Beyond Today

Drill music has a reputation for inciting violence and crime. The Metropolitan Police believes the genre is linked to the rise of stabbings and murders across London, and the Met chief Cressida Dick has said social media platforms should be more vigilant of drill content being uploaded online. But many argue that drill is not only a form of expression, but it’s also the reality for many young black men who live in urban areas across the country. With attempts being made to ban the genre, what does this mean for those who socially and financially rely on it? The BBC’s Oliver Newlan explores how an attack on one of the country's biggest drill artists led to a number of deaths in north London, while Professor Forrest Stuart at Stanford University explains why we need to understand drill in order to understand the perspective of young black and brown men living in urban poverty. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Seren Jones Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

At first coronavirus was just a health story, but now it’s pretty clear employment and the economy are taking a massive hit. Travel bans have led to airlines cutting jobs and the hospitality sector is in trouble as people stay at home.In this episode we ask what will happen to workers. It’s a global problem so we speak to Harriet and Ray, a freelance couple in New York, as well as documentary director Emily in London. We also speak to Chris Giles, Economics Editor at the Financial Times, about some of the things being done elsewhere to help people who lose work because of the virus.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Kiley Reid’s debut novel shot into the bestsellers list and has been lauded by critics here and in the US. Such A Fun Age follows the lives of babysitter Emira Tucker, a young black woman, and her wealthy, white employer Alix Chamberlin in post-Obama America. Kiley’s book explores race, class and wealth, and how well-meaning wokeness can actually exacerbate those issues.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Alicia Burrell and Katie Gunning Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

The world is in the midst of a pandemic. For most people, symptoms of the virus are mild, they might develop a cough and a fever before getting better. This has led many people to compare the new coronavirus to seasonal influenza. But, for a minority of those affected, particularly older people and those with underlying heart or lung conditions, the new coronavirus can cause severe difficulty breathing, and in about 1% of cases, death. Infectious diseases expert, Dr Nathalie MacDermott tells Matthew Price how seasonal flu compares to pandemics past and present, why Trump’s travel ban won’t work and the lessons she’s learned from the front line of Ebola. We also speak to a British man in isolation in Wuhan, China about his experience of the virus.Presenter: Matthew Price Produced by Rory Galloway and Lucy Hancock Mixed by Emma Crowe Edited by Philly Beaumont

Most people who transition to another gender do not have second thoughts. In fact de-transitioning is thought to be relatively rare. There are no accurate figures revealing how many people reverse or change their gender, as academic researchers have never studied a large group of transitioning people over a long period of time – but some studies suggest that fewer than 0.5 per cent of trans people choose to return to the gender they were assigned at birth. Whatever the numbers, we know that more people are telling their stories. Around the world there are trans men and trans women who have decided to de-transition, and it’s often not an easy choice. Others have chosen to re-identify as non-binary or gender-fluid. We speak two BBC journalists, Linda Pressly and Lucy Proctor, who’ve made a documentary for the World Service called The Detransitioners. They’ve spent the last year talking to people who had transitioned, but then returned to their birth gender. Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Katie Gunning Mixed by Emma Crowe

Middlesbrough has the highest number of teenage pregnancies in England and Wales. Even though national figures show rates have dropped by nearly 60 percent over the past 10 years, the number of pregnant teens in the north-eastern town rose by 20 percent from 2015 to 2017. When the average age of a mum in England and Wales is 30 years old, why are there so many teens having babies in Middlesbrough? We speak to Charley and Robyn, two teenagers who tell us what it’s like to have been fast-tracked to motherhood. And the BBC’s Philippa Goymer tries to makes sense of the growing trend in the area.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Seren Jones Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the 70-year-old billionaire ruler of Dubai and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates, has been found by the High Court in London to have abducted and forcibly returned two of his daughters to Dubai, and to have conducted a campaign of intimidation against his former wife, Princess Haya.Princess Haya used to speak of a perfect family life in interviews, but cracks began to appear in 2018 when Sheikha Latifa, one of Sheikh Mohammed's adult daughters with another wife, tried to flee the UAE with the help of a former French spy and a Finnish fitness instructor. A boat carrying them was intercepted at sea off the coast of India and Sheikha Latifa was returned to Dubai. Journalists Vanessa Grigoriadis from Vanity Fair and Haroon Siddique from the Guardian have been following the story.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber and Rory Galloway Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

It was just before 10 o’clock in the morning on 27th October 2018 when a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle and three pistols opened fire on worshippers at a synagogue in the US state of Pennslyvania. 11 people died that morning at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. It was the deadliest attack on American Jews in US history, and it sent shock waves around the world. For the writer and New York Times columnist, Bari Weiss it felt personal. She grew up in Pittsburgh and used to go to the Tree of Life. In response to this attack she’s written a book on how to fight anti-Semitism. She argues that such hatred was, until recently, relatively taboo but is now migrating toward the mainstream; amplified by social media and a culture of conspiracy. Anti-Semitism is on the rise across Europe, the US and the Middle East.We speak to Bari Weiss about where anti-Semitism comes from and how to fight it. The episode includes some offensive language. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Alicia Burrell and Katie Gunning Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

There have been mounting allegations over the past few weeks that home secretary Priti Patel has bullied her staff. Last weekend the top civil servant in the Home Office, Sir Philip Rutnam, resigned. He’s heavily criticised Patel, and is suing the government for constructive dismissal. Priti Patel has denied any wrongdoing. In today’s episode we look into the multiple allegations against the home secretary. Our home affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw, talks about her path to one of the four Great Offices of State, and reporter Rianna Croxford tells the story of a young woman who has accused Priti Patel of bullying. Finally, political correspondent Leila Nathoo explains how these allegations are linked to the wider culture of bullying in politics.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Seren Jones, Rory Galloway and Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Nearly 50 people have died in India following violence around a controversial citizenship law which critics say is anti-Muslim. Photographs, videos and accounts on social media paint a chilling image of what appears to be mostly Hindu mobs beating unarmed Muslim men.In this episode we speak to BBC journalists Yogita Limaye and Sachin Gogoi to find out what’s fuelling the violence.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber and Harriet Noble Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

In the same week that Harvey Weinstein was convicted for sexual assaults in New York, Roman Polanski won the award for best director at the Césars, the French equivalent of the Oscars. The actor Adele Haenel, who accused a director of sexually abusing her when she was a child, denounced the decision and walked out of the ceremony. Polanski has been accused of assaulting several women, including a 13-year-old girl in 1977. France’s #MeToo movement also criticised Polanski’s award, saying that French institutions tend to reward a person’s art over their actions and that the country is slow to listen to women. In the episode we speak to Anne Elizabeth Moutet who signed a letter saying #MeToo had gone too far. We also speak to journalist Alice Kantor about the generational gap and why she thinks sexism is deep-rooted in French society. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Katie Gunning and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Harriet Noble

In Paris in 2015 world leaders agreed on a binding commitment on climate change. They committed to keeping the increase in global temperatures to just 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.Heathrow airport has been planning to expand by building a third runway. But last week environmentalists successfully challenged the third runway on the basis that it couldn’t demonstrate how the expansion of the airport was consistent with the UK government’s commitments on climate change. It’s the first major demonstration of the impact of the Paris climate accord on the UK’s CO2 emissions, and it has huge implications for future infrastructure projects. What could the ruling mean for the future of the UK economy? We discuss with Mike Berners-Lee, a professor in the environment centre of Lancaster University, and Kingsmill Bond, an energy strategist at the financial think-tank Carbon Tracker. Presenter: Mathew Price Producers: Rory Galloway and Duncan Barber Editor: Harriet Noble Mixed by Emma Crowe

2020 has been quite a year, we're only two months in but have already faced an impending war between the US and Iran, deadly bushfires in Australia, and now coronavirus is spreading across the world.So, in light of that, we thought it was time to return to an earlier episode to make us all feel better. It’s about self-care and making time for some emotional first aid.Dr Laurie Santos is professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University. She was so concerned about the anxiety her students experienced she devised a course that would teach them how to be happy. Psychology and the Good Life quickly became the most popular course in the history of Yale and the online version went viral. Now Laurie Santos has turned her research into a podcast called the Happiness Lab. She gave us her top tips were to ensure lasting happiness.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast and Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

For years there were allegations that Harvey Weinstein had assaulted women. This week he was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault, including rape, and faces up to 29 years in prison. So, how did the Hollywood titan create his downfall? The New Yorker’s Ken Auletta has been covering Weinstein since 2002, and tells us how Weinstein became one of the industry’s most influential players and how his power led to his fall from grace. Documentary maker Ursula MacFarlane spent time with many of Weinstein’s victims and explains why putting him behind bars is a new beginning for victims of sexual abuse. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Seren Jones Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Facial recognition technology is increasingly widespread. You might use it to unlock your phone or computer. It’s used in airports around the world and some shops are using the software to catch or deter shoplifters. Now it’s being used by the police in two parts of the UK. The Metropolitan Police is using live facial recognition cameras on London streets and it’s also being used by police in South Wales. The technology means that faces captured by the cameras can be checked in real time against a watch lists of suspects. But creating a face print or facial signature for everyone who passes a camera is controversial. Privacy campaigners say the technology is often inaccurate and infringes on an individual's right to privacy. The police argue that privacy concerns over the cameras are outweighed by the need to protect the public. We speak to the BBC’s home affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw about why the police want to adopt the technology. We also find out how the technology works with Maryam Ahmed, who works in the BBC’s data journalism team and has a PhD in machine learning for image analysis. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Katie Gunning and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

With cases of coronavirus spreading across the world, one word we’re hearing more and more is “pandemic”. If the disease is declared a pandemic it would mean that cases of coronavirus are no longer able to be traced back to the country of origin and fall outside of the control of health authorities. The World Health Organisation doesn’t consider coronavirus to be a pandemic yet, and has stated there is hope that it is controllable despite major outbreaks in Italy and Iran. But that hasn’t stopped people panicking.In this episode BBC reporter Mark Lowen recounts going to an Italian town that has been blockaded to stop the virus. Virologist Jonathan Ball describes how the virus is caught and how it does and doesn’t affect the body, and the BBC’s health correspondent James Gallagher explains what the word pandemic really means and whether we’re all likely to get the disease.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Rory Galloway and Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Mark Zuckerberg says he wants new rules for social media.Every year politicians and security experts meet in Munich to discuss how to keep the world safe. This year they invited Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook. He told the conference governments need to create new rules for social media platforms to stop the spread of harmful content and disinformation. So why is big tech’s biggest player asking for more regulation?The BBC’s tech reporter Zoe Kleinman came into the Beyond Today studio to talk what social media regulation might involve, and to Ali Breland, an expert on disinformation.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Alicia Burrell, Katie Gunning and Harriet Noble Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: Philly Beaumont

Billie Eilish is on top of the world right now. The 18-year-old recently swept the board at the Grammys, winning five awards including best new artist and song of the year. She also replaced Taylor Swift as the youngest person ever to win album of the year. She’s just performed at the Brit Awards and has written the theme for the upcoming James Bond film No Time To Die.She seems to be a rare example of organic streaming success in the music industry, having had her big break after uploading a song on SoundCloud. But if you dig a little deeper there’s more than meets the eye. In this episode David Turner, who writes the weekly streaming newsletter Penny Fractions and works for SoundCloud, says Billie Eilish’s story is one of an industry trying to make a criticised model appear well-functioning. We also speak to the music journalist Paula Mejia about how streaming has changed our relationship with music.Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Since Caroline Flack’s death by suicide last weekend, many people have been trying to make sense of it. Yesterday her family released a previously unpublished Instagram post written by Caroline Flack detailing her ‘shame’ and ‘embarrassment’ at the truth being taken out of her hands and used, she wrote, as ‘entertainment’. Some have pointed the finger at the tabloids for her fragile mental state. Others are blaming a ‘toxic’ social media culture. In this episode, we explore this idea with entertainment journalist Scott Bryan. We also speak to writers Sophie Wilkinson and Lauren O’Neill about the world of celebrity journalism.If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme you can find help on the BBC Action line here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/emotional-distress-information-and-support Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Lucy Hancock and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Emma CroweClips: Channel 4, Flicker Productions and ITV Studios, BBC archive.

At the beginning of the year Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s senior adviser, put out an unusual job advertisement. In a blog post he asked for “super-talented weirdos” and “wild-cards”. One of the people he hired was Andrew Sabisky, a twentysomething “superforecaster”. It was later revealed that Sabisky had previously expressed extreme views on race and eugenics. He subsequently resigned. In this episode we speak to Newsnight’s political editor Nicholas Watt who has been following the Sabisky saga. We also talk to journalist and author Matthew Syed about why hiring “weirdos” can actually be a good idea.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Harriet Noble, Jenny Sneesby and Lucy Hancock Mixed by Emma Crowe

Donald Trump is trying to shore up his evangelical support before November's presidential election. Ramping up his Christian outreach, he's been helping teenagers who say they’re being bullied for their religious beliefs at school. These students have organised “prayer lockers” and are running a nationwide “Pray Anyway” campaign. BBC reporter Tara Mckelvey visited one of them in Kentucky to find out how the teenager's struggle went all the way to the White House.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber and Seren Jones Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Julia Ebner monitors extremists during her day job as a counter-terrorism expert, where she advises governments and tech companies on how to respond to their activities. Two years ago she decided to go undercover to find out exactly what drives people into these groups. She ended up meeting white supremacists in a Mayfair pub; she befriended female misogynists in America, and she travelled to a Nazi rock festival on the border of Germany and Poland. Julia’s written about her disturbing encounters in a new book ‘Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists’ - and came into the Beyond Today studio to tell us all about it.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Duncan Barber and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Insomnia affects about a third of adults in the UK according to the NHS. It also says adults should be getting between 7 and 9 hours sleep a night, but very few of us actually get that. We speak to Samantha Harvey who has written a book called ‘The Shapeless Unease’ about her year of not sleeping. We also speak to Stephanie Romiszewski, a sleep physiologist and director of The Sleepyhead Clinic in Exeter. She came into the Beyond Today Studio to give us her top 5 tips for a good night’s sleep. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Katie Gunning Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

It’s been two years since the Windrush scandal, where at least 164 black British citizens were wrongly deported to countries of their birth or detained in the UK. The scandal has had a lasting impact on the Afro-Caribbean community, with many owed compensation from the government. The Home Office recently approved a flight from London to Jamaica which was deporting convicted offenders who have been here for most of their lives. Once again, many black Brits say they feel targeted and are being forced to question what it really means to be British.We spoke to two BBC reporters: Shamaan Freeman-Powell, who’s been following the story from the beginning, and Greg McKenzie, who followed the flight to Jamaica and has spoken to Brits who say they’ve been forced to leave their home. Maria Thomas, a lawyer at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, explains why a last-minute legal challenge stopped some of the detainees from being deported.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Seren Jones and Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Coronavirus has reached 24 counties outside of China, with 8 confirmed cases in the UK. As the disease is spreading so is a lot of information, some of it misleading. The World Health Organisation has warned that "trolls and conspiracy theories" are undermining their response to the virus. We speak to Mike Wendling from BBC Trending and Vitaly Shevchenko, Russian Editor at BBC Monitoring, about the theories being circulated.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Lucy Hanock Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Callie Lewis was just 24 years old when she took her own life. Callie had been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at a young age and had always struggled with chronic depression and suicidal thoughts, but at the end of her life she fell through the cracks of an overstretched mental health system. She sought solace online and ended up on a suicide forum where she was given detailed advice on how to kill herself. Callie’s death comes at a time when many people are struggling to connect with the services they need, and the news that growing numbers of young women are taking their own lives.In this episode we speak to Ellie Flynn, a reporter for the BBC’s Panorama programme who’s spent the last 16 months getting to know Ellie’s family and friends and trying to unpick what happened in the run up to her death. We also hear from Caroline Herroe, the CEO of a suicide prevention project in Nottingham. If you have been affected by the issues raised in this episode, help and support can be found on the BBC Action Line website. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4WLs5NlwrySXJR2n8Snszdg/emotional-distress-information-and-support The NHS told us: “Community mental health services for adults are expanding and improving through the NHS Long Term Plan, which is investing almost £1 billion more each year in these services, and is increasing the number of staff working in community-based mental health teams by over 10,000 over the next four years.”Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Katie Gunning Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

South Korean film Parasite has been named best picture at this year's Oscars, becoming the first non-English language film to take the top prize. It won four awards in total, including best director for Bong Joon-ho. The film is a vicious social satire about two families from different classes in Seoul - one who live in poverty in a semi-basement, and another rich family residing in a large home. We speak to the BBC’s Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker about how South Koreans have reacted to the film’s success. We also hear from Jean Lee – director of the Korea programme at the Woodrow Wilson Center – about how the country is stepping into the limelight as a pop culture powerhouse. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

It was the celebrity scandal that gripped the nation in an era where tabloids ruled the roost and affairs and addiction dominated front pages. Right in the middle of the drama was one of the biggest entertainment TV presenters of the age - Michael Barrymore. In 2001, when a 31 year old man called Stuart Lubbock was found unconscious in Michael Barrymore’s pool in Essex he was initially believed to have drowned during a party. When a second post-mortem flagged up severe injuries consistent with serious sexual assault, it shocked the country. People close to the TV presenter sold their stories to the press - including Michael Barrymore’s boyfriend. An inquest into Stuart’s death saw the coroner record an open verdict, but Essex police now suspect foul play and are calling on the eight party guests to cooperate. In 2007 Michael Barrymore was arrested, but later released without charge. 19 years later the case is still unsolved and a new Channel 4 documentary ‘Barrymore: The Body In The Pool’ has shone a light on the story that never went awayWe discuss some of the ethical issues raised in the documentary with TV critic Scott Bryan and speak to William Mata who covered the story for the Harlow Star. William spent time with Stuart’s father Terry during his campaign for justice.Producers: Lucy Hancock and Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe

The president sort of won the Iowa Democratic caucus. This week was supposed to be when the race to be the candidate to take on Donald Trump in November’s presidential election really got going. But the Iowa Democratic caucus was a mess: a tech failure meant a delay in getting results, and a lot of red faces in the party hoping to unseat the current Commander in Chief. Nearly all the results are in, and it looks like Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders have come out on top. But, in a week that also saw him acquitted in his impeachment trial, did the chaos mean Donald Trump is the real winner? Beyond Today producer Harriet Noble takes us through the Democratic candidates, and Senior North America reporter Anthony Zurcher looks at what it all means for the incumbent president.Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Yesterday an inquiry into the harm that breast surgeon Ian Paterson did to his patients finally delivered its results. The inquiry recommended that all of his 11,000 patients should have their treatment reassessed. Paterson, who claimed to be a specialised breast surgeon, performed unnecessary surgeries, misdiagnosed patients with cancer and treated patients incorrectly.Paterson is already serving a 20 year jail term for 17 counts of wounding with intent, but his victims remain deeply scarred by the damage he inflicted on them. In this episode we speak to Jade Edginton, a woman who was repeatedly unnecessarily operated on as a teenager for lumps in her breast, and BBC Midlands reporter Kathryn Stanczyszyn who heard the results of the inquiry from the court room. We also hear from John Hynes, whose wife did not survive Paterson’s horrific malpractice, and Emma Doughty, the head of clinical negligence at Slater and Gordon, the firm that brought the civil case against Paterson. She tells us how he was able to get away with what he did for so long and why this sort of thing could happen again.You can hear the full Slater and Gordon podcast herePresenter: Matthew Price Producer: Lucy Hancock Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Sudesh Amman had been released from prisons days before he stabbed two people in a Islamist-related terror incident in London on February 2. Within minutes of the attack armed police shot him dead. In 2018 Amman was charged with spreading extremist material but was released after serving half of his sentence. Since the attack took place the government has announced emergency legislation will be introduced to end the automatic early release from prison of terror offenders.In this episode we speak to the BBC’s Daniel De Simone who was at the Old Bailey when Amman was charged in 2018. We also talk to Richard Walton, the Met Police’s former head of counter-terrorism, about how to prevent terror attacks. Producer: Alicia Burrell Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

On January 13 a bag containing the dismembered limbs of teenager Keane Mulready-Woods was found on a housing estate in Dublin. Keane is believed to have worked for a drugs gang in the coastal town of Drogheda, just north of Dublin, and his murder is thought to be gang-related. Two rival gangs are feuding in Drogheda over turf and the booming cocaine market. These gangs use social media to taunt each other, often with devastating results.In this episode we speak to Nicola Tallant, investigations editor of the Sunday World, who’s been following the story of Ireland’s gangs. We also talk to Joanne O’Dwyer who works in rehabilitation in Drogheda. She tells us about how the murder has affected the town.Producers: Alicia Burrell and Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

With more of us becoming more conscious of our health and the environment, vegans and vegetarians look set to make up a quarter of the British population in 2025.But for those who haven’t completely committed to the cause there’s the national Veganuary campaign. Last year 250,000 people signed up, dedicating themselves to a month of no meat and dairy products for a mixture of health, environmental and ethical reasons. But does the food trend really have an impact on the way we live?We spoke to Gala Bailey-Barker, a farmer in Sussex, who believes that knowing where your food comes from is more important than the diet you choose. Dale Vince explains why he decided to take over and transform Forest Green Rovers into the world’s first vegan football club. And the BBC’s environment correspondent Matt McGrath explains whether one month of no meat and no dairy can really help save the planet.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Seren Jones and Harriet Noble Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

The country was shocked when 39 people were found suffocated in the back of a lorry on an industrial park in Essex last October. The discovery that the victims were economic migrants sparked a conversation about the scale of human trafficking in the UK. Vietnamese people are among the most trafficked people in Britain and many of those smuggled here end up in modern slavery; working on cannabis farms, in brothels and nail bars. In this episode we speak to investigative reporter Cat McShane, who introduces us to Ba, a teenager captured, tortured and forced to work in a cannabis farm in the north of England. We also speak to the Guardian’s Amelia Gentleman, who tells us about her experience of going on a police raid of a suspected illegal nail bar.Producers: Lucy Hancock and Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

This week Huawei was given permission to build parts of the new 5G network in the UK. But, because Huawei is a Chinese company, there’s a lot of concern about it. What if China, which we know spies on its own people, uses Huawei to spy on us? The US has been urging us to reconsider, stressing that it needs to be sure that America’s allies have trusted information networks. Is it to do with the risk of espionage or is there something else going on?We speak to Garrett Graff, a journalist and author who writes about national security for Wired Magazine. We also hear from Gordon Corera, the BBC’s Security Correspondent, about the company and whether it really poses a threat to our safety. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Katie Gunning Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

A brand-new virus which causes severe lung disease has been detected in China. More than 100 people are known to have died there, and experts believe the death toll will rise. Coronavirus appeared in the city of Wuhan in December and the 11 million-strong population are being advised to stay indoors at all times. A new virus arriving on the scene is always a worry and health officials around the world are on high alert.In this episode we speak to Xinyan Yu, a journalist from Wuhan. She tells us how people in the city are coping, including her best friend’s mum who was taken ill after visiting the market. We also hear from Dr Josie Golding from the Wellcome Trust, one of the world’s major health research charities. Dr Golding tells us how viruses like the coronavirus spread and how we can prepare for them.Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

