

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

Aug 31, 2013 • 28min
A Banquet of Unpalatable Choices
Correspondents tell their stories: Mark Mardell in Washington on difficult decisions for President Obama: Charles Haviland, off for dinner with the departing president of Pakistan, ponders over the milk pudding on the legacy Asif Ali Zardari leaves behind; a different perspective on the state of Chinese justice comes from John Sudworth, who was covering the trial in Jinan of ousted politician Bo Xilai; as immigration tops the election headlines in Australia, Jon Donnison tells the story of a refugee who made it from the civil war in Syria to the offices of a women's magazine in Sydney and Nick Thorpe's unearthed the reason why, somewhere in the dry Hungarian soil, the heart of Suleiman the Magnificent is beating a little faster.
From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

Aug 24, 2013 • 28min
You Can't Kill an Idea
Correspondents' despatches: the wealthy principality of Liechtenstein is forced to face up to the idea of belt-tightening, Alex Marshall; Alastair Newton Brown strolls through the streets of the Iranian capital, Tehran where he finds people keen to engage with the West; Rajini Vaidyanathan in Washington considers the implications of the jail sentence handed down to secrets leaker Bradley Manning; Justin Rowlatt may have struggled to appreciate traditional Vietnamese music but more and more Vietnamese, he says, are keen to learn it. And Kevin Connolly is in Cairo where he's been hearing members of the Muslim Brotherhood explain why they believe they're a force that's not about to go away.
Producer: Tony Grant

Aug 17, 2013 • 28min
Seventy-Two Snipers
Correspondents' stories. Today: Hugh Sykes is in Cairo where the mood, at the end of a troubled week, is bleak and the outlook, apparently bleaker. Syrians caught in the cross hairs - Hannah Lucinda Smith on the real story of Aleppo's war: one of people trying to carry on with their lives amidst a conflict they never chose; Petroc Trelawny is on a bridge in Hanoi. The Vietnamese city, once the capital of French Indochina, is growing fast and economic forecasts are optimistic. Celeste Hicks suffers a head injury in Chad. It gives her a chance to see whether any of the country's extensive oil wealth has trickled down as far as the local hospital emergency room and David Stern has been in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where he walked in the footsteps of the man accused of killing President John F Kennedy and ended up facing something of a quandary.
The producer of From Our Own Correspondent is Tony Grant

Aug 10, 2013 • 28min
Prepared to Die
Will the Egyptian army move in to break up the camp in Cairo set up by supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi? Caroline Wyatt has been meeting residents of a city which is bitterly divided. Christians are leaving Syria in their thousands. Diana Darke's been learning that they're being greeted with enthusiasm in neighbouring Turkey. Jonathan Head says there's been a conciliatory mood in Burma as people gathered this week to mark the anniversary of an uprising which launched the country's pro-democracy movement. There are some in Gibraltar who feel the British government's not doing enough for them - Tom Burridge is on the Rock as the latest chapter in a 300-year-old row unfolds and the BBC's new man in Australia, Jon Donnison, explains why he's finding it hard coming to terms with the sheer size of his new patch.
From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Aug 3, 2013 • 28min
the Himalayan Tsunami
Indians living in the shadow of the Himalayas are being told they could face further life-threatening weather events -- Jane Dyson tells the story of a man and a mule who were unable to contend with the power of nature. Jake Wallis Simons drinks beer with an Israeli settler who tells him that whatever the outcome of the current John Kerry peace initiative, he and others like him still believe in their rights to the land. Shaimaa Khalil is in Libya, meeting the founder of a well-known militia group and asking him about al-Qaeda and about the Libyans who've gone to join the fighting in Syria. There's much talk in Latin America about legalising marijuana and liberalising other drug laws - Will Grant in Mexico takes a look at who might make money from the change. And Frederick Dove travels to China to find out if it's true that the Chinese are falling in love with the game of cricket.

Jul 27, 2013 • 28min
The Albanian Riviera
Albania, not so long ago a redoubt of hardline Communism, is now hoping for EU membership. Julia Langdon's been assessing its chances during a visit to the seaside there. Emma Jane Kirby's visiting a company which makes men's pants in France. She's looking into claims that it's harder than ever for French businesses to prosper. Wyre Davies is reporting on the papal visit to Brazil - gauging the impact it's making in a country buoyed up by economic optimism but still, in many places, very poor. Prashant Rao tells us about a favourite supermarket in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and how its luck finally ran out when it was targeted by bombers. And John Pickford, in the kingdom of Tonga, finds Chinese aid to this archipelago in the Pacific plentiful but sometimes, a mixed blessing.
Tony Grant produces From Our Own Correspondent.

Jul 20, 2013 • 28min
Mrs Wong and Mrs Lim Go Shopping
"He knew nothing about politics." A father talks to Humphrey Hawksley about his only son, killed in a street protest in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. Will Grant in Mexico on the Central American migrants who face abuse at every turn as they try to make their way to the United States. A fishing community in Alaska is engaged in a bitter battle with the mining industry - Stephen Sackur says it's dividing opinion in this wild and sparsely populated territory. Sarah Toms on the mums and dads in Singapore going to school so they can help their children with the homework. And Lyndsay Johns crams into a minibus taxi in South Africa and finds out about the highs and lows of a morning commute in Cape Town.
The producer of From Our Own Correspondent is Tony Grant.

Jul 18, 2013 • 28min
A Million Smartphones
The Bulgarian establishment under threat from a million smartphones - Nick Thorpe on the protestors demanding their government steps down. Ahead of election day in Cambodia, Annie Caulfield goes to the circus and finds happy children and painful memories. Peter Day is in Zambia where diarrhoea is a major killer of children - medication works, but getting it to remote villages presents a huge challenge. John Pickford's in the Cook Islands, in the South Pacific, and tells us why the arrival there of two large canoes caused great excitement. And Simon Wilson has discovered that baseball's not just a metaphor for life in the US, it's also a way of preparing Americans - for failure!
FOOC is produced by Tony Grant.

Jul 13, 2013 • 28min
Return to Rangoon
Quentin Sommerville talks to protestors on Cairo's streets; Andrew Harding returns to Burma and this time he doesn't need a disguise! Linda Pressly visits a unique community of sex offenders in Florida, Leo Johnson is blasting for gold in Ecuador and David Chazan learns how to be a cyber-hacker in Lille.

Jul 12, 2013 • 28min
Saints and Sinners
The recent feuding within Nelson Mandela's family has reminded us that within the anti-apartheid hero's myth is a man and a family with very human frailties, as Gabriel Gatehouse ponders when he visits a play in Johannesburg. Yolande Knell pays a visit to the deported cleric Abu Qatada's new home - Jordan's al-Muwaqar Prison. Jo Fidgen joins the crew of a Norwegian whale hunting boat. Ed Stocker finds out why some poorer Bolivians can't afford to eat their staple food, quinoa, any more. And Dany Mitzman on the Calabrian mafia's most recent and high profile victim.


