PODCASTS/AUDIOBOOKS
File on Four – the Post Office Scandal BBC Sounds, review by Yvette Huddleston
Following the impact of the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office and with the public enquiry still ongoing, BBC Radio Four has rebroadcast this File on Four from 2020 which explored the Post Office IT scandal in depth. Hayley Hassall meets some of those whose lives were destroyed when dozens of subpostmasters were falsely accused of theft and fraud due to mistakes made by the Post Office’s faulty IT system Horizon. Among those who Hassall speaks to is Tracy Felstead who was just 19 years old when she was convicted of fraud and sent to Holloway Prison, former subpostmaster Lee Castleton who takes her back to his old shop in Bridlington and a whistleblower who warned the Post Office the Horizon system was unsafe.
The Kids Are Alt Right? BBC Sounds, review by Yvette Huddleston
Professor James Tilley explores the rise of the radical right in countries across Western Europe and looks in particular at the slightly alarming trend that parties such as Marine le Pen’s National Rally in France and the PVV in the Netherlands are attracting younger voters. This goes against the received wisdom that the young are generally more likely to be left wing and that people become increasingly right wing as they age. Tilley reveals that the relationship between how we vote and our age is nowhere near as black and white as that. Across five episodes he investigates how young people become attached to particular political parties, how ageing affects our political views and how policies of political parties are received by the young and old.
Moving Pictures BBC Sounds, review by Yvette Huddleston
In this wonderful series, Cathy FitzGerald invites the listener to discover new details in works of art. Each episode focuses on a single artwork with contributors highlighting interesting aspects of the work and filling in biographical information about the artist. You can follow a link to a high-resolution image too, so you can look at the artwork while you listen. A recent episode featured Ambulance Call by the great American artist Jacob Lawrence, who died in 2000. The picture transports the viewer to Harlem, New York City in the 1940s. A crowd gathers as a patient is taken away on a stretcher. Lawrence captures the community of onlookers and picks up on small everyday details in his bold, vibrant style.
Diary of a CEO Various platforms, review by Yvette Huddleston
In 2021, entrepreneur and author Steven Bartlett became the youngest ever competitor on the popular BBC One programme Dragons’ Den. In his new podcast series, the 31-year-old speaks to “some of the world’s most influential people, experts and thinkers”. His latest guest is pundit and former footballer Thierry Henry who was on France’s winning World Cup team and is Arsenal’s all-time highest scorer. Thierry speaks candidly about his periods of depression, childhood trauma and seeking approval from his father. It's a powerful and emotional conversation during which Henry describes how early in the Covid pandemic he found himself “crying almost every day”. Bartlett is a sensitive, empathetic host who enables his guests to open up and share insights from their personal and professional lives.