BBC Radio 4 Podcasts

Andy is joined by Ian Smith, Holly Walsh, Andy Parsons and from The Spectator, Kate Andrews. This week the panel discuss the war in Ukraine one year on, Keir Starmer's missions, and the editing of Dahl.Hosted and written by Andy Zaltzman with additional material from Alice Fraser, Catherine Brinkworth, Jade Gebbie, and Will Hall.Producer: Sam Holme…

French police and protesters clash at a demonstration about a new water reservoirBy BBC Radio 4

Baroness Louise Casey has published the final report on her review into the Metropolitan Police. A female metropolitan police officer and Deputy Commissioner of the Met, Dame Lynne Owens, discuss the findings.Known for shows like Love Island and The Only Way is Essex, social media influencer Georgia Harrison talks about her new TV documentary. It f…

Kate Adie presents stories from Ukraine, Malawi, Switzerland and Germany.Bakhmut has long been a prize for Russian forces since it invaded Ukraine a year ago. Tens of thousands of troops have died in a protracted fight for the city, in what is the longest battle of the war so far. Quentin Sommerville has been travelling through the front line, and …

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is expected to use his Budget on March 15th to introduce measures to to encourage people over 50 to return to work. Since 2019 there has been a rise in the number of people defined as economically inactive. That means they are not working, self-employed, or looking for work to claim benefits. The number rose by 830,000 …

As inflation soars, one Devon crab producer says its fuel costs have gone up more than 500% in the last five years, with additional costs for exporting to the EU since Brexit. However a growth in demand from the USA and Asia means they're still optimistic.The Duchy of Cornwall is to phase out the farming of Pacific oysters in all the estuaries it o…

You might think materials are a bit boring and inconsequential but without them we would still be living in the stone age. Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined on stage by material scientists Mark Miadownik and Anna Ploszajski and comedian Ed Byrne to discover the life changing materials that are hidden in plain sight. Which materials have made us h…

Misinformation around covid-19 and vaccines is rife and as the data available increases, so do often misleading and even wild claims. This week More or Less examines multiple viral claims that the Covid 19 mRNA vaccines increase the risk of miscarriage. To explain where these incorrect figures come from and what the science actually tells us, we ar…

Writer, Tim StimpsonDirector, Kim GreengrassEditor, Jeremy HoweBrian Aldridge ….. Charles CollingwoodDebbie Aldridge ….. Tamsin Greig Ben Archer ….. Ben NorrisDavid Archer ….. Timothy BentinckRuth Archer ….. Felicity FinchHarrison Burns ….. James CartwrightSusan Carter ….. Charlotte Martin Justin Elliott ….. Simon WilliamsClarrie Grundy ….. Heather…

It follows widespread protests across the country about pension reform.By BBC Radio 4

Are there any jobs in the garden that can be done in just ten minutes? How can you save your fruit tree crop from the birds? If you had to dedicate the rest of your life to the cultivation of just one plant, what would it be? Kathy Clugston and the GQT panellists are in Wem, Shropshire, to answer a bunch of horticultural queries from a live audienc…

It’s fifty years since six newly elected female traders entered the floor of the London Stock Exchange for the first time after 200 years of exclusion. The number of women working in finance reached a peak in 1997 at almost six-hundred-thousand, but has dropped by more than thirty percent to around four-hundred-thousand last year. Half a century af…

24 MAR 23By BBC Radio 4

By Edson Burton. The enigmatic drifter is back to help a troubled soul. James Persad has lost his wife Mavis, and he too seems lost. Can Deacon help? New supernatural drama starring Don Warrington and Ram John Holder.CASTDeacon - Don WarringtonJames Persad - Ram John HolderMavis - Sutara GayleMichael - Lee MengoRyan - Tristan SlowleyYouth - Hasan D…

A speech by Andrew Bridgen MP about Covid vaccines was taken down from YouTube after accusations it contained misinformation. It’s led to a debate about where freedom of speech ends and misinformation begins. What counts as misinformation? And who decides?Presenter: Adam FlemingProducers: Lucy Proctor, Phoebe Keane and Ellie House.Editor: Emma Ripp…

