahidul Islam, uncovering the explosives in front of the judge, he admitted suffering temporary heart failure.

"I got the shock of my life," he was quoted as saying in the New Age newspaper.

Captain Khan warned the prosecutor that the bombs could go off at any moment and cause carnage in the crowded courtroom.

RAB officials say that they asked the police to defuse the bombs after they were seized.

But the police said they had not received any such communication.

Later on Wednesday, police did eventually take the bombs away, but with the utmost caution.

"It was fortunate we were not all blown to smithereens," one officer was reported as saying.

What the Papers say 2003

Nelson — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:18:28 +0000

Press reports about Panorama

Press reports from 2000 Press reports from 2001 Press reports from 2002

NOVEMBER 2003

Spend it Like Beckham
British people are finding it easier than ever to borrow on credit. But how long can Britain continue to Spend it like Beckham and is payback just around the corner?

David Stephenson - Sunday Express - 17 December 2003
"According to Panorama we've collectively caught "luxury fever", the symptoms of which can be described as "spending like Beckham". You know the one - designer this, designer that, sarongs, sunglasses, tattoos and hair grips. I daren't look in my stocking on Christmas morning.

The remedy, in my view, is for us to start spending like Wilkinson. This involves a more reserved, dignified approach to High Street shopping and definitely no women's clothes, fellas. It also means saving up patiently for that car or hi-fi, rather than splashing out with someone else's cash.

I confess I enjoyed every minute of this film but for all the wrong reasons. The reporter, on a "reasonable salary" (undisclosed, boringly) managed, in six hours, to rattle up GBP 52,000 credit! Wow! What am I waiting for? And then there was the mortgage expert. He had some great news for anyone with a 15 per cent deposit on a home. Basically, borrow what you like for that mansion you had your eye on. I was left feeling dejected. The big consumer and property boom has been happening elsewhere.

I also discovered that there was a whole group of lenders described as "sub prime" - loan sharks to you and me - who would kindly offer me a way out of my new-found penury. Then, when things got really difficult, all I'd need to do is have myself declared bankrupt, wait a couple of years and I could start all over again. Thank you, Panorama - I am a new man, complete with my palatial mansion and designer sarong.

The Observer - 30 November 2003
"It's a peculiar statistic, but the British public is in collective debt to the tune of nearly three trillion pounds. Reporter Justin Rowlatt presents this alarming documentary and asks: are we simply storing up problems for the future by allowing interest rates to continue to rise?"

Independent on Sunday - 30 November 2003
"Britain has caught luxury fever. Millions want to buy into the lavish lifestyle they see the rich enjoying, and are able to fund extravagances because the consumer-credit market makes it easy for even those on modest incomes to open lines of credit. The country's addiction to spending has helped keep us out of recession, but asks reporter Justin Rowlatt here, are we simply storing up problems we'll be forced to confront in the future? "

Mail on Sunday - 30 November 2003
"Spend it like Beckham examines our national addiction to borrowing. It's never been easier to rack up debts as lenders fall over each other for custom. With a staggering debt mountain of £905,782,000,000 (that's £15300 per man, woman and child), is the UK storing up major economic problems for itself? This report asks how long we can continue to spend, spend, spend and wonders whether payback time is around the corner"

Sunday Times - 30 November 2003
"We're not trying to keep up with the Joneses any more", says Dr Clive Hamilton of Cambridge University. "These days everyone's trying to keep up with the Beckhams". Despite the title blatant attempt to win viewers, this programme takes a look at Britain's spending habits, explaining how the nation's addiction to credit has kept recession at bay but will lead to economic problems in the long term. Pensioners who owe £79000, students with £37000 hanging over their heads - it is no wonder that the country has debts worth more than £1530 for very man, woman ad child."

Still searching for Saddam's weapons
Panorama has had exclusive access to the work of the Iraq Survey Group as they hunt for Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.

Sunday Times - 23 November 2003
"Following the Iraq survey group as they continue their search for Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. The reporter Jane Corbin visits Camp Slayer - not, unfortunately, a gay thrash-metal band, but the centre of operations for the intelligence analysts examining the evidence, and asks whether the political futures of George Bush and Tony Blair will be guaranteed by the group's findings."

A carer's story
For three months, a member of the Panorama team worked as a care worker with elderly people living at home, secretly recording her experiences.

Sunday Times - 23 November 2003
"Panorama may now be 50, but age does not mean pulling punches. Last Sunday's undercover investigation of the so-called care services for the elderly was exemplary."

Sunday Times - 16 November 2003
"Despite starting with the unpromising line, "Once upon a time, everyone was young and then we get old," this harrowing film raises painful and provocative questions about the attitudes of society towards the elderly. Testing the government's desire to see more people looked after at home, the BBC's Fran Baker went undercover as a careworker for three months this summer. She discovers a care industry that could not care less: underpaid, untrained staff, neglectful agencies and unmanageable schedules leading to a situation in which the most vulnerable elderly people are harried, ignored and, in some cases, endangered by the very system that is supposed to protect them and their dignity."

In the line of fire with John Simpson
30,000 bombs were dropped on Iraq during the Gulf War. This is the story of just one of them.

Guardian - Review of 2003 - 28 December 2003
"Panorama celebrated turning 50 with a bruising, brutal look at the outcome of 'friendly fire' that came too close to John Simpson for comfort."

Broadcast - Philip Reevell's review of 2003 - 19 December 2003
"I thought I'd make some observations about key moments of the television year. Jonny Wilkinson, obviously, Baghdad being blitzed in the early days of the war and John Simpson's documentary about being bombed by the Americans in northern Iraq all leapt to mind. But after that I ran out of TV memorable moments."

Daily Mail - 10 November 2003
"This gripping programme marked Panorama's 50th birthday. The best present the BBC could offer to mark the anniversary would be a prime-time weeknight slot."

The Independent - 10 November 2003
"It was a fascinating film - illuminating the hazards and frustrations of television journalism."

Mail on Sunday - 9 November 2003
"John Simpson takes a sobering look at the reality of modern war, in which 'immensely powerful weapons' are fired by fallible human beings. He shows the horror of what happened in northern Iraq when 18 people were killed, including his BBC colleague of just six weeks, when they came under 'friendly fire' from a US Navy jet."

Sunday Times - 9 November 2003
"John Simpson's documentary about the "American own goal" that occurred just outside Kirkuk, might illustrate the strange egotism of the war reporter but as this vivid and remarkable film unfolds, the terrifying realities of war start to push through. While the commentary of the journalists convey the fear, horror and ferocious camaraderie, it is the blood that drips onto the lens of Fred Scott's camera that will be the lasting image."

Sunday Telegraph - 9 November 2003
"This shocking and violent documentary describes the worst friendly fire incident in the Iraq war, which was caught on camera by John Simpson and his team. Their translator was killed and the most moving part of the film was when the normally loquacious Simpson goes to visit the man's family, and is absolutely lost for words in the face of their grief."

Observer - 9 November 2003
"Undeniably exciting but terrifying footage of life on the front line, plus an intelligent analysis of the aftermath."

Weekend FT - 8 November 2003
"The philistines may have tried to bury Panorama in a graveyard slot but excellence will out. Tonight's Panorama Special is a reminder of the unflinching reporting that made the corporation's reputation."

Weekend FT - 8 November 2003
"If you watch nothing else this weekend, see this. Panorama, which has made some outstanding films this season, excels itself with this shocking film about the ghastly friendly fire incident in April...It's a moving and at times angry film which should particularly be required viewing for politicians."

Fair Cops?
Panorama investigates the infamous Clydach murders and finds similarities between this case and earlier miscarriages of justice which happened in south Wales.

Western Mail - 4 November 2003
"Victims of miscarriages of justice in South Wales yesterday called for a public inquiry into the activities of South Wales Police. It follows Sunday night's BBC Panorama programme, which raised questions of misconduct by the force in the Clydach murder inquiry...Panorama suggested a serving police officer should have been arrested as a potential suspect. At a press conference yesterday, Michael O'Brien, Annette Hewins and Adrian Stone called for a public inquiry into South Wales Police. All had themselves been involved in cases in the past."

Daily Star - 4 November 2003
"A police chief yesterday blasted the BBC over a programme casting doubt over the conviction of a builder for the brutal murdering of a family of four. Panorama claimed to reveal "disturbing new evidence" over the jailing of David Morris for the killings of a grandmother, mum and two daughters. A six-month investigation by Panorama claimed there were "serious failings" when potentially vital leads were not properly followed up by police at Clydach, near Swansea. But South Wales Chief Constable Sir Anthony Burden said the force has been "honest, professional and transparent" in reviewing controversial murder cases. "

South Wales Echo - 3 November 2003
"Chief Constable Sir Anthony Burden said that Panorama had 'clearly set out to undermine all the excellent work this force does in investigating major crime'. He said: 'Between 1980 and 2000 South Wales Police dealt with 356 murder investigations - of these, five fall into the category of 'miscarriage of justice'.'"

Western Mail - 3 November 2003
"A BBC Panorama programme last night looked at several cases investigated by South Wales Police."

OTV - 2 November 2003
"In June 1999, Mandy Power was beaten to death along with her two daughters and mother in their home in South Wales; the house was then set alight. Later it emerged that she had been having a lesbian affair with the wife of an officer in the South Wales police force; yet David Morris, a local builder, was jailed for the murders in spite of a lack of forensic evidence. Fair Cops? investigates."

