Thursday 7th August

15:00: Open Country - WWII Secrets of The Peak District

Good programme about what happened in the North during WWII. Some interesting stories.

Matt Baker discovers the Second World War secrets of the Peak District.

Nestled away in the Peak District are two Second World War 'training grounds'. The first is the Derwent Valley, with the wide open dam that heard the roar of Lancaster bombers as they prepared for the historic Dambuster raids.

The second is the lesser known Burbage Valley, where in secrecy, British and Canadian troops were trained for war, leaving their battle scars across the landscape. Burbage Valley is also home to one of the first bomber decoys in the country. In an extroadinary bid to distract German bombers, a mini-Sheffield was built. This hoax site comprised an elaborate arrangement of lights and fires contained in baskets and trenches that were designed to replicate Sheffield's railway marshalling yards as seen from the air at night. This 'model city' was set into action by brave Sheffield men who had to run straight into the decoy to activate it, knowing full well that if they were successful it could mean that they were running to their own graves.

As well as the above, found this in a forum discussion via a Google search.

...in one of Alfred Prices’s books he recounts an archetypical tale of a dummy RAF airbase complete with fake runways, buildings and fake hardboard aircraft. One day a German Ju88 dropped a bomb smack in the centre of the fake runway, it didn’t explode. When the “bomb” was examined it was found to be (a) made of wood and (b) contain a note that said “Bang!”

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

20:00: The Report

More on Swine Flu. The Report looks into vaccination for the disease, what's happening in terms of developing countries, and if people would take it anyway.

Simon Cox investigates the next phase in the swine flu story: the mass vaccination programme. Will the majority of people be persuaded to be vaccinated voluntarily and will countries that need the vaccine be able to get it?

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

23:00: Bigipedia

Mentioned this before, funny audio take off of Wikipedia. Episode 3.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

Friday 8th August

11:00: Can't Connect, Won't Connect

What happens if you can't or won't join the 'digital revolution'? Bit of an alien idea with the way I'm used to it.

A so-called 'digital revolution' is promised to transform public and private life, but many millions are still not online in Britain, saying that they don't need or want to join this revolution. Chris Bowlby discovers who the digital 'refuseniks' are, and explores how far their resistance can go. And he asks the government's new digital inclusion champion, Martha Lane Fox, what will happen if attitudes do not change.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

13:30: More or Less

God I love this. Put a bunch of statistics nerds together and let them loose. In this one the absolute stand out is the team looking at the figures quoted in this YouTube video, entitled 'Muslim Demographics'. Going through the stats in there, checking them all at source, and then establishing that they're pretty much all poor interpretations of the data (looking at it kindly, and not assuming they've deliberately mis-interpreted them).

Tim Harford investigates statistics which some claim reveal the 'Islamification' of Europe and checks whether the Home Office has been doing its sums properly. Do its claims about the DNA Database really add up?

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

18:30: The Now Show.

Standard. Topical comedy.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

Saturday 8th August

11:30: From Our Own Correspondent

This week's programme features...:

Including communities stranded on either side of the hostile border between Georgia and South Ossetia, bull running on a budget in Spain, and a look inside the private playground of Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

20:00: Archive on 4: Under The Red Duster

Programme's presented by John Prescott, and it's all about the history Merchant Navy through wartime, before and after.

Via archive, poetry and new interviews, John also tells the little-known story of the British Merchant Navy. The tale starts from when its ships once carried half of all the cargo that moved around the world and its role in wartime, through to its near-collapse in the 1970s and 80s and the changes in law in recent years that have helped rebuild the fleet.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

Sunday 9th August

14:45: The Tribes of Science: The Computer Programmers

First programme in what could be a very interesting series. Peter Curran's looking into various scientific disciplines, in this one he's looking at Computer Programmers - specifically the people who're behind Second Life.

Series in which Peter Curran visits members of the many and varied disciplines of science, from astronomy to zoology, to explore their habitat, customs, rituals and beliefs. Beneath the typecast and somewhat nerdy image of scientists, Peter finds passion, humour and, on occasion, an enviable sense of community.

Peter starts off by visiting computer programmers. Do the makers of the virtual world, Second Life, spend more time in their virtual world than in the real one? Are they architects, engineers or computer geeks, or actually highly competent people?

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

17:00: Rewriting The Psychiatrist's Bible

Investigating the way that links between panels that publish standard texts in psychiatry, and the companies that manufacture them could be interpreted.

