Analysis

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How Gay Became OK Jun 22, 2015

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Why have British attitudes towards homosexuality changed so far and so fast? Less than 50 years ago, sex between men was a criminal act. Now they can marry. It's not just the law that has changed: we have. Surveys suggest that public opinion about homosexuality has undergone a dramatic shift over the same period. Jo Fidgen asks what drives this kind of change in collective attitudes. Producer: Chloe Hadjimatheou.

Making Invisibles Visible Jun 15, 2015

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The UK is the world's second largest exporter of services - and has been for some time. The surplus generated by these "invisibles" - everything from banking to public relations to whizzy new phone apps - helps balance the country's stubbornly high deficit in "visibles" or things.

Yet politicians talk continually about the need to rebalance the economy away from services. Linda Yueh finds this puzzling. As with other advanced economies, services comprise a very large proportion of our output - around three-quarters of the economy - and yet we spend a great deal of time worrying about a far smaller and long declining part of it: manufacturing.

It is understandable to want to reduce our deficit in goods, says Linda. But while we try to do that, she argues, we should also try to understand more about the reasons for our success in services - and how to maintain and augment it. In this edition of "Analysis", she finds out why it is difficult to make invisibles visible and why it is important for our future growth and wealth that we do.

Along the way, she discovers how innovation in services is distinctive, why services firms invest heavily in their staff and why the popular enthusiasm for bashing bankers is misguided. We have to start loving the people we hate, Linda argues. And by making the invisible sector more visible, she says, we can make that process easier and more credible.

Producer: Simon Coates.

Is the Pope a Communist? Jun 08, 2015

Show notes

Pope Francis' critique of modern economics has made him an icon for the Left and prompted claims that he is a Communist. The leader of 1.2 billion Catholics has called capitalism, at best, a source of inequality and, at worst, a killer.

Edward Stourton examines the Pope's critique of the free market system and explores the origins of his thinking in Latin America and in Catholic Social Teaching. Is Pope Francis, as his critics claim, dragging his church to the Left and promoting a Marxist branch of liberation theology? And what does his insistence on seeing the world through the eyes of the poor mean for modern notions of charity?

We hear from the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols; corporate lawyer turned Catholic priest, Fr Augusto Zampini Davies; Chief Economist at The Heritage Foundation (a free market think tank based in Washington), Stephen Moore; Professor or Finance, Public Policy and Ethics at St Mary's University, Twickenham and Programme Director at the Institute for Economic Affairs, Philip Booth; Labour Peer Maurice Glasman; and Austen Ivereigh, author of The Great Reformer - Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope.

Producer: Helen Grady

Photo Credit: Tim Widden.

Ritual Sexual Abuse: The Anatomy of a Panic (Part 2) Jun 01, 2015

Show notes

David Aaronovitch of The Times traces the powerful intellectual influences behind what he sees as one of the most important cultural shifts of the past 40 years: from a society in which accusations of sexual abuse were wrongly ignored to one in which the falsely accused were crushed by a system where the mantra was "victims must be believed".

In the second of two programmes, Aaronovitch re-examines the role played by unproven psychoanalytic theories which, from the 1980s, spread from the world of therapists in Canada and the USA to social work, medicine and then to law enforcement in Britain.

The programme explores the parallels between the belief in ritual abuse with some of the claims being made today about VIP paedophile rings and group murder.

Some of the mistakes of the past - such as the false accusations made against parents in the Orkneys and Rochdale of satanic abuse - have been acknowledged. But, Aaronovitch argues, without a profound understanding of how and why such moral panics arise we are unlikely to avoid similar mistakes in the future. And when such mistakes recur we risk an over-reaction and a return to a culture of denial.

Producer: Hannah Barnes

Contributors: Rosie Waterhouse - Investigative Journalist; Head of MA in investigative journalism at City University

Debbie Nathan - Investigative Journalist and Author

Tim Tate - Television Producer and Director

Sue Hampson - Former counsellor, and now Director of Safe to Say Trauma Informed Training and Consultancy

Dr Sarah Nelson - Research Associate at the University of Edinburgh

Professor Richard McNally - Professor of Psychology at Harvard University

Anonymous case study.

Ritual Sexual Abuse: The Anatomy of a Panic (Part 1) May 25, 2015

Show notes

In the first of two programmes, Aaronovitch will examine the role played by unproven psychoanalytic theories which, from the 1980s, spread from the world of therapists in Canada and the USA to social work, medicine and then to law enforcement in Britain.

From the NSPCC to academia it was believed that children were being sexually abused in group Satanic rituals, which involved murder and animal sacrifice. The programme will explore how these bizarre ideas took hold, how they were related to mistaken psychotherapeutic practices, and how they resonate still.

The programme will look at the influences of four books which played a key role in influencing the intellectual and cultural climate. These are Sybil, Michelle Remembers, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and The Courage to Heal.

Producer: Hannah Barnes

Contributors: Rosie Waterhouse - Investigative Journalist; Head of MA in investigative journalism at City University

Debbie Nathan - Investigative Journalist and Author

Tim Tate - Television Producer and Director

Sue Hampson - Former counsellor, and now Director of Safe to Say Trauma Informed Training and Consultancy

Roma Hart - Former Multiple Personality Disorder patient, who has retracted claims she was abused in childhood.

The Edge Apr 14, 2015

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Is the West losing its military edge? Mark Urban investigates whether the US and its allies are losing superiority as they cut defence spending while rivals increase theirs.

Company vs Country Mar 30, 2015

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Michael Robinson asks what lies behind the boom in companies suing governments.

Two-Nation Britain Mar 23, 2015

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Jeremy Cliffe of The Economist asks if our real political divide is between those who feel comfortable in liberal, diverse, urban Britain and those who do not - the cosmopolitans vs the rest. He argues that the success of UKIP is one sign of this division. At one end are the cosmopolitans - comfortable in diverse Britain, urban and socially liberal. At the other end are the non-cosmopolitans, who tend to be older, white, and socially conservative, This new divide poses a serious problem for the established political parties. How can they appeal to one side without alienating the other? And what role does the traditional left-right split play? Producer: Lucy Proctor.

Caring in the New Old Age Mar 16, 2015

Show notes

Is it time to rethink how we care for older people, to enable them to have fulfilling lives? In recent years the media has highlighted terrible cases of paid carers abusing and neglecting vulnerable, older people. Is it now time for a more fundamental re-examination of how society should care for older people? Much is made of the poor status, low wages and lack of training of workers in the care system. Why are older people entrusted to them in a way which we would never allow for children? Should we tackle the view that old age is simply a period of decline that has to be managed rather than an opportunity for a fulfilling final chapter of life? Sonia Sodha examines new thinking from Japan, the US and closer to home about how care might be done differently. And she considers whether we need to change our approach to how we look after the elders in our society. Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

The End of Development Mar 09, 2015

Show notes

Over recent decades, the richer world has poured money towards poorer countries, in the form of aid and loans for development over many decades. But is this top-down solution really effective? Anthropologist Henrietta Moore argues that the age of development is over, and that we need to move to new ideas about how to improve human lives. Professor Moore, who heads the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College London, says that the fatal flaw of "development" is that it is a concept invented by the global North and imposed on the global South. She speaks to students from across the world at Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government, who and then faces their questions. The lecture is chaired by the school's dean, Professor Ngaire Woods. Producer: Julie Ball.

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