Episode 105

One of the saddest of the features of what has happened to the great Arab civilization in Syria is the brain drain, with surgeons and scientists taking to rubber inflatables to leave behind their society, perhaps forever. Dr Ahmed Khaddour is the antidote to that. As a Syrian surgeon, he lives and works in Damascus and pops over to the UK for a few weeks at a time to keep his hand in at the NHS. When refueled, he goes back to Syria. This week we were lucky enough to catch Dr Khaddour before he returned to brave the bullets and the bombs.

Domestic violence and violence against women exists within all communities, but within some it’s undercover. Such is the shame that is and should accompany men beating women; in immigrant communities it’s usually shrouded in silence. So we invited onto the show one of London’s brightest new novelists, Sauruv Dutt, who has lifted the veil on domestic violence in his latest novel, “The Butterfly Room.”

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