Matthew Hill investigates the links between psychiatrists and the pharmaceutical industry. Should there be increased transparency over top psychiatrists' links to the industry?

He looks at the influence of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM), produced by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which has been heavily criticised in the past for a lack of transparency between the panel members and pharmaceutical companies. Matthew also examines the 'Chinese menu' aspect of the DSM's diagnostic criteria and the sheer number of conditions it includes. Matthew investigates whether the APA's transparency policy goes far enough and if we are medicalising real conditions or just traits of human personality.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

21:30: In Business: Hell For Leather

Looking at Timpson's cobblers, and how they run the family business. Mainly by taking good ideas from the people at the front line.

How do you manage a traditional family shoe repair firm with 550 outlets all over the country? John Timpson does it by dropping in on them all the time to find out what's going on, day by day. He calls it 'upside-down management'. Peter Day went along for the ride.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

Going through the day, these are worth listening to in the next week.

09:00 - Inside The Ethics Committee

Interesting strand anyway, but a very compelling example relating to the ethical considerations surrounding a kidney transplant.

Joan Bakewell discusses the thorny ethical issues in the real life case of a young woman called Charlotte who needs a kidney transplant.

Since her kidneys failed she has to spend every night attached to a dialysis machine. Dialysis is by no means perfect and her long term outlook is bleak. Doctors do not expect her to be alive in a decade. Her only hope is a kidney transplant from a living donor.

But Charlotte is an extremely high risk patient. She suffers from a severe form of antiphospholipid syndrome or 'sticky blood'. There is a high chance that a transplanted organ will fail if it is transplanted into Charlotte, and she could even lose her life.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

11:00 - Crossing Continents: Pakistan

What're the dangers of young Pakistanis becoming radicalised.

16:30 - Material World

Scientific discussion including Swine Flu, Tamiflu, vaccines and how they both work. Also articles relating to the 40th anniversary of the moon landings, the 400th anniversary of the moon map, and how we're able to measure the distance from the earth to the moon.

Among the cargo Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took to the Moon on Apollo 11 in 1969 was an array of mirrors that are still, 40 years on, at the forefront of science. By bouncing laser beams of light off the mirrors, scientists are now able to measure the Moon's position to an accuracy of one millimetre. They have already shown that the Moon is receding at a speed of nearly four centimetres every year. But with these more precise measurements they can even test whether Einstein got his theory of gravity absolutely right.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

18:30 - Shappi Talk

For some reason I'd convinced myself I wouldn't like this, so I haven't listened to it before episode 3. Turns out it's actually quite good stand up.

Comedy series in which Shappi Khorsandi examines what it is like growing up in multi-cultural families.

Shappi discusses religion with Bengali comic Paul Sinha and chats to former mayor of London Ken Livingstone.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

20:00 - The Report: Anatomy Of An Asylum Housing Row

How does evidence get swallowed up by prejudice? Interesting look into a specific couple of examples in Birmingham where the facts haven't stopped people coming to unsupported conclusions. There's a BBC News article around it here. Key Phrase? "It's common knowledge".

British homes for British people: planned changes to the way social housing is allocated would give greater priority to those waiting the longest. Phil Kemp investigates whether this represents a fairer system or 'dog whistle' politics.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

20:30 - In Business: Let's Start A Bank

Peter Day looks into the various alternatives to the mainstream banks. Person to person lending, corporations expanding to banking, post banks, and more.

Now might be a very good time to start a brand new bank, unencumbered by the toxic loans and the government bailouts of most of the old ones. Peter Day finds out from the experts how to start a bank as well as how not to do it.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

23:00 - Bigipedia

This shouldn't work. It's a satire of Wikipedia on the radio. Oddly though, it does.

The omniscient friend you know from your computer and laser watch takes over Radio 4 for 30 minutes in a unique experiment in broadwebcasting.

BBC page.

iPlayer link.

In May 2009, a media cyclone hit Westminster. From duck houses to phantom mortgages, stories of MPs' expense claims dominated the news agenda for weeks. The reputation and integrity of parliamentarians - and indeed our system of democracy - was called into question as never before. Faced with unprecedented public anger, most MPs retreated away from the spotlight, aware that public sympathy for their cause, however just, was going to be hard to come by.

Becky Milligan reports from inside Parliament about what it was like being an MP during this period, caught in the eye of the expenses hurricane. Speaking candidly, MPs reveal the impact the crisis has had on their political and domestic lives. From disillusionment to death threats, the human fallout has been severe.

Programme link.

iPlayer link.