*** For full coverage of the financial crisis click here***

The events of the last five days have been traumatic for the world of high finance and banking -- and may yet become so for the man in the street if confidence in banks fails to hold.

Venerable finance houses are falling like cards, all manner of exotic and unsound practices are being revealed and many of the old rules -- like the competition reugulations that stopped Lloyds buying Abbey National in 2001 -- have gone out of the window.

Money markets have all but dried up. "I'm not lending money to you -- you might not be here next week," seems to be predominant mood.

Some commentators say this is the financial world's Particle Collider moment and we're all doomed, others that this is merely a painful but long overdue shake-out: a reality check that in the end will bring about a greater degree of prudence and sanity.

What do you think we are seeing here? And what do you think the result will be?

The Large Hadron Collider aims to reproduce conditions just after the “Big Bang” 14 billion years ago in an attempt to gain new insights into how the universe was formed.

It may prove the existence of the so-called “God particle,” the mysterious theoretical atomic fragment that lies at the heart of matter.

It may even point to the possible reality of a number of new dimensions.

But by going so close to the origin of the universe it is, some believe, “staring in the face of God.” If it manages to explain the mysteries of creation, does that then mean there is no God?

Do you believe in the Big Bang theory – and is it compatible with the existence of God?

Fewer women than last year are reaching the top in their chosen professions, an annual survey has found.

Progress on equality is moving at a snail's pace, the Equality and Human Rights Commission says, blaming Britain's long-hours culture and inflexible working pactices.

At this rate it will take women 55 years to reach parity with men at senior levels in the judiciary and 73 years to draw level in the number of FTSE 100 company directors, the commission predicts.

Do you have any experience of the glass ceiling and do you agree that women's progress at senior levels in the workplace is stalling? If so, what is needed to turn things around?

The British Film Institute is asking members of the public: if you had to choose one film to bequeath to future generations, what would it be?  

Its website lists 75 potential candidates nominated by film world luminaries, ranging from popular classics like "The Godfather" and "Ryan's Daughter" to older favourites like "The Third Man", "Singin' in the Rain" and "Kind Hearts and Coronets".

Cate Blanchett, it says, has nominated "Stalker," by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, while director Ken Loach chose "Closely Observed Trains". Also in there are "Quadrophenia", "Spartacus" and "Metropolis".

What film would you choose?

Australian cricketer Don Bradman was born 100 years ago -- on Aug. 27 1908 in the New South Wales country town of Cootamundra.

His feats on the cricket pitch were the stuff of legend. He averaged 100 runs every three innings and by the time he retired in 1948 his test batting average was a record 99.94 -- perhaps the most famous number in cricketing history.

The world has seen some remarkable records broken over the past week at the Olympics in Beijing -- do you think it is likely that Bradman's 99.94 will ever be bettered? Can any modern batsman even compare?

The best days of modern greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting appear over, but could England's great hope Kevin Pietersen catch up and overtake that magic average?

    ****For full Olympic coverage click here****

Boxing chiefs are to press for the inclusion of female fighters in the 2012 London Olympics.

They say theirs is the only sport in the Olympic programme without women and they await a decision from the International Olympic Committee by December.

Women did actually box in the 1904 Olympics and the sport has developed a higher profile in recent years thanks to boxers like Laila Ali and Jaqueline Frazier-Lyde, the daughters of old rivals Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier.

The International Boxing Association women's commission vice-chairwoman Bettan Andersson believes having women's boxing at the Olympics would help improve the overall image of the sport.

"If women come in, people will feel the sport is more common, not so dangerous, and that would be a very good thing for the image of boxing," she says.

But not everybody agrees.

There are plenty who say that even men's boxing is too brutal a spectacle to be part of the Olympics and that to see women belting each other in the ring would be even worse.

Better to open the door to the sports like golf and rugby that are lobbying for inclusion in the Games.

Do you think women's boxing should be included in the London 2012 programme?

              **** For full Olympics coverage click here **** 

Who do you think is shaping up to be the biggest star of these Olympics?

After a week of stirring achievements, there is no lack of candidates -- Usain Bolt's almost casual 100 metres win, Michael Phelps' record haul of gold medals and Rebecca Adlington's first women's double gold swimming feat for Britain are obvious headliners.

But what about cyclist Rebecca Romero who has become the first British woman to win medals in two different Summer Olympic sports? In fact the entire teams of the Brits on the bikes and in the boats have done us proud.

What has been the standout performance for you?

  

Trafalgar Square's empty fourth plinth has been used in recent years to showcase the work of modern artists.

Marc Quinn's nude statue of Alison Lapper pregnant and a coloured glass creation called Model for a Hotel 2007 by German artist Thomas Schutte have been two recent examples. Some people love them, others hate them.

Debate has raged for years about who would be suitable for the notorious empty space -- whether military figures would send the right message for example or whether we need yet another statue of a member of the great and good.

But now comes news of a plan to create a permanent statue on the plinth, one of the Queen on horseback, which would be the only statue of her in London. It would probably be put up posthumously.

Do you think a statue of the Queen would be a good idea? And if not, who or what would you put up there? 

Professor Ken Smith is so fed up with endlessly correcting his students' spelling that he's throwing in the towel.

Why not just accept that you're never going to iron out the most common spelling mistakes and simply accept them as "variants," he suggests.

"Either we go on beating ourselves and our students up over this problem or we simply give everyone a break and accept these variant spellings as such," he says.

He's thinking of words like argument, that often comes at him as "arguement," or twelth (twelfth) and all those words that break the i-before-e rule like weird and seize.

What do you think? Is correct spelling just for pedants and crossword fiends nowadays?

(P.S. We promise not to put your replies through spellcheck)

A major survey of social attitudes reveals that enthusiasm for equality between men and women is on the slide in Britain.

In the 1990s, around 50 percent of women and 51 percent of men said they thought family life would not suffer if a woman went to work. Now the figures have fallen to 46 percent of women and 42 percent of men.

The decline is even more pronounced in the United States.

"It is conceivable that opinions are shifting as the shine of the 'super-mum' syndrome wears off, and the idea of women juggling high-powered careers while also baking cookies and reading bedtime stories is increasingly seen to be unrealisable by ordinary mortals," said the survey's author, Professor Jacqueline Scott of Cambridge University.

Do you agree?