In her new Netflix series The Goop Lab, Gwyneth Paltrow skates the fine line between wellness, pseudoscience and medicine. From orgasms and mushrooms, to ice baths and mediums, Gwyneth and the team tackle wellness methods that sit just outside the mainstream. While some of the scientific claims in the TV show stand up to closer scrutiny, many scientists and journalists worry about the ones that don’t. But why does it matter how scientific they are, when people say the treatments help them? In this episode Matthew speaks to science producer and host of ‘The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread’ podcast Greg Foot about why, even when it’s working, it matters if Goop doesn’t check out.Presenter: Matthew Price Produced by Lucy Hancock and Katie Gunning Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

“We must reject the perennial prophets of doom”. These were Donald Trump’s words at Davos earlier in the week, dismissing those who warn of the dangers of climate change. We know climate change is real, but Trump doesn’t seem to be listening to the experts who tell him this. It’s a tendency the author Michael Lewis noticed in Trump the day after he was elected. Lewis wrote the Big Short, a book that was turned into an Oscar-winning film about the financial crisis, and now he’s written about how Trump operates. He came into the Beyond Today studio to talk about how Trump is changing the way government works in the US, what that’s doing to America and what parallels we’re seeing here. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Harriet Noble and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

The trial of Harvey Weinstein started in New York this week. Once upon a time he was a Hollywood giant, then in 2017 allegations he sexually harassed a number of women began to surface. Over 80 women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct, only a few of the complaints have led to criminal charges. For many people Weinstein facing justice symbolises the whole point of the #MeToo movement. But, what happens to #MeToo if Weinstein — who denies the charges — is found not guilty?In this episode we speak to BBC journalist Nada Tawfik who’s covering the trial, and also to Marisa Carroll, the features editor of New York magazine, about whether #MeToo’s impact equals change. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Alicia Burrell and Katie Gunning Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

The psychedelic powers of a traditional Amazonian plant medicine called ayahuasca are attracting more and more tourists. It’s becoming big business in countries such as Peru where backpackers and travellers, as well as rich Silicon Valley types are spending weeks and sometimes thousands of dollars to drink an indigenous cocktail. It makes them vomit and hallucinate, but is said to bring spiritual enlightenment and help with addiction, depression and trauma. But a string of allegations suggests there's a darker side to the ayahuasca scene. In this episode we speak to BBC journalists Simon Maybin and Josephine Casserly who travelled to the Amazon to investigate.Listen to Simon Maybin and Josephine Casserly's documentary Ayahuasca: Fear and Healing in the Amazon on BBC Sounds.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber and Katie Gunning Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

It was a pretty grim general election for Labour last year. As a result Jeremy Corbyn announced he would be stepping down. There are now just four MPs in the running to replace him: Jess Phillips dropped out while we were making this episode. The ultimate task of any leader of the opposition is to get their party back into power. In this episode Bex Bailey, a producer from the BBC’s politics team, profiles the contenders. We also hear from The Times columnist Rachel Sylvester about where Labour got it wrong, and where they could go wrong again.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Blue Monday is supposedly the saddest day of the year. 15 years ago that idea was debunked, yet every year in the UK #bluemonday trends on Twitter and the internet is flooded with deals for holidays, ‘wellness’ deals and products offering to boost our mood. In this episode we look at the discomfort around brands adopting mental health awareness as part of their marketing strategy with psychiatry researcher Melisa Kose. We unpack the mythical origins of the Blue Monday with the BBC’s head of statistics, Robert Cuffe. We also speak to Carmen Papaluca, from University of Notre Dame in Australia, who has studied how the aspirational aspects of Instagram damage the mental wellbeing of young women she teaches.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Lucy Hancock and Duncan Barber Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Sex Education, the delightfully uncensored drama about the life of a sex therapist’s awkward teenage son, has landed on Netflix for its second series. Last season the show racked up 40 million views in the first month after release. Why? Perhaps because it tackles all the topics adults and teenagers alike have been too embarrassed to discuss. From chlamydia in the eye, to excessive masturbation, it isn’t afraid to go there. Its stars, Otis, Eric and Ola, played by Asa Butterfield, Trish Allison and Ncuti Gatwa came into the Beyond Today studio to teach Tina about Vaginismus and tell us why they think Sex Education should be compulsory viewing in schools. Presented by Tina Daheley Producer: Lucy Hancock Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

After the US killed one of Iran’s senior generals in a drone strike some people were worried we were on the brink of World War 3. Iran threatened revenge, and fired on a US air base in Iraq. But in doing so it made a colossal mistake, downing a commercial aircraft and killing the 176 passengers and crew on board. The BBC’s Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville, who has just returned from the Al Asad air base in Iraq, and the BBC Persian Service’s Rana Rahimpour join us to explain how Iran’s strike has had consequences they weren’t expecting.Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

This year's Oscar nominations have reignited the row about representation in Hollywood. 19 of the 20 acting nominees this year are white - the highest number since the #OscarsSoWhite outcries of 2015 and 2016. No women have been nominated for best director. That means that over the past 10 years, 49 out of the 50 best director nominees have been men. That's despite huge support for Greta Gerwig for her adaptation of Little Women.Are the Academy Awards changing fast enough? In this episode we speak to Anna Smith, film critic and host of the Girls On Film podcast who tells us why the nominations process is flawed. We also hear from BBC entertainment correspondent Colin Paterson, who has been covering the Oscars for 20 years, to explore why progress seems so slow.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber and Harriet Noble Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Over the past decade a tension has emerged between Big Tech’s utopian vision of an AI future and the reality that many jobs are being threatened by data-driven automation. Many of us may suspect that artificial intelligence is going to transform the world of work, but exactly how isn’t always clear. The economist Daniel Susskind has written a book called ‘A World Without Work’ which considers how technology is shaping the economy. He spoke to Tina Daheley about how we overestimate our own job skills, the true meaning of work, and what we can all do to can prepare for an unrecognisable job market.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Lucy Hancock and Seren Jones Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

This month Reynhard Sinaga was found guilty of drugging, raping and sexually assaulting 48 men. The judge told the 36-year-old student from Indonesia that he will “never be safe to be released”. Sinaga targeted young men on nights out in Manchester and lured them back to his flat where he would spike their drinks with GHB, a date rape drug, filming the attacks on his phone. Sinaga was offending for over two years before he was caught. Many of his victims were unaware they had been raped until they were contacted by the police. In this episode we speak to BBC journalist Daniel De Simone, who covered the trials, and Endang Nurdin from the BBC’s Indonesia Service, to hear how the story has been received there. We also talk to forensic toxicologist Simon Elliot about the dangers of GHB.If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, help and support can be found on the BBC Action Line website.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

We know that the NHS is under immense pressure, especially this time of year when it’s at its busiest. But January is also the month of resolutions, often health-focused ones such as giving up booze and getting fit. Even though these easily-adopted behaviours help to keep us away from the doctor, sticking to them can be difficult. Dr Rangan Chatterjee might have the solution. He is a GP, author of the new book ‘Feel Better in 5’, and he presents the most popular health podcast on iTunes. We got him into the Beyond Today studio to talk stress, libido and gut health. Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Rory Galloway and Lucy Hancock Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: Philly Beaumont

Yesterday Prince Harry and Meghan announced they will be stepping back from their roles as senior royals. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their announcement on Instagram, stating that they plan to split their time between the UK and North America and want to become financially independent. Their decision has come as a bit of a shock, not least to the Queen, who apparently wasn’t consulted before their statement was made. We speak to Jonny Dymond, the BBC’s royal correspondent, who explains whether Harry and Meghan will be able to have their ‘happily ever after’ and, as they put it, “continue to fully support Her Majesty the Queen”. Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Duncan Barber and Seren Jones Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

A British teenager has been given a four-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of lying about gang-rape in Cyprus. The 19-year-old was convicted following a trial after recanting a claim that she was raped in a hotel room in July. The woman has said Cypriot police made her falsely confess to lying about the incident at a hotel - something police have denied. Human rights groups and lawyers say she’s been failed by the Cypriot legal system. Some of the men and boys she first accused of raping her have been celebrated back in Israel where they come from. There’s a lot about this case that doesn’t make sense. In this episode BBC reporters Anna Holligan and Tom Bateman pick apart the case to try to find out what led to a sentence that has caused so much hurt and outrage.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber and Seren Jones Mixed by Emma Crowe Editor: Philly Beaumont

Millions of Iranians have flocked to the funeral of their top commander who was killed in a US drone strike at the weekend. The killing of Qasem Soleimani has raised fears of a conflict between the US and Iran and the hashtag World War Three has been trending. We speak to the BBC’s Rana Rahimpour who covers Iran for the Persian Service. We also caught up with the BBC’s Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen in the region who told us about the wider implications. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Rory Galloway and Philly Beaumont Mixed by: Emma Crowe and Nicolas Raufast Editor: Philly Beaumont.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned that the devastating bushfires raging in the country might go on for months. At least 26 people have died since the fires began in September. Air quality in the capital Canberra was, this weekend, rated the worst in the world. In this episode Beyond Today producer Heidi Pett tells us the personal cost of the fires in Merimbula, a coastal town in New South Wales. We also speak to climate scientist Michael Mann who explains how a specific climate phenomenon has exacerbated the fires and why America’s leaders have a role to play in Australia’s current plight.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: Philly Beaumont

We listen in on the big moments, memes, and the music that defined a decade: from the Arab Spring to Greta via the Olympics. The rise of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the memes they have generated - from Kim Kardashian to #MeToo, via the Peru Two – it’s all in there. Let us know what you think and what we missed #BeyondTodayProducer: Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

In 2000 a relatively unknown man called Vladimir Putin came to power in Russia. While his European and American counterparts have come and gone, Putin has stayed in the Kremlin for the past 20 years.In this episode we speak to Vitaly Shevchenko from the BBC Russian Monitoring Service to find out how Putin came to power and how he has kept it. We also talk to Maria Korienko and Katherine Zeveleva from the BBC’s bureau in Moscow to find out what life is like for young Russians who have grown up knowing only Putin as the person in charge.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Duncan Barber and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

Raheem Sterling is one of the best footballers in the world. But 2019 has proved that he’s even more than that, becoming a key voice in the fight against racism in football. With deals with big brands like Nike and H&M, his reputation is expanding beyond football. We speak to one of Raheem Sterling’s former coaches, Steve Gallen, who tells us what makes him tick, and to Danny Rogers from PR Week, who explains what Sterling needs to do to make the jump from sporting superstar to global icon.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Harriet Noble and Seren Jones Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

The Kurds are an ethnic group living in the north of Syria and in neighbouring Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Since the conflict in Syria started almost nine years ago they’ve been fighting to establish their own state in northern Syria. The US allied with the Kurds to defeat ISIS and supported the Kurdish cause. That was until President Trump announced he was pulling US troops out of Syria leaving the Kurds exposed to the threat of the Turkish army, the Kurds’ political enemy. In this episode we speak to BBC journalists Jiyar Gol and Charlotte Pamment, who have been to Syria to find out what will happen to the Kurds. Presenter: Matthew Price Produced by Heidi Pett Mixed by Weidong Lin and Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields.

It’s hard to escape Amazon at Christmas. Even if you haven’t been using them for last minute shopping you will most likely have interacted with the company in some other way. Amazon Web Services is now the most valuable part of the business, and whether you know it or not, you probably used it. In this episode, we speak to two people who have been tracking Amazon’s relentless growth: Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, and Alan Selby, a Sunday Mirror journalist who went under-cover and worked at Amazon’s warehouse in Tilbury.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Katie Gunning, Philly Beaumont Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

It was a result not many people predicted: the Conservatives won their largest majority since 1987, and Labour lost seats in its northern heartlands, despite social media suggesting there would be a ‘youthquake’ at the polls. There was also an array of bizarre moments from the TV coverage. So, what exactly happened last night? In this episode BBC 5 Live’s Scott Bryan takes us through the TV highs and lows of the night. We also speak to Marianna Spring and Joey D’Urso from BBC Trending, who tell us how the ‘social media election’ turned out, and The Atlantic’s Tom McTague explains how the Tories flipped the Labour strongholds in Wales and the north of England.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Philly Beaumont and Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

The mathematician Dr Hannah Fry is on a mission to improve the PR of maths. Hannah presents radio and TV shows on how maths runs the world, how data underpins everything we do, and on Boxing Day she’s giving the prestigious Royal Institution’s Christmas Lecture on the hidden secrets of maths. Hannah has also written a book about the inner workings of algorithms, and she came into the Beyond Today studio to talk the power of maths and how algorithms can help us live better. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Alicia Burrell and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

This year has seen protests spread across the globe, from Latin America, to Hong Kong and the Middle East. While some have specific political origins within their own countries, others have similar characteristics; people fed up with inequality and corruption. We hear from Stephanie Hegarty, the BBC’s population reporter, about the tactics spreading from one protest to another, and why people are singing Baby Shark in Basra.

It is two days until we go to the polls in what we are often told is a ‘divided Britain’. But, exactly how we are divided has changed. 50 years ago our social class was the biggest indicator of party loyalty, whereas nowadays our age is more likely to determine who gets our vote. That’s according to pollster Sir John Curtice, who came into the Beyond Today studio to tell us why voting trends have changed and how racist and homophobic the nation is in 2019. We also speak to Tosin Adedayo, Jenna Davis and Julie Ogiehor from the political podcast Consensus, about being judged for political views and how they could teach politicians to behave better. We also hear from Shona Craven, columnist and community editor at The National, about the political campaign in Scotland. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Lucy Hancock and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast and Tom Burchell Editor: John Shields

Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has been described as the most dangerous city in the world. Many young people from the Somali diaspora who have grown up in countries such as the UK and Canada are now returning to their ancestral home in hopes of bringing positive change, even though there is the threat of violence and terrorism. In this episode we speak to Yasmin about why she decided to relocate to Mogadishu from London, and the BBC’s Africa editor, Mary Harper.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Wahiba Ahmed and Lucy Hancock Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Jia Tolentino is a 31-year-old American writer who is being hailed as the voice of a generation. Her pieces for the New Yorker magazine nail everything from feminism to capitalism and vaping. Jia was born in Texas and brought up in a Southern Baptist community; as a teenager she starred in a reality TV show. Later she spent time working for the US Peace Corps in Kyrgystan. Her recently published collection of essays has become one of the most talked about books of the year. You can listen to Jia reading an abridged version of it on BBC Sounds. Just search for Trick Mirror. We speak to Jia Tolentino in New York about the downsides and delusions of living our lives online, and how it means we are like performers who are forever on stage. Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Alicia Burrell and Katie Gunning Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

President Trump’s been in the UK for the meeting of the world’s biggest military alliance, NATO. NATO’s been struggling recently, partly because Trump doesn’t get along so well with America’s traditional allies and now he’s in a row with his own military chiefs. This is because he’s taken decisions without informing them, like pulling out of Syria. And also because they think he doesn’t care about traditional military standards like army discipline. The latest row involves the trial of decorated Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, who was accused of murdering an Iraqi prisoner. We hear from the BBC’s Whitehouse Correspondent Tara McKelvey about the case find out why Trump has got involved. Presenter: Matthew Price Produced by Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields.

In October, a video went viral after Extinction Rebellion protesters disrupted public transport by protesting on the roof of a train at Canning Town station in east London. The stunt took place during rush hour and the intention was to raise awareness of the climate emergency. But it ended in angry commuters dragging the protesters off the train and the video sparked a debate around climate activism and privilege. This week Swedish activist Greta Thunberg will be joining world leaders in Madrid for the COP25, a UN conference aimed to tackle the climate emergency. In the UK, Extinction Rebellion is continuing with protests around the General Election. But not everyone can afford to prioritise the cause.We spoke to Mahatir Pasha, who filmed the incident at Canning Town, and to Karen Bell, a senior lecturer at the University of the West of England. Karen Bell, author of ‘working-class environmentalism’, spoke about both the positive and negative aspects of XR’s campaign and discussed the class divide in climate activism generally. We also hear from climate activist Fatima-Zahra Ibrahim, who explains why the climate movement isn’t as accessible as we may think.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Seren Jones, Philly Beaumont, Wahiba Ahmed and Hanan Bihi Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

The man who killed Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt was a convicted terrorist who had spent eight years in prison. Usman Khan was jailed in 2012 for preparing acts of terrorism. While he was inside he underwent a deradicalisation programme. He was released on licence last December and on Friday he travelled to London to take part in a conference on prisoner rehabilitation. It was there that Jack and Saskia were murdered. We speak to the BBC’s Home Affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani about Usman Khan and to Hanif Qadir, a former jihadist who has worked to de-radicalise extremists. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers; Philly Beaumont, Katie Gunning Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields.

The app best known for short, funny videos that have made it the meme engine of the internet found itself hosting a different kind of viral video. Feroza Aziz, a teenager from New Jersey, posted what looked like a makeup tutorial but was actually trying to raise awareness of the detention of China’s Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province. When she woke up her account was suspended. TikTok says it didn’t censor her content, but as Karishma Vaswani tells us, the company is walking a difficult line trying to keep people happy in both China and the rest of the world. We also hear from Vicky Xu, a researcher who uses TikTok to find out more about Xinjiang.

96 Liverpool FC fans died at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield on 15 April 1989. It remains the worst disaster in British sporting history. The tragedy happened over 30 years ago and many say the trauma of Hillsborough has been passed on to the next generation, those who weren’t even born in 1989.In this episode we speak to the BBC’s North of England correspondent Judith Moritz about what happened at Hillsborough. We also hear from two young women who grew up in Liverpool and have been affected by the disaster; Deanna Matthews, who’s uncle died at Hillsborough, and reporter Layla Wright, who’s been covering the recent trial. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Alicia Burrell and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Last Friday a 27-year-old New Zealand man was found guilty of the murder of British backpacker Grace Millane. During the trial questions were raised over how the press covered the case and how the defence was put together. Campaigners say Grace was blamed for her own death and that other assailants are claiming their victims simply enjoyed ‘rough sex.’We speak to BBC producer Simon Atkinson who covered the trial in Auckland and discuss why Grace Millane’s sexual history was brought up in court. We also speak to Alys Harte, a journalist for BBC 5 Live Investigates, about her research into the changing attitudes of women towards gagging, choking, slapping and spitting. The responses raise important questions about unwanted violent sex and consent. We also speak to Anna-Louise Adams who has first-hand experience of choking in the bedroom. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producer: Lucy Hancock Editor: John ShieldsSpecial thanks to: We Cant Consent To This, The High Low.

Instagram has announced that it’s extending a trial where it hides likes from other users. You will still see your own like count, but not that of people you follow. It’s being heralded as a positive thing, and all about improving mental health. Instagram bosses say they want to depressurise the experience, and look after young people. But how far do we trust Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, to do the right thing? What will it mean for all those influencers who rely on likes to impress the brands that pay their wages? We speak to the BBC’s Sophia Smith-Galer, fashion influencer Katherine Ormerod, and Matt Navarra, a social media consultant. Presented by Tina Daheley Producers: Katie Gunning and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Blue Story, a film about two young black boys from different London postcodes who get caught up in rival gangs went on general release on Friday. By Saturday two cinema chains, Vue and Showcase, had pulled the film from all their cinemas. The decision was made after a mass fight broke out at the Star City multiplex, in Birmingham. Six people have been arrested and although Showcase has reversed its decision, there has been a huge backlash with people calling the move racist. We speak to the BBC’s Tolu Adeoye, and Andrew Efah who worked with Rapman. And we also hear from Vic Santoro, one of the actors in Blue Story. Presented by Tina Daheley Producers: Philly Beaumont and Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

There are more than 150 billionaires in the UK, but is that concentration of immense wealth actually a sign of failure? Should anyone ever be worth a sum of money that has nine zeroes in it? For decades nobody seemed to question wealth: it was something to aspire to, and the idea that money would trickle down to the rest of society was widespread. But things seem to be shifting. Mainstream politicians are questioning what, until just a few years ago, was the accepted wisdom that it’s fine to be filthy rich as long as you pay lots of tax along the way and then become a philanthropist.We hear from the BBC’s Business editor Simon Jack, and check in with Kerry Dolan, who’s been helping to compile the Forbes rich list for the last 25 years. And our producer Lucy Hancock went to meet artist Darren Cullen, who runs a museum of neoliberalism.Presented by Matthew Price. Producers: Heidi Pett, Lucy Hancock, Katie Gunning. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields

This was the year that the world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, brought his critically-acclaimed TV show to the UK. The series has helped bring British drag queens and topics that affect the LGBT community to a wider audience. But, does appreciation of drag always mean there’s acceptance in society?In this episode we speak to Baby Lame, host of the official Drag Race UK podcast on BBC Sounds, to get the lowdown on life as a drag queen. We also talk to journalist and author Amelia Abraham about what happens when queer culture goes mainstream.You can listen to the Drag Race UK podcast on BBC Sounds, and watch the whole series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK on iPlayer.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Alicia Burrell and Rory Galloway Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Once more the NHS is at the heart of a general election campaign and politicians on all sides are promising to improve the health service. With more than four million patients on the NHS waiting list and delays in A&E at their worst level since records began, many people believe the health system in struggling. But, what's not as widely talked about is the way the service is dealing with the growing number of people needing treatment for their mental health.In this episode we speak to Ellen Welch, a general practitioner who’s written a book about the history of the NHS and to Catherine Renton, a patient who has been on the NHS waiting list for mental health treatment for 18 months. We also talk to trainee junior doctor Samara Linton about her experiences of working on the front line at a NHS psychiatric unit, and why she thinks it’s not just the public’s mental health that is suffering.If you feel affected after listening to today’s episode, you can get help by going to our website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionline/Presenter: Matthew Price Produced by Seren Jones Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Plastic surgery has never been cheaper or more accessible. The industry is booming: it’s worth an estimated £19 billion. The results of cosmetic self- improvement are readily available on Instagram, and appear in the breaks of Love Island. More people than ever are considering going under the knife. Despite all the moralising about plastic surgery, it doesn’t seem to put people off seeking it.We speak to Mobeen Azhar who made TV programme where people seeking surgery watch procedures live on screen, and Christine Rosen, an academic who has been charting its cultural rise. They explore why people are seeking it, the dilemmas of normalising of plastic surgery.Presented by Tina Daheley. Editor John Shields.

