The rollout of the internet in Africa has been patchy. Some countries have used it to leapfrog others, boosting their economies. For many others, new networks and technologies have yet to bear fruit. From Sudan to Ethiopia to the DRC, the continent is marred by regular internet shutdowns, with the aim of stopping anti-government protesters from organising. And very few countries have taken steps to define the rules of digital privacy and data protection. Yet, Africa remains the fastest growing i...
Jul 05, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fifty years ago, when gay protesters clashed with New York City police outside a nondescript bar, the Stonewall Inn, few expected it to become one of the turning points in the gay rights movements in the world. But the encounter motivated and galvanized a generation of gay men and women who demanded to be accepted in society for who they were. Change came slowly and same sex marriage and equal protection under law now exists in many countries. But huge challenges remain and, according to one sur...
Jun 28, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast A global survey of public attitudes to health and science has found that twenty percent of Europeans have no confidence in life-saving vaccines. The figure was highest in France where a third of the adult population does not believe that immunisation is safe. Vaccination rates have stalled in many regions, and cases of infectious diseases, like measles, have soared. At the same time, many people who do support immunisation say that they have no understanding of the science behind it. The Wellcom...
Jun 21, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast After eight gruelling years of war, the rebels in Syria seem to be making a last stand in the province of Idlib. The opposition stronghold in the northwest of the country has been under intense bombardment from government forces backed by Russia. Idlib is where many fighters from the defeated parts of the country were moved. It is also home to three-million civilians and the UN has warned of another refugee exodus and humanitarian catastrophe. Julian Worricker and a panel of expert guests examin...
Jun 14, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast One year ago this week, the government of Myanmar signed an understanding with the United Nations that would pave the way for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to return home from camps in southern Bangladesh. But the UN says, no family has volunteered to return. Ever since the mass exodus of the Rohingya began in August 2017, the Burmese government and the military have received universal condemnation for their failure to stop the violence. The government, led by the Nobel Laureate Aun...
Jun 07, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week the European elections have generated intense discussion: The turnout was the highest for twenty years. And for the first time in decades, the traditional Centre-Right and Centre-Left failed to win enough seats to form a majority. They are under pressure to forge fresh partnerships with smaller blocs, like the Far-Right, the Liberals or the Greens, who have been returned with a bigger share of the vote. Some argue that the new balance of power will better reflect the political realitie...
May 31, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week the tech giant Google announced it would not provide some of its services to the Chinese company, Huawei, the second biggest mobile handset maker in the world. The Trump administration alleged that Huawei might spy on America and its allies on behalf of the Chinese state, a claim rejected by the company. It said it was a victim of the trade war between Washington and Beijing, and its technology was strong enough to withstand American pressure and would, in fact, become the most advance...
May 24, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast WikiLeaks has never been far from controversy since the release of its first cache of documents in 2006. Its supporters have welcomed the organisation as a bearer of truth and transparency. Its method of publishing troves of sensitive documents from governments and other organisations is seen as a way to fight against secrecy and censorship. Its detractors see it as an irresponsible leaker that has put lives in danger. Some point out that while WikiLeaks have been successful in embarrassing many...
May 17, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Biodiversity – that’s the subject of a major report from the UN this week – and it comes with an alarming warning: the variety and fabric of life on earth is in rapid decline all over the planet. Because of human behaviour, nearly a million species are facing extinction and many ecosystems are being irreversibly degraded. Using knowledge from both scientists and indigenous groups, the report highlights threats to clean water and air, and warns that soil damage could make it impossible to curb cl...
May 10, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast China is located nearly 3,000 kilometres from the Arctic Circle but that hasn't stopped it taking a keen interest in the region. Last year China described itself as a 'near Arctic State' and said that it plans to play a crucial role in the Arctic's future. The melting of the polar ice has made it possible to exploit the Arctic’s riches, from natural gas and oil to rare minerals, which are crucial for China’s growth. As leaders from the eight-nation Arctic Council travel to the northern Finnish c...
