My Perfect Country: The Debate

The Compass

Fi Glover, Martha Lane Fox and Henrietta Moore are on the hunt for solutions to the world’s problems. Their aim is to create the perfect country made up of the best global policies that actually work. In this episode, the panel hear the voices, opinions and criticisms of the World Service audience. Together, they debate how the perfect country is shaping up. The policies include: Bermuda’s water policy, Peru’s housing revolution, Japan’s gun control, Tunisian women’s rights, Shanghai’s numeracy education and Australia’s anti-smoking laws. Listeners who have first-hand experience of these policies give their own personal reflection of living through them – and direct feedback to the verdicts from the My Perfect Country panel. Members of the audience from vastly different nations give their views of whether the policies could work where they are. And, in cases where they might not – listeners offer alternative suggestions for the countries they would look to instead. The team also hear new material from the roving radio reporters that summarised each policy – they update the panel on new developments as well as any unforeseen changes that could threaten their country’s achievements. Listeners also discuss what the perfect flag for the perfect country would look like – and offer their own unique compositions for a universal national anthem.