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#bbcradio4 — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #bbcradio4, aggregated by home.social.

  1. (yet another look at UK education)

    Comps
    Archive on 4

    Financial Times columnist turned teacher Lucy Kellaway takes a personal journey through the education revolution launched fifty years ago to replace grammars and secondary moderns with comprehensives. The ambition was noble: the same opportunities for every child. But the story of Comps suggests that when lofty ideals collide with reality, things don’t always turn out as planned.

    Lucy visits two very different models of comp trying to reconcile the history and their local demands and priorities, and speaks to three of the most influential politicians responsible for shaping today's state secondary school system - Lords Baker, Blunkett and Gove. She also discovers the deep roots of the tensions and challenges facing today's comps in a journey through a rich archive that charts the evolution of the comprehensive system in the last fifty years.
    Producer: Jonathan Brunert

    Show less

    57 minutes

    On air

    Today
    20:00
    BBC Radio 4
    More episodes

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCArchiveOn4

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00316l1

  2. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

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    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  3. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
    Lower quality (64kbps)

    Available now

    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  4. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
    Lower quality (64kbps)

    Available now

    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  5. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
    Lower quality (64kbps)

    Available now

    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  6. Loose Ends

    Liam Ó Maonlaí, Michael Fry, Emma Southon, Olivia McVeigh, Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin, Clare Sands

    Loose Ends

    Stuart Maconie finds himself "i lár an aonaigh" - at the heart of craic, ceol, and much more at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (All-Ireland Fleadh), as Belfast hosts the festival celebrating Irish music and culture for the very first time.

    The Fleadh comes second nature to frontman and lead singer of Hothouse Flowers Liam Ó Maonlaí, who was brought up in a household full of traditional Irish music and song. As the band prepares for their "Greatest Hits" tour later this year, Liam reflects on the poignant story behind their hit single "Don't Go", and the time he was left behind by the band's tour bus.

    Olivia McVeigh mightn't be in a band, but alongside her fellow podcasters of The Girls Groupchat she's taking the show onstage, alongside Irish girl group legends B*witched and even to ABBA Voyage. She tells Stuart about how her diagnosis of alopecia changed her entire career trajectory, into a world of advocacy and empowering others with the condition.

    Emma Southon may have had a very different career as historian if she hadn't hated history so much at school. She talks about her new book Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire, which sets out to give readers a full picture of the reality of enslaved people in Ancient Rome.

    And Michael Fry muses on how a period of pure boredom pushed him towards comedy, and why he thinks the medium of radio is ripe for laughs, ahead of his third series of Lunchtime with Michael Fry on BBC Radio Ulster.

    Plus, musicians Dónal O'Connor, Neil Martin and Clare Sands give us just a "blaiseadh beag" - a very small taste of the great music coming out of the Fleadh.

    Presenter: Stuart Maconie
    Producer: Anthony McKee
    Technical Producer: Davy Neill
    Production Co-ordinators: Sylvie Conway and Caoilfhinn McFadden

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
    Lower quality (64kbps)

    Available now

    42 minutes


    Last on

    Thu 13 Aug 2026
    21:00
    BBC Radio 4

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLooseEnds #Fleadh
    #StuartMaconie #EmmaSouthon

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00300dc

  7. Writing Our Mothers
    Archive on 4

    ‘Mothers have such a weight of idealisation and expectation landed upon their bodies and their minds and what women writers can do is to take that apart and explore
    its underbelly,’ says feminist writer Jacqueline Rose.

    Whether worshipped or vilified, treated as lifetime confidantes or rarely trusted, the mothers we meet when we write them are re-inventions. Some may be closer to the
    truth than others. Many of them will have roots in the life experiences of the daughter-writer. Virginia Woolf, who lost her mother at the age of 13, said she was obsessed with writing her mother. Eventually she also argued that it was ‘the occupation of the woman writer to kill’ what she called ‘The Angel in the House’ – the perfect, self-sacrificing mother – who may well have been her own maternal influence.

    Drawing on interviews with Maya Angelou, we hear how for her to write her mother was to ‘write about a hurricane in its perfect power’. She describes how the influence of a mother who ‘abandoned’ her as a child forced her most urgent examinations of class, race and, importantly love. In another frank interview with Marguerite Duras from 1968, she describes writing as a search for connection with her raging and ‘mad’ mother. For Sylvia Plath, the process of writing about becoming a mother herself in the 1950s produced work of a psychic intensity rarely seen before.

