Woman's Hour - 24/11/2009

With Jane Garvey. There are conflicting reports about the alleged death of the dinner party: one study suggests it's in decline while other reports show that crockery sales are up; an indication, perhaps, that we're staying in and cooking more. For some, the idea of planning and creating a wonderful meal, and then inviting friends round to enjoy it, is the perfect night in. For others it's enough to make them run screaming for a take away. So what's the key to the perfect dinner party? With chef Angela Hartnett and columnist Liz Hunt. Why don't children do chores today? In the past, children and adolescents were expected to help with all sorts of necessary household tasks - planning, shopping for and preparing meals, helping with sick members of the family, taking responsibility for younger siblings. Today you're lucky if you can get your teenager to tidy their room or put the dirty plates in the dishwasher. So when and why did things change? Are chores for children a good idea? Parenting expert Annette Mountford and writer and mother of four Lucy Cavendish join Jane Garvey to discuss. From the day they met in Paris in 1907 until Gertrude's death in 1946, Alice Babette Toklas and Gertrude Stein were always together - and they made an eccentric and indomitable couple. They were photographed by Man Ray and Cecil Beaton, painted by Picasso and written about by Hemmingway and Sylvia Beach, among others. Their biographer Diana Souhami talks to Jane about the lives of these charismatic Jewish-American women, who lived in France during two World Wars and drove around in an unreliable Ford called 'Auntie' along with a poodle called Basket. A national programme to screen young people for the sexually-transmitted disease chlamydia has been accused of failing to offer value for money. The programme is thought to have cost 100 million pounds. The National Audit Office found duplication and inefficiency in the execution of the screening, while an independent report has also found weaknesses in the service. Why do some feel the programme should never have been funded in the first place? Jane talks to Peter Greenhouse, Consultant in Sexual Health at Bristol Sexual Health Centre, and Dr Nicola Low, Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Berne in Switzerland.