Podcast: Pick of the Commonwealth

'Pick of the Commonwealth' is a 30-minute monthly radio programme funded by the Commonwealth Secretariat and produced for the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA).

The views expressed in these reports are independent and do not reflect the opinions of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

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November 2009

In this month's edition:

• After yet another peaceful election, is Botswana still Africa's most democratic country? Or are standards beginning to slip?
• Commonwealth Heads of Government prepare to meet in Trinidad, but what do civil society groups expect from them?
• Sri Lanka's Tamil refugees begin returning home at last
• and we hear the winning entry to this years CBA short story competition.

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October 2009

In this edition:

• cattle die in their thousands as drought hits Kenya
• is Bangladesh's new civilian government scared of the military?
• a huge unique rat is discovered in Papua New Guinea
• alarming maternal death rates in Sierra Leone
• and we ask: are state owned broadcasters boring government mouthpieces...or beacons of freedom and innovation?

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September 2009

In this edition:

• We profile the fastest man in the world, Jamaican Usain Bolt
• Children are being poisoned picking tobacco in Malawi
• The monsoon season draws to a close in Asia, but has nature been kind or cruel this year?
• Rapes and killings of lesbians in South Africa

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August 2009

In this edition:

• Bangladesh's human rights record under attack
• Nigeria's oil production under threat from rebels in the Niger Delta
• The Queen shows off her Commonwealth frocks
• Alarming HIV rates for homosexuals in Africa
• And Fiji's youth festival - should Commonwealth countries have attended?

Download full programme - MP3, 12.2mb (29 Mins .04 secs)

July 2009

In this edition:

• after the war, what chance of reconciliation in Sri Lanka
• Nigerian girls forced into prostitution by voodoo priests
• why have the Taliban thrived in Pakistan
• the cultural solution to the Commonwealth's problems

Download full programme - MP3, 12.2mb (29 Mins .06 secs)

June 2009

In this edition:

• India's Congress Party sweeps to electoral victory. After years of decline why is it doing so well?
• A drive to improve exports throughout the Commonwealth. Will it founder because of the world wide economic recession.
• And we meet the winners of this year's Commonwealth writers' prizes.

Download full programme - MP3, 12.1mb (28 Mins 58 secs)

May 2009

• vast areas of central and southern Africa underwater
• the new president of the Maldives talks about his first few months in office
• South Africa's Jacob Zuma — will he be a divisive president
• are Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers finished
• and how Malaysia's Penan people are under threat from loggers, dammers and bio fuels

Download full programme - MP3, 12.3mb (29 Mins 17 secs)

April 2009

• abductions and witchcraft in the Gambia - what is the president up to?
• as the Commonwealth celebrates its 60th birthday, we ask what do the young think of the organisation;
• Canada's indigenous Beaver Lake Cree people fight the oil companies, who they claim are ruining their land and their traditions;
• and with Fiji on the verge of expulsion from the Commonwealth we hear from the New Zealand foreign minister.

Download full programme - MP3, 12.6mb (28 Mins 43 secs)

March 2009

• the new president of the Maldives moves out of the presidential palace and sells off the presidential yacht.
• What's behind the ritual murder of albinos in Tanzania?
• We look at ambitious plans to preserve the Commonwealth's fish stocks.
• and a chance for the Commonwealth's artists and craftsmen to travel the world.

Download full programme - MP3, 11.7mb (29 Mins 15 secs)

February 2009

The Sri Lankan army overpowers Tamil Tiger rebels. Is the war really over? Or will there be retaliation? We look at how the civilians are faring in the war zone, and ask what damage has been done to Sri Lanka's press freedom.

Also: the heated debate about the death penalty in the Caribbean; oil rich Nigeria on the financial rocks and a special anthem for the Commonwealth's 60th birthday.

Download full programme - MP3, 12.mb (27 Mins 34 secs)

January 2009

There's a massive turnout for elections in Bangladesh, after a year's delay.

Also in the programme: a New Zealand journalist arrested and deported in Fiji; the Commonwealth celebrates 60 years of the UN's human human rights charter (but is there much to celebrate?); a new party is born in South Africa; and why does underpopulated Seychelles need to build a town in the sea?

Download full programme - MP3, 12.7mb (28 Mins 57 secs)

Previous editions can be downloaded from the following URL:

http://www.cba.org.uk/pick/index.php