The raging UK chart war

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The number one slot in Britain’s Christmas top forty is traditionally a soft and fluffy, family-friendly place. In recent years its been dominated by winners of British reality TV show ‘The X-Factor’. This year, a music fan decided he was “a bit bored with that” and organized a Facebook campaign which succeeded in consigning this year’s X-Factor winner to the number two slot. And the tune he urged his supporters to download? A 17-year old track by American rockers Rage Against the Machine. Download MP3

The Noughties: what we’ve lost

Question: what do Concorde, the Buddhas of Bamiyan, and Michael Jackson have in common? Answer: they were all lost to us in the past decade. You’ve probably got your own ideas of what the greatest losses were. This BBC World Service discussion, with accompanying slide show, brings together an international panel of cultural commentators. As the decade draws to a close, they reflect on The Noughties – on what we’ve lost, and what we’ve gained. Photo: AFP

• The BBC discussion and slide show

World AIDS Day Posters

In this audio slideshow from BBC News, you can see the subtle and shocking ways that health campaigners have used images to raise HIV/AIDS awareness across the world. The posters use various methods, from humorous to blunt messages, to convey to observers why the message remains so important more than two decades after the virus was discovered.

• Click here to view the slideshow
• Link to the Wellcome Collection website
• Listen to World Service Africa Aids interview
• Look at the official World Aids Day website

Far right politician on BBC

One story is dominating the British media today – and the BBC itself is at the heart of it. There’s huge controversy about the BBC’s decision to invite a far right politician onto its flagship political discussion show, ‘Question Time’. This ‘Best of the BBC’ post enables you to follow the controversy in Britain.

• BBC coverage
• BBC’s Question Time
• More ‘Best of the BBC’

Ayatollah vs. Ahmadinejad

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Could conservative Iranian clerics help bring about the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Iran? It sounds unlikely. But some of the country’s top clerics believe President Ahmadinejad is bringing Islam into disrepute – and they want him out. In our latest ‘Best of the BBC’ selection we feature an e-mail interview with Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri (pictured), one of Iran’s most respected clerics and an outspoken critic of Ahmadinejad. Download MP3

• BBC Radio Four’s ‘Analysis’ program
• More ‘Best of the BBC’ on The World

The Reunion: Release of Nelson Mandela

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The BBC reunites the core negotiators and key campaigners involved in the secret talks which ultimately led to the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990. From Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the former head of South Africa’s National Intelligence Service, it’s an encounter which may seem unlikely. But a surprisingly easy-going discussion ensues, in this fascinating piece of radio originally produced for the BBC’s domestic UK audience.Download MP3

Lehman’s British accountants

Steven Pearson and Tony Lomas are from the accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers. One year ago they were appointed as the administrators of Lehman Brothers European operations. Suddenly the high testosterone investment bank was under the control of outsiders with a very different working culture. In this edition of the BBC World Service program Business Daily, Steven Evans joins Pearson and Lomas in Lehman’s former London headquarters.

• Listen to the BBC Business Daily interview

Israel’s military rabbis

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Military rabbis are taking on more of a front line role in the Israeli armed forces, marching into battle alongside the troops. Some IDF soldiers are glad of their presence; others express concerns. Katya Adler reports on the rise of the military rabbis who are changing the face of the once largely secular Israeli army. Download MP3