The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review
On My Wavelength
Forty years on from the nuclear disarmament protests at Greenham Common, Rebecca Mordan, who was present there as a child, presents The Greenham Effect (Saturday, Radio 4, 8pm). She draws on the testimony of more than 100 women who lived and campaigned there, and considers the protests’ wider resonance.
Claudia Winkleman presents The Sounds of 2000 (Sunday, Radio 2, 9pm), a new series looking back at the music, media, news and memorable moments of the century so far, beginning with a trip back in time to 2000, from the opening of the Millennium Dome to Big Brother, Billy Elliot,
S Club 7 and Coldplay. Unfortunately, the year 2000 was 21 years ago rather than yesterday, which I hope isn’t as hard for you to accept as it is for me.
Let joy be unconfined as Just a Minute (Monday, Radio 4FM, 6.30pm) returns, and this time there is a new permanent host in the chair to keep a handle on proceedings. Following in the eminent footsteps of the late, much-missed Nicholas Parsons is Sue Perkins, herself a very well-seasoned player of the game. Joining her this week are Paul Merton, Sheila Hancock, Daliso Chaponda and Jan Ravens.
Buried nuclear waste will still be dangerous 100,000 years from now. If humankind survives that long, how can we fulfil our duty to future generations to warn them of its existence? In The Nuclear Priesthood (Tuesday, Radio 4, 11am), Paul Farley, the poet, examines the options being considered. Could an epic poem or folk tale provide the answer?
Two decades on from 9/11, and a deep moral reckoning for the
United States, Edward Stourton and 9/11: The Arc of History (Wednesday, Radio 4, 8pm) examines the international political situation in the light Dr Martin Luther King’s assertion that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” – much quoted by Barack Obama. But in the wake of a calamitous withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, Stourton finds that there is new unease in Western liberal democracies about the future. Is there any such thing as the right side of history?
Safe Space (Thursday, Radio 4, 11.30am) is a highly topical examination from all angles of a controversial phenomenon: the desire for safe spaces in education and the arts with the intention of protecting the vulnerable from harm. With contributions from arts practitioners, critics and philosophers from diverse backgrounds, there are views from all sides here, including the argument that art as a safe space is itself a dangerous idea, because it means we avoid ever being challenged, shocked or disturbed.
Bach’s greatest masterpiece, the St Matthew Passion, encompasses bitter grief, great ecstasy, fragility and jubilation. It’s played live at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms 2021 (Thursday, Radio 3, 7pm) by ensemble Arcangelo and director Jonathan Cohen, with soloists Roderick Williams, Iestyn Davies, Louise Alder, Stuart Jackson, Hugo Hymas and Matthew Rose.
There’s more Bach in BBC Proms 2021: Pavel Kolesnikov, who plays Goldberg Variations (Friday, Radio 3, 7.30pm). In his preparations, the Russian-born pianist asked himself, “Is it a coded message, an exercise in numerology? Is it a glorious attempt to marry old and new, or is it a nocturnal, private, fanciful tale?” All will be revealed in his interpretation.