Three days later and the fallout from Prince Andrew’s BBC interview keeps coming: today university students and a big accountancy firm are distancing themselves from the duke. Prince Andrew appeared on Newsnight to address controversy over his ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But it backfired after critics called the interview a “car crash”. On the same weekend the other royal drama The Crown returned to TV screens after a two year break. In this episode we talk to the royal historian and advisor on the Netflix drama Robert Lacey, who has just published a book to go alongside the series. He tells us about Prince Andrew’s relationship with the Queen and how this all might play out on TV in the future. We also hear from the BBC’s royal correspondent Jonny Dymond Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Heidi Pett and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

There was a story in October you may have missed: a 15-year-old boy from London was stabbed to death after getting off a bus on his way home from school. Baptista Adjei was one of the youngest people to be murdered in the capital this year. In this episode we speak to BBC London’s Greg McKenzie, who’s been reporting on knife crime in 2019, including the death of Jodie Chesney. She was the 17-year-old girl who was fatally stabbed in an east London park in March. Today two teenagers were sentenced to life for her murder. In this episode we look into why we hear about some innocent victims more than others.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

We know that one in four people will suffer from a mental health problem at some point in their life and that anxiety seems to be on the increase. The latest research suggests that rates of psychological distress and illness are especially high among undergraduates. Dr Laurie Santos wanted to do something about it: she’s professor of psychology and cognitive science at Yale University and was so concerned about the anxiety her students experienced she devised a course that would teach them how to be happy. Psychology and the Good Life quickly became the most popular course in the history of Yale and the online version went viral. Now Laurie Santos has turned her research into a podcast called the Happiness Lab. She gave us her top tips were to ensure lasting happiness. Presenter: Tina Daheley Produced by Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

The 2019 general election is in full swing and political parties are relying on digital campaigning more than ever before. Targeted marketing has made a profound change in how political parties can reach you and our compulsion to click, like and share can be used against us in surprising ways. We speak to Kirk J. Torrance, a former digital strategist for the SNP, who worked on their landslide 2015 campaign. The BBC’s Maryam Ahmed has built an algorithm to catch all targeted political advertising on Facebook for this election. And Latika Bourke, reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald, tells us how the Australian election was won with the help of Game of Thrones. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Jessica Beck Mixed by Lee Wilson Editor: John Shields

Pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have been going on for months now. In the past few days the violence has escalated and schools are being closed for safety reasons. The row centres on a fight for national identity. For Hong Kong protestors this is a fight for freedom from influence from mainland China. For the Chinese authorities it is a fight to protect their nation.In this episode, we meet Maggie Watson, a cake maker from Derby who was surprised to witness the ferocity of this row at a cake competition in Birmingham. We speak to Vincent Ni from the BBC’s China desk who explains why this happened and what it tells us about the Chinese psyche. He explores how the scars of the past affect trading relationships with Western mega brands like the NBA, Versace, Dior and Gap and how China is sensitive to foreign interference in its affairs.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Lucy Hancock, Duncan Barber. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Last month in Sodermalm, a gentrified part of Stockholm, an explosion tore through an apartment block. Residents were left shocked and the bomb squad was called out. That night two more explosions happened in two other parts of the city. In fact, since the beginning of 2019 there have been over 100 explosions in Sweden.Right wing commentators have spoken about violence in Sweden before and often say that the stories aren’t being reported on because the media doesn’t want to undermine multiculturalism in a country that’s renowned for being socially liberal.In this episode we speak to Maddy Savage, a journalist living in Stockholm, who tells us what’s behind the rise in the number of explosions. We also talk to Christian Christensen, a journalism professor at Stockholm University, to find out whether Swedish media are covering up the violence. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Alicia Burrell and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

On a weekend at the start of March, two murders caused public outcry. Two 17-year-olds were killed in two different attacks in London and Greater Manchester. Politicians said knife crime was out of control and called for urgent action. Last week two teenagers were found guilty of murdering Jodie Chesney, the girl killed in London. For the past few weeks the BBC’s Dan Johnson has been covering the trial of Jodie’s killers at the Old Bailey. In this episode Dan tells us what happened to Jodie in her last moments with her friends in the park, and explains what Jodie's murder says about a world of petty crime and violence where innocent people are caught in the crossfire. Presenter: Matthew Price Produced by Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

In 2013 two young British women were caught trying to smuggle a haul of cocaine worth £1.5m from Lima, in Peru, to Ibiza. Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid were dubbed the Peru Two after a photograph of the pair being arrested at Lima airport went viral. The duo were sentenced for six years in a Peruvian prison on drug trafficking charges, but were released after serving three. Now back in the UK, Melissa is laying low, but Michaella has written a book about her side of the story.In this episode Radio 1 Newsbeat’s Serena Kutchinsky tells Michaella’s story and her desire for a second chance, and BBC Latin America correspondent Will Grant explains how that second chance is perceived in Peru.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Seren Jones and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

She’s the most famous transgender woman in the world. Today she’s best known for being part the Kardashian-Jenner dynasty, but at one time she was most famous for being the world’s greatest athlete after winning gold in the decathlon in the 1976 Olympics, competing as Bruce Jenner. In 2015 she transitioned and renamed herself Caitlyn. We may be seeing a lot more of her as it’s rumoured she is this year’s big signing in ITV’s I'm A Celebrity. We speak to Simon Mundie, who presents the BBC Sounds sport podcast Don’t Tell Me the Score. Simon went to meet Caitlyn at her home in Malibu where she told him about the moment she won gold, transitioning and why she’s happier now than ever before. Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Philly Beaumont and Jessica Beck Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Gaming is worth more than all other entertainment combined. At the very top of the industry is a 56 year old Japanese man called Hideo Kojima, a highly respected designer who says his latest game ‘Death Stranding’ is a reaction to what he sees as the selfishness of Donald Trump’s wall and Brexit. The game is designed to make you think carefully about how you interact with others. The industry has proven itself commercially, but can it prove itself culturally? We hear from Radio 1 Newsbeat’s Steffan Powell who has been to Tokyo to see Hideo Kojima at work.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks the Taliban were never out of the news when Britain and the US deployed their armies to destroy al Qaeda and the Taliban, the terrorist group who controlled Afghanistan at the time. But the Taliban were never destroyed; they still control parts of the country and they still carry out attacks against the Afghan government.It’s a custom around Eid for the Afghan government and the Taliban to exchange prisoners as a gesture of goodwill. Normally around 10 prisoners from each side, but this summer President Ghani of Afghanistan made the unprecedented decision to release nearly 900 Taliban prisoners. So, what does that mean for Afghanistan? We speak to BBC journalists Auliya Atrafi and Claire Press who went inside the Taliban wing of Pul-e-Charki, Afghanistan’s largest prison to find out what’s driving these fighters. As peace talks between the US and the Taliban have yet again broken down, we look at why negotiating with terrorists remains part of the plan. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Lucy Hancock and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

With six weeks to go until the general election we know we’re going to get speeches and policy announcements, but what really makes up our minds? In the past we voted along class lines, but that’s all changing. We speak to Rosie Campbell who is professor of politics at Kings College in London. She’s also Director of The Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and made two Radio 4 programmes on How Voters decide. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Philly Beaumont, Jessica Beck Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Not so long ago, horoscopes were considered a bit of fun that wasn’t taken too seriously. But in 2019 astrology is booming: there are astrology apps, daily podcasts for each star sign, zodiac-themed clothing and make-up ranges, and lots of viral horoscope memes flooding social media. Trend forecasters price the mystical market at more than $2billion. In this episode we speak to Susan Miller, the world’s most famous astrologer, to find out about the power of star signs and get some predictions for the year ahead. We also talk to The Atlantic’s Julie Beck, who has investigated why the internet supports astrology’s resurgence and why people turn to the stars as a coping mechanism for stress.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Duncan Barber and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields With thanks to Spotify and Parcast’s Daily Horoscope podcast.

Last week 39 people suffocated to death in the back of a lorry in Essex. It was a reminder of a similar case that happened 19 years ago when 58 Chinese nationals were found dead in a lorry in Dover. In fact, the police originally thought that the group in that lorry in Grays last week were from China, until it emerged that they were probably from Vietnam. Police are there now taking DNA samples from families to identify the victims. We know that many Vietnamese people try to get to Britain and are here working to send money back home. We also now know that some pay up to £30,000 to traffickers to get to the UK. The BBC’s South East Asia Correspondent Jonathan Head has been in Vietnam this past week trying to figure out why. Presented by Tina Daheley Producer: Philly Beaumont Mixed by Tom Burchell Editor: John Shields.

Earlier this week top NHS bosses wrote a letter to the Professional Standards Authority expressing serious concerns about homeopathy. They warned of its lack of scientific foundation and anti-science message in an era of misinformation.Homeopathic remedies are proven to be no more effective than a placebo, but for many of its defenders it has real therapeutic effects. In this episode we look at the power of placebo, why so many people swear by it and why its effectiveness is troubling for clinicians. We look at the specific list of health conditions that respond to placebo effects and explore their limitations with science journalist Erik Vance. We also speak to Julia Buckley, whose chronic pain took her on a bizarre journey via a Voodoo demon and a chorus of healing angels. You can read Julia Buckley's whole story in her book 'Heal Me'. Presented by Tina Daheley Producer: Lucy Hancock Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Additional Production: Tom Burchell Editor: John Shields

Jonathan Van Ness is a podcaster, a hairdresser, and host of the Game of Thrones webseries Gay of Thrones. But he’s best known as one of the “Fab Five” on Queer Eye, the incredibly popular Netflix makeover show. He came into talk to us because he’s just written a book. It’s called Over the Top and as well as the fun and bubbly “JVN” that people have come to love, it addresses some very serious, very difficult issues: abuse, addiction and the impact of HIV. In today’s episode we hear about both sides of Jonathan Van Ness.Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Donald Trump announced over the weekend that the fugitive leader of the so-called Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had been killed in a raid in Syria. During the press conference he described the ISIS leader “whimpering and crying and screaming all the way” to the back of a tunnel in his compound, where he detonated a suicide vest as he was surrounded by three of his children. The president also went on to say that “it was just like a movie”, and that this moment is bigger than the death of Osama Bin Laden. Mina al-Lami, Jihadi analyst for BBC monitoring, tells us Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s story. We also hear from BBC North America editor Jon Sopel about why this moment is so important to Donald Trump. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

“Love is not a permanent state of enthusiasm.” These are the words of one of the most famous therapists in the world: Esther Perel. She is internationally renowned for creating and presenting ‘Where Should We Begin’, the ground-breaking podcast about love, sex, intimacy and infidelity. She also has two best-selling books and videos of her TED talks have been viewed tens of millions of times online. This month she launched the third season of her podcast, which focuses on marriage by telling the stories of six couples.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Duncan Barber and Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK and Scotland has the highest suicide rate in Britain. Chris Clements and Calum Mckay have looked into the figures for BBC Scotland's Disclosure programme. They travelled to Lanarkshire, in south-central Scotland, where they both grew up and discovered Motherwell Thistle, an amateur football club scarred by suicide. Since 2017 four people connected to the club have killed themselves. Through the pain of their loss, the club has found a way to celebrate their lives.You can watch BBC Disclosure's "The Lost Boys" on iPlayer.If you are feeling emotionally distressed and would like details of organisations which offer advice and support, go online to bbc.co.uk/actionline or you can call for free, at any time to hear recorded information 0800 066 066.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Facebook helps connect people, but now it’s on a new mission to get people to fall in love. Facebook users in the US — it will be available in Europe next year — can create a dating profile and curate a list of secret crushes from among your friends. The dating industry is massive — estimates say that it will be worth $12 billion a year by 2020 — but Facebook has said its feature will be free. So, why is the social network getting into the business of love? Could it be after even more data about us? In this episode we speak to The Atlantic’s Kaitlyn Tiffany, who was at the official Facebook Dating launch party in New York. She talks about how it works and whether it could be a success. We also speak to developer Ben Berman, who’s created a game called Monster Match to show exactly how dating app algorithms work.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Alicia Burrell, Harriet Noble and Lucy Hancock Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

In a court case that is gripping Asia, a Malaysian wealth fund is accused of robbing the country of $3.5 billion US dollars. It is the world’s biggest white-collar heist involving government corruption at the highest level, an abuse of power and international money laundering. It's also a case that drags in one of the most successful Hollywood movies of all time: The Wolf of Wall Street, a Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio film about corruption and multimillion-dollar theft. Investigators in Malaysia and the United States are still piecing together exactly what happened, and so far no one has been found guilty. We speak to Tom Wright from the Wall Street Journal who has spent years investigating the story and Alex Ritman of The Hollywood Reporter.

Was this the worst Monday morning ever for MPs? They were forced into work over the weekend to vote on the Brexit deal, and they couldn’t even do that properly. Now they’re back trying to hammer it out again. They’ve been doing this for months, stuck because there’s no majority for any agreement on Brexit. That might now be changing, there might now actually be enough MPs who will vote for the deal Boris Johnson agreed with Brussels. Passing a deal to leave, however, is just the first phase of a long process. We speak to Tom McTague, a staff writer for The Atlantic.Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Christopher Wylie is a 30-year-old Canadian data specialist who moved to London a few years back, started working in political campaigns, and then became deeply involved in two of the biggest political events of his lifetime: the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump. He worked for Cambridge Analytica, the company that was caught harvesting data from millions of Facebook accounts and using it for political advertising purposes. We’d been warned for years it could happen, and it was the first time we saw how data could be used and weaponised to win an election. This is that story. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Nike spends a lot of money sponsoring and marketing some of the best athletes in the world. It doesn’t just back global superstars like Serena Williams and Cristiano Ronaldo on the field, but off them too. It made the American football player Colin Kaepernick as the face of an advertising campaign after he protested against racial injustice by kneeling during the US national anthem.The events of the last few days don’t fit Nike’s preferred narrative. The firm has shut down the Oregon Project, its elite training programme, after the main coach there, Alberto Salazar, was found guilty of cheating by the US anti-doping agency. Nike says it doesn’t accept Salazar was deliberately cheating and is supporting his appeal against the ban. Matthew Price hears from two people who’ve followed this story from the start. The BBC’s Mark Daly first exposed Salazar in a Panorama investigation four years ago. And Matt Lawton, the chief sports writer for The Times, has been inside Nike’s controversial Oregon Project. Producers: Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

A British woman is on trial in Cyprus, where she is accused of causing public mischief by allegedly falsely claiming to have been sexually assaulted at an Ayia Napa hotel in July. The woman has told the court she was raped, but then "forced" to retract her statement by the Cypriot police 10 days later.12 young Israelis were arrested in connection with the allegations but were later released and returned home, where some of them celebrated with champagne at the airport. Tom Bateman and Anna Holligan have been following the story for the BBC.Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

President Trump’s order to pull US troops out of northern Syria last week was a little like pushing over a domino: it meant that Turkey could start an offensive against the Syrian Kurds who live in that region and who they see as a terrorist threat; it meant that the Kurds, who have been a crucial ally of the West in the fight against the Islamic State terror group, had to refocus on defending their own people against the Turkish onslaught, and it has plunged an already volatile part of the world into further chaos. IS thrives on chaos. So, could the increasing unrest in the region allow the group to re-emerge? Quentin Sommerville, the BBC’s Middle East correspondent, joins us to discuss.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

The Queen opened parliament today and set out the government’s main priority: to leave the EU by October 31st. Boris Johnson has set up his whole premiership on this very message, and one reason why is Nigel Farage. Now leader of the Brexit Party, Farage has always campaigned to get us out of the EU. Boris Johnson and the Conservative party are worried that if they can’t do this by the end of October they will lose votes to Farage in an election. To understand his enduring appeal we went to a Brexit Party rally in Watford. Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Tech and the way it is shaping our future is a theme we cover a lot on Beyond Today. We’ve looked at facial recognition, sex bots, and the new tech cold war. Underpinning all these are rapid advances in artificial intelligence which are changing the power dynamics between states and citizens, companies and consumers.In this special live episode recorded at the BBC Media Tech and Society conference, Tina Daheley discusses the future of AI with Stephanie Hare, an independent researcher and historian, Jamie Bartlett, a technology writer, and Natalie Cargill, founder and CEO of Effective Giving.Producers: Seren Jones and Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Edtior: John Shields

We have never lived in a more closely monitored world. Facial recognition technology is being rolled globally, including across the UK. Data can be acquired without a person’s knowledge, let alone their consent. There is a creeping paranoia and concern among human rights experts that advanced surveillance technology could fall into the wrong hands.We speak to Lokman Tsui, a tech expert and university lecturer in Hong Kong, who is living the midst of an increasingly violent protest movement paranoid about surveillance. We also catch up with Newsnight’s Gabriel Gatehouse, who has just got back from Hong Kong, where he met the young people willing to sacrifice their lives to fight against what they believe to be the oppressive application of technology from mainland China. They both explain why there are lessons from Hong Kong for all of us about the kind of technological future we want to live in.

*** Update: Adnan Ahmed's conviction was quashed on appeal after three judges ruled the verdict was a miscarriage of justice ***BBC reporter Myles Bonnar spent two days on the streets of London with "pick-up" coaches, being “trained” in how to chat up women and get them into bed. “Pick-up” culture goes at least as far back as 2005 when American author and journalist Neil Strauss released a book called The Game. Myles, who made a film for the BBC’s Panorama programme, tells us what he learnt on a seduction bootcamp. The coaches told him they are doing nothing wrong. And author Rachel O’Neill explains how the seduction industry has gone mainstream.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Philly Beaumont and Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

In August a young man called Harry Dunn died when a car driving on the wrong side of the road crashed into his motorbike. The only suspect has left the country, and there’s nothing the police can do to get her to come back. Anne Sacoolas' husband works for the US government at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire, and because of diplomatic immunity she currently cannot be prosecuted. The BBC’s Duncan Kennedy has interviewed Harry’s parents. And BBC diplomatic correspondent James Landale explains why diplomatic immunity exists in the first place.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Harriet Noble and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

In April 2018 the Home Secretary Amber Rudd resigned and delivered an unprecedented apology for the “appalling” actions of her own department towards Windrush-era citizens. It came 5 months after an investigation by a Guardian journalist into what has become known as the Windrush scandal. The scandal affected an unknown number of people who arrived in the UK as children from the Caribbean but were never formally naturalised or hadn’t applied for a British passport. We speak to Amelia Gentleman, the investigative journalist who broke the story and whose book The Windrush Betrayal: Exposing the Hostile Environment has just come out. We also hear from Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff, author of Mother Country: Real Stories of the Windrush Children, about what Windrush means now. Presenter: Tina Daheley Producers: Jaja Muhammad and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

“I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces”. This week Prince Harry released a strongly-worded statement attacking the way the press treats his wife Meghan. At the same time the couple announced they were taking legal action against the Mail on Sunday for publishing a private letter Meghan sent her father. And today we found out Harry is also suing the Sun and Mirror over alleged phone-hacking.Harry’s distrust of the press runs deep: as a child he witnessed his mother Princess Diana’s hounding by the media. Michael Cole was a BBC royal correspondent in the 1980s, and then became a spokesperson for Mohamed Al Fayad, the father of Diana’s boyfriend Dodi. He remembers the relationship between the press and the royal family in Diana’s day. And the BBC’s current royal correspondent Jonny Dymond assesses how Harry’s childhood has shaped his relationship with the press today.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Harriet Noble and Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

With four weeks to go before the government’s deadline for leaving the EU, parliament is still discussing the best way forward. Was this crisis inevitable? One of the go-to places to decode all this has been the Talking Politics podcast. Helen Thompson is one of the hosts. She is also professor of political economics at the University of Cambridge and she came to the Beyond Today studio to untangle our uneasy and complicated relationship with Europe. She tells us about the key moments in our recent history that led to this crisis and why we are at a stalemate. Presented by Matthew Price Producers: Duncan Barber, Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Saudi Arabia’s 33 year-old Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has been described as a reformer. What he is selling to the outside world is a modern, forward thinking country that’s no longer dependent on oil. But one year ago today, the Saudi journalist and human rights campaigner, Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Istanbul. Now we’ve got the details of exactly how it happened. Jane Corbin who has spoken to some of the very few people who know about the hit squad who killed him and the cover up that followed for her new Panorama film. We spoke to her, and Amira Fatallah from BBC Monitoring, to explore what the killing tells us about how the rest of the world should deal with Saudi Arabia.

Impeachment proceedings have been launched against Donald Trump after a whistleblower said the US president pressured the leader of Ukraine into investigating one of his main Democratic challengers. In a telephone conversation Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into Joe Biden, the man Trump may well face in the 2020 presidential election, and connections Biden’s son had in Ukraine. The whistleblower’s allegations mention Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani as the person who was essentially running the Ukrainian evidence-gathering operation. Giuliani was the ‘hero’ mayor of New York, guiding the city through the horrors of 9/11. But now he’s seen as a more-than colourful character wheeled out to defend his boss to the end. As the proceedings gain momentum, we ask The Atlantic’s White House correspondent, Elaina Plott, whether a phone call could bring down America’s most divisive president, and the details of a fiery exchange she had with Giuliani in the back of an Uber. Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Harriet Noble and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Parents Jake and Hobbit have taken the unusual decision to keep the sex of their baby secret. They say "gender bias is unconscious" and that this is the only way to mitigate against it, not even telling the child’s grandmother their sex until they were 11 months old. When Beth Mcleod covered their story for the BBC’s Inside Out West programme the couple received a huge backlash. We look into why they decided to go public, and what it is about both gender and parenting that provokes such a strong reaction.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

At the end of another overwhelming week of news, it’s time for bit of perspective. Ten years ago philosopher Alain de Botton founded The School of Life, a collective of psychologists, writers and philosophers mulling over life’s big questions to its 5 million YouTube subscribers. Alain argues that the news doesn’t give us the information we need to live happy lives and explores why we feel lonely and why our relationships fail. He argues that secular societies have discarded the useful bits of religion and tells us why, when it comes to ritual, sacrifice, service and communion, we could do with bringing it back. Plus, the king of romantic philosophy tries a dating app for the very first time and explains why there’s no point even trying to find the ‘right’ person.

