Radio

How did the internet become so horrific?

17 February 2024 9:00 am

Plus: the joy of hearing lawyers argue

Joni Mitchell, in her own words

11 November 2023 9:00 am

There’s always been something at once girlish and steely about Joni Mitchell, the stellar Canadian whom Rolling Stone called ‘one…

I’m not convinced Thomas Heatherwick is the best person to be discussing boring buildings

28 October 2023 9:00 am

Architects are often snobby about – and no doubt jealous of – the designer Thomas Heatherwick, who isn’t an actual…

A Radio 3 doc that contains some of the best insults I’ve ever heard

28 October 2023 9:00 am

A recent Sunday Feature on Radio 3 contained some of the best insults I have ever heard. Contributors to the…

What happened to the supermodels of the 1990s?

14 October 2023 9:00 am

‘What advice would you give to your younger self?’ has become a popular question in interviews in recent years. It’s…

Enjoyable and informative but where’s the drama? Political Currency reviewed

30 September 2023 9:00 am

The first episode of George Osborne and Ed Balls’s new podcast, Political Currency, opened with an old clip of the…

You’ll have a lump in your throat: BBC Radio 4’s Four Sides of Seamus Heaney reviewed

16 September 2023 9:00 am

It’s now been ten years since Seamus Heaney died, and after a great poet’s death it’s natural, I suppose, that…

The rise of vampirism in Silicon Valley

2 September 2023 9:00 am

The Immortals, which begins on Radio 4 this week, is not for the faint-hearted. While it professes to be about…

Beautiful and illuminating: Radio 4’s the Venice Conundrum reviewed

5 August 2023 9:00 am

The playwright Carlo Gozzi marvelled at ‘The spectacle of women turned into men, men turned into women, and both men…

The stuff of nightmares: Retrievals podcast reviewed

22 July 2023 9:00 am

It is the stuff of nightmares, or a queasily dystopian film plot. A woman is undergoing a surgical procedure in…

A comedy double act from John Cleese and Justin Welby: the Archbishop Interviews reviewed

8 July 2023 9:00 am

I’m listening to John Cleese talking to Justin Welby in the new series of The Archbishop Interviews when the thought…

Gripping and admirable: BBC Radio 4’s Fever: The Hunt for Covid’s Origins reviewed

24 June 2023 9:00 am

It’s the whodunnit – or whatdunnit – that has kept scientists, politicians, journalists and armchair sleuths speculating ever since the…

Perfect radio for a nation of grumblers: Radio 4’s Room 101 with Paul Merton reviewed

10 June 2023 9:00 am

Welcome back to Room 101, which has returned to the radio – after nearly 30 years on TV – and…

Looking for a male role model? Check out the silverback gorilla

27 May 2023 9:00 am

One so often hears about famous people who are horrible when they think no one important is looking – barking…

Prayer for the Day is the best thing to wake up to

13 May 2023 9:00 am

As the owner of a radio alarm clock, I could theoretically start listening to the Today programme before I’m even…

How productive is it to listen to productivity gurus?

29 April 2023 9:00 am

I was making my way slowly through one of my dismally prosaic little to-do lists – ‘pay the water bill’…

Crossing Continents is the best of the BBC

15 April 2023 9:00 am

Ask a member of Generation Z where in the world they would most like to live, and chances are they…

In praise of From Our Own Correspondent

1 April 2023 9:00 am

Most of us are familiar with the notion of writer’s block, that paralysis of invention induced by the appalling sight…

Is the BBC World Service superfluous or a vital adjunct of British diplomacy?

25 March 2023 9:00 am

Is the World Service superfluous, or a vital adjunct of British diplomacy, wonders Oscar Edmondson