The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The story of Joseph Conrad, abridged by Katrin Williams. He was author of Heart Of Darkness, Lord Jim, and sailed the seas..
5. The late 1890's. He is settled with Jessie at Pent Farm, Kent, rubbing shoulders with various literary greats. His sea-faring days are over but the imaginative adventures continue to flourish and the novel Nostromo begins to take shape..
Reader Laurel Lefkow
Producer Duncan Minshull.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with David Moffitt, Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of St Andrews.
iPM is the news programme that starts with its listeners. Email ipm@bbc.co.uk. Twitter: @BBCiPM. Presented by Luke Jones and Eddie Mair.
The latest news headlines. Including the weather and a look at the papers.
Helen Mark meets people whose livelihoods depend on the unique landscape of the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. She finds rock that looks like snakeskin, otherwise known as serpentine, and hears a dragon breathing. Possibly. It's all a bit reptilian.
The Lizard is the most southerly point of England and it's probably not named after serpentine, the snakeskin-like rock that's found here, and nowhere else on earth. It's a peninsula that's almost an island, cut off by the Helford River on one side and the coast on the other, surrounded by some of the cleanest water to be found in the UK. It's kept that way by the rocky coast that makes it dangerous for ships to come too close and muddy up the sea. Salt has been extracted from the seawater here since the Iron Age, and seaweeders still harvest sea spaghetti and pepper dulse from its shores, both for gourmet consumption.
Other gourmet items are the organic 'destination pasties' of Gear Farm, which also has an Iron Age heritage to protect in the form of a fort and geophysical evidence of nearly fifty roundhouses which once graced its land. Helen meets Don Taylor, who loves the mystery and magic of serpentine and makes it into sculptures inspired by the shape of the rocks he finds in the cliffs. And there's artist Bridget Leaman, whose home is perched on the cliffs by Lizard village. The landscape here inspires her paintings, sometimes in the most unexpected ways.
Producer Mary Ward-Lowery.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The latest weather forecast.
News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher thrillers, talks to Aasmah Mir and Shaun Keaveny about his latest book The Midnight Line.
Actress Alison Steadman discusses Hold the Sunset, her upcoming sitcom with John Cleese, and her children's book - Spider!
Space engineer Abbie Hutty reveals what it takes to design the new Mars Rover due for the red planet in 2020.
And TV archaeologist Alex Langlands explains why he thinks we need to do more things for ourselves, and stop relying on machines and gadgets. It's in his new book, Craeft - How Traditional Crafts Are About More Than Just Making. (And yes, that's 'craeft' with an e.)
Presenters: Aasmah Mir and Shaun Keaveny
Producer: Paul Waters.
Alan Dein travels the world via the internet talking to parents and children about navigating the tricky expectations they have of each other.
Among those Alan strikes up conversation with today: a Filipino mother estranged from her gay son, a Ugandan woman whose education was cut short and a young Korean man hiding his tattoos from his parents.
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
George Parker of the Financial Times weighs the mood on Brexit. He consults on next week's Budget and on Lords reform. And why do some politicians resist saying sorry?
Editor: Peter Mulligan.
The rise and (possible) fall of Robert Mugabe. Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories from around the world.
"Which version of reality would you like to read today?" Andrew Harding is asked as he's offered a selection of newspapers in Zimbabwe.
Gabriel Gatehouse has been reporting on conflict and oppressed people for more than a decade but the plight of the Rohingya in Myanmar has affected him like no other.
Caroline Bayley finds a surprising splash of red in a grey Moscow suburb - a strawberry firm turning a profit, not from harvesting fruit but producing houses.
Bethany Bell hears memories of the largest forced migration in European history - of Germans forced to leave their homes following the Second World War. Their stories have often received little international attention - overshadowed by the crimes of the Nazis.
And Clive Myrie has fulfilled a childhood dream - that of visiting Yemen. The maze of cobbled streets he longed for have however been obscured by buildings disfigured by bullets and bombs.
Producer: Joe Kent.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Parents who use two government childcare schemes tell Money Box about a problem they fear is putting their children at risk of losing their nursery places. It happens when they go online to reconfirm their continued eligibility for either the tax-free childcare top up scheme or for 30 hours free childcare. After receiving a successful confirmation message they then get another one saying their entitlement will be stopped as they no longer meet the criteria - despite there being no significant change in their circumstances.
Workers who are paid weekly and who also claim Universal Credit face having it stopped or reduced next month. The benefit is assessed on the basis of a four week month and there are five Fridays in December, which means the extra pay packet could push them over the income threshold to qualify for payment. To receive it again they have to reapply. As Universal Credit is paid in arrears there are concerns it could severely damage people's finances. Guest: Kayley Hignell, Head of Policy, Families, Welfare and Work, Citizen's Advice.
The idea of increasing National Insurance Contributions by 1 percent to raise an extra £5bn towards funding adult social care in England is being put forward in a new report. One of its authors, Andrew Kaye, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Independent Age discusses with Angus Henton, Co-founder of the Intergenerational Foundation.
Stamp duty is 'gumming up' the housing market according to joint research from The London School of Economics and the Family Building Society. It claims the prospect of a large tax bill is causing potential downsizers to stay where they are. Guest: LSE Professor Tony Travers.
Presenter: Paul Lewis
Reporter: Vivienne Nunis
Producer: Charmaine Cozier.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis re-cap the week via topical stand-up and sketches with guests Darren Harriot, Sophie Willan, Jake Yapp, Gemma Arrowsmith and food critic William Sitwell.
Produced by Victoria Lloyd
A BBC Studios Production.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate and discussion from Brooksbank School in Elland, Yorkshire, with a panel including the Shadow Education Minister Tracy Brabin MP, Madeleina Kay the anti brexit activist nicknamed "EU Supergirl" , Marnie Millard chief executive of international soft drinks business Nichols, and the former cabinet minister Owen Paterson MP who is on the advisory board of Leave Means Leave, the pressure group campaigning for "a swift clean" break from the European Union.
Listeners have their say on the issues discussed on Any Questions?
Dramatised by Jeremy Front
Europe in the 1930s. A dangerous place to be. As the Orient Express rattles its way towards Constantinople, a motley group of people find themselves threatened by intrigue, skulduggery and murderous politics
Directed by Marc Beeby
Greene originally filed Stamboul Train under his 'entertainments' and admitted, in 1974, that he wrote it to make a bit of money. "In Stamboul Train for the first and last time in my life I deliberately set out to write a book to please, one which with luck might be made into a film. The devil looks after his own and I succeeded in both aims"
Set during the 1930's, Stamboul Train takes place upon the iconic Orient Express as it weaves its way through a snowy Europe. It focuses upon a group of travellers who each have a story or secret of their own and whose lives intertwine in a tense thriller. It is a heady cocktail of wit, adventure, mystery, and sexual intrigue. It's brilliantly exciting - people in cars race trains, there are shoot-outs, tense border crossings, interrogations, scamming, seducing, faking, performing, lying, and all of this happening to the backdrop of a journey through Europe.
Sonequa Martin Green talks about her experiences of being a woman of colour in Hollywood and playing a lead role in the latest Star Trek series.
Paloma Faith talks about her new album The Architect and her experiences as a new mother.
The number of older women dying from alcohol related illnesses continues to rise. We discuss with GP Dr Philippa Kaye and Professor Ilana Crome from the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Two writers, Anne Cassidy and Winnie M. Li talk about why they've written novels about rape and Winnie discusses her own experiences of rape ten years ago.
We hear from 78 year old Bernie who cares for her son aged 39 who has Down Syndrome and learning difficulties. What plans has she got in place for when she can no longer care for him? And Fran Crake talks about Thrive a support service for older parents and carers based in Manchester.
As sexual abuse allegations hit the comedy world with the comedian Louis CK admitting to allegations of masturbating in front of women, the comedian Deborah Frances White and journalist Hadley Freeman discuss why the world of comedy is still very much an all boys club.
And Joanna Rowsell Shand the double Olympic gold medallist talks about her cycling career and her feelings about being known as the cyclist with alopecia.
Presented by Jane Garvey
Produced by Rabeka Nurmahomed
Edited by Jane Thurlow.
Full coverage of the day's news.
Are you being served? Where do you shop - online, a department store or one of the large shopping centres around the country? Evan Davis looks at the competitive business of running a mixed retail outlet, or department store, and asks can they survive?
GUESTS
Tony Brown, CEO, Beales Department Stores
Stacey Cartwright, CEO, Harvey Nichols,
David Fischel, CEO, INTU Shopping Centres.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Clive Anderson and Sara Cox are joined by Dave Hill, Ashley Jensen, Blake Morrison and David Hoyle for an eclectic mix of conversation, music and comedy. With music from Mac DeMarco and The Burning Hell.
Producer: Sukey Firth.
After the Zimbabwean army moved against Robert Mugabe this week, one man has been hotly tipped to succeed him. The former Vice President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, portrays himself to the west as a free-market enthusiast who could change the fortunes of Zimbabwe. But 'The Crocodile', as Mnangagwa is nicknamed, has been at Mugabe's side since the independence struggle, and is associated with some of the regime's most notorious actions.
Presenter: Edward Stourton
Producers: Kate Lamble and Beth Sagar-Fenton.
Mudbound, is a searing look at prejudice set in the Jim Crow deep south of the United States shortly after WW2
Network is a new production at The National Theatre in London. It's an adaptation of the 1976 Oscar-winning film about a TV anchorman who announces that he's "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" which appalls then delights and ultimately infuriates his network bosses. It stars Bryan "Breaking Bad" Cranston as the newsreader who wigs out.
Javier Cercas's novel The Impostor tells the extraordinary tale of a Spanish man who falsely claimed to have been a survivor of Mauthausen concentration camp. Can we trust that anything in the story he tells of his life is true?
