BBC Radio Podcasts from The Compass

The Compass

The sacred song of war

The legacy of the great patriotic wars against Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte

Catherine the Great and the question of Europe

How Catherine the Great extended Russian influence south and west

The Invention of Russia: The empire strikes back

Misha Glenny looks at the development of Russia.

The invention of Russia: A tale of two Ivans

Misha Glenny on early Moscow before the Russian Empire

Sounds of the city: Tel Aviv

Peter White visits Tel Aviv and teams up with another blind person to explore the city

Sounds of the city: Los Angeles

Peter White, blind since birth, uses the sounds to guide him as he explores new places.

Bhopal: Part one

How Indian journalist Rajkumar Keswani foretold the 1984 industrial accident of Bhopal

How to be a former president: Part three

How former world leaders try to influence global politics

How to be a former president: Part two

How ex-world leaders work with international organisations

How to be a former president: Part one

How former presidents continue to influence our world - even after leaving office

Stories from the New Silk Road: Mexico

Sharing a border with the US, will Mexico ever join China’s Belt and Road initiative?

Stories from the New Silk Road: Jamaica

From mega-projects to medicine, who benefits from Jamaica’s relationship with China?

Stories from the New Silk Road: Panama

What impact has China’s Belt and Road initiative had on Panama five years on?

Stories from the New Silk Road: Ecuador

What impact is China’s Belt and Road initiative having on the people of Ecuador?

On the Border: Narva

Tim Marshall on Narva the only EU city to border the Russian Federation

On the Border: Kinshasa and Brazzaville

The story of Kinshasa and Brazzaville, the only capitals straddling a border

On the Border: Niagara Falls

How the communities at either side of the Niagara Falls are shaped by the changing border

On the Border: Maastricht

What do borders mean in the city where the European Union was born?

Life in soil: Tasting the earth in France

How a healthy soil teeming with fungi and microbes can enhance the flavour of food

LIfe in soil: The death of soil

Isabelle Legeron explores the thrilling complexity of Soil

Life in soil: The psychology of soil in California

The indigenous Californians reviving ancestral methods of tending to the land

Green energy: Finance

How is the world going to get to net zero by 2050 and who is paying the bill?

Green energy: Iceland

How is Iceland is embracing the challenges of getting to a net zero future?

Green energy: Renewables

Why are some renewable energy projects proving controversial?

Green energy: Transport

Allan Little investigates the ‘inconvenient truths’ of transitioning to green energy

The reclaimers: The games people play

Kema Sikazwe meets people reclaiming spaces to tell new histories

The reclaimers: Into the valley

How Western museums tell the stories of others.

The reclaimers: Return to Zambia

Kema Sikazwe is in Zambia exploring colonial legacies through museum collections

The reclaimers: Bronzes and Birmingham

The uncomfortable stories behind some of the objects exhibited in UK museums

Walking the Iron Curtain: Booming Balkans

A shared love of nature is helping heal centuries of conflict and division in the Balkans

Walking the Iron Curtain: Wild lands reunited

Mary-Ann Ochota meets the people who reunified Germany through nature

Life on the line

The future of Ladakh amidst military unrest between India and China

Saving Asia’s water towers

Ed Douglas visits community projects looking to mitigate the impact of climate change

High lives

Ed Douglas reveals what life is like for those who live on the 'roof of the world'

Money, money, money: Power

The global management of money and the pressures towards decentralisation

Money, money, money: Psychology

Trust expert Rachel Botsman looks into the psychology and the morality of money

Money, money, money: Value

Broadcaster and trust expert Rachel Botsman asks what is the value of money?

Money, money, money: Trust

Should we put our faith in money? Trust expert Rachel Botsman investigates

Slick: 4. The oil thieves

We meet the people involved in Nigeria’s vast illegal oil business

Slick: 3. Black creeks

How does oil pollution affect Ogoniland today?

