Monday, December 10 - Tuesday, December 11
THINGS WE LOST IN THE WAR
The East African nation of Somalia is the definition of a failed state. It has been without a central government since 1991, when the country's dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown. What followed were two decades of civil war, anarchy, failed Western intervention, Islamic fundamentalism and famine. Somali-born IDEAS contributor Hassan Ghedi Santur returns to his home-land to explore, "Things We Lost in the War."

Wednesday, December 12
THE FOUR SEASONS OF MAVIS GALLANT
Mavis Gallant has written dozens of dazzling, sardonic, heart-breaking short stories. She is acknowledged as a master of the short-story and has been showered with honours. Yet she is not well known in her home country - Canada.  Now in her 90th year, she still lives in the same small Parisian apartment she moved into almost 50 years ago. Rome-based writer and journalist Megan Williams spent almost a week with Gallant in Paris, recording material for her documentary portrait.

Thursday, December 13
THE SCREW THE CHANGED THE WORLD
There's a secret at the heart of our modern economy: standards. Standards frame every aspect of our lives, according to Karl Turner, from the nuts and bolts that hold our material world together to life's genetic blueprint.

Friday, December 14
THE NEW REVOLUTIONARIES, Part 2
Women have been identified by economists, social scientists, politicians and pundits as key to moving forward on issues like poverty, violence and conflict. Sally Armstrong takes us around the globe, where localized acts of female emancipation are literally improving the prospects for humankind at large.


Ideas in the Afternoon - Monday, December 10
WHEN FAMILIES START TALKING, Part  1
Even the best of families can run into trouble when grappling with the needs of aging parents, the demands of care-giving and the shifting dynamics between siblings over money and inheritance. Estates mediator Genevieve Chornenki looks at these hot button issues and explores if families can talk about them without wanting to kill each other.