300 episodes

Global experts and decision makers discuss, debate and analyse a key news story.

The Real Story BBC World Service

    • Government
    • 4.4 • 187 Ratings

Global experts and decision makers discuss, debate and analyse a key news story.

    Should we be afraid of TikTok?

    Should we be afraid of TikTok?

    The US House of Representatives has passed a landmark bill that could see TikTok effectively banned. It would give the social media giant's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, six months to sell its controlling stake or the app would face blocks in the US. Supporters of the bill say the app’s links with China make it a national security risk. Opponents argue that tens of millions of Americans rely on the platform and that the real problem isn’t with TikTok, but with a lack of regulation of social media and technology giants in general. So, what should the United States do about TikTok? Celia Hatton is joined by a panel of expert guests.
    Jeremy Goldkorn - Editorial Fellow at the Asia Society's ChinaFile website, founding editor-in-chief of The China Project and cofounder of the Sinica Podcast.
    Lindsay P. Gorman - Head of Technology and Geopolitics Team at the transatlantic, non-partisan Alliance for Securing Democracy.
    Louise Matsakis - A freelance journalist covering technology and China. She writes ‘You May Also Like’, a newsletter about e-commerce and Chinese tech giants.

    Image: TikTok app logo. Reuters/Dado Ruvic

    • 50 min
    Can Haiti break free from its history?

    Can Haiti break free from its history?

    The Haitian government declared a 72-hour state of emergency on Sunday. It follows the storming at the weekend by gangs of two prisons, with some 3,700 inmates escaping. The gang leaders want the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, with one of them (Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue) saying there will be civil war if Mr Henry does not go. Mr Henry had travelled to Kenya to discuss the deployment of a UN-backed security mission in Haiti, but is now in Puerto Rico after his plane was denied permission to land in Haiti. Gangs are now estimated to control most of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
    Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas with a history of political instability, dictatorships and natural disasters. It became the world's first black-led republic and the first independent Caribbean state when it threw off French colonial control and slavery in the early 19th Century. But it was forced to pay crippling reparations to France, which demanded compensation for former slave owners. That "independence debt" was not paid off until 1947 with many Haitians saying that it has prevented the country from developing and moving forwards. So, how has Haiti’s history shaped its present? And can it break free from its past and, if so, how can it do so? Celia Hatton is joined by a panel of experts:
    Monique Clesca - A Haitian journalist, writer and advocate in Port Au Prince.
    Professor Marlene Daut - A Haitian American Professor of French and African American Studies at Yale University.
    Alex Dupuy - A Haitian born academic who has retired after a long career as Professor of Sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. He's authored many books on Haiti's history and development.
    Image: People run down a street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti escaping from gang violence. Credit: Johnson Sabin/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
    This programme has been edited since it was originally broadcast.

    • 49 min
    What's fuelling the war in Sudan?

    What's fuelling the war in Sudan?

    At the Munich Security Conference in February a senior UN official described the war in Sudan as “not a forgotten crisis, but a wholly ignored crisis”. And yet the impact of 10 months of fighting is huge - nearly eight million people have had to leave their homes, more than in any other current conflict.
    Just last week the UN pointed to multiple indiscriminate attacks by both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in densely-populated areas.
    So who is keeping the war going and why? Is it a conflict that will be fought to exhaustion or is there any hope of a negotiated settlement? And does the appointment of a new US Special Envoy for Sudan this week suggest that the world is ready to stop ignoring Sudan?
    Shaun Ley is joined by a panel of experts: Azza Aziz, a Sudanese anthropologist who was in Khartoum at the outbreak of the war and returned to London in January; Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation and a research professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in Massachusetts; Kholood Khair, a Sudanese political analyst and the founding director of Confluence Advisory, a "think-and-do" tank based in Khartoum. She left Sudan soon after the outbreak of the war and is now based in the UK.
    (Photo: A Sudanese woman, who fled the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, walks beside carts carrying her family belongings, 2 August, 2023. Credit: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

