Kerry Hudson, author of Lowborn, has learned to code switch with the literary elite, but how can people stuck in poverty or middle class bubbles make meaningful connections? Kerry starts her exploration in her native Scotland with a project providing 'pre-loved' school uniforms to families in poverty. As vital a service as this is it’s the way people access it that's important. Founder Julie Obyrne makes it as simple, as discrete and respectful as possible. There are no forms to fill out, no referral process or establishing of need. You phone the number, give your first name and simply explain what you require. Julie will then meet you at the local shopping centre and hand it over. Confidentiality and dignity are at the heart of the service. But if this is the way that people who are struggling need to access help why isn't anyone listening to them? Kerry's next stop is with a project aiming to address just that. Expert Citizens put people with lived experience at the centre of service design. It draws on the hard won lessons of people who've lived with homelessness, substance abuse or domestic violence to provide a consultancy service to officialdom. But it’s an uphill battle for people at the bottom to get those in the better off parts of society to even bother listening to them. How can a dialogue even take place between classes? One possible model exists but tellingly it’s not in the UK. Cross Class Circles is a community project in Brattleboro Vermont, Kerry hears from the organisers and participants from both sides of the US class divide about why these conversations are so important. Producer: Liza Grieg
Kultur & GesellschaftTalk
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Folge vom 10.03.2020Class Talk
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Folge vom 03.03.2020Lift Going UpThe lift comes to life and tells the story of how the elevator changed the way we live.Emma Clarke plays the voice of the lift in this cultural history of the elevator. As we step inside, the doors close and the lift starts to speak, telling us its story.Before the lift, the top floor was the least desired and most unhealthy place to live. The lift changed all that and made the penthouse glamorous and desirable. The lift made life immeasurably easier but it also brought many anxieties - about safety and the strange, forced intimacy of the lift car. It's also been a source of inspiration for writers - from 19th century German literature right through to Hollywood.And now the lift is about to undergo a radical shift - as engineers develop a lift with no limits on how high it can go.Step inside, relax, and allow the lift to tell you its story.Producer: Laurence Grissell
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Folge vom 25.02.2020A Sense of DirectionMany animals can navigate by sensing the earth's magnetic field. Not humans, though. But might we have evolved the sense but forgotten how to access it? 40 years ago a British zoologist thought he had demonstrated a homing ability in humans. But his results failed to replicate in America and the research was largely discredited. But new evidence suggests that our brains can in fact detect changes in the magnetic field and may even be able to use it to navigate. Jolyon Jenkins investigates, and talks to a Pacific traditional seafarer who has learned to navigate vast distances across the ocean with no instruments, and who describes how, when all else fails, he has been able to access what he calls "the magic". Is the magic still there for all of us, just waiting to be rediscovered? Producer: Jolyon Jenkins
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Folge vom 18.02.2020The Inside Story of Election 19What lies behind Boris Johnson's overwhelming election victory? In this programme, Anne McElvoy talks to the key figures across the political spectrum about how the 2019 general election was fought and lost.To what extent was this a 'Brexit election' and how did the Conservative Party reach out to voters in places that it had not won for decades and in some cases generations? Why did the Opposition Parties agree to holding the election in the first place? What led to Labour's worst defeat since 1935 and why did Jeremy Corbyn's campaign fail to make the impact he had made in 2017? Why did the Liberal Democrats struggle to make the breakthrough that they had hoped for and what difference did the Brexit Party's decision to stand down in Conservative held seats make to the result.Producer: Peter Snowdon