Slick: 2. On trial

Ken Saro Wiwa and Ledum Mittee come face to face with the power of the Nigerian state

Slick: 1. The great white hope

When Shell D’Arcy strikes black gold, there are celebrations on the Niger Delta creeks

Emotional Baggage: June Angelides

Henrietta Bowden Jones talks totalks to June Angelides about how she set up Mums In Tech

Emotional Baggage: Halima Begum

Civil rights campaigner Halima Begum on her formative experiences of racism

Emotional Baggage: Maya Youssef

A musician's painful decision not to return to Damascus when Syria's civil war began

Emotional Baggage: Dina Nayeri

The author of The Ungrateful Refugee on her experience of leaving Iran and seeking asylum

It's a Bird's World: Noise pollution

How noise pollution impacts on birds' ability to learn to sing

It’s a Bird's World: Viruses and infection

How water birds, poultry, jays and sage grouse have alerted us to the spread of diseases

It's a Bird's World: Toxic substances

How the deaths of birds have alerted the world to serious environmental problems

Why We Play: Old age

We don’t have to stop playing as we reach old age, and we probably shouldn’t

Adulthood and the importance of play

What role does play have in our adult lives and how can it increase productivity at work?

Adolescence: Discovering identity through play

How video games help teenagers to navigate issues of anxiety, depression, and identity

Childhood: Exploring the world through play

How play is crucial to building our understanding of our surroundings, culture and self

Hope – Amal

What does the future hold for the countries of the Arab Spring?

Displacement - Tashreed

How the aftereffects of the Arab Spring led to a mass displacement of people

Bread - Khubz

Have economic opportunities improved since the Arab Spring?

Freedom - Hurriya

Ten years after the Arab Spring, what did the 2011 protests achieve in Tunisia and Egypt?

How do refugee crises end?

One hundred years after the first modern refugee crisis, how much has changed?

What do we owe refugees?

One hundred years after the first modern refugee crisis, how much has changed?

Who is a refugee?

How do refugee crises begin and who can be considered a refugee?

Back to school

How space can help transform science education for the next generation

The Public Misunderstanding of Science: Racist robots

Is artificial intelligence evolving too rapidly for regulators to keep up?

Toxic debates

How do conspiracy theories take root and what can be done to combat them?

Trust: What is the best way to communicate public health messages?

Science journalist Sue Nelson explores why have so many people given up on science

Thailand: Asia’s sugar bowl

Lainy Malkani digs into the story of sugar in Thailand and sustainable production

USA: Plantations and plains

How sugar became a central commodity to American culture, its diet and economy today

Getting granular

Lainy Malkani digs into the history of sugar and how it helped shape the city of London

Building a state

A decade after the end of dictatorship, can Libya expect a peaceful and democratic future?

The rule of the gun

Why did plans to integrate Libya's militias into a unified national army come to nothing?

Libya's Revolution: A dream of freedom

Why is the revolution that overthrew Libya's Col Gaddafi still unfinished, 10 years on?

Can America change?

Jim O’Neill investigates the impact of President Biden’s ambitions to ‘build back better’

Inflation and challenges to the dollar

Can China challenge the dollar's dominance or will digital currencies be more disruptive?

Covid and economic stimulus

Can the Biden administration’s policies redefine US economy and its place in the world?

Gold: What does the future hold?

Rajvi Vora looks at the environmental cost of goldmines and the people who work at them

Gold: Its role around the globe

Gold and its impact around the world from Colombia to Ghana to the gold vaults of Dubai

23/06/2021 GMT

We explore gold's past, present and future and humanity’s obsession with it.

Are we heading for a world without work?

Could automation lead to the end of work, and what would that mean for the world?

Automation and the future of jobs

What does the new wave of high-tech automation mean for jobs?

Machines: What they do now that they did not do before

Daniel Susskind explores automation’s impact on the future of work in America

Gambling: A sure bet? USA

The Native American Tribes feeling threatened by the rise in online sports betting

Gambling: A Sure Bet? Albania

Is banning gambling the best way to tackle the problems it causes in Albania?

Gambling: A Sure Bet? Kenya

Dr Heather Wardle meets the students gambling on football to try and earn a living

Solutions

Alok Jha shows how water itself may offer solutions to give us hope

Ecological crises

The ecological crises threatening water supplies from the lakes of Bangalore to Lake Chad

Water as a resource

Alok Jha uncovers the broken economics and politics of water

How water shaped us

How our relationship with water evolved through time and shaped our deepest psychology

Forests of hope and the future

Jessica J. Lee explores the myriad ways that forests operate in our lives

Forests of science and knowledge

Radical new ways of recognising forests as communities of mutually supportive trees

Forests of folktale and imagination

The role that forests play in our imaginations and how they reflect our inner wildness

The New Arctic: Power

As tensions rise between Russia, Nato and China in the Arctic is a new cold war likely?

