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2006 is a crucial year for the Czech Republic. In June the country's voters go to the polls in a much-anticipated clash between the ruling Social Democrats and the right-of-centre opposition Civic Democrats, with the Communists lurking in the wings. Who will people vote for? Will they bother voting at all? Are they happy with their lives? Do they still support their country's membership of the European Union? Do they want to ditch the Czech crown and adopt the euro? Analysing social, economic and political trends in Czech society is the work of

2005 was definitely the year for reality TV shows - at one point there were two versions of Big Brother running on rival commercial stations, and acres of coverage was given over in the Czech media to the previous night's exploits in the villa. But late last year a new reality show - Odhaleni, or the Unmasking - was launched, featuring not humans, but gorillas monkeying around for the cameras. Live footage from the gorilla enclosure is broadcast over the Internet and viewers vote by SMS text message for their favourite gorilla. The proceeds from

Today we are taking another chance to hear from some of the most interesting guests we met on One on One over the course of the year just ended. They include: musician Zuzana Ruzickova on the horrors of Auschwitz and Professor Tomas Radil on the liberation of the notorious concentration camp; journalist Joe Schlesinger on escaping Czechoslovakia, and returning in 1989; controversial politician Jan Kavan on his English mother's difficult life in Prague; lower house chairman Lubomir Zaoralek on visiting North Korea; and Romany rapper Gipsy on telling

My guest on this week's One on One is Jiri Jes, a journalist and broadcaster who still appears regularly on Czech Radio at the age of 80. Prevented from writing during the Communist era, Jiri Jes began his journalist career in the early 1990s, when he was already in his sixties. When I met Jiri on a snowy Sunday afternoon in Prague's Bila Hora district, I began by asking him for his memories of childhood in pre-war Czechoslovakia.

In this week's One on One my guest is Jan Richter, who is the historian at the regional museum in the south Moravian town of Mikulov. Mikulov, known in German as Nikolsburg, was for centuries one of the most important Jewish centres in the region. Jan Richter and I also discussed how Czechs view their history, and the former German influence in this part of the world, but we first spoke about a subject he specialises in, Mikulov's rich Jewish history.

Rob Cameron's guest on this week's One on One is British politician Geoff Hoon, Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons in Tony Blair's Labour cabinet. Mr Hoon, former UK Defence Secretary, has just visited Prague at the invitation of Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and the ruling Social Democrats, speaking to the party about how they can learn from the experiences of the British Labour Party, which has undergone great change in recent years. But his visit also comes at a time when the Prime Minister Blair tries to persuade new EU members

Jan Svejnar is one of the most respected economists the Czech Republic has produced. An adviser to former president Vaclav Havel, Mr Svejnar is a professor at the University of Michigan's business school and heads an American-style PhD programme and research centre at Prague's Charles University. I caught up with the economist recently in Prague to discuss both present and past events, including how Jan Svejnar left Czechoslovakia two years after the Soviet invasion of 1968. He was just 17 at the time, just shy of his high school diploma.

Rob Cameron's guest on this week's One on One is the writer, film-maker and chairman of the Czech PEN club Jiri Stransky. Jiri Stransky's family was persecuted by both the Nazis and the Communists - Jiri himself was imprisoned by the Communists on two occasions for speaking out against the totalitarian regime. He's now involved in a project to teach schoolchildren about the injustices of Communism.

My guest today is Pavel Steidl, a Czech guitarist who has been listed among the eight best guitarists in the world. He has performed in 30 countries with Mexico being his second favourite after his native Czech Republic. He returned to the country after many years of emigration in the Netherlands. He is always travelling around the world, but he feels at home in the little village of Skryje on the River Berounka. This is the river of his childhood, and from his exile, he always dreamed of coming home. I met him at his house and after he had explained

Rob Cameron's guest in this week's One on one is Milos Suchma, chairman of the Czech and Slovak Association of Canada. The group represents Canada's large Czech and Slovak diaspora, a community numbering tens of thousands of people.