BBC Radio 4 Podcasts

Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis present the week via topical stand-up and sketches.By BBC Radio 4

In depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspectiveBy BBC Radio 4

Melly Still on directing ‘The Wreckers’, by Ethel Smyth, the first ever opera by a woman composer to be performed at the Glyndebourne Festival.Morgan Quaintance and Hettie Judah join us to review Emergency, the new film directed by Carey Williams and the Cornelia Parker exhibition at The Tate.Ivor Novello Awards: Sam Fender’s track Seventeen Going …

Last week cryptocurrency suffered it’s ‘black Wednesday’ moment. Investors raced to withdraw their funds and more than $200billion was wiped off the cryptocurrency market. One currency lost 98% of its value. Ironically it was a so-called “stablecoin”, whose value is meant to be pegged to currencies like the dollar, that collapsed.Was this a solitar…

BBC probe finds MI5 agent used secret status to terrorist girlfriendBy BBC Radio 4

Victoria Gill and guests ask why does scientific communication matters in society and how it might be done better, with Sam Illingworth, Berry Billingsley and Ozmala Ismail.The climate crisis and Covid-19 have shown over the recent years the importance of reliable, relatable, transparent and trusted science communication. But just like science itse…

19 MAY 22By BBC Radio 4

In the first of two back-to-back hikes in the Mourne Mountains Clare walks from Bloody Bridge near Newcastle, on the coast of County Down, up into the hills. Led by Alex Rose of the Northern Ireland Young Walkers, they begin at a stone sculpture which – from a certain angle – look like a human face in profile. This is the Smuggler’s Head which help…

How easy is it for autistic people to believe in God? The National Autistic Society describe autism as a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people communicate and interact with the world. They say 1 in 100 of us may be autistic and the diagnosis of autism has risen dramatically in recent decades.How are religious organisations respo…

By BBC Radio 4

Actor Anne Marie Duff talks to Emma Barnett playing a working class matriarch in a new play that spans five decades of the lives, and deaths, of the Webster family.Last September 19, 2021, Sophia Huang Xueqin, the Chinese journalist who kick-started China’s #MeToo movement, disappeared. We find out what has happened to her from BBC Eye journalist J…

Can music and culture help unite Estonia? Guitar riffs lilt through the air and over the narrow river that marks the border between Estonia and Russia. It’s the first time Estonia’s annual festival Tallinn Music Week has been held in Narva, bringing coach loads of musicians from 30 countries around the world to a normally sleepy city. The organiser…

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the French playwright who, in 1791, wrote The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen. This was Olympe de Gouges (1748-93) and she was responding to The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789, the start of the French Revolution which, by excluding women from these rights, h…

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the French playwright who, in 1791, wrote The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen. This was Olympe de Gouges (1748-93) and she was responding to The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789, the start of the French Revolution which, by excluding women from these rights, h…

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the French playwright who, in 1791, wrote The Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen. This was Olympe de Gouges (1748-93) and she was responding to The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from 1789, the start of the French Revolution which, by excluding women from these rights, h…

Jon Holmes remixes the news into twisted audio shapes. This week: Bears, protocols, horsemen. And The Little Mermaid finds Rebekah Vardy's agent's phone at the bottom of the sea.By BBC Radio 4

Farmers and food businesses in Northern Ireland say anything other than a negotiated deal on changing the Protocol would be ‘sub optimal’. With the UK Government planning to unilaterally change the agreement it made with the EU, this has raised fears of a trade war.This week we're looking at worker shortages in the vet industry and we hear what's b…

In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.By BBC Radio 4

Bafta-winning actress Joanna Scanlan on learning Welsh and acting in the language for the very first time in Y Golau - a new crime drama for S4C and BBC iPlayer, set in rural Carmarthenshire and simultaneously filmed in Welsh and English.Indu Rubasingham on directing The Father and The Assassin - a new play by long-time collaborator Anu Chandrasekh…

This week we discuss the Wagatha Christie trial and what it told us about celebrity journalism. Simon Boyle, Executive Showbiz Editor at The Sun, tells us how the newspaper managed to keep their journalists out of court. John Micklethwait, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg, on new UK expansion plans and who Britain's libel laws are really serving. Also …

Labour has accused Boris Johnson of failing to tackle the rising cost of living - as inflation hits a 40-year high.By BBC Radio 4

Covid: Laurie Taylor explores the impact of the pandemic on our working and home lives. Will Davies, Professor in Political Economy at Goldsmiths, University of London, suggests it has revealed the politics of our economy, offering prosperity to some and hardships to others. He’s joined by Heejung Chung, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at …

18 MAY 22By BBC Radio 4

Helen Fitzgerald grew up in rural Australia as one of 13 siblings. Her new novel Keep Her Sweet looks at what happens when 'normal' sibling rivalry turns into something else. She joins Krupa to explain why she's so fascinated by the dark corners of family life.When was the last time you saw a nun? It feels like a very old-fashioned vocation – and t…

The emotional toil of losing a partner, family member or friend is often compounded by the financial impact. With funerals costing more than £4000 and probate taking around a year on average, Charmaine Cozier hears from Tom, Laura and Annette about their experiences and an expert panel gives their tips.Guests:Deborah Smith – Spokesperson – National…