The New Arctic: Tourism

Tourism in the Arctic is growing but is it a sustainable industry?

The New Arctic: Resource extraction

As the ice retreats can the scramble for resources beneath the Arctic benefit communities?

The New Arctic: Communities under threat

Allan Little investigates how the climate crisis is impacting Arctic communities

My Perfect City: Communities in Barcelona

Can other cities learn from Barcelona's community-building initiatives?

My Perfect City: Women entrepreneurs in Kochi

An Indian city making female entrepreneurship a priority

My Perfect City: Integration in Rotterdam

A Dutch city lauded for its policies on integrating immigrant populations

My Perfect City: Housing in Vienna

In Vienna housing is considered a human right. Is it a model other cities should follow?

My Perfect City: Mental health in Singapore

Has Singapore found a solution to improving its citizens’ wellbeing?

My Perfect City: Employment in Toronto

Is a Canadian city's approach to unemployment one that other cities should consider?

Finders Keepers: A house that came home

What chance do communities have of getting looted artefacts back?

Finders Keepers: Icons and empire

Calls for the return of objects, looted from around the world are growing ever louder

Finders Keepers: A photograph, a pipe and a skull

Should priceless stolen objects that form part of history be returned to their origins?

Can Germany Save the World?: Stepping up on the world stage

Is Germany ready to be more assertive on the world stage?

Can Germany Save the World?: Building a post-Covid society

As governments rethink their economies and societies, could Germany provide the answers?

Can Germany Save the World?: Mutti and her crisis management

Can Angela Merkel teach the world a lesson about managing crises?

Climate Wars: Central and Northern America

What impact is climate change having on human security in Central and Northern America?

Climate Wars: The Sahel

How climate change is acting as a catalyst for conflict in Africa's Sahel region

Climate Wars: The new Cold War

As temperatures rise in the Arctic, global superpowers are eyeing new opportunities

Climate Wars: Water conflicts

How drought is fuelling conflict in India and Pakistan

Climate Wars: Darfur

Will Robson examines the links between climate change and global conflicts

The senses: Synaesthesia: When senses merge

Synaesthesia: We meet the man whose sister tastes of blackcurrant yoghurt

The senses: Smell and taste

‘Everything smelled of rotting flesh, even perfume’: What happens when smell goes wrong?

The senses: Hearing

‘I could hear my eyeballs moving’: How rogue messages pass between our ears and brain

The senses: Vision

How glitches between our eyes and brain cause bewildering, even terrifying, images.

The senses: Touch

When our sensory system goes wrong, we learn how our senses help us understand the world

Rethinking: The pandemic that changed the world

Ian Goldin analyses the Covid pandemic, economic disaster and the future of globalisation

Remedies: The pandemic that changed the world

How should governments respond to the pandemic?

Reasons: The pandemic that changed the world

Why did world leaders fail to work together to prevent the spread of Covid-19?

Window on the universe

A new space telescope promises to transform our view of the universe.

Tech companies and free speech

Is it up to tech companies to police what people should or shouldn’t say, post or tweet?

Journalists: Free speech v personal safety

Robin Lustig explores journalists' freedom to report against threats to their own safety

Blasphemy or free speech?

Robin Lustig explores the challenge of blasphemy over the right to free speech

Freedom of speech in universities: Who draws the line?

Robin Lustig explores the threats to and opportunities for the right to free speech

Courts and the right to free speech

Robin Lustig explores the threats to and opportunities for the right to free speech

What is the secret to a longer life?

Five communities consistently outlive the rest of the planet boasting members aged 100+

Is height all in the mind?

Professor Cregan-Reid explores why people have grown so fast in the 20th Century

How modern life affects our sleep

How do we get a good nights sleep in an increasingly noisy world?

Poland: Men and gender relations

What men in Poland are really thinking about the pivotal point for gender relations

Poland: Women

Gender is a fraught political issue in Poland and many women are feeling challenged

Mexico City: Men

As the MeToo movement gains momentum in Mexico City how do the men see gender equality?

Mexico City: Women

Mexican women are calling on authorities to do more to combat the high rates of femicide

Chinese Dreams: India

Where is the complicated relationship between India and China heading?

