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Doctor's orders for the Euro

Is there any cure for the Eurozone's problems? Poland's outspoken finance minister gives us his tough prescription for saving the Euro and we explore the style principles of "dictator chic".

As America attempts to solve its unemployment problem the Eurozone continues to struggle to solve the problems beseting the Euro.

The Eurozone leaders must feel like King Sisyphus who was condemned by Zeus to spend eternity pushing a huge rock up a hill only for it to roll back down just before he reached the top. Every new initiative they produce seems to rebound on them.

Take Germany, the the key to any long term solution to the eurozone crisis. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, knows German voters - and their representatives - are growing increasingly hostile to continuing to pour money in to bail out what they see as the feckless countries on the periphery.

We hear from Klaus Pieter Villsch, a German MP for the Christian Democratic Union, who believes Eurozone breakup is increasingly inevitable.

Justin Rowlatt interviews Jacek Rostowski, the outspoken Polish Minster of Finance about what action he believes is necessary to save the Euro.

The issues facing developing nations are very different. Here the problem is, more often than not, not unemployment but a shortage of skilled labour. Indeed many commentators believe this could become a key contraint limiting growth in developing economies.

Not so, according to a new book which aruges that there is a ready supply of skilled and ambitious labour but one which has traditionally been overlooked by businesses.

Justin Rowlatt speaks to one of the book's authors, Americian economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett, who argues that in many developing countries women represent a huge resource of underused labour.

And finally, we get a glimpse inside the homes of the rich and murderous. Our regular commentator, the style guru Peter York, guides us through Colonel Gaddhafi's home and draws up the style principles of "dictator chic".

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18 minutes

Last on

Fri 9 Sep 2011 11:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Fri 9 Sep 2011 07:32GMT
  • Fri 9 Sep 2011 11:32GMT

Podcast