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Click on any of the links below to read what The World at One said about the main issues of the day.

Wednesday, 31 January

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi has been found guilty of murder at the Lockerbie trial in the Netherlands. Co-defendant Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah was found not guilty.

What was the context of the 1988 bombing, and will anyone else be brought to justice?

Lockerbie bombing verdict

Click here to read the verdict

Tuesday, 30 January

As the report into the organ scandal at Alder Hey hospital is published, is there danger of an anti-doctor backlash? The Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, has said in advance that the report is the worst he's ever read. Will it stoke up public outrage, and reduce public confidence still further in doctors?

Will the Alder Hey report lead to an anti-doctor backlash?

Monday, 29 January

Peter Mandelson, Tony Blair, Alistair Campbell

The Peter Mandelson passport affair is developing into a pre-election nightmare for the government.

Mr Mandelson has mounted a vigorous fightback that could threaten the Prime Minister's press secretary Alastair Campbell, and possibly Tony Blair himself.

The World at One asks whether Mr Mandelson was forced out despite evidence suggesting he had not lied.

Should Mandelson have resigned?

Also: As Labour and the LibDems play down talk of tactical voting, alliances are being formed in the constituencies that could threaten Tory marginals.

The BBC's Nick Jones reports from Dorset

Friday, 26 January

Following the resignation of Peter Mandelson, attention has now turned in the Hinduja passport affair to the Foreign Office minister Keith Vaz.

Despite the Prime Minister's support, the minister is under intense pressure to explain his efforts on behalf of the Hinduja brothers.

The World at One asks whether the row may yet claim more casualties.

Vaz dismisses passport affair criticism

Thursday, 25 January

Peter Mandelson's resignation has prompted much speculation about whether he has a political future.

We talked to the editor of the Hartlepool Mail, Harry Blackwood, who was told last night by the former Northern Ireland Secretary that he WILL stand again as MP for Hartlepool.

What next for Mandelson?

Wednesday, 24 January

As Peter Mandelson is forced to leave the Cabinet for a second time, he has indicated that he has had enough of politics.

Mr Mandelson emerged from a marathon discussion within No 10 to announce his resignation minutes after the end of the World at One.

Was he pushed or did he jump?

Mandelson forced out

Tuesday, 23 January

Downing Street conceded this morning that Peter Mandelson asked a Home Office Minister directly about passport applications by the wealthy Hinduja brothers.

After several days of pressure, Mr Mandelson conceded that he now "recalled" calling the then immigration minister, Mike O'Brien, while he was the Cabinet Officer Minister responsible for the Dome. The Hinduja family turned out to be million-pound benefactors of the Dome.

Passport row threatens Mandelson

Also: The Conservatives' new commitment to match Labour spending on key public services while cutting taxes has been attacked as untenable by some. We ask whether the Tory figures add up.

Monday, 22 January

The Health Minister John Hutton has warned British internet service providers that it is illegal for them to provide access to websites advertising children for adoption.

Is this solution to the internet adoption problem workable?

Can internet adoption adverts be banned?

Friday, 19 January

The President of the Philippines, Joseph Estrada, is under increasing popular pressure to resign following the collapse of his government.

The Labour government has admitted it has no way of knowing whether it is meeting many of its own targets in areas as diverse as drugs and traffic congestion.

The morning after the babies at the centre of the internet adoption storm were taken into custody by Welsh Social Services, we examine the grounds for their removal.

Why were the twins taken into care?

A separate report on how police are dealing with race and homophobic crime and with recruiting ethnic minority staff warns of "complacency".

It said more effort was needed in some forces to monitor the use of stop and search tactics and in retaining and promoting ethnic minority staff.

Before the election, Labour set out a series of proposals on animal welfare, including better treatment of farm animals and live exports, and a Royal Commission on animal testing.

What happened to those promises? Nancy Phipps, whose daughter was killed at a protest against the export of live calves, tells the World at One that she is disappointed in the Government's record on animal welfare.

We talk to the Home Secretary Jack Straw and Shadow Home Secretary Ann Widdecombe about crime levels and policing.

And is Tony Blair's rejection of "paternalistic" help for inner cities a realistic way of achieving social change?

Three different social services departments, two hospitals and a series of police officers apparently had the chance to see what was happening to her. Why did none successfully intervene to save her?

We asked Defence Minister John Spellar what did ministers know and on what grounds was this advice rejected?

Plus, MPs on the commons education committee issue a report that criticises the government for making education too formal for the very young. We spoke to the minister in charge, Margaret Hodge, and asked if school should be more fun for five-year-olds?

We ask if concentrating on management techniques and efficiencies are harming the overall effectiveness of tackling and preventing crime.

Plus, Sir Richard Branson says The People's Lottery will not launch a legal challenge against the Lottery Commission after it decided to retain Camelot as the organisation that runs the national lottery. Sir Richard spoke to us live about his great disappointment in losing the lottery battle.

The Prime Minister renewed his efforts to persuade us that the public services - hospitals, schools, police and the rest - are getting better. The Tories launched their campaign: ' You've Paid the Tax - So where are the Police, the Teachers, the Trains......?' Should the government spend to recruit and retain public sector workers, or cut taxes?

Plus, depleted uranium....what are the health risks, why has this become an issue now and what about the civilians in Kosovo? We investigated.

The Prime Minister Tony Blair has been widely reported as firing the opening salvos of the next general election campaign - without giving a date.

Speaking on the Breakfast with Frost programme, Mr Blair highlighted the government's committment to improving pay and working conditions for the police, teachers and nurses.

The World at One assesses how far Mr Blair can depend upon the current state of public services in order to secure him a second term in government.

How much did the Department of Health know about the extent of Shipman's activities? Will there be more inquests? Could this happen again?

One of New Labour's key election manifesto pledges was to ensure 'fast-track punishment for persistent young offenders'. By that it meant it would halve the time from arrest to sentencing.

The Youth Justice Board chairman Lord Warner told us New Labour may well fall short of its much-trumpeted pledge.

The government also said that surgical instruments used in tonsil operations are to be thrown away, rather than sterilised and used again. But can other medical procedures also spread CJD?

The government The US Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, takes the markets by surprise and cuts American interest rates by a ½%.

Was this a panic measure or a stroke of genius calculated to create a soft-landing for the cooling US economy?

Essex warns its schools may have to go on a four-day week owing to a shortage of teachers.

How acute is the shortage of teachers becoming and how do local authorities and the government plan to tackle this issue?

The Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, acknowledged that economic signals from the US were worrying and we in Britain will not be immune to what happens there.

And London's Dome sell-off controversy, London Mayor Ken Livingstone told us what should be done.

The Catholic University of Rome opens a "placenta bank" to provide what it regards as ethical material for stem cell research.

We hear from a doctor supporting the move and the prominent geneticist Professor Steve Jones.