There were more than 700 allegations of sexual misconduct at British universities over the last academic year, according to an investigation by the BBC’s File on 4 programme. Since that documentary aired last week, the team has received a moving response from student survivors of sexual assault who came forward to speak about their experiences.The University of Leicester is one of the academic institutions which is trying to tackle the problem of sexual misconduct on campus. Despite investing millions into welfare services the university has received 29 reports of sexual assault since records began in 2015, including seven last year.In this episode we hear the stories of three University of Leicester students who are sexual assault survivors and who tell us what they’re doing to make change. We also talk to BBC producer Kate West about her findings from the File on 4 investigation. In the UK, the rape crisis national freephone helpline is 0808 802 9999. Further information and support for anyone affected by sexual assault can be found through BBC Action Line.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Philly Beaumont and Seren Jones Editor: John Shields Mixed by Nicolas Raufast

On January 17 2015 at California’s Stanford University a young woman went to a party. A few hours later, she was found unconscious beside a bin. She had been sexually assaulted. To protect her identity in court, the victim was known as Emily Doe. We knew little else about her. We knew a lot about her attacker: he was Brock Turner, a student and swimmer, and his sporting prowess became part of his defence.The case caught global attention when BuzzFeed published Emily Doe’s 7,000-word victim statement. The post received 11 million views in four days, yet the writer remained anonymous. Until now. This month Emily Doe revealed herself as Chanel Miller, a 27-year-old literature graduate and artist. In this episode we speak to BBC reporter, Lauren Turner, who met Chanel to talk about why she wanted the world to know her name.In the UK, the rape crisis national freephone helpline is 0808 802 9999. In the US, the national sexual assault hotline is 1-800-656-4673. Further information and support for anyone affected by sexual assault can be found through BBC Action LinePresenter: Matthew Price Producers: Alicia Burrell and Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg made a passionate speech at the UN this week, accusing world leaders of failing to act on climate change. She told them: "You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you."It’s hard to remember that a year ago we had not heard the name Greta Thunberg, that she was just a lone teenager staging her solo climate strike outside the Swedish parliament on Fridays. Now she’s having the camera trained on her to gauge her reaction as Donald Trump walks by and her speeches are being broadcast around the world.What Greta says is scary, but that’s the point. In this episode we speak to David Wallace Wells, author of The Uninhabitable Earth. David, like Greta, has spent a lot of time going through climate studies and talking to the scientists who’ve measured where we’re heading. In this episode he tells us how much our future remains in our hands.Presenter: Matthew Price Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

On Tuesday we’re expecting that the judges of the highest court in the land will rule on whether Boris Johnson’s decision to shut down parliament ahead of next month’s Brexit deadline was legal or not. Scottish judges have already declared it unlawfulJust a few weeks ago very few of us could name the most recent Supreme Court case, but it’s suddenly the centre of attention. The live-stream of the first day of the hearing there last week was watched by more than 4 million viewers making this arguably the World Cup final of constitutional law. Today we’re asking more about the remit of the Supreme Court: why cases about access to toilets make the cut, who is in charge, and how Supreme Court justice Lady Hale came to be nicknamed the ‘Beyoncé of the judiciary’. The BBC’s Dominic Casciani and former barrister and legal journalist Afua Hirsch have been paying very close attention to recent proceedings, and came to the studio to answer our questions.Presenter: Tina Daheley Producer: Lucy Hancock Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Emma Barnett’s becoming one of the most respected broadcasters in the country. She presents for 5 Live and Newsnight, and can make her interviewees - often politicians - feel very awkward just by asking them simple questions they stumble around trying to answer. Emma got in touch to ask us if we wanted to talk to her about periods, because she’s just written a book about them. And we said “yes please”.Presenter: Matthew Price Producers: Philly Beaumont and Jessica Beck Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Dr Ruja Ignatova is the founder of the cryptocurrency One Coin that promised to change money forever. Within two years of launching the company she claimed to have 3.5 million members and hundreds of thousands of investors, with offices all round the world holding events and seminars in major cities. She even packed out Wembley Arena. But in 2017 Dr Ruja got a plane to Athens and hasn't been seen since. Georgia Catt, a BBC producer, and technology writer Jamie Bartlett have been on the search for Dr Ruja for the last year and have just started a podcast series about their investigation for BBC Sounds. They came into the Beyond Today studio to tell us all about her. Presented by Tina Daheley Producer: Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Purdue Pharma is the company that has become synonymous with the opioid epidemic in the United States. The firm, which is owned by the wealthy Sackler family, produces the highly addictive and highly profitable drug OxyContin. This week the company filed for bankruptcy. We trace the rise and fall of the dynasty from New York to Kentucky via Glasgow with Chris McGreal, author of “American Overdose: a Tragedy in Three Acts”.Presented by Matthew Price Producers: Jessica Beck and Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Over the weekend the singer Sam Smith released a statement which read: “I’ve decided I am changing my pronouns to THEY/THEM.”Coming from a pop artist who has sold over 20m records, this felt like a moment where non-binary hit the mainstream. Sam’s post sparked a debate about gender, identity and language.Tom Rasmussen is a drag queen, writer and actor who identifies as non-binary, and Sam Smith credited Tom for helping them understand what it is to be this. We invited Tom into the Beyond Today studio to talk about pronouns, Celine Dion, and the trickiest conversations they’ve had with their mum. Producers: Lucy Hancock and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Eight years ago, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad began his brutal crackdown on opponents of his regime. Air strikes have long targeted hospitals, and in the last rebel stronghold of Idlib medics are being forced underground to survive.Waad Al-Kateab is a Syrian journalist who lived through this in the city of Aleppo. She filmed what it was like surviving as bombs rained down, living in her husband’s hospital and bringing her daughter, Sama, into a war-torn world. Now, with co-director Ed Watts, she’s made a documentary called “For Sama”. They came into the Beyond Today studio to share her story, while the BBC's Middle East correspondent, Quentin Sommerville, explains why this war crime is still happening.“For Sama” is now in cinemas nationwide and will be broadcast on Channel 4 in October. Thanks to Channel 4 News and ITN Productions for some of the audio featured in this episode.Producers: Harriet Noble and Seren Jones Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Six years since it last aired, the TV series Top Boy is back. Although the show, which revolves around an east London estate and the people who live there, is entirely fictional it was lauded for depicting the reality of inner-city life. But even though its second series premiered to critical acclaim, Channel 4 cancelled Top Boy. It was only after an intervention by the Canadian rapper Drake that Netflix decided to bring it back. The creator Ronan Bennett came to the Beyond Today studio to talk about why he wanted to write Top Boy, the show’s revival and Drake’s involvement. We also speak to the rapper Kano about his character Sully and why the show is more relevant than ever. Producers: Seren Jones, Alicia Burrell Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: John Shields

Fruit Medley, Cotton Candy and Buttered Popcorn may sound like options on a dessert menu, but they are actually vape flavours. President Trump has just said he wants to ban the sale of all non-tobacco flavoured e-cigarettes in response to an outbreak of a vaping-related illness that has caused the deaths of six people and made 450 ill. We hear from one of them Simah Herman, who shared a photo of herself in a hospital bed as an attempt to warn others of the dangers of vaping. The BBC’s health and science correspondent James Gallagher explains what’s behind the illness and just how dangerous vaping is, and Marie Baca from the Washington Post tells us about Juul, the biggest e-cigarette company in the US. Producers: Harriet Noble and Stephanie Gabbatt Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: Philly Beaumont

On the 24th of August, 19-year-old Uyinene Mrwetyana went missing in Cape Town. She had gone to fetch a parcel at the post office. A week later her body was found. She had been raped and murdered. Her death spurred a movement across the country with thousands of people protesting after the most deadly month for violent crimes against women the country has ever seen.Rebone Masemola is a women’s rights activist in Johannesburg. She talks about the daily struggles of being a woman in South Africa, while the BBC’s Johannesburg correspondent, Milton Nkosi, explains why the country has a deep-rooted culture of violence.Producers: Seren Jones, Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale , originally released in 1985, has become a modern-day phenomenon thanks to the recent TV series and explosion of feminist politics. Its sequel The Testaments was released this week with a Harry Potter-esque book launch on Monday, which saw fans queuing round the corner to get their hands on a copy.We hear from Deborah Frances-White of The Guilty Feminist about how close Margaret Atwood’s story gets to reality. And Marnie Chesterton from Crowdscience gives us the facts behind the real-life global fertility crisis.Producers: Jessica Beck and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

In July eight people were convicted for their part in Britain’s biggest ever modern slavery prosecution. The gang were part of an organised crime group from Poland which enslaved hundreds of people.The victims were tricked into coming to the UK with the promise of work. When they arrived they were forced into menial labour, had no access to their wages and housed in rat-infested accommodation while the gang made an estimated £2m over five years. We speak to BBC Panorama’s Duncan Staff who followed the story with West Midlands Police, and interviewed many of the victims including Mariusz Rykaczewski, a former soldier who was enslaved, beaten and starved by the gang. He was one of 66 witnesses who provided evidence against the slavers. We also speak to Caroline Haughey QC, one of the country’s foremost experts on modern slavery and the lead prosecutor for the case. She explains how it took four years to bring the slavers to justice and why this case affects every one of us.Producers: Alicia Burrell, Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Malcolm Gladwell seems to be everyone’s fantasy dinner guest. Also a contender for America’s greatest intellectual, he’s a Canadian with roots in the UK. The writer and host of the Revisionist History podcast is back with a new book: “Talking to Strangers”. In it he explores what we should know about the people we don’t - and how some of the most infamous cases of recent history stem from people misreading each other. He came to the Beyond Today studio to talk about the importance of slowing down and his fear of running out of ideas.Producer: Lucy Hancock Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

MPs came back from their summer break on Tuesday and it already feels like months ago. A lot of politics has happened since then and what with the betrayals, the tears, and the memes it’s become the biggest reality show since Love Island.It’s difficult to figure out who is really in charge of events at the moment since MPs voted to take over the Brexit process from the Prime Minister. To help us understand what’s happened and to prepare us for what seems like an inevitable general election, with just 56 days to go before the Brexit deadline, we spoke to Tom McTague. Tom writes for The Atlantic and is co-author of ‘Betting The House: The Inside Story of the 2017 Election’.Producer: Duncan Barber. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

Amid the Brexit chaos, there’s another story that went viral this week. A teenage boy in Bristol has lost his eyesight because of his poor diet. Since leaving primary school, he had been eating only French fries, Pringles and white bread, as well as an occasional slice of ham or a sausage. The story provoked strong opinions about what we should and shouldnt be eating.We speak to author and journalist Eve Simmons about our complicated national relationship with ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food. Robbie Davison, who runs a social enterprise that provides hot meals for people in poverty, explains what well-meaning people get wrong about poverty and bad diets.If you feel like you may be affected by issues in this programme, you can find support on the BBC Action Line - https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionline/Producers: Lucy Hancock, Seren Jones Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

A recent government survey found that 5% of gay people in the UK had been offered conversion therapy in order to “cure” them, and that 2% had undergone it. It’s a small percentage, but it’s still pretty shocking that the practice happens here at all. For a documentary for Radio 1 and 1Xtra, James Barr and Dan Hudson from the “A Gay and A NonGay” podcast travelled to Northern Ireland to find out more about life for LGBTQ+ people there. As part of the trip James had a taster of what it’s like to have gay conversion therapy, and they and producer Phoebe Keane sit down with Beyond Today to explore what it’s like, the devestating impact it can have, and why it’s still happening. Their documentary series “From Gay to Non Gay?” is available now on BBC Sounds. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his advisers have a plan for staying in power and getting us out of the EU. They are picking their way through it and today they held a special cabinet meeting to discuss calling an election. Tomorrow, MPs are back in parliament with a chance to stop them taking us out of the EU without any deal. While the politicians figure out their next moves the anger is growing on both sides and, whatever happens over the next two months, there seems no prospect of this abating. We speak to Sky’s political correspondent Lewis Goodall, who has watched the talk of coups and treason building at political rallies. We also hear from Jan Hofmeyr from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa about how a country can reconcile its differences. Producers: Philly Beaumont, Lucy Hancock and Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Sara Pascoe’s first book explored the anatomy of the female body. Now the comedian has turned her attention to masculinity. Sara came to the Beyond Today studio to talk about her new book, what RuPaul’s Drag Race can teach us about gender roles, whether sex workers should be prescribed on the NHS and why men shouldn’t have to pay the bill on a first date.Producers: Alicia Burrell and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Weidong Lin

The prime minister's decision to suspend parliament prompted an angry backlash from MPs and opponents of a no-deal Brexit. It sparked protests across the country, a legal challenge and a petition with – at the time of writing - around one and a half million signatures. The government claims the five-week suspension in September and October will still allow time for MPs to debate Brexit.It’s another of those moments in the Brexit saga, and there seem to have been loads of them, that leaves people feeling pretty confused. When the news broke the Beyond Today team started getting messages from friends and family asking what on earth is going on?! People think that as we work at the BBC and it’s our job to follow Brexit, we have the answers. But it’s all become so complicated that honestly, we’re not sure anymore. So we compiled the questions we were sent, added some of our own, and put them to Chris Morris from the BBC’s Reality Check team.Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: John Shields

Wildfires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest are burning at a record rate. It’s caused global anger and anxiety with more than three million people sharing the hashtag #PrayforAmazonia. Criticism has been directed at the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for failing to protect the rainforest and rejecting $22 million of aid money. In this episode we look at who has ownership over the Amazon and other places of environmental importance like the Arctic. We speak to Jon Lee Anderson, a journalist at the New Yorker Magazine who has been visiting indigenous people in Brazil for years. We also hear from BBC journalist Camilla Veras Mota who last week travelled to see the fires in Porto Velho. And Juliana Gragnani from the BBC’s Brazilian service tells us what Brazilians make of all the outside attention and who they blame for the fires.Producer: Duncan Barber. Mixed by Andy Mills. Editor: John Shields.

One year ago, a 15-year-old girl from Sweden started protesting outside the Swedish parliament, urging the government to pay attention to the world’s climate crisis. Now Greta Thunberg has become the face of environmental activism. Two weeks ago, when Greta set sail to America on a zero carbon boat, the internet exploded with some fairly vicious commentary. She was called a ‘pig-tailed school drop-out’ and climate change advocates rushed to, sometimes just as viciously, defend her. This week her boat is due to arrive in New York, hometown of fossil fuel champion, US president Donald Trump, what will happen next nobody yet knows. In this episode, we hear from Justin Rowlatt who met her when she was last on dry land in Plymouth and Swedish journalist who knows all about her family background. We’ll also hear from writer Julian Baggini, who is worried about Greta’s role in the culture wars. How could pinning too much on one teen activist be oversimplifying the climate problem?Producers: Seren Jones, Lucy Hancock Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: John Shields

In this re-release of one of our favourite recent episodes, Tina speaks to filmmaker Louis Theroux. Back in July he came in to tell us about his documentary Surviving America’s Most Hated Family and why, 13 years on, he’s still interested in the Westboro Baptist Church. We also talk to him about nudity, why he’s not into hallucinogenic drug rituals, the problem with no-platforming and how he became the most widely meme-d journalist in Britain.

Tina Daheley speaks with Mobeen Azhar, a journalist and filmmaker for the BBC who travelled to Portland, Oregon to make a film about the death of a 19-year-old African American. The footage of Larnell Bruce running for his life went viral at the time, raising alarm about white supremacy. But in Oregon, Mobeen uncovered a story far more complex than he’d ever anticipated.Produced by Jessica Beck Mixed by Weidong Lin Edited by John Shields

This week, Manchester United footballer, Paul Pogba received racial abuse online from anonymous accounts after he missed a penalty. He’s the third player in a week to be racially abused on social media following a penalty miss. In response, teammate Harry Maguire tweeted that social media users should have to verify their identity before opening an account.Kerry Allen is a media analyst covering China for BBC Monitoring. She explains how social media works in a country where ID checks are enforced on social media. Bernie Hogan from the Oxford Internet Institute focuses on the role of design in social media. He tells us how the format of a social media platform can affect how we nice are to each other. Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: John Shields

Last week around a hundred people in Iceland walked up the side of a windswept rocky mountain to attend the funeral… of a glacier. Okjokull’s death was a result of climate change, and scientists predict that within 200 years all of Iceland’s glaciers will go the same way. So, what does the death of Okjokull mean for a country whose national identity is woven into its frozen landscape? And, why is ice melting in the subarctic a warning to the rest of the world? We speak to the author Andri Snaer Magnusson about how you write a eulogy to a glacier, and what Okjokull’s death means to Iceland and its future. We also talk to climate scientist Ruth Mottram from the Danish Meteorological Institute about the science behind melting ice sheets and why the death of Ok should matter to us all.Producers: Alicia Burrell and Jessica Beck Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: John Shields

Office space company We Work have just released their prospectus ahead of their stock market flotation next month. Their vision of the future of work is a utopian one forged from the Silicon Valley tech boom. It’s a vision of work-based community that some say creates a culture of ‘hustle porn.’ We speak to Wall Street Journal business podcast presenter Kim Gittleson about whether they can deliver on their promises. We also speak to Maddy Savage about modern work culture and how striving for perfection has permeated many aspects of millennial life. She reports from Sweden, the capital of work-life balance, where a growing number of young people are seeking help for clinical ‘burnout.’Producers: Lucy Hancock, Duncan Barber, Sean Allsop Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: John Shields

Earlier this month, India imposed a media blackout in Kashmir while they stripped the region of its autonomy, causing panic, outrage and protests. As the tensions between India and Pakistan escalate, we look at how we got here and what could happen next. And what does Priyanka Chopra have to do with it? Yogita Limaye, the BBC’s India correspondent, and BBC Pakistan and Afghanistan Correspondent Secunder Kermani assess whether the intractable conflict can ever be solved.Producers: Harriet Noble, Jessica Beck and Duncan Barber Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: John Shields

Arous was an idyllic holiday resort on Sudan’s Red Sea coast, a slice of paradise offering an escape to up to 30 scuba-diving tourists in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But it held a secret, one so outlandish it’s just been made into a Netflix movie. The BBC news website’s Middle East Editor Raffi Berg tells us a tale of espionage, exodus and wind-surfing. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

Everyone who has heard the story of a woman on a Tinder date spending £15,000 on wine at the Shard seems to have loved it. The voice note has whipped around social media. But as soon as you’ve heard it you start to wonder if it’s true. Nesta McGregor from Radio 1’s Newsbeat tells us how some fairly basic research revealed it as false. We pick up the investigation and attempt to track down the source of the story while David Robson, author of ‘Intelligence Trap’, tells us about the origins and enduring appeal of urban myths.Producers: Lucy Hancock and Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

The average student debt after a three year degree course in England is £50,000. It’s a large sum that can be off-putting when you hear tales of jobless graduates and self-made entrepreneurs. Student debt is lower in Wales and Northern Ireland and less still in Scotland where you don’t pay fees, but even here student debt has doubled in the last decade.In this episode we speak to Natalie Olah. She’s written a book - based on her experience at university and after - called ‘Steal As Much As You Can’. It’s a sort of self-help guide aimed at people from less well-off backgrounds navigating higher education and professional life.We also speak to Chris Havergal, news editor at the Times Higher Education Supplement, about the options young people have as students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland get their A Level results this week, as do those studying level 3 BTEC qualifications.Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

The financier Jeffrey Epstein was in a Manhattan prison awaiting trial for sex trafficking when he was found dead in his cell last weekend. The multi-millionaire moved in the richest social circles with people like Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew. But with his death, apparently by suicide, how much can we really know? And will his victims ever find justice? Nada Tawfik, the BBC reporter in New York following the case, tells us the details of Epstein’s life and crimes. And we hear from Spencer Kuvin, an attorney who represented some of Epstein’s victims. Producers: Harriet Noble and Jessica Beck Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Last week Championship side Derby County announced Wayne Rooney, the former England captain, would be joining the team as a player-coach on a reported £100,000-a-week contract and will wear the number 32. Derby also secured a “record-breaking sponsorship” deal with the online casino 32Red. The news has raised questions about football’s links to gambling at a time when the industry is booming and smartphones have made it easier to place bets than ever before. So, is the transfer more than just a savvy football deal? BBC 5Live reporter Katie Shanahan tells us about the two teams — Huddersfield and Derby — who collaborated with betting firms this summer. We also speak to sport finance expert Dr Dan Plumley about how much the gambling industry contributes, and comedian Lloyd Griffith about what a healthier relationship between football and the bookies could look like. Producers: Alicia Burrell and Duncan Barber. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem visit: https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionline/

Cyntoia Brown was 16 when she was jailed for life for murder. This week she walked free after the Governor of Tennessee granted her clemency. She was backed by a number of powerful celebrities including Kim Kardashian who used social media to highlight her case as part of a campaign to get young black Americans out of unfair jail sentences. We speak to Samantha Schmidt from the Washington Post about the details of the case. We also hear from Kevin Sharp, former judge who went to the White House with Kim Kardashian. Producers: Philly Beaumont, Jessica Beck Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

“There is no plan for no deal because we are going to get a great deal.” That’s what Boris Johnson, then Foreign Secretary, said in July 2017. A no-deal Brexit was once a fringe idea, but it’s now what Johnson’s government is working towards to fulfil his pledge to leave the EU by the end of October.So has no deal become inevitable? Daniel Kraemer has been working on this for the last four months in the BBC’s Westminster newsroom. He tells us how Brexit has come down to a political showdown between two middle aged Conservative politicians called Dominic – one working towards no deal and the other trying to stop it. We also hear about the emotional appeal of no deal from Fintan O’Toole, the Irish journalist and author of ‘Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain’. Producer: Duncan Barber. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

Boris Johnson’s government is “turbo-charging” plans for leaving the EU without a deal at the end of October. People are asking each other if we’re going to have enough food, whether they should be stockpiling tins and if it’s going to cost more money. Companies are stockpiling ingredients and today supermarkets have asked the government to change the law so they can work together to stop stuff running out after 31 October. David Gregory-Kumar tells us lamb farmers are particularly worried that a new tariff on exports could lead to a mass cull of Brexit lambs. We also speak to Daniel Saladino about what fresh tomatoes tell us about the intricate food system we’ve built, and in what way we rely on Europe for the sunshine, the labour and even the bees that fertilise our food.

The World Health Organisation predicts that by 2025 half of the world’s population will live in water-stressed areas. This means the demand for water will be more than the supply. This is already happening in Chennai. The Indian city with more than five million people has been having a water crisis since June. The taps have run dry and experts say there’s no end in sight.Rajini Vaidyanathan has been reporting from Chennai for the BBC. She tells us what it’s like for the residents to live without water. Meera Subramanian is a journalist and author who has written about India’s climate crisis in her book, ‘A River Runs Again.’ She explains that living during a water shortage is far more common than we think.

Two mass shootings in 24 hours have shocked America: the first in El Paso, Texas and the other in Dayton, Ohio. 29 people have lost their lives. The El Paso shooter opened fire in a Walmart store only a few miles from the Mexican border. Police are treating the attack as domestic terrorism after finding an anti-immigrant “manifesto” on 8chan - a forum that promotes freedom of speech.We speak to Michael Wendling from BBC Trending about how 8chan came to be taken offline. The BBC’s security correspondent Gordon Corera tells us why the security services are finding it tough to police white supremacist violence.Producers: Seren Jones, Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Improving social mobility has been a key pledge of successive governments with politicians promising to create a meritocracy in Britain. However, research shows time and time again that the best-paid and most influential jobs still go to those from privileged backgrounds while the working classes aren’t getting ahead… even if they’re better candidates for the position. So, why is class the last big barrier to getting a top job? In this episode we speak to broadcaster Amol Rajan about his documentary following working-class graduates attempting to break into elite professions, and his own experience of going from a south London state school to being the BBC’s media editor. Dr Sam Friedman explains why it pays to be privileged in the workplace and tries to find a solution to Britain’s class problem. Producers: Lucy Hancock and Alicia Burrell. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: Philly Beaumont.

