‘Crisis at Ch4’, ‘The Media and the Covid Enquiry’ and ‘How the Government Captured the BBC’ / with Ruth Wishart

At the end of the show a question from John Daly. Recommendations: Stuart  Riley - Netflix Scott’s Tom Ripley is a grifter scraping by in early ’60s New York. He’s hired by a wealthy industrialist to travel to Italy to try to convince the man’s dilettante son, Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), to return home. Accepting the job is Tom’s first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud, and murder.   https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81678765   Eamonn imagine... Pet Shop Boys: Then and Now - BBC Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are the most successful duo in UK Music history. They have sold more than 50 million records, produced over 40 Top 40 singles, four UK number ones, performed in several world tours, and they are still making new music together. Their songs have often commented on Britain and the world around them with wit, sensitivity and intelligence driving the stories they want to share through some of the most memorable synth-pop music ever created. For their tours they have worked with the most innovative theatre personnel to create original and thrilling performances. Now for the first time they have allowed backstage access as imagine… accompanies them on their global Dreamworld tour, filming rehearsals in London and backstage in Helsinki. Contributors include fellow musicians Brandon Flowers, Jake Shears, Olly Alexander, Marc Almond; music journalist Miranda Sawyer, and creative collaborators Stuart Price, James Ford, Es Devlin, Javier De Frutos, Tom Scutt and Mark Farrow. https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2024/16/imagine-pet-shop-boys  David The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of Gaza and the Occupied Territories - Ilan Pappé  A powerful, groundbreaking history of the Occupied Territories from one of Israel's most influential historians From the author of the bestselling study of the 1948 War of Independence comes an incisive look at the Occupied Territories, picking up the story where The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine left off. In this comprehensive exploration of one of the world’s most prolonged and tragic conflicts, Pappe uses recently declassified archival material to analyse the motivations and strategies of the generals and politicians – and the decision-making process itself – that laid the foundation of the occupation. From a survey of the legal and bureaucratic infrastructures that were put in place to control the population of over one million Palestinians, to the security mechanisms that vigorously enforced that control, Pappe paints a picture of what is to all intents and purposes the world’s largest ‘open prison’. https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-biggest-prison-on-earth/ilan-pappe/9781786073419  Strangers in the House - Raja Shehadeh  Raja Shehadeh was born into a successful Palestinian family with a beautiful house overlooking the Mediterranean. When the state of Israel was formed in 1948 the family were driven out to the provincial town of Ramallah. There Shehadeh grew up in the shadow of his father, a leading civil rights lawyer. He vowed not to become involved in politics or law but inevitably did so and became an important activist himself. In 1985 his father was stabbed to death. The Israeli police failed to investigate the murder properly and Shehadeh, by then a lawyer, set about solving the crime that destroyed his family. In Strangers in the House, Shehadeh recounts his troubled and complex relationship with his father and his experience of exile - of being a stranger in his own land. It is a remarkable memoir that combines the personal and political to devastating effect. https://www.waterstones.com/book/strangers-in-the-house/raja-shehadeh/9781846682506 

After two weeks with the brilliant Catriona Stewart and Shona Craven, the Boys are Back In Town! At the end of the show a question from J.P. Gallacher Recommendations: Stuart: Bobby Fischer Goes to War: The most famous chess match of all time - Dave Edmonds Bobby Fischer Goes to War by David Edmonds and John Eidinow details the occasion when Bobby Fischer met Boris Spassky in one of the most thrilling and politically charged chess matches of all time. For decades, the USSR had dominated world chess. Evidence, according to Moscow, of the superiority of the Soviet system. But in 1972 along came the American, Bobby Fischer: insolent, arrogant, abusive, vain, greedy, vulgar, bigoted, paranoid and obsessive - and apparently unstoppable. Against him was Boris Spassky: complex, sensitive, the most un-Soviet of champions. As the authors reveal, when Spassky began to lose, the KGB decided to step in. . . https://www.waterstones.com/book/bobby-fischer-goes-to-war/david-edmonds/john-eidinow/9780571214129  Eamonn: Scoop - Netflix Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatization gives an insider account of how the women of Newsnight secured Prince Andrew's infamous interview. https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81600418  The Boys in the Boat - MGM The Boys in the Boat is a sports drama based on the #1 New York Times bestselling non-fiction book written by Daniel James Brown. The film, directed by George Clooney, is about the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. This inspirational true story follows a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the world. https://www.mgm.com/movies/the-boys-in-the-boat  Paddy: Girls5eva - Netflix A one-hit wonder '90s girl group attempts a comeback while hilariously navigating family and relationships — plus the joys and pains of middle age. https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81630704  Round Britain Quiz - Radio 4 Radio's most fiendish quiz, with cryptic questions drawing on unpredictable fields of knowledge https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qxpr 

