Military matters on Culture Clash

With military matters dominating the news, tonight we’re going to be discussing the media coverage surrounding the release last week of the fifteen Royal Navy hostages, from their capture right through to Faye Turney’s television interview last night with Trevor MacDonald. And we’re also going to be asking whether Channel 4 should postpone indefinitely it’s already once delayed, controversial drama about British troops in Iraq, The Mark of Cain.

With me to tonight are Damian Thompson, editor in chief of the Catholic Herald and leader writer for the Daily Telegraph, Petroc Trelawny, journalist and Radio 3 presenter, Marc Sidwell of the New Culture Forum, and Andrew Haydon, critic for Culturewars.

But first, we’re going to look at a new film which recalls a past military controversy. Days of Glory, which looks at the role played by the Arab and African colonies in the French Army during World War II, centres around four soldiers who, in fighting for a country they have never even seen, encounter prejudice and unfair treatment from the French military hierarchy. The film, which won the four actors a shared Best Actor award at Cannes last year, prompted President Chirac to make a change in the law, under which, previously, pensions to such soldiers had been stopped once their countries were granted independence.

Watch it on18 Doughty Street Talk TV at anytime