The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review
On My Wavelength
As part of the BBC’s Soundscapes for Wellbeing initiative, Music Matters (Saturday, Radio 3, 11.45am) focuses on the blues. Kate Molleson is joined by the Scottish poet Jackie Kay, who discusses her admiration for Bessie Smith, and what the blues can mean for us today. The project more widely will explore how nature and music affect mental health.
The Documentary (Sunday, BBC World Service, 2.06pm) explores the phenomenon of compassion fatigue among people working in medical and humanitarian professions. Compassion and a desire to care for others is often the motivating factor for people entering these careers, but what happens when emotional burnout hits? Is compassion a finite resource tested to the limits by Covid-19? The programme also considers how we can become desensitised to horrifying news, with shock-effect advertising for charity campaigns having diminishing returns.
After the dramatic shift in leadership of the United States, James Naughtie presents After Trump (Monday, Radio 4, 8pm), a four-part series reflecting on what Donald Trump changed in America, and looking at what President Biden has already set out to do differently. Trump’s presidency was only a single term, but Naughtie argues that he made significant changes which are likely to persist, including in foreign policy, the country’s courts, and in the way that politics functions. Naughtie also asks whether Trumpism can continue beyond the Trump presidency.
Mary Portas: On Style (Tuesday, Radio 4, 11.30am) returns to bring a much-needed burst of colour to the radio, putting an emphasis on fashion that’s fun but never frivolous. She focuses on designers, makers and independent businesses bringing joy and light to homes and high streets, and offering a more sustainable way to shop. Portas also explores the success of
BBC One’s The Repair Shop and the invisible style statement made by perfume.
In The Compass (Wednesday, BBC World Service, 8.06pm),
Allan Little takes a nuanced view of how climate change is affecting communities in the Arctic and how melting ice poses an existential threat to some, and economic opportunities for others. Little’s report covers effects on infrastructure, culture, and threats to life, broadening into a complex picture.
Joyce DiDonato, the American mezzo soprano, is profiled in Behind the Scenes (Thursday, Radio 4, 11.30am), focusing on her career, life and work, with contributions from peers including Sir Antonio Papanno, music director of the Royal Opera. DiDonato originally set out to be a teacher, but became a Grammy award-winning opera star instead. As well as discussing her career and her experience of lockdown, the programme considers her activism, including working with inmates at a high-security prison.
The Disrupters (Friday,
Radio 4, 11am) focuses on the story of entrepreneur Julie Deane, who started The Cambridge Satchel Company at her kitchen table with £600, making traditional leather satchels. Ten years on, the company sells 10,000 bags each month. She joins Kamal Ahmed and Rohan Silva to discuss the road to her business success and the challenges along the way, including having to fire her manufacturer while orders were flooding in.