She's Got To Have It was Spike Lee's 1986 breakout film which he has now adapted into a 10 part TV series for Netflix
North: fashioning Identity, is an exhibition at Somerset House exploring contemporary artistic and stylistic representations of the north of England.
Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Emma Jane Unsworth, Kit Davis and Jim White. The producer is Oliver Jones.
It's 170 years since William Makepeace Thackeray wrote his gazetteer of early Victorian social life, The Book of Snobs. Most of our views on snobbery come from this single text. Now, writer DJ Taylor wants to update this user's guide to the snob for the 21st century. He is joined in his search for the modern snob by snobs and snob observers from all walks of life, as well as by voices from the archive.
From the Raj to reality TV, from Westminster to the gentlemen's outfitters of Savile Row, Taylor argues that, at bottom, most of us are snobs and that snobbery is an essential part of the face we offer to the world.
Comedian Al Murray explores the role of snobbery as a comedic device, from Fawlty Towers to his own Pub Landlord. Jess Phillips MP reveals the snobberies of Parliament - and says we would all benefit if the Palace of Westminster was mothballed and replaced with a more up-to-date institution. And, with broadcaster and self-professed beer snob Hardeep Singh Kohli, Taylor asks why more and more people are using snobbery as a marker of identity, a badge of pride.
Produced by Hannah Marshall
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.
By Mike Walker
Mike Walker's ambitious chronicle of the Russian Tsars concludes with a drama that surveys the reign of Vladimir Putin.
As with Putin's beloved espionage serial The Shield and the Sword, at the heart of this story stands a spy who lives a hundred lives to protect one life: his true identity.
Weaving together many interconnected stories, some true and others fictional, the drama goes in search of the true identity of the enigmatic Russian President, whose leadership has lasted almost 18 years. We tell stories from Putin's childhood, the early days in the KGB, his relationship with outgoing President Yeltsin, the battle with the oligarchs, the fallout from the Kursk tragedy, as well as the accusations of corruption and authoritarian repression.
Does each new story shed further light on the mystery, or leads us further into the labyrinth?
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4, followed by weather.
The Church of England has issued its schools with advice on transphobic bullying, suggesting that boys should be free to dress up in tutus and tiaras, and girls allowed to wear tool-belts and superhero capes, in the spirit of exploring "who they might be", without fear of stigma. The traditional view of gender is in rapid retreat. Both the Westminster and Scottish governments are considering making it easier for someone to change their legal gender. The LGBT campaign group Stonewall has called the current UK system - in which individuals have to appear in front of a Gender Recognition Panel - "demeaning and broken". The first moral consideration must surely be the wellbeing of people whose transitions can often be accompanied by complex mental health problems and a painful battle against the judgements of their families and society. Next is how far society needs to change to accommodate those individuals. Some women, for example, are uncomfortable with trans-women accessing 'women only' spaces such as lavatories and changing rooms. Whose rights take precedence? There is no one type of trans person. Some are binary, identifying as either male or female, others are non-binary and might self-describe as agender, gender fluid, bi-gender, a demi-girl or a demi-boy. An increasing awareness of gender fluidity is, for many, the mark of an inclusive and enlightened society. For others, multiple complex gender labels serve only to reinforce the insecurities of children and teenagers, at a time when it is normal for them to feel confusion about all sorts of things, including their sexuality. Whichever way you view it, how can we - parents, teachers, society - best enable young people to discover and become who they really are, in a period of complex and rapid social change? Witnesses are Dr Heather Brunskell Evans, James Caspian, Jane Fae and Prof Stephen Whittle.
Producer: Dan Tierney.
(1/12)
Round Britain Quiz marks the start of its 70th anniversary series with a special programme recorded at this year's Edinburgh Fringe - also celebrating its 70th birthday in 2017. Tom Sutcliffe chairs the opening contest between the South of England and Scotland, pitting Marcus Berkmann and Paul Sinha against Val McDermid and Alan McCredie. Before an enthusiastic Fringe audience they face the programme's trademark cryptic questions, with Tom deducting points along the way depending on how many clues and nudges he is called on to provide.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
The 2017 TS Eliot prize winning poet Jacob Polley returns to the West Coast of Cumbria where he was born. Wedged between the Lake District and the sea it's home to a proudly independent border people, who voted for change in the referendum. Jacob wants to understand this place better - to find out why loyalties are shifting - and to get closer to understanding the source of his own writing. Jacob grew up on the Solway, an estuary that's an area of outstanding natural beauty and has been a hazardous shortcut to Scotland since people settled here.
Jacob has felt this marshy landscape of quicksand and shifting channels has always been in flux, and this has been a metaphor he's used in his poetry to capture the sense of vacancy that as a poet he's always felt here. Yet on his journey from the coast to the marsh, Jacob discovers this place is not vacant. It's home to a community who have through history had to fall back on their own resources, and who define themselves as much by what they do, as where they come from.
He visits the Cumbrian artist Conrad Atkinson whose work explores the themes of social injustice and unemployment. Cleator Moor born writer David Gaffney explains why when he was a teenager he felt he lived as far away from Carlisle - the county town of Cumbria - as people in Carlisle feel they are from London.
Yet, this is a place that has been at the centre of things, it was once on the frontier of the Roman Empire. In St. Michael's Church in Burgh-by Sands he discovers recycled Roman stones from the fort of Aballava, on Hadrian's Wall. The chancel was the resting place in 1307 of King Edward I of England, known as 'The Hammer of the Scots'. He died on Burgh Marsh of something called 'The Flux', on the way to crush a rebellion led by Robert the Bruce.
History lives and breathes here, as Jacob meets the Haaf-Net fishermen on the Solway, who catch salmon in the same way as their Viking ancestors did over a thousand years ago. Tuned as they are to the shape of the shifting nature of the Solway, their very adaptability has been the key to their survival.
Producer: Andrew Carter.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
In Neighbours of Zero by Peter Bradshaw, the perils of the betting shop are comically revealed:
"Now here's the thing: I lose as well.. Just a bit.. Let me explain.." - and so the narrator does, which involves a neat new system, a betting shop heist, and moral retribution of sorts..
Reader Daniel Mays
Producer Duncan Minshull.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
This week's Bells on Sunday marks BBC Children in Need. It features the winning bid from the BBC Radio 4 Children In Need auction of November 2013 - St Mary the Virgin in Bathwick, Somerset. The prize was to have their bells specially recorded.
The present ring of 10 has a tenor of 18 and 3 quarter hundredweight tuned to E flat. We hear them ringing Double Norwich Court Bob Caters.
The latest national and international news.
Theologian Dr Jane Williams reminisces and finds the dangers of being trapped in the past.
She suggests that nostalgia is a powerful emotion, but not always a constructive one - looking back can make it impossible to look forward.
Memory can stifle and constrain, or it can free and enable. We can't help being shaped and formed by the past, but there is still an intriguing degree of freedom about how we face the future. Jane reflects on her times, sharing memories of a childhood spent in India with her sisters. She argues that what we create as we remember is a deeper sense of our shared past that means we trust our shared future.
Through the writings of Kafka and George Elliot, the poetry of Kavanagh and Herbert and the music of Mozart and Hildegard of Bingen, Jane reveals the God who stands fully past, present and future, yet is not constrained by them. God remembers even the future and, in God's memory, endings and beginnings are not opposites.
Presenter: Jane Williams
Producer: Michael Wakelin
A TBI Media production for BBC Radio 4.
In Herefordshire, tenant farmer Steve Clayton is having to leave behind both his business and his home. His farm, which belonged to the local council, has been sold - as part of the cash-strapped council's efforts to balance their books. Steve couldn't raise enough money to buy the land, and so is left with no option but to move out. Now in his 50s, and after a lifetime in farming, he's not sure what may lie ahead. Caz Graham visits him and his family on the day of the farm dispersal sale. It's the day when Steve has to watch all his farm equipment - everything from tractors to fence posts - sold to the highest bidder. And with only a few days left to go of their tenancy, he's still not sure where they're even going to live when they leave. Caz finds out how it feels to take the first step into an unknown future.
Producer: Emma Campbell.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
Sunday morning religious news and current affairs programme.
The presenter Matt Baker makes the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of BBC Children in Need.
Registered Charity Number: 802052 in England and Wales and SC039557 in Scotland.
Donations: BBC Children in Need Appeal, PO Box 648, Salford, M5 0LB
or you can give online at bbc.co.uk/pudsey or call 0345 733 2233 (Calls to 03 numbers are charged at no more than UK geographic rates (as for 01 and 02 numbers) and will be included as part of any inclusive minutes. This applies to calls from any network including mobiles.
And you can also donate using - Freepost BBC Radio 4 Appeal. (That's the whole address. Please do not write anything else on the front of the envelope).
- Mark the back of the envelope 'BBC Children in Need'.
- Cheques should be made payable to 'BBC Children in Need'.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest news headlines. Including a look at the papers.
A celebration of the Mass live from Brentwood Cathedral. The preacher is the Dean of Brentwood, Fr Martin Boland, who reflects on the priceless treasure of faith given by God to his people. Much of the music in the service is written by composers associated with the diocese which this year celebrates its centenary. Director of Music: Andrew Wright. Producer: Ben Collingwood.
Will Self on how wearing glasses has become something that is entirely unremarkable.
"Nowadays the acquisition of glasses", he writes, "is simply another opportunity for the conspicuous consumption we've all become so very expert at".
But he says there are drawbacks to seeing too clearly. He suggests that a National No Glasses Day might be an idea "so we can all wander about the place in blurry bliss".
Producer: Adele Armstrong.
Presenter Dermot O'Leary goes in search of sea eagles in the Highlands. He's enlisted wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan to help him track them down but with the light fading their chances of seeing them are not looking good.
Producer: Tom Bonnett
Photo: Ian Ireland.
Sunday morning magazine programme with news and conversation about the big stories of the week. Presented by Paddy O'Connell.
What is distracting Lilian? Alan prays for some community spirit.