Sunday Times - 2 November 2003
South Wales Police come under the Panorama microscope tonight as the 1999 murders of Mandy Power, her two daughters and their grandmother are examined in the light of the force's recent history. South Wales Echo - 24 October 2003
"A television documentary will suggest that the man convicted of the Clydach murders could be another victim of a police miscarriage of justice."

Western Mail - 24 October 2003
" NEIGHBOURS of a family murdered in their home have reacted with fury to a planned BBC Panorama programme which aims to 'look again' at the conviction of labourer David Morris of the horrific Clydach killings. A complaint has already been lodged with the BBC about the content of the programme."

OCTOBER 2003

Crack UK
Panorama investigates the proliferation of the crack cocaine trade and how police forces are struggling to cope.

The Herald - 27 October 2003
"This solid, Scottish-made investigation of the crack cocaine pandemic unearthed enough entrepreneurial ghouls to give any society nightmares. It showed crack to be the most capitalist of stupid drugs. Fifty pounds for a "nifty", a tiny rock, will give you perhaps 10 minutes of intense pleasure and, in short order, an intense craving.

Soon enough, as a youngster named Caroline explained, (pounds) 400 will buy no more than a brief day's fun with a purified coke appetiser and a heroin entree. The market is less captive than bound, gagged, and immobilised.

As are the forces of law and order. Panorama set out to show police forces, Grampian in particular, fighting against a tidal wave as the pushers cast their nets beyond inner cities awash with class A drugs. It revealed sensible attitudes among the cops and a lot of hard, painstaking work. But simple statistics served to crush hope: Fraserburgh has a population of 20,000 and 500 registered addicts. Scary? Try soul-destroying.

The Guardian - 27 October 2003
"Panorama's statistics were scary enough, but the grief of some of its interviewees was more saddening. How, they wondered, could drugs gain such a foothold in their safe and well-off communities and ruin their children? They spoke, baffled, as if affluence is a guard against "the evils of drugs". Certainly, deprivation can be a factor in drug usage, but money is no insulation against addiction. A drug dealer is a businessman, Panorama noted. Capitalism abhors a vacuum. There are casualties everywhere."

Sunday Times - 26 October 2003
"Crack cocaine might be perceived as the scourge of the grim urban wasteland, but as this programme shows, it is not just London, Birmingham and Manchester that are fighting a growing crack problem. Thanks to dealers who realised they could swerve the gun-infested waters of the city trade by moving to smaller towns and villages, even the most bucolic areas of Britain are now struggling with the drug. Leaving aside the fact that affluent areas have to be affected before anyone starts panicking, this programme presents an alarming picture of the state of play in the British war on drugs."

Blair's university challenge
With a nod to one of Britain's favourite TV quiz shows, Panorama examines the government's proposals to allow universities in England and Wales to charge up to £3000 a year for a course - to be paid back after graduation.

Sunday Times - 19 October 2003
"With the government's proposed tuition fees set to cause a backbench rebellion, Panorama uses the University Challenge format to quiz two teams of politicians on the policy's effect on education."

Sex and the Holy City
Panorama investigates how Pope John Paul II came to be accused of ruining thousands of lives.

Humo, Belgium - 21 October 2003
"Sunday night October 12, BBC ONE broadcast a shocking Panorama report called Sex and the Holy City. 'The consequences of the criminal dogmas of that senile man from Rome for some Third World countries provoke every imagination'. It's likely that Canvas is going to adapt and broadcast the report one of these days. The writer is wondering if this will be uncensored or not."

Financial Times - 18/19 October 2003
"The relationship between the spread of Aids in Africa (home to 120m Catholics) and the Vatican injunction against condom use appears to escape him (the Pope)."

Simon Jenkins in The Times - 17 October 2003
"At a time when world leaders are grappling with the scourge of African Aids, the Vatican contribution is to spread lies about condoms. The thesis that they do not impede the transmission of HIV and should therefore be banned displays the same mindset as hauled Galileo before the Inquisition."

Polly Toynbee in The Guardian - 17 October 2003
"Steve Bradshaw's brilliant Panorama came as a timely reminder...In all three continents, catholic-dominated communities repeated the Vatican lie that condoms have holes in them that let the Aids virus through. The president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, explained that the Vatican's scientific committee had proved it was true - but despite promises, never produced the committee's evidence."

Los Angeles Times - 17 October 2003
"The Vatican has also forced its opposition to condom use -- even to prevent the spread of AIDS -- onto the U.N. stage and elsewhere. This kind of ignorance is not just unfortunate; it is murderous. And this energetic pope has personally taken this message around the world."

Daily Telegraph - 14 October 2003
"On Sunday night, the BBC chose to mark the 25th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's election with a Panorama documentary that accused him of causing death and misery in the Third World. The central charge was that the Roman Catholic Church is helping to spread Aids in Africa by teaching that condoms are useless because the virus passes through the rubber. Most scientists think this is rubbish: the Church has a case to answer. But this accusation lost its force because the programme was so relentlessly one-sided."

NRC Handelsblad (Dutch newspaper) - 13 October 2003
"Good TV journalism occurs less frequently in the Netherlands, than in Britain. The BBC's Panorama programme yesterday broadcast Sex and the Holy City, which had already made the international news days before; thorough research resulted in a scoop with far-reaching consequences."

Sunday Times - 12 October 2003
"Making an unexpected detour away from Iraq, this week's edition of Panorama marks Pope John Paul II's 25-year reign with an examination of the Vatican's policy on sex. While many western Catholics have found a way to reconcile a need for contraception with their faith, Catholics in the world's poorest countries are still instructed by priests who are hardline advocates of the Pope's beliefs on contraception and abortion. The effects are appalling, as this documentary reveals, travelling to Nicaragua, Kenya and the Philippines to witness increased HIV infection, illegal abortions and a destructive absence of family planning."

Independent on Sunday - 12 October 2003
"Steve Bradshaw investigates the legacy of Pope John Paul's war on contraception, abortion and promiscuity. In poorer countries, the pronouncements of God's representative on earth are taken literally. Here, Bradshaw travels to Africa, South-East Asia and Latin America, where he talks to some of those directly affected by the Pope's hardline doctrine, including the pro-lifers who have taken control of Manila's health clinics and banned the use of the pill and condoms".

Inside Guantanamo
Panorama uncovers the true picture of this new system of arrest, detention, interrogation and eventual trial by military commission, a key part of America's war against terror following the events of 9/11.

Yasmin Alibhai Brown, The Independent - 16 Feb 2004
I have just re-watched the extraordinary Panorama programme about the camp. For that alone the BBC can have my licence fee

VPRO Gids, Netherlands - 31 October 2003
"During the past few weeks there has been enough attention for the living conditions of more than 650 Moslems who are captured in the American army base Guantanamo Bay. But nobody really knows what's going on in that prison. Even the documentary of the BBC programme Panorama recorded in June this year didn't change this. Not that the reporter Vivian White and his team didn't do their very best: just the permission to film in the camp was a big achievement."

De Standard, Belgium - 25 October 2003
"According to Bush the 600 men who are captured in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are 'bad people'. Americans think their new punishment system is an essential part of their war against terrorism. The BBC reporter Vivian White travelled around the world for six months to talk with people who where confronted with this form of American justice: arrest, imprisoning, questioning and an eventual condemnation by a military commission. White also travels to Guantanamo."

Financial Times - 4 and 5 October 2003
"An important and damning film in which the veteran member of the journalistic awkward squad Vivian White visits Guantanamo Bay. The footage of American soldiers repeating their mission as if by rote is chilling, but more disturbing is the reaction to White's questioning by defensive American officials".

Mail on Sunday editorial - 5 October 2003
"Among the worst examples of the new ruthlessness has been the treatment of prisoners at the US base in Bagram, Afghanistan, and at the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a site deliberately chosen because it was beyond the admirable protections of the American Constitution. T

The release of small numbers of these men is proof that some - and perhaps many more - were not guilty of anything. How many others will eventually have to be freed too? Will America have to apologise for Guantanamo, as it has had to do for the roundup of Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbour in 1941?

SEPTEMBER 2003

The price of victory
Panorama filmed US troops in Baghdad as those who came to rebuild Iraq were sucked into an urban guerrilla war.

The Spectator - 11 October
"Last month Panorama showed an American major confronting a civilian lying in a Baghdad hospital with a bullet wound in his chest. The Officer believed that the Iraqi was responsible for an attack on American forces and wanted him to reveal the names of his supposed c-conspirators. "Tell him", the major said to the interpreter, "that if he co-operates with us, we can save his life. We have good doctors. But if he doesn't co-operate - it's bad for his health." I am happy to say that this was later revealed to be an unpleasant - and unsuccessful - bluff. It did, however, remind me of the reasons why America is in such trouble in Iraq; namely, its insistence on others' total submission, and its failure to comprehend the wider consequences of such hubristic behaviour.

Observer Review - 5 October
"Indeed if you wanted a reality check last week, you needed to watch a blistering Panorama: The Price of Victory", in which the foot soldiers in the ranks of the US peacekeeping force in Iraq despaired of their out of touch superiors, while the Iraqi people merely despaired. "Soldiers are bad Policemen", the UN Envoy Sergio Viera de Mello, told Panorama in his final interview , 48 hours before he was killed, thereby writing his own epitaph. This was a powerful and important film in which, tragically, there was no hint of a happy ending".

