BBC

The unspoken truth about 7/7

12 July 2025 9:00 am

Did you take part in any of the mysterious commemorations last weekend? The newspapers were full of it – something…

Tim Davie shouldn’t quit over Glastonbury

5 July 2025 9:00 am

There probably never has been a time when a governing party much liked its MPs. If you are on a…

And now let’s bomb Glastonbury

5 July 2025 9:00 am

A small yield nuclear weapon, such as the American W89, dropped on Glastonbury in late June would immediately remove from…

Tim Franks goes in search of what it means to be Jewish

5 July 2025 9:00 am

In a thought-provoking family history, the BBC journalist addresses questions of identity – and to what extent we are products of our forebears

The vicious genius of Adam Curtis

28 June 2025 9:00 am

In an interview back in 2021, Adam Curtis explained that most political journalists couldn’t understand his films because they aren’t…

Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? The BBC, it seems

28 June 2025 9:00 am

‘What a lark!’ I thought to myself as I rose on a hot June morning to listen to a documentary…

Has my father’s BBC addiction peaked?

28 June 2025 9:00 am

‘I want the stairlift to go faster!’ said my mother, as the machine she was sitting on whirred furiously while…

The BBC’s Israel problem

14 June 2025 9:00 am

Intrepidly, the BBC dared recently to visit Dover, Delaware – source, it implied, of starvation in Gaza. I listened carefully…

Those remaking Threads mustn’t soften the horror

31 May 2025 9:00 am

I was 11 years old when I saw the mushroom cloud go up but this wasn’t Hiroshima or Nagasaki in…

The best radio at the moment is on the BBC World Service

31 May 2025 9:00 am

Online viewings of Conclave increased threefold following the death of Pope Francis last month. At least some of the traffic…

The BBC’s war on the SAS

24 May 2025 9:00 am

The SAS is under fire, not from terrorists or insurgents, but from ill-informed commentators and our state broadcaster. Our Special…

The BBC’s problems go far beyond Gary Lineker

24 May 2025 9:00 am

As one might expect from a 103-year-old organisation, the BBC has a very high opinion of itself. Outside Broadcasting House…

When will the BBC ever learn?

26 April 2025 9:00 am

They say that death and taxes are the only certain things in this life. I would add BBC bias into…

‘I’ve seen controllers come and go’: Radio 3’s Michael Berkeley interviewed

26 April 2025 9:00 am

A few years ago I had a panic-stricken phone call from a female friend. ‘Help!’ she wailed. ‘Remind me what…

Impeccable history of the free market – and from the BBC too

12 April 2025 9:00 am

The launch of Radio 4’s Invisible Hands series has been both blessed and cursed by timing. It tells the story…

Heaven is an oeuf en gelée

12 April 2025 9:00 am

The cherry blossom was at its finest as I made my last early morning trip through Regent’s Park to Broadcasting…

The liberating, invigorating music of Pierre Boulez

12 April 2025 9:00 am

‘When you’re not offensive in life, you obtain absolutely nothing,’ declares a twinkly-eyed Pierre Boulez in one of the archive…

Why did the BBC say ‘Muslim reverts’?

6 April 2025 2:15 am

‘Revert’ as a noun rather than a verb sounds like one of those Victorian terms that went out of fashion…

Cracks are appearing in the Cathedral walls

1 March 2025 9:00 am

Is the ‘Cathedral’ about to fall down? That’s the name given by the right-wing blogger Curtis Yarvin to denote the…

Booze now has its own Rest is History-style podcast

8 February 2025 9:00 am

Intoxicating History is the perfect title for drinks expert Henry Jeffreys and food critic Tom Parker Bowles’s new podcast. Its…

How to catch a traitor

26 January 2025 1:51 am

A quarter of a century after the first series of Big Brother, there is still some life in reality TV.…

The Traitors finale was a cruel spectacle

26 January 2025 12:58 am

Blame Covid. That’s the origin of the BBC’s hit game-show, The Traitors. Workplaces are still deserted as people sit in…

It’s moving to think how happy Van Gogh was in Brixton

25 January 2025 9:00 am

When a phrase really takes off in the political sphere, you will recognise it by the frequency with which it…

The secret of Gary Lineker’s success

25 January 2025 9:00 am

The Leicester-born striker was neither exceptionally skilful nor assiduous; but he worked out how to score goals, and later excel in broadcasting, through intelligence and calm resilience

Why I’m obsessed with Farming Today

11 January 2025 9:00 am

Farming Today airs at an undignified hour each morning on Radio 4. On the few occasions I’ve caught it live…