Micky Flanagan found mainstream success as a comedian in 2007 with his autobiographical 'What Chance Change?' show at the Edinburgh fringe, where he was nominated as best newcomer.
Raised in the East End of London, he left school at 15 with no qualifications and followed his dad into work as a fish porter at Billingsgate fish market. When he quit that job, he spent a summer working in a kitchen in New York, and then returned to London to spend much of the 1980s working in the furniture trade. When his business collapsed he worked as a window cleaner and decorator.
He played truant through much of his secondary school career, but in his mid-twenties he studied for a GCSE in English, and later gained a place at City University, London, graduating with Social Sciences degree. He trained to become a teacher, and then discovered comedy through night classes. Sell-out UK tours and appearances on 'Mock the Week' and 'Would I Lie to You' followed, and he's made two TV series for Sky - 'Detour De France' and 'Micky Flanagan: Thinking Aloud'. He's just finished his third tour of the UK and Ireland with his show 'An' Another Fing...'
Presenter: Kirsty Young
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
The 68th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning 'antidote to panel games' promises yet more quality, desk-based entertainment for all the family. The series starts its run at the Swan Theatre in High Wycombe where regulars Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Barry Cryer are joined on the panel by Jan Ravens, with Jack Dee as the programme's reluctant chairman. Regular listeners will know to expect inspired nonsense, pointless revelry and Colin Sell at the piano. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
The number of young people turning vegan is rising. Grace Dent meets some of the people opening vegan eateries and finds out how creatives are using social media to further the "vegangelical" cause.
Grace goes to the Hackney Downs Vegan Market to speak to Jay Brave who argues that adopting a vegan diet is as much about personal autonomy and challenging the status quo as it is an ethical step. He delivers a few bars of 'Vegan Shut Up', his parody of Stormzy's 'Shut Up' released on World Vegan Day, and tells Grace why veganism is becoming big in the London grime scene. She also speaks to Sean O'Callaghan AKA Fat Gay Vegan who set-up the market and has seen its popularity grow, and gives his reaction to the mainstream restaurants who are falling over themselves to come up with vegan menus.
Ian Theasby and Henry Firth from Bosh! create simple and imaginative vegan recipes which are filmed and broadcast to over 1.4m Facebook users. Toby Field visits them at their studio to find out what fuels their idea to create plant-based options and to ask why they keep out of the argument around the ethics of veganism.
Maria Rose has just opened a vegan cafe in Barnstaple and explains how it's slowly creating a more enlightened scene in North Devon.
So is this just a trend that's fine for the hipster herbivores of Camden, or can it gain traction across the country and start a food revolution?
Producer: Toby Field.
The latest weather forecast.
Global news and analysis.
In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches by Carolyn Brown on a Brixham pub admired by Prince Harry that is now on the market; by Carly Appleby on her moment of truth as a patient coping with a diagnosis of breast cancer; by Alex Spillius on whether we should care about the pressures on local journalists in suburbia; by Andrew Rawnsley on how figures are preoccupying politicians and their parties; and by Kamal Ahmed on what has happened to the scandal of ballooning executive pay?
Peter Gibbs and the panel visit Warsash in Hampshire. Chris Beardshaw, Pippa Greenwood and Bunny Guinness answer this week's horticultural questions.
The panellists explain how and when to use fresh seaweed in the garden, recommend their favourite grape varieties and share the best way to prune a climbing rose.
Also, Peter speaks to Charlotte Smith from Radio 4's Farming Today about the European Commission's involvement in glyphosate legislation.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Laurence Bassett
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
Fi Glover introduces four conversations between adults and children who have been helped by charities that receive funding from Children in Need. Fi Glover presents the Omnibus edition of the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
The charities featured are: YMCA Cardiff (Time 4 Me Young Carers Project); Alison House Youth and Play Project, Treorchy; Dorothy House Hospice, Bradford on Avon; Arts Alive, Wales.
The Listening Project is a Radio 4 initiative that offers a snapshot of contemporary Britain in which people across the UK volunteer to have a conversation with someone close to them about a subject they've never discussed intimately before. The conversations are being gathered across the UK by teams of producers from local and national radio stations who facilitate each encounter. Every conversation - they're not BBC interviews, and that's an important difference - lasts up to an hour, and is then edited to extract the key moment of connection between the participants. Most of the unedited conversations are being archived by the British Library and used to build up a collection of voices capturing a unique portrait of the UK in the second decade of the millennium. You can learn more about The Listening Project by visiting bbc.co.uk/listeningproject
Producer: Marya Burgess.
by Graham Greene
Dramatised by Nick Warburton.
Directed by Sally Avens
Querry, a celebrated architect of churches believes himself burnt out: unable to feel anything for his profession, his faith or even the suicide of his
mistress.
He journeys to a remote leprosy in Africa: there, he hopes to live in obscurity, unconcerned with the fate of others and to die, but it seems that he may have a
second chance to find both happiness and redemption.
The story reflects many of Greene's own personal struggles with his celebrity as a famous 'Catholic' author and his own doubts about his faith.
Nick Warburton has previously adapted two other Greene novels for Radio 4, The Honorary Consul and The Power and The Glory.
Ben Miles can currently be seen in The Last Post on BBC1, he played Thomas Cromwell in the RSC version of Wolf Hall and appeared as Peter Townsend in
The Crown.
Danny Sapani won best actor at the BBC Audio Drama Awards in 2017 and won huge praise for his role in Les Blancs at The National Theatre.
Kathryn Drysdale is best known for her work on Two Pints of Lager and A Packet of Crisps and Benidorm but she has also worked at the RSC, The Donmar and
The Royal Court.
Jennifer Egan won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel A Visit From The Goon Squad. Her new book Manhattan Beach is set largely during the Second World war, her heroine is the first ever female diver employed to mend warships. She talks to Mariella Frostrup about turning her hand to historical fiction, and her literary interest in twins.
Also on the programme, Jen Campbell calls for better depiction of people with disabilities in fiction; biographer Helen Smith talks about Edward Garnett - man of letters and supportive editor to DH Lawrence and Joseph Conrad among others and Adam Haslett reveals the book he'd never lend.
Image: Jennifer Egan
Credit: Pieter M. Van Hattem.
Throughout the day, Radio 4 celebrates Children in Need with poems on the theme of childhood.
With poems from Hollie McNish, Carol Ann Duffy, Edward Lear, Wordsworth and Seamus Heaney, we explore this precious time in all our lives.
Producer: Sarah Addezio.
The head of counter terrorism Assistant Commander Mark Rowley has warned the extreme right wing pose a growing threat in the UK. He told the Home Affairs select committee last month that right wing issues had increased in the last two years which was a real concern, although Islamic extremism remained the main threat.
Last month, two men alleged to be members of National Action - a banned extreme far right group - were charged in connection with an alleged plot to kill an MP.
Adrian Goldberg investigates the current face of the far right in the UK today and hears from their victims.
He meets the former soldier who intervened after a far right extremist tried to behead a Sikh man and challenges the Austrian leader of a group called Generation Identity which launched in the UK only last month.
They are part of a Europe wide group of so called 'Identitarians' who say their aim is to protect cultural identity. But their target is clear. Members unfurled a banner over Westminster bridge in London which declared "Defend London, Stop Islamisation."
Experts say there is now growing cross border co-operation between far right groups in Europe, the UK and America.
Jewish communities are also worried about the rise in the far right and growing anti-Semitic attacks. A student who highlighted far right posters being put up at her university was forced to move after a hate campaign which included her face being superimposed on pictures of holocaust victims. Businesses have been firebombed and some members of the Jewish community say they are so concerned they are considering leaving the country.
The programme reveals new research on the scale of far right extremism on-line. Thousands of people in the UK have been identified as having violent extremist thoughts. Former extremists have been brought in to try to persuade people to change their views. But are they listening?
Presenter: Adrian Goldberg
Producer: Paul Grant
Editor: Gail Champion.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest weather forecast.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Sarfraz Manzoor chooses his BBC Radio highlights.
There is a shock in store for Christine, and Lynda has reservations.
by Ed Harris
Comic adventures with Dot and the gals from personnel. A little East End snotling has infiltrated the Cabinet War Rooms. But Dot's got important propaganda work to do. How will she dispose of the little gremlin, whilst simultaneously concocting a stirring, yet pithy slogan for the war effort? For King and country, she'll bally well try!
Director/Producer Jessica Mitic
Ed Harris has written extensively for radio. In 2013 he won the Radio Academy Award for Best Drama for his War time thriller, 'The Resistance of Mrs Brown'. In 2011 he won the Writer's Guild Award for 'Troll' and was nominated for the Prix Europa for his play for BBC Radio 3: 'The Wall'.
Fenella Woolgar won the Clarence Derwent Award for her role in 'Hedda Gabler' at the Old Vic and most recently played Margaret Thatcher in 'Handbagged' at the Vaudeville Theatre, London.
Kate O'Flynn won the Critics Circle Award winner 2013 Most Promising Newcomer for 'Port' at the National Theatre, she also received an Evening Standard Nomination.
When a girl disappears in the heart of England how far back do you have to go to find the truth?
Paul Hilton continues Jon McGregor's gripping new series. A community is rocked when 13-year-old Becky Shaw goes missing on a holiday to the Peak District. Now her disappearance sparks long-buried memories, and opens old wounds. Today: the local butcher recalls a sinister meeting with a man about a dog the summer before...
The fifteen stories of The Reservoir Tapes each stand alone but together build a compelling portrait of a village shaken by tragedy, as they explore events that precede and follow the disappearance of the teenage Becky Shaw. A companion to Jon McGregor's critically acclaimed Man Booker long-listed novel Reservoir 13, these stories and their different perspectives offer tantalizing glimpses as what to might have happened to the teenage girl.
Writer: Jon McGregor is an acclaimed British novelist who has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize three times. His third novel, Even the Dogs, won the International Dublin Literary Award.