    What the archive ultimately reveals is that a mother, whether present or absent, loving or cruel, might be as formative an influence on a writer’s work, as in life. ‘When I read about motherhood, I want to be shaken loose from whatever limitations I have when I think about what that means,’ says the writer Siri Hustvedt.

    With contributions from Susie Orbach, Jacqueline Rose, Kit de Waal and Siri Hustvedt, and narration from Amaka Okafor.

    Produced by Sarah Cuddon
    A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

    Archive sources:
    Desert Island Discs with Arundhati Roy (2017)
    A Chance to Meet ... Edna O'Brien (1971)
    Sylvia Plath, Peter Orr interview (1962)
    Audre Lorde, Pacifica Radio Archives and Academy of American Poets www.poets.org
    Maya Angelou, BBC News (1985)
    Jeannette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (BBC, 1990) and Face To Face (BBC, 1994)
    Marguerite Duras, Worn Out With Desire To Write (1985)
    Toni Morrison, Brief Encounters (BBC, 2001)
    Jackie Kay, Book of the Week (The Waters Company for BBC R4, 2015)
    Elena Ferrante, Lying Lives of Adults (BBC, 2020)


    Available now

    57 minutes

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCArchiveOn4

    #ArundhatiRoy #EdnaOBrien
    #SylviaPlath #AudreLorde
    #MayaAngelou #JeannetteWinterson
    #MargueriteDuras #ToniMorrison
    #JackieKay #ElenaFerrante

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001k7s1

  8. Last Word obit programme

    Brenda Fricker: The first Irish woman to win an Oscar

    Brenda Fricker became the first Irish woman to win an Academy Award for her performance in the film “My Left Foot”. She began her career with parts in Ireland’s first soap opera Tolka Row, ITV’s Coronation Street, and became a household name as the nurse Megan Roach in Casualty on the BBC. Her friend and fellow actress Anna Friel pays tribute.

    The BBC’s long-serving correspondent David Willey was a renowned authority on the Vatican, covering the lives and deaths of five popes. Before he settled in Rome, David had travelled widely for the BBC, reporting from Algeria, the Vietnam War and China just after the communist revolution. Two of his colleagues, former Chief News Correspondent Kate Adie and International Editor Jeremy Bowen, share their memories of working with him.

    The name David Austin is forever indelibly associated with the rose growing business. He created some of the most sought after roses, naming new varieties after fictional or real-life people, including Gabriel Oak from Far From the Madding Crowd, the actress Dame Judi Dench and ceramicist Emma Bridgewater - who pays tribute to him alongside Gardeners' World presenter Sue Kent.

    Wally Funk broke records as the oldest person to go to space onboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Rocket in 2021. In the early 1960s she was part of a group of women known as the Mercury 13 who were tested to see if they could compete with male astronauts for a place in the American space programme. But the project was abandoned and her hopes dashed. Loretta Hall, who co-wrote her memoir, tells us her story.

    ( ... also featuring The Pink Panther saxophone guy ...)

    Producer: Ben Mitchell
    Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
    Researcher: Jesse Edwards
    Editor: Andrea Kennedy

    Archive:
    "My Left Foot", Ferndale Films, Granada Film, RTÉ, Hell's Kitchen Films; BBC One, Wogan, 16/02/1990; 62nd Academy Awards, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 26/03/1990; BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour, 05/03/1997; BBC One, Wogan, 15/02/1991; BBC Radio 4, Sunday, 10/03/2013; BBC Radio 4, Archive on 4, From our Rome Correspondent, 07/04/2012; BBC One, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, 21/05/2007; BBC One, Football Focus, 06/10/2018; BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour, 19/06/2019; BBC News, 19/06/1983; Blue Origin, YouTube, 20/07/2021; Other audio courtesy of Loretta Hall

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCLastWord

    #BrendaFricker #WallyFunk #DavidWilley #PlasJohnson

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002z671

  9. Mr Jefferson's Library (5 part series)

    Michael Goldfarb visits the Library of Congress and Thomas Jefferson's home at Monticello in Virginia to see how Jefferson's reading shaped the beginnings of American history.

    #MichaelGoldfarb
    #LibraryOfCongress
    #ThomasJefferson
    #Monticello

    #BBCRadio4 #BookOfTheWeek #BBCBOTW #BBCBookOfTheWeek

    (15 minute episodes) (very fast reading presentation style)

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002ybb7

  10. The BBC have said they will stop transmitting BBC Radio 4 on Long Wave, LW, on Sunday 21st June 2026 😭☹️🤬☹️😭

    #Radio #BBC #BBCRadio #BBCRadio4 #LW #LongWave #SaveLongWave #SaveRadio #Radio4

  11. 2026-03-10 2100-2130

    The plans to limit jury trials in England and Wales
    The Law Show

    The courts system in England and Wales is in an unprecedented crisis. The backlog has reached 80,000 cases, and some defendants are being told they won't be able to have a criminal trial until 2030.

