The programme is broadcast live from our studio in Bush House, the World Service headquarters in London.

Robin Lustig

Robin Lustig is now one of the BBC's busiest broadcasters, but he began his career in journalism as a correspondent for Reuters news agency before going on to work as a writer and editor on Britain's oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer.

He has lived and worked in many different countries, including Uganda, Spain, France, Italy and the Middle East. He is now based in London but gets a bit twitchy if his passport is left unused for more than a few months at a time.

Since discovering the joys of radio, he has presented live programmes from (in alphabetical order!) Abuja, Amman, Berlin, Hong Kong, Islamabad, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Sarajevo and Washington.

As well as presenting Talking Point, he is a regular presenter of Newshour, and also presents the BBC's main evening current affairs programme, The World Tonight, on the domestic network, Radio 4. He is married with two children.

Sandy Walsh

Sandy Walsh will be a familiar voice to many regular World Service listeners.

She has been an announcer since 1989 and has presented a wide range of programmes from Newsdesk to Meridian Live. She produced and presented an eight part series about Children of Courage, half of it from India.

She regularly presents Good Books, interviewing famous personalities such as Baroness Barbara Castle, Terry Waite and Lord Hanson.

When not at the BBC World Service, Sandy is performing on the stage at many of the top theatres across the UK. Her most recent West End appearance was as Mrs Lyons, in Willy Russell's award winning Blood Brothers.

In 1989 Sandy was awarded a coveted Fringe First at the Edinburgh Festival for a one-woman show Ecocide. She has appeared in many television shows, presented on children's television and is often seen and heard in TV and radio commercials.

Sandy claims that despite all this she still has time to assist her BBC colleagues as Presentation Consultant for World Service Training.

Diana Madill

Diana left Northern Ireland in 1980 to study Spanish and Business Studies at Edinburgh University, which included a year in Seville, teaching English as a foreign language to trainee teachers.

Returning to Britain, Diana free-lanced as a journalist, before a journalism course took her to BBC Radio in Bedfordshire in 1986 as a reporter. In 1988 she moved into television reporting and presenting for BBC Northern Ireland, and in 1991, she returned to radio - joining BBC Radio 4's "Today" programme as a radio reporter.

From 1994-1997, Diana presented BBC Radio 5's "The Magazine", a Sony award winning programme of live topical items featuring politicians and people in the news, as well as a nationwide phone-in.

Diana's television appearances include presenting "Westminster" for BBC2, as well as covering the Party Political Conferences and the Budget. She has also presented for "Bite Back", the BBC viewer comment programme and reported on location for BBC's "Holiday" programme, as well as occasionally presenting BBC Television News.