The Sunday Times - 28 September
"Filmed over the summer, this grim documentary records life on the streets of Baghdad since the war in Iraq's supposed end. By following coalition soldiers who were sent over to help rebuild a crippled country, but became increasingly embroiled in the guerrilla war unfolding daily on the city streets, the film highlights their almost impossible task.

Yet it is the record of ordinary Iraqis who have lost relatives in the violence and lost faith in the promises of regime change that make this Panorama so depressing. Featuring the last interview with the late UN special Envoy Sergio Viera de Mello, this programme looks for light at the end of a dark and dangerous tunnel"

The Independent on Sunday - 28 September
"Despite President Bush's hubristic pronouncements, the war in Iraq is palpably not over. Each week, coalition troops die in a country increasingly beset by guerrilla activity. The Beeb's flagship documentary strand meets the soldiers of Thunder Battalion who came to rebuild a country. The programme also includes an interview with UN Special Envoy Sergio de Mello just 48 hours before he was killed by a car-bomb attack"

The Observer - 28 September
"This Autumn sees Panorama celebrate 50 years of broadcasting, thus making it the longest-running current affairs series in the world. Tonight's documentary The Price of Victory starts the new season with a look at coalition soldiers in Iraq: a story of men who came to rebuild a country but who instead found themselves sucked into an urban guerrilla war. A hugely powerful piece of television reporting"

The Times - 27 September
"Panorama spent three months filming on the streets of Baghdad in order to produce this sharp, balanced portrait of life under the US occupation. Most of the American soldiers they filmed were committed and professional, while DVDs depicting scenes of torture do lively trade as a reminder of Saddam's regime. But there are too many worrying examples of crude, heavy-handed US policing. Soldiers swear at Iraqi women; suspects are threatened, hooded and incarcerated in makeshift barbed-wire compounds, and a spirit of lawlessness has replaced Saddam's state-sponsored terror"

Financial Times - 27 September
"Thought provoking stuff"

JULY 2003

The asylum game
For six months a Panorama reporter went through Britain's asylum system. Her task - to find out why so many people seek asylum in the UK and why the system cannot cope?

Melanie McDonagh, Sunday Times - 27 July

"Just as we thought there was a limit to public tolerance of hissy rows between the government and the BBC, another one has come along, nicely timed for the summer holidays when there's so little in the newspapers. This time, please God, the eye scratching between new Labour and the corporation will not end up with the self-slaughter of a decent civil servant. Instead, the argument has merely boiled down to bad-tempered slurs about sloppy journalism and xenophobia.

I refer, of course, to the intemperate response of David Blunkett, the home secretary, to John Ware's Panorama programme, Asylum Day. The documentary pointed out the ease with which a supposedly Moldovan refugee could make a bogus claim for asylum and how the processing of the claim could be indefinitely prolonged, enabling the woman concerned to disappear into those parts of the British economy that officialdom does not reach.

The moral of the programme, as I understood it, was that the asylum system needs a swift processing mechanism for appeals, together with an efficient means of deporting those whose applications are unsuccessful. The home secretary, whose reputation on this subject to date has been the reverse of pinko-liberal, responded that the programme embodied crude anti-immigration prejudice. "It is, in fact, a return to the Powellite anti-immigration agenda," he declared.

It's remarkable, don't you find, that Enoch Powell, three decades after his misapplication of a quote from The Aeneid (just shows where a classical education can get you), is still good for frightening the horses in the contemporary immigration debate. But what's interesting about this latest argument on asylum is quite how far we have moved on from Enoch Powell's terms of reference.

The Panorama programme didn't show a black man trying to fiddle the asylum system. It depicted a white, supposedly Moldovan, woman. And in so doing it was true to the picture of much contemporary immigration, only part of which is black or Asian."

Yorkshire Post - 27 July

"Anyone who expressed criticism of asylum policy can expect to be smeared, and accused of xenophobia at best or racism at worst. The BBC's Panorama programme last week exposed many of the immigration rackets and was immediately subjected to a smear from Home Secretary David Blunkett. If Blunkett were honest, he would say that he has done his best but cannot cope with the problem, hemmed in by foolish laws and zealous lawyers. Much easier to accuse critics of Powellism. Critics are accused of being anti-immigrant when they are merely demanding immigration control."

Evening Standard leader - 25 July

"Mr David Blunkett, has been fulminating about the criticisms of Britain's asylum and immigration policy by the BBC Panorama programme this week. Indeed, he went so far as to accuse the programme-makers of a "Powellite anti-immigration agenda". It was a curious observation from a Home Secretary who has himself been criticised for using inflammatory language on this subject. Is Mr Blunkett saying that the whole area of asylum and immigration should not be honestly discussed - except on the Government's terms and by institutions of whom he approves?"

Daily Mail leader - 25 July

"How sad that our normally level headed Home Secretary seems to have succumbed to New Labour's hatred of the BBC. David Blunkett's attack on Panorama for allegedly playing into the hands of a Powellite anti-immigration agenda is simply unworthy of him and so serious a subject.

What, after all was Panorama's offence? In a piece of first-rate journalism that dispassionately explained the facts, it used an undercover reporter posing as a refugee to show how easily people with spurious claims can get round immigration controls and disappear into the black economy.

When the Home Office has just slipped out news - conveniently after the Commons rose for the summer - that hundreds of thousands of immigrants are working here illegally, the expose could hardly be more timely. Yet for telling the truth, the BBC is denounced and demonised...

The purpose is obvious: the smears are intended to stifle debate on an issue of deep concern and cow millions of decent, tolerant people into silence."

Daily Telegraph leader - 25 July

"A return to Powellism" is how David Blunkett labels the Panorama programme about the confusion that bedevils the Government's handling of asylum. "It played into the hands of those who use the issue of asylum to attack immigration per se," he declares. But there is legitimate public concern about aspects of immigration that have nothing to do with so called Powellism."

The Guardian leader - 25 July

When the BBC's Panorama team began filming this week's special programme in January, a new asylum act had just come into force which had stark consequences for those seeking refugee status in Britain. Some of those consequences were shown in the early parts of the programme - the destitution into which applicants who delayed lodging claims were plunged through the withdrawal of rights to shelter, food and clothing. But this was incidental to the main thrust of the programme. Rather, as its writer and presenter John Ware wrote in Wednesday's Daily Mail, its main purpose was to explore "Why has Britain become the asylum capital of the world?"

That claim has to be put into context, though Mr Ware made little effort to do so in his programme or his Mail article. The UK received a record 86,000 asylum applicants (with 24,000 dependents) last year. This does not even put this country at the top of the European league, let alone the world, in terms of applications per head of population. The UK was eighth in the Western Europe league in 2002, with four states - Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Austria - receiving proportionally twice our number. In 2001, Britain ranked 10th. In the decade 1990-2000, we accepted less than a quarter of the number Germany absorbed (454,000 compared to 2m). In a global context, the UK's 85,000 pales by comparison with the 2 million refugees Pakistan has accepted or the 1.8 million in Iran in 2001. As the United Nations high commission for refugees always reminds people, out of 12m refugees in the world, the west has fewer than 1 million.

What Panorama set out to show was that it is very easy to get around the current strict procedures. Of course the law can be bent. It has become so strict that it often has to be broken - as successive home secretaries have conceded - for a genuine refugee to find asylum. But there were other serious defects in the BBC analysis. First, a reporter who pretended to be a Moldovan refugee, was already in the country. Yet the barriers to British entry begin far beyond our shores. Panorama did not even begin to look at these, let alone report on the genuine refugees that they are shutting out. Then the reporter was a former interpreter in the heart of the immigration department. This was absurd. Of course she knew the loopholes.

It is not often that we find ourselves in agreement with the home secretary on asylum, but the main thrust of David Blunkett's demolition job on the programme that we published yesterday is absolutely right. It was, in his words, both "a poorly researched and overspun documentary". For John Ware to suggest that immigration has been a taboo subject for the last 35 years only demonstrates how out of touch the programme was. You do not pass four asylum acts in 10 years without heated debates."

Click here to see Panorama's response to this article

Daily Telegraph - 24 July

"Last night's Panorama seems unlikely to reconcile the BBC and the Government. As part of BBC 1's night on asylum-seekers, the programme set itself the familiar question of whether Britain is a soft touch. It's answer though - certainly for those who regard the Corporation as either reliably or incurably liberal - was more unexpected: a firm and indignant yes....

...In many ways you had to admire Panorama's bravely unfashionable line - mainly because it seemed to have been dictated by the facts. Even so, the programme offered no solutions to the problems it so spectacularly unveiled."

The Times - 24 July

"What we do know, having watched John Ware's Panorama report, is that the Government has lost the reins of the asylum system, which is now, like a bolted horse that gallops across the nation, inspiring - by turns - admiration and panic. Admiration, because watching the way Panorama's undercover reporter was treated by police, immigration officials and charities after pretending to have just arrived in Britain from Moldova, hidden in a lorry, you'd have to conclude that the British are generally kindly, hospitable people...