Chinese Dreams: Kenya

How is China’s growing role in Kenya’s media scene changing perceptions of China?

Chinese Dreams: Canada

The arrest of Meng Wanzhou in Canada sparks a geopolitical crisis

Chinese Dreams: Indonesia

Will China's rise help Chinese-Indonesians or encourage more discrimination and envy?

Chinese Dreams: Australia

Is China interfering in Australian politics?

Chinese Dreams: The preview

As China grows richer and more powerful, how is its impact felt around the world?

The Kids are Alright: Tackling violence

Teenagers inspired to try and make a difference in the world around them.

The Kids are Alright: Opportunity

The 18-year-old student who built a school and a 15-year-old Silicon Valley entrepreneur

The Kids are Alright: Environment

How Stella Bowles' school project and persistence led to a clean-up of her local river

The Cold War Legacy: Angola

What will it take for Angola to be truly free of the legacy of Africa’s Cold War?

My Perfect City: Oslo

What can Oslo – the European Green Capital of 2019 – offer to the perfect city?

The Cold War Legacy: India

How is India navigating international relations today?

The Cold War Legacy: Indonesia

In 1965, some half a million people died in military-led killings of suspected communists

The Cold War Legacy: Brazil

Jair Bolsonaro has vowed to wipe the reds off the map. Is Brazil reliving the Cold War?

The Cold War Legacy: Czechoslovakia

What do new generations of Czechs feel about the future as well as the communist past?

Dominion: The animals and the poets

Writers explore our attitude to animals and attempt to uncover what our human values are

Dominion: The animals and the philosophers

The impact of philosophy and religion on animals as food

Dominion: The animals and the linguists

What part does language play in how we think about other animals?

Dominion: The animals and the lawyers

The people seeking to strengthen animals' legal rights

Media Front: USA

Who's controlling the media messages in advance of the 2020 presidential election?

Media Front: Ukraine

How geo-political forces are shaping the media landscape in Ukraine

Media Front: Philippines

How journalists in the Philippines are fighting back against challenges to press freedom

Media Front: India - The future of journalism

What are the challenges for a free and independent media in India?

Ground Shift: Sustainability and the millennial farmers

What future is there for millennial farmers amidst an increasingly fragile environment?

Ground Shift: Scale and modern farming models

Ground Shift talks to the next generation of farmers in Ghana, Australia and the USA

Ground Shift: Digital technology and rural communities

How digital and mobile phone technology is changing farming and boosting prosperity

Ground Shift: Survival for millennial farmers

Ground Shift talks to the next generation of farmers in Ghana, Australia and the USA

China: The start of the Silk Road

Lanzhou city on the Yellow River is benefiting from the Belt and Road Initiative

Cambodia: New riches on the coast

How a new Silk Road connecting transport hubs from Kenya to Kazakhstan is changing lives.

Kazakhstan: A port in the sand

Khorgas in Kazakhstan was the gateway of the ancient Silk Road. How is it transforming?

Raha: The joy of the train

The new Chinese Mombasa–Nairobi railway has replaced the British-built Uganda Railway

How modern living is changing our faces

How our faces are evolving from jaws that are shorter to our teeth and eyes

How modern life is changing our backs

How modern life has promoted back pain and why it is the number one cause of disability

How modern life is changing our feet

What modern living is doing to our feet and why our trainers may not be the best for them

Medellin, Colombia: Slums and urban regeneration

The visionary project that transformed the violent barrios of Colombia's second city

Knife crime: Glasgow, Scotland

How Glasgow, which has one of the highest murder rates in Europe, is tackling knife crime

Participatory budgeting: Paris, France

In Paris citizens vote on how to spend the city’s budget. Is this a model to follow?

The 24-hour city: London, UK

How the UK capital makes money around the clock

The smart city: Seoul, South Korea

How is data being used to help Seoul run smoothly?

The green city: San Francisco, USA

Is San Francisco’s recycling scheme and sustainable public transport a model to follow?

The History of Wastefulness: The Tipping Point

Could the future be rubbish-free?

The History of Wastefulness: Rubbish Through the Ages

Three historical landmarks that shaped modern attitudes to waste

Making a Difference

Can Japan’s gun control policies, Norway’s prisoner scheme and Uganda’s law scheme work?

