Outlook

Anton Foek has reported for Outlook from Indonesia in the past.  He came across this signpost while travelling in the Yacoma Indian Reservation in Washington State.

Last week I wrote on the website about our desire to broadcast a balance of light and shade.

So it was kind of odd that halfway through the week we should receive these photos from a reporter in America from a small settlement called Outlook.

On the signpost: "Outlook Sunnyside".

It made us wonder here whether there was another signpost nearby to "Outlook Cloudyside".  Or "Outlook Darkside".

None of us really believed there would be a dark side.  It looked such a calm and sunny place.

But the Dutch reporter Anton Foek offered to talk to some of the local residents and it turned out that all was not well in Outlook in Washington State.

Anton sent us a postcard - it hasn't arrived yet...

A couple of weeks before his visit there had been a murder in the settlement.

So much for signposts.

You can hear Anton's report on Monday's Outlook - along with an interview with one of Nelson Mandela's former guards from Robben Island and a strong item about a pioneer in women's education in Balochistan who is holding out against threats from the Taliban.

On Tuesday we've got a celebrity interview with one of the world's most famous cricketers: the Australian spin bowler Shane Warne. He's joined in that programme by an item about short people fighting for their rights in Cameroon and a scheme to help Indonesian earthquake victims.

Later on in the week is, as usual, a little more hazy.

Al Huff is the pastor of the church which sits on the only street in Outlook.  "Life in Outlook is fairly slow..."

On Wednesday we're talking to Ishmael Beah who's documented his violent and abusing past in the book A Long Way Gone, and we're visiting a horse whisperer in Chile.

On Thursday we hope to be hearing from Benin where childhood disabilities are being linked to malnutrition, and we'll be talking to Rajiv Chandrasekeran who reported from Baghdad after the US invasion and ended up setting up a pizzeria.

Sometimes you write things on this page and you wonder if they can possibly be accurate...

Then on Friday we have a discussion about the joys (or otherwise) of being bald. If you have any thoughts about this, we'd love to hear them in advance.

And, if anyone knows of anywhere else called Outlook, please do get in touch.