GP Media: Recent Episodes
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There’s no sharper way to assess the state of life in the early 21st century than through a lens of “enshitification,” a term this week’s guest coined.
It’s described as the slow and steady worsening of each and every bit of our daily existence, and as Cory Doctorow has argued, particularly as it pertains to the work of technology companies that have captured our attention, our dollars, or both.
But some people have it worse than others. For instance, the incarcerated, on whom – as this week’s guest explores in his new novel – companies test and roll out strategies and technologies and a surveillance apparatus that is later used to exploit populations at large.
So, just how is life becoming “enshitified?” and how can we make things better?
On this 100th(!) episode of Open to Debate, David Moscrop talks with Cory Doctorow, best-selling science fiction author, activist, and journalist. His latest book, The Bezzle, is out now.
https://blubrry.com/electionyear/132101392/how-is-life-becoming-enshitified/
Released On: 07 Nov 2015Available for over a yearNewcastle writer David Almond investigates the story of a wild child who was said to roam the Yorkshire Dales near Crackpot Hall in the 1930s – and makes a surprising discovery. Crackpot Hall is an ancient, ruined farmhouse near the village of Keld, which lies on the crossroads of the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast Path in Swaledale. In its time, it has been a hunting lodge, an office for the local lead-mining industry and a family farm. The acclaimed children’s writer David Almond has long been intrigued by Crackpot Hall, and for decades has travelled west from his home near Newcastle to visit it. Recently, his curiosity was rekindled when he read about Alice, a four-year old child who was said to have been discovered roaming wild near Crackpot in the 1930s. Led by the fabled laughter of Alice, David set out to find the wild child again and hear her story. Prepared to engage his imagination as a writer if facts alone failed, David was amazed by what Crackpot could still reveal. Spoiler Alert: Alice was 4 years old when Ella Pontefract and Marie Hartley, the author and illustrator of a 1930s guide-book to Swaledale declared they had found her – “with a mocking, chuckling laugh” as she roamed alone with her dog and cats near Crackpot. Like many others, David believed Alice to be a figment of the two women’s imagination, so he set out to make a programme about how places create stories. He found Alice, now 88, living in a village near Carlisle, and as full of laughter as ever. With music arranged by the Leeds-based composer Emily Levy. Producer: Beaty Rubens.
Released On: 07 Nov 2015Available for over a yearNewcastle writer David Almond investigates the story of a wild child who was said to roam the Yorkshire Dales near Crackpot Hall in the 1930s – and makes a surprising discovery. Crackpot Hall is an ancient, ruined farmhouse near the village of Keld, which lies on the crossroads of the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast Path in Swaledale. In its time, it has been a hunting lodge, an office for the local lead-mining industry and a family farm. The acclaimed children’s writer David Almond has long been intrigued by Crackpot Hall, and for decades has travelled west from his home near Newcastle to visit it. Recently, his curiosity was rekindled when he read about Alice, a four-year old child who was said to have been discovered roaming wild near Crackpot in the 1930s. Led by the fabled laughter of Alice, David set out to find the wild child again and hear her story. Prepared to engage his imagination as a writer if facts alone failed, David was amazed by what Crackpot could still reveal. Spoiler Alert: Alice was 4 years old when Ella Pontefract and Marie Hartley, the author and illustrator of a 1930s guide-book to Swaledale declared they had found her – “with a mocking, chuckling laugh” as she roamed alone with her dog and cats near Crackpot. Like many others, David believed Alice to be a figment of the two women’s imagination, so he set out to make a programme about how places create stories. He found Alice, now 88, living in a village near Carlisle, and as full of laughter as ever. With music arranged by the Leeds-based composer Emily Levy. Producer: Beaty Rubens.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b06nr54x
Released On: 02 Jan 2000Available for over a yearIn a special edition of the programme, James Naughtie and a group of readers talk to author Douglas Adams about his classic world-wide bestseller The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p00fpvbm
Released On: 03 Mar 2018Available for over a yearJohn Lloyd unearths the private papers of his friend and colleague Douglas Adams, and discovers more about the agonies he went through to write The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The papers, donated to St John’s College, Cambridge University, include note books, ramblings, rants about how hard it is to write, unfinished scenes and passages never included in Douglas Adams’ books. John Lloyd co-wrote the first series of Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, which started on BBC Radio 4 in 1978. He reveals that he and Douglas Adams had been commissioned to write the first novel together, following the success of the radio series, but Douglas decided to “give me the boot” and went on to write the books on his own. The novels have sold something in the region of 14 million copies. Other contributors include the original producer and now novelist Simon Brett; original cast members Simon Jones, Geoffrey McGivern and Mark Wing-Davey; and Paddy Kingsland of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. John also discusses how unpublished writings by Douglas Adams were used in a further series of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. A Bite Media production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in March 2018.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b09tbl2s
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the most influential work of Thorstein Veblen … Continue reading →