The History of Wastefulness: Today’s Trash Challenge

How our relationship with rubbish has evolved over time

The Sun, Our Star: Health and beauty

What does being deprived of sunlight do to you?

The Sun, Our Star: Space weather

What effect could solar winds have on life on Earth?

The Sun, Our Star: Ancient sun

How the Sun’s light and heat inspired rituals dating back to the earliest humans

The Sun, Our Star: Energy

How much energy can we get from the Sun?

The Sun, Our Star

It's the source and sustainer of all life on Earth, but what do we really know about it?

The Great Unravelling: Trade and China

Could China break the World Trade Organisation?

The Great Unravelling: Trade and Trump

Could President Trump’s trade wars break the World Trade Organisation?

The Great Unravelling: Self Determination

What does the principle of self-determination mean in 2018?

The Great Unravelling: War

Will new forms of war present even more of a challenge to the world order?

The Great Unravelling: Human Rights

Is the world order that was forged after WW2 unravelling?

After the Crash: The Future

Ian Goldin examines how the 2008 financial crisis has changed the world

After the Crash: Rethinking Economics

How should economists rethink their ideas to better spot financial dangers in the future?

After the Crash: Power Shift

How the 2008 financial crisis led to a shift in power from West to East

After the Crash: Austerity and Consequences

Did Governments’ handling of the 2008 financial crisis make things better or worse?

After the Crash: Authority and Trust

How did the 2008 financial crisis affect our trust in authorities and experts?

Sounds of the forest

What is the relationship between sound, the forest and the people in India?

The sounds of the Lofoten Islands

Glacial streams, the wind and the cry of ravens are familiar sounds of Lofoten islands

The sounds of the Namib Desert

Life in the Namib Desert from the solo notes of birds at dawn to the wind at night

The sounds of the Maasai Mara

A sonic journey through the plains of the Maasai Mara in Africa

Antibiotics

How can we prepare against antibiotic resistant diseases in the future?

Flesh is Weak, so Upgrade

How do we hack our own biology to counteract the effects of ageing, pain and ill health?

Who Owns Your Data?

How companies amass data about you and how to win the data race against tech companies

Work

Can we all continue to be gainfully employed for years to come?

Robots

Practical advice on how to stop yourself going out of date

Too Much English?

Will English continue to dominate or decline, diminish cultures or enrich them?

Changing British English

Have you used the words antwacky, jarg and squinny recently?

Dialects and Evolution

How is the 21st Century transforming English - the world’s most widely used language

From Language to Algorithm

How is the 21st Century transforming English - the world’s most widely used language?

Abortion in America: Washington

In the US Supreme Court nine judges hear the latest major abortion case

Abortion in America: Kentucky

In Kentucky a legal case is under way aimed at closing the last clinic for abortions

Abortion in America: Texas

Could abortion be banned in the USA?

Dams

Meet the communities living in the shadow of hydro-electric dams

Glaciers

Fresh ideas to stop the damage caused by melting glaciers

Encroaching Deserts

Yin Yuzhen has planted a million trees in 70,000 hectares of desert

Sea Levels Rise

Moving on from uninhabitable land and building state-of-the-art sea defences

My Perfect Country: Which Policies will Work?

From closing the gender gap to sustainable fishing, which policy will be adopted?

My Perfect Country: Canada

Is Canada’s catch share model for sustainable fishing a contender for an imagined utopia?

My Perfect Country: Nepal

How has Nepal dramatically reduced maternal death – and can their policy be replicated?

My Perfect Country: Norway

How has Norway managed to have the lowest rate of prisoners reoffending in Europe?

My Perfect Country: Germany

Is the way Germany has handled refugee integration a model other countries could follow?

My Perfect Country: Cuba

Does Cuba hold the best policy for surviving hurricanes?

My Perfect Country: Rwanda

Rwanda has closed its gender gap by 80%. Is it a model other countries should follow?

What Happened Next: Ebola

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the challenges of bringing the disease in control

What Happened Next: Rana Plaza

Four years on since the collapse of the Rana Plaza has anything changed in Bangladesh?

What Happened Next: The Japanese Tsunami, 2011

How did people rebuild their lives after the devastating Japanese tsunami of 2011?

Ocean Stories: The Pacific Ocean

Tourism brings opportunity to the Solomon Islands and the Philippines but at what cost?