Reader: Paul Hilton recently starred in Lucy Kirkwood's Mosquitoes in the National Theatre. His film work includes the recently acclaimed Lady Macbeth, and Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights.
Producer: Justine Willett.
Roger Bolton speaks to Jon Manel about his series The Adoption and to Sioned Wiliam, Commissioning Editor for Comedy on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra.
This week, the 17-part series that followed two young children through the UK adoption process drew to a close. Listeners wrote in to tell us of their interest and commitment to the series - with some expressing concern about the intrusive nature of the programme, particularly with regard to safeguarding measures for the two children. Others said they didn't think it should be part of flagship news and current affairs programme The World at One. Reporter and producer Jon Manel responds to these comments and explains how the series was made.
Also, we hear views on The Food Programme's report on Catalonia's cultural identity.
And we put your questions and comments about Radio 4 comedy to the Commissioning Editor Sioned Wiliam, in the first instalment of a two-part interview.
Producer: Kate Dixon
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.
Matthew Bannister on
Lord Hutchinson of Lullington, the barrister who appeared in many celebrated cases, including defending the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover and the director of the play Romans In Britain and securing the acquittal of Howard Marks on drug smuggling charges.
Linda Nochlin the feminist art historian who wrote a celebrated article in the 1970s entitled "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?"
Dennis Banks the Native American activist who campaigned for the rights of his people and took part in the siege of Wounded Knee.
Geoff Tootill, who helped to design the world's first stored-programme computer, known as "Baby".
These days when we talk about politicians we are more likely to discuss whether they are authentic than whether they are great orators or statesmen or women. Few of us take the time to listen to a speech or read a manifesto and when we judge politicians we more often focus on whether they seem sincere, warm or passionately committed to a cause rather than weighing up their policy programmes . We're turned off by spin and cynical about many politicians' motivations and we seek reassurance that they can really be trusted.
Professor Rosie Campbell asks how we can make judgements about a politician's authenticity. Are politicians more trustworthy if they stick to their principles without compromise? Or is authenticity about revealing our true character, warts and all? And what is better for democracy? Authentic leaders who are straight talking and stick rigidly to their ideals or leaders who are willing to negotiate behind the scenes?
Producer: Ben Carter.
Weekly political discussion and analysis with MPs, experts and commentators.
With Francine Stock.
Peter Turner explains why his book Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool, about his relationship with Gloria Grahame, took 30 years to make it to the screen, and how Elizabeth Taylor and Madonna were once mooted to play the lead.
To complement the release of Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool, the British Film Institute is showing a season of Gloria Grahame's best bad girl roles, from The Big Heat to Human Desire. Film historian Pamela Hutchinson picks the most fatale of all her femmes.
Comedian Rosemary Fletcher takes stock of the mothers, girlfriends and sidekicks that cinema has assigned to fifty percent of the population. In this week's edition of Rosemary Versus Mankind, she goes into bat for the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, whose only mission in life seems to be soothe and save the sensitive male lead.
Directors Christina Clusiau and Saul Schwarz discuss Trophy, their award-winning documentary about hunters who pay tens of thousands of dollars to kill wildlife in Africa.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Affluence - from the Kalahari desert to Wall St; Laurie Taylor explores contrasting conceptions of material plenty and the 'good life'. He's joined by James Suzman, an anthropologist who has spent 30 years studying and spending time with the bushmen of Namibia and Rachel Sherman, Associate Professor of Sociology at The New School whose study of wealthy New Yorkers found an uneasiness, as well as an enjoyment in affluence.
Producer: Jayne Egerton.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with David Moffitt, Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of St Andrews.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The latest weather forecast for farmers.
Musician Fyfe Dangerfield tells the story of an inspirational trip to the 'birdland' of the Farne Islands where a seabird inspired the name for the band that made him famous.
Producer: Mark Ward
Photograph: Simon Stobard.
News and current affairs. Includes Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Victorian hospitals were known as 'houses of death' and their surgeons, who never washed their hands, were praised for their brute strength and speed. Lindsey Fitzharris tells Andrew Marr about the pioneering British surgeon Joseph Lister who transformed his profession. Anaesthesia was discovered in the 1840s but Professor Lesley Colvin says we're still learning about the complex relationship between the brain and the perception of pain, as well as understanding the potential harm of the increased use of strong opiates. Pain is common to all humans, but could - and should - robots feel pain? This is the question Dr Beth Singler poses in a new film exploring the limits of Artificial Intelligence. And if they are programmed to feel pain, should they also be taught to swear? Dr Emma Byrne looks at the science of bad language and why it can also be harnessed to reduce pain.
Producer: Katy Hickman.
Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a focus on societies living with many gods.
In the mid-1840s, a Roman earthenware jar was dug from the earth near Felmingham Hall in Norfolk. Inside, excavators found several belief systems, all mixed up together - for buried in the pot was a jumble of gods, deities of different kinds and origins, that tell us what it meant for people in Roman Britain around the year 250 to be living with many gods.
The great ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh includes a narrative with striking similarities to - but important differences from - the story of Noah in the Bible. Here a council of gods is persuaded to unleash a great flood to wipe out humankind.
Producer Paul Kobrak
The series is produced in partnership with the British Museum, with the assistance of Dr Christopher Harding, University of Edinburgh.
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.
Rotherham, Hungerford, Dunblane, Aberfan, Lockerbie - all places that have been marked by tragedy or scandal. But can a town move on from the event that put it in the headlines? Or will it always be its dominant identity? As part of our Best Place to be a Woman series, we talk to two women about the impact of their hometown's reputation on their daily lives. Sue Wynne is from Rotherham a town that's been at the centre of the child sex abuse scandal and Gaynor Madgwick survived the Aberfan disaster of 1966.
American singer songwriter Joan As Police Woman is gearing up to release a new album, Damned Devotion, early next year. She performs her new track Warning Bell and talks about music and her life.
Edward and Lilias Stanbrook-Evans married in 1947, the same year as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh who celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary today. They look back on their marriage.
Presenter: Jane Garvey
Producer: Anne Peacock.
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return for a new series of the popular mystery, The Pillow Book, set in 10th Century Japan.
Following the Empress Teishi's father's death, a new Chancellor holds power in the Palace. He has ensured his daughter now occupies the throne, as Empress and First
Consort to the Emperor.
Summoned to a meeting with the new Empress, Shonagon is visited by a disturbing vision.
The Pillow Book is inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
28 year old Liam Rogerson was crossing the road near his sister's home in Kent when he was knocked over and killed on Christmas Eve last year. The car did not stop. Grace Dent tells the story of a family trying to come to terms with the loss of the eldest son. As the court date approaches for the sentencing of the driver, Liam's family prepare themselves for a result they may not feel is fair.
Producer: Georgia Catt.
Dead Rellies by Gary Brown
Fay & Alan have come to visit their parents' grave.
But other parts of their past come back to haunt them.
Fay ..... Maureen Lipman
Alan ..... George Layton
Cynthia ..... Julie Teal
Produced and directed by Marion Nancarrow
Maureen Lipman's hugely successful career as actress, writer, artist and, most recently, director, has spanned 50 years and, in her honour, 4 new comedy dramas have been especially commissioned for Radio 4, with the writers creating roles specifically for her. The results are 4 very different plays. This week, a second play by Gary Brown reunites Maureen with the actor George Layton (probably still best known for the Doctor in the House series and as a writer, including "Don't Wait Up").
And next week you can hear the final play in the series, "Theodora Potts: Victorian Psychic" by Tracy-Ann Oberman and Ivor Baddiel, in which Tracy-Ann Oberman also co-stars.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917, the Battle of Cambrai marked the first mass use of tanks, and in Tynemouth, Edie is disheartened.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
You and Yours reports on why universal credit isn't working for some self-employed people.
People who run their own businesses say the new benefit is lowered when they earn more but doesn't rise when they earn very little.
The government has designed the system this way so the state isn't left propping up failing businesses.
But those on unsteady incomes say they're being particularly hard hit.
We meet a taxi driver in Liverpool who says she's struggling if she earns less than the minimum income set by the government.
We also hear from Victoria Todd from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group, which has published a report about how Universal Credit affects the self-employed.
It's been a tough year for the car hire industry. Europcar, one of the biggest car hire firms, is being investigated by Trading Standards for overcharging for repairs.
Last month the Competition and Markets Authority told this programme it was investigating two car hire price comparison sites over hidden charges and unexpected fees.
We speak to Ian Brown, the chief executive of Rental Cars, about customer service and how he's tackling some of the problems the industry is now facing.
His company runs one of the biggest price comparison sites and works with 900 car hire companies worldwide.
We investigate how people are ditching traditional stag parties for experience-based events such as rally driving, golf weekends and flying lessons.
Our reporter visits a football themed stag party in Bristol.
He meets Noel Whelan, a former professional footballer, and a group of fans who've chosen one of these parties instead of a traditional do.
Presenter: Winifred Robinson
Producer: Tara Holmes.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Tina Brown's time as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine in the 1980's, early 90's.
Barely out of her thirties, she moved to New York to take over Conde Nast's ailing magazine, Vanity Fair. The culture shock was big, with little time to get the April edition up and running. Any good ideas?
Abridged by Katrin Williams
Read by Tina Brown
Producer Duncan Minshull.
Andrew Viner's comedy in which a shy man seemingly magically gains confidence but becomes dangerously enthralled by the visceral power of public speaking.
Directed by Liz Webb
This is the 2nd full length radio play by Andrew Viner after When I Lived in Peru (R4). He has written a comedy book Venn That Tune, articles for the Guardian, for various radio comedies including That Mitchell and Webb Sound (R4), Parsons and Naylor (R2) and Weekending (R4) , for Aardman's Rex the Runt and extensively for children, including: Noddy, Fireman Sam, Thomas and Friends, and Timmy Time.
Peter Mikhailov, the former member for Morley and Outwood, and Widnes's record try scorer all had a no.1 hit in 1958. What was it called?