    The government has introduced the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which contains a raft of measures to tackle delays and bring down the backlog; but the Justice Secretary David Lammy has admitted that things are going to get even worse before they get better.

    The most controversial change is a plan to restrict the number of jury trials. The right to judgement by your peers has existed for more than 800 years, but for some offences, that's going to end.

    Defendants will lose the right to choose between a jury trial or a magistrate's hearing in so-called "either-way" offences.

    Magistrates will get increased sentencing powers - up from 12 months to 18 months.

    More serious criminal cases, with likely sentences of up to three years will now be heard by a single judge - and no jury.

    And only the most serious "indictable" offences, like murder, manslaughter and rape and any other offence with a sentence of longer than three years will be heard by a jury.

    But will the reforms make a difference?

    Presenter: Dr Joelle Grogan
    Producers: Ravi Naik and Charlotte Rowles
    Editor: Tom Bigwood

    Contributors:
    Sarah Sackman KC, courts and legal services minister
    Chris Kinch, KC, who until 2024 was a senior judge at Woolwich Crown Court in south London
    David Ford, national chair of the Magistrates Association

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    28 minutes

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCTheLawShow #DavidLammy #SingleJusticeProcedure

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s4hz

  12. 2026-03-10 2100-2130

    The plans to limit jury trials in England and Wales
    The Law Show

    The courts system in England and Wales is in an unprecedented crisis. The backlog has reached 80,000 cases, and some defendants are being told they won't be able to have a criminal trial until 2030.

    The government has introduced the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which contains a raft of measures to tackle delays and bring down the backlog; but the Justice Secretary David Lammy has admitted that things are going to get even worse before they get better.

    The most controversial change is a plan to restrict the number of jury trials. The right to judgement by your peers has existed for more than 800 years, but for some offences, that's going to end.

    Defendants will lose the right to choose between a jury trial or a magistrate's hearing in so-called "either-way" offences.

    Magistrates will get increased sentencing powers - up from 12 months to 18 months.

    More serious criminal cases, with likely sentences of up to three years will now be heard by a single judge - and no jury.

    And only the most serious "indictable" offences, like murder, manslaughter and rape and any other offence with a sentence of longer than three years will be heard by a jury.

    But will the reforms make a difference?

    Presenter: Dr Joelle Grogan
    Producers: Ravi Naik and Charlotte Rowles
    Editor: Tom Bigwood

    Contributors:
    Sarah Sackman KC, courts and legal services minister
    Chris Kinch, KC, who until 2024 was a senior judge at Woolwich Crown Court in south London
    David Ford, national chair of the Magistrates Association

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
    Lower quality (64kbps)

    Available now

    28 minutes

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCTheLawShow #DavidLammy #SingleJusticeProcedure

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s4hz

  13. 2026-03-10 2100-2130

    The plans to limit jury trials in England and Wales
    The Law Show

    The courts system in England and Wales is in an unprecedented crisis. The backlog has reached 80,000 cases, and some defendants are being told they won't be able to have a criminal trial until 2030.

    The government has introduced the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which contains a raft of measures to tackle delays and bring down the backlog; but the Justice Secretary David Lammy has admitted that things are going to get even worse before they get better.

    The most controversial change is a plan to restrict the number of jury trials. The right to judgement by your peers has existed for more than 800 years, but for some offences, that's going to end.

    Defendants will lose the right to choose between a jury trial or a magistrate's hearing in so-called "either-way" offences.

    Magistrates will get increased sentencing powers - up from 12 months to 18 months.

    More serious criminal cases, with likely sentences of up to three years will now be heard by a single judge - and no jury.

    And only the most serious "indictable" offences, like murder, manslaughter and rape and any other offence with a sentence of longer than three years will be heard by a jury.

    But will the reforms make a difference?

    Presenter: Dr Joelle Grogan
    Producers: Ravi Naik and Charlotte Rowles
    Editor: Tom Bigwood

    Contributors:
    Sarah Sackman KC, courts and legal services minister
    Chris Kinch, KC, who until 2024 was a senior judge at Woolwich Crown Court in south London
    David Ford, national chair of the Magistrates Association

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
    Lower quality (64kbps)

    Available now

    28 minutes

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCTheLawShow #DavidLammy #SingleJusticeProcedure

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s4hz

  14. 2026-03-10 2100-2130

    The plans to limit jury trials in England and Wales
    The Law Show

    The courts system in England and Wales is in an unprecedented crisis. The backlog has reached 80,000 cases, and some defendants are being told they won't be able to have a criminal trial until 2030.