When swimmer Mack Horton refused to share a podium with Sun Yang, accusing him of being a drug cheat, what he didn’t know is that one of his own teammates had tested positive for a banned substance. On Friday Shayna Jack will attempt to clear her name as she faces a four year ban. The consequences for athletes are serious– stripped of medals, barred from competition and a reputation in tatters, it hardly seems worth the risk. Time and time again athletes get caught, but is the testing regime keeping up?

US rapper A$AP Rocky went on trial in Sweden this week, accused of assaulting a 19-year-old in Stockholm.Donald Trump has publicly called for his release online, tweeting “Give A$AP Rocky his FREEDOM. We do so much for Sweden but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around. Sweden should focus on its real crime problem! #FreeRocky”. The US president has also spoken to the Swedish prime minister about the case.But why does Donald Trump care about the rapper’s arrest? And how has his intervention gone down in Sweden?We speak to Maddy Savage, who has been covering events in Stockholm for the BBC. We also hear from Congressman Adriano Espaillat, who represents the New York district where A$AP Rocky was born, and from Eugene Scott, a writer on identity issues for the Washington Post.Producers: Duncan Barber and Daniel Kraemer. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: Philly Beaumont.

As technology advances, we’re going to become more reliant on artificial intelligence. Robots are being programmed and piloted in primary schools and care-homes to teach basic maths and to help tackle loneliness. Robots are even available to provide romantic intimacy and sex. It seems inevitable that robots will play a significant role in our emotional lives, but who might benefit from them?Meanwhile amongst the Silicon Valley elite, there’s a growing movement that is turning away from technology. Some experts say that, as the rest of society becomes reliant on robots and AI, only the rich will be able to afford the luxury of human contact to educate, work and care for them. We talk to academic and author Dr. Kate Devlin about how intimate our relationships with robotics can be, while the BBC’s tech correspondent, Dave Lee explores how a robotic transformation of the workforce isn’t great news for everyone. Producers: Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: Philly Beaumont

Once upon a time the concept of legalising recreational cannabis was something stoners at house parties dreamt about, but in the past few years the conversation around cannabis has changed.BBC Newsbeat journalist Jim Connolly travelled with Labour's David Lammy, Conservative MP Jonathan Djanogly and Liberal Democrat Sir Norman Lamb on a fact-finding trip to Canada. In 2018 Canada became the first G7 country to allow recreational use of the drug. The MPs are now convinced the UK will fully legalise cannabis use within five to ten years.Currently cannabis is designated as a Class B drug in the UK and anyone caught with it could face up to five years in prison.Jim spoke to Matthew about what, and who, is driving the push for legalisation in the UK.You can watch Jim’s Newsbeat documentary here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p07hlnh7/newsbeat-documentaries-legalising-weed-canadas-story.Producers: Lucy Hancock, Duncan Barber and Alva White. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: Philly Beaumont.

More than 6 million people have tuned in to watch series 5 of Love Island. It all comes to an end next week but ITV has announced that it’s doing so well they’ll start running two series a year. We speak to superfans Sarah Manavis, digital culture writer for the New Statesman, and broadcaster Richie Anderson about the show’s success and why the Love Island friendships have been stronger than ever. Produced by: Beyond Today producers Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: Philly Beaumont

Matt Forde set out on a mission to humanise politics with his podcast the Political Party. He’s interviewed some of the biggest politicians of our time: Tony Blair, Nigel Farage and even Tommy Robinson. But there’s a thin line between humanising politicians and doing their PR job for them. In the week that a politician known for his jokes became prime minister, we ask how much does comedy feature in modern politics? Can it be a tool for something darker, and is satire now just the pursuit of smug elites? Producers: Lucy Hancock, Duncan Barber and Philly Beaumont. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: Harriet Noble.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably used Faceapp to see how you’ll look when you’re older.But in the days after Faceapp blew up, a conspiracy theory spread across the internet. People were worried that Wireless Lab - the app’s maker - was feeding data to the Russian government. This led to the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer calling for an investigation into FaceApp. In a letter posted on Twitter, Mr Schumer called it "deeply troubling" that personal data of US citizens could go to a "hostile foreign power".In this episode we speak to the BBC’s Russia and disinformation specialist Olga Robinson about why worrying about Faceapp’s Russian roots misses the point. Maryam Ahmed - a BBC expert in Machine intelligence – answers the questions the Faceapp story throws up and explains why any private company would want pictures of our face in the first place.Producers: Duncan Barber and Lucy Hancock. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: Philly Beaumont.

Boris Johnson has been elected new Conservative leader. He will take over as prime minister from Theresa May on Wednesday. He says he will deliver Brexit and unite the country. But Boris Johnson is a divisive character. This episode is about the mistakes he’s made along the way, but why in the end his ambition and sheer force of personality got him there. He’s gone from being a journalist to celebrity to now the man with the top job in the country. We hear from the Radio 2 presenter Jeremy Vine, Kulveer Ranger who worked with him at City Hall and the BBC’s political correspondent Chris Mason.

Today’s episode is all about Theresa May, but that doesn’t mean it’s all about Brexit. It’s a common argument: the main reason Theresa May failed as prime minister is that she got her whole approach to Brexit wrong and screwed up negotiations with both the EU and MPs. But there are other moments that could ultimately have caused her political demise, even before she took the top job. Her former adviser Chris Wilkins and the BBC’s Deputy Political Editor John Pienaar take a look back at Theresa May’s doomed premiership. This is the first half of a two-part series. Tomorrow we’ll look at what drives our next prime minister.Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: Philly Beaumont

This is part two of our interview with Eliot Higgins, the man who began investigating international crimes from his living room in Leicester after dropping out of university. Despite having no formal journalism training or experience, he quickly gained a reputation in the relatively new field of open-source citizen journalism, where people analyse publicly available materials to uncover new facts about major stories.On yesterday’s episode we heard about his investigative website Bellingcat and how it helped discover who shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. Bellingcat has also carried out important work investigating everything from chemical weapon attacks in Syria to the identities of the men accused of the Salisbury poisoning. In today’s episode Eliot talks us through Bellingcat’s techniques and how anyone can get involved in international crime-solving, using nothing more than their laptop. If you’d like to hear the whole story of the MH17 investigation head to the Bellingcat website and listen to their new podcast: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/podcasts/2019/07/17/mh17-episode-guide-1/.

Five years ago passenger flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over conflict-hit Ukraine.Investigators blame Russian-backed separatists who they say targeted the plane with a Russian-made missile.One of the reasons they’re sure is because of the work of Eliot Higgins. He founded the website Bellingcat, which describes itself as "the home of online investigations".Eliot tells us how he traced the missile system from Eastern Ukraine back to Kursk in Western Russia. And how he used voice recognition software to match Russian officials to intercepted calls made by the Ukrainian secret service.To hear the whole story of the MH17 investigation head to the Bellingcat website and listen to their new podcast: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/podcasts/2019/07/17/mh17-episode-guide-1/.Produced by Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor : Philly Beaumont

It’s three months since the 29-year-old journalist Lyra Mckee was killed in a riot in Northern Ireland. Her death shocked the world and there were calls for politicians in Northern Ireland to unite. But since then the assembly in Stormont still hasn't sat. There has, though, been some progress on things Lyra felt passionate about – same sex marriage is likely to be made legal and abortion laws liberalised. We went to Londonderry to speak to Lyra’s partner Sara Canning, who took us on a tour and introduced us to other campaigners. Producer:Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields Thanks to Hat Trick productions and Channel 4 for use of Derry Girls.

Today marks exactly 50 years since the launch of the Apollo 11 mission to put the first man on the Moon. Ever since that day in 1969 conspiracy theories have sprung up alleging that the whole thing is a hoax, and now there is a growing community of people who don’t even believe the earth is round. In this episode, Marco Silva, a reporter for BBC Trending introduces us to Dave from Sheffield, a man who is convinced that the earth is flat. He is part of a group whose false ideas have spread with the help of the YouTube algorithm. We learn about the people trying to address the misinformation problem and what YouTube is doing about conspiracy theories on its platform.If you want to know how dangerous medical misinformation can be spread by health bloggers, you can listen to our anti-vax episode here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p072rpnk Producers: Lucy Hancock and Alicia Burrell Editor: John Shields

The nation’s favourite documentary maker is back. This week Tina speaks to filmmaker Louis Theroux, who came in to tell us about his new documentary Surviving America’s Most Hated Family and why, 13 years on, he’s still interested in the Westboro Baptist Church. We also talk to him about nudity, why he’s not into hallucinogenic drug rituals, the problem with no-platforming and how he became the most widely meme-d journalist in Britain. You can also listen to ‘What happens to Shamima Begum now?’ here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0739vz8You can watch Louis’ new documentary here on iPlayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0006vv7/louis-theroux-surviving-americas-most-hated-family

“Not every day, all day. But there's always a point that I think about it, and what would have been different.” Claire gets an audience with the Ministry of Defence to ask: who is responsible for soldiers suffering from PTSD, and why doesn’t the military keep track of veterans when they know that PTSD can crop up years later? What happens when it does? If you’re affected by the issues raised in this episode, help is out there. If you’re a veteran or you know a veteran, the starting point for help is the Ministry of Defence’s Veteran’s Gateway and these charities: Combat Stress Help for Heroes Samaritans Producer: Heidi Pett Sound designer: Weidong Lin Original music: Matthew James Kelly Executive producer: Matthew Price Editor: John Shields

“They gave everything. And they deserved so much more.” Kevin Holt died nine years after his Afghan tour. He was fighting his demons right to the end. But was it the war that killed him? And Kevin wasn’t the first from his platoon to die after getting home safely. This episode discusses suicide. If you need to talk, help is out there. If you’re a veteran or you know a veteran, the starting point for help is the Ministry of Defence’s Veteran’s Gateway and these charities: Combat Stress Help for Heroes SamaritansProducer: Heidi Pett Sound designer: Weidong Lin Original music: Matthew James Kelly Executive producer: Matthew Price Editor: John Shields

“I don’t think I could honestly say I’ve spoken to anyone about all the stuff that’s happened.” Claire is invited to the pub with three of the guys who were there on 10 July, 2009. They say talking to people who went through it helps them, but it turns out that looks very different to how you might expect.If you’re affected by the issues raised in this episode, help is out there. If you’re a veteran or you know a veteran, the starting point for help is the Ministry of Defence’s Veteran’s Gateway and these charities: Combat Stress Help for Heroes SamaritansProducer: Heidi Pett Sound designer: Weidong Lin Original music: Matthew James Kelly Executive producer: Matthew Price Editor: John Shields

“He went out a boy and he came back a broken man” After that day, the platoon pick themselves up and carry on fighting the Taliban in Helmand. But when they get home a new battle begins for them and their families. If you’re affected by the issues raised in this episode, help is out there. If you’re a veteran or you know a veteran, the starting point for help is the Ministry of Defence’s Veteran’s Gateway and these charities: Combat Stress Help for Heroes SamaritansProducer: Heidi Pett Sound designer: Weidong Lin Original music: Matthew James Kelly Executive producer: Matthew Price Editor: John Shields

“I remember hearing that bang, and thinking: this is it.” On 10 July, 2009, the soldiers of 9 platoon were out on a dawn patrol when an IED blast ripped through their ranks. Talking about it now, the survivors refer to it only as "that day". They all know what they mean. This episode contains descriptions of violence and death. If you need to talk to somebody, help is out there. If you’re a veteran or you know a veteran, the starting point for help is the Ministry of Defence’s Veteran’s Gateway and these charities: Combat Stress Help for Heroes SamaritansProducer: Heidi Pett Sound designer: Weidong Lin Original music: Matthew James Kelly Executive producer: Matthew Price Editor: John Shields

“It’s the best part of your life and the worst part of your life all rolled into one.” It’s ten years since the British Army’s deadliest month in Afghanistan. The platoon that was worst hit has lost two more men since then, including Kevin Holt who died of a morphine overdose. BBC defence producer Claire Read asks: Was it the war that killed him, almost a decade on? If you’re affected by the issues raised in this episode, help is out there. If you’re a veteran or you know a veteran, the starting point for help is the Ministry of Defence’s Veteran’s Gateway and these charities: Combat Stress Help for Heroes SamaritansProducer: Heidi Pett Sound designer: Weidong Lin Original music: Matthew James Kelly Executive producer: Matthew Price Editor: John Shields

Vampire Weekend have won a Grammy, topped the charts and become one of the most important bands of their generation. Their singer, songwriter and creative force Ezra Koenig sat down with Beyond Today at Glastonbury a few hours before the band went on stage. Here he discusses the anxiety of life as a professional musician, how the internet shaped his songwriting, and whether rock bands should be more political. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

It feels like Pride is more visible than ever before, with rainbows everywhere and even LGBT sandwiches on the shelves. But while it’s a measure of progress that communities are able to publicly celebrate their identity, is a party enough? Certainly not for gay women in one area of Chile, where three butch lesbians, known locally as “camionas”, have been murdered in the past decade. Megha Mohan, the BBC’s Gender and Identity Correspondent, shares the story of one of them - Nicole Saavedra. And Tabitha Benjamin, a British musician who runs the “Butch, Please” club night, tells us how she is targeted because of the way she looks. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Last December, the people of Sudan took to the streets to protest against high food prices and decades of hardship under the rule of Omar al-Bashir. Four months later momentum of the protests spread across the country, and led to the ousting of the president. But then things took a turn for the worse. On 3rd June, military forces opened fire on protesters in the capital, Khartoum. When Sudanese people shared news of the massacre on social media, the government shut down internet access across the country.BBC Africa’s Mohanad Hashim tells us about what it’s been like in Sudan over the past few months, while London-based activist Negla Abdalla explains how international activism is making a difference.Producers: Seren Jones, Philly Beaumont. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

In 2018 Anna Campbell’s father Dirk received the news that his 26 year-old daughter had died fighting in Syria. Up until that moment he didn’t know what she was involved with. Depending on who you speak to she was idealistic, brave, naive, or foolish. In this episode we speak to Dirk Campbell and the BBC’s Marina Parker who have been piecing together her journey from defending bees in the playground to fighting on the front line. We explore why a young British woman would be prepared to die for the Kurdish cause and what her death symbolises for her supporters.You can watch the full film Anna: The Woman Who Went to Fight ISIS here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006h6x Producers: Lucy Hancock and Alicia Burrell Editor: John Shields

They have two of the most distinctive hairdos in the world and they used to trade insults. But now it appears that Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have become friends. Trump made an impromptu visit to the North Korean border at the weekend and became the first serving US president to set foot in the country. They are technically still at war. The BBC’s correspondent in Seoul Stephen McDonell watched it all happen and Jean Lee opened the first western news bureau in North Korea. Producers: Philly Beaumont, Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

There are loads of music festivals these days. But the one that still stands out, that is special somehow, is Glastonbury. What started as a party on a farm for 1500 revellers nearly half a century ago has become the most iconic festival in the world, attended by 200 thousand people. How did that happen? And can the spirit of community and environmentalism the festival espouses teach us lessons for the modern world? BBC Entertainment Correspondent Colin Paterson and a host of voices from the festival join us. And you can listen to Radio Glastonbury on the BBC Sounds app across the weekend. Producers: Harriet Noble, Philly Beaumont and Seren Jones Mixed by: Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields Music Credit: Audio Network

The Saharan Bubble is blasting hot air across the European continent, breaking temperature records all over the place. But scientists are reluctant to link specific weather events to climate change, saying we can only be certain about long term trends. So when can we say for sure? We hear from Clare Nasir, a meteorologist with the Met Office, and Nick Cox, who's been measuring the Arctic climate since 1978.

South Korea’s playground for the rich and famous has been rocked by a major scandal over the alleged drugging and rape of women and young girls. Police have arrested more than 350 people in connection with claims of sexual abuse and exploitation in Seoul’s Gangnam nightclub district. A BBC investigation spoke to victims who say they were drugged with an undetectable substance before being dragged into nightclub back rooms or alleyways and then raped by one or more men, sometimes while being filmed on mobile phones. We speak to Laura Bicker, the BBC’s correspondent in Seoul about the scandal, and what it could mean for women in South Korea. Producers: Philly Beaumont and Lucy Hancock Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Boris Johnson is the clear favourite to replace Theresa May. He easily made it to the final along with Jeremy Hunt after getting backing from more than 100 Tory MPs. But things have gone a bit wrong for him after his neighbours recorded a row with his girlfriend Carrie Symonds and gave it to the press. He’s also faced criticism for hiding from TV debates – Jeremy Hunt has told him to “man up”. So with a less than a month to go before we have a new Prime Minister, just how vulnerable is Boris Johnson? We speak to BBC Political Correspondent Ben Wright and Joanne Nadler, author of “Too Nice to be a Tory”. We also hear from Nels Abbey, author of “Think Like A White Man”, who tells us how things would be different for Boris Johnson if he were black. Producers: Philly Beaumont, Alicia Burrell Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields.

The Chinese authorities say they are schools students attend voluntarily. Human rights groups say hundreds of thousands of Muslims are detained there without trial. So what’s really going on inside the mysterious camps in Xinjiang, the majority Muslim province in the far west of China? BBC China Correspondent John Sudworth and his producer Kathy Long have been attempting to get to the truth of the story for months, studying satellite images and getting as close as they can to the tall walls and barbed wire that surround the camps. Now, for the first time, they’ve been allowed inside. Producers: Harriet Noble and Alicia Burrell Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Johny Pitts is a writer, photographer and TV presenter who you may have seen on CD:UK, Blue Peter or MTV. He’s now written a book called Afropean which, among other things, has helped him understand his heritage as a boy from Sheffield with a white-English mother and an African-American father. In the book Johny also sets out to explore the state of black culture and identity in Europe today as he travels from Sheffield to France and onwards to Russia. He came into the Beyond Today studio to tell us why, now more than ever, it's important to establish a pan-European black identity. Producers: Philly Beaumont and Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields Music credits: Audio Network

Mobeen Azhar thought his hometown was a sleepy place where nothing really happened. Then a young man was shot by police on the motorway and Mobeen went home to investigate the killing. He found way more than he bargained for, and uncovered some uncomfortable truths about the place he grew up.

Two million people took to the streets in Hong Kong over the past week to protest against a controversial extradition bill. Led by young people the protests are a direct challenge to Chinese rule in Hong Kong. We spoke to BBC reporters Danny Vincent, who lives in Hong Kong and Helier Cheung who was brought up there. We also spoke to student leader Joshua Wong about what’s at stake.Produced by Duncan Barber and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolaus Raufast Editor: John Shields

It’s almost a year since a Thai football team of 12 boys and their coach found themselves trapped for more than two weeks in the Tham Luang caves in northern Thailand. In a story that gripped the entire world, the rescue became a race against time to save the Wild Boars before heavy monsoon rains flooded the caves. The task was so complex and dangerous that it led to the death of one of the rescuers - Saman Gunan.British caver Vernon Unsworth knows the Tham Luang caves better than anyone and played a crucial role in the rescue. In an exclusive interview he tells Beyond Today how difficult it was to get the operation off the ground, and the BBC’s South East Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, remembers how it all happened.Producers: Seren Jones, Harriet Noble and Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Young people in Liverpool are being offered hundreds of pounds by older gang leaders to stab each other. An investigation by Layla Wright for Beyond Today found that bounties are being used in knife attacks. We speak to Alan Walsh, an experienced youth worker in Merseyside who spoke to and recorded the teenagers. He says he was shocked by what he heard. Merseyside Police say they have no evidence that this is happening, but have urged anyone who knows about it to come forward. We also hear from Layla about how difficult it was to get the teenagers to speak. Producers: Layla Wright, Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Michael Barbaro is the host of The New York Times’ podcast The Daily - a podcast that spends 20 minutes every day focussing on one big news story. Regular listeners of Beyond Today might find this familiar… And in truth without The Daily we might not exist: it was a blueprint for a new type of journalism, a revolution in how news is reported and covered. And The Daily started around about the same time as another revolution was taking place - the election of President Donald Trump. Here Michael Barbaro helps us look back the Trump presidency - what we’ve learnt, what we’ve got wrong, how the world is different – and how journalists have responded. Producer: Harriet Noble. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

Botswana is home to the world’s largest population of elephants. And now you can hunt them. It’s a fascinating debate which pitches the moral question and knee-jerk reaction against killing endangered animals, against the economic and social reality of having more elephants than anywhere else on earth. Elephants can be very destructive when they encroach onto farmland and move through villages destroying crops and sometimes killing people.But conservationists are angry. They believe the move is political. It could also damage the country's international reputation for conservation and affect its revenues from tourism, the second largest source of foreign income after diamond mining. Alastair Leathead is the BBC’s Africa correspondent. He has spent a lot of time in Botswana and is caught up in the story. We got him into the Beyond Today studio to find out whether killing some elephants will save many more.Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire two years ago this week. Since then the first part of a public inquiry has taken place looking at the events of that night. The next phase, which will investigate why the 24-storey tower was wrapped in combustible cladding, will start next year. Kate Lamble from the BBC Grenfell Inquiry podcast tells what we have learnt so far. We also speak to Gill Kernick, who used to live in Grenfell Tower and works in risk management. She tells us what should be done to avoid this kind of disaster again.Produced by Philly Beaumont, Duncan Barber, Alicia Burrell Mixed by Nicolaus Raufast Editor: John Shields.