...And panic because the Home Office doesn't seem to have a clue about how to monitor the asylum system. As John Ware puts it "The original concept of asylum solely as a sanctuary for the oppressed has become discredited. Over the past ten years the system has descended into chaos and abuse. Panorama's reporter Claudia Murg, justified this verdict. She was able to pretty much as she pleased...

...Ware's thesis is that a well intentioned policy has gone wrong. He would seem to have a point."

Daily Mail - 24 July

"As part of the debate, Panorama - the former flagship of the BBC's current affairs coverage - was moved from its disgracefully obscure Sunday night ghetto to contribute to the asylum-fest with a hard hitting special edition. Asylum (as the programme was modestly called) employed an undercover reporter to expose the degree of racketeering that is rife among what we must call the illegal asylum seekers population, frequently aided and abetted by the legal profession's asylum gravy train."

Guardian - 24 July

"Murg became Moldovan Mihaela as part of BBC's Asylum Day. For six months she maintained her fictional persona trying to ascertain why Britain is the asylum capital of Europe. There wasn't a conclusion as such, though it's pretty obvious that Britain is actually quite nice when compared with poor countries that used to have dictators and bread. And it's much better than France of course...

...Mihaela met a dodgy lawyer and a dim recruitment agency worker, packed ready meals and bits of fish in a bag, and after making another asylum claim under another false name, finally got herself caught by the Home Office. While not quite throwing herself at them wearing a sign that said "I'm an undercover reporter. I have just made you look inept", she nevertheless made her point effectively.

Amid this, there was also a reminder that some asylum seekers are really fleeing horrors beyond your bourgeois imagination. But legitimate refugees just aren't as interesting as dodgy Albanians and sneaky Arabs."

The Independent - 24 July

"Panorama tackled the problem in an even more ingenious way, with an unusual programme in which the film footage and the narration were subtly at odds. If you were a Daily Mail reader then you could have taken satisfaction from the tetchy implication of John Ware's voiceover that Britain is a paradise for those attempting to get round the immigration regulations. If, on the other hand, you take the view that our treatment of asylum seekers is shameful, you could have concentrated on Claudia Murg, the reporter who had adopted the persona of a Moldovan asylum seeker in order to experience at first hand the disincentives that David Blunkett has built into the system. It was possible to reconcile those two opposing views with a third - that the system is chaotic and arbitrary, punishing genuine refugees without effectively deterring those who simply want to suck at the welfare teat."

Trevor Kavanagh, The Sun - 24 July

"The three-hour blitz included a devastating report by the flagship Panorama programme."

JUNE 2003

Fiddling the Figures
Panorama uncovers disturbing evidence about what some hospitals are doing to achieve the government's NHS targets.

British Medical Journal - July 5

"The picture that emerged, through interviews with managers and clinicians in Oxford and London, was one of an NHS in which patients were being deceived.

"Hospitals appeared gripped by a culture of fear in which managers, like conscientious pupils sitting standard assessment tests, seemed terrified of not getting full marks. A former chief executive claimed that not hitting certain targets was "a sackable offence" and a consultant described how managers gave him zero minutes to see a patient whom they didn't deem to be a clinical priority. Several of the managers who spoke to Panorama about the ruses used to hit targets did so anonymously, their words spoken by actors. It seemed that talking openly could be career limiting...

"Panorama did not pull its punches. But in explaining the conflicts that managers, doctors, and nurses face as they try to balance targets against clinical priorities, the programme was a model of clarity."

The Independent - July 1

"Sunday night's Panorama had caught a whiff of sharp practice in the NHS and had followed the scent to a good story - one that provided a neat prelude to the BMA chairman's attack on the distortions that targeting has introduced to the Health Service. It wasn't targets that were the problem. It was the absurd way in which they were policed. Hospitals were told which week's Casualty lists would be assessed, broke their backs to meet them for seven days, and slumped back exhausted the following Monday. Guess which week the Government boasts about?"

Melanie Reid, Glasgow Herald - 1 July
"The madness of the government's target-driven reform of the NHS has finally broken cover with yesterday's explosive speech from the outgoing chairman of the British Medical Association, and a damning edition last Sunday of Panorama....revealed the scandalous tricks which hospitals are using to please their NHS masters (and betray their patients)."

The Observer - 29 June
"An alarming investigation which brings to light new evidence about what some hospitals are doing to meet the Government's National Health Service targets and the pressure being put on the NHS staff to deliver results. Consultants reveal how clinical priorities are being distorted so that hospital managers can meet waiting-time targets to the point that one says he was allocated "0 minutes" to see a follow-up patient. An eye opener.

Gangsters at war
Panorama enters the dark and sinister world of the Ulster Defence Association, whom the programme has followed for nine shocking months.

The Newsletter - 23 June
"Last night's BBC Television Panorama programme revealed the full extent of the loyalist paramilitaries' descent into crime and it provides little comfort or hope that the bad old days of the Troubles are totally at an end.

"The Government, our politicians, churchmen and leaders of the wider community cannot wash their hands completely and blithely say that this matter is absolutely nothing to do with them.

"It should matter to all with responsibility in this Province that terrorist paramilitary violence is continuing on our streets and efforts should be made at all levels to steer young, impressionable people away from sinister influences and organisations with a nefarious, criminal agenda."

The Observer - 22 June
"Reporter Kevin Magee enters the dark and sinister worked of the largest paramilitary organisation in Europe, the UDA, and exposes the extraordinary level of violence associated with the group.

"Knee cappings, pipe-bomb attacks, arson and murder are all commonplace, but distressingly, UDA terrorists appear to be able to operate with impunity. Magee tells the story of a bitter and deadly gangland feud and reveals that few arrests are made and no members of the organisation have been charged with any of the murders committed during the feud. Powerful television."

Belfast Telegraph - 21 June
"Having had a preview of tomorrow night's Panorama special on the UDA feud, I advise you not to miss it. It proves that when the established order in the Protestant heartlands, which used to consist of the UUP, the Orange Order and the Churches is overthrown, far worse takes its place.

"Corruption and criminality rule, in the wake of the political revolution, and there is little the forces of law and order - or ordinary decent people - can do about it. Zero tolerance would be a start, if we had enough police."

MAY 2003

The Chicken Run
Panorama investigates the use of protein additives made from the remains of cows and pigs, which are used by some areas of the frozen chicken industry.

The People, 25 May
"This was stomach-churning stuff, and nearly made you want to become a vegetarian. Nearly, but things aren't that drastic."

The Guardian - leader, 24 May
"If you are what you eat, then this week's big food story was difficult to stomach. Large food processors, it was revealed, were bulking up chicken destined for hospitals, schools and restaurants with beef bits, pig waste and poultry skins. The industrialisation of the food chain means that the search for ever-bigger profit drives companies to seek cheaper ways of producing food. So bony and bloody waste is transformed into meat for the kitchen table. That beef products are being used rightly alarms people in a country which is still spooked by mad cow disease. If concealing extra water and meat-based additives in low-cost chicken meat sounds disgusting, then that is because it is.

"Yet instead of stating the obvious, the watchdog for food safety has barely bared its teeth. Instead the food standards agency called sotto voce for improved labelling. Applying labels to novel foods is often a good way of balancing the opposing wishes of producers and consumers. But the reality is complex. In this case the labels that the agency wants, describing what was contained in the meat, would be read by wholesalers, not by the public. It is those who eat chicken injected with beef that need to be told about it.

"The government needs to respond to consumer concerns - not see them as an obstacle to progress - and as a first step it should prevail upon the food standards agency to stand up and say the result of injecting beef into chicken is a fowl foul."

The Independent, 23 May
"Last night's Panorama offered two powerful arguments against eating cheap processed chicken - or any products that might contain it...

"People might forget what exactly it is that hydrolysed proteins do, but they're not likely to forget what they look like, oozing from a freshly injected fillet like an alien's phlegm...

"The BBC has been trying to produce water-cooler current affairs for some time now - serious reports that get ordinary people talking the next day. If this film didn't do it, then frankly it can't be done."

The Times, 23 May
"In The Chicken Run, the Panorama team set out to expose abuses in the processing of frozen chicken. This was the hidden camera at its most devastating and used entirely in the public interest. It was a truly revolting story, which is already causing a minor scandal."

Daily Mirror, 22 May
"In March this year food inspectors revealed that many shipped-in frozen chicken breasts contained added protein - designed to retain water. BBC's Panorama programme will reveal tonight how most is being supplied from Holland."

The Guardian, 21 May
"In what is likely to be a major food scandal, secret filming for BBC1's Panorama has revealed that vast quantities of frozen chicken coming into the UK each week have been injected with beef proteins."

London Evening Standard, 21 May
"In an interview with reporters from BBC's Panorama programme, the head of a German company which extracts the meat proteins claimed that his firm, Prowico, had developed ways of refining them to such a low level that the FSA would not be able to detect them."

Daily Telegraph, 21 May
"A scandal in which fraudsters developed new methods of subterfuge to prevent inspectors from detecting tens of thousands of tons of chicken adulterated with proteins from pig and cow remnants will be exposed on television tomorrow night.

"In a special investigation, Panorama has uncovered the "breathtaking lengths to which some protein manufacturers are now going to keep adding cow and pig to your chicken" without the knowledge of consumers, caterers or the regulators."

