ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON SCHOOL LEAGUE TABLES
Preventing ‘sneakily enhancing’ a school’s ranking with ‘soft’ subjects is a good move – but don’t put all the blame on schools
Episodes
Things Unseen
Things Unseen grapples with a spiritual climate that no longer conforms to orderly patterns – with fewer of us attracted to formal religion, but many still believing that there’s more out there than meets the eye. Thought-provoking speech radio for people of faith – and those who just feel intrigued by the spiritual dimension to life.
Episodes
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES LAMBASTS ‘MONEY-SAPPING’ OLYMPICS
9 billion pounds for the sake of a tenth of a second, or a sponsorship deal... And, as for the ‘legacy’, well, just consider the fortunes of Greece. [Image courtesy of davehighbury via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON 'LUNATIC' WIND FARMS
‘Did nobody tell the energy secretary that on many of the coldest days the wind does not blow? That the wind is not a reliable source of power?’ [Image courtesy of Davie Dunn via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED VIRTUE DIXON
Daughter killed. Born-again Christian who has forgiven those responsible. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED JOHN KELLY
Brother of Michael, 17, shot dead. He hasn’t forgiven the soldier responsible. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED GERRY O'HARA
Best friend killed next to him. Formerly commander of the junior wing of the IRA; now vice-chair of the Police Board. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - KATHLEEN TRACY
Her brother was shot dead. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved. ©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - ALASTAIR SIMPSON
Former General of the Apprentice Boys; today, lives in the all-Protestant The Fountain, set up after Bloody Sunday. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved. ©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - JEANETTE WARKE
Forced out of her home in the unsettling days that followed; now a peace and reconciliation worker. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved. ©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - PETER MCDONALD
At the age of 11, he saw the coffins lined up. He became an IRA activist; today, he’s a community development worker. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved. ©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - RICHARD MOORE
Uncle shot dead; three months earlier he was blinded by a soldier’s rubber bullet. Founder of Children in Crossfire. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - KAY DUDDY
Sister of victim Jackie, whose body was carried by friends and priest Edward Daley, waving a white handkerchief. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED: EDWARD DALY
The priest who administered the last rites to victim Jackie, 17, amidst gunfire. An iconic photograph captured the scene. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved.]
ARCHIVE: WENDY ROBBINS ON ABU QATADA
A senior judge calls Muslim preacher Abu Qatada ‘a truly dangerous individual’, yet still we cannot insist that he is exported and tried in his home country... [Image courtesy of :Dar via Flickrr.com©©]
ARCHIVE: WENDY ROBBINS ON THE RACISM WE IGNORE
At a time when racism is in the headlines, why the media silence on ‘disturbing instances of racism against Jews’?
ARCHIVE: HAITI’S RELIGIOUS CLASH
Aid goes to Evangelicals, not us, accuses voodoo leader. In the rebuilding after the earthquake, Evangelicals bring aid to a country said to be 80 per cent Catholic and 100 per cent Voodoo. With very mixed results. Edward Stourton reports.
ARCHIVE: WENDY ROBBINS ON PROTECTING OUR KIDS
WENDY ROBBINS ON PROTECTING OUR KIDS ... from sexually-explicit songs in the charts ‘My children are 7, 9, 12. They singalong to pop song lyrics like “‘sex in the air, I don’t care’. I don’t want them hearing this stuff; they don’t have the emotional maturity. Can’t the broadcasters give a lead here?’
ARCHIVE: GLOBAL WARMING: DOES IT MATTER?
GLOBAL WARMING: DOES IT MATTER? The clash between reducing emissions and development. A climate summit in Durban has ended with agreement to bring down carbon emissions to save the planet. A deadline of 2020 could yet prove a cop-out. But do we need to be so concerned about emissions? Is fear of global warming holding back much-needed development? Emma Barnett interrogates George Monbiot, environmental activist, and Claire Fox, director of the British think-tank, the Institute of Ideas....
ARCHIVE: ART OF COMPLAINING
Complaining is part and parcel of our everyday existence. Usually it’s personal, trivial, and not to be taken seriously. But sometimes it’s bigger than that. The question is: are there any tips for making sure our legitimate complaints are not only noted, but also acted upon? The answer is: Yes. Dougal Patmore finds out what they are – along the way meeting the man who sealed his letters of complaint with a loving kiss, and the choir whose members complained distinctively and effectively in song...
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON THE CLIMATE SUMMIT
So why no debate on the assumptions behind the more apocalyptic forecasts? Example: the UN forecast 50 million climate refugees by 2010 – where are they?
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON THE BIG PHARMA
To worry about our NHS medical records being handed over to drug companies is not naive left-wing rights rhetoric.We need reassuring that ‘we’re not going to end up as lab rats’.
ARCHIVE: WHAT THE PROTESTERS ARE SAYING...
Occupy London protests… the birth of people-powered politics? A gathering of non-toilet trained hippies? Or one expression among many from people who ‘feel cheated’? Louisa Bolch decides. [Image Courtesy of Wheelzwheeler via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON THE FAT TAX
Britain is the fat champion of Europe; the PM is considering a so-called fat tax. But it’s our choice, it’s our business, it’s not the government’s job to tell us how to eat. It’s another example of our ‘nanny knows best’ culture.e. [Image Courtesy of Tobyotter via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON SWEARING
The ‘F’ word is ok, just cheery badinage. ‘Black, in what is thought to be the wrong context, induces apoplexy. Another sign, says Buerk, of ‘a vertiginous decline in civility…a growing coarseness in our public (and private) life’. [Image Courtesy of BIll Barber via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON PHONE-HACKING
The News of the World became the biggest-selling newspaper by printing as much sordid detail of people’s private lives as it could grub up and get away with. But, remember, ‘we loved it’. [Image courtesy of Gideon Tsang via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON THE PROTESTORS
Yes, bankers have ‘nationalised their risks while privatising their rewards’ – but the St Pauls’ protestors, ‘spoilt children of capitalism, living lives beyond the dreams of previous generations’, offer only ‘vapid sloganising’. What would Jesus do? they ask. The only possible answer is: God knows. [Image Courtesy of James Guppy via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON GLOBAL POPULATION
As the 7 billionth human being is born, one problem, says Michael Buerk, underpins nearly all others in the world, but it’s the one we don’t talk about: ‘There are too many of us’. [Image Courtesy of Bindaas Madhavi via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: BETRAYAL OF THE OLD
Britain’s ethnic minorities call our country’s care of the elderly ‘horrible’ and ‘a betrayal’. For them, it’s culturally taboo for strangers to look after the elderly – and they also see the failings of our care home system. Do they have anything to teach the West? Interviewing care home nurses, relatives, and former 'Pensioners Tzar' Joan Bakewell, Louisa Bolch goes On The Inside...
ARCHIVE: ABORTION: HOW MANY IS TOO MANY?
There are 200,000 abortions every year in the UK. Is that too many? Shouldn’t you be able to ask the question without being labelled a nutter? But, in the end, is it the wrong question? Emma Barnett ‘interrogates’ Suzanne Moore of The Guardian and Dr Peter Saunders of the Christian Medical Fellowship. [Image courtesy of limaoscarjuliet via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON HUMAN RIGHTS
We’ve got ourselves into a mess over human rights, says Michael Buerk, especially those enshrined in law. Human rights are not god-given. Human rights don’t come from some natural law. They’re not absolute, or inalienable. They’re qualified, subjective, and fashionable. And they change all the time. [Image courtesy of Yoshiffles via Flickr.com ©©]