This week, with Stuart and Eamonn on holiday, we have a wee treat in store - a girl power double header with Talk Media favourites Catriona Stewart and Shona Craven. At the end of the show a listener question suggested by Brian Brussels. Recommendations: Shona Invisible Child - Book - Andrea Elliot Based on nearly a decade of reporting, Invisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani Coates, a child with an imagination as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn homeless shelter. Born at the turn of a new century, Dasani is named for the bottled water that comes to symbolise Brooklyn's gentrification and the shared aspirations of a divided city. As Dasani moves with her family from shelter to shelter, this story traces the passage of Dasani's ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north. Dasani comes of age as New York City's homeless crisis is exploding. In the shadows of this new Gilded Age, Dasani leads her seven siblings through a thicket of problems: hunger, parental drug addiction, violence, housing instability, segregated schools and the constant monitoring of the child-protection system. When, at age thirteen, Dasani enrolls at a boarding school in Pennsylvania, her loyalties are tested like never before. Ultimately, she faces an impossible question: What if leaving poverty means abandoning the family you love? By turns heartbreaking and revelatory, provocative and inspiring, Invisible Child tells an astonishing story about the power of resilience, the importance of family and the cost of inequality. https://www.waterstones.com/book/invisible-child/andrea-elliott/9781529156102 Catriona: American Fiction - Film - Cord Jefferson AMERICAN FICTION is Cord Jefferson's hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain. https://www.mgm.com/movies/american-fiction Glasgow School of Art fire - Features - The Herald Almost a decade has passed since the unique and world-renowned Mackintosh Building at Glasgow School of Art was badly damaged in a fire as final year students prepared for their degree show.  Four years later, the category A-listed landmark - widely regarded as Charles Rennie Mackintosh's masterpiece - suffered a second, more significant fire as it was nearing the end of a £35 million restoration effort to repair the damage incurred during the 2014 fire. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24199850.complete-timeline-glasgow-school-art-fires/

This week, the boys are really happy to have the company of Chris Mullin - journalist responsible for exposing the false convictions of the Birmingham Six , author and ex-labour MP.  At the end a question from Jim Hunter. Recommendations: Chris Mullin Books: Error of Judgement, Didn’t You Used to be Chris Mullin, A Very British Coup, Secret State and Walk on Part and Many More… https://www.waterstones.com/author/chris-mullin/77471 Film: The Investigation Inside a Terrorist Bombing 1990 Martin Shaw John Hurt www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAvevePIp4c Stuart: Now Then: A Biography of Yorkshire by Rick Broadbent Written from the perspective of an exiled Yorkshireman this bestselling, award-winning author returns to his native county to discover and reveal its soul. We all know the tropes - Geoffrey Boycott incarnate, ferret-leggers and folk singers gambolling about Ilkley Moor without appropriate headgear - but why is Yorkshire God's Own County? Exiled Yorkshireman Rick Broadbent sets out to find out whether Yorkshireness is something that can be summed up and whether it even matters in a shrinking world. Along the way he meets rock stars, ramblers and rhubarb growers as he searches for answers and a decent cup of tea. Now Then is a biographical mosaic of a place that has been victimised and stereotyped since the days of William the Conqueror. Incorporating social history, memoir and author interviews, Now Then is not a hagiography. Broadbent visits the scenes of industrial neglect and forgotten tragedy, as well as examining the truth about well-known Yorkshire figures and institutions. Featuring Kes, the Sheffield Outrages and the most controversial poem ever written, as well as a heroic dog, a lost albatross and a stuffed crocodile, Now Then is an affectionate but unsparing look at a county, its inhabitants and their flinty vowels. This is a funny, wise and searching account of a place that claims to have given the world its first football club and England its last witch-burning. It does include cobbles, trumpets and stiff-necked, wilful obstinacy, but it is also about ordinary Yorkshire and its extraordinary lives. https://www.waterstones.com/book/now-then/rick-broadbent/9781838957360 Eamonn: Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism as I understand it. Thus wrote Orwell following his experiences as a militiaman in the Spanish Civil War, chronicled in Homage to Catalonia. Here he brings to bear all the force of his humanity, passion and clarity, describing with bitter intensity the bright hopes and cynical betrayals of that chaotic episode: the revolutionary euphoria of Barcelona, the courage of ordinary Spanish men and women he fought alongside, the terror and confusion of the front, his near-fatal bullet wound and the vicious treachery of his supposed allies. A firsthand account of the brutal conditions of the Spanish Civil War, George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia includes an introduction by Julian Symons in Penguin Modern Classics. https://www.waterstones.com/book/homage-to-catalonia/george-orwell/julian-symon/9780141183053 Chris Mullin: How they broke Britain by James O’Brien Something has gone really wrong in Britain. Bold and incisive as ever, James O'Brien reveals the shady network of influence that has created a broken Britain of strikes, shortages and scandals. He maps the web connecting dark think tanks to Downing Street, the journalists involved in selling it to the public and the media bosses pushing their own agendas. Over ten chapters, each focusing on a particular person complicit in the downfall, James O'Brien reveals how a select few have conspired - sometimes by incompetence, sometimes by design - to bring Britain to its knees. https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-they-broke-britain/james-obrien/9780753560341

