

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

Oct 15, 2015 • 28min
Old Fears Return
In Israel's parks and shopping districts more people are now visibly carrying guns amid the worst surge of violence in months. Also in this programme: Myanmar prepares for an historic election in November -- but one candidate, try as he might, just can't get to his constituency to campaign! We're up in the Alps in south west France where specialist wolf hunters have just been deployed after an angry campaign by shepherds and sheep farmers; talking to a man on the coast of Senegal in west Africa who's doing his best to keep hope, fish and his community alive - by tending to some remarkable trees. And there's drama on a family holiday in China which did not go entirely according to plan!

Oct 10, 2015 • 28min
A Feast of Fungi
The programme which takes you places. In this one, to Wolfsburg in Germany, forever associated with Volkswagen and today speculating about the long-term consequences of the emissions scandal that has so damaged the car-maker's reputation. Is it the end for the 'Rainbow Nation? A new generation of black South Africans is coming of age and is angry that so much of the country's wealth remains in the hands of the white population. There may be oxcarts in the villages outside the North Korean capital, but no shortage of flash cars in Pyongyang itself, a city where some people are taking power into their own hands. Seven families have set up home in a former bank in troubled South Sudan - there's safety in numbers, they hope. And as summer burns out to autumn, it's time to go foraging in the hills of Austria and time later for a dinner to remember!

Oct 8, 2015 • 28min
A Tunnel of Stories
Insight, writing, storytelling. In this edition Nick Thorpe reflects on the many tales he's heard in months covering the migrant crisis at the gateways of Europe; Gabriel Gatehouse is in Germany where the influx of refugees has caused a surge in the popularity of right-wing anti-immigration parties; Stephanie Hegarty talks of her visit to the Central African Republic where UN-troops are trying to restore peace after violent clashes between Christian and Muslim militias; Jonathan Fryer goes to Astana in Kazahstan, a capital city with awe-inspiring architecture and a president determined that nothing will stand in the way of his vision for the country's future and Kieran Cooke goes to Ireland's holy mountain, Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, to investigate a claim that 'nature's greatest cathedral in the west is being severely damaged'

Oct 3, 2015 • 28min
The Mermaid of Madagascar
Storytelling, writing and looking beyond the news spotlight. Today: warm orangeade, a tot of rum and some chain-smoking - all part of daily life for the fishermen and women of Madagascar who've harnessed new conservation techniques to long-standing traditions. Also, a despatch from south-eastern Turkey, where renewed hostilities between government forces and Kurdish PKK militants have left efforts to establish a long-term peace in shreds; there's an examination of the reasons why Russia has chosen to step up its military activity in the Middle East; the Spanish bullfighting season's coming to an end and many now wonder if the same will soon be said of bullfighting itself. And why tonight's big rugby match at Twickenham might set off some wild, if lonely, rejoicing in a small hotel room in Japan.

Oct 2, 2015 • 29min
FOOC at 60: Memorable Reports 2
Includes Fergal Keane's 1996 Letter to Daniel and Allan Little in Kinshasa as President Mobutu fell in 1997

Oct 1, 2015 • 28min
The Kindness of a Baker
Insight, storytelling, colour. Today, there's endless bread but not much comfort as Nigerian children find shelter in a bakery from the extremists of Boko Haram. India's accused of involvement in disturbances just over the border in Nepal - people have died in clashes with the security forces and cross-border commerce has been hard hit. The amount of violence in eastern Ukraine has gone down, but there are other problems for the government in Kiev: the economy's in deep trouble and frustrated ultra-nationalists are making their presence felt. Voodoo's coming under attack on the island of Haiti in the Caribbean - one senior Roman Catholic churchman's called it 'magic'. And there's a visit to the 'alternative' American city of Portland, Oregon. It's certainly a place of beards and tattoos but is it falling victim to creeping provincialism?

Sep 26, 2015 • 28min
Miracle on the Beach
Filling in the gaps between the headlines: shock, horror, remorse, guilt -- how a piece of gold triggered an emotional tsunami on a beach near Cape Town. Why the Pope's been so in demand on his visit to Washington, a city where it's usually money that's talking the loudest; robbed of everything she had, even her blanket: it's one of the stories of those fleeing the violence in South Sudan, the world's newest nation; electioneering gathers pace in Myanmar, formerly Burma, and there's at least one point the human rights lawyer and the man who's been called the Buddhist Bin Laden can agree on and Germany might seem the promised land to many of the migrants making the long trek up through Europe but, it seems, not all of them are happy with what they find

Sep 24, 2015 • 28min
War and Peace
Over 60-years, reports for From Our Own Correspondent have tried to go beyond the headlines, and the tactical advances, to tell the human stories of war. Marking this programme's anniversary, Kate Adie introduces from the archives a compilation of despatches from frontlines around the world - and from
the home front.

Sep 23, 2015 • 27min
60th Anniversary – Memorable Reports 1
Includes Gabriel Gatehouse on the 2014 Ebola crisis; Kevin Connolly in Libya in 2011; Misha Glenny, on searching for family in Davos.

Sep 19, 2015 • 28min
A Special UK Edition
For once, and as part of FOOC's sixtieth birthday celebrations, the programme's handed over to home correspondents and the stories they have to tell about the UK today. The growth in Scottish nationalism is explored; we find out how important listening will be as the inquiry into child sex abuse in this country prepares to get underway; we travel to one of the most picturesque villages in England to hear concerns about the increasing cost of housing in rural areas; with the power-sharing government in Belfast close to collapse, we are told of the continuing tensions in both Republican and Unionist communities and we find out what effect the extraordinary political developments of recent days will have on the party political conference season, which is about to begin.