Greg Jenner is joined by Prof Sharon Marcus and comedian Isy Suttie to learn about the actor Sarah Bernhardt, a global icon in the 19th and 20th centuries who died a century ago. Bernhardt was one of the most famous people on the planet, coming from humble beginnings as the daughter of a sex worker to dominate theatreland first in France and then a…

The Duchy of Cornwall is to phase out the farming of Pacific oysters in all the estuaries it owns, meaning several oyster farms in Devon and Cornwall are now facing closure. It comes after DEFRA introduced tighter restrictions around creating and expanding oyster farms in English waters with the aim of preventing the spread of Pacific Oysters and p…

The team is in a race against time for answers, but the route proves circuitous.Chapter Five – the quest ends?Cast:Clara Page - Phoebe FoxAldrich Kemp – Ferdinand KingsleyMrs Boone – Nicola WalkerSebastian Harcourt – Kyle SollerNakesha Kemp – Karla CromeAunt Lily – Susan JamesonForsaken McTeague and the Underwood Sisters – Jana Carpenter.Sabine Sea…

Dr Hazlitt sends Aldrich and Clara on a mission to unexplored and dangerous territory.Chapter Four – more questions than answers?Cast:Clara Page - Phoebe FoxAldrich Kemp – Ferdinand KingsleyMrs Boone – Nicola WalkerSebastian Harcourt – Kyle SollerNakesha Kemp – Karla CromeAunt Lily – Susan Jameson Forsaken McTeague and the Underwood Sisters – Jana …

Clara and Sabine battle through undergrowth and language barriers as Nakesha and Sebastian follow the Liberty Flights lead in Vienna.Chapter Three - Liberty Flights don’t file flight plans.Cast:Clara Page - Phoebe FoxAldrich Kemp – Ferdinand KingsleyMrs Boone – Nicola WalkerSebastian Harcourt – Kyle SollerNakesha Kemp – Karla CromeAunt Lily – Susan…

Clara's dispatched on a new mission by her new boss. What could possibly go wrong? Chapter Two - just who is Remington Schofield?Cast:Clara Page - Phoebe FoxAldrich Kemp – Ferdinand KingsleyMrs Boone – Nicola WalkerSebastian Harcourt – Kyle SollerNakesha Kemp – Karla CromeAunt Lily – Susan Jameson The Underwood Sisters & Forsaken McTeague – Jana Ca…

Our heroine Clara Page (Phoebe Fox) returns. And this time the question’s deadly serious - Who Killed Aldrich Kemp? Prepare for another rollercoaster ride from the pen of Julian Simpson, flying us from the Italian Riviera to the Malaysian jungle - via afternoon tea at Themis House.Chapter One - and there’s trouble in London …Cast:Clara Page - Phoeb…

When Ben Taylor receives a Facebook message from a stranger in Liberia, asking in badly spelled English for financial or business assistance, he quickly assumes it’s a scam. But instead of just ignoring the message, he decides to find out about the person behind it. In this episode, Matthew Syed explores what happens when you let your guard down an…

Storm clouds gather on Capitol Hill for Tik Tok as US Congress holds hearing on the Chinese-owned social media giant .By BBC Radio 4

Writer and director Steven Knight, whose work includes Peaky Blinders and SAS Rogue Heroes, discusses his new BBC adaptation of Great Expectations which stars Olivia Coleman as Miss Havisham.Tom Sutcliffe is joined by critics Ben Luke and Isabel Stevens to review some of the week’s cultural highlights including Spanish film The Beasts, the After Im…

Justin is feeling patriotic, and Jim is getting ready to settle in.By BBC Radio 4

The Bank of England has pushed up interest rates for the eleventh time in a row.By BBC Radio 4

Sea ice coverage hit a recording-breaking low in the Antarctic this week, but what does this mean for the rest of the world? Why is the region so difficult to predict? And what could further changes in climate mean for the South Pole? Often the Arctic dominates conversations around polar warming but this week, with the help of climate modelling exp…

Walking your dog in the countryside can be tricky: What if you need to cross a field of cattle or horses? Should you let your dog off the lead or keep it on? Is it best to poo-pick or ‘stick and flick’ in a remote area? Steve Jenkinson has a unique job, having studied the psychology of people and their pets he now works with a range of organisation…

Mascara is a crucial element of many a make-up bag - but can mascaras really deliver on their promises of longer, fuller, or curlier lashes? Listener Kath got in touch to ask exactly that. She also wants to know if you pay more for mascara, do you get better results? How should we remove it - and what about waterproof products that are tough to tak…