Charlie Brooker started his career writing video game reviews before he went on to become a TV critic. He’s written and presented two successful TV series, Screenwipe and Newswipe, which pulled apart the news and what we watch on TV. But he’s best known as being the creator and writer of the hugely successful Black Mirror series, which looks at our unease with technology and has attracted some huge names. Series 5 is no different: Miley Cyrus is part of the cast. Charlie Brooker came into the Beyond Today studio to talk about his new series. He also touched on porn, phone addiction and what he thinks of Boris Johnson as a comic character.Producers: Philly Beaumont, Jaja Muhammad and Lucy Hancock. Mixed by: Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

After Melania Geymonat and her girlfriend Chris were attacked on a London bus last week they chose to share the photo of the aftermath of the attack, and their story, with the world. They wanted people to understand something about what they and other lesbian couples face, not just violence but also the subtle ways in which their relationships are undermined and laughed about by men. On today’s episode Melania explains why she chose to go public about the horrific incident. And couple Bex Wilson and Becky Priest talk about what it’s like for their relationship to be fetishised and misunderstood. Producers: Duncan Barber and Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

James Bridle wants us to think about technology in a different way. His book ‘A New Dark Age’ is a slightly foreboding look at our relationship with the digital world, arguing that as it gets more complex our understanding of it diminishes. His work addresses a lot of the themes we talk about on Beyond Today and, as on a Friday we often like to take a step back from the news and hear from someone we’re interested in, we decided to grab him for a chat while he was over from his home in Greece. Here he talks internet cables under the sea, drones drawn on pavements, and how our phones are causing climate change. Producers: Lucy Hancock and Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

There are lots of reasons you may want to take a DNA test. Perhaps you want to find out where in the world your DNA comes from or connect to relatives. But people don’t always know what they’re getting themselves into and some make shocking discoveries about their families. We speak to Rebekah Drumsta from the NPE Friends Fellowship, a charity which helps people come to terms with finding out that one of their parents isn’t a biological relative.DNA tests also raise questions about healthcare. We hear from Nick in Kentucky, who thinks his life was saved after a DNA test spotted a hard to diagnose condition. So should they be used alongside traditional healthcare services such as the NHS? Kathy Hibbs from 23andMe tells us how the company would like to work with the NHS. And Adam Rutherford, who is a geneticist and author of ‘The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War and the Evolution of Us’, tells us why he’s sceptical about the idea.Producers: Duncan Barber and Harriet Noble. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

Helena Kornilova is a 29 year-old Russian model and biochemist. She’s also a blogger and Instagram influencer with 280,000 followers. She’s been in the news in Russia because she’s been exposed as a fraudster after recommending medical advice and, in particular, supplements to buy. But this isn’t just a Russian problem, influencers all over the world are selling products and giving health advice even though they are not qualified. We hear from Dr Jen Gunter, who describes herself as the fiercest advocate of women’s health. She has spent a lot of her professional career challenging dubious medical claims. We also talk to Olga Robinson from BBC Monitoring about how the authorities in Russia are clamping down on bloggers and influencers.Producers: Seren Jones and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

China has ramped up efforts to prevent people from reading about the student protests of 1989 that ended in bloodshed when the government sent tanks into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Activists have been arrested and censorship has been stepped up, with bans placed on English-speaking foreign media such as CNN and the BBC. We speak to the BBC’s longest serving foreign correspondent John Simpson, who was in Beijing in 1989. We also examine how the truth has been suppressed and what the government has done to erase Tiananmen from the history books. One person who is trying to keep the memory alive is a secretive artist called Badiucao, also known as ‘the Chinese Banksy’. Danny Vincent, who reports from Hong Kong for the BBC, has travelled to Australia to meet him. And Yaxue Cao from chinachange.org tells us about the Chinese artists who have been rounded up and what it’s like to be a young dissenting voice in China.Producers: Duncan Barber and Lucy Hancock. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

Most of the President’s family flew in for a guided tour of London’s hotspots with the royals on the first day of their state visit to the UK. Protesters waved their banners and everyone waited for Trump to start tweeting. The President and First Lady Melania Trump went to Buckingham Palace for a private lunch and welcome ceremony. But could the Queen’s role be more than just ceremonial? Former presidential aide Mary Jo Jackobi and our royal correspondent Jonny Dymond tell us how she, and her horse riding skills, helped change one president’s mind before. Could she do it again?Producers: Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

Tomorrow night in Madrid Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur will face each other in the Champions League final, the pinnacle of the club game. With Chelsea having beaten Arsenal in Europe’s second tier competition the Europa League on Wednesday, it’s been a huge week for English football. And there’s even more to come. Next week the Women’s World Cup starts, where England are expected to do well, and the men’s team compete in the Nation’s League semi-finals on Thursday to add to their unexpected run to the World Cup semi-finals last year. With the club game also in such good shape, and some of our big-name footballers becoming true role models - speaking out about racism and mental health - are we entering a great era for the English game? Football writer and broadcaster Daniel Storey joins us to discuss This episode features excerpts from “A Royal Team Talk: Tackling Mental Health”, available on BBC iPlayer.Email us at beyond.today@bbc.co.uk or use #beyondtoday Producers: Harriet Noble and Duncan Barber Edited by Weidong Lin and Andy Mills Editor: Philly Beaumont

This week Malaysia ordered several thousand tonnes of imported plastic waste to be sent back to the countries it came from. The country’s government says it has become a dumping ground for wealthier nations and that much of the refuse has been imported illegally. Some of it is from the UK. We talk rubbish with comedian Phil Wang who was brought up in Malaysia and the BBC’s South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head, who has been visiting waste recycling plants in Thailand. You can email the Beyond Today team at beyond.today@bbc.co.uk or comment on social media using #beyondtodayProducers: Philly Beaumont, Lucy Hancock Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

Fortnite tends to make headlines because of how many people play it and how much money it makes, but it’s much more interesting than that. In this episode we explore how Fortnite’s founders have created a new way of experiencing the world that is up against Netflix, Facebook, Google and Amazon in the battle over how you spend your free time.You might not be a gamer, but the creators of Fortnite have a vision of the technology that is so ambitious there’s a chance you’re going to feel completely lost without it in five years’ time. It all depends on something called the “Metaverse”, an alternate digital reality where people live, work and socialise. We speak to Matthew Ball about what that means. Matthew is a venture capitalist and former digital media executive. From 2016-2018 he was head of strategy for Amazon Studios. He writes for MediaREDEF and can be found online at @ballmatthew, or www.matthewball.vc. We also speak to 13 year old Charlie about what grownups get wrong about Fortnite. Producers: Duncan Barber, Harriet Noble, Lucy Hancock Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

Last week Panorama went undercover inside a hospital for vulnerable adults and revealed patients being mocked, taunted and intimidated by abusive staff. In shocking footage, reporter Olivia Davies filmed patients with autism and learning disabilities being deliberately provoked by staff and regularly physically restrained by them. The investigation comes eight years after her colleague Joe Plomin exposed the scandal of abuse at Winterbourne View, another specialist hospital. Then, the government promised to reform care for the most vulnerable. We spoke to them both about the challenges of going undercover and who we should blame when the system fails people.Producer: Lucy Hancock Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

Theresa May says she’s resigning, making way for a new prime minister. But she’s leaving without Brexit being resolved. The new person in the job will have to continue to negotiate and with European Parliament elections taking place this weekend the leaders there will have their eye on the results. We speak to the BBC’s Europe Editor Katya Adler and Tanit Koch managing editor of n-tv in Berlin about the view from Europe and the new political forces likely to have influence there.Produced by Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

Jamie Oliver is one of the UK’s best-known chefs and restaurant owners. He’s had world wide success with his books, TV series, and campaigns, but this week it was announced that his restaurant company had gone into administration with the loss of 1,000 jobs. Since he came onto our screens 20 years ago with the Naked Chef series he’s had a huge impact on British food culture. To find out how we speak to the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s the Food Programme Sheila Dillon and two men whose careers he helped launch: Tim Siadatan, who runs Trullo and Padella in London, and Martin Gott, an award-winning cheese maker from Cumbria.

A woman who changed her name to escape revenge porn has once again become a victim after finding images of herself on a website containing folders full of explicit images of women “from every city in the UK”. Some of the folders give away full names and locations of the women, but most of them do not even know that the website exists. We hear about Mikala Monsoon who waived her right to anonymity as a victim of crime because she wants the crime taken more seriously. BBC Scotland news reporter Connor Gillies tells us how the police have responded and why revenge porn is so difficult to stop. Producer: Duncan Barber. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

The Chinese company Huawei wants to be the biggest tech firm in the world. But this week the US tried to squash it by cutting Huawei off from Google’s Android operating system, meaning that users’ phones may no longer get security updates. It’s the latest move in an ongoing trade war between the US and China. So how much is this about phones, and how much is it about a battle for global supremacy? BBC Click’s Jen Copestake, Vincent Ni from the BBC Chinese Service and our Security Correspondent Gordon Corera tell us the answer. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

On Friday the former BNP poster boy and 23 year-old convicted paedophile Jack Renshaw was sentenced to at least 20 years in prison for plotting to murder the Labour MP Rosie Cooper. Renshaw has been a hero to some racists, misogynists and anti-semites in the North West for a few years. We speak to Robbie Mullen, a former neo-nazi who risked his life to blow the whistle on Renshaw; Ruth Smeeth, the Labour MP who told Cooper about the plot, and the BBC’s Daniel De Simone, who covered the case, to understand why neo-Nazis are radicalising against women.Producer: Lucy Hancock Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Every week it seems there’s an incident involving race that goes viral online. Last week it was Danny Baker’s exit from 5 live and the consequent tide of backlash. But it could have been any week and any number of views. One person who has dedicated her entire career to unpicking the language and culture of systemic racism is Reni Eddo-Lodge, who wrote the award winning ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race’. She came into the Beyond Today studio to talk about race and public shaming. Producers: Jaja Muhammad, Lucy Hancock and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast: Editor: John Shields

This is the story of an Iraqi boy with a face scarred in a military attack, who was brought for treatment in Britain in 1992. Amar Kanim began a new life in rural Devon after he was separated from his family in Basra. Then 30 years later an extraordinary chain of events that began with a chance meeting at Exeter station changed his life once again. The BBC’s Jon Kay, Andy Alcroft and Alex Littlewood told us his story.Producer: Duncan Barber. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.You can watch Amar’s story on the BBC News Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uplZhWFDf4.

This week the award-winning actress Felicity Huffman, who stars in Desperate Housewives pleaded guilty to fraudulently conspiring to win a college place for her daughter. The star is one of dozens of wealthy people, including Full House actress Lori Loughlan, who’ve been caught up in this scandal. We speak to Nada Tawfik and John Mervin from the BBC’s New York bureau about the case and Mitchell Stevens, associate professor of Education and Sociology at Stanford University about what it tells us about privilege, wealth, and elitism in the US. Producers: Seren Jones, Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor; John Shields

The Eurovision press pack and superfans are descending on Tel Aviv for the annual gala of glitter and Europop. But because it’s in Israel some of the focus will inevitably fall away from the songs and onto the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Steve Holden is a music reporter for BBC Newsbeat, and in Tel Aviv for the contest. He joins the BBC’s Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen to assess what difference, if any, Eurovision makes to such a long-running conflict. And voting in the Listeners’ Choice Award at the British Podcast Awards closes tomorrow! Vote for Beyond Today here: https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/vote Producers: Harriet Noble and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Uber made its stock market debut last week as boss Dara Khosrowshahi rang the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange to begin trading. But this story is about more than stocks and shares. It’s the story of a company that plans to dominate the global transport business, despite the fact that is has admitted it may never make a profit. We spoke to our technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones to find out how that works and also to Kim Gittleson from the Wall Street Journal podcast to find out who did make money last Friday.Producers: Duncan Barber and Philly Beaumont. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

High-end hotels, $100 tips, a $7000 a night trip to Morocco… when German heiress Anna Delvey hit the New York party scene it seemed like she had, and could spend, it all. But the lavish social life Delvey, real name Anna Sorokin, created for herself was, along with her pretensions of European aristocracy, eventually exposed as a lie. As she’s sentenced to at least four years in jail for crimes including stealing more than $200,000, the BBC’s Vicky Baker helps us uncover some of the truth behind the lies of the fake heiress. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Cricketer Alex Hepburn was jailed last month for raping a sleeping woman. The assault happened after Hepburn had set up a sexual conquest game on a WhatsApp group. The BBC’s Phil Mackie tells us about the trial, and we speak to lawyer Eleanor Law about the legal difficulties that arise when this kind of misogynistic behaviour goes to court. Plus self-confessed “reformed lad” Chris Hemmings explains why this culture exists and how best to tackle it. Producers: Duncan Barber and Seren Jones. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

The last couple of days has been huge for Prince Harry, his wife Meghan and their new baby Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. It’s a big moment for the royals as they work out the balance between raising their son in privacy and the celebrity status their baby gained the minute he was born.The BBC’s Royal Correspondent Jonny Dymond tells Beyond Today how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are redefining the royal brand.Thanks to Ricky Thompson, Harpers Bazaar, ABC, and Mediaeval Baebes.Producers: Philly Beaumont, Lucy Hancock and Jaja Muhammad. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

Thirty three years ago there was an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. We knew hardly anything about it at the time – only that radiation levels were rising in Western Europe. Of the emergency workers sent to tackle the blast, 28 died within months 19 have died since - 134 got acute radiation sickness. But now tourist groups visit the exclusion zone all the time - and scientists are studying there because the whole place has become a massive laboratory what happens in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster. BBC science correspondent Victoria Gill went there earlier this year and tells us how to assess the risks of radiation.

South Korea is thought to be one of the more progressive countries in Asia, with its technological advancements and dominance in pop music. But the recent introduction of 5G has led to a rise in secret recordings in public areas, including women’s changing rooms and toilets. The BBC’s Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker takes us through the rise of spy cams and how it’s fuelling the global porn industry.This is a re-upload of one of our most popular episodes, first published on 11 April.Producers: Seren Jones and Lucy Hancock Editor: Harriet Noble Mixed by Andrew Mills

At a time of political turmoil the results of this week’s local elections show people turning away from Britain’s two main parties. Both Labour and the Conservatives have lost votes to the smaller parties and the independents amid anger over the Brexit deadlock. So who would stand for election in this toxic environment? Nearly 9000 people in England and Northern Ireland have been elected as local councillors this week. We met one of them. 27 year old Charlotte Leach has become the new councillor for Mobberley in Cheshire. She’s unusual because the average councillor in England is a 59 year old white man according to a recent BBC survey. We found out what makes her tick. Produced by Harriet Noble and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Caster Semenya has achieved a lot. An Olympic and World champion, she’s won her last 29 races in a row. But yesterday the 28 year old South African lost her appeal against regulations restricting testosterone levels in female runners. Should she be punished for having a physical advantage? The South African sports journalist Mohammed Allie visited the village where she grew up and BBC Gender and Identity Correspondent Megha Mohan unpacks what Caster Semenya means for our understanding of gender. Producers: Harriet Noble and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

We all know there’s a housing crisis. It’s something that’s happening in pretty much every desirable city all over the world, yet we rarely speak about the problem in global terms. We spoke to BBC Scotland correspondent James Cook, who has reported from LA, Edinburgh and Berlin. He tells us why we need to take a long hard look at the way our cities function and who they prioritise.

The biggest democratic event in the history of the world is under way in India with hundreds of millions of people voting in the country’s general election. We’ll find out on the 23rd of May whether the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been re-elected. He’s a polarising figure, loved and loathed in equal measure, who plays on his machismo. Women have had the vote since India gained Independence but last year the country was rated the most dangerous place for women in a controversial survey. Now for the first time they are being treated as a real constituency. We speak to Poonam Joshni, a women’s rights activist, and to Divya Arya, the women’s affairs correspondent for the BBC in Delhi. Produced by: Jaja Muhammad, Seren Jones and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields.

The multi-level marketing phenomenon is sweeping across social media as influencers post job adverts offering the chance of six figure incomes, cars and holidays in return for selling products online. More than 400,000 people in the UK are already signed up. We speak to BBC journalists Ellie Flynn and Jennifer Shaw about the darker side behind the enticing Instagram posts amid accusations of illegal pyramid selling, systematic targeting of vulnerable people by recruiters and even brainwashing. We also hear from Lindsay, who hoped selling makeup would help her cover the bills while she struggled to find full-time work. Producers: Duncan Barber and Lucy Hancock. Editor: John Shields. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast.

On our Friday episodes we like to do something a bit different and speak to one person about their take on something we’re interested in. Today it’s Preet Bharara, who used to be one of the top public lawyers in the US. He had a reputation as a crusading prosecutor - taking down the mafia and big fraudsters - and there are hit TV shows based on his work. Following the publication of the Mueller report on Russia’s role in the 2016 election, he spoke to us about how the law, truth and justice are changing under the Trump administration. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

On Easter Sunday six suicide bombings struck churches and hotels across Sri Lanka – killing more than 350 people and injuring hundreds. Since then Islamic State has claimed responsibility, while people in Sri Lanka have been kept in the dark after a social media black-out. We talk to Rajini Vaidyanathan, who has been reporting from Sri Lanka for the BBC, and Mina Al-Lami from BBC monitoring, who has been looking at what supporters of IS have been saying onlineProducer: Philly Beaumont Mixed by: Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

The online fast fashion retailer Boohoo has revealed a 48% rise in their revenues, a sign that our appetite for cheap stuff is as big as ever. Meanwhile climate change activists Extinction Rebellion are preparing to march through the heart of London’s City protesting against what they call a ‘toxic financial system’ that’s built on greed. So just how much does consumer culture impact the environment and what can we do about it? We speak to podcaster and comedian Stevie Martin and BBC correspondent Justin Rowlatt. You can see Stevie’s show ‘Hot Content’ at the Edinburgh Fringe Underbelly, Bristo Square.

Lyra Mckee was killed at a riot in Londonderry last week. She was 29 and an acclaimed journalist who wrote about the Troubles and campaigned for LGBT rights. Since then the dissident republican group the New IRA have claimed responsibility for her death and apologised to her family. Her funeral on Wednesday is expected to be attended by thousands of people. We speak to three people connected to Lyra: Leona O’Neill was there the night she was killed, Aoife Moore grew up on the estate in Derry where she died, and Professor Siobhan O’Neill from Ulster University worked with Lyra researching trauma. They tell us what Lyra McKee would want us to know about Northern Ireland.Produced by: Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields.

We all have our own conspiracy theories about who is listening to us through the internet. We probably have considered the idea that Facebook and Google control our lives – but these aren’t necessarily conspiracies. How might we have given the internet giants permission to spy on us? What connects a political scandal like Cambridge Analytica to Alexa and Google Maps? Matthew meets Shoshana Zuboff, who has been investigating this for years, to hear her theory that ties everything together. She calls it surveillance capitalism and she came to the studio to tell us why we should all be more aware of it.

Australian Rugby has sacked one of its biggest stars. Israel Folau has won 73 caps and was expected to play at this year’s World Cup in Japan. He’s now in trouble – although he’s appealing – after posting on social media that “hell awaits” gay people. Folau is a committed Christian who describes himself as “living for Jesus Christ”. Should he have been sacked for his religious beliefs? We talk to Jack Murley who hosts the LGBT Sports Podcast and also Harriet Bradshaw, a BBC journalist who has made a film about young people trying to live a gay and Christian life. Producer: Philly Beaumont, Duncan Barber Mixed by: Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields.

When Wikileaks released classified documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010, it and its founder Julian Assange became world famous. Many people see him as a hero, calling out the powerful and confronting them with their crimes. But the US government has accused him of stealing state secrets and hacking into its computers, and over the years rape allegations – which he denies - and Wikileaks’ actions around the 2016 US election have painted Assange as an increasingly complex figure. BBC producer Katie Silver joins us to trace the story of Julian Assange, and to try and work out what we should think about him. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields Vote for Beyond Today at the British Podcast Awards! https://www.britishpodcastawards.com/vote

On 4th March we heard from former gang member Jay about why he’d never leave the house without carrying a knife.Jay has since been asked to make a Radio 4 documentary investigating the solutions to knife crime.For the programme he met a trauma surgeon, a police commander and a local mayor. He also had a long conversation with a man called Callum, who is from Glasgow. Glasgow used to be the murder capital of Europe, but now that’s changed and the city’s seen as a model for how to stop violence. Callum got caught up in a lot of violence and was stabbed nine times in one attack. This episode is the conversation the two of them had for Jay’s documentary, in which Jay asked Callum about how he moved away from violence.You can find Jay’s documentary “My Name Is... Jay” on BBC Sounds. It was produced by Gaetan Portal.Producers: Heidi Pett and Duncan Barber Editor: John Shields Mixed by Weidong Lin

The climate protest group Extinction Rebellion has been causing quite a stir. Its members recently stripped almost naked in the House of Commons. They have also shut bridges, poured buckets of fake blood on the ground outside Downing Street and blockaded the BBC. For this episode we invited Extinction Rebellion’s Clare Farrell into the Beyond Today studio to find out why they think breaking the law is key to saving the planet.We also spoke to Phil Jones, who edits the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2. Phil told us about the climate change phone-in that angered the nation and a mix-up that ended with Extinction Rebellion members being hauled from the Radio 2 studio by police.Produced and mixed by Duncan Barber Additional mixing by Weidong Lin Editor: Lucy Hancock

South Korea is thought to be one of the more progressive countries in Asia, with its technological advancements and dominance in pop music. But the recent introduction of 5G has led to a rise in secret recordings in public areas, including women’s changing rooms and toilets. The BBC’s Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker takes us through the rise of spy cams and how it’s fuelling the global porn industry.Producers: Seren Jones and Lucy Hancock Editor: Harriet Noble Mixed by Andrew Mills

If it feels like politicians have been talking about Brexit forever, it’s because in a way they have. From Thatcher campaigning to stay in Europe in 1975, to her ideological successors pinning their careers to getting us out in 2016, the Conservative Party has been at odds over Europe for decades. We speak to the Today programme presenter Nick Robinson, who for years as the BBC’s political editor watched the fray.Producers: Heidi Pett and Alva White Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: Harriet Noble

This is the story of Zain Qaiser. A student who made hundreds of thousands of pounds blackmailing porn users with cyber attacks from his parents’ house in East London. He spent almost £5,000 on a Rolex watch, £2,000 on a stay in a Chelsea hotel and £70,000 in a shopping centre casino. Today he was jailed for more than six years.But for every Zain there’s a Fabian. Fabian Wosar destroys the kind of ransomware that Zain Qaiser used to extort money. Fabian is so successful that cyber gangs leave threatening messages for him in their code to try and scare him off. The BBC’s Dominic Casciani and Joe Tidy take us into the murky world of cyber criminals and the hero hackers trying to stop them. Producer: Duncan Barber Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: Harriet Noble

There’s a story you won’t hear much about today — because it’s a story that didn’t really happen. The former chief executive of Barclays John Varley and three other former senior bankers were on trial accused of fraud, the first time criminal charges were brought against the head of a global bank for activities during the financial crisis. And this morning the jury was discharged. The BBC’s business editor Simon Jack has been covering the crisis and its aftermath since the beginning. He spoke to us about whether lessons have been learnt in the past decade.Producers: Lucy Hancock and Seren Jones Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: Harriet Noble

There are a few moments when the podcast phenomenon really took off - and one of them is in 2009 when a comedian began interviewing people he knew in his garage. “WTF with Marc Maron” has grown to be a podcast juggernaut - each month it’s downloaded 6 million times and it’s just celebrated its 1000th episode. Some of the most famous people in the world have talked to Marc - rockstars, A-List actors, and a former president of the United States. Marc Maron sat down with Beyond Today to talk about how podcasts made the jump from the underground to the mainstream, and what it’s like when Barack Obama comes to visit. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Chelsea has come under the spotlight this season after Manchester City's Raheem Sterling was alleged to have been racially abused by some supporters during a Premier League game at Stamford Bridge last December. The incident led to four fans being suspended by the club. This was followed just a few days later by alleged anti-Semitic chanting by Chelsea fans at a match in Hungary. The Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck responded by greeting supporters at the turnstiles before a Premier League win at Brighton on 16 December and writing an open letter condemning the actions of "a few mindless individuals". We went to speak to him at Stamford Bridge to hear about how the club is using education to clamp down on discrimination. Producer: Duncan Barber. Editor: John Shields. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast.