Ocean Stories: The Arctic and Southern Oceans

The melting ice is changing the sea's composition completely

Ocean Stories: The Indian Ocean

Deep sea exploration of the Indian Ocean and the people making a living from the sea

Ocean Stories: The Atlantic

The fishing communities living and working along the shores of the Atlantic

America Laboratory of Democracy: Insurgent Nation

The insurgent popular movements that changed America's democracy

America, Laboratory of Democracy: Little Leviathans

The 1924 Scopes Trial that banned the teaching of Charles Darwins' evolution in Tennessee

America, Laboratory of Democracy: Money -the Lifeblood of American Democracy

2/4 How money became an important feature in American politics

America, Laboratory of Democracy: Drowning Government in a Bathtub

1/4 How America became the world’s first big democracy and the limits of its constitution

Making it Work: Agriculture in India and Kenya

4/4 Entrepreneurs coming up with innovative solutions for agriculture in India and Kenya

Making it Work: Navigating Kenya's Streets with Technology

3/4 OkHi is a navigation device which allows you to find an address, however remote

Making it Work: Rugged Tablets for African Schools

2/4 Start-ups who are innovating products in Kenya and India

Making it Work: Affordable Medical Equipment in India

1/4 New mini-series. The reality of being an entrepreneur serving “the bottom billion”

Stargazing: South Africa's New Generation Astronomers

The scientist running the Square Kilometre Array, the world's biggest telescope: 5/5

Stargazing: Faith versus Science in Hawaii

The proposed Thirty Metre Telescope on sacred mount Mauna Kea that's causing a rift: 4/5

Stargazing: A New Vision of Our Cosmic Origins

The James Webb Space Telescope: its journey to discover how our universe came to be. 3/5

Stargazing: Astronomy from the Edge of the World

ALMA, the remote observatory in Chile, tracks the 'radio sky': 2/5

Stargazing: Copernicus' Heavenly Spheres

How the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus revealed the true model of the universe: 1/5

On the Black Sea: Sailors of Sevastopol

The Crimean coast, where Russia meets Turkey, is a region of great strategic importance

On the Black Sea: a Land Forgotten

What is life like in Abkhazia, an independent state that is not recognised elsewhere?

On the Black Sea: Truckers

Black Sea truckers are tough. They transport everything from biscuits to fridges to pigs.

On the Black Sea: Diving Deep

The Black Sea is an archaeologist’s dream but an ecologist’s nightmare.

On the Black Sea: The Voyage Begins

A journey around the Black Sea, where Russian warships sail for Syria and Nato watches

A Tale of Two Rivers: Kuala Lumpur

In Kuala Lumpur the regeneration of the Klang River is seen as key to modernisation

A Tale of Two Rivers: Los Angeles

The regeneration of the Los Angeles river and the challenges of turning it 'green'

A Young World - Sierra Leone

How do young people in Sierra Leone cope faced with staggering rates of unemployment?

A Young World - Uganda

The struggle to get a good education, in an overpopulated school system

Technology

How technology might change our economic futures for the better

Resources

How access to critical resources might change the way our economies work

Finance

How the coming technical revolution in finance will create new winners and losers

Demographics

How economic power will shift as the world’s population changes

Politics

How the global economy is being shaped by political backlash

Shanghai City of Youth - Part Three

The city's cultural hub attracts young people with both an Eastern and Western outlook

Shanghai, City of Youth - Part Two

Dating, marriage and why young people are delaying the traditional family in Shanghai

Shanghai, City of Youth - Part One

What draws young graduates to study and work in Shanghai?

My Perfect Country: The Debate

Water, housing, gun control, women's rights and more are debated by a panel and listeners

My Perfect Country: Curbing Smoking in Australia

Is Australia's anti-smoking policy a model for other countries to follow?

My Perfect Country: Shanghai's Model for Teaching Maths

Has Shanghai found the perfect formula for teaching maths?

My Perfect Country: 'State Feminism' in Tunisia

Is Tunisia’s approach to what women can and can't do an example for other Arab countries?

My Perfect Country: Gun Control in Japan

How Japan's rigorous gun control policy has reduced gun violence to single digits

My Perfect Country: Cutting Poverty in Peru

Peru has cut poverty by 50% in 10 years. Is it a model others could - or should - follow?

