Why brass music has such a special relationship with Christmas
There is something particularly cheering about horns playing festive favourites as the temperature drops.
ByRadio review
The last bell foundry in Britain
This peek inside the John Taylor bell foundry is a ringing endorsement for BBC radio storytelling.
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The unbearable complacency of the Today programme
Arch presenters, clichéd reporting, soft interviews: no wonder BBC Radio 4’s stale morning show is rapidly losing listeners.
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Emily Ratajkowski’s new podcast is a painful listen
High Low with EmRata is both grandiose and trivial, self-absorbed and unrevealing.
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How near-death experiences change people
In a powerful new podcast, From the Other Side, John Burnside recounts his own brush with death and hears the…
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Is American democracy in danger?
In the first episode of Owen Bennett-Jones’s new Radio 4 show, the journalist investigates Russia’s attempt to meddle in the…
ByIn a tape-filled attic, Roger Bickerton finds 94 instalments of Desert Island Discs.
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Fi and Jane: live and uncensored
Former BBC stalwarts Jane Garvey and Fi Glover have moved to Times Radio. Is it more of the same?
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Why rare earth metals “hold the key to our future”
In Radio 4’s The Scramble for Rare Earths, Misha Glenny explains how this small group of elements has replaced natural…
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Can animals count? BBC radio finds out
Bees can recognise number patterns, not just of objects found in nature but even of random symbols.
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The real Boris Johnson
The BBC’s Adam Fleming discusses what he learned when making his new podcast series about the UK’s “all vibe” prime…
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Meghan Markle’s Archetypes podcast is toe-curlingly cringey – but insightful, too
The jaunty pep-talk style may irritate Brits, but it will surely appeal to the duchess’s liberal American fans.
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BBC Radio 4’s Torn takes a fresh look at fashion history
This documentary series explores the impact of fashion through the ages – from its role in slavery to driving at…
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How to sell your soul for clicks
Daisy Buchanan’s new podcast Careering examines the personal exposure demanded of women journalists.
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BBC Radio 4’s Party’s Over is a perfectly timed tale of a disgraced prime minister
Imagining the escapades of a fictional failed politician provides ample opportunity to comment on some real ones.
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Rory Stewart’s lessons in arguing well
In a three-part radio series, the former Conservative minister aims to bring reason and rhetorical flair back to public discourse.
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What the dog hears
BBC Radio 3’s unnarrated day in the life of Honey the Labrador is 30 minutes of head-emptying canine comfort.
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What does it really mean to forgive?
A new BBC Radio 4 series variously frames forgiveness as difficult, healing, a tool to regain power and an act…
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How statistics mislead us
Anna Lawlor’s BBC Radio 4 show Typical! reveals how a poor grasp of means and modes skews our idea of…
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Radio 4’s Red Lines is a heavy-handed attempt to pin today’s crisis in Ukraine on squeamish MPs in 2013
The message is unsubtle and simplistic, and the only moment of wit is when David Davis is called a wanker.
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