Tom Sutcliffe invites the teams from the North of England (Stuart Maconie and Adele Geras) and the Midlands (Rosalind Miles and Stephen Maddock) to take on the challenge posed by this and many other cryptic questions in this second contest of the series. Both are making their first appearance of the season and will be keen to get a solid footing on the leader board to start with. As always, the programme includes a selection of the best question ideas suggested by listeners over the past twelve months - and a couple of fiendish music and audio montages with a devious connection which the teams have to unravel.
Producer: Paul Bajoria.
Writer Marybeth Hamilton uncovers the power, passion & craziness of the first & only successful attempt to bring government funded theater to the whole nation. In the midst of the Great Depression, Roosevelt's flagship New Deal programme, the W.P.A., took thousands of unemployed artists, writers & performers & put them on the payroll. Art could go to work for Washington & the national good. Democracy & culture would strengthen one another. The Federal Theater Project, under the leadership of Hallie Flanagan, staged the American experience across the nation to some 30 million people. From Federal work camps to parks, remote towns to great cities- now audiences could see anything from vaudeville to Shakespeare, marionettes to Eugene O'Neill for just 25 cents. Unemployed journalists and writers were put to work on Living Newspapers, fusing documentary & drama to stage contemporary issues & create debate among the audience. Orson Welles & John Houseman brilliantly staged an all black version of Macbeth & Marc Blitzstein's agit-opera The Cradle Will Rock. Across the nation It Can't Happen Here, the Sinclair Lewis story of the fascist overthrow of America by an idiot, was staged simultaneously from coast to coast. But the Federal Theater had created powerful enemies in Congress with mounting inquiries into communist subversion & waste that would bring nearly all the New Deal's cultural programmes to an abrupt halt. Marybeth Hamilton speaks to Tim Robbins, Simon Callow & the 103 year old veteran of the Federal stage, Norman Lloyd.
Producer Mark Burman.
Chanting has been practised for thousands of years by Hindus, Buddhists and Christians. It is said to have health benefits and today, practitioners suggest that it can combat the stresses of modern life. Joining Ernie Rea to discuss the power of chanting are Dr Sarah Shaw, Honorary Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies; Christopher Page, Professor of Medieval Music and Literature at the University of Cambridge and Gresham Professor of Music at Gresham College, London; and Michael Trimble Professor Emeritus and Consultant Physician to the Department of Psychological Medicine at the National Hospital London. Pop singer Belinda Carlisle talks about how chanting has helped her to combat her addictions.
Producer: Beena Khetani.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
The 68th series of Radio 4's multi award-winning 'antidote to panel games' promises more homespun wireless entertainment for the young at heart. This week the programme pays a return visit to the Swan Theatre in High Wycombe where regulars Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Barry Cryer are once again joined on the panel by Jan Ravens, with Jack Dee in the chair. At the piano - Colin Sell. Producer - Jon Naismith. It is a BBC Studios production.
Justin reaches breaking point, and Peggy struggles to support a loved one.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera investigates a secret slush fund belonging to the Chief of British Intelligence in the years after World War Two. What did it make possible? Who was the mysterious American who donated it - and why did they do it?
With: Dr Rory Cormac, Stephen Dorril, Gill Bennett, Hugh Wilford
Producer: Phil Tinline.
In 2017 it's easier than ever to express offence. The angry face icon on Facebook, a sarcasm-loaded tweet or a (comparatively) old-fashioned blog post allow us to highlight the insensitivities of others and how they make us feel - in a matter of moments. Increasingly, offence has consequences: people are told what they can and cannot wear, comedy characters are put to bed. Earlier this year, a white artist was condemned for her depiction of the body of a murdered black teenager. Those who were offended demanded that the painting be destroyed because 'white creative freedoms have been founded on the constraint of others'. It's easy to scoff. Detractors refer to those asking for a new level of cultural sensitivity as "snowflakes" and insist the offence they feel is self-indulgent. But history teaches that fringe discussions often graduate to mainstream norms. So are these new idealists setting a fresh standard for cultural sensitivity? A standard that society will eventually come to observe? Mobeen Azhar puts aside familiar critiques about the threat to free speech. Instead, he tries to understand the challenging arguments put forward by those who are pushing for new norms, and who believe that being offended will create a more culturally aware, progressive society.
Featuring contributions from X-Factor star Honey G, black lesbian punk rockers Big Joanie and RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Charlie Hides
Producer: Tim Mansel.
Brett Westwood stalks the leopard.. and finds him on Exmoor. With Guy Balme of Panthera, Gordon Buchanan, who filmed the urban leopards of Mumbai for Planet Earth, zoologist and author of Leopard Desmond Morris, Rick Minter, author of Big Cats - Facing Britain's Wild Predators and Danny Reynolds, Director of Exmoor Zoo. With readings by Lia Williams of The Snow Leopard by Stephen Dunn and Leopard Skin by Douglas Stewart.
Producer Beth O'Dea. Photo of Zoysa the black leopard (commonly known as a black panther) courtesy of Exmoor Zoo.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Nadia and Saeed are two ordinary young people falling in love but their world is about to be turned upside down. Theirs is a story of a world in crisis and two humans travelling through it. Read by Nikesh Patel.
Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels: Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and now Exit West.
An extraordinary story of love, hope and displacement shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017.
Author: Mohsin Hamid
Reader: Nikesh Patel
Abridger: Penny Leicester
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
Poet and playwright Inua Ellams looks at how place plays out in spoken word poetry with writers from Orkney, Manchester, Salford and Donaghadee in Northern Ireland.
Inua talks to poet and performer Harry Giles about language, literary baggage and growing up LGBT in Orkney. Writer Elmi Ali and members of the Young Identity collective tell him what it means to be a Mancunian poet. And he talks to Rachel McCrum about audiences, accents and nostalgia for the place where you spent your childhood.
The poems featured in this episode are:
Harry Giles "Visa Wedding"
Harry Giles "Drone" with music by Neil Simpson
Kieren King "Salford Is A Broadway Musical"
Rachel McCrum "Broad"
Roma Havers
Shameer Rayes "Reasons"
Damani "Violet Skies"
Isaiah Hull "The Mirror"
Emil Ali "Water Seeds Not Stones" (play extract)
Inua Ellams "Ghetto Van Gogh"
The Midnight Run featuring Kelly Foster (tour guide and Brixton historian)
Producer: Sally Spurring
A Wire Free production for BBC Radio 4.
Sean Curran reports from Westminster.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with David Moffitt, Senior lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of St Andrews.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Musician Fyfe Dangerfield imagines his perfect outfit, a technicolour dreamcoat resplendent in the shimmering hues of the bee-eater.
Producer: Mark Ward
Photograph: Paul Miguel.
News and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Jonathan Freedland compares Theresa May's weakened premiership with that of Liberal prime minister Lord Rosebery in 1894-5. MPs Iain Duncan Smith and Grant Shapps join Jonathan to examine what lessons can be learned.
Rosebery was appointed to the premiership as a unity candidate, chosen to heal rifts in the Liberal Party caused by the issue of Home Rule. But Rosebery had powerful rivals in his cabinet - most notably the chancellor Sir William Harcourt. As the months passed, Rosebery's leadership was increasingly called into question with the government accused of being in office but not in power.
Also on the panel, former spokesperson for Theresa May, Joey Jones, Katy Balls of The Spectator and historian Dr Luke Blaxill. Actor Anton Lesser performs the historical readings.
Producer: Laurence Grissell.
Journalist and broadcaster Samantha Simmonds has two sons who compete with one another "over everything". It's something she thinks much about and wants to explore more.
She speaks to Alison Pike, Professor of Child and Family Psychology about why sibling competition develops, how it can be channelled positively, and the potential long term effects. Is it such a bad thing?
Producer Sarah Blunt.
Neil MacGregor's series on the role and expression of beliefs continues with a focus on societies and faiths with a single god.
Using objects from both ancient Babylon and ancient Egypt, Neil examines how one god could become central to worship in these societies.
Producer Paul Kobrak
Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return for a new series of the popular mystery, The Pillow Book, set in 10th Century Japan.
Having fainted in her first meeting with the new young Empress Shoshi, Lady Shonagon is humiliated and disgraced - and now, she finds herself investigated.
The Pillow Book is inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
Reindeer have been entwined with the lives of people living in the most northerly parts of the world for thousands of years, following the herds north as the Arctic ice retreated. Karen Anette Anti from a long line of Sami herds-people and Tilly Smith with her herd of reindeer in the Scottish Highlands, teach Brett Westwood that there's a lot more to reindeer than Rudolph. In a programme also featuring reindeer expert Dr. Nicholas Tyler, Palaeolithic archaeologists Dr. Felix Riede and Dr George Nash.
Latin America's protest and socially conscious art. A continent-wide commitment by many artists to social activism makes Latin America not just one of the most diverse art scenes in the world - but also one of the most compelling, with music, visual arts and street art calling out injustice, often in the face of discrimination, oppression and impunity.
This second programme in the series explores Latin America's visceral and complex street art. Graffiti artists use their access to public space to pose questions and provoke criticism of what the papers are afraid to say - as well as transforming maligned communities into places of colour and pride.
Colombia is coming to terms with a truce after 50 years of civil war while, in Mexico, street artists promote local pride in places like Tijuana that are often seen as merely a trampoline into the US. Both countries are internally plagued by drug cartels, violence and corruption. It's an environment where the street art scene has exploded.
DJLu, a Bogota native and spray can veteran, explains how street art is "taking the tension and violence to the wall and not to the real arena." But not everyone agrees. Señor Rayon feels that guerrilla groups' slogans are political marketing and questions whether this is an appropriate use of public space.
In a climate of fierce censorship and division in Mexico City, journalist and graffiti expert Cynthia Arvide explains why graffiti can be a "silent yet more powerful protest".