My Perfect Country: Solving Water Scarcity in Bermuda

The island's roofs catch every drop of rain, purify water and store it for daily use

Islam, People and Power: Reflections

Safa Al Ahmad chairs a discussion about the role of Islam in politics in the Arab world.

Islam, People and Power: The Shia

The debate within Shi’ism about the role of Islam in government

Islam, People and Power: The Islamists

Why the Muslim Brotherhood has fractured since the Arab uprisings

Islam, People and Power: The Salafis

Disputes in Islam’s most misunderstood sect - the Wahhabis, also known as Salafis

Islam, People and Power: The Sunni Traditionalists

The battle of ideas that accompanied the Arab uprisings

A New Cold War?

The impact of an assertive Russia on Norway's defence policy

Our Friends, the Russians

The impact of an assertive Russia on Norway, and Norway’s involvement in Afghanistan

DisUnited Kingdom: Londonderry, Northern Ireland

What will the UK vote to leave the EU mean for Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland?

disUnited Kingdom: Stirling, Scotland

What effect has Brexit had on the people of Scotland?

disUnited Kingdom: Wrexham, Wales

Why did Wales – a big beneficiary of EU funds – vote for Brexit?

disUnited Kingom: Birmingham, England

What does Brexit tell us about divisions between communities in Birmingham?

Exploring Culture and Mental Health

How does culture influence mental health and treatment?

Healing in Ghana

What options do people in Ghana have when a person suffers mental illness?

Hearing Voices in the UK

Hearing voices was once considered a sign of madness but has there been a cultural shift?

Increase in Mental Health Issues Among Teenagers in Sweden

'Democratic parenting' and social media use could be behind young people's anxiety

Depression in Japan

Why is Japan going through a revolution in the awareness and treatment of depression?

Final Thoughts

Chris Bowlby hosts a discussion on issues and the future for Europe’s migration crisis

Germany: The Decision Makers

How is Germany dealing with hundreds of thousands of new migrants?

UK: From Syria To Yorkshire

How are Syrian refugees settling into their new lives in Bradford, UK?

Italy: The Priest and The Mayor

Migrants in southern Italy, with starkly varying lives, get very different kinds of help.

My Perfect Country: The UN Debate

Fi Glover, Martha Lane Fox and a panel of guests discuss ground-breaking social policies

Greece: The Warehouse of Souls

Maria Margaronis explores worlds of hope and chaos for refugees and islanders in Greece.

Turkey: The Lost Generation

How half a million Syrian refugee children are in need of an education

Europe’s Challenges: The Union in Crisis

Chris Morris examines the crises facing the EU and asks whether it will survive.

Europe's Challenges: Expanding the Union

How the European Union grew from a small club of six to a 28-state superpower

Europe’s Challenges: The Road to Rome

The past and future of the European Union at a critical moment in its history

Shakespeare in the World - South Africa

The role of Shakespeare in the politics of South Africa and why he still matters today

Shakespeare in the World - India

From the Bollywood screen to village storytellers - how has India adopted Shakespeare?

Shakespeare and the American Dream - Part Two

How Shakespeare became part of the fabric of early American life. With Stephen Sondheim.

Shakespeare and the American Dream - Part One

How Shakespeare became part of the fabric of early American life

Soul Music: Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez

The passion and emotional impact of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar

The Battle of Ideas - Part Two

Who will stop the flow of young Arab men into the ranks of the so-called Islamic State?

The Battle of Ideas in the Middle East - Part One

Who’s leading the political and spiritual fightback against the so-called Islamic State?

My Perfect Country: Legal Advice in Uganda

How a group of legal experts revolutionised Uganda's legal system through social media

My Perfect Country: Sanitation for Women in India

Should India's pioneering policies on sanitation be adopted elsewhere?

My Perfect Country: Preventing Suicide in Michigan, USA

Would Michigan's 'zero suicide model' be a policy for adoption in a perfect country?

My Perfect Country: Drug Decriminalisation in Portugal

Is Portugal's view of drugs as a health issue rather than a crime a good model to follow?

My Perfect Country: Green Energy in Costa Rica

Could Costa Rica’s green energy policy work in our utopian dream?

My Perfect Country: Estonia's Digital Society

Is Estonia’s revolutionary digital policy a contender for a perfect country?