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Owen Bennett Jones introduces personal reflections, analysis and wit from correspondents around the world.

In this edition, Jonathan Fryer examines the reasons and rationale for Algeria's support of the movement for independence in Western Sahara; Rahul Tandon asks what a disastrous fire tells us about Calcutta - and modern Indian society.

A frozen conflict in a parched desert

The dispute over control of Western Sahara is one of the most intractable and longest-running diplomatic conflicts around.

Despite many international interventions, initiatives and campaigns, the issue somehow never seems to move towards resolution.

Western Sahara is one of the most sparsely populated places in the world, and today it’s largely controlled by Morocco - which took it over from Spain.

But some of the territory's people are pushing hard for independence - and this campaign is also backed by some of the neighbouring states.

Jonathan Fryer witnessed for himself in Algiers how Saharan politics can be felt even as far as the shores of the Mediterranean.

"We watch on HD as people die nearby"

When people die in man-made disasters, the families of the victims often console themselves that if policy lessons are learnt, then the deaths of their loved ones would not be entirely in vain.

But politicians who promise to learn those lessons do not always keep their word.

A few days ago there was a terrible fire at the AMRI private hospital in Calcutta which killed over 90 people – and it raised some harrowing questions about whether those deaths could have been avoided.

When interviewing survivors - and rescuers - in the aftermath, Rahul Tandon heard some hard answers about what kind of a society modern India has become.

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