Producers - Louise Morris, Andrew McGibbon
Film Editor - Nick Romero
Field Broadcast Assistant - Annie-Rose Harrison-Dunn
Dubbing Voice - Luís Bonilla
Executive Producer - Sarah Cuddon
A Curtains for Radio production for BBC Radio 4.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917, the Bolsheviks disbanded the Women's Battalions, while in Tynemouth, Sarah Illingworth brings discipline to the Marshalls' munitionettes.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer phone-in.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Tina Brown's time as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine in the 1980's, early 90's.
In 1985 the magazine wowed its readers with a cover shot of President and Nancy Reagan. So how did this great image come about? And were there any dramas? Of course there were..
Reader Tina Brown
Producer Duncan Minshull.
Kevin Whately stars as Kempton Bunton, the pensioner who stole Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in 1961. A new comedy drama by David Spicer.
In 1961, a portrait of the Duke of Wellington by the great Spanish artist Francisco de Goya was bought by an American collector for £140,000. Following a public outcry the British Government stepped in, matched the bid and saved the painting for the nation.
It was put on display in the National Gallery from where, three weeks later, it was stolen by Kempton Bunton - a 61 year old retired lorry driver from Newcastle who was protesting about having to buy a television licence.
He was a dedicated campaigner who had already served time in jail for refusing to pay for his TV licence. His plan was to get the Government to pay another £140,000 for the return of the painting and then use this money to buy TV licences for OAPs. Once he had the painting safely stored in a wardrobe at his home in Newcastle, he started writing letters explaining his plan to the press and Chairman of the National Gallery. However, no one took his letters seriously.
This is a play about a heist, a manhunt and a marvellously English eccentric character. It also looks at art - highbrow Goya versus lowbrow TV - and the relative values we place upon it. Kempton Bunton was a man who, although he had a 19th century masterpiece in his wardrobe, just wanted to watch Emergency Ward 10 for free.
Written by David Spicer
Producer: Liz Anstee
A CPL Production for BBC Radio 4.
Josie Long hears stories spell craft, poetry and art coming to life.
What can a poet learn from a consultant sorcerer? Ross Sutherland explores the poetic possibilities of spell craft. A fragment of Sappho's poetic longing is unpicked alongside a reading by Anne Carson. And at night, in a gallery, art springs to life.
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4.
Five of the Solomon Islands have already been lost to sea level rise and many more are being rendered uninhabitable. For wildlife film-maker and marine biologist, Ellen Husain that's not just a disturbing quirk of climate change, it's a family concern.
At the beginning of the 20th century her great uncle, Stanley Knibbs was the Chief Engineer and Surveyor of the Solomon Islands, drawing up some of the first maps of the region for the British Empire. He fell in love with this Pacific paradise and wrote a warm and witty memoir of his time with the islanders.
One hundred years on Ellen is anxious to find out how the islands have changed. How is sea level rise at three times the global average disturbing the ancient rhythms of life? Can crops continue to be grown in land that grows saltier by the day? Can ancient traditions like shark-calling and megapode egg-collecting survive as tribal communities are broken up and moved to higher ground.? And what lessons can the rest of the world learn from the people on the frontline of sea level rise that we're all likely to endure over the next century.
Producer: Alasdair Cross
Stanley Knibbs played by Mark Meadows
All photos by Ellen Husain.
Legal magazine programme presented by Joshua Rozenberg.
Why do we find it so hard to own up when we've got something wrong? The writer and comedian Alexei Sayle's choice for A Good Read - Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson) explores the psychology of self-justification and how politicians (and everyone else) sleep at night. Novelist Meg Rosoff's book choice is A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes - her favourite book of all time. She argues that while it might seem like a tale for children of pirates and adventure on the high seas, there is so much more going on beneath the surface. And Harriett Gilbert shares a favourite holiday read - Donna Leon's Friends in High Places.
Produced by Mair Bosworth.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Episode 5: How Did I Do?
Whilst trying to track down his delivery of cat food Ed discovers a whole new world of employment opportunities when he meets Dominic, a 'PTP', or 'Paid to Populate' who is working on a development site. They quickly join forces to start a new delivery company and Ed is introduced to a new climate where freebies are distributed in lieu of salaries and continuing employment lies in the fate of the Customer Satisfaction survey.
Written by Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Douglas
Produced by Dawn Ellis
It was a BBC Studios Production.
Lexi proves a source of inspiration, and Pip's private life causes interest.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Byron Vincent joins the Violence Reduction Unit in Glasgow to see how they turn young men away from lives of violence and chaos.
Three years ago, after he discussed his own violent and chaotic youth in a Four Thought talk on Radio 4, Byron was invited to come and speak at the VRU. Since then he has been back several times - now he experiences the unit's work directly. Byron spent two weeks embedded in two of the VRU's programmes, from watching the scheme's participants working in food trucks in the west end of Glasgow to joining the cast at the Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh.
After hours, and with his powerful personal connection to their lives, Byron has extraordinarily candid conversations with the young men involved in the scheme about fear, insecurity, redemption, love, hope and the real reasons for spiralling violence. But what sacrifices will be required for them to make new lives, free from chaos and violence?
Producer: Giles Edwards.
News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.
Our sense of reward motivates us and is essential for survival, so when the system malfunctions, it can lead to big problems. Claudia Hammond meets Ray Dolan, Wolfram Schultz and Peter Dayan, winners of this year's Brain Prize, discuss their ground-breaking work on how the brain recognises and processes reward.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Nadia and Saeed are two ordinary young people falling in love but their world is about to be turned upside down. Theirs is a story of a world in crisis and two humans travelling through it. Read by Nikesh Patel.
As the battle for their city intensifies, and fearing for Nadia's safety, Saeed makes a proposal.
Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels: Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and now Exit West.
An extraordinary story of love, hope and displacement shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017.
Author: Mohsin Hamid
Reader: Nikesh Patel
Abridger: Penny Leicester
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
Fred MacAulay introduces some of the funniest comedians in the UK doing what they do best - pure stand up comedy. Recorded at The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh.
This week, Paul Tonkinson realises that he's suddenly become middle-aged, Vladimir McTavish tries his hand at smuggling for the first time, Athena Kugblenu explains how a huge race row was narrowly avoided, and the legendary Mick Ferry starts some rumours that he can't control.
A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4.
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with David Moffitt, Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of St Andrews.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
The jewel-like patterns of the black-throated diver have musician Fyfe Dangerfield in awe as he heads to Highlands in search of space to write.
Producer: Mark Ward
Photograph: Paul Jessett.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Series in which two artists discuss creative questions.
Political cartoonist and renowned cynic Martin Rowson sits down to draw and interview his ink-flecked hero: illustrator and Gonzo journalist Ralph Steadman.
This is the third sketch in a five part series, where Martin draws and interviews people who have shaped his work and wider life. He also puts pen to paper with ex-Chancellor George Osborne, journalist Julia Langdon, zoologist Sarah Christie and punk poet John Cooper Clarke.
Photographer: Sam Finney.
Producer: Becky Ripley.
Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on societies who believe that they share the landscape with co-inhabitants who are not visible but are present. Such belief systems can be found in places such as the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
It is difficult, Neil MacGregor suggests, to express this relationship with the landscape in the English language. Words such as spirits, gods or beings do not adequately convey the nature of the co-inhabitants - and although these co-inhabitants cannot always be seen, they are always there, on the other side of the leaf.
Producer Paul Kobrak
Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return! Robert Forrest's popular thriller set in 10th century Japan.
Shonagon begins to connect the visitations by her Empress Teishi with a story she was once told by a drunken, but earnest, Lord - about a living ghost.
The Pillow Book is inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
A volunteer teacher and a student with Parkinson's celebrate the free movement of contemporary dance. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
"It is our conviction that a serious fire in a tower block or similar high density residential property is the most likely reason that those who wield power.... will be found out and brought to justice!"
Posted on November 20th 2016, a blog, produced by two Grenfell campaigners, represented the last moment at which something might have been done to avert the disaster which followed on June 14th 2017. The now famously stark warning could have been picked up and amplified by the local media. Had it been so, something might well have been done about conditions in the tower block. Most of the UK's leading journalists have been brought up with an assumption that this is how things work. A media ecology which reaches from society's roots to the highest echelons guarantees that anything of significance is brought to public attention, thus guaranteeing a well-informed and safe electorate.
Presenter, Valley Fontaine explores what now constitutes "local news", whose job it is to report it and asks why some stories just get missed completely. Is a thriving local media a luxury from a bygone era, a vital pillar of democracy, or both? Valley is an experienced BBC London reporter, who has been reporting on the Grenfell disaster. She spent the first five years of her life in the Westbourne Park area of London - a stone's throw from Grenfell. Valley talks to the Grenfell blogger - his first broadcast interview - and to a newspaper reporter who, until he was made redundant in April, covered his west London beat from Dorset.
She finds that there is no shortage of media outlets which would consider North Kensington their "patch." A plethora of newspapers, online news sites, radio and TV stations all cover west London. It's a part of the city which many journalists call home. So why were the dangerous living conditions of tower block residents not regarded as newsworthy a year ago? And up and down the country, a similar pattern emerges.
Producer: Gemma Newby
Editor: Andrew Smith.
After a successful first series on Radio 4 and a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Festival, policeman turned comic, Alfie Moore, returns with the series that makes his audience make the policing decisions as he takes them through a real life crime scenario.
Written and performed by Alfie Moore,
Script Editor ..... Will Ing,
Producer..... Alison Vernon-Smith.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917, German counterattacks re-took Fontaine Notre Dame, and at Marshalls, the munitionettes take a stand.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
Live coverage of the chancellor's Budget speech.
The latest weather forecast.
Moscow, 1852. Nikolai Gogol nurses his-long suffering nose as he works on a sequel to his satirical novel, Dead Souls. He meets two men who will help determine his fate and the fate of his new manuscript. The first, Josef, is an actor and con man to whom Gogol becomes attached. The second, Father Mathew, demands that Gogol reject literature - and the young man. Comedy by Alastair Jessiman.
