大象传媒

It's a treasured institution, but the pressures and challenges facing the National Health Service often seem insurmountable. Health journalist Penny Taylor and Professor John Gillies from the University of Edinburgh, discuss if it's it time for a grown up and honest debate on the NHS, to find out what we really want and expect from it, and what we need to prioritise.

American novelist, Lionel Shriver, has written a number of powerful and at times chilling books, including the bestseller 'We Need To Talk About Kevin'. She talks about life, writing, and her twelfth novel The Mandibles, in which she tackles a near future where a national economic collapse has hit the USA.

We catch up with Muslim convert Alan Rooney in his third and final Hajj diary, to find out the impact this experience has had on him.

He's won numerous awards and is often cited as one of Israel's greatest living writers, but with that praise has come hefty criticism of his politics. Amos Oz speaks to Cathy about betrayal; a central theme in his latest novel Judas, and he explains why the label of traitor sometimes requires greater scrutiny.