    • 47 min
    Getting ready for an older population

    Getting ready for an older population

    The population of the world has been rising for over 200 years but some time later this century it’s predicted to peak. Demographers don’t know exactly when that will happen but they do know that we are already experiencing a demographic transition. Fertility rates are falling world wide. Fertility in China and India is below replacement rate. In developed countries populations are ageing; since 2013, a quarter of Japan’s population has been over 65, and within the next five years Japan will be joined by Finland, Germany, Italy, and Portugal. It’s easy to see ageing as a problem. After all, how will working age people fund the pensions of so many old people? But could technology massively raise productivity? Could falling populations put less stress on the planet, and offer us a world with less competition and more leisure and space? And if an older population is a problem, how to solve it? Can we encourage people to have more children? Or should rich countries let in more people? Shaun Ley is joined by a panel of experts:
    Jack Goldstone - Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University in Virginia, in the United States.
    Elma Laguna - Associate Professor of Demography and Director of the Population Institute, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines, Diliman.
    Frank Swiaczny - Senior Researcher at the Federal Institute for Population Research in Germany and Executive Director of the German Society for Demography.
    Image: An elderly man holding a walking stick. Credit: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

    • 48 min
    Is Senegal’s democracy under attack?

    Is Senegal’s democracy under attack?

    President Macky Sall of Senegal is facing mounting pressure after the decision to postpone the scheduled 25 February presidential election to December. The opposition says the move is a “constitutional coup” but the president says more time is needed to resolve a dispute over who is eligible to stand as a presidential candidate after several opposition contenders were barred. Last week, three people were killed and hundreds arrested in protests against the delay of the election. Senegal has long been seen as one of the most stable democracies in West Africa. It is the only country in mainland West Africa that has never had a military coup. It has had three largely peaceful handovers of power and never delayed a presidential election. But is that about to change? And what will the consequences of any political, social and economic turmoil for a country with a young population? Shaun Ley is joined by a panel of experts:
    Borso Tall - Freelance journalist based in the Senegalese capital Dakar, recipient of the Chevening scholar with The University of Glasgow and member of The International Women's Media Foundation.
    Paul Melly - Consulting fellow for the international affairs think tank Chatham House and a journalist specialising on development, politics and business issues in francophone Africa.
    Aanu Adeoye - West Africa correspondent for the Financial Times.
    Also in the programme:
    Dr Ndongo Samba Sylla -An economist who served as an adviser in the president's office.
    Image: Senegalese demonstrators protest against the postponement of the Feb. 25 presidential election, in Dakar, Senegal February 9, 2024. Credit: Reuters/Zohra Bensemra

    • 49 min
    Do green policies and farmers have to clash?

    Do green policies and farmers have to clash?

    Europe has been swept by a wave of protests by farmers, many of whom blame environmental policies for increasing their hardship. In Germany, farmers are angry about the phasing out of tax breaks on agricultural diesel. A policy aimed at reducing pesticide use was one of many grievances fuelling demonstrations in France, Belgium and the Netherlands - prompting the EU to backtrack on the policy. But farmers are worried about more than just pesticide use. From measures to increase biodiversity and soil quality to increased competition from cheap imports, the agricultural sector across Europe - and the world - is feeling the strain. So, can farmers and the environment both prosper? If so, which policies will help encourage a green transition and who will pay for it? Shaun Ley is joined by a panel of expert guests.
    Natasha Foote - A journalist and podcaster focusing on European agriculture and farming policy
    Paula Andrés – Agriculture and food reporter for Politico Europe
    Julia Bognar - Head of land use and climate at The Institute for European Environmental Policy think tank
    Also featuring:
    Christiane Lambert – A pig farmer and President of the European farmers’ lobby COPA-COGECA
    Tom Vandenkendelaere - A Belgian member of the European Parliament for the Flemish Christian Democrat CD&V party / European People’s Party (EPP)
    Bas Eickhout - A Dutch member of the European Parliament for the Greens / European Free Alliance
    Producers: Zak Brophy and Paul Schuster
    Image: A placard on a tractor reads 'No farmers, no food' during a protest by farmers in downtown Barcelona, Spain, 07 February 2024 - Credit: Enric Fontcuberta/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

    • 48 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
187 Ratings

187 Ratings

thisisapseudo ,

Good -careful with interruptions mid sentence

Great podcast, goes in depth -although annoyed by the repeated interruptions of two guests in particular in the recent Syria episode

Crimebrook ,

Taiwan

Excellent people focused discussion from a Taiwanese perspective. Show has definitely improved with Shaun Ley joining show💯Miss his Dateline London programme and am glad he is able to bring his talents to the fore here 👍thank you

J Pilger ,

Arrogant manipulative and dishonest

That is the BBC
Scrutinizing everyone but themselves -

Enjoy And remember to leave a feedback!!!

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