Taking any type of hormonal contraception could increase your risk of getting breast cancer, according to a new study by the Cancer Epidemiology Unit at Oxford Population Health, which is part of the University of Oxford. It’s one of the first big studies into this type of birth control assessing the risk of breast cancer. But headlines like this w…

Kate Adie presents stories from Iraq, on the 20th anniversary of the US-led invasion, Brazil and Colombia.The BBC's International Editor Jeremy Bowen first reported from Iraq in 1990, and went on to visit the country on many more occasions - including during the US-led invasion in 2003. Twenty years on since the start of that war, he charts how eve…

Is Growth a False God?Last week’s budget was, according to the Chancellor, about growth. Whenever politicians talk about their plans these days, it’s always about growth. The arguments are clear: Until we generate more growth, we can’t get any richer and wages can’t increase either. It’s urgent too: The UK will be the only major economy apart from …

23 MAR 23By BBC Radio 4

Paul Erdős (1913 – 1996) is one of the most celebrated mathematicians of the 20th century. During his long career, he made a number of impressive advances in our understanding of maths and developed whole new fields in the subject. He was born into a Jewish family in Hungary just before the outbreak of World War I, and his life was shaped by the ri…

Paul Erdős (1913 – 1996) is one of the most celebrated mathematicians of the 20th century. During his long career, he made a number of impressive advances in our understanding of maths and developed whole new fields in the subject. He was born into a Jewish family in Hungary just before the outbreak of World War I, and his life was shaped by the ri…

The Blue Sea Food Company sells Devon crab in the UK and around the world... and says their fuel costs have gone up more than 500% in the last five years... with additional costs for exporting to the EU since Brexit. But, a growth in demand from the USA and Asia means they're still optimistic.Spain is experiencing a drought. In Catalonia, the use o…

Mr Johnson has been answering questions from a committee of cross-party MPs.By BBC Radio 4

A Tall Order! Rochdale Art Gallery in the 1980s is the name of the show currently on at Touchstones Rochdale, which reflects on the gallery’s radical history supporting those who were, at the time, overlooked by the mainstream of the art world, some of whom have gone on to prestigious careers. Co-curators Derek Horton and Alice Correia join Front R…

George wants his eighteenth birthday party at Ambridge View. Susan thinks Grange Farm would be much more suitable, but George reckons they don’t want it there either. They chat about the new dairy window and Susan’s struggles with the mock questions. Susan thinks she’ll be fine once she’s sure of her facts. George offers to lend a hand. He fires he…

23 MAR 23By BBC Radio 4

On a special phone in edition of Woman's Hour we look at trust in the police following the review by Baroness Casey into a toxic culture at the Met Police. She found the 'the force has lost the trust and confidence of the people it is supposed to keep safe' and gave shocking examples of sexism, racism and homophobia. The report was commissioned in …

With the end of the tax year fast approaching, people are looking at their finances and investments. But in a cost of living crisis with unstable markets, are they performing, and how should we be investing?The experts on the panel are Sangita Chawla, Managing Director at Standard Life, and Kirsty Stone, Chartered Financial Adviser at The Private O…

There’s a story Matthew Syed likes to tell. And he’s told it a lot. It’s about a turning point in his life. It’s about learning from a failure and working hard to overcome his shortfalls and come back stronger. Except - he’s realised he’s been getting the story wrong. A key detail in the timeline is off. The turning point he thought was so importan…

All week we're assessing the state of the shellfish industry. Brown crabs are a lucrative catch for Northern Ireland's fishermen but concern about a decline in numbers has led to the fishers themselves calling for tighter rules about their extraction. Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has introduced measure…

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

James Gallagher finds out if we've turned into a nation of grinders after reports from dentists of increased clenching and cracking of teeth. Margaret McCartney answers your feedback about the new weight-loss drug, exercise for your back, sperm counts and then goes for retail therapy with James to discover how useful shopping data could be for unde…

Social housing providers say they are under more financial pressure than ever before. The sector has warned long-term Government funding cuts and the cost of improving homes to meet new fire safety laws, have now been compounded by high inflation, to create a perfect storm of pressure. But is it vulnerable tenants who are paying the price? File on …