It’s Ok To Be Angry About Capitalism is the title of the new book by the US politician Bernie Sanders. In it he castigates a system that he argues is fuelled by uncontrolled greed and rigged against ordinary people. He tells Tom Sutcliffe it’s time to reject an economic order and a political system that continues to benefit the super-rich, and fight for a democracy that recognises that economic rights are human rights.The Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times Martin Wolf looks more closely at how and why the relationship between capitalism and democracy appears to be unravelling. But despite the failings – slowing growth, growing inequality and widespread popular disillusion – he argues in The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism that the relationship remains the best system for human flourishing.But the economist Kate Raworth believes that mainstream economics has had its day. Its failure to predict and prevent financial crises, while allowing extreme poverty, inequality and environment degradation to persist, means its contributing to, not solving, societal unrest. She argues that her theory – Doughnut Economics – offers a new model for a green, fair and thriving global economy.Producer: Katy Hickmanhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jkjn
When Kevin Burkart dove into a murky lake to find a lost wedding ring, he did it for nothing. But did he really gain something much more?In this episode of Sideways, Matthew Syed explores our preoccupation with rewards and their impacts.With author and lecturer Alfie Kohn, Headteacher of Barrowford Primary Rachel Tomlinson, Felicia Schaefer and Kevin Burkart.Presenter: Matthew SyedProducer: Leigh MeyerSeries Editor: Katherine GodfreySound Design and Mix by Naomi ClarkeA Novel production for BBC Radio 4
Released On: 15 Oct 2022 Available for 23 days
Get comfortable, let go of the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new sound-filled podcast series, designed to help you drift off, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven sleep technique and takes a deep dive through some incredible sleep-related bodily mechanisms. The light of the morning can be a powerful ally when it comes to the evening and falling asleep. Also, special eye sensors that have nothing to do with vision, a master timekeeper in the brain that’s smaller than a grain of rice, and the hormone of night. Guest: Dr Christine Blume, psychologist and sleep researcher at the Centre for Chronobiology in Basel, Switzerland. Producer, sound design and mixing: Richard Ward Assistant Producer: Gulnar Mimaroglu Editor: Zoe Heron Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso) A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4.
Released On: 15 Oct 2022 Available for 23 days
Get comfortable, let go of the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new sound-filled podcast series, designed to help you drift off, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven sleep technique and takes a deep dive through some incredible sleep-related bodily mechanisms. The light of the morning can be a powerful ally when it comes to the evening and falling asleep. Also, special eye sensors that have nothing to do with vision, a master timekeeper in the brain that’s smaller than a grain of rice, and the hormone of night. Guest: Dr Christine Blume, psychologist and sleep researcher at the Centre for Chronobiology in Basel, Switzerland. Producer, sound design and mixing: Richard Ward Assistant Producer: Gulnar Mimaroglu Editor: Zoe Heron Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso) A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4.
Released On: 15 Oct 2022 Available for 23 days
Get comfortable, let go of the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new sound-filled podcast series, designed to help you drift off, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven sleep technique and takes a deep dive through some incredible sleep-related bodily mechanisms. The light of the morning can be a powerful ally when it comes to the evening and falling asleep. Also, special eye sensors that have nothing to do with vision, a master timekeeper in the brain that’s smaller than a grain of rice, and the hormone of night. Guest: Dr Christine Blume, psychologist and sleep researcher at the Centre for Chronobiology in Basel, Switzerland. Producer, sound design and mixing: Richard Ward Assistant Producer: Gulnar Mimaroglu Editor: Zoe Heron Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso) A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4.
Released On: 15 Oct 2022 Available for 23 days
Get comfortable, let go of the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new sound-filled podcast series, designed to help you drift off, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven sleep technique and takes a deep dive through some incredible sleep-related bodily mechanisms. The light of the morning can be a powerful ally when it comes to the evening and falling asleep. Also, special eye sensors that have nothing to do with vision, a master timekeeper in the brain that’s smaller than a grain of rice, and the hormone of night. Guest: Dr Christine Blume, psychologist and sleep researcher at the Centre for Chronobiology in Basel, Switzerland. Producer, sound design and mixing: Richard Ward Assistant Producer: Gulnar Mimaroglu Editor: Zoe Heron Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso) A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4.
Released On: 15 Oct 2022 Available for 22 days
Get comfortable, let go of the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new sound-filled podcast series, designed to help you drift off, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven sleep technique and takes a deep dive through some incredible sleep-related bodily mechanisms.
It’s something that the great teachers of meditation and yoga have known about and used for millennia, but science has only really just caught up with: slowing the breath. Via a tiny cluster of cells in the brain, this simple act can send us into a more relaxing, peaceful state and towards sleep.
Guest: Ian Roberston, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Trinity College, Dublin.
Producer, sound design and mixing: Richard Ward Assistant Producer: Gulnar Mimaroglu Editor: Zoe Heron Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso) A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4.
GPaul, communard of Acorn, instigating organizer of Point A DC, reports on his travels through Europe and the many wonderous urban income sharing egalitarian communes he found there. The talk begins with an introduction to and brief overview of the communes of the US based Federation of Egalitarian Communities and ends with a few questions to ponder.
