

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

Jul 23, 2016 • 28min
Aftermath
Kate Adie introduces analysis, reflection and reporting from correspondents around the world. As Turkey recovers from last week's attempted coup, Mark Urban finds that in Ankara the conspiracy theories are burgeoning. Could these events be the pretext (or a catalyst) for Turkey snubbing the EU, walking away from its relationship with the US or even distancing itself from Nato? Karen Allen's been at the 21st International Aids Conference in Durban to get a global picture of the HIV epidemic; while there have been some notable advances on treatment and prevention, she sees South Africa's still struggling to deal with the virus. Despite the heavily-reported warming up of its relationship with the USA, Cuba still has a hidebound economy and is warning its people to tighten their belts and prepare for austerity - again - says Will Grant in Havana. Martin Patience reaches some resentful corners of Nigeria's Delta region the only way anyone can: by speedboat, and with an entourage of local dignitaries. And Antonia Quirke treads in the footsteps of giants, seeing how the beautiful, creamy marble which once inspired Michelangelo is still being quarried from a site in Tuscany.

Jul 16, 2016 • 28min
Heartlands
John Sopel on what to expect from Donald Trump’s coronation party. Cowboy country in Argentina - but where have all the cows gone?We meet the Aboriginal activists trying to make native title to land actually mean something, in Australia’s northernmost point, Cape York. A new wall in the West Bank – our correspondent gets kitted out for rock climbing in Ramallah. And nudity and birch twigs in the Karelia region in Russia

Jul 14, 2016 • 28min
Keep A Cool Head
Kate Adie introduces tales of true grit - and grace under pressure - from around the world. As the USA agonises over questions of policing, race and firearms, Barbara Plett Usher in Minnesota hears how little trust some protesters have in the future. As veteran reporter Jim Muir prepares to leave the BBC, he remembers first setting out for Lebanon in 1974. His beloved city of Beirut would soon be engulfed by war - a fate shared by much of the Middle East since then. Nicola Kelly talks to people in the so-called 'jihadi north' of Burkina Faso about the growing threats from militant groups which are affecting their lives and businesses. Tim Ecott is on the Faroe Islands, where there are more sheep than humans - but it's the birds which are the true owners of the landscape. And Heidi Fuller Love breaks out of the luxury-hotel bubble in the Maldives to attend a gathering in honour of a national hero: the sixteenth-century Sultan and sea captain who liberated these islands from the Portuguese empire.

Jul 9, 2016 • 28min
The man who inspired a killer
Kate Adie introduces stories from correspondents around the world.
Frank Gardner assesses the reaction to the bombing close to one of Islam's holiest sites.
Shaimaa Khalil tells how a Pakistani assassin and the country's strict blasphemy laws influenced a killer in the UK.
We go to Colombia to hear from Natalio Cosoy and the story of legislators who are struggling with a problem: how do you pass laws to force senators to turn up for work when the senators needed to pass the laws don't turn up for work.
Olivia Acland travels to meet residents of a small island off the coast of Sierra Leone who learn that rich foreigners bearing gifts don't always keep their promises.
And Diarmaid Fleming tells how the appearance of mayflies causes the residents of one Irish town to drop everything and take to the water in search of trout

Jul 7, 2016 • 28min
Middle class terrorists
Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories from around the world: This week: After the killing of 20 hostages at an upmarket café in Bangladesh Sanjoy Majumder hears how it is the backgrounds of the killers that is worrying people in Dhaka. Linda Pressly meets the people attending an unusual rehab centre for alcoholics in Canada. Martin Patience tries in vain to get an accident report for a prang in his car in Nigeria. Shile Khumalo looks at how the Oscar Pistorius murder trial is being seen as an example of lingering white privilege in the South African Justice system. And Tony Vale is on the hunt of avocado rustlers in New Zealand.

Jul 2, 2016 • 28min
Planes, Tanks and Teaspoons
Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories from around the world. Today: with the Chilcot Report into the 2003 invasion and its aftermath, Jeremy Bowen is in Iraq, a country in a state of perpetual war. Chris Bowlby remembers a special tea party in Prague, just as Czechoslovakia was splitting apart, where the talk was of British political stability; Shaimaa Khalil tells the story of a controversial social media star - Pakistan's Kim Kardashian. There's a month to go until the Rio Olympics but the country is embroiled in economic and political turmoil; Wyre Davies is the middle of it all. And, in South Sudan, Mark Doyle gets up close to some magnificent beasts and he discusses democracy.

Jun 30, 2016 • 28min
The Brexit Wind Tunnel
Kate Adie introduces correspondents stories. Our man in Budapest, Nick Thorpe, hears how the Brexit vote has created fear and insecurity across eastern Europe. With Leave campaigners saying that Britain has a bright future trading with the rest of the world, Sanjoy Majumder is in Delhi, where Indian businesses and students think they could profit; Lizzie Porter visits the old aiport-turned Olympic site which is now home to thousands of Afghans in Greece; James Jeffrey is fascinated by fasting and marvels at how dock workers in Djibouti just keep carrying on under the baking sun - even during Ramadan; And Steve Rosenberg remembers his favourite Soviet cartoon as he explores Russia's hurt sporting pride.

Jun 23, 2016 • 28min
Paint on the Cream Cake
Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories from around the world. Today: Lucy Ash is in the midst of the Republic of Macedonia's "Colourful Revolution," where it's buildings and statues that are getting a new lick of paint; Richard Lim is in Iraqi Kurdistan which may be relatively peaceful but its economy is faltering; Joe Gerlach has an odd taste in his mouth in Ecuador as he's invited to quaff a somewhat metallic concoction; James Jeffrey reflects on the Ethiopian mindset, in which any criticism is unwelcome. And, in the United States, they've waited 17 years for them but Simon Parker soon gets a mouthful of critters.

Jun 16, 2016 • 28min
Departures
Leaving's the theme of this edition. Bridget Kendall, the BBC's Russia specialist, is hanging up her headphones but not before she talks about secret agents and considers what the past can tell us about that country's future. Past and present are on Kevin Connolly's mind too. He's off to a new BBC posting and points out that within half an hour's walk of his home in Jerusalem some of the defining dramas of the ancient world played themselves out. He also talks of the pleasures and pitfalls of Middle East reporting today. And Gabriel Gatehouse hums the theme tune from 'The Great Escape' while considering departures in his essay about the EU referendum and the Euro2016 football tournament in France

Jun 11, 2016 • 28min
Old Habits Die Hard
Around the world in less than half an hour. A slump in global oil prices has hit Angola hard but still, there are glimpses of wealth everywhere and abject poverty's never far away; the Iraqi city of Basra is governed by hardline Iranian-backed Islamic politicians but that doesn't stop its citizens enjoying themselves at a brand new shopping mall they call Times Square; what happens to the clothes you give away to charity shops? Many are beginning a journey which could lead to countries in Asia or Africa but first stop, we learn, might be a giant warehouse in Hungary; the quality of the air in Hong Kong has reached new lows and people are becoming ill with respiratory problems and cancers -- we're off in search of the one spot in the city that usually escapes the smog. And, in the primary schools of France they take poetry very seriously indeed. That can mean a homework nightmare. For the children -- and for parents too