The dairy industry has been committed to reducing the sector's greenhouse gas emissions by auditing the carbon footprint of each farm. But, due to the pressure of rising costs, it’s been agreed to delay those audits for another six months.The biggest biodiversity audit in the country has just been carried out on the North Norfolk coast. It’s taken …

In-depth reporting, intelligent analysis and breaking news from a global perspective.By BBC Radio 4

Instagram is awash with people sharing dream homes, holidays, partners and jobs which they claim to have 'manifested' into being. Proponants of manifestation say that thinking positive thoughts attracts tangible positive things into your life. They believe that 'asking the universe' for what you want via journaling, mood boards, and mantras can hav…

Television screenwriter Kay Mellor, the woman behind popular series like Band of Gold, Fat Friends and The Syndicate, is remembered by fellow dramatist Sally Wainwright, Kat Rose Martin holder of the Kay Mellor Fellowship and television critic Julia Raeside.The idea of a minimum wage for artists is discussed by Aisa Villarosa Director of External R…

More than 150 thousand people have signed up to the UK’s ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme - hoping to open their doors to those desperately fleeing the war. But it’s a process that has been dogged with delays, and is raising serious safeguarding concerns as vulnerable women and children try to match up with potential hosts through unregulated sites onlin…

The government has set out its plans to alter trade rules agreed with the EU after Brexit.By BBC Radio 4

Comedian and writer Rob Newman is a long-time fan of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who "saved the United States, just in time for the United States to save the world". When FDR came into office in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, unemployment stood at more than 25% and drought in the Dust Bowl had decimated American agriculture acros…

Two of the biggest sports events of the year, the Commonwealth games in Birmingham and the FIFA world cup in Qatar have pledged to be the most sustainable and green sporting events to date. Both have made bold statements 'the first sustainable commonwealth games' and the ‘first carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup'. Qasa Alom finds out if they can really …

Kate Rusby is one of the UK’s leading folk singers. She joins Andrea Catherwood to talk about her latest album 30: Happy Returns. She's collaborated with musicians such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, K. T. Tunstall and Richard Hawley to sing new versions of her old songs and to celebrate thirty years of making music. The footballer Jake Daniels has co…

17 MAY 22By BBC Radio 4

Rising costs and a volatile world market means farmers need to make significant decisions about how they plan ahead when planting crops. With India suffering from a blazing heatwave, its' government has now decided to temporarily halt exports of wheat as its supplies come under pressure, which has caused wheat prices worldwide to jump.And the war i…

People become writers for myriad reasons - novelist Max Porter suspects that for him the crucial spur was his fascination with Bekonscot model village, which he visited scores of times as a child. It was there that he discovered the pleasure and value of people watching at a life-size and miniature scale. In A Life In Miniatures he returns to Bekon…

Government planning to override parts of agreement governing post-Brexit trade in NIBy BBC Radio 4

36 years after playing pilot Pete Mitchell in the first Top Gun film, Tom Cruise returns to the role. Now Mitchell is one of the US Navy's top aviators, a courageous test pilot and instructor. He can dodge planes in the air but avoiding the advancement in rank that would ground him proves more difficult for him. Larushka Ivan Zadeh reviews the film…

PM continues efforts to restore power sharing government at Stormont. Bank of England delivers "apocalyptic" warning about food price increases because of war in Ukraine.By BBC Radio 4

Kirsty Lang is in the chair as the South of England take on Northern Ireland.By BBC Radio 4

After Little Mix said goodbye to their fans with their final show on Saturday before going on hiatus, it seems that for the first time in decades, Britain is without a major girl band. Emma is joined by Melanie Chisholm from the Spice Girls and music journalist, Jacqueline Springer.We discuss recent work from home data with Dr Jane Parry, Associate…

16 MAY 22By BBC Radio 4

Every moment of the day tiny biological clocks are ticking throughout the body, but Russell Foster, world-renowned expert in circadian neuroscience, warns that modern life is playing havoc with these ancient and delicate mechanisms. In his latest book, Life Time: The New Science Of The Body Clock And How It Can Revolutionise Your Sleep and Health, …

Mike Bubbins is a good bloke, a good husband and a good Dad, but he never quite feels like he fits in. Not in an odd way, he's keen to point out. It's just he dresses like he lives in the 70s, his house looks like a 70s film set, and he drives a 70s Ford Cortina.So yeah, in other words, in an odd way.He's not done bad for a lad who failed his A-Lev…

Carolyn Quinn and guests discuss Northern IrelandBy BBC Radio 4

Finland has formally announced its intention to apply for membership of NATO. In Sweden the ruling Social Democrats said they were abandoning decades of opposition to membership.By BBC Radio 4

40 years ago the BBC broadcast a new TV cooking series called "Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking". It was a first, and showed audiences that Indian food did not rely on curry powder, and that dishes were different depending on what region of India they originated. But that's not all, the series and Madhur Jaffrey's subsequent books (she has written m…

The writer Maya Angelou talks to Michael Parkinson, in a programme first broadcast in 1988. Maya Angelou died in 2014, at the age of 86.By BBC Radio 4