Useful links: FEC: thefec.org/ Svanholm: www.svanholm.dk Kommuja: www.kommuja.de/ Las Indias: english.lasindias.com/
Cheatsheet for this talk: tinyurl.com/mbva2we
Lifelong environmentalist Annie Proulx brings passion, vitality and rigour to a history of our wetlands. Exploring their history alongside human interactions with these liminal places, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Shipping News' and 'Brokeback Mountain' makes an elegant and compelling contribution to the debate around the environmental crisis.
American mangrove swamps give Proulx the opportunity to consider conservation and repair.
Written by Annie Proulx Read by Lorelei King Abridged by Patricia Cumper Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Lifelong environmentalist Annie Proulx brings passion, vitality and rigour to a history of our wetlands. Exploring their history alongside human interactions with these liminal places, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Shipping News' and 'Brokeback Mountain' makes an elegant and compelling contribution to the debate around the environmental crisis.
19th century America flourishes at the expense of the country's great swathes of swampland.
Written by Annie Proulx Read by Lorelei King Abridged by Patricia Cumper Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Lifelong environmentalist Annie Proulx brings passion, vitality and rigour to a history of our wetlands. Exploring their history alongside human interactions with these liminal places, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Shipping News' and 'Brokeback Mountain' makes an elegant and compelling contribution to the debate around the environmental crisis.
Poetry, ritual and literature are invoked as Proulx turns her attention to bogland.
Written by Annie Proulx Read by Lorelei King Abridged by Patricia Cumper Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Lifelong environmentalist Annie Proulx brings passion, vitality and rigour to a history of our wetlands. Exploring their history alongside human interactions with these liminal places, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Shipping News' and 'Brokeback Mountain' makes an elegant and compelling contribution to the debate around the environmental crisis.
Politics, commerce and climate change collide as Proulx looks at the English Fens.
Written by Annie Proulx Read by Lorelei King Abridged by Patricia Cumper Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Lifelong environmentalist Annie Proulx brings passion, vitality and rigour to a history of our wetlands. Exploring their history alongside human interactions with these liminal places, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Shipping News' and 'Brokeback Mountain' makes an elegant and compelling contribution to the debate around the climate crisis.
Written by Annie Proulx Read by Lorelei King Abridged by Patricia Cumper Producer: Eilidh McCreadie
Released On: 09 Sep 2022 Available for over a year
Helen Lewis presents a new series of encounters with innovative thinkers. In this episode, she meets Danielle Citron, a professor of law at the University of Virginia, and the author of The Fight for Privacy. The release into the public domain of digital images such as nude photographs, and private information points gathered online without the user's awareness, can cause their subjects serious trauma. But, Citron argues, the radical technological developments of the last few years have left the law behind. She tells Helen why she contends that it is now vital - as in the US, so in the UK - to establish a new right to 'intimate privacy'. Producer: Phil Tinline
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001bs4z
Something Understood - Henry David Thoreau
Mark Tully assesses Henry David Thoreau's influence, 150 years after his death. Advocate of the simple life, champion of emancipation, and fervent opponent of government interference in the lives of citizens, Thoreau's 19th century ideals have inspired civil rights leaders from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King.
Mark Tully looks not just at Thoreau's famous writings expressing his remarkable affinity with the American outdoors, but at his political activism too, and the legacy it has left around the world. From tax avoidance, to his opposition to slavery, Thoreau was an ardent supporter of the ordinary person. His passionate ideas inspired thinkers and humanitarians, as well as generations of writers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman and WB Yeats.
Musicians and composers too, were moved to pay tribute to Thoreau and the programme includes works by such diverse fans as Charles Ives and Pink Floyd.
In asking what we can learn today from the writer of the American classic Walden, Mark Tully reassesses Thoreau's message for the 21st century.
Producer: Adam Fowler A Unique production for BBC Radio 4.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h2ch1
Winifred wants to know how you're dealing with the drive towards digital payments? She's speaking to Jenny Ross from Which? The consumer group is calling for a halt to what they call the country's 'cash crisis' Their analysis shows that since 2015 almost 4700 bank branches have closed with more than 200 scheduled to shut by the end of the year. It also found that more than 12K free to use ATMs have stopped operating. Which? believes legislation needs to be included in next month's Queen's Speech to protect the elderly, vulnerable and those living in isolated areas who are less likely to have access to cash.
There's been a big switch towards digital payments since the pandemic. In 2020 more than 13 million people used cash only once a month or not at all, almost double the previous year. Does it make your life more convenient to get out your contactless or are you alarmed at the rise of things like cashless cafes or parking app? What about when it comes to budgeting? Do you prefer paying via banking app or getting your money out and seeing exactly how much you have to spend? Maybe you can't remember the last time you used cash or you've had to turn down a service because you couldn't use physical money. if you own a business, does it make your life easier if you go cashless? Tell us your story and your experience.
Email us and leave your contact number: youandyours@bbc.co.uk
Or after 11 on Tuesday call us on 03700 100 444
PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON PRODUCER:CATHERINE MURRAY
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016psp