The Boland Guest List Friday 19th March.

Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP was one of only four ministers to serve throughout the whole Prime Ministerships of both Margaret Thatcher and John Major wrote in yesterday Times newspaper: Needed: a peaceful anti-Netanyahu uprising. The Israeli Prime Minister is weakening, not strengthening, his country’s position. He went on to write: The announcement of Israel's intention to build 1,600 homes in east Jerusalem antagonised the Palestinians and infuriated the international community. That by itself, would be unlikely to cause Israel's Prime Minister to lose much sleep. But when you manage to humiliate the US Vice President, who was visiting when the new homes were announced, and cause Hillary Clinton, to say that her country has been ' insulted' you are in the middle of a serious international mess. The former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, MP joins the Boland Friday guest list.
A Roman Catholic adoption agency this week won a legal fight to keep its Christian rules saying children should not be sent to live with gay couples. The ruling by a High Court judge was seen as landmark victory for freedom of religious conscience over the demands of equality legislation. But there was bitter condemnation of the judge from gay organisations and trade unions and Maurice’s next guest James Lawrence, communications officer of gay rights group Stonewall, will tell us how ridicules this ruling is and how furious he is.
On Tuesday, Gordon Brown was forced into a humiliating admission that he had slashed defence spending while British troops were at war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Prime Minister told MP's he had been wrong to tell the Iraq Inquiry that defence spending under Labour was ' rising in real terms every year'. Boland’s next guest Richard North is the author of the book ' Ministry of Defeat - The British War in Iraq 2003 - 2009 and a political analyst and currently edits the respected defence blog, Defence of the Realm. Will talk about Brown’s humiliation.
Being a Friday It’s ‘Talk on Travel’ for the second hour. Sean Tipton from the ABTA will be talking about news In the travel industry.
When Boland’s next guest Dominic Gill set out from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, on his bicycle, it was to be no ordinary bike ride. His goal was to reach Ushuaia, the southernmost city in South America, nearly 20,000 miles away, and he was starting off with virtually no money in his pocket, barely enough food to last a week and, worst of all, everyone who knew or cared about him was thousands of miles away.
Ten centuries' worth of French historical 'facts' bite the dust as Stephen Clarke looks at what has really been going on since 1066. For 1000 Years of Annoying the French, he has been breathing the chill air of ruined castles and deserted battlefields, leafing through dusty chronicles, brushing up the medieval French he studied at university and generally losing himself in the mists of history. He has now returned to present-day Paris, and is doing his best to live the entente cordiale. Boland on Friday @11am