Irish Times, 21 May
"Secret filming for BBC's Panorama has revealed that vast quantities of frozen chicken coming into the UK each week have been injected with beef proteins. BBC reporters were told by Dutch manufacturers that beef DNA can now be manipulated in such a way that the safety authorities' tests cannot detect it.

Adulterated chicken has been imported widely by British wholesalers. Brakes, a leading supplier to schools, hospitals and restaurants, has unwittingly imported chicken with beef DNA, according to laboratory tests for the BBC. On Panorama tomorrow, a German protein supplier for huge Dutch chicken companies tells undercover reporters his firm, Prowico, has developed secret methods to break down the DNA of the proteins so that no government tests can detect the beef.

Sunday Times, 18 May
"In Britain, where we eat more chicken than any other nation in Europe, consumption has more than doubled in the past 20 years; and some 50% of the frozen chicken imported into Britain comes from Holland. It is very big business and aspects of it are ripe for scrutiny by the BBC's current-affairs flagship.

"Extensive research and covert filming sheds light on this area - and further cause for consumer alarm is revealed though investigations in Germany and product testing at home. The reporter Betsan Powys and the producer Howard Bradburn went undercover, posing as venture capitalists interested in investment opportunities in the meat trade, and found themselves openly welcomed in European boardrooms, sometimes in the same plant as another of the programme's team was working on the shop floor."

The War Party
They brought us war against Iraq - what do the hawks in Washington have in store for us now? Panorama investigates the "neo-conservatives", the small and unelected group of right-wingers, who critics claim have hijacked the White House.

The Observer, 18 May
"An eye-opening investigation into America's neo-conservatives - a political group which some claim has hijacked White House foreign policy. They have been described as 'pro-bombing, pro-empire Washington policy wonks who have filled the vacuum on the right, where most Americans have little interest in foreign policy and know little about foreign nations."

The Independent on Sunday, 18 May
"This illuminating edition of the investigation show asks whether the neo-conservatives have hijacked US foreign policy. Reporter Steve Bradshaw has spent the last two months mingling with neo-cons and assessing their influence on President George W Bush's world view.

The programme reveals that the hard right were pushing for a strike against Iraq even before 9/11. Now they are coldly eyeing up other nations in what Bush, in his State of the Union address, famously called "the axis of evil". Which "rogue state" might be next on the hit list?"

E-mails from the Edge
Last year Panorama revealed the dark side of Seroxat, one of the world's favourite anti-depressants. The response was so large it led to a second investigation into the drug

Scotsman, 19 May
"The recent Panorama television programme on Seroxat, an antidepressant, revealed to the experts just how this should be done. Here is a riveting programme, to which thousands responded, and immediately patterns can be recognised."

Gareth McLean, The Guardian, 12 May
"A follow-up to an investigation into the possible side-effects of the anti-depressant Seroxat, it was as urgent and chilling as its predecessor, using the thousands of viewers' emails that the original programme prompted. Relaying terrible stories of suicide, murder and addiction, this was important, relevant and confident current affairs.

"It was a challenge to the government body that regulates prescription drugs, a j'accuse for the pharmaceutical industry and an opportunity to be heard for people who suffer in silence every day. It also underlined the stigma still attached to mental illness, the perverse picturesque of suicide spots and the high price some pay for peace."

The Sunday Telegraph - 11 May
"Last October, Panorama screened a programme about the allegedly harmful side-effects of Seroxat - an anti-depressant drug close to replacing Prozac in popularity. Inundated by 67,000 phone calls, Panorama has decided to revisit the issues raised in its first programme. In this bleak and perturbing report, we hear from the relatives who believe the drug drove members of their family to suicide."

Sunday Times - 11 May: Critic's choice
"Update programmes can often be an excuse for reruns with a few token inserts. But in Seroxat: E-mails from the Edge, the new material is substantial and amounts to a significant body of evidence: the response of viewers to the original film, which consisted of 67,000 calls to the helpline and 1,400 e-mails. Analysed by two experts, the latter link 16 suicides and 47 attempted suicides to Seroxat. Many patients had not connected their own or their loved ones' problems to the drug until they saw the Panorama report.

"With its arguments for disquiet thus strengthened, Shelley Jofre's report accuses the medicine regulator, the MHRA, of failing to listen to patients and of failing to ensure that they receive full information about possible side effects. The MHRA, however, insists there is "no need for a new concern"; while GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of the drug, is equally adamant that, "we do not believe Seroxat causes suicide or self-harm".

Financial Times - 10 May
"The eclectic but always serious current affairs programme turns its gaze away from Iraq and instead looks at an anti-depressant which apparently has some pretty nasty side effects including addiction, violence and self-harm."

The Independent - 10 May
"When Panorama investigated the anti-depressant Seroxat in October, its helpline was inundated with 67,000 calls. This follow up probes personal experiences of the drug, and the alleged side effects of violent mood swings, self-harm and even suicide. Since its launch in the early 1990's, Seroxat, the "Rolls Royce" prescription for depression, has made a fortune for the manufacturers. However many patients feel they were given insufficient information by their GPs. Has the government regulator failed in it's duty to oversee patients' safety?"

APRIL 2003

The Stevens Report
The report into the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane concludes that some British army intelligence officers and police helped loyalists to murder Catholics. The latest enquiry by John Stevens was set up after the Panorama programme 'Licence to Murder' was aired

The Observer - 20 April
"Men like John Stevens, journalists like John Ware at Panorama and organisations like the one that pushed for an enquiry are the awkward heroes of our democracy"

Richard Ingram: The Observer - 20 April
"The Army and the Government must have known for some time what had been going on, even if, like the rest of us, they only saw it on Panorama. Yet the officer in charge of the operation, Brigadier Gordon Kerr, far froar from being cashiered or court-martialled, is currently the military attaché at our embassy in Beijing and was described last week as 'one of the Foreign Office's most prized defence experts'."

Irish News - 17 April
"Stevens II was set up after a BBC Panorama programme, The Dirty War, revealed how Nelson had warned his army handlers in late 1988 that Pat Finucane was being targeted by the UDA. It further revealed that far from being a lone 'bad apple' Nelson had been assisted by his handlers in collating intelligence and had been provided with the personal details and photographs of intended targets."

MARCH 2003

Blair's War
Panorama has been following the opposition to Tony Blair, in the anti-war movement, the Labour Party, and in Parliament and asks if the Prime Minister could lose his job over the Iraq crisis?

New Statesman - 31 March
"The BBC does not need to find authority, merely its tone, but it too showed an excellent sense of perspective in Panorama (BBC1, 23 March) on Blair's war, which reminded us just how far out on a limb Tony has taken us. Much of Vivian White's report recapped the tidal shift in defence policy from deterrence to pre-emption, the breadth of British opposition and the damage it may cause relations with Muslim countries and citizens. What else it strongly suggested, however, was that the war was also raging as a psychodrama inside the Prime Minister's head.

"Well done, BBC1 for airing it and actually transmitting Panorama an hour earlier than usual. Its courage recalled a similar Panorama about opposition to the Falklands task force 20 years ago."

Ready, Steady, Trade
"For Comic Relief, Panorama sets celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson a challenge: to create a world-class meal from ingredients that reporter Steve Bradshaw has bought from some of the world's poorest farmers. From voodoo villages in Haiti to tomato fields in Ghana. The film investigates whether we harm the world's poor more through unfair trade than we help them through aid."

Sunday Times - 9 March
"An ingeniously conceived programme"

Sunday Telegraph - 9 March
"Shocking film - how trade rules are set up to benefit the rich and punish the poor"

Observer - 9 March
"Antony Worrall Thompson (above) is challenged to use these ingredients to create literally the world's most unfair meal - ever. Food for thought."

Emily Bell, Media Guardian - 3 March
"It is fair to say that the current affairs series (Panorama) has had an excellent year."

FEBRUARY 2003

Promises, Promises Two weeks ago after a flurry of snow Britain's transport system collapsed. Whatever happened to New Labour's radical vision of a "renaissance" in transport which the Government said would rival the best in Europe? Find out from Panorama's John Ware in "Promises, Promises".

Mail on Sunday - 16 February
"Transport is the acid test of the Government's ability to deliver public services. Unlike crime and education, transport has no alibi. It has none of the complicating social factors which are arguably beyond Government control. You can either get Britain moving, or you can't. It's that simple. "
From an article by John Ware

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Abductee sticks to N Korean line

Nelson — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:40:26 +0000

Mr Kim was speaking publicly about his experiences for the first timeA South Korean man believed to have been kidnapped by the North in 1978 has denied he was abducted.

Kim Young-nam also said his former wife Megumi Yokota, a Japanese woman the North admitted to kidnapping, was dead.

Pyongyang has long insisted that she committed suicide, but her parents have refused to believe it. The case has soured Japan-North Korea relations.

Mr Kim was speaking shortly after being allowed to meet his southern relatives for the first time in 28 years.

It is the first time Mr Kim has been given a chance to speak publicly about what happened to him.

But before the press conference, many analysts said they were sceptical he would reveal the truth about his kidnapping or about his former wife, for fear of the North Korean authorities.

The South Koreans have long believed that Mr Kim was abducted by the North, and a former North Korean agent, Kim Gwang Hyon, has admitted to playing a part in the kidnapping.

Suicide claim

Kim Young-nam vanished from a beach at the age of 16 in 1978.

