Opinions: Which world event are you most worried about?

DAVID BELLAMY, naturalist: My main concern is that there are one and a half billion women in the world of childbearing age. If they all got pregnant at one time the world population would go up by one and a half billion - something very few people think about.

SUSAN THORNE, senior citizen: I feel most dreadfully worried about the prospect of wars in Iraq and Yugoslavia, because I am old enough to remember the last one. Think of all our poor soldiers. And all those poor people and children out there - it makes me ashamed.

PIERS PAUL READ, author: I can't think of any world event I find worrying. I feel full of optimism and hope.

PAUL PICKERING, author: The fact that Prince Charles wants to be a female physical appliance makes Iraq pale into insignificance. It's worrying when something you've regarded as totally stable behaves in such an unexpected way.

SIR KINGSLEY AMIS: The threat of our getting involved in a civil war in Yugoslavia.

JENNY TAPNER, solicitor: Somalia, because my cousin is out there, involved with the RAF relief mission.

DONNA MOORE, student: I'm more worried that a young man can be shot dead on Moss Side in cold blood than by anything happening abroad.

PATRIC WALKER, astrologer: My immediate reaction is Yugoslavia. The problems in Iraq will come and go, won't they?

WILL SELF, novelist: What grabs me in particular is something relatively close to home, and that is the SAS soldiers who allegedly murdered members of the IRA. I do not sympathise with the IRA's cause, but this issue is about basic civil liberties.

ADAM SAMPSON, Prison Reform Trust: The event which has given me most cause for distress over recent months is the collapse of Maidstone Utd Football club. Otherwise for pure historical reasons, it is Yugoslavia.

(Photograph omitted)