At the end of the show a question from Stephen Cameron. Recommendations: Stuart “Rabbits” by Hugo Rifkind Tommo has just started at a new school – a training ground for the Scottish elite – when his friend Johnnie’s brother is found dead in a Land Rover on a Highland farm. There’s a shotgun at his feet. Nobody seems clear about what has happened, least of all Tommo. A child of the middle class, and with new independence thrust upon him, Tommo finds himself invited into fading crumbling houses. It’s the early nineties and this elite is struggling for relevance. Alienated from the mainstream, and running low on inherited wealth, his peers have retreated into snobbery and fatalism. Half-remembered traditions mix with decadence and an awful lot of small dead animals. And sometimes, not just animals. Awed by their poise and seduced by their hedonism, Tommo gradually becomes aware of sinister currents beneath the surface and a suppressed rage that threatens to explode into violence. https://birlinn.co.uk/product/rabbits-2/ Eamonn “Our Dirty War: The British State and the IRA” BBC Northern Ireland - Peter Taylor Stakeknife was a super-spy, a secret agent working for both the British and the IRA. He walked a precarious tightrope in an undercover war where exposure meant death. Operation Kenova, the long-running investigation into Stakeknife and the so-called dirty war, which is now coming to a close, brings Peter Taylor back to Northern Ireland. He revisits the chilling IRA interrogation tapes he initially uncovered and talks again to grieving families devasted by the loss of their loved ones to the IRA’s brutal interrogators and killers. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001x24x Sara www.salvo.scot   https://liberation.scot/   “Doun-Hauden: The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence” by Alfred Baird There is an increasingly urgent need to provide a better understanding of the phenomenon that is Scottish independence. Many commentators assume general policy matters remain key influencers of voter decisions on whether to support or reject Scottish independence. This may grossly underestimate and misunderstand the real complexity of the matter. Here, the author uses his academic expertise to ‘ground out’ an analytical framework which helps to identify, based on analysis of key environmental factors, the fundamental determinants of Scottish independence. It is argued that the framework, entitled ‘The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence’, permits far deeper analysis and understanding of the Scottish independence challenge. Collectively, the nine socio-political determinants which the author has ‘ground out’ of the data collected and analysed, help to explain and underpin the quest for, and outline the barriers opposing, Scottish independence. Each of the determinants is analysed using appropriate and relevant theories and supporting data. It is argued that this work represents a new, comprehensive, robust, and scientific way to approach the subject of Scottish independence. It is an approach that has arguably never been taken before in any of the growing mass of literature concerning the subject of Scotland’s independence, and hence represents an important and unique contribution offering new and provocative insights into Scotland’s quest for liberation. As such the book will be of interest to those interested in Scotland, in Scottish independence and to self-determination of peoples and nations more generally. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doun-Hauden-Socio-Political-Determinants-Scottish-Independence-ebook/dp/B086ZTRXM8