May 03, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Free and fair elections are needed for democracy, and their manipulation has always been an issue. But with the advent of social media, has this problem now become unmanageable? Some argue that social media has levelled the playing field and opened up political space for people who previously had no voice. At the same time, there is plentiful evidence of foreign interference and the use of social media to spread disinformation in elections in the United States, Brazil, Kenya and India - to name ...
Apr 26, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast As evidence of climate change and mass extinctions becomes ever harder to ignore, a new tide of eco-activism is making waves. Schoolchildren across the world have been coming out on strike, with Swedish student climate activist Greta Thunberg meeting Pope Francis this week. Meanwhile, a movement calling itself Extinction Rebellion continues to occupy key locations in central London and elsewhere, stopping traffic, gluing themselves to things, even smashing the occasional oil company window. Thei...
Apr 19, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Has what’s happened since the Brexit referendum revealed serious problems with the way the UK is governed? Was the big mistake to have a referendum on such a complex issue in the first place, challenging the sovereignty of parliament and our representative system? Are UK politicians ignorant of the art of compromise, and if so, would proportional representation change the political culture? Do there need to be reforms, even a written constitution? Or is the problem not the system, but the failur...
Apr 12, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Since the inception of the ICC 20 years ago it has been controversial. Supporters see it as a guarantor of justice, ready to step in when states are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. But to many the Court has now fallen from grace, having spent an estimated $1.7 bn but secured only three convictions for core crimes. The superpowers still show no signs of joining – with the US recently imposing sanctions on officials after the Prosecutor began exam...
Apr 05, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Battle lines have been drawn, alliances are being firmed up, and the electoral machine has kicked into action. With over 900 million eligible voters, the 2019 parliamentary elections in India will be the biggest exercise of democracy in the world. Voting will begin on 11 April and will be held in seven stages across India’s 29 states. Five years ago, the Hindu nationalist BJP won its first ever landslide victory, but can Narendra Modi’s party win again this time? The BJP says it is the party of ...
Mar 29, 2019•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast The terror attack on Muslims worshipping in Christchurch, New Zealand has focused minds around the world on the threat from racist far-right extremists. The man responsible cited influences from the US and UK among others, and claimed to be motivated by white supremacist ideas. So, who are these extremists? What do they believe and why? And what role might politics and media play in planting the roots of extremism in society? Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of experts to discuss the nature and ...
Mar 22, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast The number of undocumented migrants captured at the US Mexico border has reached a decade-long high, with the government predicting that the number will continue to rise. President Trump says the situation at the border is a national emergency. So, is he right? Ritula Shah is joined by three expert guests to discuss what’s going on at America’s southern border. How many people are really crossing it. And - is the asylum system working, or broken, or just under strain? (Photo: Mexican children at...
Mar 15, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week thousands of delegates from across China arrived in Beijing for the biggest political gathering of the year. But this time, the government’s message about the economy is less upbeat than it has been before. The growth forecast has been reduced, again. A new plan to boost the economy includes greater government spending, increasing foreign firms' access to the Chinese market, and billions of dollars in tax cuts. But will the measures work? There is more trouble on the horizon, as indust...
Mar 08, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast What's next for the thousands of foreign women who have been living with Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria? The situation was highlighted after a British and an American woman expressed the desire to return to their countries of origin. With the Islamic State's rapidly shrinking territory, thousands of foreign born women - many with children - have fled the fighting and are sheltering in refugee camps. Ritula Shah and a panel of expert guests discuss what should happen to them now. Do the...
Mar 01, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week was another dramatic one in the long-running saga of Brexit, with the possibility of a second referendum to solve the political impasse created by the first still widely discussed. Meanwhile on Sunday in Cuba, which is of course not a democracy, citizens will get to vote in a constitutional referendum that is expected to legitimise private business and open the door - if not positively support - gay marriage, and abortion has now been available in Ireland for two months, after Ireland’...