Other parts played by cast.
Producer/director: Bruce Young.
Financial phone-in.
Sociological discussion programme, presented by Laurie Taylor.
Topical programme about the fast-changing media world.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Comedy series by Katherine Jakeways about four generations of women living under one roof.
Jen is driven to compete with Stuart in the parenting stakes. Cue the most fun (and educational) sleepover an eleven year old could wish for. In theory. In the meantime, Maggie would really prefer it if her houseguests would put things back in the correct drawer, and stop leaiving teabags in the sink.
All Those Women explores familial relationships, ageing, marriages - it's about life and love and things not turning out quite the way that you'd expected them to. Every week we join Hetty, Maggie, Jen and Emily as they struggle to resolve their own problems, and support one another.
Written by KATHERINE JAKEWAYS
Script editor Richard Turner
Producer Alexandra Smith
A BBC Radio Comedy Production.
Lilian tries to make amends, and Elizabeth is on a high.
Arts news, interviews and reviews.
Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Melanie Phillips, Matthew Taylor, Michael Portillo and Mona Siddiqui.
Dalia Elmelige tells the story of her life as a Muslim in America after 9/11.
'I didn't get to celebrate my little brother's first birthday', begins Dalia, as she describes her life as a Muslim in post-9/11 America. From playground bullying to work at the Carter Presidential Center on countering ISIS propaganda, in many ways her life has been defined by the aftermath of 9/11. In this moving talk, introduced by Olly Mann, Dalia shares some reflections on isolation and identity.
Producer: Giles Edwards.
The Dark Ages are often painted as an era of scholarly decline. The Western Roman Empire was on its way out, books were few and far between, and, if you believe the stereotype, mud-splattered peasants ran around in rags.
However, it was far more intellectually vibrant than you might imagine. Out of this era emerged a set of 'problems to sharpen the young,' including the famous river crossing puzzle that's still taught in maths today. The presumed author of these riddles is Alcuin of York - 'the most learned man in the world.' And it was this monk and his puzzles that laid the foundations for a branch of mathematics called combinatorics - the thinking behind today's computer coding and cryptography.
Philip Ball speaks to historian Mary Garrison from the University of York to learn of Alcuin's character and how he encouraged his students to learn for the sake of learning, as opposed to salvation. And University College London mathematician Hannah Fry shows Philip just how much of a role combinatorics plays in today's world.
Producer: Graihagh Jackson.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Nadia and Saeed are two ordinary young people falling in love but their world is about to be turned upside down. Theirs is a story of a world in crisis and two humans travelling through it. Read by Nikesh Patel.
Today, Saeed and Nadia discover what looks like a miraculous route to safety.
Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels: Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and now Exit West.
An extraordinary story of love, hope and displacement shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017.
Author: Mohsin Hamid
Reader: Nikesh Patel
Abridger: Penny Leicester
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
A frustrated artist is given a robot butler by her husband to cater for her every whim. But it soon turns out that that might not be enough... Lenny Henry writes this darkly comic monologue, performed by Tanya Moodie.
Produced by Sam Michell
A BBC Studios Production.
Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee 2015 and triple Chortle Award Winner Joseph Morpurgo presents a series of 'educational' audio adventures for BBC Radio 4.
Follow our unique walking tour of Yosemite National Park, stuffed with fun facts, survival tips and more.
Written and performed by Joseph Morpurgo, with Naomi Petersen and Jonathan Broke.
Sound design by Craig Schuftan
Producer Alexandra Smith
A BBC Studios Production.
Sean Curran reports from Westminster.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
Tina Brown time as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine in the 1980's, early 90's.
In 1985 there was the Charles and Di story to report on and all the reactions to it. In 1986 there's much delight with the birth of Tina's first child. The juggling of work and home life shall begin..
Read by Tina Brown
Producer Duncan Minshull.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with David Moffitt, Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of St Andrews.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Musician Fyfe Dangerfield enjoys how his young son's interest in some of our more common birds helps stop him from overlooking everyday avian beauty.
Producer: Mark Ward
Photograph: Tori Andrews.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the myths and history of the ancient Greek city of Thebes and its depiction in Athenian drama. In myths it was said to be home to Heracles, Dionysus, Oedipus and Cadmus among others and, in history, was infamous for supporting Xerxes in the Persian War. Its prominence led to a struggle with the rising force of Macedon in which the Thebans were defeated at Chaironea in 338 BC, one of the most important battles in ancient history. The position of Thebes in Greek culture was enormously powerful. The strength of its myths and its proximity to Athens made it source of stories for the Athenian theatre, and is the setting for more of the surviving plays than any other location.
With
Edith Hall
Samuel Gartland
and
Paul Cartledge
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on gods can reach new communities, and how those communities can then adapt and change the faiths.
Producer Paul Kobrak
Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return! Robert Forrest's popular thriller set in 10th century Japan.
Exhausted by the interviews with Yukinari, Lady Shonagon attempts to find some peace within the palace grounds, but the visions will not let her rest - and rage like the coming storm.
The Pillow Book is inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
The chilling story of a massacre of Rohingya muslims in a small village in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. On 30 August government soldiers swept through the village setting fire to homes, raping and killing dozens, possibly hundreds of its muslim inhabitants. An ongoing military crackdown in the state has seen more than 500,000 Rohingya muslims flee to neighbouring Bangladesh since late August. The government of Aung San Suu Kyi has faced international condemnation over the crisis. She says the military is responding to attacks by Rohingya militants. But the Rohingya have long been persecuted in Myanmar: denied citizenship, decent healthcare and education. For Crossing Continents, Gabriel Gatehouse investigates the massacre in Tula Toli. Speaking to survivors in camps in Bangladesh, he pieces together a picture of horrific violence, perpetrated in what has been described as a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing." And he hears evidence that suggests the violence may have been planned in advance. Producer John Murphy.
"The more we reinforce the stereotypes of who writes and who reads, the more the notion of exclusivity is reinforced. It takes balls to gatecrash a party."
Kit de Waal, published her first novel, My Name is Leon, in 2016 at the age of 55. She has already put her money where her mouth is - using part of the advance she received from Penguin to set up a creative writing scholarship in an attempt to improve working class representation in the arts.
Kit knows that - as a writer from a working class background - the success of her debut novel is a rare occurrence. Born to a Caribbean bus driver father and an Irish mother (a cleaner, foster carer and auxiliary nurse), Kit grew up in Birmingham and left school at 15 with no qualifications. She became a secretary with the Crown Prosecution Service and went on to have a career in social services and criminal law.
In this feature she explores an issue that is deeply personal to her. She looks back at her own life and trajectory, and takes the listener on a journey around the country to find out what the barriers really are to working class representation in British literature today.
"There is a difference between working class stories and working class writers. Real equality is when working class writers can write about anything they like - an alien invasion, a nineteenth century courtesan, a medieval war. All we need is the space, the time to do it - oh yes, and some way to pay the bills!"
Kit talks to a range of writers, agents and publishers about what the barriers are for writers from working class backgrounds, including Tim Lott, Andrew McMillan, Gena-mour Barrett, CEO of Penguin Random House UK Tom Weldon, Julia Bell, Julia Kingsford, Ben Gwalchmai, Nathan Connolly and Stephen Morrison-Burke (Birmingham poet laureate and the first recipient of the Kit de Waal scholarship).
Produced by Mair Bosworth.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917, cabinet minister Lord Robert Cecil declared that the Russian government was not to be recognised, while in Tynemouth Fraser Chadwick asserts his authority.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer affairs programme.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Tina Brown's time as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine in the 1980's, early 90's.
There's another cover triumph, as well as office intrigue in the higher echelons of Conde Nast. How to survive these challenges and then exploit them!
Reader Tina Brown
Producer Duncan Minshull.
Topical drama providing an insight into the workings of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, using verbatim transcripts from the Mladic trial.
Transcripts and footage provided courtesy of the ICTY
Writer ..... Graham White
Director ..... Mary Peate
Broadcast the day after the verdict in the Mladic trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, this drama gives us a fascinating glimpse into the procedures of the ICTY during its final trial, based on the first hand experiences of the playwright and using verbatim tribunal transcripts.
A play about the experience and meaning of the Hague Tribunal, a modern day Nuremburg, which, as it comes to an end, is perhaps more challenged and politically besieged than at any time since it opened, subject as it is to the conspiracy-theorising of internet echo-chambers and the 'post-truth' world.
The Irish border is currently the focus of intense negotiations around Brexit. Nobody knows how a soft or hard Brexit will work in practise but most agree that a hard border will negatively affect both the economies and relationships of the Republic and Northern Ireland. Helen Mark delves beneath the politics to discover the wildness of the land along the border and talks to the people who live there and cross the border daily. The border has inspired artists and writers such as Garrett Carr and Rita Duffy and Helen meets them to explore the borderlands and try to understand the unique history of the places along the line from Lough Foyle to Carlingford Lough.
With Francine Stock.
Slumdog Millionaire and The Full Monty writer Simon Beaufoy tells Francine Stock about The Battle Of The Sexes and why it wasn't love all between tennis players Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, when he challenged her in 1973 to prove that a woman could play as well as a man.
Adam Rutherford investigates the news in science and science in the news.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Episode 3 - Britain's Place in the World
Alexei considers travel to places both real and imaginary. Along the way he reveals why Radio 4 is a staple for Merchant seamen, how to get a cheap drink in the centre of Paris and the impulses he must fight when on holiday.
Written by Alexei Sayle with additional material from Ben Partridge.
Performed by Alexei Sayle with Ian Smith
Original music and lyrics by Tim Sutton
Produced by Joe Nunnery
A BBC Studios Production.
The results are in at the parish council election, while Alan's hopes are dashed.
