RADIO CHOICE

SIMEON MOORE has lost friends and seen many others injured through gun and knife crimes. He knows only too well how a promising schoolboy can be turned into a violent criminal. Simeon takes a very honest view of the way that aggressive rap music is drawing youngsters into a hopeless culture of fear, violence and death. In SPITTING BLADES (RADIO 4, 11AM), Simeon thinks about the way such music got him into a world of gang violence, and wonders whether this music is reflecting or shaping the lives of urban teenagers.

SONGS from some of the great musicals brighten up FRIDAY NIGHT IS MUSIC NIGHT (RADIO 2, 8PM), with the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Larry Blank, celebrating the work of Alan Jay Lerner.