He is one of nearly 500 South Koreans who are believed to have been taken by the North, many of them used to train North Korean spies.

Mr Kim's case has been followed especially closely because, while in the North, he married and fathered a daughter with Megumi Yokota, a Japanese who was kidnapped at the age of 13 from the coast near her home in Japan.

Megumi Yokota's parents believe she is still alive Her parents have do not believe North Korea's claims that she is dead, and have been desperate for any information from Mr Kim.

But, as expected, in Thursday's press conference, Mr Kim stuck to Pyongyang's version of events.

"For the first three years I was married to Megumi, we had a daughter and led a happy life," he was quoted as saying by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

"But then I started seeing signs of disorder from Megumi... unfortunately she never recovered and committed suicide in a hospital on 13 April 1994," Mr Kim said.

Explaining his own presence in North Korea, Mr Kim denied he was abducted and instead claimed that he was rescued by a North Korean boat when a raft he was on drifted out to sea.

North Korea has not acknowledged the kidnapping of any South Koreans, saying that they were willing defectors.

But the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, did admit and apologise for the abduction of 13 Japanese citizens.

Five have since been released. Most were used to teach Japanese language and customs to North Korean spies.

E-mail this to a friend Printable version
SEE ALSO Mother's plea for N Korea abductee
12 Apr 06 | Asia-Pacific Mystery of Japan abductee deepens
11 Apr 06 | Asia-Pacific Japan wants N Korean spies held
23 Feb 06 | Asia-Pacific Heartbreak over Japan's missing
09 Feb 05 | Asia-Pacific S Koreans lost to the North
26 Nov 03 | Asia-Pacific
RELATED INTERNET LINKS Japanese government South Korean presidency The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Why is Africa losing its best brains?

Nelson — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:39:38 +0000

Thousands of Africa's professionals and students are leaving the continent for better prospects in Europe, USA or India.

For instance, it is estimated that more than 10,000 South Africans for instance left the country for America and Europe in the last year alone.

A majority of professionals who leave the continent include lecturers, nurses, doctors are leaving for greener pastures away from home. Most of them are reluctant to go back home, they would rather seek jobs abroad.

According to statistics, the so-called brain drain costs the continent an estimated 4 billion dollars per year - in what has been pronounced as a slow death for Africa.

The BBC's Africa Live programme asks: Why is the continent losing hundreds of its best brains to the west?

If you're an an African working, lecturing or studying in the West, what's your story?

Join the BBC's Africa Live debate Wednesday 24 March at 1630 & 1830GMT.

Use the form to send us your comments, some of which will be published below.

If you would like to take part in the discussion, e-mail us with your telephone number, which will not be published.

Your comments:

The solution to Africa's problems including brain drain, according to Ghana's first president Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, is that Africa needs a new type of citizen, a dedicated, modest, honest and informed man. A man who submerges himself in service to the nation and mankind. A man who abhors greed and detests vanity. A new type of man whose humility is his strength and whose integrity is his greatness.
Ernest Barnor, Uk

As an engineer, I do enjoy the infinitely superior renumeration package but home is where the heart is and mine is with my country. If the day ever comes when the leaders honestly commit to do what they were elected for, then I just might decide to take a major pay cut and come join in the effort.
Tony Waithaka, USA/KENYA

Intellect is scarce, and scarcity gives rise to markets. Therefore, there exists a market for intelligent people. Africa's corrupt economic culture drives away intellectual talent. There is no need to try and stop the brain drain - it can't be stopped -- because African culture is not going to change.
Jeff, Dallas, USA

I'm a university student at University Groningen University, The Netherlands. I think African elite should put behind their the-so-called degrees and work with local people for the economy. For the time being degrees for most Africans is a waste!! We need more working people than those who want big offices, white-collar jobs, etc. Come on guys, take action, stop calling yourselves 'educated'.
Wabike, Tanzania

There are a number of pull and push factors that facilitate the flow of best brains out of Africa. According to Prof.James Buchan, a well known researcher on international migration of highly qualified personel, some of the pushing factors include poor working conditions, limited career opportunities, limited educational opportunities and low pay and economic instability.The pooling factors include higher pay, better working conditions,career opportunities, so on and so forth. Today there are much more Ethiopian doctors in Europe and North America than in the country. This will eventually blur the development vision of poor donor countries including Ethiopia.
Dr.Kedir M H, Ethiopia

This is a complex question and I don't think that the BBC Africa Live will get a solution; when you are doing a budget in your home, you are the one who know what is good or bad for you and your families. In Africa, some families send their children to study overseas especially Europe and US because education in the West has more value than Africa. There is a lady here in US who used to be my neighbour when I was in Kenya.She is a nurse then she got a chance of coming to US in 1998,she now makes a lot of money and sends it back home.With that money she uses to send home,her husband has bought two petrol stations,one in Nairobi and another one outside Nairobi town. This is what she told me,"Look! I worked for 10 years as a nurse in Kenya and I did not do anything with that money for all those years. "Working in US as a nurse has changed my life, I am educating my children back home and do many other things which will!"
Peter Tuach, Minnesota,USA

In religious terms: a miracle is the only thing that can currently stop Africa's brain drain. It is utter nonsense to assume that it is possible to stop the flow that is at the very basis of human nature: to strive for better: Unless one reverts globalization, imposes rigorous restrictions on immigration, and suppresses civil liberties. To stop the brain drain Africa must evolve to compete at the same level as the rest of the world for the 'best humans'.
Mateus Webba da Silva, Earthling

Just a thought... Look at Botswana. It has almost no brain drain at all, actually it has one of the highest rates of returns of overseas students in the world. If Botswana could do it with sound macroeconomic management, a just economical system and respect for human rights, then why can't the rest of Africa follow suit?
Rybb, Zambia/Poland

Our countries are willing to hire expatriates and pay them lots of money but they will not pay us studying abroad and willing to come back home the same amount of money. What do these expatriates have that I don't have? I have more because I have worked in Africa before. I want to go home but am I willing to go and earn $400 a month with my three degrees when I can earn ten times that in the US doing menial jobs? See how much they pay professors in Kenya - $300 a month! when they can earn more than 20 times that abroad. If African countries have money to pay expatriates, they should have enough to pay good salaries to fellow Africans.
Wanja Njuguna, US

I see no reason why brain drain should stop. It is a natural fact of life, in the long term people who achieve a lot away from Africa will be motivated to return to invest in their countries. The mistake people make is to seek government employment as a condition of their return, instead of becoming self employed
K. Djan, UK

Through Bretton Woods institutions. They have dictated damaging conditionalities to the Africas' governance and it's high time they should dictate minimal wage to be observed by corporations and goverments atleast to improve the welfare states of these nations.
Victor Ruttoh, Kenyan in UK

This is just another example of free market economics. Companies seek workers in India and China because they cost less, whereas people from 3rd world countries seek work here because they can earn more. It is as simple as that.
Graeme Phillips, Berlin, Germany (normally UK)

I was in Cameroon recently to survey what I can do if I had to return there. I concluded it was not worth it going to Europe to study. I have made up my mind to go back and help my country. I may not used the knowledge acquired at the university but what I learn from the society would adapted to generate revenue in cameroon.
Efuange Khumbah, Cameroon/Germany

We will go home when our continent eventually cries out to us to come home. It could be in my generation or in a 100 years time but the day will come. Presently most of our leaders are scared of Western educated well meaning returnees preferring sycophants. In this climate they would rather employ an expatriate who is viewed as non-threat to the status quo. Western governments in the interest of long term western prosperity, tacitly helped install this under performing leadership class after independence. On a positive note those of us in the diaspora are developing our capacity which would greatly benefit the continent when she cries to us to come home.
Nuesiri Emmanuel, Oxford, UK

To stop Africa's brain drain? No way to stop it, if Africans want to go to US and Europe then, what is wrong for that?
Peter Chol, USA

I am a Nigerian with a PhD in Ecological Sciences. I once applied to a British company for an Environmental Scientist job in Abuja Nigeria and received a reply that unless I have a British residency and work permit I couldn't qualify to work in my own country. In another incident, I got a position as Lecturer to in a Nigerian university, but was asked to pay my air fare and sea freight back to Nigeria to take up the position. At the same time, a Nigerian football player was quoted as complaining about an Economy class air ticket procured for him by Nigeria to play a match instead of a Business or first class that befits his superstar status. The issue of brain drain in Africa, is one of rhetoric by the various government, I really don't think they care.
Emmanuel Aigbokhan, Nigeria/USA

This is definitely one of Africa's most serious problems and requires looking into. Maybe the African Union should put this case on its agenda and give it highest priority. Africa has lost a lot of its brains and will continue to do so until African leaders start being really interested in their peoples, and not themselves and their cronies. Ex-pats don't feel the pain of the people and will never be the solution for Africa's woes.
Rodney Lobo, Norway

I suppose the major issues revolves around peace, justice, transparency and equality. Why would I want to go into more trouble when I know I am troubled and want no more troubles? Better for someone who knows no troubles.
Taban Alex Donato, Sudanese in ACT/ Australia

