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27/08/2011 GMT

Rights: Should you bribe someone to get your tax rebate? Can the free market really ensure rights for all? Is it right to use an embryo for life-saving research?

Rights: Is it right to use an embryo for life-saving research? Can the free market really ensure rights for all? If you need to, should you bribe someone to get your driver’s licence?

We feel entitled to many rights, and exercise them daily, but what cornerstone are they built on? As people in the Arab world fight for their rights, we debate on what grounds we are owed anything by anyone.

This week’s Forum guests are India’s chief economic advisor, Kaushik Basu; British philosopher Mary Warnock; and cutting-edge stem cell biologist Tilo Kunath.

Illustration by Charlotte Kingston: the world puzzles over which rights to write.

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41 minutes

Last on

Sun 28 Aug 201114:05GMT
BBC World Service Online

More episodes

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20/08/2011 GMT

Next

03/09/2011 GMT

See all episodes from The Forum

Chapters

  • Part 1

    Mary Warnock: on having rights

    Duration: 10:22

  • Tilo Kunath

    Tilo Kunath: ethical considerations of stem cell research

    Duration: 12:38

  • Part 2: 60 Second idea

    Mary Warnock: all packaging should be banned

    Duration: 04:21

  • Kaushik Basu

    Kaushik Basu: "the invisible hand of the market"

    Duration: 12:48

Broadcasts

  • Sat 27 Aug 201108:05GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Sat 27 Aug 201121:05GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Sun 28 Aug 201101:05GMT
    BBC World Service Online
  • Sun 28 Aug 201114:05GMT
    BBC World Service Online

Podcast

  • The Forum

    The programme that explains the present by exploring the past