From Our Own Correspondent

Latest Episodes:

Not Welcome Here May 05, 2018

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Tales of revolutions, rainforests and the migrants returning home from Libya. Kate Adie introduces stories and insight from correspondents around the world: In Nigeria, Colin Freeman meets some of the migrants who have given up on their European dreams and accepted the UN’s help to return home.

The ‘Velvet Revolution’ in Armenia saw its prime minister (and former president) relinquish power – all without a shot being fired. Rayhan Demytrie was in the capital Yerevan as tens of thousands of people took to the streets demanding change.

“Scum of the earth” is how one Goan politician described visitors from other parts of India, prompting Sushma Puri to try and find out what other residents of the southern Indian state think about domestic tourists.

The usual rule of thumb in rainforests is that you hear lots and see little, says Huw Cordey, but things were different in Suriname thanks to his guide Fred Pansa, who might just become the most famous South American conservationist from a country few have heard of.

And in France, Hugh Schofield stumbles across the grave, and the story, of the once-celebrated, and now largely forgotten English war poet Richard Aldington.

40 Years Of War Apr 28, 2018

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Amidst the violence, there are signs of a small but growing peace movement in Afghanistan. Kate Adie introduces stories and insight from correspondent around the world: "This has again become, largely, an Afghan war," says Kate Clark in Kabul, " it is now overwhelmingly Afghans killing Afghans," but she has also noticed growing public exasperation at the conflict. Diana Darke joined the British peers and priests recently granted access to Syria by the government, but as an Arabic speaker, who knows the country well, she was able to look beyond the official narrative and what her guides wanted her to see. In a refugee camp in Bangladesh, home to some of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people who have fled violence in Myanmar, Aisha Gani stumbled across an unlikely scene. As they prepare their makeshift homes for the monsoon season, young men still find time to party. Kevin Connolly has been rummaging through his attic and wondering what the changing design of matrioshka, or Russian, dolls reveal about Russia today. And Sophie Raworth explains what it’s like to run 150 miles through sand dunes and over rocky cliffs in the Moroccan desert - carrying everything you need to survive for six days.

From Our Home Correspondent 22/04/2018 Apr 22, 2018

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In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers that reflect the range of contemporary life across the country. Andy Kershaw visits the most cluttered workbench he's ever seen to discover how restoration work is going on a monument to British endeavour in speed on water; Jane Labous samples libraries in two counties to assess exactly what they have to offer; Adrian Goldberg indulges his sweet tooth among the burgeoning dessert shops of Birmingham; Ruth Alexander discovers how the town that's trying to turn itself around - literally - is faring; and Travis Elborough discovers perestroika among sixty thousand tulips on the South Downs.

Producer: Simon Coates

Life On Hold Apr 21, 2018

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Chechnya's bucolic beauty, touching hospitality and jihadi brides now lost in Iraq. Caroline Wyatt introduces correspondents' tales from around the world:

Chechnya's bucolic beauty, touching hospitality and jihadi brides now lost in Iraq. Caroline Wyatt introduces correspondents' tales from around the world. In the foothills of the Caucasus mountains, Tim Whewell meets a woman whose life has been on agonising, soul-destroying hold ever since her daughter left to join Islamic State. Nick Beake wonders whether freedom of the press is on trial in Myanmar as he crams into a Yangon courtroom where two journalists are in the dock accused of receiving classified documents as part of their investigations into the massacre of Rohingya people. Nicola Kelly is in Tindouf, in Algeria, with Saharawi families who still dream of returning to their homes in Western Sahara which they were driven from by Moroccan troops in 1975. Laurence Blair finds that ghosts of its long dictatorship are haunting Paraguay as it prepares to elect a new president this weekend. And Elizabeth Gowing hears how Serbian vineyards once came to the rescue of thirsty Europeans elsewhere on the continent

Dramatic Developments Apr 14, 2018

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The twists in Brazil's politics recently would shame the most melodramatic TV soap opera - but as she reported on last week's tense stand-off, with ex-President Lula da Silva at bay, Katy Watson was also moved to reflect on how polarised the political climate has become. As some Brazilians blame Lula for everything and profess nostalgia for the days of dictatorship, others denounce the media as lying right-wingers. In South India there's more drama as Andrew Whitehead traces the intimate relationship between the Tamil-language cinema box office, and the ballot box in local elections. Lorraine Mallinder reports from Guinea Bissau on whether international efforts to suppress the cocaine traffic have really driven the drug trade out, or just driven it underground. As the city of Basel prepares to mark the 75th anniversary of history's first LSD trip - with a commemorative bicycle ride - Matt Pickles traces the long and strange relationship between this rather staid place and one of the world's most notorious hallucinogens. And Simon Parker bats his way to cricketing glory - at least briefly - as an international in the Easter Cup, played last week in San Salvador at it sweltered in 40-degree heat.

