

From Our Own Correspondent
BBC Radio 4
Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers telling stories beyond the news headlines. Presented by Kate Adie.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 24, 2011 • 28min
Feb 24, 2011
The Black Sea resort of Sochi is preparing to host the next Winter Olympics. But following an attack on tourists at a Russian ski resort, Stephen Rosenberg hears concerns that Sochi could become a target for terrorism. As the people of Dresden commemorate the anniversary of the city's bombing during World War Two, Stephen Evans meets the neo-Nazi's demonstrating there. Petroc Trelawney is treated to a day out in the Zimbabwean countryside and a history lesson from the daughter of the country's former Prime Minister. Jonathan Fryer meets the Mennonites of Paraguay, members of a Christian religious sect that set up home in the vast "green desert" of the Paraguayan Chaco. And Paul Miles takes part in the World Kick-sledge Championships where the sledges are propelled by people.

Feb 19, 2011 • 28min
Feb 19, 2011
The unrest sweeping north Africa and the Middle East reaches Bahrain and Bill Law explains some of the tension in this island kingdom. Paul Adams travels through Egypt to see if calm is returning after the recent disturbances. As a momentous election approaches in Ireland, Fergal Keane says there's a sense of betrayal among the electorate. Robin Lustig travels through Italy in the week its prime minister is told he's facing serious criminal charges and Martin Plaut is in Sudan as the country prepares to split in two. There's a large unresolved question: what will happen to the cattle?

Feb 17, 2011 • 28min
Feb 17, 2011
The wind of change sweeps across parts of the Middle East and North Africa -- an assessment from Jeremy Bowen. Basque separatist group ETA announced last year they would no longer use violence to campaign for the region's independence; Sarah Rainsford watches a new political party launch in Spain. Will Ross follows the first elections in Uganda since the end of war in the north of the country. Indonesia hopes to ride the wave of economic growth in the developing world and become the next big emerging market; Peter Day meets the Indonesians hoping for economic change; that their country might become the next Asian Tiger. And Trish Flanagan takes a trip along Ireland's rural roads to see the sport that stops the traffic.

Feb 12, 2011 • 28min
Feb 12, 2010
Weeks of drama in Egypt reach a climax with the resignation of President Mubarak. Hugh Sykes tells of the joy in Cairo's Tahrir Square; Rupert Wingfield Hayes examines what will happen to the army of police, thugs and torturers who enforced Mubarak's police state; Jonathan Marcus explains how western diplomats were left floundering by this very Egyptian revolution; Sarah Monaghan's in Oman, a distant outpost of the Arab world waiting to see if the winds of change will blow through there as well and Justin Webb muses on the effect the changing shape of the Middle East might be having on American foreign policy.

Feb 10, 2011 • 28min
Feb 10 2011
The generals in Cairo watch and wait as the demonstrations continue: Jon Leyne considers their possible role in the days and weeks ahead. Bethany Bell attends a spectacular Viennese ball and finds that the possible succession in Egypt is the talk of the town. Across Europe there is growing anxiety about the cultural impact of immigration, fuelling the growth of populist political parties who say Europe's Christian heritage is under threat. Chris Bowlby reflects on the religious symbolism of the immigration debate. A group of prominent Indians recently praised the country's media for exposing corruption. Mark Tully considers whether India's media is itself a part of the problem. And the Russian woman whose baby workout shocked the blogosphere has some advice for her critics.

Feb 5, 2011 • 28min
Feb 5, 2011
With Egypt in turmoil Kevin Connolly discovers what Hosni Mubarak's sense of timing says about his character. Malcolm Brabant has been finding out how the dreams of migrants die on the streets of Athens. Why a Chinese chicken farmer is ruffling feathers in a Zambian market -- Justin Rowlatt's been investigating. In the southwest of France Chris Bockman's unearthed skullduggery among truffle hunters and their dogs. And Hamilton Wende's been to meet the bare-knuckle brawlers who fight for honour and glory in rural South Africa.

Feb 3, 2011 • 28min
03 Feb 2011
President Mubarak of Egypt is desperate to leave office with a degree of dignity, but Lyse Doucet meets people in Cairo who think the time for change is now. US-led forces in Afghanistan feel they are making progress; Robert Fox considers whether this might be the beginning of the end for the Taliban or just another lull in the fighting. Few countries are as homophobic as Uganda; homosexual acts can be punished with years in prison. But following the death of gay rights activist David Kato, Anna Cavell finds Kampala's gay community in defiant mood. Pripyat in the Ukraine is a ghost town, abandoned within hours of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power-plant in 1986; Richard Hollingham explores the ruins of a model Soviet settlement frozen in time. Tea is a popular brew in both Britain and India but it's really not the same drink at all. Indian chai is something of a surprise to taste buds accustomed to the less spicy English preparation, but Judy Swallow soon fell in love with it.

Jan 29, 2011 • 28min
Jan 29, 2011
Spectacular political developments across the Arab world as viewed from the Corniche in Beirut by Kevin Connolly; Quentin Somerville in Kabul views shocking evidence of what the Taleban call justice; Madeleine Morris is in the Indian state of Andrha Pradesh finding out why microcredit, once hailed as the answer to world poverty, has been getting a bad name; James Coomarasamy explores a town in Belarus where the spirit of Lenin still marches on and David Goldblatt is in Dakar getting a crash course in how to get streetwise in Senegal.
And a correspondent goes in the footsteps of a master as he learns how to survive on the streets of Dakar....

Jan 27, 2011 • 28min
Jan 27, 2011
The rampant corruption that blights India's dreams of a brighter future is chronicled by Chris Morris. Justin Marozzi is on the frontline of one of the most dangerous cities on earth. Sarah Monaghan is in once-thriving Dubai, the emirate learning to live with much harder economic times. David Willis has been hearing about the debt Las Vegas owes to the mafia.

Jan 22, 2011 • 28min
Jan 22, 2011
Is China's economic muscle crushing the heart out of blue-collar America? Justin Rowlatt's been to Ohio to find out. But while America's industrial heartland's feeling the pinch, Mike Wendling finds that, in the social networking industry, Americans lead the field; Mary Harper tells us about the city in the Horn of Africa which has risen from the ruins of war; the story of an extraordinary Englishman who's immersed himself in Afghan tribal life is told by Nadene Ghouri; while Christian Parkinson makes a very important purchase in South Africa -- with a herd of cows!