Feb 22, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week was another bad one for the environment, with a major scientific review predicting a mass extinction of insects within a century if current trends continue. Meanwhile, the news on climate change gets more alarming by the day. But when we talk about causes and solutions, do we often miss the big picture? Is the capitalist system underpinning the globalised economy the main culprit in both crises? If so, can those catastrophes only be avoided if capitalism is tamed, or radically reformed...
Feb 15, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a defining moment of the 20th Century. What began as a popular movement to oust the Western backed monarchy, later turned Iran into the world's first Islamic republic. Since then, the Iranian government has been accused of rights abuses, destabilising the region, supporting terrorists and trying to develop nuclear weapons. There have been waves of protests, for differing reasons, at home. And a recent upturn of economic optimism has vanished following President...
Feb 08, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast The United States and the Taliban say they have made significant progress towards ending the war in Afghanistan, with the deal expected to include a withdrawal of foreign forces. In return, the Taliban would agree not to shelter terrorists. But what will that mean for Afghan society? The Taliban’s denial of women's rights is well documented. With foreign forces gone, will women's hard-won rights survive? Can outsiders protect those rights once they have left, or is Afghan civil society now stron...
Feb 01, 2019•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sudan has been witnessing the biggest anti-government protests in years. They began over a month ago when the government announced plans to reduce subsidies on staples like bread and fuel. But a heavy-handed response by the authorities has led to dozens of deaths and hundreds of arrests. Many are now calling for the resignation of president Omar al-Bashir. With the demonstrations becoming a regular feature across the country, is president Bashir facing the most serious threat to his power? This ...
Jan 25, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump’s first foreign trip as US president was to Saudi Arabia - and this week his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited the Kingdom. Despite increased strains on the relationship, including the controversial war in Yemen and the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Trump Administration has shown no signs of breaking with Riyadh. Is this fully explained by the trade in oil and arms – or are other factors at work? How important is a shared antipathy to Iran? Are human rights alwa...
Jan 18, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's an old question, but despite many estimates - based on Frank Drake's famous equation - that our own Milky Way galaxy could contain up to a million alien civilisations, the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence begun in 1961 has so far failed. Funding for SETI - as it's known - has also been a problem, although private money has partly filled the gap. But SETI scientists are now hopeful that, after a 25-year pause, the US Congress will mandate NASA to spend ten million dollars a year, fo...
Jan 11, 2019•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast How do you look ahead in a world which constantly takes us by surprise, sometimes shocks us, often makes us ask 'what happens next?' Who would have predicted that President Trump would, to use his words, fall in love with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whose country he had threatened to totally destroy? Who could have imagined that a prominent Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, would be murdered and dismembered in a Saudi Consulate? And, on a happier note, we’re relieved that, as the year ...
Dec 28, 2018•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast After weeks of protests and violence, France's President Emmanuel Macron has bowed to the yellow vests protestors. First he made an televised address to the nation in which he admitted he had made mistakes. Now he has issued a new budget with financial giveaways. It is not just that he has been spooked by weeks of demonstrations - not unknown in French life - but also that protestors have enjoyed high levels of public support. Their demands combine elements from the left and the right: calls for...
Dec 21, 2018•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2014, the Chinese government issued a document aimed at increasing the amount of 'trust' in society. Today this emerging system is known as China's social credit system - like a credit score but tracking more than financial transactions. China's central government wants to have the system in place across China by 2020, using a range of information -- including shopping habits, driving fines and even what's written on social media -- to rate and rank individuals. People with poor scores could ...
Dec 14, 2018•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast There's only one question in Britain these days: what will happen with Brexit? On Tuesday, the future of the country is at stake when the British parliament takes a historic vote on the withdrawal deal that the Prime Minister, Theresa May, has negotiated with the European Union. As it stands, the odds are on parliament voting the deal down. And with the clock to Britain's exit from the EU ticking down, the consequences of the Prime Minister losing the vote are far from certain. Could she go back...
Dec 07, 2018•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