I left South Africa very soon after school. I have been living in England, and supporting myself for three years now. This year I will be entering university to obtain a British degree. As a young person, my reasons for coming here are simple. Here I can afford to support myself financially on just a part time job whilst studying full time. In South Africa, such a thing is nigh on impossible. The kind of jobs available to undergraduates in South Africa pay a pittance, whereas in England, there is a minimum wage. Then there is the question of government support and finance for study. Here students get tax benefits and discounts on public transport and various other services, student loans and financial support are also available to them. After study, it is fairly easy for graduates to get well-paid jobs based on their qualifications. Whether I will return to South Africa after I get my degree, I do not know.
Lee-Anne James, South Africa

Andrew, I'm very disappointed about your irresponsible comments on South Africa. Affirmative action has turned out to be a white man's worst nightmare.The trouble with white South Africa is that you are scared of change.
Bongani Sibisi, South Africa

If we take the case of Ethiopia, someone with a Masters degree makes $150 a month whereas that same person would make 30 times more if hired with a similar kind of job in the West. But here, even if the living standard is not the same you can lead a decent life with the latter and a life of hand to mouth with the former.
Haile T, Ethiopia

As a scholar of migration dynamics, I don't totally see the effect of migration only in its negative sense. Migration is a labour market adjustment mechanism. In some cases, migration can be good for both the sending and receiving countries. Current literature in migration is rather in favour of migration and the case of "brain drain" is not as such a problem. The case of remittances is one positive thing, for example. So the trend does not need to be reversed in one night but eventually migration will adjust the labour market. Should the political stability in Africa improve, it will not only attract its citizens but also foreigners who would love to work in an African atmosphere.
Daniel, Eritrea/Germany

I am a Ghanaian currently doing my PhD in Canada. I have decided to go home after graduation. I remember the toil of our cocoa farmers and miners that kept us in school. Consequently, I don't think we the young ones have any excuse not to return and contribute. My elder brother returned to Ghana after his studies in the US and I can testify that he is happy, although not rich. Patriotism, that is all that Africa needs to reverse this brain drain.
Kojo, Canada

African governments must stop the dependence on foreign aid and NGO's and instead encourage their people to develop indigenous solutions to their problems
Akin, England

Remember that the brain drain is in the interest of the dying Western society.
Allen Aramide, Nigeria

My home computer was built by a fellow African from Nigeria, he learnt to do that while in Nigeria and came to the US because he couldn't get the support he needed back home. There are thousands like him around Africa.
Yk, USA

Time will solve the problem. Eventually, Africans will be returning home with experience in Western business culture. Furthermore, the current crop of inept African leaders will be forgotten history.
Alvin Jinka, Cameroon

Many see this exodus as the only conceivable way for an African graduate to enjoy the basic necessities of life (good food, house, fat salary, and perhaps a car), which unfortunately have been classified by African leaders as luxury in the hands of ordinary Africans.
Okey Amaechi, Canada

Affirmative action in South Africa is what is keeping me in the UK. I used to manage a black affirmative action guy, and after I trained him, he was promoted to become MY manager. The current government is encouraging reverse racism and it is unfair.
Pieter Erasmus, UK

Intellectuals are a threat to the politics of the countries which they come from. The nasty part of this is that many of the political regimes are sanctioned by Western developed nations. One of the issues I haven't heard voiced is that children should see knowledge as an investment in one's self. If you don't, why should an employer want to invest in you by giving you work.
L Johnson, PA USA

As a roving ex-pat from a developing country, I agree with much of the reasons presented. However I do not agree that we ought to wait until the conditions in our home countries become conducive and on par with the lives we enjoy in the West. Those seriously committed to serving will have to be willing to stomach the drawbacks, frustrations, and resist the temptation to take the next flight out.
Ranil, Sri Lanka/ Zimbabwe/ USA

I think there is a possibility that this can stop. If African governments themselves want this to stop. I haven't seen any government making any sort of effort to bring back the educated. Generally, we must understand that because all African governments are corrupt, they see it as threat, encouraging the well educated back into the country let alone involving them in critical decision making capacities.
Joseph Ngum, Kansas city USA(Cameroon)

I have many Nigerian friends that were trained in Nigerian universities as Engineers, Doctors, Pharmacists, and Nurses. Some of them moved their businesses back home, but many came back empty handed. Many Africans in Europe and North America will be ready to work at home for lesser pay but safety, infrastructure, transparency and decency in the African governmental system is lacking. Brains are draining to overseas, whereas brains in Africa are drifting and wasting.
Charles Egure, United States

Make no mistake. This problem is not Africa's problem alone. There are lots of Europeans, Asians etc who are making other countries their home. I have met many Europeans and Asians who went to USA to study and have since made US their home never to return to their countries. So the world is changing, borders will be a thing of the past and everybody has a right to live anywhere he/she feels is good for his or her family.
Sheriahouse, Kenya

I have recently seen some websites, that promote international migration of Africans to Canada and the US. This trend cannot stop when, in fact, students in Nigeria for example, can hardly get any job when they graduate from colleges and universities because no jobs are created by the private and public sectors. And of course security is a problem. During a recent visit to Atlanta, USA, the Nigerian Inspector General of Police told Nigerians in the diaspora that when they visit home, they must alter their lifestyles by being low profiled in whatever they do and wherever they go. He opined that, they must pretend they are not from overseas so that armed robbers would not attack them - this is a food for thought.
Prof. Bernard-Thompson Ikegwuoha, USA

People are happy staying overseas than in their own countries. They want to live in a free world. Africa needs to wake up and recognise its fellow citizens as qualified people with ample skills to handle the labour needs. Most people will agree with me that Africans are very hard working people and they have done extremely well in foreign countries.
Reinford Mwangonde, United States

I am a Zambian living and working as a Geotechnical Engineer in Australia. Unlike in my own country, I am recognised and appreciated as a professional in every sense. In Zambia I worked for the copper mines and was paid less than a tenth of what an expatriate was paid and was constantly being put down as being not up to the standard of expatriates. Why on earth would I want to return to such a miserable existence?
Angakhoze, Australia

Africans do not need to return home to help their countries. What is needed is improved security for lives and properties, along with basic amenities. With these variables available, different types of investments will flow into the continent.
John Okeke, Nigeria

Proper governance. That's all. Then professionals will not have a reason to look for greener pastures, everything they need and want will be "at home"
Jim,

What we have here seems to be a catch 22 situation. If you go back home, you are faced with all sorts of problems such as inability to find a proper paying job, corruption, inefficient bureaucracies, etc. However, if one decides to work in North America or Europe, one loses the opportunity to change these problems. I guess the solution is simply to introduce a merit-based, geographically representative system into both public and private service. Employment and high wages should be tied to productivity or performance.< br />Akingbolahan Adeniran, Nigeria

What can stop Africa's brain drain? My answer is this: democracy, security and better living standards. Unless we achieve these minimum prerequisites, the brain drain will not only continue, but it could also amplify.
Anumu Ketoglo, Togo

I studied in the United States and graduated in 2002, got a job in Nigeria and I have been working in Nigeria for over one year now. It is true that Western countries pay you higher and you have a better living standard but African countries won't develop if there is no change of attitude from everybody. The issue of brain drain is a complex one because it involves satisfying personal ambition versus national interest.
Olalekan Fawumi, Nigeria

Remember that most of those who leave are well-trained people who may have been critical of government policies that tend to waste resources, thus their openness throws up trouble with their leaders.
Roger S.W.Y.Domah, Africa University, Zimbabwe

A fundamental truth is that aspects of globalisation have made political boundaries more meaningless in the 21st century. Coupled with the exceptional incompetence of MOST African governments, I do not see how the younger generation of Africans can continue to tolerate snail speed progress while their contemporaries are surging ahead.
Zulfikar Aliyu Adamu, Nigerian/Saudi Arabia

Getting an education from here helps one understand the dynamics of the world. One fact that some would rather ignore is that development is a sacrifice one has to make. It's a burden each and every African must accept and carry. It's about time some Western educated Africans realise that creating systems and wealth from nothing is better than enjoying the spoils. I for one have seen the bigger picture, the burden is mine, therefore all my plans and knowledge will end up in Africa where I dare make a difference.
Sulu, UK

How do you expect a doctor to be paid say $100 a month as is done in some countries and expect him/her to stay on the job while they too have families to look after? Besides, there are many graduates languishing on the streets of Nairobi, Kampala, Johannesburg, Lagos and many other cities so that instead of being sun worshipers, they can at least look for work in the West and remit some of their earnings home for development.
Mugume Amooti, Uganda/USA

Africa Governments are proud of cheap labour at the expense of quality of service. The brain drain is a big lesson for African leaders and they have to learn to pay for the full price for a mango, and not use guava rates.
Victor Funsani, Malawian contractor working in war torn Bagdad, Iraq

I came to the UK to study because I felt universities here would prepare me for a lifetime of service to my people back in Nigeria. Unfortunately, my country's leaders do not share this goal.
Abiodun, London, UK

My country Nigeria has never been ruled by a Nigerian university graduate or a graduate of any civilian higher education institute. Why then should we expect Nigerian leaders to comprehend the pains of being jobless while highly qualified for a job?
Ibrahim, Canada

It is not a hidden fact that Africans are contributing to what the so called world powers have become today. We are the architects of our own misfortune.
Juliana Taiwo, Nigeria

