A Point of View

BBC Radio 4
  • 4.5 (2)
  • PERSONAL JOURNALS
  • EVERY TWO WEEKS
A Point of View Podcast

A weekly reflection on a topical issue.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    Debating the American Future

    As America gears up for next week's debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Sarah Dunant looks at the seismic shift in sexual politics in the US since Trump debated with Hillary Clinton. 'Looming, threatening, even the word stalking was used' to describe that encounter, Sarah remembers. But when this presidential debate gets underway in the early hours of Wednesday morning UK time, Sarah thinks it will be a very different story. 'An encounter worth losing sleep for,' she reckons. Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter Bosher Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Tom Bigwood

    11 min

  2. 30 AUG

    I know what it is to crawl

    In the week that one of Britain's most famous Paralympians Tanni Grey-Thompson was forced to crawl off a train, Tom Shakespeare describes his encounters with crawling. 'Don't get me wrong,' Tom says, I am not against crawling.' His holidays, he says, involve a lot of crawling: in Egypt to visit the apartment of the poet Constantine Cavafy or in Italy to see the childhood home of the communist revolutionary, Antonio Gramsci. But in day to day life, Tom argues, 'crawling is no way for adults to go about their business.' Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter Bosher Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Tom Bigwood

    10 min

  3. 23 AUG

    The Power of Weird

    At a village fete in rural France, AL Kennedy finds herself among barrel organs, sleeping piglets and 'a guy in a flowing blue smock gliding about on an ancient motor bicycle, just because he could.' After US Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz turned the word 'weird' into 'the soundtrack of our summer,' Alison relishes how the concept is reclaiming its roots. Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter Bosher Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Tom Bigwood

    10 min

  4. 16 AUG

    Making the Grade

    David Goodhart says that with 40% of universities facing deficits and, he believes, too many graduates chasing too few graduate jobs, it's time for a rethink on universities. And he has a reassuring message for those who didn't make the grade in Thursday's A level results. Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Jonathan Glover Production coordinator: Sabine Schereck Editor: Tom Bigwood

    10 min

  5. 9 AUG

    On Imposter Syndrome

    Sara Wheeler on why sleeping in Captain Scott's bunk in the Antarctic got her thinking about imposter syndrome. 'It took me many years,' writes Sara, 'to realise that I had as much right to be in Captain Scott's hut as anyone else, because nobody owns the Antarctic, or the hut, or Scott's legacy." Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Rod Farquhar Production coordinator: Janet Staples Editor: Tom Bigwood

    11 min

  6. 2 AUG

    Change

    Will Self muses on change as he prepares for a stem cell transplant, an operation 'which will result in the greatest change in what has been a notably changeable life.' And he discusses the preparations he's making which he believes put him 'in pole position to race with this ...devilish adversary.' He concludes that the art of living is about recognizing that 'life is in continual flux - and our vacillating wills and changeable natures, psychic and physical alike, are just part of the cosmic churn - nothing in fact endures, but change itself.' Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter Bosher Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Tom Bigwood

    10 min

  7. 26 JUL

    Olympics Now and Then

    As the Olympics gets underway, Michael Morpurgo says we need to take care that the event doesn't stray too far from the ideals of the Olympics and the Paralympics. 'The announcement this year,' writes Michael, 'that athletes at the Olympics will, for the first time, be awarded prize money - $50,000 for each gold medal - sets a precedent in the Games' 128 year history.' But, he says, 'over the next two weeks, I should like to think that the Olympics will uphold the spirit that has sustained the Games for so long... that the glory is in the laurel wreath or the medal, that the heroism is in the triumphs and disasters.' Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter Bosher Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Tom Bigwood

    11 min

  8. 19 JUL

    Empire of Sweat

    Adam Gopnik muses on why he'll always love the steam baths in New York. 'My own pet answer,' Adam says, 'justified by intuition and half-heard rumours, is that it helps sleep to have a low internal body temperature. All that sweating lowers my own burning inner furnace and makes me more able to sleep.' This is, he admits, 'a perfectly sound scientific explanation that I have no intention of checking.' Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter Bosher Production coordinator: Liam Morrey Editor: Tom Bigwood

    11 min
See All (756)

Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

A weekly reflection on a topical issue.

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 4
  • Years Active
    2008 - 2024
  • Episodes
    756
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2024
  • Show Website
    A Point of View
  • Provider

    BBC Studios Distribution Limited has identified itself as a trader for this podcast and confirmed that this product or service complies with European Union law. Address 1 Television Centre 101 Wood Lane London London W12 7FA United Kingdom Phone Number +44 7590176301 Email greg.styger@bbc.com

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