Last week a story surfaced that seemed, on the face of it, a little bit odd. A far right youtuber in Austria, Martin Sellner, had his house raided by the authorities after revealing he’d received a $1500 donation to his movement Generation Identity. The money was from the suspect in the Christchurch shooting in New Zealand. This story takes us from the world of YouTubers back to the Crusades and tells us how extreme ideas spread around the world.

Donald Trump, Imran Khan, George Weah… all over the world voters have shown their dissatisfaction with politicians by voting in anti-establishment candidates, sometimes former celebrities. The next in line might be Volodymyr Zelensky, a comedian who plays a president on Ukrainian TV and won the first round of the country’s presidential elections in real life. Could electing popular celebrities overcome our distrust of unpopular politicians? Olga Robinson from BBC Monitoring and Senior Elections and Political Analyst Peter Barnes weigh in. Producers: Harriet Noble and Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

It’s a big moment for true crime fans with another documentary out this week. ‘The Case Against Adnan Syed’ is being released in four parts by HBO and Sky. He’s the man who arguably started our addiction for true crime. 340 million people downloaded the original telling of this story on the Serial podcast. Now, his case is being seen on TV. It’s just one of many true crime documentaries being pumped out this year, along with The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann and The Ted Bundy Tapes. Kelly-Leigh Cooper writes for the BBC news website and is a big true crime fan. She visited some of the communities burdened by notorious murders.Credit to Cassidy Rainforest Gard for use of audio.Producers: Philly Beaumont, Seren Jones Mixed by: Nicolaus Raufast Editor: John Shields

Since the EU referendum in 2016 the lives of two people have been completely taken over by Brexit. Femi Oluwole had been studying law and had just begun a career in European human rights. Owen Reed was 16 and still at school in 2016. But both these men became political activists and have been campaigning ever since. We spoke to them both about the last two years and discovered that despite being in opposite camps they share some views.Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producers: Philly Beaumont and Georgia Coan Editor: John Shields

It’s the most widely used LGBTQ app in the world with 27 million global users, but many of the people who use Grindr have a complicated relationship with it. We speak to comedian Jack Rooke and author of ‘Grindr Survivor’ Andrew Londyn about whether Grindr can shake off its reputation and what the future could look like for a gay dating app. With special thanks to George Hicks, Josh Cockcroft, Simon Haupt and Isobel Power Smith for the music. You can hear Jack Rooke's programme 'Telling Tales' available on BBC Sounds from April 9th.This episode contains strong language and sexually explicit content.Mixed by Nico Raufast Producer: Lucy Hancock Editor: John Shields

Two weeks ago Cyclone Idai tore through Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, some of the poorest countries in Africa, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless and hundreds dead. Cholera has become a major concern among survivors. But it’s not just a catastrophic natural event, there are human causes behind the misery. BBC reporter Nomsa Maseko and Africa Editor Fegal Keane tell us a story of climate change, global corruption and devastation - but also progress and hope. Producers: Duncan Barber and Jaja Muhammad. Editor: John Shields. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast.

Trump, Brexit, the far left, the far right, Russia is often accused of interfering with Western democracy. But one Tupac-loving PR guy went beyond politics and masterminded the disruption of an entire global political system. The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse introduces us to Vladislav Surkov, the most powerful man you’ve never heard of. This episode contains strong language.

He calls himself a body modification artist, but Brendan McCarthy AKA ‘Dr. Evil’ has just been sentenced to 40 months in prison for grievous bodily harm. He was jailed over tongue splitting, and nipple and ear removal procedures despite having the consent of his clients. We speak to one of his customers Wayne Fitzpatrick and BBC Stories’ Ruth Evans, who had been following the case for two years, about the limits of consent when it comes to our bodies.Producers: Lucy Hancock and Georgia Coan Editor: John Shields Mixed by Nico Raufast

Three years ago thirty two people died in three suicide bombings in Brussels. How authorities and civilians responded on that day can help us understand what we should do if we are caught up in a terror attack. Larissa Kennelly from the BBC’s Brussels bureau has been learning those lessons, while BBC producer Piers Scholfield and Benoit Remacker from the Belgian Crisis Centre take us through what happened that day.Producer: Maria Byrne Mixed by Nicolas Raufast and Maria Byrne Editor: John Shields

Bradford has a tricky relationship with the national media. Big stories that have come out of the city include a bitter election battle over Bradford West, grooming gangs, and Islamic extremism. We joined a BBC project searching for unreported and more positive news from underserved communities across the UK. The first stop was Bradford. Producers: Seren Jones and Jaja Muhammad Mixed: Andy MillsEditor: John Shields

This is an episode about what happened when global tech gurus were invited inside one of the world’s oldest and most conservative institutions. The Catholic church is thinking about the big ethical questions - perhaps in a way many of our governments are not - that are swirling around around tech. So they gathered some of the big players in robotics and AI in Rome, at the Vatican. BBC Click’s Jen Copestake was there to see what happened.Producers: Philly Beaumont and Duncan BarberMixed by: Andy MillsEditor: John Shields

Almost half of young women in the UK are considering freezing their eggs, according to a recent survey. It involves harvesting eggs from a woman’s ovaries and keeping them in storage so she might be able to still have a baby even if her fertility declines. But it costs thousands of pounds and currently the success rates are low. Many women either can’t afford it, or don’t want to spend so much on something that might not work. Should the state or employers shoulder the cost? And should we all talk more openly about fertility? The BBC’s Global Health Correspondent Smitha Mundasad and Ali, Molly and Monty join us. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Andy Mills Editor: John Shields

After the mass shooting at two mosques in New Zealand in which 50 people were killed there has been widespread shock that it happened in a country that regards itself as inclusive and welcoming. The attack was livestreamed on Facebook, and social media companies were criticised for waiting too long to take the footage down. But the attacker also posted on extreme free speech message boards – where a racist subculture is thriving. We speak to Mike Wendling, Editor of BBC Trending, who has been tracking this subculture, and to Dominic Casciani, who covers terrorism for the BBC, to find out how the security services are dealing with this new challenge.Producer: Philly BeaumontEditor: John ShieldsMixed by Andy Mills

The comedian and director Simon Amstell is a familiar face who a lot of us grew up with. He visited the Beyond Today studio to tell us about his semi-autobiographical film ‘Benjamin’ in which the main character is constantly seeking external validation. We also discussed his fear of intimacy, an imaginary gorilla, and veganism.'Benjamin' is in cinemas March 15th.Producer: Duncan Barber. Editor: John Shields. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast.

We are told we are living through historic political times. The Prime Minister has faced unprecedented defeats in the House of Commons yet survives in the job. With two weeks to go to the deadline for leaving the EU, we still don’t know how Brexit will work. So where will we end up? Has politics changed forever? And who can explain the chaos? We speak to the BBC’s Nick Robinson, host of the Talking Politics podcast and Radio 4’s Today programme, and Daniel Kraemer from the BBC’s Political Research Unit.Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producer: Philly Beaumont Editor: John Shields

Money. We all want more of it. But apart from securing a bumper pay rise or winning the lottery, probably the most obvious way to maximise our finances is to sensibly look after what we do have. It can be hard though, with financial jargon like ISAs, pension options, and interest rates sometimes feeling impossible to understand. We’ve been collecting your questions about your money and have put them to finance gurus Bola Sol and Laura Whateley. Producers: Harriet Noble and Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Right now Shamima Begum is in a sprawling internment camp in the Syrian desert, stripped of her British citizenship and unable to leave. Buried there is her son Jarrah, who died last week of pneumonia. He was under three weeks old. The BBC’s Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville has interviewed her twice in the past few weeks and spoke to us about what happens to her now, and who’s to blame for the death of her child. Producers: Harriet Noble and Jessica Beck Mixed by: Nicolas Raufast Editor: Philly Beaumont

In 1993, an 18 year old black teenager, Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack in East London. The police messed up the investigation into his killers. The inquiry that followed led by the judge Sir William Macpherson was one of the most damning documents to emerge about the police – describing it as “institutionally racist”. Twenty years on the barrister and broadcaster Hashi Mohamed has made a documentary about what has happened since for Radio 4. We speak to him about the legacy of Macpherson, about stop and search, and whether the police still have more to do to tackle racism. Producer: Philly Beaumont Mixed by: Nicolas Raufast Edited by: John ShieldsAnd you can get Hashi’s documentary. Macpherson: What happened next - is on BBC Sounds https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003741

In March 2009, an Islamic extremist group called Al-Muhajiroun staged a demonstration as 200 soldiers paraded through the town of Luton after returning from Iraq. The radical Islamists fuelled anger in the local community, and these tensions led to the formation of the English Defence League by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - aka Tommy Robinson. Ten years on, we speak to the people who were there as Luton faced a global media storm and find out how they have been working to beat extremism ever since.Producer: Georgia Coan Editor: Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nico Raufast

It’s often said that we get trapped in online "filter bubbles” or “echo chambers” and that we don't get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden our worldview. It’s a convincing narrative - but is it true? And how do you know if you live in one? BBC Media Editor Amol Rajan has been finding out for a series called Crossing Divides.Producer: Duncan Barber. Editor: John Shields. Mixed by Nico Raufast.

US teenager Ethan Lindenberger has been speaking out against his mother who refused to vaccinate him as a child. Why has the anti-vax movement captured the imagination of so many people despite being detrimental to public health? Whether it’s spreading bad information on social media or seeing dark conspiracies, Joseph Stubbersfield a Cognitive Anthropologist at Durham University and Bob Blaskiewiccz, Professor of Critical Thinking at Stockton Uni explain how bad ideas can thrive. Plus, Dr. Jen Gunter explains how we can all fall into conspiracy traps set by celebrity doctors and ‘alternative’ science.Producers: Seren Jones, Lucy Hancock, Jaja Muhammad. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

In the Canadian city of Vancouver a woman named Meng Wanzhou is under house arrest in her $4.2bn mansion. Chief financial officer of the Chinese tech firm Huawei, and the founder’s daughter, she’s accused by the US of bank fraud and violating sanctions against Iran. But as the BBC’s Silicon Valley Reporter Dave Lee tells Beyond Today, her arrest is about more than this: we might look back on it as the opening salvo in the tech cold war. Reporter: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

After two 17-year-olds were killed in separate incidents in London and Greater Manchester at the weekend, we hear from a former gang member who tells our Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw why he’d never leave the house without carrying a knife. We also hear from BBC London reporter Greg Mckenzie who has covered 19 murders in the capital already this year. Producers: Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber. Editor: John Shields. Mixed by Nico Raufast.

Michael Jackson is perhaps the biggest pop star there’s ever been. He’s still thought of as a legend, despite years of allegations regarding his relationships with young boys. Jackson was found not guilty at a court case in 2005, but now one of the men who testified in Jackson’s defence in that case has appeared in a documentary to say, alongside another man, that the singer did regularly sexually abuse him. Michael Jackson’s family has rejected the claims and say there is "not one piece of evidence" to back up the allegations. But at a time when we tend to more easily believe victims, might Michael Jackson’s music now be off-limits? “Leaving Neverland” is on Channel 4 next week, and its director Dan Reed talks to us, alongside the BBC’s Peter Bowes, and Scott Bryan from the Must Watch podcast.Producers: Harriet Noble, Duncan Barber and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

As tensions mount between India and Pakistan, Matthew Price goes behind the scenes of Qasa Alom’s show on the BBC Asian Network to find out why it is such an emotive subject for different generations of British Asians. He also speaks to World Service presenter Anu Anand, whose family fled Kashmir, about how the conflict continues to impact her identity and that of many others outside South Asia.Producers: Duncan Barber and Philly Beaumont Editor: John Shields Mixed by Weidong Lin

What you drive has always said a lot about who you are – and car-making has defined the identity of whole towns and cities in the UK. But this is only partly an episode about cars. It’s also about what the changes in the car industry tell us about the massive disruptions that are happening all over the place, shifts that are changing the way things are made, the jobs we can get, and the way business works – the future essentially. BBC Business Correspondent Joe Miller prepares us for what’s next.Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: John Shields

Yesterday the government announced updates to the 20 year-old sex education curriculum in England. It will now include lessons on sharing private photos and explicit content. We hear from a group of female students on their experiences of sex education and the influence of porn. The discussion is very graphic. We also speak to Sadie Lune and Poppy Sanchez from the Sex School Hub in Berlin, which makes explicit educational videos.Producers: Duncan Barber and Lucy Hancock Editor: John Shields Mixed by Weidong LinWarning: Strong language in this episode.

The Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been all over the media and internet after allegations that he falsely claimed that he was the victim of a hate crime. The 36-year-old is accused of filing a fake police report claiming he was the victim of a homophobic and racist assault. Police say he staged the attack because he was “dissatisfied” with his salary: Smollett maintains he’s innocent. The BBC’s North America correspondent Aleem Maqbool has been in Chicago covering this case and takes us through the timeline of events. And Zac Beauchamp, a senior correspondent with Vox covering the far right, tells us about the wider implications of this so-called hoax hate crime.Producers: Philly Beaumont and Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: Lucy Hancock

Grayson Perry is an award-winning artist and documentary maker who has spent most of his career teasing the establishment. He likes to tackle the big subjects like class, gender and how we deal with death. Perry makes ceramic vases and tapestries, cross-dresses and is now so famous he’s on the national curriculum. We went to see him at his pottery studio in a wealthy part of North London, where he swore about the liberal elite and moaned about well-educated remoaners.Producers: Philly Beaumont and Lucy Hancock Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: Harriet NobleWarning: Strong language in this episode.

Who do you think of when you think about an opiate dealer? Probably not a young woman in China, who dreamed of being an English teacher. This is the story of one woman in her 20s who’s made a career out of sending fentanyl through the post. The BBC’s Danny Vincent takes us to meet the new generation of drug kingpins, who Jeremy Douglas from the UN says are disrupting the drugs market just like Uber did for transport. Producers: Heidi Pett, Lucy Hancock, Georgia Coan and Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: Philly Beaumont This episode discusses drug use. If drug use is a problem for you, support is available here: https://bbc.in/2DZvBvW

It’s the Oscars on Sunday, the pinnacle of awards season. Every year hundreds of films and performances are eligible, so what exactly is it that means some win and others don’t? It’s not enough to just be the best, there are a whole host of other factors that determine who takes home a gong. From prosthetic noses to silly dances and branded pillows, Oscar veteran and BBC Entertainment Correspondent Colin Paterson tells us the secrets to awards season success. Producers: Harriet Noble and Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: Philly Beaumont

Four years ago, at the age of 15, Shamima Begum ran away from home in East London to marry an Islamic State fighter in Syria. Now she’s 19, has just given birth in a refugee camp - and wants to come home. There has been huge interest in the story, but are we missing out on a bigger and more complex picture when it comes to understanding the role of women in IS? In the second of this series on IS we hear from the BBC’s Daniel De Simone about other foiled terrorist plots and the role women played in hatching them. And academics Joana Cooke and Gina Vale tell us what people get wrong about radicalised women.Producers: Lucy Hancock and Georgia Coan Mixed by Weidong Lin Editor: Philly Beaumont

When the British teenager Shamima Begum ran away from East London to join IS, the caliphate was at the peak of its powers. It waged war with the West by beheading hostages and carrying out deadly attacks on European soil, while establishing a sophisticated state infrastructure in Syria and Iraq. IS at one point controlled an area the size of Britain. But now, as Shamima Begum waits in a Syrian refugee camp to see if she’ll be allowed home, IS is on the brink of military defeat. Does that mean that the threat is over? In the first of two special episodes, the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville takes us through the rise and fall of IS.Producers: Harriet Noble and Duncan Barber Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

This week BBC cameraman Ron Skeans was attacked at a rally for President Donald Trump in Texas. A man in a Make America Great Again hat pushed him over and shouted “F*** the media”. It was a shocking incident for Ron and his colleagues but, given the frequency and ferocity of the President’s criticisms of the mainstream media, perhaps not unexpected. Correspondent Gary O’Donoghue and producer Eleanor Montague were with Ron in El Paso and explain what happened and why it matters. This episode contains swear words throughout.Producers: Harriet Noble and Jaja Muhammad Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

It’s 14 February, in theory the most romantic day of the year, but not so fun if you’re single. Is there a rational way to find love in the era of big data? Justin Rowlatt presents Business Daily on the BBC World Service and has spoken to a multi-millionaire Ed Conard, who says he has the business-like answer. We also hear from Dr Helen Fisher from the Kinsey Institute, who is also the scientific advisor for the dating site Match.com. She tells us about the science behind attraction. Read more about Ed Conard here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47230107 Producers: Philly Beaumont, Duncan Barber, Jaja Muhammed. Editor: John Shields. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast.

This week we heard that we are in the middle of a biodiversity crisis, but are we in a position to save the bugs, and ourselves, from extinction? We hear from biologist Adam Hart and go back to the grandma of environmentalism, Rachel Carson, to find out why we need bugs to survive and what we can do to save them. Thanks to Audible and Recorded Books for allowing us to play Silent Spring.Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producers: Lucy Hancock and Philly Beaumont Editor: John Shields

Hungarian women with four or more children won’t have to pay income tax for the rest of their working lives, according to a plan announced by the country’s prime minister Viktor Orban. He says it’s to reverse Hungary’s falling population rate, critics argue it’s a way of controlling immigration. We speak to the BBC’s Nick Thorpe, who lives and works in Budapest with his 5 children. And we also hear from author Thomas Chatterton Williams who is writing a book on racial identity, about what links this Hungarian policy to the global far right.Producers: Philly Beaumont & Georgia Coan Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

The fact that a rich, powerful man had an affair and is getting divorced shouldn’t be of more than passing interest. But with the Amazon boss Jeff Bezos things are a bit different. Not only is there the eye-watering amount of money involved, he’s worth around $130bn, but the story took a remarkable turn last week when he published a blog post revealing he was being blackmailed with dirty photos he’d sent his mistress. If the world’s richest man can’t protect his privacy, what hope is there for the rest of us? The BBC’s Kim Gittleson talks to us about extortion, divorce and “below the belt selfies”. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

With the trend in anti-Semitism and the growth of far-right politics sweeping through Europe, it’s a worrying time to be Jewish. But young Jews in Germany have found a place to celebrate Jewish culture. Last weekend in Frankfurt, Jews from all over Europe flocked to ‘Jewrovision’ to celebrate their identity in the most joyful way. Lucy Hancock and Amie Liebowitz joined the party.

The impact of social media on our mental health has been creeping into the news headlines. Politicians have been quick to challenge tech companies, calling for better regulation following the suicide of 14 year old, Molly Russell. We talk to Dr Bex Lewis of Manchester Metropolitan University, Dr Cal Newport of Georgetown University and an experimental psychologist from the Oxford Internet Institute, Prof Andrew Przybylski, to find out what effect all that unlimited and unregulated content really does have on our mental health.Producers: Philly Beaumont and Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

How far are you prepared to go to stand up for your beliefs? Two years ago, Ruth Potts and Mel Evans were part of a group that cut through an airport security fence and chained themselves to a Boeing 767. They did it to stop the Home Office deporting 60 people on a flight to Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Along with the 13 other people they did this with, they became known as the Stansted 15 after being found guilty of endangering the safety of an aerodrome. They were sentenced today, following a judicial process that has been hanging over them for almost two years. They tell us whether it’s all been worth it and BBC Home Affairs correspondent Dominic Casciani helps us to decide whether they made a difference.Producer: Duncan Barber. Editor: John Shields. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast.

It’s been called the trial of the century. The Mexican drug kingpin El Chapo has been in court in New York for the past few months accused of smuggling hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States. The trial has given us the best glimpse yet into life inside one of the world’s biggest drugs gangs - the Sinaloa Cartel named after the state in Mexico where it was founded. If you wrote a Hollywood movie about a notorious drug lord it wouldn’t be far off what we’ve found out about the life of El Chapo through the evidence presented in court. The BBC’s New York reporter Nada Tawfik has been covering the trial since it began. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by: Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

A mother was convicted last week of mutilating her 3 year old daughter’s genitals. It’s been illegal for more than 30 years, but the women, who can’t be named, is the first person to be convicted of FGM. She’ll be sentenced next month. Anna Collinson and Jessica Furst work for the Victoria Derbyshire programme, they tell us how they got caught up in the story when they received an email about the case. We also hear from Nimco Ali, who is a leading campaigner against FGM. She tells us about her experience and why she believes this case is so important.

In the past few years what we think of as normal has changed completely. Ideas and personalities once considered fringe have become mainstream and extreme attitudes seem more acceptable. So who defines the new normal and what will the consequences be? We speak to Peter Pomerantsev from the London School of Economics, who has made a documentary for Radio 4 on the subject. He’s also the author of "Nothing is True and Everything is Possible". He tells us why politicians and the media need to change and why Russia was ahead of the game. Producer: Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Once a futuristic symbol of all that Venezuela could become, a building called El Helicoide in the country’s capital is now the headquarters of the intelligence services and a prison for political prisoners. We speak to Karenina Velandia, who has been investigating the prison, about the dramatic collapse of the once-wealthy country she grew up in. You can read her report here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-46864864Producer: Heidi Pett

Apple reported falling sales of the iPhone this week. A category-defining product since its launch in 2007, other smartphone makers have largely been playing catch up. The company is blaming a slowdown in China for the fall in revenues, but it also faces serious competition on price and design from China and beyond. Jen Copestake from BBC Click assesses Apple’s dwindling dominance and what that could mean for the company and its customers. Producers: Duncan Barber and Philly Beaumont.

We’ve been hearing a lot about R. Kelly since a documentary came out in the US earlier this month detailing allegations of abuse and sex with underage girls, spanning several decades. These are allegations he denies. We spoke to veteran music reporter Jasmine Dotiwala, documentary maker Joyce Trozzo, and Hollywood music lawyer Dina LaPolt to explore whether things are really going to change in the music industry.

When 15 year old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died after eating a baguette from Pret containing sesame seeds, a campaign to get better food labelling was launched. Now the Government has started a consultation into strengthening current labelling laws to protect allergy sufferers. But are we getting more allergic to food and what scientific research is being done to find out why some people have more extreme reactions than others? The BBC’s health and science correspondent James Gallagher takes us through the biology. Mixed by Weidong Lin, additional mixing by Nicolas Raufast. Producer Jaja Muhammad. Editor John Shields.