This week we have filled the boys with cups of tea, chocolate biscuits and sweeties, locked them in to the studio and set them on a two hander across this weeks' stories. At the end of the show a question from David Stark. Recommendations: Stuart 'Never Have I Ever' - Netflix After a traumatic year, an Indian-American teen just wants to spruce up her social status — but friends, family and feelings won’t make it easy on her. https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80179190  Eamonn Thatcher: A Very British Revolution - BBC iplayer The irresistible rise and dramatic downfall of Margaret Thatcher. Her inner circle reveal how a political outsider won power and dominated British life through a turbulent decade. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0005brf/thatcher-a-very-british-revolution  Miners' Strike 1984: The Battle for Britain - Ch4 Forty years after, through the eyes of those directly involved, this powerful series explores the bitterly divisive strike that wounded the soul of the nation. https://www.channel4.com/programmes/miners-strike-1984-the-battle-for-britain 

At the end of the show a question from Maggie Rankin Recommendations: Eamonn Greyhound Tom Hanks stars as a longtime Navy veteran who, as a first-time captain, is tasked with protecting a convoy of 37 ships carrying thousands of soldiers and much-needed supplies across the treacherous waters of the Atlantic during WWII. For five days with no air cover, the captain and his small force of three escort ships must make their way through an area of the ocean known as “the Black Pit,” battling Nazi U-boats while protecting their invaluable ships and soldiers. https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/greyhound/umc.cmc.o5z5ztufuu3uv8lx7m0jcega  Stephen The Empire Podcast How do empires rise? Why do they fall? And how have they shaped the world around us today? William Dalrymple and Anita Anand explore the stories, personalities and events of empire over the course of history. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/empire/id1639561921  Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar This thrilling biography of Stalin and his entourage during the terrifying decades of his supreme power transforms our understanding of Stalin as Soviet dictator, Marxist leader and Russian tsar. https://www.waterstones.com/book/stalin/simon-sebag-montefiore/9781474614818 Stuart Licking Hitler BBC, 1978. Kate Nelligan, Bill Paterson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbsR7S60hRA 

At the end of the show a question from Andy McNeil Our apologies for the sound issues we encountered on this episode. Recommendations Paddy Jon Stone There’s been a reassessment of the Blair/Brown government on the Left in recent years: you hear more about its achievements than you used you. that’s good, but it’s also important not to forget that it regularly did things a Tory government would be criticised for https://twitter.com/joncstone/status/1231543272943898626?lang=en Putin Vs The West- Norma Percy A new three-part series from award-winning film-maker Norma Percy tells the inside story of how, through a decade of clashes, the West has struggled to deal with Vladimir Putin as he tries to exert his power on the world stage. https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2023/05/putin-vs-the-west The Fifty Years War- Norma Percy The main decision-makers from Israel, the Arab states, Russia and the US tell the inside story of the Arab-Israel conflict. Made in 1998. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0glc7yp/the-fifty-years-war-israel-and-the-arabs Elusive Peace- Norma Percy As today’s headlines continue to be dominated by the latest news from Israel and Gaza, award-winning film-maker Norma Percy looks back on her 2005 series Elusive Peace, sharing memories of her encounters with key players like Bill Clinton, Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat as she explored the story behind the efforts to end the conflict made around the start of the new millennium. Norma also talks about her experiences securing rare interviews with those behind some of the suicide bombings that destroyed lives and also the chances of peace. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001swsb David The Jazz Loft Project- W Eugene Smith Smith’s Jazz Loft Project has been legendary in the worlds of art, photography, and music for more than forty years, but until the publication of this book, no one had seen his extraordinary photographs or read any of the firsthand accounts of those who were there and lived to tell the tales. https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-jazz-loft-project/w-eugene-smith/sam-stephenson/9780226824840 W. Eugene Smith’s Warning to the World The Magnum photographer made his last photo essay about industrial mercury poisoning in the Japanese city of Minamata, helping to bring justice and visibility to the victims https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/society-arts-culture/w-eugene-smith-minamata-warning-to-the-world/ Minimata- Film Revered photojournalist W. Eugene Smith (Johnny Depp) is coaxed out of retirement by a commission from Life magazine editor Robert Hayes (Bill Nighy). He is sent to Minamata, a Japanese city ravaged by mercury poisoning, the result of decades of gross corporate negligence. There, Smith documents the people living with Minamata Disease, the assignment quickly turning into a life-changing experience https://www.amazon.co.uk/Minamata-Johnny-Depp/dp/B099NBF5H3 Eamonn Slow Horses- Season 3 Spy drama following a dysfunctional team of M15 agent - and their obnoxious boss Jack Lamb - as they navigate the espionage world’s smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces. https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/slow-horses/umc.cmc.2szz3fdt71tl1ulnbp8utgq5o?ctx_brand=tvs.sbd.4000&mttn3pid=Google%20AdWords&mttnagencyid=a5e&mttncc=UK&mttnsiteid=143238&mttnsubad=OUK2019944_1-684757160536-c&mttnsubkw=136907710791__RTZ7DK1w_&mttnsubplmnt=_adext_