    The government has introduced the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which contains a raft of measures to tackle delays and bring down the backlog; but the Justice Secretary David Lammy has admitted that things are going to get even worse before they get better.

    The most controversial change is a plan to restrict the number of jury trials. The right to judgement by your peers has existed for more than 800 years, but for some offences, that's going to end.

    Defendants will lose the right to choose between a jury trial or a magistrate's hearing in so-called "either-way" offences.

    Magistrates will get increased sentencing powers - up from 12 months to 18 months.

    More serious criminal cases, with likely sentences of up to three years will now be heard by a single judge - and no jury.

    And only the most serious "indictable" offences, like murder, manslaughter and rape and any other offence with a sentence of longer than three years will be heard by a jury.

    But will the reforms make a difference?

    Presenter: Dr Joelle Grogan
    Producers: Ravi Naik and Charlotte Rowles
    Editor: Tom Bigwood

    Contributors:
    Sarah Sackman KC, courts and legal services minister
    Chris Kinch, KC, who until 2024 was a senior judge at Woolwich Crown Court in south London
    David Ford, national chair of the Magistrates Association

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
    Lower quality (64kbps)

    Available now

    28 minutes

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCTheLawShow #DavidLammy #SingleJusticeProcedure

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s4hz

  15. 2026-03-10 2100-2130

    The plans to limit jury trials in England and Wales
    The Law Show

    The courts system in England and Wales is in an unprecedented crisis. The backlog has reached 80,000 cases, and some defendants are being told they won't be able to have a criminal trial until 2030.

    The government has introduced the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which contains a raft of measures to tackle delays and bring down the backlog; but the Justice Secretary David Lammy has admitted that things are going to get even worse before they get better.

    The most controversial change is a plan to restrict the number of jury trials. The right to judgement by your peers has existed for more than 800 years, but for some offences, that's going to end.

    Defendants will lose the right to choose between a jury trial or a magistrate's hearing in so-called "either-way" offences.

    Magistrates will get increased sentencing powers - up from 12 months to 18 months.

    More serious criminal cases, with likely sentences of up to three years will now be heard by a single judge - and no jury.

    And only the most serious "indictable" offences, like murder, manslaughter and rape and any other offence with a sentence of longer than three years will be heard by a jury.

    But will the reforms make a difference?

    Presenter: Dr Joelle Grogan
    Producers: Ravi Naik and Charlotte Rowles
    Editor: Tom Bigwood

    Contributors:
    Sarah Sackman KC, courts and legal services minister
    Chris Kinch, KC, who until 2024 was a senior judge at Woolwich Crown Court in south London
    David Ford, national chair of the Magistrates Association

    Show less
    Download
    Choose your file
    Higher quality (128kbps)
    Lower quality (64kbps)

    Available now

    28 minutes

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCTheLawShow #DavidLammy #SingleJusticeProcedure

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002s4hz

  16. (... the_WORST_episode_of_this_series_on_BBC_Radio4 ...)  

    Café Hope -- Change Please

    #BBCRadio4 #BBCCafeHope

    Cemal Ezel, from Change Please, tells Rachel Burden how they help address homelessness by selling coffee. The social enterprise trains homeless people for employment through the sale of coffee, offering them a living wage, housing and therapy support.

    Café Hope is our virtual Radio 4 coffee shop, where guests pop in for a brew and a chat to tell us what they're doing to make things better in big and small ways. Think of us as sitting in your local café, cooking up plans, hearing the gossip and celebrating the people making the world a better place.

    We're all about trying to make change. It might be a transformational project that helps an entire community or it might be about trying to make one life a little easier. And the key here is in the trying. Not everything works, and there are struggles along the way. But it's always worth a go.

    You can contact us on [email protected]

    Presenter: Rachel Burden
    Series Producer: Uma Doraiswamy
    Sound Design: Nicky Edwards
    Editor: Clare Fordham

    (QuangoNote: The interviewee advocates for #PreEmploymentChecks (- and probably adhers to #WorkReady or #JobReady -) which is part of the fuck-knuckle jobnobbling strategy of Ian Duncan Smith, Tim Montgomerie and the neverending identity checks of our lame-ass security-intelligence community. Their approach is a right-wing capitalist one.)

    bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002q2qp