Novelists Joanne Harris and Jonathan Coe discuss their latest books which are both modern fairytales. Coe's The Broken Mirror is a modern fable with a political message while Harris' A Pocketful of Crows is based on traditional folklore.
November is National Novel Writing Month, a global initiative to encourage all of us to get 50,000 words down on paper, or screen. There's an online community, with forums to discuss your stories and also local events throughout the UK to meet other writers. We caught up with three people taking part this year.
Director Luca Guadagnino talks about his acclaimed film Call Me By Your Name, a gay love story set in the Italian sun in the 1980s, starring Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer.
As Catalonia's independence dispute with Spain shows no sign of resolution we look at Catalan art. Academic Maria Delgado and actress Montserrat Roig de Puig discuss the historical role that the arts have played in developing Catalan identity and how the arts can contribute to developing a dialogue about Catalonia's future relationship to Spain.
Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Edwina Pitman.
Evan Davis presents the business magazine.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Nadia and Saeed are two ordinary young people falling in love but their world is about to be turned upside down. Theirs is a story of a world in crisis and two humans travelling through it. Read by Nikesh Patel.
Today, as their journey continues, Saeed and Nadia find themselves feeling violence once again.
Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels: Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and now Exit West.
An extraordinary story of love, hope and displacement shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017.
Author: Mohsin Hamid
Reader: Nikesh Patel
Abridger: Penny Leicester
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
Members of the cast of Channel 4's hugely popular sketch show Absolutely reunite for a brand new series on BBC Radio 4. Pete Baikie, Morwenna Banks, Moray Hunter, Gordon Kennedy and John Sparkes are back together with all new material. They revisit some of their much loved sketch characters for four half hour shows, whilst also introducing some newcomers to the show.
In 2013, the group got back together for the Sketchorama: Absolutely Special for BBC Radio 4 which subsequently won a BBC Audio Drama Award in the Best Live Scripted Comedy category.
The fourth and final episode of the series will feature another meeting of the highly confused Stoneybridge Town Council as well as pearls of nonsense from Calum Gilhooley, Edinburgh's most boring man, and the ever popular Little Girl, telling us what is true about teenagers. Frank Hovis makes an appearance, there will be more stories from those who were nearly there in The People's War, talking Facebook will return and we'll meet an angsting Actor who is very concerned about the length of his co-star's credits.
Produced by Gus Beattie and Gordon Kennedy.
An Absolutely/Comedy Unit production for BBC Radio 4.
Susan Hulme reports from Westminster.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4. Followed by Weather.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest shipping forecast.
The latest news from BBC Radio 4.
A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with David Moffitt, Senior Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of St Andrews.
The latest news about food, farming and the countryside.
Musician Fyfe Dangerfield describes being enthralled by the rapid, bombing dive of a gannet fishing out at sea and the magic of unexpectedly seeing one up close.
Producer: Mark Ward
Photograph: Debbie Stevens.
Morning news and current affairs. Including Yesterday in Parliament, Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
Neil MacGregor continues his series about the expression of shared beliefs with a focus on how faiths co-exist in India.
Producer Paul Kobrak
Produced in partnership with the British Museum
Photograph (c) The Trustees of the British Museum.
Programme that offers a female perspective on the world.
Lady Shonagon and Lieutenant Yukinari return! Robert Forrest's popular thriller set in 10th century Japan.
The storm is passing, Lady Shonagon decides to revist a game of her youth and wander the palace corridors at night. She intends to wander alone, but that is not to be...
The Pillow Book is inspired by the writings of Sei Shonagon, a poet and lady-in-waiting to the Empress of the 10th Century Japanese court.
Written by Robert Forrest.
Directed by Lu Kemp.
A BBC Scotland Production for Radio 4.
Andy Zaltzman, the comedian, cricket fanatic and lapsed classics student will be spending a week living by the teachings of three ancient schools of philosophy. This week he'll mostly be being an epicurean. But this is a lot harder than you think. It's a philosophy that arose in around 300 BC in Athens and was named after Epicurus who set up a school of philosophy called The Garden, on the outskirts of Athens, where his followers lived and supposedly shared all their possessions. For Epicureans, the goal of life is happiness or pleasure, rather than virtue, but they advocated an analytical and questioning approach to the question of happiness and tended to live simply, eat simply.
Today psychologists are exploring how Epicurus' ideas on happiness can be used to teach people how to manage negative memories. Researchers in the psychology of happiness are experimenting with adapting the teachings to help people with obsessive compulsive disorders to focus on their internal life rather than external stimuli that drive their conditions. And the science of happiness is being used in economic and political theory. The bigger question behind all of these programmes is just how much one can recover of the original teachings, how far they can be updated with modern knowledge and will Andy be happier living a day without cricket?
Producer: Phil Pegum.
A brand new sitcom for BBC Radio 4 written by Marcus Brigstocke and Sarah Morgan and starring Marcus Brigstocke as Mike and Kerry Godliman as his wife Max.
Michael and Maxine Wilson and their teenage daughters, Lola and Cat (plus their bearded dragon Chomsky, and about 150,000 bees) have resolved to live a cleaner, greener, serener life. This is a show about living ethically... whatever that means. Millions of people try every day to make 'good' choices and do the 'right thing', be ethical, charitable and community minded. It's hard. Most of us live with hypocrisy and failure all the time but keep on trying. The Wilsons, good folk that they are, are trying about 20% harder and learning to live with about 19% more failure. They are not giving up.
In this episode the family wrestle with their various need for approval from others as Mike's parents Phillip and Jennifer come to stay.
Producer...Julia McKenzie
Production Coordinator...Tamara Shilham
A BBC Studios Production.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
On this day in 1917 Rosa Luxemburg wrote from prison that the Russian revolution was a "milestone", and in Tynemouth the Reeds are watchful for Bolshevism.
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole.
Consumer news and issues.
The latest weather forecast.
Analysis of news and current affairs.
Tina Brown recalls being editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine in the 80's, early 90's.
It's 1991 and Demi Moore appeared pregnant and naked on a cover, shot by Annie Leibovitz. So what's the story behind this famous image?
Read by Tina Brown
Producer Duncan Minshull.
A Shropshire gentleman from the 1500s find himself time-travelling to the Syrian border of Turkey in 2015. There he falls in love with a sultan's daughter but is also pursued by a present day war reporter. To cap it call he finds himself addicted to social media and involuntarily tweeting and posting status updates about himself.
Jonathan Davidson wrote this play after coming across the beautiful stone memorial to a real Humfrey Coningsby in the parish church of Neen Sollars in rural Shropshire. The inscription there recorded Coningsby's first travels to Europe at the end of the sixteenth century but also described his disappearance without trace on a subsequent walk to Constantinople. Why did he vanish? Where did he go? What became of him?
Producer: Tim Dee.
Eric Robson and his panel of gardening experts visit Westcliff-on-sea in Essex. Bob Flowerdew, Christine Walkden and Matt Biggs answer questions from the audience.
Produced by Dan Cocker
Assistant Producer: Hester Cant
A Somethin' Else production for BBC Radio 4.
The writer Chris Dolan writes a new short story in response to this week's news.
Writer: Chris Dolan
Producer: David Ian Neville.
Obituary series, analysing and celebrating the life stories of people who have recently died.
Radio 4's forum for audience comment.
A Children in Need-funded community dance project, Artis Community, has made all the difference to one 19 year old, and exposed his teacher to a new kind of student. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.
Eddie Mair with interviews, context and analysis.
The latest national and international news from BBC Radio 4.
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis re-cap the week with topical stand-up and sketches from guests Gareth Gwynn, Andy Zaltzman, Tamar Broadbent and Eshaan Akhbar.
Producer...Adnan Ahmed
A BBC Studios Production.
Peggy is left horrified, and Adam takes the initiative.
News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents political debate from Haysfield Girls School in Bath with a panel including the economist Kate Barker and Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Peter Dowd MP.
A reflection on a topical issue.
The second omnibus of Season 12, Giddy with Possibility, set in the week, in 1917, when the Battle of Cambrai marked the first mass use of tanks.
Cast
Edie Chadwick ..... Kathryn Beaumont
Sarah Illingworth ..... Naomi Frederick
Marion Wardle ..... Laura Elphinstone
Fraser Chadwick ..... Edmund Wiseman
Lester Reed ..... Trevor Fox
Alan Lowther ..... David Seddon
Duncan Chadwick ..... Mark Stobbart
Ethel Manning ..... Sophie Scott
Iris Reed ..... Charlie Hardwick
Johnnie Marshall ..... Paul Ready
Joyce Lyle ..... Tracy Whitwell
Judith Turner ..... Kate Okello
Kenny Stokoe ..... Dean Logan
Matilda James ..... Hannah Wood
Maud Drummond ..... Vineeta Rishi
Molly Duckett ..... ictoria Bewick
Neil McCaul ..... Hodges
Stanley Hobbs ..... David Nellist
Trevor Lamb ..... Phillip Correia
Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz
Directed by Allegra McIlroy
Editor: Jessica Dromgoole
Story-led by Shaun McKenna
Sound: Martha Littlehailes
Composer: Matthew Strachan
Consultant Historian: Maggie Andrews.
In-depth reporting and analysis from a global perspective.
Nadia and Saeed are two ordinary young people falling in love but their world is about to be turned upside down. Theirs is a story of a world in crisis and two humans travelling through it. Read by Nikesh Patel.
Today, the couple find peace in an unexpected place.
Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels: Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia and now Exit West.
An extraordinary story of love, hope and displacement shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017.
Author: Mohsin Hamid
Reader: Nikesh Patel
Abridger: Penny Leicester
Producer: Elizabeth Allard.
Lauren Laverne and guests discuss the politics and aesthetics of hair.
Mark D'Arcy reports from Westminster.
Dance teachers who have become friends through their commitment to bringing ballet to adults. Fi Glover presents another conversation in the series that proves it's surprising what you hear when you listen.
Producer: Marya Burgess.