With Stuart off on his book tour (rock 'n roll), Eamonn is joined by Catriona Stewart and Simon Pia for a great discussion on the week's stories. This week we've included questions by John Nichol and Alex MacDonald. Recommendations: Eamonn The Long Way Up Best friends Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, reunite for Long Way Up, after more than a decade since their last motorbike adventure around the world. Covering 13,000 miles over 100 days through 16 border crossings and 13 countries, starting from the city of Ushuaia at the tip of South America, Ewan and Charley journey through the glorious and underexposed landscapes of South and Central America. Using cutting-edge technology on the back of their prototype electric Harley-Davidsons, the new series follows Ewan and Charley as they journey through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and up through Colombia, Central America, Mexico and the USA. Also joining them are their longtime collaborators, directors David Alexanian and Russ Malkin, following them in their electric Rivians. https://tv.apple.com/us/show/long-way-up/umc.cmc.1nv0tluok21c2f8549mdjqdnh  Simon Curb Your Enthusiasm Larry David stars as an over-the-top version of himself in this comedy series the shows how seemingly trivial details of day-to-day life can precipitate a catastrophic chain of events. https://www.nowtv.com/watch/curb-your-enthusiasm/iYEQZ2uDbPiuTXRbUUJCcA?DCMP=knc-google:nc_ents&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA8YyuBhBSEiwA5R3-E12wUhtETCYFiZ9J7czZ9lBujNDwaQzL5_xUjTqAFdk4VcjZB3-3MxoCXYwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds Catriona A Teen's fatal plunge in to the London Underworld After Zac Brettler mysteriously plummeted into the Thames, his grieving parents discovered that he’d been posing as an oligarch’s son. Would the police help them solve the puzzle of his death? https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/a-teens-fatal-plunge-into-the-london-underworld  Electoral Disfunction Beth Rigby, Jess Phillips and Ruth Davidson team up for a new political podcast from Sky News https://news.sky.com/story/electoral-dysfunction-beth-rigby-jess-phillips-and-ruth-davidson-team-up-for-a-new-political-podcast-from-sky-news-13065409 

With questions inspired by Mark Stephenson, Kevin Richey, John Daly, Michelle Shortt and Muriel Cockburn. At the end a question from Grant McLanaghan. Recommendations: Ruth A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America Richly sourced and highly readable . . . Sheds new light on how the 45th president tests the boundaries of the office while trying the patience and dignity of those who work for or with him. It is not just another Trump tell-all or third-party confessional - Guardian https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-very-stable-genius/carol-d-leonnig/philip-rucker/9781526609090  Stuart The New Highland Clearances Time and again local people, impacted by a series of issues surrounding transport, infrastructure and opportunities, have described the region as being in the midst of a 'New Highland Clearances'. Over the coming week we will examine those issues, feature local voices and ask if the viability and very futures of rural communities in Scotland are under threat. Here senior reporter at The Herald, Caroline Wilson, looks ahead to what we will cover. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24075771.new-highland-clearances-herald-series-starts-monday/ Eamonn The Irish Civil War THE IRISH CIVIL WAR tells the epic and often challenging story of the origins, conflict and legacy of the civil war that took place in Ireland in 1922 and 1923. Narrated by Brendan Gleeson https://www.pbsamerica.co.uk/series/the-irish-civil-war/ Brotherhood: The Inner Life of Monks The monks of Mount St Bernard Abbey, a community of 25 men, more than half of whom are over 80 years old, are opening the first Trappist brewery in the UK. For their historic, countercultural lifestyle to survive, the venture must succeed. In the meantime, as the monks reflect on spirituality, ageing and the end of life, the number of burials in the abbey graveyard continues to grow https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000tpzb/brotherhood-the-inner-life-of-monks