Mixed Societies Apr 07, 2018

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Nick Thorpe in Hungary, contemplating this weekend's parliamentary election, wonders whether a recent vote in a small town near the Croatian border portends change for prime minister Viktor Orban or politics as usual. Claire Bolderson is in eastern Ohio, where opioid drug addiction has become the most serious public health crisis to hit the mid-Western US state in a generation. Speaking to recovering addicts, she discovers how it's affected their lives and communities - and their job prospects. Attending a premier of the new blockbuster movie, "Black Panther", in Guangzhou reveals to Marcus Ryder just how close the link between China and Africa has become - and what it may mean for the future. Rebecca Henschke in Jakarta considers what it has meant for her to go viral with stories three times in recent months in a country where social media platforms command huge numbers of enthusiastic users. And in Zambia Nick Miles speaks to firefighters in the capital and discovers they often have more than just flames to contend with when rushing to deal with a blaze. Editor: Richard Vadon.

Trainspotting Mar 31, 2018

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Kim Jong Un’s train rolls into to Beijing as the North Korean leader meets President Xi. Kate Adie introduces stories, wit, and analysis from correspondents around the world: China correspondents were once known as tealeaf readers, now they’ve become motorcade analysts and trainspotters says Stephen McDonell, as he tries to unpick the meaning of Kim Jong Un’s surprise visit to Beijing. Jonah Fisher has the story of Nadya Savchenko and her journey from prison to national hero and back to prison again. Bethany Bell explores why Austria won’t be implementing a smoking ban any time soon and finds out what the coffee drinkers of Vienna think of that. Mike Wendling joins the pro-gun control crowds at the ‘March For Our Lives’ in Washington DC and reflects on how things have changed since he was a teenager in the US when he and his classmates would shoot at paper targets in their school’s basement. And in Morocco, Kieran Cooke learns what impact Chinese tourists are having on Fes and comes face to face with the head of a dead camel.

The USA's Invisible Army Mar 24, 2018

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The US Air Force has a third of its drones stationed at Kandahar airbase in Afghanistan. Kate Adie introduces stories, insight, and analysis from correspondents around the world: During almost two weeks with US Forces in Afghanistan, Justin Rowlatt gets a glimpse of the intensity of the air war that is a key part of President Trump’s new strategy there. In Belarus , Lucy Ash hears talk of dancing tractors and virtual tanks tearing through computer generated downs – unlikely indicators of economic success. Paul Blake returns to the British Virgin Islands to see how they’re coping six months after Hurricane Irma tore through the Caribbean. Jane Dyson marvels at the Pandav Lila – an epic, twelve-day re-enactment of the Hindu Mahabharata which consumes a village high up in the Indian Himalayas every two years. And Petroc Trelawny meets a Transylvania aristocrat who’s just got his castle back three-quarters of a century after it was seized.

Incompetence and Conspiracy Mar 22, 2018

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How was Boko Haram able to kidnap more than one hundred school girls in Dapchi, Nigeria? Kate Adie introduces stories and analysis from correspondents around the world:

A failure of the security services, conflicting official accounts, and misinformation - Stephanie Hegarty examines the similarities between Boko Haram’s 2014 attack in Chibok and the kidnapping in Dapchi last month. In Bolivia, Laurence Blair visits the multi-million-pound museum celebrating the country’s President and asks how much longer can Evo Morales can stay in power? In Greece, Sally Howard meets the anarchists who now see helping migrants, rather than spray-painting buildings or throwing Molotov cocktails at cops, as the best way to further their cause. In Afghanistan, Auliya Atrafi reveals how repeated foreign interventions have only made his fellow Afghans more inventive in their conspiracy theories. From judges to generals everyone seems to accept that foreign powers are to blame for almost everything. And in the US, Graeme Fife takes a tour of George Washington’s estate and the gardens that were never far from the mind or the heart of the country’s first president.

From Our Home Correspondent Mar 18, 2018

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In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom that reflect the range of contemporary life in the country.

We hear how a small Scottish market town is responding to the new that its last remaining bank branch is scheduled for closure; what a flag-waving, Cornish yomp through the sand dunes and encounter with a 1500 year-old holy man reveals about the place and people; how the English, who once prided themselves on not cheating at sport and their sense of fair play, are adjusting to a different moral position; why the forthcoming abolition of tolls on the River Severn road crossings may intensify enthusiasm among the English for living in Wales; and what a humble kitchen worktop can reveal about origins, belonging and what's in a name.

Producer: Simon Coates