[Swprograms] Podding Along - Issue 236

[John Figliozzi <jfiglio1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Most radio listening takes place in the car or while doing other things that allow freedom for the ear, but not the eyes and hands.  Podcasts permit a shift of listening time from a set appointment to virtually any convenient occasion.  I do it while “power walking” (most) every morning in what sometimes seems like a vain attempt to diminish the results of sitting behind a desk for 35 years.  The act of putting one foot in front of the other can be pretty monotonous and by “podding along” while plodding along the mind also gets something useful to do.  So it is with the time spent commuting to work day after day.

Some of the best radio comes from the public networks of the UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.  Apart from the originating program’s web site, most programs are made available through any number of other amalgamation sources such as iTunes and TuneIn. 

Admittedly, these are thoroughly subjective recommendations, but my interests and tolerance for incompatible views are pretty wide-ranging. Here’s another in a continuing series of small samplings, offered in a 90 minute scope (more of less):

——

“24/03/2019”
FROM OUR HOME CORRESPONDENT - BBC Radio 4
Mishal Husain introduces pieces on rehabilitating knife criminals in Scotland, shared parental leave, Irish sporting unity, Antrim's dark hedges and preconceptions about builders. (29”)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0003jp5

“Former British diplomat, and National Security Adviser - Lord Ricketts”
HARDtalk - BBC World Service
As the political debate over Brexit grows ever more polarised in the UK exposing deep fractures within the political parties, questions are also being asked about the how the machinery of government is working. Lord Ricketts, a former top diplomat, and national security adviser has very publicly condemned the current government’s handling of Brexit negotiations describing them as a fiasco and expressing the fear that Brexit will leave Britain permanently and significantly weakened. This public airing of views has created the impression that the supposedly apolitical civil service, particularly the foreign office, is institutionally and temperamentally opposed to Brexit – a policy which was of course approved by a national referendum in 2016. Does this represent a real problem in Britain’s democracy and in the relationship between the people and the government? (24”)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswjgd

“Orban's EU offensive”
FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT - BBC Radio 4
The appeal of Viktor Orban, the man who wants to remake the European Union in his own image. Stephen Sackur visits the Hungarian Prime Minister’s hometown and tries to figure out what makes him one of Europe's most successful and influential populists.  Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world:
-  As a child, Tim Whewell dreamt of tapirs. On a recent trip to Brazil, he finally found himself in the natural habitat of these strange chunky black-and-white creatures, a bit like large long-legged pigs with trunk-like noses. 
-  Alice Hutton discovers how the once-despised Plattenbauten – East Berlin’s communist-era pre-fab flats – could provide a solution to modern Berlin’s housing problems. 
-  Leon McCarron meets the poets keeping a dying language alive on the Yemeni island of Socotra - hundreds of miles from the war on the mainland. 
-  And Jane Labous enjoys an early morning exercise class off the coast of Senegal. (30”)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00035gw

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A monthly (well, mostly monthly) compendium of these newsletters, plus on occasion additional pertinent material, is now published in The CIDX Messenger, the monthly e-newsletter of the Canadian International DX Club (CIDX).  For further information, go to www.cidx.ca

John Figliozzi
Editor, "The Worldwide Listening Guide”
192 page 8th edition available from Universal Radio [universal-radio.com] and Amazon [amazon.com]
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