The question that must be asked of African students and professionals in Europe and America is: Where is your patriotism? Have your values and commitment to a better Africa fallen so low, that you dismiss the need for your education and talent at home? Some people in Europe and America often see African students and professionals as no more than non-violent mercenaries. Holding no allegiance to their countries, or to American and/or European countries, but to the highest bidder. True professionals and scholars overcome problems, they don't run from them!!
Dana, USA

I have family and friends who work in Kenya and have been educated to graduate and higher levels, but still suffer the humiliation of being passed over by these expatriates we are "forced" to employ. Treat us right and we will stay.
Wairimu Githahu, Kenyan living in the UK

Forget about job opportunities or good standard of living. Most Africans don't know freedom or peace. I dream of going back home but I am not sure what the situation will be from day to day.
Eve, UK

In Botswana, an expatriate doing the same job as a local makes a lot more than locals, this on it own is reason enough for people to seek work outside where they can make up to 5 times more.
Mothusi Sebina, Botswana, studying in Canada

The only hope is true political change in Africa. It will come eventually, but unfortunately it's a long way off.
John S., Arizona, USA

It's a terrible shame that as a highly qualified General Practitioner, I cannot go to South Africa and work without having to spend two years in the back of beyond earning a terribly poor salary. I have a family and would go to South Africa to provide well needed medical expertise. Keep the medical professionals in the country, invite new ones in and in turn they will create a healthier country and many more jobs.
Adrian Stilton, UK/Kenya

African Governments should pay citizens the same entitlements they are willing to pay expatriates and you'll see a reversal to the problem.
Kojo, Ghana

It is natural that people are always looking for better opportunities to improve their social status.There are better working conditions in Europe and America and if one is lucky to get a job abroad after graduation it is almost certain that one would stay and do the job that is well paid.
Josephus Choe Junior Mamie, Sierra Leonean studying in Scotland, UK

I am one of the 10,000 South Africans that left the country a while ago. Globalisation, politics and various other factors contribute to people leaving Africa. In South Africa affirmative action is necessary, but I don't want to be made a scapegoat forever. If my country does not require my skills, well I am quite happy to go elsewhere, which will use my talents. South Africa has to re-think it's labour policies, otherwise it will just continue decline.
Rouan Kruger, Ex South Africa/UK

I'm stationed here in Italy winding up my studies and working part time earning the equivalent of triple the monthly pay of a senior professor in Kenya (And that's part time.) Though I'm planning to work in Africa in the future, it will be as a missionary in my old age. And good news for my leaders. It will be free!
Joseph Musembi, Italy

The real treatment to this problem first is to treat the mentality of African leaders from what we call corruption. The solution is very simple. No corruption = No brain drain.
Thabor Ding, Sudan/USA

After years of tranquillity, of studying abroad and possibly starting a family, why would I want to go back to chaos and massive corruption. With corrupt leadership prevailing, Africa is a black hole for prosperity. Very sorry to say that, but no regrets.
Michael, United States

The West has built its fortunes by exploiting the weakness of the less privileged areas of the world. They do not invite able minds and bodies (in sports) to train and help develop their places of origin. They build their own fortresses at their cost. Nothing short of 'brain reclamation' of Africans can stop the brain drain.
M.Saeed, Nigeria

I am a Nigerian and I do not have any plans of returning home after my studies in New Zealand. Why would I when it is guaranteed that I will not get a job at home and even if am lucky, the wage will not be as juicy as it is here?
Ashiru Abdul-azeez, New Zealand

Everyone keeps on talking about worsening conditions back home and use that as an excuse not to go back. I admit it is off-putting but in order to achieve improvement we must go back. I plan on going back as soon as I finish graduate school and am actively trying to get people to do the same. I agree there's not much money in it but I think that is a decent sacrifice that will have positive long-run effects.
Wambui Boulch, USA

In quotes: Republican convention

Nelson — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:49:59 +0000

A selection of quotes from day two of the Republican Party convention in New York's Madison Square Garden.California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Message to immigrants:

"To my fellow immigrants listening tonight, I want you to know how welcome you are in this party. We Republicans admire your ambition. We encourage your dreams...

"America gave me opportunities, and my immigrant dreams came true. I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities. And I believe they can.

"That's why I believe in this country, that's why I believe in this party - and that's why I believe in this president."

On President Bush:

"We are one America - and President Bush is defending it with all his heart and soul. That's what I admire most about the president. He's a man of perseverance. He's a man of inner strength. He is a leader who doesn't flinch, doesn't waiver, does not back down."

On Iraq and terrorism:

"The president didn't go into Iraq because the polls told him it was popular. As a matter of fact, the polls said just the opposite. But leadership isn't about polls.

"It's about making decisions you think are right and then standing behind those decisions. That's why America is safer with George W Bush as president. He knows you don't reason with terrorists. You defeat them."

First Lady Laura Bush:

On the war on terror:

"We are living in the midst of the most historic struggle my generation has ever known. The stakes are so high. So I want to talk about the issue that I believe is most important for my own daughters, for all our families, and for our future: George's work to protect our country and defeat terror so that all children can grow up in a more peaceful world..

"As we do the hard work of confronting today's threat - we can also be proud that 50 million more men, women and children live in freedom thanks to the United States of America and our allies."

On recent years in the Bush household:

"These have been years of change for our family as well. Our girls went off to college and graduated, and now they are back home... We are so happy they are campaigning with us this fall and so proud they will be pursuing their own careers soon.

"My mother moved out of my childhood home and into a retirement community. We lost our beloved dog Spotty, and had our hearts warmed by the antics of Barney.

"People ask me all the time whether George has changed. He's a little greyer - and of course, he has learned and grown as we all have. But he's still the same person I met at a backyard barbecue in Midland, Texas and married three months later. "

On George W Bush:

"He'll always tell you what he really thinks. You can count on him, especially in a crisis. His friends don't change - and neither do his values. He has boundless energy and enthusiasm for his job, and for life itself. He treats every person he meets with dignity and respect - the same dignity and respect he has for the office he holds. And he's a loving man, with a big heart."

President George W Bush, speaking via video-link from Pennsylvania, was introduced by his twin daughters Barbara and Jenna:

"Thank you Barbara and Jenna, you make me so very proud. I have really enjoyed being on the campaign trail with both of you. It's kind of like the camping trip I promised to take you on.

"Tonight, I have the best and easiest job of this convention: introducing our first lady...

"She's been a voice of calm and comfort in difficult times. I'm a lucky man to have Laura at my side, and America would be fortunate to have her in the White House for four more years."

Jenna Bush:

"We spent the last four years trying to stay out of the spotlight. Sometimes we did a little better job than others."

On her parents:

"They do know the difference between mono and Bono. When we tell them we're going to see OutKast, they know it's a band and not a bunch of misfits."

George P Bush, nephew of the president:

"No matter how often I visit New York, I never tire of looking at the Statue of Liberty.

"I can't help but reflect upon the impression she must have made on our weary but hopeful ancestors whose first glimpse of America was that inspiring silhouette...

"Although many immigrants could not read the words, the outstretched arm that pierced the heavens was clear affirmation that they had found what they were seeking - the land of freedom and opportunity.

"In return, these immigrants, and those who followed them, made this country stronger through their labour, safer through their sacrifice in defending its shores, and richer through diversity.

"Our party has always represented the interests of all people seeking opportunity.

"We are the home of entrepreneurs.

"Men and women who want to know the pride of accomplishment. The honour of self-sufficiency.

"We meet in New York to reaffirm our commitment to these individuals - whether new to our country or born in the heartland."

BBC News | Asia-Pacific | Thailand's unsuitable statue

Nelson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:17:06 +0000

World: Asia-Pacific

Thailand's unsuitable statue

The statue has become known as the "superman buddha"

A statue in Thailand is causing controversy over claims that its depiction of the Buddha is too unorthodox.

The statue at Wat Sanamchan, a temple 100km from Bangkok, shows the Buddha resting his foot on a globe. It is being called the "superman Buddha of Chachoengsao" and has been attracting a lot of attention - some good, but most bad.

Buddhist leaders and government officials are trying to decide whether the statue is giving religion a bad name.

'Sneering at the world'

The Thai Education Minister says the statue is inappropriate and should be destroyed.

"Posing with one foot on the globe is like sneering at the world. There is no such thing in either the Buddha's teachings or in our traditions,'' the Thai newspaper The Nation quoted him as sayting.

Many Buddhists and academics believe the statue looks more like a comicbook hero than the Buddha as depicted throughout history. They also say he looks too aggressive, as though he rules the world, and they want it destroyed.

There are about 60 recognised statue positions for the Buddha, all of which symbolise peace.

But art professor Santi Leksukhum says the statue does not fit with any of them.

"This controversial Buddha image has been built in contradiction with the Buddhist concept" he says. "People are expected to live a modest and peaceful life."

Controversial claims

The temple's abbot says he built the Buddha because he saw the statue in a dream.

He says the statue symbolises the ''protection'' Lord Buddha gives the world through his teachings.

The statue is not his only problem. An investigation is under way into the temple's sale of holy water on tap, said to cure anything from possession by evil spirits to an unfaithful husband.

Without proof for these claims, officials say the abbot could be charged with fraud. Nude wall paintings addorning the temple's interior are also seen as innapropriate.

If found guily of insulting buddhism, the abbot could face up to seven years in prison.

His only defence - "the angel made me do it" - may not be enough to convince the judges.