Korean culture is increasingly playing a bigger role in our lives: We eat Korean BBQ, watch Korean dramas, and buy Korean cosmetics. But the big drive behind the Korean wave is Korean Pop, better known as K-pop. The country’s music industry is taking the world by storm, penetrating the top music charts in Europe and North America. With the help of journalists, Tamar Herman and Jenna Gibson, and K-pop industry expert Bernie Cho, we ask who made Korea cool? Producers: Georgia Coan and Seren Jones Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Izzy Posen looks and seems like a normal student. But his life before university was far from the norm. He grew up in an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in North London, speaking no English and attending an illegal school. This is the story of a man who chose to leave everything he knew behind, and the freedom and anguish that came with that decision. Reporter: Alice Porter Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by: Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

When toddler James Bulger was abducted from a shopping centre in Merseyside in 1993 and murdered by two ten-year-old boys the country was appalled. Now a new short film has been made and nominated for an Oscar. ‘Detainment’ uses the original police interviews with the boys as a basis for the drama. It’s causing a lot of controversy as the family weren’t consulted and now want people to boycott it. We hear about the original trial from Winfred Robinson, who covered the story for the BBC, and Entertainment Correspondent Colin Paterson, who has seen the Oscar-nominated film.Producers: Duncan Barber and Philly Beaumont Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Politics on both sides of the Atlantic feels a bit stuck. The government in the US has been shut down for the longest period in its history and politicians here can’t agree on how to make Brexit work. But there are people challenging existing power structures. Last week we heard from Gina Martin, the 27 year old who has got a law banning upskirting through Parliament. And today we’re talking about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She’s only been in office for a few weeks, but she’s already using her social media superstardom to shape political conversation in the US. WNYC political reporter Brigid Bergin and Jon Ossoff, who ran for Congress in 2017, consider whether AOC is an anomaly or part of a wider movement of change.Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

The third Monday in January is known as Blue Monday as a combination of money worries and winter weather push us to a collective low. Seventy per cent of the country also think things are getting worse, according to a poll from Ipsos Mori. But that’s not actually the case - in many circumstances life has improved. Rachel Schraer from BBC Reality Check and Joey D’Urso, a producer in the BBC political unit, tell us there are many reasons to be cheerful. They should know. They’ve seen the stats.Producers: Philly Beaumont and Lucy Hancock.Editor: John Shields.

Jon Ronson’s new podcast ‘The Last Days of August’ explores the reasons behind the death of the famous porn performer August Ames, who killed herself in 2017. It is a sad story that casts light on an industry of outsiders who support each other under difficult circumstances. We also spoke to Jon about how the internet transformed pornography and what we can all learn from that. He also tells us why porn films have such weird titles and how people react to his distinctive voice.Producer: Duncan BarberEditor: John ShieldsMixed by Nicolas Raufast

Gina Martin is a 27-year-old woman with a full time job. Two years ago a stranger at a festival took a photo up her skirt without her permission. After she discovered there was no law preventing it, she found herself in Parliament, campaigning for politicians change it. This week the upskirting law was officially passed. Gina tells us what it took to win.

The UN say there are as many people with intersex traits in the world as people with red hair. All over the world, children with intersex traits are being operated on to be sex assigned at birth. The BBC’s gender and identity correspondent Megha Mohan has met the people at the forefront of the intersex identity debate including Rosie, a six year-old with ambiguous genitalia, and those leading the way in Kenya. She tells us about sex, its misunderstood relationship with gender and asks who should be making those big decisions about who we are. Producer: Lucy Hancock. Editor: John Shields

As MPs prepare to vote on the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan, we get the view from outside parliament. We speak to protesters on both sides who think that the current situation is getting embarrassing and shows the country in a bad light. We also hear from bemused tourists and speak to the BBC World Service’s Rob Watson on how he is reporting the country’s “biggest political crisis since World War Two”.Producers: Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber.Editor: John Shields.Mixed by Nico Raufast.

Andy Murray’s defeat at the Australian Open today might have been his last ever match as a professional tennis player. Even with a very dodgy hip, he showed the fight and determination characteristic of his career to make it a five set thriller. He’s clearly one of Britain’s greatest sports stars, but there’s a lot we can learn from him irrespective of our talent with a tennis racquet. Simon Mundie from the Don’t Tell me the Score podcast explains how we can all be more like Andy Murray. Producers: Harriet Noble and Georgia Coan Mixed by: Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Nish Kumar has made his career trying to make us laugh about the news. He talks to Matthew Price about what it’s like to be a Remainer on the tour and how he enraged some Leave voters into unplugging his mic.Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Producers: Lucy Hancock and Jaja Muhammad. Editor: John Shields.

The announcement by Jaguar Land Rover that it is cutting 4,500 job has been blamed on falling car sales in China, uncertainty about Brexit and the future of diesel. But what’s the longer term picture when it comes to the car industry? Rapid improvements in electric battery and self-driving technology mean that cars will change enormously in the coming years according to experts. Plus the public floatation of Uber this year is raising big questions about who controls transport in the future and whether we’ll even want to own our own cars. The BBC’s Justin Rowlatt tells us how it could happen. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producers: Seren Jones, Philly Beaumont Editor: John Shields.

Across the country networks of so-called paedophile hunters are working to catch child sex offenders. They pose as boys and girls online, arranging to meet with men and then circulating videos of these “stings” online. Around 150 charges have been brought because of their work, but the naming and shaming extends to innocent families too. Andy Smythe and Catrin Nye from the Victoria Derbyshire Programme tell us the story of a paedophile hunter and the daughter of a man who was caught. Producers: Heidi Pett and Harriet Noble Mixed by: Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

Now when talk about R Kelly, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey we always focus on victims and alleged abusers… but what about all the people who may have stood by and allowed an abuse of power, something they knew was wrong, to happen? Are we all guilty, and when we do witness abuse, what can we do to stop it? Producers: Philly Beaumont and Lucy Hancock. Contributors: Ione Wells, Jackson Katz and Noor Fadel Editor: John Shields

Kevin Spacey made his first court appearance today over allegations of sexual assault. He entered the court surrounded by a media scrum, one that has accompanied the #MeToo movement since it began over a year ago. But the huge attention the campaign has attracted so far hasn’t been matched by criminal convictions or court appearances. As well as the difficulty in prosecuting sexual assault allegations, what added complications come with putting a celebrity on trial? The BBC’s Nada Tawfik, and lawyers Gloria Allred and Kirsty Brimelow QC, consider whether a famous person can get a fair trial. Producers: Duncan Barber, Harriet Noble and Philly Beaumont Mixed by: Nico Raufast Editor: John Shields

The post-apocalyptic thriller Bird Box dropped on Netflix just before Christmas with little promotion. But soon it was all over social media, with memes and jokes about its blindfolded cast, and people attempting the “Bird Box challenge” – going about their daily lives with blindfolds on. Netflix tweeted that Bird Box had the best first week ever for a Netflix film, surprising because the network doesn’t usually reveal the number of views it gets. What does Bird Box’s success tell us about the hold that Netflix has over our viewing habits and choices? Radio 1 film critic Ali Plumb explains. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Producers: Harriet Noble and Georgia Coan. Editor: John Shilelds.

Best-selling author of The Silk Roads Peter Frankopan opens up an exciting world that hardly any of us have visited, but all should take note of this year. The historian flips around the world map to put Britain at the edge. We hear how Kazakhstan is the new hot spot, why two new billionaires are made a month in China, and where all the stuff that goes into our phones and laptops comes from. Plus his thoughts how we can all start exploring and understanding this new world. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producers: Jaja Muhammad and Philly Beaumont Editor: John Shields

At Beyond Today we’re determined to be cheerful about 2019. And to help us kick off the year on a positive foot we’ve been talking to Chidera Eggerue, better known as The Slumflower. She created #SaggyBoobsMatter, a body positive campaign asking for acceptance of women’s bodies no matter their shape or size or perkiness. Chidera explains how we can all bring empathy and tolerance to the way we live our lives in 2019.

It’s been a year. Brexit shenanigans, the #metoo movement, Donald Trump being Donald Trump, the World Cup, a royal wedding … a lot has happened. Christmas is a time for food, presents, and end of the year review lists, but here at Beyond Today we’re doing things a little differently. Let us take you behind the scenes of the making of our list, as we each pick our person of the year. And eat mince pies. Producer: Harriet Noble Mixed by: Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Beyond Today producer Georgia Coan’s younger brother Elliot died at the age of 16 after an accident. Georgia was 19 at the time. Five years on they are still coming to terms with what happened. Christmas is always a difficult time of the year for the bereaved, but Georgia’s mum Michaela says her New Years resolution is to talk more and celebrate Elliot’s life. Georgia is coming to terms with her life without Elliot with the help of new friends she made at a sibling bereavement retreat and is feeling optimistic about next year. This is her story. Mixed by Weidong Lin, additional mixing by Nicolas Raufast Producers: Georgia Coan, Duncan Barber, Philly Beaumont Editor: John ShieldsIf any of the issues in this episode affect you, you can find information that will help on this page:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4MmhHDSbdDmTpVJhBs2v4Py/information-and-support-bereavement

China is on the up. We’re starting to see Chinese companies and tech, like Huawei phones and the TikTok video app, in our lives in a way that we just weren’t a decade ago. But American security officials have told the BBC that some of this economic progress is based on design and trade secrets China has stolen from other countries. China denies the allegations. Are they right, or is this just another front in the tussle for global dominance between the two superpowers? The BBC’s Security Correspondent Gordon Corera talks to us about spies, secrets and Hollywood screenwriters

Over the past year, the gender pay gap has sparked outrage across the country. But another issue considered more uncomfortable and unspoken about is slowly coming to light: the ethnic minority pay gap. The BBC’s Rianna Croxford has been investigating the ethnic pay gap at the UK’s top universities. We speak to her and discuss the impact of that gap with Olivette Otele, the UK’s first black female history professor.Correction: this episode contains a reference to the percentage of students graduating with first class degrees by ethnicity. These figures are incorrect. The correct figures are that 53% of black students get a first or a 2:1, compared to two thirds of Asian students and 78% of white students. Apologies.Producers: Seren Jones and Lucy Hancock. Editor: John Shields

The sentencing of a couple from Banbury for membership of the banned neo-Nazi group National Action raises questions about how much focus police and security services should put on the far right. The couple gave their baby boy the middle name Adolf. We speak to BBC producer Daniel De Simone who has been following the case.

First there was going to be a meaningful vote, and then there wasn’t. Then Theresa May was facing a leadership challenge, and then she wasn’t. And now Europe’s leaders are in Brussels, trying again to make the Brexit deal work. It’s been one of the most eventful weeks in British politics since… the week before. The BBC’s Political Editor managed to find time in her incredibly busy schedule to talk to us about Brexit, journalism, and why she’s looking forward to Christmas.

Next week Tumblr will start blocking pornographic posts. Next year a new law will force porn sites to verify that people watching in the UK are over 18. It’s the first attempt to restrict access to porn online. It’s not yet clear how age verification will work and the social media platforms’ own rules about what is and is not allowed seem to change all the time. US porn star Bonnie Rotten and the UK’s Zara DuRose discuss the issues they face publicising their work, while the BBC’s Thomas Fabbri and Kim Gittleson explain what lies behind the bans. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producers: Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber Editor: John Shields

Mental health services for children and adults are, understandably, separate entities. When you turn 18 you move from one system to the other, but serious gaps are appearing in support for people during this transition. Huge numbers of young adults are being failed, and today Beyond Today hears from a campaign trying to change that. If any of the issues in this episode affect you, you can get all the information you need here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1NGvFrTqWChr03LrYlw2Hkk/information-and-support-mental-healthMixed by Nicolas Raufast Producers: Georgia Coan – Philly Beaumont Editor: John Shields

Raheem Sterling spoke out this week against the tabloid press for ‘fuelling racism’ with their coverage of his wealth. He sparked a much wider conversation about how much we really support minority success stories on and off the pitch. Tina Daheley speaks to two people either side of the story, Juventus and former England footballer Eniola Aluko and BBC Sport broadcaster Hugh Woozencroft, about the role of the media and how we frame the conversation around black people who make it.

We started the day recording a podcast about the vote set to take place in Parliament tomorrow, where MPs were to decide on whether or not to accept Theresa May’s Brexit deal. And then the vote got postponed, so we had to record another one. Leila Nathoo and Daniel Kraemer from the BBC Westminster newsroom explain why the process has got so chaotic and go through the options MPs need to decide on as the date set for leaving the EU of March 29th next year looms. Unless that gets postponed too. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producer: Harriet Noble Editor: John Shields

In February this year, Princess Latifah the 32 year-old daughter of the ruler of Dubai boarded a boat and set sail for India with a plan to start a new life in America. But within days her boat was stormed by Indian commandos - she was captured and presumably returned to Dubai. No one has heard from her since. Matthew Price speaks to her best friend Tiina Jauhiainen, who helped her escape.

As peace talks aimed at ending nearly four years of civil war in Yemen take place, we speak to the BBC’s Orla Guerin about the conflict that started in 2015 and the humanitarian crisis that’s crippling the country. We hear why she’s passionate about the country and believes that we all have responsibility not to forget the war or the people who are suffering there. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producer: Philly Beaumont Editor: John Shields

Brexit is in a state of confusion. But one thing the government says it’s sure about is that leaving the EU would allow us to have more of a say over how many people come here and why. Theresa May has promised to reduce net migration, the difference between the number of people coming and going, to the tens of thousands. But how easy will it be to get from a high to a low-migration economy? Colin Campbell and Mark Easton tell us about the many different types of migrants who come to the UK.Producers: Harriet Noble and Callum May Editor: John Shields

Over the past year the issue of colourism and prejudice against people with a darker skin tone have become a global talking point. A beauty trend that has emerged on social media has supercharged the debate. Blackfishing is when white girls make themselves look like women of colour or racially ambiguous. Tina Daheley speaks to an Instagram Influencer, Alicja, who has been accused of blackfishing, while social historian, Emma Dabiri, explains that the trend may not be that new at all. Producers: Seren Jones, Philly Beaumont, and Jaja Muhammad. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: John Shields.

World leaders are meeting in Poland for the latest round of United Nations-sponsored climate talks. The meeting is the most critical on climate change since the 2015 Paris agreement. Since the US pulled out of that deal the scale of the problem can seem overwhelming – as we hear in this episode the Swedes call it “climate angst” and have some radical solutions to address it. But there are plenty of more practical solutions to tackling climate change much closer to home. We travel to Manchester, which plans to go carbon neutral in the next twenty years. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Producer: Duncan Barber Editor: John Shields

George Mpanga is a poet, podcaster, and one time rapper with plenty to say about the big news stories of our time from Grenfell to the migrant crisis. He came to the Beyond Today studio to tell us about his journey from a North West London estate to Cambridge University – and beyond. He tells us how the power of stories can bridge the gaps between those two worlds.Producers: Jaja Muhammad and Philly Beaumont Editor: John Shields

If He Jiankui really has created the world’s first genetically modified babies, it marks the beginning of a new and controversial chapter for the human race. It leaves us asking two questions: how did he do it, and are we ready?

As far as the west is concerned, Russia hasn’t been playing by the rules for a while now. Accusations of meddling in the US elections, the Salisbury poison attack, and now seizing Ukrainian ships and sailors. But President Trump has a more complicated relationship with Russia than his predecessors and although he’s said he might cancel a meeting with President Putin over the dispute with Ukraine, there are questions about how close he is to the Russians. Questions that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller may soon answer as he enters the endgame of his investigation into Russian interference in Donald Trump’s election, and what those close to the now-president knew about it. Vitaliy Shevchenko in Moscow and Tara McKelvey and Anthony Zurcher in Washington prepare us for the upcoming flurry of news headlines.Producers: Harriet Noble and Georgia Coan Editor: John Shields

Jason Lampkin was told he was going to be the next Michael Owen, and when he signed for Manchester United as a youth player, he wore the world renowned number 7 shirt. But things didn’t quite work out like that. This is a story about and the readjustments we all have to make when our future plans are dashed.Producers: Seren Jones, Philly Beaumont and Jaja Muhammad. Editor: John Shields

The war in Syria could be the crime of the century. The conflict has been raging for nearly 8 years and, in that time, some estimate that 500,000 people have been killed. The government of President Assad has caused more of these deaths but both sides have committed atrocities which have cost civilian lives. Who should face justice and will some sort of large scale tribunal like the one that followed the war in Yugoslavia ever be held? BBC Monitoring’s Amira Fathalla and Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen try to make some sense of the conflicting narratives of the Syrian war. Producers: Becky Lipscombe and Harriet Noble.

Michelle Obama is so much more than the wife of the first black president of the United States of America. There’s a lot we already know about her – like her focus on public health, LGBT rights and girls’ education. But there’s still a lot we don’t know, and for the first time she's telling her story in her own words, with her new book "Becoming". We wanted to bring to you a few of our favourite snippets, read by Michelle Obama herself. Producers: Jaja Muhammad and Harriet Noble

Social media has an ever increasing influence on where we go on holiday and what we do when we get there. BBC journalist Jordan Dunbar tells us the story of a small country road in Northern Ireland that became a tourist hotspot overnight after featuring on Game of Thrones. We also hear from author and Radio 4 presenter Timandra Harkness on Vienna’s new marketing campaign that encourages tourists to ditch the hashtag.Producers: Duncan Barber and Lucy Hancock Editor: John Shields

Big tech firms and Saudi royalty are among the world’s richest people. When a young Saudi prince took power in Riyadh he quickly made friends in Silicon Valley. But then the murder of a US-based journalist threatened to derail his masterplan. We discuss the future of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and our connection to him through Saudi investments with Dharshini David, economist and BBC presenter and Amira Fathalla from BBC Monitoring.Producers: Philly Beaumont and Georgia Coan Editor John Shields

Concern over Universal Credit has been bubbling away for well over a year now as it's slowly rolled out across the country. The first thing the new Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said about the programme she took over this week is that it "can be better" and that she’ll listen to people’s concerns. John Owen from the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme tells us why it all seems to be going wrong. Producers: Heidi Pett and Georgia Coan Editor: John Shields

Theresa May has had many tough weeks during her premiership, but this week could be the toughest – or even her last. Her ministers are resigning, Parliament is criticising her Brexit deal and members of her own party are writing letters calling for her head, but through all of this she keeps on going. Should we admire her resilience or is this a mess of her own making? When Tina tweeted about this last week she got a huge response, so we asked Joey D’Urso and Ben Wright from the BBC’s Westminster office to weigh in. Producers: Harriet Noble, Jaja Muhammad Editor : John Shields

Oobah Butler is a writer and professional mischief maker. Last year he made the news for hacking TripAdvisor’s review system by getting his fake restaurant rated number one in London. Whether he's blagging his way into fashion week as a knock off brand designer or sending fake versions of himself on to the BBC, his pranks are often both hugely elaborate and curiously insightful. We got him in to find out why he does it all.Producers: Lucy Hancock, Jaja Muhammad and Seren Jones

We get inside one of the places where they try to teach pupils kicked out of mainstream school. 50,000 of them are now in what’s called alternative provision. Why are more children being excluded from school and what can be done to support them and the teachers who try to educate them? The BBC’s Noel Titheradge takes us through what he found and Kiran Gill, founder of The Difference, describes some of the solutions for teachers working in alternative provision and pupil referral units.Producers: Becky Lipscombe, Jaja Muhammad and Philly Beaumont.

This story of a mass murder in the Nigerian city of Jos reveals the devastating impact that fake news can have when it inflames existing tensions. Yemesi Adegoke and Charlie Northcott from the BBC’s Africa Eye talk us through what happened.Producers: Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber.

If the government is going to keep to its Brexit timetable, a divorce deal between Britain and the EU needs to be finalised this week. We’re due to leave at the end of March 2019, so as politicians scrutinise the final details, what do we know about how things will be different after that? Chris Mason and Adam Fleming from Radio 5 Live’s Brexitcast tell us that if all goes to plan we may not notice very much difference at all - to begin with. That is, unless, you own a ferret.Producers: Harriet Noble and Georgia Coan.

Iceland wanted to use a Greenpeace film about palm oil for its Christmas adverts, but was prevented from running it on TV by rules banning political campaigning. Instead the advert has been shared widely online, a PR bonanza for the supermarket. In a world where consumers want brands to take a stance, but we’re also more aware of the ways we can be manipulated by big companies, who do we believe? Melanie Abbott from You and Yours, Dr Cathrine Jansson-Boyd and Katie Mackay-Sinclair help us figure it out.Producers: Philly Beaumont, Jaja Muhammad.

Stacey has been presenting current affairs for over a decade. She’s known for her brand of gutsy, compassionate reporting. This week she takes a break from a punishing Strictly schedule to talk to Tina about her on screen style and where it fits into the news. They explore the line between empathy and emotion and why she hesitates to even call herself a journalist.

It is 100 years since the end of World War One. As the generations that fought in the two World Wars fade away, it gets harder to remember the impact of those conflicts. And while most tend to agree that those wars had to be fought, the case for more recent wars, like Iraq and Afghanistan, has been less clear cut. With some young people choosing not to wear a red poppy, are we forgetting the how to remember those who die in service to their country? We hear from a former soldier, who served in Afghanistan, about what the act of remembrance means to him. This podcast contains discussion of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. You can find support for dealing with PTSD by following this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3CTnhCQD6X0xC6Kw5LVKV3M/ptsd-and-more-support-information-and-supportProducers: Seren Jones, Georgia Coan and Harriet Noble.

He wasn’t on the ballot paper, but Donald Trump still called the mid-term elections a “tremendous success”. Both his Republican Party and the opposing Democrats can find reasons to claim victory as they look ahead to the next big challenge: the fight for the presidency in 2020. Today programme presenter and former Washington correspondent Justin Webb considers Trump, his rivals, and what comes next for America - and the rest of us. Producers: Harriet Noble and Jaja Muhammad

Should catcalling and leering at women become illegal? Some politicians have been calling for it. The country’s most senior police officers, themselves women, say there are more pressing priorities. They say their efforts should be concentrated on murder, knife and gun crime. But what kind of message does this send to women?Producers: Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber

This week the whole of the US goes to the polls for the first time since Donald Trump became president. President Trump himself is not on the ballot paper, but he says it’s still a referendum on him. It’s also become a referendum on #MeToo, the first electoral test since the women’s rights movement began a year ago. The BBC’s White House Correspondent Tara McKelvey assesses how gender politics is changing in America. Producers: Lucy Hancock and Harriet Noble.

Every week we're going to spend time discussing big ideas with interesting characters in the world of news. This week Tina Daheley talks to BBC's Media Editor Amol Rajan about class, populism, and the weird nature of his job.

WhatsApp is a great way to stay in touch, but in this week’s election in Brazil it became a political weapon. Juliana Gragnani from BBC News Brasil and Kim Gittleson in New York tell us what that means for the fight against fake news.

Police and politicians have been highlighting how middle-class cocaine use fuels violent crime. But what impact does drug use by the well-off really have? In this episode Matthew Price talks to Araminta, Pieter and Stewart, to hear stories of dinner parties, drug dealers, and the grip that cocaine can exert.

The story of Iraqi model Tara Fares reveals the risks of pushing the boundaries as a high-profile influencer. Mina Al-Lami from BBC Monitoring tells us what happened to her when she crossed that invisible line.

It’s Budget Day and the chancellor has been telling Parliament that austerity is at an end. As he scatters cash around the government, how confident should we be that we really do have enough money now? The BBC’s Evan Davies and Helen Miller from the Institute for Fiscal Studies tell us.

News built to last from the BBC. One big question answered each weekday.